First published on April 30, 2017

The crimes committed by the US against the people of Korea in the course of the Korean War but also in its aftermath are unprecedented in modern history.

“We Killed Off – What – Twenty Percent of the Population. We Burned Down every Town in North Korea…”

The above quotation is from General Curtis Lemay, who coordinated the bombing campaign (1950-53)

Who is a Threat to Global Security? The US or the DPRK?

The public perception of the entire population of  North Korea is that the US is a threat to their national security.

During the Korean War, the DPRK lost more than 25% of its population.

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The population of North Korea was of the order of 8-9 million in 1950 prior the Korean War. US sources acknowledge 1.55 million civilian deaths in North Korea, 215,000 combat deaths. MIA/POW 120,000, 300,000 combat troops wounded.

What we are dealing with are crimes of genocide under international law. 

(Article 2 of the “Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide”(1948))

In contrast, during the Second World War, the United Kingdom lost 0.94% of its population, France lost 1.35%, China lost 1.89% and the US lost 0.32%.

Casually ignored by the Western media and the international community, the US has actively deployed nuclear weapons targeted at North Korea for more than half a century in violation of article 13b) of the 1953 Armistice agreement.

Video: Michel Chossudovsky’s Presentation to the Japanese Foreign Correspondent’s Club on US Aggression against the People of Korea, Tokyo, August 1, 2013

Video Documentary

This episode details the UN bombing campaign over North Korea and the results for the people on the ground.

The majority of civilians killed in the Korean War were killed in North Korea by air attack.

(This segment on the bombing of North Korea was censored from the US version of this documentary.)

The truce talks continue with no progress, as the war stalemates at around the 38th Parallel. See my websites detailing Korean bombing ranges:

거첨도 폭격 연습장 (1946-1948)

http://www.dokdo-research.com/page15….

독도 폭격 연습장 (1947-1953) http://www.dokdo-research.com/temp3.html

This is what Pyongyang looked like in 1953: the result of US incendiary and carpet bombing of all major cities without exception.

This is how it looks today.

This urban infrastructure is largely residential ( Compare Pyongyang’s towers to the Trump Towers).

Video: Firebombing against North Korea. Bruce Cumings

“Yes. The CIA Entered Afghanistan Before the Russians.” Zbigniew Brzezinski

By Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski, Le Nouvel Observateur, and Prof Michel Chossudovsky, December 30, 2024

According to this Nouvel Observateur (1998) interview with Zbigniew Brzezinski, the CIA’s intervention in Afghanistan preceded the 1979 Soviet invasion. This decision of the Carter Administration in 1979 to intervene and destabilise Afghanistan is the root cause of Afghanistan’s destruction as a secular Nation State.

The Geopolitics of Elite Insanity

By Robert J. Burrowes, December 30, 2024

As the multifaceted Elite program to reshape world order, capture ownership and control of all key resources, kill off a substantial proportion of the human population and impose a technocratic dictatorship over those ‘transhumans’ left alive advances rapidly, increasing parts of the geopolitical chessboard are being reshaped in accord with these Elite purposes.

Jimmy Carter Told Trump How to Put America First, But Will He Do It?

By Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies, December 30, 2024

With President Jimmy Carter’s passing and Donald Trump about to return to the White House, it’s a good time to recall a phone conversation that Carter had with Trump during his first term. Carter’s advice would serve Trump well if he really wants to fulfill his campaign promise to Put America First–something he failed to do in his first term.

A Review of 2024 From the Oceans and the Seas. Ret. Admiral Cem Gürdeniz

By Ret Admiral Cem Gürdeniz, December 30, 2024

The world has entered a period of geopolitical reckoning. The year 2024 has perhaps witnessed the bloodiest and most brutal developments of the last 80 years. The upcoming period will witness the revolutionary changes of the geopolitical clash period.

I Warned an Alberta Leftist Activist Mom About Vaccines in 2022. Last Month She Took Her 10-month Old for Flu and COVID-19 Shots and Her Baby Just Died Suddenly

By Dr. William Makis, December 30, 2024

10-month old Alberta baby Jesse (JJ) Marvin Roos died suddenly on Dec. 23, 2024 after his parents took him to get flu and contaminated COVID-19 mRNA vaccines last month. I have to say something here. This is a vaccine death until proven otherwise.

What Hanukkah Teaches About Violence. Prof. Yakov Rabkin

By Prof. Yakov M. Rabkin, December 30, 2024

Jewish oral tradition, developed after the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple, often interprets allegorically the Biblical verses that mention the instruments of war.

Excess Deaths and Depopulation: Shall We Sit Around in Our Insouciance and Permit This to Happen?

By Dr. John Campbell, Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, Makia Freeman, Peter Koenig, Dr. Joseph Mercola, Jeremy Kuzmarov, Stop World Control, and Prof Michel Chossudovsky, December 30, 2024

Excess deaths — why is this not discussed in mainstream media? Why is this not top agenda in the Congress or Parliament? The compilation of relevant Global Research articles focussing on several underlying causes of excess deaths was first published by Dr. Paul Craig Roberts. 

Read Part I:

The Geopolitics of Elite Insanity: Teetering on the Brink of Armageddon, The Danger of Nuclear War

By Robert J. Burrowes, December 11, 2024

As the multifaceted Elite program to reshape world order, capture ownership and control of all key resources, kill off a substantial proportion of the human population and impose a technocratic dictatorship over those ‘transhumans’ left alive advances rapidly, increasing parts of the geopolitical chessboard are being reshaped in accord with these Elite purposes. See ‘The Brave New World of 2030: “You’ll Own Nothing. And You’ll Be Happy.”’

Thus, against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine and other less publicized tragedies taking place – including the war and famine in Sudan and the war in Mozambique (see ‘Mozambique conflict has left 1 million displaced but Western media still focuses on Ukraine’) – the Zionist head of the Global Elite has implemented its plan to create Eretz Yisrael (Greater Israel), the biblical homeland of the Jews in West Asia, as part of ‘the [long-standing] Zionist plan… for the Middle East which is based on the division of the whole area into small states, and the dissolution of all the existing Arab states.’ See ‘A Strategy for Israel in the Nineteen Eighties’.

With various meanings since its origin, these days ‘Greater Israel’ is understood to include part or all of the various countries in immediate proximity to Israel, perhaps in accordance with the ‘map’ of ‘Greater Israel’ displayed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York on 22 September 2023 – see ‘In UN speech, Netanyahu holds map showing West Bank, Gaza as part of Israel’ – or, more likely, as displayed and discussed in this article: ‘“Greater Israel”: The Zionist Plan for the Middle East. The Infamous “Oded Yinon Plan”’.

Consequently, since Israel’s genocidal war on the Palestinians was launched in response to the carefully-scripted assault by Hamas on Israel on 7 October 2023, key Elite agents have been deployed to reshape the geopolitical map of West Asia to consolidate Elite control of the peoples and resources of that region and facilitate a multitude of ‘follow on’ impacts elsewhere.

Most notably, these Elite agents have included the governments of Israel and the United States along with a range of mercenary and terrorist groups, as well as the usual raft of prominent Western European governments, major weapons corporations and government/corporate media. The media agents have been assigned the role of sanitizing Israel’s genocide of the Palestinians while condemning any solidarity words and action on behalf of the Palestinians as ‘anti-Semitism’ and justifying the aggressive war by the US and Israel as well as the terrorist groups they sponsor against various countries in West Asia while demonizing those governments and movements that are removed/defeated.

Of course, there is nothing secret about what is happening: after all, it is being televised.

But devoid of even the remotest idea of how the world actually works and the nature of the Elite program being implemented, even those considered well-informed are easily duped by Elite propaganda to readily misinterpret the conflict configuration. In any case, only the rarest individual has sufficient comprehension of what is happening and the courage to take the personal, strategic action to effectively resist it. Hence, the Elite program proceeds unimpeded with virtually all ‘resistance’ confined to meaningless activities.

Let me offer four examples of analysts who do not understand the conflict configuration.

In a recent interview, Vanessa Beeley was highly critical of Russia for ‘abandoning Syria’ and also lamented that the primary government and corporate journalists who were reporting recent events in the West were deliberately misrepresenting what they were witnessing ‘on the ground’ in Syria. Listen to ‘Syria Podcast Episode 2’.

In a recent article, Paul Craig Roberts asked ‘why is Putin helping Washington succeed? Putin complains about the growing instability and violence in the Middle East. Does he realize that he contributed to it by withdrawing Russia’s defense of Syria? Did Putin forget “seven countries in five years”? Did Putin forget “Greater Israel”? Did Putin forget Turkey’s ambition against the Kurds?’ See ‘Will Putin Fight or Surrender?’

Meanwhile, Professor Jeffrey Sachs laments what has transpired, noting that ‘American interference, at the behest of Netanyahu’s Israel, has left the Middle East in ruins, with over a million dead and open wars raging in Libya, Sudan, Somalia, Lebanon, Syria, and Palestine, and with Iran on the brink of a nuclear arsenal, being pushed against its own inclinations to this eventuality. All this is in the service of a profoundly unjust cause: to deny Palestinians their political rights in the service of Zionist extremism….’ See ‘US & Israel Destroyed Syria & Called it Peace’.

And Mike Whitney argues that

‘These are Israel’s wars, and they are prosecuted to pursue Israeli interests not American interests. The US military (and political class) has been hijacked by the maneuverings of strongarm lobbyists who know how to work the levers of power to achieve their own ends. Their rate of success speaks for itself. Much of the Middle East lies in ruins which was the plan from the get-go. But now comes the hard part, because nothing has really been resolved in Syria.’ See ‘Has Bibi Achieved His Dream of Obliterating the Arab World?’

But what is transpiring in West Asia goes vastly beyond what is being described in articles such as these and without a full understanding of what is happening, it is impossible to recognize the full extent of the threats or to effectively resist them. And at this point in history, we do not have the luxury of time. So what is happening?

The Elite plan – as noted above: to reshape world order, capture ownership and control of all key resources, kill off a substantial proportion of the human population and impose a technocratic dictatorship on those ‘transhumans’ left alive – is being advanced by a wide range of methods. One method is to use its agents in national governments and elsewhere to simply destroy nation-states, one way or another, with each state destroyed also representing another step in the progressive neutralization of any prospect of effective resistance to the overall Elite program as more people’s attention inevitably turns to personal survival.

Of course, it does not have to destroy countries in the way it has destroyed Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Palestine, Lebanon and now Syria, the plan for which was originally exposed by U.S. Army Gen. Wesley Clark in ‘[US] Plans for Middle East’ [to attack Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Iran] from confidential information he received at the Pentagon on 20 September 2001.

But it has no compunction about doing so when it is judged the best option. And it is easy to do this when you can use national military forces, special operations forces, mercenaries (‘military contractors’ in the sanitized jargon), terrorists and/or just a range of agents to incite the fear, hatred and anger among a diverse range of marginalized ethnic, religious and other groups, flood these groups with military weapons and training, and incite them to fight among themselves (causing further destabilization and chaos in the impacted regions).

So beyond the countries just listed and while Syria is already being dismembered – see ‘Netanyahu says Golan Heights will always be “part of Israel”’ – now Yemen has been attacked – see ‘Massive Israeli Attack on Sanaa During Houthi Leader’s Speech Nearly Kills Visiting WHO Head’ – and Israel has signaled its intentions in relation to the most important ‘prize’ on the list. See ‘Israel informs Trump of its resolve to act against Iran’.

Of course, President Putin of Russia did not ‘abandon Syria’ or ‘help Washington’, as he made clear in his recent end-of-year address and interactive session with Russians. See ‘Results of the Year’ summarized in relation to Syria here: ‘Putin weighs in on the Syrian situation’. And it was not ‘American interference, at the behest of Netanyahu’s Israel’ or even ‘Israel’s wars… prosecuted to pursue Israeli interests not American interests’ as the four authors cited above respectively claim.

So What Did Happen?

In fact, what happened is that Presidents Putin, Netanyahu and Biden (or his handlers) as well as other ‘national leaders’ simply acted in accord with Elite imperatives, with which they are respectively familiar, in the context. After all, their records of complicity with Elite imperatives are impeccable even though just playing their roles facilitates maintenance of the popular delusion that nation-states are key actors in the international system and primary agents in international conflict. For evidence of Putin’s complicity in the wider Elite program, see ‘The War in Ukraine: Understanding and Resisting the Global Elite’s Deeper Agenda’ which notes, among other points, that he is a wealthy member of the World Economic Forum.

But all other national leaders were submissive to the Elite program or, in the case of the five national presidents (of Burundi, Swaziland/Eswatini, Tanzania, Ivory Coast and Haiti) who were not submissive in relation to enforcing mandatory Covid-19 injections on their populations, they were assassinated. See ‘All Three Presidents Who Declined the Covid Vaccine are now DEAD’.

(Predictably, perhaps, four references I had discussing these deaths are no longer accessible at their original links and yet several corporate ‘fact checkers’ are still online purportedly ‘disproving’ that the cause of death of these five presidents was as originally reported!)

Understanding the Conflict

Depending on the context, most people believe that conflict is direct (that is, not structural, cultural or ecological) and is between two or more highly visible and ‘different’ parties that are discussed in the corporate media and that each conflict is unrelated to most others.

For example, in the context of the genocide of the Palestinians and the recently generated wars between various countries in West Asia, most people believe that the primary conflict is between Israel and the Palestinians – or between Israel and various neighboring countries (whether Arab, Islamic or Persian) – with an ongoing and parallel debate over whether Israel wags the US tail or the US wags the Israeli tail as discussed in ‘Palestinian Syndrome’.

The idea that the Global Elite generated these conflicts and many others using a worldwide multitude of (mostly unwitting) agents throughout global organizational structures and national political, economic and social systems to achieve a long-planned and wider outcome for the Elite at the expense of humanity as a whole, is rarely even considered and, to most people, sounds preposterous.

Which means that the system works more or less perfectly. The Elite program is systematically implemented with virtually all people rendered scared and ignorant, and certainly powerless to act effectively, in each context and in relation to the whole.

Again, let me illustrate this in relation to the Elite’s Eretz Yisrael project.

So when I mentioned ‘the Zionist head of the Global Elite’ above, who do I mean?

In 1917 British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour wrote to Zionist Lord Lionel Walter Rothschild in which he expressed the support of the British government for the establishment of a Jewish homeland on Palestinian land in the Middle East. The Balfour Declaration justified the brutal seizure of Palestinian land for the post-WWII establishment of Israel. However, Israel would serve not as some high-minded ‘Jewish homeland’, but as the lynchpin in Rothschild control (including through other Elite families which act as ‘fronts’ and agents) over the bulk of the world’s fossil fuel supply (located in the Middle East). Baron Edmond de Rothschild built the first oil pipeline from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean to bring BP Iranian oil to Israel. He founded Israeli General Bank and Paz Oil. He is considered by many the father of modern Israel. See Rule by Secrecy: The Hidden History that Connects the Trilateral Commission, the Freemasons and the Great Pyramids pp. 84-85 and Big Oil & Their Bankers in the Persian Gulf – Four Horsemen, Eight Families, and Their Global Intelligence, Narcotics & Terror Network  p.490.

Consequently, what we are witnessing now is a new and decisive stage in the Zionist plan to occupy a substantially larger proportion of the Middle East in which not just Palestine but Syria, Iran and parts of other countries will be violently seized and occupied by the Israeli and US militaries, or the various terrorist groups under their control, on behalf of the Rothschilds and other families at the head of the Global Elite. This will mean capture of total control of strategic oil and gas reserves in the Middle East and facilitate other projects, including the construction of highly profitable oil and gas pipelines across the region and the Ben Gurion Canal (to compete with the Suez Canal).

These fossil fuel reserves include the gigantic Leviathan maritime natural gas resources in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Gaza – see ‘“Wiping Gaza Off The Map”: Big Money Agenda. Confiscating Palestine’s Maritime Natural Gas Reserves’ – in which the BG Group expressed interest in early 2016 before becoming part of Shell Global. See ‘Combining Shell and BG: a simpler and more profitable company’.

Of course, Shell has been a Rothschild corporation since the very early 20th century. According to the Rothschild Archive:

‘As it turned out, Rothschilds had a decisive influence in shaping Royal Dutch Shell, more so than anyone had previously imagined.’ See ‘Searching for oil in Roubaix’. But Shell does not represent the only Rothschild investment in energy supplies.

By the way, if you doubt that one family (using other wealthy families as fronts and agents) has the power to orchestrate all of this ‘below the radar’, you are welcome to consider the evidence of their power acquired over many generations summarized in Historical Analysis of the Global Elite: Ransacking the World Economy Until ‘You’ll Own Nothing.’

And in his latest book just published, another analyst of Elite power, Paul Cudenec, argues that even ‘the Rockefeller empire, a 19th century Big Oil rival to the Rothschilds, was absorbed by them and transformed into yet another front’. See The Single Global Mafia: The Rockefeller Foundation’s multiple links to Zionism and military-industrial-financial neo-imperialism. p.5.

For one estimate of Rothschild wealth by a scholar highly qualified to make the calculation, here is Dean Henderson’s article on the subject from 2012: ‘The Money Changers: Rothschild Banking Dynasty Said To Be Worth $100 Trillion’.

When one considers the laughable ‘lists of the world’s wealthiest individuals’ published by corporate media (which tend to focus on the Elite’s attention-seeking minions like Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg, among others), it is clear that their ownership of such media ensures that families like the Rothschilds are simply not considered (or mentioned).

What Can We Do?

Most vitally, I encourage you to not make the mistake of believing that the Elite is not coming for you. 

After all, as I have explained many times ‘The Global Elite is Insane Revisited’, and virtually all humans are utterly submissive as an outcome of the violence they each suffered during childhood. See ‘Why Violence?’ and ‘Fearless Psychology and Fearful Psychology: Principles and Practice’.

Nevertheless, if you wish to better understand and respond powerfully to what is happening in Ukraine, see: ‘The War in Ukraine: Understanding and Resisting the Global Elite’s Deeper Agenda’.

If your primary concern is Palestine: ‘Nonviolent Strategy to Halt the Genocide in Gaza, Liberate Palestine and Defeat the Global Technocracy’.

Or your focus is the wider wars now happening in Central Asia and West Asia: Strategic Goals for a Nonviolent Struggle to End a War.

But whether or not you act in response to these Elite projects, resisting the advancing technocracy is crucial for your own future: ‘Fighting for Our Humanity, Fighting for Our Future’.

Each article above also links to the ‘We Are Human We Are Free’ campaign – which identifies the strategic action necessary to defend yourself from this technocracy (explained, most simply, on the ‘We Are Human We Are Free’ one-page flyer, available in 23 languages).

Conclusion

As I have explained previously, your death or transhuman slavery in a technocratic prison is now imminent.

Thus, tragically, even if the Palestinians won the war against Israel, Fatah and Hamas have already signed off on a deal – see ‘Hamas and Fatah “to form joint committee [of technocrats] to administer Gaza”’ – to enslave Palestinians in the technocratic state that is being rapidly built around them.

So, unless Palestinians also successfully resist the advancing technocracy as well, there is no good outcome for the people  of Palestine whatever the outcome of the current war.

If history is any guide, our time to resist effectively the various threats to humanity in each of these (and other) conflicts will be wasted by either doing nothing (because the threats go unrecognized and/or people are afraid to act), signing a petition, lobbying a politician for a vote on this or that issue, attending a demonstration or otherwise directing our effort to changing the behavior of someone who has no influence within the global power structure. And sadly, people you believe are ‘on your side’ will encourage you to waste your time in these ways.

Of course, I am well aware, that you also believe that you have ‘no influence within the global power structure’.

And yet, you do.

If the Elite is to complete its program to control all people and all resources, which is what makes each of the conflicts nominated above just part of the larger whole, then it needs your cooperation, in very precise ways, between now and the envisaged program’s completion. Or it needs your circumstances to be such that you are in no position to resist, even if you had the knowledge and commitment to do so. And that is why creating chaos in your country is a viable Elite strategy, particularly in those contexts where capturing resources is a crucial part of the Elite program as well.

So if you resolutely withhold your cooperation in the precise ways nominated in the strategies above, and we can mobilize enough people to join you, then we can defeat the Elite and continue to live some version of a free and independent life based on our own volition.

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Robert J. Burrowes has a lifetime commitment to understanding and ending human violence. He has done extensive research since 1966 in an effort to understand why human beings are violent and has been a nonviolent activist since 1981. He is the author of ‘Why Violence?’ His email address is [email protected] and his website is here. He is a regular contributor to ‘Global Research’.

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Medea Benjamin is the cofounder of CODEPINK for Peace, and the author of several books, including Inside Iran: The Real History and Politics of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Nicolas J. S. Davies is an independent journalist, a researcher for CODEPINK and the author of Blood on Our Hands: The American Invasion and Destruction of Iraq.

Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies are the authors of War in Ukraine: Making Sense of a Senseless Conflict, published by OR Books, with an updated edition due in March 2025. They are regular contributors to Global Research.

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First published on December 13,  2024

We are featuring this video interview. with the option of sub-titles in the following languages: English, French, Arabic, Farsi, Spanish, Turkish and Russian

Video: The Destruction of Countries. Syria… 

with Drago Bosnic and  Michel Chossudovsky

Video English

With sub-titles

Video Français

Français sur X 

X: https://x.com/i/status/1867088541261480332

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Video Arabic  

 Video Español 

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Farsi /Persian

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Russian

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Turkish

The world has entered a period of geopolitical reckoning. The year 2024 has perhaps witnessed the bloodiest and most brutal developments of the last 80 years. The upcoming period will witness the revolutionary changes of the geopolitical clash period. The main determinants of this process have been the collapse of the neoliberal economic model after 2008 crisis, China’s emergence as a naval power while turning into an economic giant, and Russia’s resistance against the US and NATO on the Ukrainian front.

Geopolitical and geoeconomic fluctuations have entered a resonance phase after a long hiatus. The US is regressing in Ukraine despite the impositions of the Rimland geopolitics and the extraordinary logistical and financial support to Kiev in the last 3 years. The geopolitics of Israel, which cannot be separated from the US, is advancing thanks to the jihadist terrorist gangs established by the US and the tremendous political, legal and logistical support provided by the US to Israel, as exemplified in Syria. The world of globalization, neoliberalism and unipolarity is now coming to an end. We are entering 2025 in such a conjuncture. When we look at the developments concerning the oceans and seas in 2024, we see a similar picture to what is happening on land. The year 2024 witnessed revolutionary events and developments in maritime geopolitics and geoeconomic and maritime power perspectives.

As the Ice Melts, Hegemon Sea Geopolitics Loses

When we look at it from a geopolitical perspective, the most important development was undoubtedly the opening of the northern sea route (NSR) in the Arctic Ocean. The Panama-flagged, non-Ice Class, 294-meter-long PANAMAX class container ship named ‘’Flying Fish 1’’ carrying 5000 containers (TEU) arrived in Shanghai, China on September 25, 2024, less than three weeks after its departure from Saint Petersburg, Russia. During this 8000-mile voyage, the ship maintained an average speed of 16 knots and most importantly, did not need the Russian icebreaker ships. Thus, Russia not only proved to the world maritime trade system that it has the shortest sea transportation route connecting the continents, but also, for the first time in the last two centuries of world history, it has a sea transportation route under its own control in the Shipping  Routes dominated by the Anglo-Saxon maritime hegemony.

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Container / Panamax, IMO 9200811 (Source)

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It is clear that this transportation route will make a great contribution to Asian powers shipping efforts that will be blockaded by ocean powers in other regions in times of war. Inevitable counter-moves came from the US leadership during the process that brought about this revolution. The first was the rapid admission of Sweden and Finland to NATO, and the second was the transformation of Norway into an American military forward base as a coastal state in the Arctic Ocean. In this context, the new US President Trump, who will take office on January 20, 2025, who wants to make Canada, which has the longest coastline in the Arctic Ocean after Russia, the 51st state of the US, and his desire to purchase Greenland, which controls the entrance and exit to the Arctic Ocean, which is affiliated with Denmark, should be evaluated within the framework of the US’s geopolitical goals in the Arctic Ocean and the rimland geopolitics.

It is a fact that the US will not tolerate a maritime transportation route that can provide wartime support to China outside of Russia’s own control, but it is extremely difficult to prevent this. Because Russia has the clear strategic advantages in the Arctic both geography wise and force structure wise. On the other hand, China has rapidly developed cooperation with Russia in the Arctic Region after the Russia-Ukraine War. For example, Russian and Chinese bombers occasionally conduct joint patrols off the coast of Alaska. Similarly, Chinese and Russian coast guard ships passing through the Bering Strait conduct joint exercises and patrols in Arctic waters at certain times each year. China defines itself as a Near Arctic State. It does not only have geopolitical interests in the region. It has many common investments with Russia, primarily in energy and rare earth metals.

The Houthis’ Invisible Sea Power

The second development undoubtedly includes the asymmetric risks and threats at sea posed to Israel and pro-Israeli merchant marines by states and non-state actors those hostile to Israel, which the West defines as the axis of resistance. In this context, despite being subjected to numerous air and missile attacks by both the US and the UK, as well as Israel, the threat of the Yemeni Houthis, who apply typical Anti-Access and Area Denial tactics in the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, continues. This situation is actually a result of the use of technological capabilities in a way that creates an asymmetric effect and the proliferation of explosives. This reveals how effective non-state actors are in the period of great powers competition through technology transfer or military aid.

Russia Leaving Syria

One of the most important developments of 2024 has undoubtedly been the change of regime in Syria by a Jihadist Gang supported by US and Israel. In parallel with this development, Russia’s moving away from the Tartus Naval Base and Hmeymim Air Base after the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria is important in terms of the balance of power in the Eastern Mediterranean. Although the new regime has not officially asked Russia to abandon both bases, there are meida reports that Russia has transferred some of its military material in these bases to Libya. In this context, it cannot be expected that American neocons and naval strategists will allow Russia to establish a base very close to the Suez Canal within the framework of the geopolitics of the border zone and not to put pressure on the pro western regime.

Underwater Cables and Pipelines

One of the important maritime incidents in 2024 was the cutting of the seabed communication cable between the Swedish island of Gotland and Lithuania on November 17, 2024. NATO circles were quick to attribute this incident to sabotage by Russia and even a Chinese merchant ship in the region. However, these accusations of Western circles were ignored except by neocon publications such as CNN and the New York Times.

A similar situation occurred in February 2024 in the Bab El Mandeb Strait. The internet seabed cable connecting Europe and Asia was damaged. Serious problems were experienced in India and the Gulf states. Although the Houthis were initially blamed, it was later understood that the damage was caused by a trawling fishing vessel. Approximately 100 seabed cable damage incidents occur in the world every year. Of these, 40% are recorded as fishermen, 16% as ship anchors, 5% as earthquakes and 5% as damage caused by third parties. However, in the event of war, attacks on these cables will undoubtedly be inevitable. Since the cables in question serve the common interests of all parties during periods of peace and tension, it is known that operations are carried out for the purposes of reconnaissance, surveillance and, in some cases, communications intelligence (COMINT) over the cables rather than active attacks. In the upcoming period, the protection or destruction of critical seabed infrastructures within the scope of seabed warfare will continue to be one of the important fronts of naval warfare.

China and the Western Pacific Balance

As we enter 2025, the U.S. and China rivalry could reach the stage of armed conflict in 2027/2028 as it was declared in the Roadmap Document for the Navy prepared by the 33rd Commander of the US Naval Forces, Admiral Lisa Franchetti. It seems that China has gained the upper hand in naval warfare in the Western Pacific Ocean. The main reason for this is not only the numerical superiority in favor of China among the naval and air force assets. The main factor that has transformed the Chinese Navy from a defensive to an offensive strategic transformation in a short period of 30 years is its shipbuilding capacity. This capacity is developing every passing day in the fields of naval, commercial ships and unmanned surface /subsurface vehicles. Today, China has 48 diesel-electric, 65 submarines and 395 surface warships. The navy is planned to have 85 submarines and 435 surface ships by 2030. China currently controls 64.7% of all new merchant ship orders in the world.

In parallel with these developments, the US Naval Intelligence Directorate (ONI) announced that China’s merchant shipbuilding capacity is 232 times greater than that of the US as of  2024. A similar comment was made by US Navy Secretary Del Toro:

“China can produce in one year the same number of ships that the US can produce in 7 years.”

Today, China has achieved a similar success in the field of shipbuilding as the US achieved in World War II. This development is also reflected in the naval capabilities. China builds the machinery, electronic systems and weapons of its warships without external dependency. China’s ability to build 6 nuclear ballistic missile submarines and 6 nuclear attack submarines after 2010 is the most important example of this capacity. In China, approximately 200 thousand people were working in the State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) alone as of 2023. If those working in the remaining 1,100 shipyards are taken into account, more than half a million workers are employed in the shipbuilding sector in China.

On the other hand, the US continues its activities at every level for build-up, basing and shaping the operational environment in the Western Pacific in tandem with 2027/2028 conflict scenario with China. While there are 53,700 US military personnel in 85 separate land, sea and air bases in Japan, there are 25,400 US Military personnel in 70 separate bases in South Korea. US Navy has started to permanently deploy nuclear attack submarines to its colony island, Guam, in 2024. 2000 US marines are being transferred to Guam from Japan/Okinawa. It is worth to remind that this island is the closest American territory to China. Also, Guam is equipped with Aegis system for Ballistic Missile Defense. Weapons sales to Taiwan and programs to train Taiwanese armed forces have been increased. In addition to the existing 5 American bases in the Philippines, 4 new bases have been granted the right to US force deployments and military build up. In addition, American missile systems that will hit China’s interior along with anti-ship missile systems are being deployed to this country. The joint nuclear attack submarine construction project with Australia within the framework of AUKUS is progressing, albeit slowly. 2,500 American marines are deployed in Australia/Darwin. The use of airfields and ports in Papua New Guinea has been garnted to the US. The Fijian Government has also granted the US Forces basing and build up rihgths in the island. These activities in the Western Pacific domain will no doubt intensify even more in 2025.

2025 and the Period of Insanity That Will Continue

Stability in the global order is maintained under the unconditional leadership of a sovereign state that is accepted worldwide. After 1945, this hegemon was the US. If the global leader becomes corrupt, falls into the power trap and becomes a threat to the global consensus itself, rising powers will challenge this dominance. The US fell into this position especially after 2001. When the hegemon collapses, the balances are disrupted. In 2019, the era of competition between great powers began. Thus, the dynamics of conflict and instability became evident everywhere. The collapsing hegemon, the US, will risk everything to maintain its power and continue its world leadership. This even includes nuclear war. 

In 1991, the Nuclear Doomsday Clock was at its safest in history. In those years, there were 17 minutes until the midnight (apocalypse). Today, there are only 90 seconds left. How did US Presidents manage to reduce the risk of nuclear doomsday from 17 minutes to 90 seconds in the last 34 years? The ongoing wars in Ukraine and the Middle East today, along with new crises and regime change efforts created by the US every week, are the answer to this question. The root cause of these wars and crises is China and Russia challenging the impositions of the hegemon that is declining but relies on wars. As a result, since the hegemon will not voluntarily give up its position, the current crises will grow even bigger and a final showdown will be reached.

The Israel Factor

Another reason for the current chaos is Israel, which has become an inseparable part of the US geopolitics since the 1970s. The Israel first created a security belt around itself and then proceeded to realize the theological dream of 2700 years ago in the lands from the Nile to the Euphrates. When Israel was founded in 1948, it was a socialist state. Today, it has become a completely religious and expansionist state.

On the other hand, it is a state that has managed to direct and shape the US foreign policy in the Middle East. The 1995 “Clean Break Report” prepared jointly by US neocons and Netanyahu, rejecting the Palestinian state, is the strongest evidence on this issue. After the Cold War, the US changed the map or regime of 6 Middle East/Africa countries within this framework. It did this in partnership with Israel and NATO. Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Sudan and Somalia were directly shaped according to the geopolitical interests of the US and Israel, and were ultimately subjected to military interventions, coups, civil wars and chaos that resulted with the deaths of hundreds of thousands. Unfortunately, Turkiye also took an active role alongside the US in this process after 2002. After the December 8, 2024, victory of the neocons and Israel in Syria, Iran seems to be in the next hit list.

The US and Its Potential to Create Turmoil

The US continues its global struggle for control of strategic choke points of maritime transportation, water, food and energy resources with all its power in its spiraling period of decline and collapse. The aim is to have a situational advantage over its rivals in the economic, military and technological fields when the great showdown period is commenced. For this purpose, it is aimed to cancerize and melt the power of the rivals through small crises, proxy wars, civil wars, coups and regime crises to be created. The US uses the soft power it has had since 1945 for this purpose, especially to attract the international system to its side. For this purpose, concepts such as human rights, democracy, free market economy, globalization and rule-based world order are the concepts most used by the media of the establishment to mislead the world public opinion. Military interventions, civil wars and map changes were carried out in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Sudan and Somalia through these concepts. Hundreds of thousands of dead, ongoing civil wars and cancerous regime problems were created. In countries like Turkiye, first sham legal cases and then actual coup attempts were organized with FETÖ-type organizations affiliated with the CIA, MI6, BND and MOSSAD. 

The US and Its Decreasing Reputation

The US has never hesitated to throw the rest of the world into the fire for the peace of Israel and the continuation of its own global leadership. However, a new world has been established today. The absolute dominance of the US in every field is no longer the case. The multi-polar world system makes its influence and presence felt in every field. The effectiveness of the West’s use of organized and brute military power with the mantras of democracy and human rights, or the rules-based world order, is decreasing day by day.  The unconditional support for Israel’s genocides has destroyed the reputation and credibility of the US. Finally, the destruction of a state by jihadist fundamentalist organizations with a million-dollar bounty on their heads in Syria has opened deep wounds in the US record after the examples of Iraq and Libya. The US has now become a state that pursues wars, chaos and destruction that will delay its own collapse, not global peace and stability.

Today, the struggle between the globalists representing the neocon and neoliberal system within the US and the nationalists led by Trump, who prioritize economic development and superiority, will determine the global security structure of the future. While the US has gained unfair profits through the financial/capital structure of globalization, leaving production to China has accelerated its end. As the US continues to act outside of its power, the internal decay and the inevitable reckoning will accelerate its collapse. Although it is expected that Trump will prioritize the containment of China with economic superiority, it should not be expected that there will be any deviation from the rimland geopolitical goals that aims ocean and sea dominance, which constitute the goal of the US geopolitics.

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

He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

Featured image: A Type 052C destroyer, Changchun, in Butterworth, Penang, Malaysia in 2017 (Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0)

I wrote this to Alberta mom Jessy Roos, an NDP activist, about pediatric COVID-19 mRNA vaccines.

I don’t have the original post. I assume it was something about promoting mRNA vaccines in children.

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The Tragic Story

10-month old Alberta baby Jesse (JJ) Marvin Roos died suddenly on Dec. 23, 2024 after his parents took him to get flu and contaminated COVID-19 mRNA vaccines last month.

I have to say something here.

This is a vaccine death until proven otherwise 

On June 17, 2024, some of the best doctors in the world got together with UCP MLA Eric Bouchard and warned Premier Danielle Smith’s government about the dangers of having contaminated COVID-19 mRNA vaccines on Alberta’s childhood vaccine schedule.

We were ignored.

@DrTrozzi

@JesslovesMJK

@CShoemakerMD

Dr. Byram Bridle and Dr. Eric Payne and myself.

We were all ignored. Every single one of us.

We were attacked and defamed by Alberta’s mainstream media and ignored by “alternative media”.

We were attacked by UCP Minister of Health Adriana LaGrange who came out in defense of child abusers embedded in the healthcare system.

I presented the fact that there are over 500 VAERS pediatric sudden deaths documented after Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines.

I was viciously attacked.

There are dozens of pediatric sudden deaths after Influenza vaccines.

I know the mother of this 10-month old baby, Jessy Roos, hated me and had me blocked. She was an NDP activist.

Thousands of leftist Alberta moms like her have attacked me online for four years straight.

They have attacked me and my family viciously, some of them wishing death on me. Others wishing harm on my kids.

But I don’t care if you’re left or right wing, if your baby is at risk, I am fighting for the safety of all your babies. In Alberta. In Canada. Around the world.

To the leftist activist moms, wake up.

No matter how much abuse I get, we are trying to prevent your babies from dying suddenly from contaminated injections.

Maybe one day you’ll figure that out.

Maybe one day you’ll figure out who the real villains are.

It’s not us.

The villains are the ones injecting your babies.

The villains are the ones telling you it’s safe and effective.

The villains are the people you love, adore, respect and vote for.

And to the Alberta politicians who played politics with the lives of Alberta children, whether you’re NDP or UCP, I hope these child deaths will haunt you for the rest of your lives.

My Take…

I warned Jessy Roos about the dangers of COVID-19 mRNA vaccines in children back in January 2022.

She didn’t listen. Now her 10-month old baby is dead, one month after getting both Influenza and COVID-19 mRNA vaccines, both extremely dangerous for kids.

Jessy Roos: August 2021: “And if you don’t want to get vaccinated, you can at least understand why others might not want to be around you.”

And now your 10-month old baby is dead, Jessy. Do you understand now?

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Dr. William Makis is a Canadian physician with expertise in Radiology, Oncology and Immunology. Governor General’s Medal, University of Toronto Scholar. Author of 100+ peer-reviewed medical publications.

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Biblical accounts teem with violent episodes. Just a few days ago, we read in the synagogue the story of Jacob’s two sons, Levi and Simeon, massacring the entire male population of a city in a devious scheme using a religious pretext. (Genesis 34) Their father was so aggrieved that even on his death bed, when he was blessing the other children, these two heard a resolute condemnation: “Simeon and Levi are a pair; Their weapons are tools of lawlessness. Let not my person be included in their council, let not my being be counted in their assembly. For when angry they slay a man, and when pleased they maim an ox. Cursed be their anger so fierce, and their wrath so relentless. (Genesis 49:5-7)

Jewish oral tradition, developed after the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple, often interprets allegorically the Biblical verses that mention the instruments of war. Thus, the sword and the bow used by Jacob the Patriarch against his enemies (Genesis 48:22) become prayer and supplication (Bereshit Rabbah 97:6); the victory of Benaiah over Moab (2 Samuel 23:20) now stands for Torah study (BT Berakhot, 18b). Tradition locates Jewish heroism in the house of study, not on the battlefield. This partly explains the refusal of thousands of observant Jews to enroll in Israel’s military.

Yet, Hanukkah, which, incidentally, is not mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, but can be found in the Christian one, seems to be a story of war. A comparison of Hanukkah with another popular Jewish holiday – Purim – reveals something important about traditional Jewish attitudes to collective threats, spiritual and physical.

The holiday of Purim, related in the Book of Esther, provides a peaceful model for conflict resolution. The story is as simple as it is prophetic. Haman, the Persian vizier, has planned a total massacre: “to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate, all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day” (Esther 3:13). The response of the Jews was to proclaim a fast of repentance, but at the same time to find a way to influence the king and thereby circumventing the vizier and his decree. Queen Esther intervened, revealed to the king her Jewish origins, and convinced him to stop the planned genocide. But it did not occur to any of the Jews to organize self-defence units against Haman. And the violence of the Jews against their enemies mentioned in the finale has been explicitly authorized by the king who only recently acquiesced to his vizier’s idea of exterminating the Jews.

But the resolute recourse to force is central in the story of Hanukkah, which, like Purim, also celebrates deliverance from a collective threat. The difference between the two threats to the Jews explains the differing relationship to force expressed in the stories. Haman’s threats of physical destruction induced the Jews to fast and repent. However, when King Antiochus outlawed Judaic practice and forced the Jews into idolatry, he sought their spiritual destruction. Under such a threat the use of force becomes legitimate: a Jew is duty-bound to sacrifice his or her life rather than worship idols.

This history of the Maccabees is often used to draw political conclusions. According to a contemporary commentary, clearly at odds with the traditional vision of the event : “For any thinking Jew, Hanukkah is nothing more than the day of commemoration of the heroes of Jewish self-defence. No miracle fell from the sky…. But the sword had created one: a dead people had been resurrected. The Torah could not save from the fist; it was the fist that saved the Torah. The sword, and not the skullcap, will protect the Jew in the blood-soaked lands of his enemies.” Today, this lesson resonates with many Jews who believe in the primacy of might.

Ironically, such glorification of force reverses the significance of the holiday, which celebrates allegiance to the Torah against Hellenistic influence. What is the Judaic reference to Hanukkah? A passage from the daily prayer reveals its meaning:

“In the days of Mattisiahu, the son of Yochanan, the High Priest, the Hasmonean, and his sons — when the wicked Hellenistic kingdom rose up against Your people Israel to make them forget Your Torah and compel them to stray form the statutes of Your Will — You in your great mercy stood up for them in the time of their distress. You took up their grievance, judged their claim, and avenged their wrong. You delivered the strong into the hands of the weak, the many into the hands of the few, the impure into the hands righteous, and the wanton into the hands of the diligent students of Your Torah.” (Complete ArtScroll Siddur)

The war that the advocates of the use of force tend to invoke turns out to have been, in Jewish ritual, a victory of God and not of humans. Tradition emphasizes that the decisive factors were loyalty to the Torah and moral purity, rather than the number of soldiers and the fighting strength of the army. With regard to Hanukkah, the Talmud relegates the hostilities to a secondary position and emphasizes that the strong were the Hellenizers and the weak Jews loyal to their religion. Tradition focuses instead on the miracle of the oil that burned for eight days in the Temple that the Maccabees had liberated and purified. It links the purity of the oil untouched by the Hellenizers and the purity of heart all Jews must keep in order to fight idolatry.

Thus, even when violence is legitimate, as in the case of Hannukah, it is definitely downplayed in rabbinic Judaism. “Who is the mightiest of the mighty? One who turns an enemy into a friend.” (Avot de rabbi Nathan, 23) Conversely, new values, promoted by some followers of National Judaism (dati-leumi) as the Torah of the Land of Israel, encourage reliance on the use of force. The eight days of Hannukah should allow us to ponder the issue of recourse to violence, which has undergirded the Zionist settlement in the Holy Land for over a century. While it has led to death, dispossession and dislocation of hundreds of thousands of people, it has failed to ensure peace and tranquility.

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This article was originally published on The Times of Israel.

Yakov M. Rabkin is Professor Emeritus of History at the Université of Montréal. His publications include over 300 articles and a few books: Science between Superpowers, Interactions between Jewish and Scientific Cultures, A Threat from Within: a Century of Jewish Opposition to Zionism, What is Modern Israel?, Demodernization: A Future in the Past and Judaïsme, islam et modernité. He did consulting work for, inter alia, OECD, NATO, UNESCO and the World Bank.

He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

Featured image is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

The “Oreshnik” Missile System: Moscow’s Unrivaled Hypersonic Capabilities. Implications of Russia’s “Non-Nuclear Deterrence”. Drago Bosnic

By Drago Bosnic, December 29, 2024

After the Russian military’s Strategic Missile Forces (RVSN) used the latest “Oreshnik” missile in Dnepropetrovsk on November 21, the world was left shocked, with news ranging from “end of the world” scaremongering to ridicule.

No Longer Sustained by Education, Western Humanity Is in Death Throes. Paul C. Roberts

By Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, December 30, 2024

Universities no longer produce educated people, and educated people are ceasing to exist. It is an interesting question, not to be discussed here, whether the disappearance of educated people is cause or result of the rise in barbarity that is engulfing the world.

Continuity of Barbarism. Empire and Its Proxies Destroy Healthcare and Humanity as Policy. Mark Taliano

By Mark Taliano, December 30, 2024

In Syria and Gaza, the mechanics of Western-perpetrated terror are eerily similar. Empire’s proxies, al Qaeda, ISIS and affiliates in Syria, and Zionists in occupied Palestine, destroy healthcare as policy.

Putin Focussed on Biden Proposed Postponement of Ukraine’s NATO Accession, Conditions for Peace Negotiations, When Will Putin Meet Trump?

By Ahmed Adel, December 29, 2024

Russian President Vladimir Putin held a press conference on December 26, where he discussed the progress of the special military operation in Ukraine and the possibility of Kiev joining NATO. The Russian president recalled that the Biden administration had suggested to him, since 2021, that Ukraine postpone its accession to NATO by 10 to 15 years.

War on Gaza Crystalizes Israel’s Image. Prof. Yakov Rabkin

By Prof. Yakov M. Rabkin, December 29, 2024

The contemporary history of the Jews presents a more daring case of such re-education. For centuries, Jewish ideals have stressed mercy, modesty, and beneficence. The abhorrence of violence is so ingrained that in many Jewish communities, knives, which could be tools of murder, must be removed from the table before reciting the grace after a meal.

Social Unrest in Serbia Portends Serious Changes. It’s Not a Color Revolution

By Stephen Karganovic, December 29, 2024

The social convulsion in Serbia began slightly over a month ago when a protruding portion of the roof at the train station in the city of Novi Sad collapsed, killing 15 people and leaving several more severely injured and fighting for life.

Buoyant National Economy, Russia’s Inroads Into Africa. BRICS and the Unstoppable March of the Global South. Peter Koenig

By Peter Koenig, December 29, 2024

Russia by all standards is probably the most “sanctioned” country by the west. But her economy keeps growing faster than any western economy. A normal thinker would say, there is something wrong.

New figures show that a record number of urgent suspected cancer referrals were made in Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire this year.

A cancer research organisation said cancer patients across England already face “anxious waits for treatment”, and called on the Government to invest in and reform cancer services across the country.

It comes after the Government announced new tech deals to boost the business of cancer detection, and a plan to trial new ways to tackle the disease with faster diagnoses and better treatment.

NHS England figures show three million urgent suspected cancer referrals were made across the country in 2023/24, up five per cent from 2.9 million the year before and the highest figure since records began in 2009-10.

At the NHS Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care Board, 87,103 such referrals were made this year, up from 82,564 the previous year and also a 14-year record.

Of all urgent suspected cancer referrals made across England this year, 182,060 resulted in a cancer diagnosis, including 5,844 at the NHS Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care Board.

Michelle Mitchell, chief executive at Cancer Research UK, said the number of urgent suspected cancer referrals in England is rising as the population grows and ages.

She added:

“While it’s important that people continue to seek help when they experience unusual changes or symptoms, the NHS must have the resources to meet this increasing demand.

“At a time when thousands of cancer patients in England are already facing anxious waits for treatment, additional investment alongside reform to cancer services will be crucial to provide the care that people deserve.

“The UK Government’s promised national cancer plan for England is key to delivering on its pledge to meet waiting time targets by the end of this Parliament, and we’re ready to work with the Government on the long-term thinking needed to transform cancer survival.”

Across England, the most urgent suspected cancer referrals were made for suspected skin cancer (715,803), followed by breast cancer (519,469), and gastrointestinal cancer (501,760).

While urgent referrals for suspected breast, lung, and skin cancers have all increased this year, those for gastrointestinal have slightly decreased.

At the NHS Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care Board, 20,874 urgent referrals were made for suspected skin cancer, 14,397 for suspected breast cancer, 13,304 for suspected GI cancer and 2,092 for suspected lung cancer.

Professor Peter Johnson, NHS England national clinical director for cancer, said:

“As we all live longer and the number of people developing cancer continues to rise, the NHS is diagnosing more cancers than ever before, and our work to raise awareness, help to warn those at risk and encourage people to come forward for checks is vital to make sure people can get treatment promptly.

“NHS staff are working hard to see and treat more people with cancer than ever, but we know there is more to do to ensure people get a diagnosis or the all-clear sooner and to further improve care and treatment.

“As always, we would encourage people to get checked at the earliest opportunity if they have any worrying signs or symptoms.”

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Our thanks to Dr. William Makis for bringing this article to our attention.

On 19 December 2024, Human Rights Watch issued a 179-page report detailing Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

On 5 December 2024, Amnesty International issued a 296-page report detailing Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

On 21 November 2024, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for crimes against humanity and war crimes.

On 26 January 2024, the International Court of Justice found that a plausible case can be made that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

Given the West’s presumed commitment to human rights and especially to preventing genocide, one would have expected countries like the United States, Britain, and Germany, to have stopped the Israeli genocide in its tracks.

Instead, the governments in those three countries, especially the United States, have supported Israel’s unimaginable behavior in Gaza at every turn. Indeed, those three countries are complicit in this genocide.

Moreover, almost all of the many human rights advocates in those countries, and in the West more generally, have stayed silent while Israel executed its genocide. The mainstream media has made hardly any effort to expose and challenge what Israel is doing to the Palestinians. Indeed some key outlets have staunchly supported Israel’s actions.

One wonders what people in the West who have either supported Israel’s genocide or remained silent tell themselves to justify their behavior and sleep at night.

History will not treat them kindly.

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Featured image is from the author

Universities no longer produce educated people, and educated people are ceasing to exist. It is an interesting question, not to be discussed here, whether the disappearance of educated people is cause or result of the rise in barbarity that is engulfing the world.

Wherever one looks one sees degeneration.  From Bach, Mozart, Beethoven to four-letter rap. Literature has ceased to be written as well as read.  Art has become scribbles attesting to meaningless. Both the inclination and ability to read are declining. Fewer people can use their language. University students’ essays are written by insentient AI. People no longer understand  the metaphors and allusions used in language, because they have been denied literature.

Great literature explores the human condition and prepares people for an aware life.  It protects against naïveté. It teaches the richness and usefulness of language, enhances communication skills, essential skills lost to today’s technical training and “customer service” AI.

Communication today is nonverbal, shorthand text messages. The digital revolution, artificial intelligence, and transhumanism are eliminating human communication. Increasingly humans are forced by “customer service” to communicate with an unthinking programmed voice that cannot recognize any question, an answer for which it has not been programmed. Just think how difficult it is to deal with a service provider.  What once was a matter of a three minute telephone call answered by the third ring, can now be a multi-hour and even multi-day enterprise. The lack of Internet security means that even if a human is reached, no decision or solution can be made.  It has to go up a level as fewer and fewer employees are trusted to make a judgment.

The digital revolution has brought an explosion in crime and scams. Florida, for example, has so many that they don’t want you to report another one.

The digital revolution was sold to  businesses as a way to drop cost by replacing customer service representatives with AI.  But AI is not sentient and cannot deal with anything for which it is not programmed.  The main purpose of AI “customer relations” is to make it too expensive in time to correct an incorrect  bill. It is cheaper just to pay the overstated one.

There are fewer and fewer service companies where you can contact a human with the ability to correct a problem without an investment of hours of time.  My favorite is when the Internet is down and you call the service supplier and are told to contact their chat on their website.

Years ago Shakespeare was accused by the Israel Lobby of being anti-semitic. Shakespeare lived during 1564 and 1616.  The term anti-semite did not exist and there was no Israel Lobby.  This did not prevent Shakespeare from being labeled an anti-semite in the 20th century and removed from high school and university literature courses.  Consequently, the most remarkable use of the English language has been denied to students who have been deprived of understanding portions of their own language because of Jewish objections to Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s literature, of course, is not a literature of anti-semitism.  But here and there he says a few things about Jews that everyone then believed and many today still do. In literature the same thing happens to every ethnicity, but it is only Jews who complain.

The World Economic Forum, an evil institution to which Western politicians and corporate executives long to belong, has a transhumanist operative who says that AI has made human life unnecessary and inconvenient.  The need to dispose of superfluous  humans has led to discussions of a legislated lifetime. I predicted many years ago that abortion would lead to enforced euthanasia.

Ask yourself whose hand is driving geeks to make humans superfluous.  Why is it more important to have AI answer a phone than a human?  If humans are to be disposed of, who is to purchase the products of robots?  Don’t you think it is extraordinary that the AI advocates  have never asked themselves this question?  How does it advance humanity to forever find new ways to transfer the  human function to a robot?  How did it come to be that the main agenda of science is to make humans irrelevant?

Over the course of my life I have watched a dark age gradually engulf the world.  Trump says he is going to make America great again, but how is he going to do that when the building materials no longer exist?  What is Trump’s definition of great?

The disassembly of our civilization has left a barbaric people who would not be able to understand Shakespeare if they were to read him.

If truth can be acknowledged, it was literature professors and critics themselves who destroyed great literature by pumping into the works all sorts of modern nonsense, distorting and destroying  the meaning of the works.

And now it is Princeton University that is going to misinterpret literature, history, and architecture through the lens of LGBTQ+. Gone with the Wind will be rescued from the banned list, and we will learn that Scarlett O’hara, a transgendered lesbian, wanted to make love to the black servant Prissy, but was deterred by feelings of white racist supremacy.

As Literature is phased out of university studies, pornography moves in.

This report from The Guardian describes the plight of education in England:

“The announcement that Canterbury Christ Church University in Kent is to stop offering English literature degrees has set several hares running, most of them in the wrong direction. The university said in effect that hardly anyone wanted to study English literature at degree level any more and the course was therefore no longer viable. If you can’t do EngLit in the city of Chaucer and Marlowe, where can you do it?

“Canterbury’s tale is a familiar one. EngLit is in wholesale retreat at A level, with numbers down from 83,000 in 2013 to 54,000 in 2023, and there has been a decline at university, too, over the past decade, though statistics are disputed because the subject gets studied at degree level in many guises, including creative writing and linguistics. Overall, humanities subjects seem to be losing their appeal, with only 38% of students taking a course in 2021/22, down from nearly 60% between 2003/4 and 2015/16.

“Tuition fees and the need to study a subject chosen to recoup a student’s substantial investment are likely to be behind the fall. The perilous state of university finances is also leading to deep cuts – resulting in the loss of the well-regarded chemistry course at Hull last week. But most concerning is the widespread closure of arts and humanities departments – art, music, drama, dance – with institutions such as Goldsmiths, Oxford Brookes and Surrey shedding hundreds of academics.  [In other words, society no longer needs educated persons. Instead, universities produce people with skills needed by corporations.]

“EngLit might seem an easy target. Studying Beowulf is no longer quite as attractive as it was when the state paid. Meanwhile, those on the liberal side of the argument blame Michael Gove’s 2013 curriculum reforms, which ushered in an era of content-heavy courses assessed by final exams. Successive Tory education ministers also extolled science and technology while deriding the career prospects of arts graduates.

“Studying literature is inherently a good thing. Virginia Woolf, who was mortified by her father’s unwillingness to let her go to university, saw books as a way of transcending the self. University should be concerned with encouraging rational inquiry and the free play of the intellect; it is not about the creation of useful drones and it’s unfortunate that tuition fees have made the experience to some degree transactional. Courses should challenge students, emphasising the decoding of texts over superficial skimming. [Decoding of texts helped to destroy literature.]

“The closure of Canterbury Christ Church University’s course coincided with a National Literacy Trust report revealing that only 35% of 8 to 18-year-olds enjoy reading for pleasure — a drop of nearly 9 percentage points in a year. Reading rates are falling, the gender gap is widening and causes range from social media’s dominance to library closures and shrinking attention spans. (Should we read anything into the brevity of this year’s Booker Prize winner? How would Our Mutual Friend have fared?) Some school teachers suggest replacing Dickens with social media studies, but, as Evelyn Waugh’s Scoop might counter: “Up to a point, Lord Copper”.

“We should be concerned about the closure of the EngLit course at Canterbury. Universities are in a shocking state, and the new government has barely begun the herculean task of stabilising the sector. This is more than an institutional failure. It signals a cultural shift that risks leaving future generations without the critical, empathetic and intellectual tools provided by literature. “There is no friend as loyal as a book,” Hemingway said. Reliance on Instagram influencers can only get you so far. We still need Our Mutual Friend.” 

Top US university offers courses on prostitution (“Sex Work” is today’s euphemism) and queer studies.

For $60,000 annual tuition, Princeton University will teach you how to be a prostitute.

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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: A file photo of students on a university campus. Spiroview Inc/Shutterstock

For decades, neoliberalism has systematically attacked the welfare state, undermined public institutions and weakened the foundations of collective well-being. Shrouded in the alluring language of liberty, it transforms market principles into a dominant creed, insisting that every facet of life conform to the imperatives of profit and economic efficiency.

But in reality, neoliberalism consolidates wealth in the hands of a financial elite, celebrates ruthless individualism, promotes staggering levels of inequality, perpetuates systemic injustices like racism and militarism, and commodifies everything, leaving nothing sacred or untouchable. Neoliberalism operates as a relentless engine of capitalist accumulation, driven by an insatiable pursuit of unchecked growth and the ruthless concentration of wealth and power within the hands of a ruling elite. At its core, it’s a pedagogy of repression: crushing justice, solidarity and care while deriding critical education and destroying the very tools that empower citizens to resist domination and reclaim the promise of democracy.

As neoliberalism collapses into authoritarianism, its machinery of repression intensifies. Dissent is silenced, social life militarized and hate normalized. This fuels a fascistic politics which is systematically dismantling democratic accountability, with higher education among its primary targets. For years, the far right has sought to undermine education, recognizing it as a powerful site of resistance. This has only accelerated, as MAGA movement adherents seek to eliminate the public education threat to their authoritarian goals.

Vice President-elect J.D. Vance openly declared “the professors are the enemy.” President-elect Donald Trump has stated that “pink-haired communists [are] teaching our kids.” In response to the Black Lives Matter protests following George Floyd’s killing, MAGA politicians like Sen. Tom Cotton openly called for deploying military force against demonstrators.

The authoritarian spirit driving this party is crystallized in the words of right-wing activist Jack Posobiec, who, at the 2023 Conservative Political Action Conference, said:

“We are here to overthrow democracy completely. We didn’t get all the way there on January 6, but we will. After we burn that swamp to the ground, we will establish the new American republic on its ashes.”

This is more than anti-democratic, authoritarian rhetoric. It also shapes poisonous policies in which education is transformed into an animating space of repression and violence, and becomes weaponized as a tool of censorship, conformity and discrimination.

As authoritarianism surges globally, democracy is being dismantled. What does this rise in illiberal regimes mean for higher education? What is the role of universities in defending democratic ideals when the very notion of democracy is under siege? In Trump’s United States, silence is complicity, and inaction a moral failing. Higher education must reassert itself as a crucial democratic public sphere that fosters critical thought, resists tyranny and nurtures the kind of informed citizens necessary to a just society.

Trump’s return to the presidency marks the endpoint of a deeply corrupt system, one that thrives on anti-intellectualism, scorn for science and contempt for reason. In this political climate, corruption, racism and hatred have transformed into a spectacle of fear, division and relentless disinformation, supplanting any notion of shared responsibility or collective purpose. In such a degraded environment, democracy becomes a hollowed-out version of itself, stripped of its legitimacy, ideals and promises. When democracy loses its moral and aspirational appeal, it opens the door for autocrats like Trump to dismantle the very institutions vital to preserving democratic life.

The failure of civic culture, education and literacy is starkly evident in the Trump administration’s success at emptying language of meaning — a flight from historical memory, ethics, justice and social responsibility. Communication has devolved into exaggerated political rhetoric and shallow public relations, replacing reason and evidence with spectacle and demagoguery. Thinking is scorned as dangerous, and news often serves as an amplifier for power rather than a check on it.

Corporate media outlets, driven by profits and ratings, align themselves with Trump’s dis-imagination machine, perpetuating a culture of celebrity worship and reality-TV sensationalism. In this climate, the institutions essential to a vibrant civil society are eroding, leaving us to ask: What kind of democracy can survive when the foundations of the social fabric are collapsing? Among these institutions, the mainstream media — a cornerstone of the fourth estate — have been particularly compromised. As Heather McGhee notes, the right-wing media has, over three decades, orchestrated “a radical takeover of our information ecosystem.”

Universities’ Neoliberal Audit Culture

As public-sector support fades, many institutions of higher education have been forced to mirror the private sector, turning knowledge into a commodity and eliminating departments and courses that don’t align with the market’s bottom line. Faculty are increasingly treated like low-wage workers, with labor relations designed to minimize costs and maximize servility. In this climate, power is concentrated in the hands of a managerial class that views education through a market-driven lens, reducing both governance and teaching to mere instruments of economic need. Democratic and creative visions, along with ethical imagination, give way to calls for efficiency, financial gain and conformity.

This neoliberal model not only undermines faculty autonomy but also views students as mere consumers, while saddling them with exorbitant tuition fees and a precarious future shaped by economic instability and ecological crisis. In abandoning its democratic mission, higher education fixates on narrow notions of job-readiness and cost-efficiency, forsaking its broader social and moral responsibilities. Stripped of any values beyond self-interest, institutions retreat from fostering critical citizenship and collective well-being.

Pedagogy, in turn, is drained of its critical content and transformative potential. This shift embodies what Cris Shore and Susan Wright term an “audit culture” — a corporate-driven ethos that depoliticizes knowledge, faculty and students by prioritizing performance metrics, measurable outputs and rigid individual accountability over genuine intellectual and social engagement.

In this process, higher education relinquishes its role as a democratic public sphere, shifting its mission from cultivating engaged citizens to molding passive consumers. This transformation fosters a generation of self-serving individuals, disconnected from the values of solidarity and justice, and indifferent to the creeping rise of authoritarianism.

The suppression of student dissent on campuses this year, particularly among those advocating for Palestinian rights and freedom, highlights this alarming trend. Universities increasingly prioritize conformity and corporate interests, punishing critical thinking and democratic engagement in the process. These developments lay the groundwork for a future shaped not by collective action and social equity, but by privatization, apathy and the encroachment of fascist politics.

Education, once the bedrock of civic engagement, has become a casualty in the age of Trump, where civic illiteracy is celebrated as both virtue and spectacle. In a culture dominated by information overload, celebrity worship and a cutthroat survival ethic, anti-intellectualism thrives as a political weapon, eroding language, meaning and critical thought. Ignorance is no longer passive — it is weaponized, fostering a false solidarity among those who reject democracy and scorn reason. This is not innocent ignorance but a calculated refusal to think critically, a deliberate rejection of language’s role in the pursuit of justice. For the ruling elite and the modern Republican Party, critical thinking is vilified as a threat to power, while willful ignorance is elevated to a badge of honor.

If we are to defeat the emerging authoritarianism in the U.S., critical education must become a key organizing principle of politics. In part, this can be done by exposing and unraveling lies, systems of oppression, and corrupt relations of power while making clear that an alternative future is possible. The language of critical pedagogy can powerfully condemn untruths and injustices.

History’s Emancipating Potential

A central goal of critical pedagogy is to cultivate historical awareness, equipping students to use history as a vital lens for understanding the present. Through the critical act of remembrance, the history of fascism can be illuminated not as a relic of the past but as a persistent threat, its dormant traces capable of reawakening even in the most robust democracies. In this sense, history must retain its subversive function — drawing on archives, historical sources, and suppressed narratives to challenge conventional wisdom and dominant ideologies.

The subversive power of history lies in its ability to challenge dominant narratives and expose uncomfortable truths — precisely why it has become a prime target for right-wing forces determined to rewrite or erase it. From banning books and whitewashing historic injustices like slavery to punishing educators who address pressing social issues, the assault on history is a calculated effort to suppress critical thinking and maintain control. Such assaults on historical memory represent a broader attempt to silence history’s emancipatory potential, rendering critical pedagogy an even more urgent and essential practice in resisting authoritarian forces. These assaults represent both a cleansing of history and what historian Timothy Snyder calls “anticipatory obedience,” which he labels as behavior individuals adopt in the service of emerging authoritarian regimes.

The fight against a growing fascist politics around the world is more than a struggle over power, it is also a struggle to reclaim historical memory. Any fight for a radical democratic socialist future is doomed if we fail to draw transformative lessons from the darkest chapters of our history, using them to forge meaningful resolutions and pathways toward a post-capitalist society. This is especially true at a time when the idea of who should be a citizen has become less inclusive, fueled by toxic religious and white supremacist ideology.

Consciousness-Shifting Pedagogy

One of the challenges facing today’s educators, students and others is the need to address the question of what education should accomplish in a historical moment when it is slipping into authoritarianism. In a world in which there is an increasing abandonment of egalitarian and democratic impulses, what will it take to educate young people and the broader polity to hold power accountable?

In part, this suggests developing educational policies and practices that not only inspire and motivate people but are also capable of challenging the growing number of anti-democratic tendencies under the global tyranny of capitalism. Such a vision of education can move the field beyond its obsession with accountability schemes, market values, and unreflective immersion in the crude empiricism of a data-obsessed, market-driven society. It can also confront the growing assault on education, where right-wing forces seek to turn universities into tools of ideological tyranny — arenas of pedagogical violence and white Christian indoctrination.

Any meaningful vision of critical pedagogy must have the power to provoke a radical shift in consciousness — a shift that helps us see the world through a lens that confronts the savage realities of genocidal violence, mass poverty, the destruction of the planet and the threat of nuclear war, among other issues. A true shift in consciousness is not possible without pedagogical interventions that speak directly to people in ways that resonate with their lives, struggles and experiences. Education must help individuals recognize themselves in the issues at hand, understanding how their personal suffering is not an isolated event, but part of a systemic crisis. In addition, activism, debate and engagement should be central to a student’s education.

In other words, there can be no authentic politics without a pedagogy of identification — an education that connects people to the broader forces shaping their lives, an education that helps them imagine and fight for a world where they are active agents of change.

The poet Jorie Graham emphasizes the importance of engaging people through experiences that resonate deeply with their everyday lives. She states that “it takes a visceral connection to experience itself to permit us to even undergo an experience.” Without this approach, pedagogy risks reinforcing a broader culture engrossed in screens and oversimplifications. In such a context, teaching can quickly transform into inaccessible jargon that alienates rather than educates.

Resisting Educational “Neutrality”

In the current historical moment, education cannot surrender to the call of academics who now claim in the age of Trump that there is no room for politics in the classroom, or the increasing claim by administrators that universities have a responsibility to remain neutral. This position is not only deeply flawed but also complicit in its silence over the current far right politicization of education.

The call for neutrality in many North American universities is a retreat from social and moral responsibility, masking the reality that these institutions are deeply embedded in power relations. As Heidi Matthews, Fatima Ahdash and Priya Gupta aptly argue, neutrality “serves to flatten politics and silence scholarly debate,” obscuring the inherently political nature of university life. From decisions about enrollment and research funding to event policies and poster placements, every administrative choice reflects a political stance. Far from apolitical, neutrality is a tool that silences dissent and shields power from accountability.

It is worth repeating that the most powerful forms of education today extend far beyond public and higher education. With the rise of new technologies, power structures and social media, culture itself has become a tool of propaganda. Right-wing media, conservative foundations, and a culture dominated by violence and reality TV created the fertile ground for the rise of Trump and his continued legitimacy. Propaganda machines like Fox Newshave fostered an anti-intellectual climate, normalizing Trump’s bigotry, lies, racism and history of abuse. This is not just a political failure — it is an educational crisis.

In the age of new media, platforms like Elon Musk’s X and tech giants like Facebook, Netflix and Google have become powerful teaching machines, actively serving the far right and promoting the values of gangster capitalism. These companies are reshaping education, turning it into a training ground for workers who align with their entrepreneurial vision or, even more dangerously, perpetuating a theocratic, ultra-nationalist agenda that views people of color and marginalized groups as threats. This vision of education must be rejected in the strongest terms, for it erodes both democracy and the very purpose of education itself.

Education as Mass Mobilization

Education, in its truest sense, must be about more than training students to be workers or indoctrinating them into a white Christian nationalist view of who does and doesn’t count as American. Education should foster intellectual rigor and critical thinking, empowering students to interrogate their experiences and aspirations while equipping them with the agency to act with informed judgment. It must be a bold and supportive space where student voices are valued and engaged with pressing social and political issues, cultivating a commitment to justice, equality and freedom. In too many classrooms in the U.S., there are efforts to make students voiceless, which amounts to making them powerless. This must be challenged and avoided at all times.

Critical pedagogy must expose the false equivalence of capitalism and democracy, emphasizing that resisting fascism requires challenging capitalism. To be transformative, it should embrace anti-capitalist principles, champion radical democracy and envision political alternatives beyond conventional ideologies.

In the face of growing attacks on higher education, educators must reclaim their role in shaping futures, advancing a vision of education as integral to the struggle for democracy. This vision rejects the neoliberal framing of education as a private investment and instead embraces a critical pedagogy as a practice of freedom that disrupts complacency, fosters critical engagement, and empowers students to confront the forces shaping their lives.

In an age of resurgent fascism, education must do more than defend reason and critical judgment — it must also mobilize widespread, organized collective resistance. A number of youth movements, from Black Lives Matter and the Sunrise Movement to Fridays for Future and March for Our Lives, are mobilizing in this direction. The challenge here is to bring these movements together into one multiracial, working-class organization.

The struggle for a radical democracy must be anchored in the complexities of our time — not as a fleeting sentiment but as an active, transformative project. Democracy is not simply voting, nor is it the sum of capitalist values and market relations. It is an ideal and promise — a vision of a future that does not imitate the present; it is the lifeblood of resistance, struggle, and the ongoing merging of justice, ethics and freedom.

In a society where democracy is under siege, educators must recognize that alternative futures are not only possible but that acting on this belief is essential to achieving social change.

The global rise of fascism casts a long shadow, marked by state violence, silenced dissent and the assault on critical thought. Yet history is not a closed book — it is a call to action, a space for possibility. Now, more than ever, we must dare to think boldly, act courageously, and forge the democratic futures that justice demands and humanity deserves.

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Henry A. Giroux currently holds the McMaster University Chair for Scholarship in the Public Interest in the English and Cultural Studies Department and is the Paulo Freire Distinguished Scholar in Critical Pedagogy. His most recent books include: The Terror of the Unforeseen (Los Angeles Review of books, 2019), On Critical Pedagogy, 2nd edition (Bloomsbury, 2020); Race, Politics, and Pandemic Pedagogy: Education in a Time of Crisis(Bloomsbury 2021); Pedagogy of Resistance: Against Manufactured Ignorance (Bloomsbury 2022) and Insurrections: Education in the Age of Counter-Revolutionary Politics (Bloomsbury, 2023), and coauthored with Anthony DiMaggio, Fascism on Trial: Education and the Possibility of Democracy (Bloomsbury, 2025). Giroux is also a member of Truthout’s board of directors.

Featured image: Organizers began setting up early Monday morning on the University of Oregon campus in Eugene. They say the encampment isn’t intended to interfere with campus activities or classes. (Source: Nathan Wilk / KLCC)

In Syria and Gaza, the mechanics of Western-perpetrated terror are eerily similar.

Empire’s proxies, al Qaeda, ISIS and affiliates in Syria, and Zionists in occupied Palestine, destroy healthcare as policy.

In February, 2023, journalist Sara Salloum explained that,

“the years of war on Syria have seen the complete destruction of 38 hospitals at the hands of terrorists, as well as the that of 450 vehicles and the killing of more than 700 Syrian doctors.”(1)

Dr. Rouba Mirza, in an interview with Syrian journalist and author Basma Qaddour,  explained that

“the West-backed terrorist groups had not only targeted doctors, pharmacists, nurses, but also attacked with rockets hospitals and pharmaceutical factories, especially in Aleppo governorate, and looted medicines and hoarded them  during the first years of the war on the country because they know that the war will last for a long time…. In May 2014, terrorist groups destroyed Al-Kindi Hospital in Aleppo after looting its contents worth millions of Syrian Pounds.”

The damage and destruction of health infrastructure has been further exacerbated by Western-imposed unilateral coercive measures.

Dr. Mirza explains that,

”this maintenance of damaged factories and equipment was hampered by the western unilateral sanctions as their designation of the Central Bank and all public financial institutions has completely blocked transactions for imports and exports, including  medicine, spare parts, raw materials, and has restrained foreign currency inflows …” (2)

Western-supported Zionists are deploying similar mechanisms of collective punishment and terror on civilian populations in occupied Palestine.

Satellite images captured between October 22, 2023 and March 27, 2024 by Al Jazeera’s Sanad verification agency reveal that 24 hospitals were damaged, including:

• 6 hospitals in northern Gaza
• 10 hospitals in Gaza City
• 1 hospital in Deir el-Balah
• 7 hospitals in Khan Younis (3)

On-the-ground reporter Hind Khoudary correctly notes that Palestinians “are not dying only from the shelling and airstrikes, they are dying from the lack of access to medical care, lack of food, hunger and starvation …” (4)

Award-winning Palestinian reporter Bisan Owda now (12-27-2024) reports that the Israeli army “invaded, evacuated, took-over” the Kamal Adwan Hospital, “the last working hospital in the North of Gaza strip.”

“The deliberate full-scale targeting of Gaza’s healthcare system,” notes Lima Bustami, Head of the Legal Department at Euro Med Monitor, “indespensable to the survival of the civilian population, by the Israeli occupation forces is not only a grave violation of IHL, and a war crime but also an act of genocide, delberately creating the conditions of life designed to ensure the physical destruction of the Palestinian population there.”

Prof. Devi Sridhar (chair, global public health, University of Edinburgh) recently concluded that,

“the total deaths since the conflict began would be estimated at about 335,500 in total.” (5)

Empire’s permanent warfare and its declared “New Middle East” is a criminal war of terror on innocent civilians. In Syria, the war and the subsequent al-Qaeda take-over of the elected government is emblematic of Empire’s terror. In Palestine, the terror is a holocaust, where multitudes are displaced and killed, where homes and livelihoods are destroyed, where escape is impossible, and the land is uninhabitable. All of this is by design and with intent.

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Research Assistance by Basma Qaddour

Mark Taliano is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG) and the author of Voices from Syria, Global Research Publishers, 2017. He writes on his website where this article was originally published.

Notes

(1) Sara Salloum, ” How are sanctions, blockade affecting humanitarian effort in Syria?” Al Mayadeem.Net, 7 February, 2023. (How are sanctions, blockade affecting humanitarian effort in Syria? | Al Mayadeen English) Accessed 25 October, 2024.

(2) Basma Qaddour, “Interview with the former Member of Parliament,  the pharmacist Dr. Rouba Mirza/ By Basma Qaddour” marktanliano.net, 24 October, 2024. (Interview with the former Member of Parliament,  the pharmacist Dr. Rouba Mirza/ By Basma Qaddour – Mark Taliano) Accessed 25 October, 2024.

See also: Journey To Aleppo Part II: The Syria Civil Defense & Aleppo Medical Association Are Real Syrians Helping Real Syrians

(3) “Satellite images reveal the destruction of hospitals in Gaza.” AJLabs and Sanad Verification Agency, 18 April, 2024. (Satellite images reveal Israeli destruction of hospitals in Gaza | Interactive News | Al Jazeera) Accessed 25 October, 2024.

(4) Mark Taliano, “Parallel Fascism and Western-Supported Zionist Genocide of Palestine and Palestinians (Revised)” marktanliano.net, 2 June, 2024. (Parallel Fascism and Western-Supported Zionist Genocide of Palestine and Palestinians (Revised) – Mark Taliano) Accessed 25 October, 2024.

(5) Gideon Polya, ” Kid-Killing Kamala (KKK) Harris Complicit in Gaza Genocide.” Global Research. 28 October, 2024. (Kid-Killing Kamala (KKK) Harris Complicit in Gaza Genocide – Global ResearchGlobal Research – Centre for Research on Globalization) Accessed 28 October, 2024.

Featured image: C-section with flashlight on the head (doctor Fayez Abed). All photos: Al Awda

On December 26, various sources reported that the Russian military shot down the Kiev Regime US-made F-16 fighter jet. The aircraft seems to have been downed while attempting to launch missiles at the Zaporozhye oblast (region). Vladimir Rogov, the co-chair of the Coordinating Council for the Integration of New Regions, was the first to publish preliminary information about the downing.

According to his post on Telegram, “the F-16 aircraft was in position to launch a missile strike on the region, but it was shot down”. The Zaporozhye oblast is one of the four regions that joined Russia after a referendum in September 2022. Most of it (approximately 70%) is under Russian control, but the city of Zaporozhye itself is still occupied by the Kiev regime, whose forces regularly attack residential areas in all four regions, often killing and maiming civilians it considers its own citizens.

Many of these attacks have so far been conducted using NATO-sourced artillery and rocket systems, including the HIMARS. However, as the Russian military has become quite effective in shooting down the rockets fired by the extremely overhyped US-made system, the Neo-Nazi junta is becoming more desperate in its attempts to terrorize the population in the region.

The F-16 is certainly one of the platforms that could be used for such attacks, although its military usefulness is questionable at best. It should be noted that this is the second confirmed case of an F-16 downed over NATO-occupied Ukraine, with the first one neutralized back in late August. The Kiev regime and its overlords did all they could to ensure that confusion persists, as this unpleasant “surprise” (we all knew it was inevitable) came just a few weeks after the first F-16 was declared operational by the Neo-Nazi junta’s battered air force.

Obviously, the idea was to deny any credit to the Russian military, all in order to avoid ruining the US-made jet’s reputation. The actual fate of the first downed F-16 is yet to be confirmed, but there are several possible scenarios. Firstly, we know that Lieutenant Colonel Oleksii Mes (call sign Moonfish), one of the first pilots to complete training for the US-made jet, was killed on August 26. Mes originally served in the 204th Tactical Aviation Brigade, stationed at the Lutsk Air Base in northwestern Ukraine. The 204th uses the Soviet-era MiG-29s (specifically the MU1 variant) and was slated to switch to F-16s once the training was done. Mes was reportedly one of the few Ukrainian pilots with a good command of English, so he was immediately chosen for training. The exact circumstances of his death are still unclear, as there’s simply too much disinformation, especially in NATO.

At the time, there was speculation that he was killed in a missile strike, downed in a friendly fire incident involving a “Patriot” SAM (surface-to-air missile) system or possibly in air-to-air combat. Most sources kept avoiding even mentioning Russian long-range air defenses, despite their unparalleled battle-tested performance. All of the aforementioned scenarios are possible. If the first one is true, there’s a good chance that an F-16 was destroyed on the ground, as on August 26, oblasts (regions) with major tactical aviation bases, including Khmelnytsky, Volyn and Ivano-Frankivsk, were targeted by Russian long-range precision strikes. According to military sources, the Kremlin also targeted the Starokonstantinov Air Base where those NATO-sourced jets were supposed to be based, as it’s one of just several airbases with the facilities necessary to accommodate the sensitive US aircraft.

The friendly fire scenario involving a “Patriot” battery was first brought up by Mariana Bezuglaya, a Member of the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament). However, this doesn’t necessarily make it true, at least according to the Pentagon’s deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh, who said she couldn’t confirm the reports. This intentional ambivalence and attempts to “play dumb” were also used in relation to the latest F-16 downing, with the Pentagon refusing to comment on it or provide any data.

And indeed, there’s virtually no publicly available information about the latest incident in Western media. The Kiev regime is expected to suppress it, particularly as a way to ensure the so-called US/NATO “military aid” continues to be delivered into the “right hands”. If reports about losing such important US-made equipment expand, the upcoming administration might use them to make further cuts in funding.

This is something that the frontman Volodymyr Zelensky has been whining about for years, particularly with regard to the latest slowdown and delays in the delivery of new NATO-sourced weapons. The steady advances of the Russian military have only exacerbated the situation for the Kiev regime.

The Kremlin is not only extremely successful in using its top-of-the-line systems such as the Su-57, but it also keeps expanding production, with the latest deliveries to the Russian military heavily increasing its already impressive conventional power projection. In fact, there are strong indicators that a Su-57S actually shot down the first F-16 back in late August. Many Russian jets could’ve accomplished this, including the unrivaled Su-35S air superiority fighter or the superfast, high-flying MiG-31BM interceptor (both can carry the now legendary R-37M hypersonic air-to-air missiles).

However, according to John Helmer, who has been based in Russia since 1989, making him the longest-serving foreign correspondent in the country, the Russian military was keeping operational silence, “but there were hints from the Ukraine, as well as from Russian military bloggers“, that Lieutenant Colonel Mes was likely killed in his F-16 by an air-to-air missile fired by the Su-57. Considering the saturation of the frontlines with various types of SAM (surface-to-air missile) systems and other air defenses, the Su-57S was certainly the best solution, as it has been conducting deep-strike missions over NATO-occupied Ukraine for years at this point. This is particularly true when it comes to its new weapons such as the Izdeliye 180 (or R-87 in some military sources), a highly advanced scramjet-powered hypersonic air-to-air missile (top speed over Mach 5) which is to replace the R-77 and its derivatives.

There’s also the Izdeliye 810 (better known as the R-97 in military sources), a more advanced counterpart of the R-37M. It should be noted that this weapon is also hypersonic. With a top speed of Mach 6-7 and a massive 400 km range, this missile effectively turns the Su-57 into a “flying S-400”.

And speaking of the S-400, it could’ve certainly been used to down the F-16 in the latest incident. The Russian SAM system can use a plethora of weapons, including extremely long-range missiles such as the 40N6E (maximum range 400 km) and the hypersonic 48N6 (depending on the variant, maximum range up to 250 km). Both of these could make short work of virtually any jet, particularly older ones such as the F-16. Not to mention that the ground crews would be extra motivated, as various private companies and individuals in Russia are offering lucrative prizes for whoever accomplishes such a feat.

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This article was originally published on InfoBrics.

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

Featured image is from InfoBrics

Russian President Vladimir Putin held a press conference on December 26, where he discussed the progress of the special military operation in Ukraine and the possibility of Kiev joining NATO. The Russian president recalled that the Biden administration had suggested to him, since 2021, that Ukraine postpone its accession to NATO by 10 to 15 years.

“I don’t know what the emerging team of US President-elect [Donald Trump] is saying now. I know that I was told about this by the current President Biden in 2021. He suggested exactly that – to postpone Ukraine’s admission to NATO for 10-15 years because it is not ready yet. I reasonably replied: ‘Yes, it is not ready today. They will prepare it and accept it,’” the Russian leader told reporters.

The postponement of Ukraine’s annexation to NATO may be a proposal for a negotiated solution to the current conflict in Ukraine. However, Russia will never look favorably on this measure because it threatens national security.

On December 22, Trump said he would wait to meet with Putin to resolve the conflict in Ukraine and described the war as “horrible” after reiterating that if he were the US President instead of Biden, the conflict would not have occurred. Trump has a geopolitical vision that is different from Biden’s, and, judging by his recent statements, US foreign policy will tend more towards regional regrouping and challenging China globally. The president-elect is not particularly fond of NATO, and due to this, he wants to resolve the conflict in Ukraine quickly.

It is recalled that on June 14, Putin set several key conditions for the start of peace negotiations, including Ukraine’s withdrawal of troops from the four new Russian territories: Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, and Zaporozhye, the withdrawal of NATO membership candidacy, the maintenance of neutral, non-aligned, and non-nuclear status, and the lifting of all sanctions against Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in turn, rejected the proposal, calling it an ultimatum.

During his press conference on December 26, Putin also highlighted that “Ukraine can no longer exist without the support of Europe.”

Western financial assistance to Kiev amounted to $238.5 billion from February 2022 to early December 2024, corresponding to 87% of the country’s budget expenditures. The US remains Ukraine’s largest donor, having sent $95.2 billion to Kiev over the past three years. EU member states transferred $94.2 billion worth of financial and military aid to Ukraine. Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands are the largest donors in the second category—$11.9 billion, $7.5 billion, and $6.3 billion, respectively.

Ukraine mortgaged its future, and badly, to the US, which needs continued conflict to maintain its war economy and to continue weakening Europe. Putin said it with great mental acuity: Ukraine will no longer be able to be independent because it has many debts that link it to the future of the Western debacle.

In this regard, Kiev’s economy is clearly experiencing a very complicated and irregular situation, which could be further weakened once Trump takes power because he will seek to avoid foreign financing as much as possible and focus it on his country’s economy. If an agreement is reached, that would mean the end of the conflict, and Ukraine will need even more investment, something that, at this moment in time, is not clear where it will come from.

Putin also said during his press conference that Russia will continue to implement in 2025 the objectives set within the framework of the special military operation, which, he said, is its number one task.

“Of course, we are assuming that we will achieve all the objectives of the special military operation. This is, roughly speaking, the number one task. We will support our guys: as we speak now, they are fighting,” the Russian president said.

In this regard, Russia has the political and economic capacity to continue supporting its special military operation for as long as necessary. The economic sanctions imposed on Russia to try to reduce its power did nothing but strengthen and diversify the Russian economy. The sanctions also forced Russia to industrialize further, projecting ever more technological, economic, political, and military strength. Russia has the strength that the European Union does not, and the bloc will have even less without Trump’s support.

Under these circumstances, Ukraine has the most to lose, most importantly, territory and people. Yet, Zelensky continues the war in the false belief that Ukraine will eventually join NATO and be able to activate the mutual defence pact, even if Biden, out of the public eye, acknowledges that membership will not be achieved for at least another decade.

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

After the Russian military’s Strategic Missile Forces (RVSN) used the latest “Oreshnik” missile in Dnepropetrovsk on November 21, the world was left shocked, with news ranging from “end of the world” scaremongering to ridicule.

Some major German media outlets resorted to the latter, with Julian Roepcke (better known as Jihadi Julian), one of the more prominent “military experts” at the Bild, a German tabloid, saying that the missile “likely carried no explosive charge and did not cause any significant damage”.

Roepcke’s report, published on November 23, says that the launch was “a propaganda and political action rather than a military one”, as there was “neither a nuclear charge nor explosives inside”. The German author insists “that’s the reason the damage was so insignificant”.

As many analysts have already suggested (myself included, both last year and in April), Roepcke also believes that the missile is most likely based on the RS-26 “Rubezh” (although this is yet to be confirmed). However, he erroneously thought that “the ‘Oreshnik’ didn’t contain explosives or a warhead and would have been equipped with a substitute of the same size and weight to simulate the appearance of a nuclear warhead”.

According to Sputnik FYI (yet to be confirmed by reliable Western sources):

While this is true for regular missile tests, the launch of the “Oreshnik” was anything but. Namely, the RVSN used 36 advanced kinetic penetrators to strike heavily fortified targets, including those deep underground. Thus, it’s quite clear that Roepcke’s virtually immediate disregard of the “Oreshnik’s” capabilities was a careless miscalculation, to say the least.

President Vladimir Putin himself stated that the missile is effectively unstoppable, but this too was met with disregard and even ridicule. For some inexplicable reason, neither the mainstream propaganda machine nor its bosses in the political West’s leadership seem to be able to learn from their mistakes. Namely, when President Putin says something, it should be taken very seriously. For instance, back in 2004, just two years after the United States announced its unilateral withdrawal from the ABM (anti-ballistic missile) Treaty, he publicly promised that Russia would resume the development of hypersonic weapons started during the (First) Cold War. However, nobody listened, as NATO was convinced that the Eurasian giant was “finished” (nothing could be further from true).

Just two years after that speech, Moscow inducted the “Iskander-M” missile system, along with its 9M723 hypersonic missile. Since then, the Russian military acquired at least a dozen types of such weapons, resulting in an advantage measured in decades. Back in 2019, I argued that the Kremlin was at least 20 years ahead of its NATO adversaries, including the US. This turned out to be not only true, but it can even be argued that the “Oreshnik” ensured this advantage grows further. Now, much unlike Roepcke, it seems that the German military understands just how outclassed it is, especially by such weapons. Namely, Roepcke’s own newspaper, the Bild, disagrees with his previously mentioned report about the “Oreshnik”. First, the outlet lamented that Russia deployed the missile in Belarus.

According to the report, a recently leaked internal document showed that the Federal Foreign Office (AA) warned that “Germany is not adequately protected against this deadly danger”. Interestingly, the document also posits that “the current protection provided by ‘Patriot’ systems is not sufficient” and that “the federal government now wants to close the gap”. The report also points out that interception rates are atrocious and that the extremely overhyped US-made ABM/SAM (surface-to-air missile) system would “base their performance on sheer luck” when it comes to intercepting Russian missiles (particularly something like the “Oreshnik”). The Bild also added that Berlin would purchase the Israeli “Arrow” ABM system to “help strengthen Germany’s defense against new types of missiles”.

A US Patriot missile battery is seen firing during a drill at Fort Bliss, Texas. (Credit: US Army / Sgt. Ian Vega-Cerezo)

 Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptors is launched during a successful intercept test.

It’s quite interesting that the Germans openly said that the “Patriot” cannot effectively intercept hypersonic weapons. Namely, for nearly three years, the Kiev regime has been saying its forces regularly “shoot down” Russian hypersonic missiles. I’ve argued numerous times that such claims are virtually guaranteed to be nothing more than war propaganda. Simply put, the numbers behind all this just don’t add up. This fact is supported by other globally renowned experts, including senior military officers. Namely, retired Group Captain Uttam Kumar Devnath from the Indian Air Force recently stated that “Russia’s ‘Oreshnik’ missile system is beyond the interception capabilities of Western defense systems like the ‘Patriot’ and THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense)”.

“The ‘Oreshnik’, described as a hypersonic, intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), is claimed to travel at speeds that exceed Mach 10, making it, according to Devnath, ‘too fast for radar targeting‘. This speed, coupled with its maneuverability, purportedly renders it impervious to interception by current Western missile defense technologies,” the Indian Defence Research Wing reported, quoting Group Captain Devnath and adding: “The ‘Oreshnik’s’ velocity and ability to alter its trajectory are cited as key reasons why systems like the ‘Patriot’, designed to counter ballistic threats, would fail to engage it effectively. Devnath highlighted the missile’s design, suggesting it leverages stealth technologies and hypersonic flight principles to evade detection and interception.”

President Putin has already publicly called on NATO to pick any target, deploy its much-touted SAM/ABM systems to defend it and promised that the Russian military would neutralize it either way. Such confidence serves as a testament to Moscow’s unrivaled hypersonic capabilities. Obviously, the political West would never accept such a proposal, which speaks volumes about the veracity of the claims that NATO-sourced missile defenses are supposedly “shooting down” Russian hypersonic weapons left and right. It should also be noted that the usually quoted speed of Mach 10 for the “Oreshnik” is quite misleading, as the missile it was based on, namely the RS-26 “Rubezh”, can actually fly at speeds of anywhere between Mach 20 and Mach 25 (7-8,5 km/s or 25,000-30,000 km/h).

The “Oreshnik” is not only a major asset for Russia, but also for the whole multipolar world, as it offers a massive advantage in non-nuclear strategic deterrence. Although surely nuclear-capable, the “Oreshnik” is armed with a conventional MIRV/MaRV/HGV payload composed of 36 advanced kinetic penetrators (six in each of the six warheads).

Coupled with its speed and maneuverability, this makes it the most powerful conventional weapon ever devised. This combination is what makes hypersonic weapons effectively impossible to track and intercept. Namely, unlike traditional ballistic missiles which fly at a predictable path, hypersonic weapons maneuver, making the interception based on the calculations of ballistic computers completely useless and void.

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

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Modern Israel attracts much attention from analysts and the public but our ability to understand it is hindered by ideology, prejudice, and myth. Many tread carefully when discussing Israel lest they be accused of antisemitism. In an earlier article, I explained what distinguishes anti-Zionism from antisemitism. However, the fundamental difficulty lies in the habitual association of the state in Western Asia with the Jews. Should we view those who inhabit and govern Israel as Jews or have they become something else — namely, Israelis? 

The “nature versus nurture” debate over the relative influence of inherited traits versus environmental conditions on humans is older than many realize. It can be traced through different stages of the biblical narrative. Angry at the Israelites’ worship of the golden calf, God was ready to destroy them all and start anew with Moses. Nature was to blame, as God despaired that these “stiff-necked people” could be re-educated.

In another biblical story, however, the Israelites were sent to wander in the wilderness for forty years to be reformatted before being allowed to enter the Land of Canaan. In this case, the emphasis was on nurture over nature, with the hope that the experience of benefiting from boundless generosity—such as the manna and the protective clouds of glory—would change them. This may have been the first known attempt at social engineering, even though the success was only variable.

The contemporary history of the Jews presents a more daring case of such re-education. For centuries, Jewish ideals have stressed mercy, modesty, and beneficence. The abhorrence of violence is so ingrained that in many Jewish communities, knives, which could be tools of murder, must be removed from the table before reciting the grace after a meal. Blessing and violence are deemed incompatible.

After centuries of being educated to strive for moral perfection, some Jews — initially a tiny minority — adopted a unusual role as colonial settlers—a role historically associated with European Christian civilization.

They conveniently instrumentalized biblical commandments, such as  “You shall clear out the Land and settle in it, for I have given you the Land to occupy it.”

The settlers embraced a literal and materialistic reading of the Bible abandoning the interpretative tradition developed in rabbinic Judaism. Jewish tradition reads the biblical verses that mention violence allegorically: the sword and the bow used by Jacob the Patriarch against his enemies become symbols of obedience to divine commandments and good deeds. Tradition locates Jewish heroism in the house of study, not on the battlefield. But Zionists rejected this tradition as that of “exilic weaklings.”

Naturally, like in other locations such as India, America, or Algeria, most inhabitants of Palestine—Jews, Christians, and Muslims alike—resented the Zionists who began colonizing Palestine in the late 19^th century.

Resistance emerged, and generations of Israelis grew up fighting against it. Palestinians came to be perceived as a constant source of danger. Educated in the spirit of military courage, moral superiority, and self-righteousness, the Israeli came to disdain and replace the Jew. The murder of Jacob De Haan, a Jewish anti-Zionist lawyer, by members of a Zionist militia in 1924 marked not only the onset of organized political terrorism in Palestine but also the affirmation of a new national identity.

Ideals of martial valour were not only inculcated through the educational system but, more powerfully, were induced by the predicament of all colonial settlements: suppressing resistance from the colonized. Generation after generation of Israelis have participated in the violent “pacification of the natives,” forcing them to submit to discrimination, dispossession, and ethnic cleansing.

The daily news of brutalities perpetrated by the Israeli military in Gaza underscores the success of the Zionist transformation of the Jew. The massive support that these acts receive from Israeli society at large strongly confirms this. The recent debate in the Israeli parliament when some Knesset members asserted the legitimacy of gang raping Palestinian detainees by Israeli soldiers reveals profound dehumanization—that is, the denial of full humanity in others, along with the cruelty and suffering that accompany it. But this also threatens the humanity of the soldier.

To mitigate this, the soldier must keep a distance from his victim. This is achieved through the industrialization of murder, which began with gas chambers and carpet bombing and continued with targeted assassinations by missiles and kamikaze drones. World-renowned Israeli scientists and engineers, assisted by major American corporations, have made a qualitative advance in streamlining remote violence. In Gaza, artificial intelligence (AI) now determines targets and destroys them. This points to an abdication not only of their ancestors’ moral values but of humanity altogether.

The Israelis’ war on Gaza confirms a triumph of nurture over nature, all the while demonstrating that technological progress does not equate to progress in humanity. In fact, it normalizes amorality, which most Western governments accept because, in their view, it is Jews who commit these atrocities, whether qualified as mass murder, ethnic cleansing, or genocide. Few realize that a century of living by the sword has transformed the Jew into a ruthless Israeli. Thus, one can better understand Israel as a state and a society when it is no longer regarded as “the Jewish state”, a nebulous concept that only blurs our vision and obscures reality. Only then can the world judge Israel on merit like any other state.

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This article was originally published on Russia in Global Affairs.

Yakov M. Rabkin is Professor Emeritus of History at the Université of Montréal. His publications include over 300 articles and a few books: Science between Superpowers, Interactions between Jewish and Scientific Cultures, A Threat from Within: a Century of Jewish Opposition to Zionism, What is Modern Israel?, Demodernization: A Future in the Past and Judaïsme, islam et modernité. He did consulting work for, inter alia, OECD, NATO, UNESCO and the World Bank.

He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

New Year’s is coming to Serbia, as everywhere else, but it may not just yet give that country the fresh start it yearns as it did in Cuba in 1959, when dictator Batista did his nation a huge favour by leaving. Serbia’s Batista is unlikely in the remaining few days before the New Year to make a similarly magnanimous gesture, at least not before the turmoil that is currently sweeping that Balkan country intensifies by a few more notches.

The social convulsion in Serbia began slightly over a month ago when a protruding portion of the roof at the train station in the city of Novi Sad collapsed, killing 15 people and leaving several more severely injured and fighting for life.

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Such occurrences are known to happen throughout the world, but what sets the Serbian incident apart is the fact that the train station was “renovated” quite recently after huge cost overruns, all financed of course from the public treasury. But in this particular instance money, although the sums involved are impressive, is the least of it. What snapped the long-suffering nation’s patience was the sheer horror of the human tragedy coupled with the callousness and complete lack of accountability at both professional and political levels. The Novi Sad mayhem has now become synonymous with the corruption which   pervades Serbia’s political system. Revulsion against massive corruption and the impunity of the perpetrators in league with the politicians with whom the public suspect they are sharing the graft (or it might be the other way round, but that hardly matters) has galvanised the protests that are on the verge of getting out of control.

The current protests come on the heels of other recent expressions of public discontent in Serbia. Early in the year, mass manifestations, directed somewhat vaguely “against violence,” swept the country following a grisly American-style school shooting in Belgrade and a few days later a similar incident in a rural area south of the capital. To this day there is no coherent explanation, psychological or any other, for either of these traumatic events that in Serbia are totally unprecedented.  Soon after that, the government’s announcement that, contrary to its earlier promise that it would not, it nevertheless was entering into a hazardous mining deal for the extraction of lithium with the notorious multinational corporation Rio Tinto provoked another wave of mass protests that swept almost every city, town, and hamlet in Serbia. As with the fatal roof collapse in Novi Sad, it was suspected by broad sectors of the population that the lithium mining deal, which poses a serious threat to natural and water resources and to the health of millions of inhabitants, was another corrupt scheme involving dishonest politicians willing to sacrifice the public interest in return for hefty bribes.

The tragic loss of life in Novi Sad five weeks ago only accentuated the deep distrust of the authorities that has been endemic throughout Serbian society. The suspicion that the accident was the result of official malfeasance on a massive scale was enhanced by the authorities’ evasive reaction. In a manner that strongly suggested that they had something to hide, they refused to make available technical and financial documents pertaining to the train station reconstruction. Within days of the accident local inhabitants in Novi Sad began to regularly congregate at the site of the tragedy and to demand answers and accountability. But the government at all levels remained exasperatingly deaf to their outcries. Instead of providing the technical data for expert analysis and investigating the subcontractors for possible shortcomings in the quality of their service, the authorities focused on arresting protesters for “breaching the public order.” Vehicles driven by regime supporters rammed several groups of protesting citizens in what was widely interpreted as an intimidatory gesture to dissuade them from pursuing the matter beyond the narrow confines of the official narrative, which unconvincingly maintained that what happened was a run-of-the-mill accident with nothing sinister behind it.

However, no one was buying that explanation, and the authorities’ guilty behaviour did nothing to establish trust.

For several weeks after the tragedy impotent rage simmered until it became clear that no one would be investigated, much less prosecuted, for the death of fifteen innocent individuals who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Insider information emerged from whistleblowers suggesting that the train station “reconstruction” project was a sweetheart deal between unscrupulous contractors aligned with the ruling party and corrupt politicians who were unconcerned with the quality of the work that the contractors were providing. Everyone involved was on the take, mafia style. Human life was not part of the equation.

That is when, about two weeks ago, the affair took a decisive new turn and acquired a dimension that no one had expected. Serbian students, until then a rather passive and apolitical lot, suddenly awakened from hibernation with a huge roar. Universities and institutions of higher learning became the focal points of street protests. Ominously for any government in such a predicament, within days the street activities gained momentum. The university students were joined by high school students, farmers, teachers, and other sectors of society who had grievances that required redress.

The young people issued a set of four demands to the authorities. First, to make publicly available each and every document related to the train station reconstruction, including contracts and evidence that the work in progress was subjected to quality supervision, and also records that show on what basis contractors and subcontractors were selected, for their experience and expertise or links to the ruling party.

Secondly, the young people are demanding the immediate release of all protesters arrested by the police and dropping of all charges against them. The third demand is to prosecute all individuals who staged physical attacks on the protesters and a transparent investigation of the background of the fatal roof collapse, culminating in criminal charges and punishment of all actors found to have been derelict in their duties.

Finally, the students are demanding also a 20 percent increase in the budget allocation for institutions of higher learning in Serbia, which are suffering from appalling neglect, whilst huge resources are being channelled into unneeded corruption boondoggles such as the “national stadium” and the Business Expo project into which 16 billion euros are expected to be pumped but whose urgency and purpose are not clearly understood by anyone.

On Sunday 22 December Serbian university students and high school youth supporting them, pledging that they will not rest until their demands are met, staged a mass gathering in Belgrade to honour the Novi Sad dead with fifteen minutes of silence, a symbolic minute for each victim. The manifestation was joined by over one hundred thousand citizens from all walks of life.

The situation that is developing in Serbia brings to mind a different yet eerily similar upheaval in Tunisia in 2010, that was sparked off by a seemingly minor event but eventually had momentous consequences by galvanising the seething masses into overturning the established order. On 17 December of that year, in a small Tunisian town, young fruit vendor Mohamed Bouazizi who was the sole support for his mother and six siblings was violently manhandled by the police and his cart was overturned and confiscated on the charge that he was working as a street vendor without a permit. Mohamed tried to get relief from the local authorities, but without success. Enraged by the injustice he had suffered, he set himself alight on the street. But his act of self-immolation set alight more than just himself. Losing fear, the entire country was seized by uncontrollable fury at the arrogance of its rulers. The rest is history, as the supposedly unassailable regime lost its grip on power and fell apart.

There is much to be learned from the Tunisian experience and the ongoing unrest in Serbia, which in the twinkling of an eye could repeat it. Serbia’s obtuse rulers, who make the Bourbons look astute by comparison, are unlikely however to draw any useful lessons.

But if they have any sincere well-wishers left, they should be advised by them to peruse Gene Sharp’s trenchant observations in his master work, Self-liberation. Sharp said that the beginning of the end for a dictatorship is when its subjects lose the fear that had made them submissive and obedient.

So keep an eye on the Serbian students. There is something to what Gene Sharp had written and the students just may be onto it.

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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: Blood-drenched hand of the ruling oligarchy that symbolises Serbian students’ revolt (Source: Stephen Karganovic) 

Abstract

Evidence has suggested an increased risk of psychiatric manifestations following viral infections including coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). However, psychiatric adverse events (AEs) after COVID-19 vaccination, which were documented in case reports and case series, remain unclear.

This study is aimed to investigate the psychiatric AEs after COVID-19 vaccination from a large population-based cohort in Seoul, South Korea.

We recruited 50% of the Seoul-resident population randomly selected from the Korean National Health Insurance Service (KNHIS) claims database on 1, January, 2021. The included participants (n = 2,027,353) from the Korean National Health Insurance Service claims database were divided into two groups according to COVID-19 vaccination.

The cumulative incidences per 10,000 of psychiatric AEs were assessed on one week, two weeks, one month, and three months after COVID-19 vaccination. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% Confidence interval (CIs) of psychiatric AEs were measured for the vaccinated population. The cumulative incidence of depression, anxiety, dissociative, stress-related, and somatoform disorders, sleep disorders, and sexual disorders at three months following COVID-19 vaccination were higher in the vaccination group than no vaccination group. However, schizophrenia and bipolar disorders showed lower cumulative incidence in the vaccination group than in the non-vaccinated group. Depression (HR [95% CI] = 1.683 [1.520–1.863]), anxiety, dissociative, stress-related, and somatoform disorders (HR [95% CI] = 1.439 [1.322–1.568]), and sleep disorders (HR [95% CI] = 1.934 [1.738–2.152]) showed increased risks after COVID-19 vaccination, whereas the risks of schizophrenia (HR [95% CI] = 0.231 [0.164–0.326]) and bipolar disorder (HR [95% CI] = 0.672 [0.470–0.962]). COVID-19 vaccination increased the risks of depression, anxiety, dissociative, stress-related, and somatoform disorders, and sleep disorders while reducing the risk of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Therefore, special cautions are necessary for administering additional COVID-19 vaccinations to populations vulnerable to psychiatric AEs.

Introduction

In the unprecedented era of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), the global outbreak of COVID-19 has had an unpredictable and heterogeneous impact on the healthcare system worldwide [1, 2]. Especially in mental illness, COVID-19 showed an increased risk of mental health problems together with lockdown, social distancing, and uncertain causes [3, 4]. There have been growing concerns that the COVID-19 pandemic has increasingly had a detrimental effect on long-term mental health at an early stage in the development of vaccines [5, 6].

The rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines, ranging from mRNA-based vaccines (BNT162b2, mRNA-1273) to viral vector vaccines (cDNA-based vaccines; AZD1222, JNJ-78436735), has contributed [?] to overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic in the view of severity and mortality [1, 7]. However, it has also given rise to new issues such as post-COVID-19 sequelae and vaccine-related adverse events (AEs) [2, 5,6,7,8,9,10]. With their issues, mental health is still an unsolved concern in the post-COVID-19 era [4, 6]. Many studies have focused on the correlation between mental health and COVID-19 breakthrough [11]. However, mental illness as a result of the COVID-19 vaccine itself, specifically post-vaccination psychiatric AEs was not well-studied, with scant evidence in the literature, which was documented primarily in the form of case reports and case series [12,13,14,15].

In this study, we investigated the psychiatric AEs including schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, dissociative, stress-related, and somatoform disorders, sleep disorders, and sexual disorders after COVID-19 vaccination from a population-based cohort using the Korean National Health Insurance Service (KNHIS) claims database in Seoul, South Korea.

Click here to read the full article on Nature.

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[This video was first published in 2011.]

In this conversation with Potent News, Prof. Michel Chossudovsky talks about how the 1 percent enriches itself at the expense of the 99 percent; and how the US portrays itself as pro-democracy but bombs under the NATO umbrella countries who oppose their diktat.

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Click Watch on Youtube

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One Month Before Global Research’s Anniversary 

Featured image is a screenshot from the video

Russia by all standards is probably the most “sanctioned” country by the west. But her economy keeps growing faster than any western economy. A normal thinker would say, there is something wrong.

Since the Russian Special Operation (SO) in Ukraine, the Russian economy has repeatedly defied expectations. The current forecast for 2024 is a 4% growth, compared to 2.7% for the US (Conference Board estimate), and 0.7% for the European Union – EU (European Central Bank estimated). Yet, these two western economic blocks have tightened sanctions on Russia on every occasion.

Overall unemployment in Russia is estimated by end 2024 at 2.6%, quite low if compared to the US (4.2%) and Europe (6.3%).

Outside of the war industry, Russia has specialized labor shortages which she needs to cover with focused labor import.

Western prediction for Russia in 2025 is what they call a “soft landing”, a growth down to 2.5% to 3%.

These forecasters, however, conveniently, look only at the status quo, as if the current economic structural trends would continue without a change.

What the west does not consider is the rapid transformation of the Global South, which goes way beyond the expanded BRICS. It looks like the Global South, finally and more than six decades after the so-called “independence” from her western colonizers, mainly France and the UK, but also Portugal and Spain, are coming to grips with their own real freedom; freedom to choose with whom to do business and establish diplomatic, trade and investment relations.

This “freedom process” has been helped over the past few years by Russia and China, i.e.the strengthening of the BRICS and BRICS associates.

As the title says, the Global South is on an unstoppable march towards their sovereign autonomy.

Associating and aligning with countries that never exploited them – never colonized them – and are ready for honest trading with them, plus, providing them with economic development assistance, so they eventually become fully independent, no longer in a neocolonial bind, as has been particularly the case with the 14 former West and Central African French colonies (West Arica: Ivory Coast, Togo, Benin, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Guinea; Central Africa: Cameroon, Gabon, Central African Republic (CAR), Chad, and Republic of the Congo,  Equatorial Africa).

African-Russian relations have surged forward in 2024 and this trend is continuing, despite any possible interference by the West.

Africa has still an estimated 60% of all non-renewable natural resources, including rare earths – which the west covets mainly for its war industry and keeps exploiting; for example, in the Congo and the Central African Republic (CAR), much of it with child labor under horrendous human rights violating conditions.

The BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia on 22–24 October 2024 was the highlight for further expanding Russia-Global South relations. The conference, hosted by Russia who holds the rotating BRICS Presidency in 2024, introduced several innovations, not least the concept of a BRICS ‘partner’ framework, consisting of BRICS partners or associate nations. Their status is that of a likely precursor to becoming a full-fletched BRICS member. Several countries, including Uganda and Algeria, were invited to become ‘partners’.

Partners or associates can trade with BRICS countries, tax-free and in their local currencies. They also have access to the BRICS Bank, the New Development Bank (NDB). This will allow them diversifying their funding sources, no longer solely depending on the western banking system.

Algeria, one of Africa’s largest economies, another BRICS partner, can make a significant contribution to the bank’s capital, becoming not only a recipient of funds but also a donor.

These new economic cooperation opportunities not only allow BRICS and associates to expand their local economies, but the new conditions have a spill-over effect to other Global South countries, possibly future BRICS or BRICS partners. This Russian-sponsored Africa cooperation initiative has an almost unlimited potential for alleviating poverty and improving the lives of African citizens across the Continent.

Case in point: Ethiopia, a new BRICS member (since 1 January 2024), has a chance to attract more investment in infrastructure, industry, and agriculture through the NDB, while gaining access to the markets of other member or partner countries.

Beyond the BRICS and BRICS partners, a significant political milestone in Russia-Africa relations was the First Ministerial Conference of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum held on 9 -10 November 2024 and attended by over 40 ministers from various African nations in the Sirius Federal territory. More than 1,500 participants have attended.

The event was also attended by the leadership of the African Union.

The talks were headed by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, adopting agreements and resolutions that reflect a shared perspective between Moscow and African nations on crucial global and bilateral issues. Moscow confirmed that such conferences may take place regularly, in Africa rather than in Russia. See this from Tass for more details.

Another important highlight was Lavrov’s African tour. In May / June 2024, the Russian foreign minister visited the Sahel region (Guinea, Burkina Faso, Chad) as well as the Republic of the Congo.

Central Africa and western Africa have been considered as France’s sphere of influence for decades. Lavrov emphasized that Russia’s relations with Chad are not directed against other countries. Interestingly, Lavrov added,

“I can guarantee you that our friendship with Chad will not affect our relations with France in any way. France has other approaches; it proceeds from the fact that either you are with us or you are against us.”

In November 2024, during the Ministerial Conference, an Investment Support Fund was established. The fund may become operational as early as next year, and aims at co-financing energy and mining projects initiated by Russian companies on the African continent.

Russia anticipates that the total volume of public and private investments into the economy of African countries would be at least $2 billion. Public funds would act as a catalyst for private investments.

For more details, see this.

The political will of African nations to belong to this growing new mega-association called Global South – under the guidance and sponsorship of Russia and China – is growing.

Russian-African interaction on different levels has become an integral part of building a new world architecture, one that is based on Peace and cooperation, as well as joint decision-making and mutual benefits.

It is also one good reason why western sanctions cannot demolish Russia. To the contrary, with these illegal sanctions the west is cementing their own grave and helping building new closer relations between Russia-China and the Global South; and specially, between Russia and Africa – the creation of a new international economic framework.

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Peter Koenig is a geopolitical analyst and a former Senior Economist at the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO), where he worked for over 30 years around the world. He is the author of Implosion – An Economic Thriller about War, Environmental Destruction and Corporate Greed; and co-author of Cynthia McKinney’s book “When China Sneezes: From the Coronavirus Lockdown to the Global Politico-Economic Crisis” (Clarity Press – November 1, 2020).

Peter is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG). He is also a non-resident Senior Fellow of the Chongyang Institute of Renmin University, Beijing.

Featured image is from The Cradle

Mike Pompeo’s role in the first Trump administration as both director of the Central Intelligence Agency and US Secretary of State will be forever associated with the venom and desperation he had in targeting Julian Assange, a publisher who drove him to distraction and engendered mania.  As the chief founder of WikiLeaks, Assange had regularly published troves of classified documents uncovering the messy muddles, messes and more sinister features of the US imperium.

When WikiLeaks published the CIA Vault 7 files in March 2017, disclosing a suite of hacking tools used by the organisation, Pompeo became insensible.  CIA operatives had thought themselves invulnerable to such publishing revelations, unlike their wobbly counterparts in the State Department and the Pentagon.  The report from the CIA’s WikiLeaks Task Force might have encouraged some of the bureaucratic boffins in government to improve: WikiLeaks had, effectively “brought to light multiple ongoing CIA failures”, a fault that enabled a CIA employee to pilfer 180 gigabytes of information, constituting “the largest data loss in CIA history”.

The report goes on spelling out the need for reform.  “We must care as much about securing our systems as we care about running them if we are to make the necessary revolutionary change.”  That said, all bureaucracies treat the exposure of failings through an external airing as treasonous, a compromise that rents the thick cloak of secrecy.  Most importantly of all, it often shows officials as clumsy, doltish and undeserving of their position.

An avenging Pompeo, flushed with spite, went on a crusade against leakers and those aiding them, seeking more serious measures against WikiLeaks.  In his April 2017 speech to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, he first designated WikiLeaks a “hostile non-state intelligence service”, a classification that lowered the threshold in terms of what was permissible against a publishing outlet.  Implicit was the suggestion that the United States, through its various channels, would actively and aggressively pursue the organisation as an information guerilla misfit prey to foreign powers.

Pompeo even emitted a few smoke signals that Assange would not be able to avail himself of those blessed protections available under the First Amendment to the press.  “Julian Assange has no First Amendment freedoms.  He’s sitting in an embassy in London.  He’s not a US citizen.”  In time, a seedy term intended to diminish, if not scuttle the notion of press protections, began circulating in the chatter of Espionage Land: information broker.

In that most revealing Yahoo News report, published in September 2021, Pompeo and various other agency chiefs were, in the words of a former Trump national security official, “completely detached from reality because they were so embarrassed by Vault 7”.  Within months, the US intelligence community was monitoring the communications and movements of targeted WikiLeaks personnel.  Audio and visual surveillance of Assange was avidly pursued.

Some few months after revealing his intentions regarding WikiLeaks, Pompeo decried the emergence of a cult of “worship” that had grown around “Edward Snowden, and those who steal American secrets for the purpose of self-aggrandizement or money or for whatever their motivation may be”. Typical of Pompeo: the information disclosed was irrelevant to motivation, the central tenet of the US Espionage Act of 1917.

Be it through means conventional or otherwise, the WikiLeaks publisher, then a political asylee in London’s Ecuadorian Embassy, was to be extradited to the United States and tried, or, short of that, abducted or assassinated.  (Under a plea deal, Assange was eventually convicted under one count of conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defence information under the Espionage Act.)

As the noble scribblers at Yahoo News go on to reveal at some length, using material gathered from interviews with more than 30 former US officials, various scenarios, encouraged by Pompeo, were encouraged. Discussions took place on whether it was possible to extrajudicially remove Assange from the Ecuadorian Embassy under the CIA’s operational doctrine of “offensive counterintelligence”.  Three officials also reveal that killing the publisher was discussed at various meetings as a possibility.  At points, the cooling restraints on such heated lunacy were placed by various National Security Council lawyers.

With the return of Donald Trump to the White House, whose campaign was aided, in no small part, by various figures sympathetic to Assange’s publishing efforts, the eyes shifted, once again, to Pompeo.  Would the now leaner figure (he boasted in 2022 to shedding 90 pounds over six months) make a return, probably as Defense Secretary?  Not if Tucker Carlson could help it.

The former Fox News host made sure to get to Trump’s ear during the election campaign to remind him about Pompeo’s soiled résumé. In a Wall Street Journal piece this month, Carlson’s efforts at reputational sabotage are mentioned.  Certain neoconservative markings of Pompeo were pointed out: a tendency towards warmongering; the obsession with Assange and a contemplated plot to assassinate him.  Donald Trump Jr., the eldest son of the president-elect, also threw in his lot, warning that bringing those like Pompeo into the fold again would hamper his father’s free hand.  The Make America Great Agenda was not to be cramped.

The WSJ piece was hardly sensational.  Carlson had publicly aired his dislike for Pompeo in an April interview on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast.  As CIA director, “he plotted the murder of Julian Assange.  So he is a criminal as far as I’m concerned.”

Carlson also spoke of receiving threatening calls from Pompeo’s lawyers after speaking about the JFK files on his Fox News show. “His lawyer called me and said, you know, you should know that anyone who tells you the contents of classified documents has committed a crime.” In Carlson’s opinion, Pompeo “pressed” the president to keep documents relevant to the CIA’s involvement in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy “secret”.  Be that as it may, Carlson’s account from Pompeo’s lawyer on discussing classified documents certainly tallies with the worldview of the secrecy goon himself.

At the moment, there is much ado about Trump’s various appointments.  They constitute a Flemish painting of characters: the vulgar and the violent; the self-contradictory and the untrained; the stained and the falsely pure.  They are threaded by a suspicion that the National Security State has become a canker on the Republic’s foundations.  They are also unlikely to dismantle it, whatever the aspirations.  Keeping Pompeo out of the stable, however, could be seen as a work in progress.

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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]

Vaping damages blood vessel function, even in the absence of nicotine, by reducing blood flow velocity in the femoral artery and decreasing venous oxygen saturation, which suggests impaired lung oxygen intake

E-cigarettes contain harmful chemicals beyond nicotine, such as lead, nickel and formaldehyde, which cause oxidative stress and inflammation, triggering impaired vascular function and long-term vascular diseases

The misconception that vaping is a safer alternative to smoking is challenged by findings that both nicotine and non-nicotine vapes impair vascular function, with nicotine vapes causing more substantial reductions

EVALI, a severe respiratory condition linked to vaping, remains a significant health concern, with ongoing cases highlighting the need for improved regulatory measures and public health strategies

The presence of toxic chemicals in e-cigarette vapor causes acute lung injury and systemic effects on multiple organs, emphasizing the need for further research and regulatory oversight to understand and mitigate these health risks

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E-cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung injury (EVALI) is a severe respiratory condition linked to the use of vaping products. It’s characterized by symptoms such as shortness of breath, cough, chest pain, and gastrointestinal issues like nausea and vomiting.

EVALI could escalate rapidly, leading to hospitalization or even death. This condition emerged prominently in 2019, raising significant concerns about the safety of vaping as an alternative to traditional cigarette smoking.

EVALI Is Responsible for Thousands of Hospitalizations in the US

A comprehensive workshop report published in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society in September 2022 revealed alarming statistics about EVALI’s health effects.¹ Over the course of the EVALI outbreak, more than 2,800 individuals were hospitalized, and 68 deaths were recorded across the U.S.

The report emphasized that while vitamin E acetate was initially identified as a primary culprit, approximately 20% of patients had exclusively used nicotine-containing e-cigarettes, indicating that other harmful substances also contribute to lung injuries.

The persistence of EVALI cases, even after the initial outbreak subsided, underscores the ongoing risks associated with vaping.² Additional reports from various researchers suggest that EVALI is not merely a relic of the past but an enduring threat to vape users.

EVALI also poses long-term consequences for both vapers and the healthcare system. Patients who recover from EVALI experience lasting respiratory issues, and the healthcare infrastructure faces the burden of treating these severe cases.

Moreover, the misconception that vaping is a safer alternative prevents smokers from effectively quitting smoking, leading to sustained nicotine addiction and its associated health risks. Addressing EVALI is crucial not only for preventing acute lung injuries but also for safeguarding overall public health.

The Focus on Vaping’s Health Implications

E-cigarettes contain a variety of harmful chemicals, including vitamin E acetate, which has been identified as a significant contributor to lung injuries. Additionally, the presence of toxic metals and other substances in vaping aerosols causes cytotoxicity and inflammation.

Simply put, the harmful substances in e-cigarettes irritate and inflame the lungs, leading to EVALI. When inhaled, these chemicals damage lung tissue, impair oxygen exchange and trigger an inflammatory response. This inflammation spills over into the bloodstream, affecting other organs and causing long-term health issues.

Diagnosing EVALI could be challenging due to its symptoms overlapping with other respiratory conditions. Clinical assessments often rely on patient history and imaging studies, but these methods do not fully capture the extent of the damage caused by vaping. The lack of specific biomarkers for EVALI further complicates diagnosis, leading to misdiagnoses or delayed treatment.

Conventional treatments for EVALI often involve supportive care, such as oxygen therapy and corticosteroids, but these have their own drawbacks, including side effects like increased blood sugar levels and weakened immune response. Understanding the limitations of these treatments is important for anyone who thinks vaping is a safer alternative to smoking.

New Study Reveals the Damaging Effects of Vaping on Vascular Function

A CNN Health article reported on a study that explored the immediate effects of vaping on vascular health and oxygen levels in the body.³ The research, which has not yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal but has been presented at the Radiological Society of North America’s annual meeting, aimed to determine how using e-cigarettes, with or without nicotine, affects blood vessel function and lung oxygen intake.

The study included 31 individuals between 21 and 49 years old who smoked or vaped, and compared their results with 10 nonsmokers.⁴ Participants underwent MRI scans before and after vaping or smoking tobacco cigarettes to evaluate changes in their vascular and respiratory systems.

The findings indicated that vaping significantly reduces blood flow velocity in the femoral artery, which is vital for supplying oxygenated blood to the lower body. Additionally, oxygen saturation levels among the vapers dropped, indicating that their lungs were likely taking in less oxygen.⁵

One of the notable findings in the study was that vaping with nicotine resulted in the most significant reduction in vascular function, even more than traditional smoking. This challenges the common perception that e-cigarettes are a safer alternative to cigarettes. Furthermore, vaping without nicotine also negatively impacted blood vessel function, though to a slightly lesser extent.⁶

In a CNN Health article, Dr. Marianne Nabbout, lead author of the study and a radiology resident at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, said:

“People mistakenly believe that electronic cigarettes are safer alternatives to tobacco-based cigarettes, but this is actually not true. Even if there was no nicotine in the e-cigarette, there could be other components that may be harmful. That is possibly why we saw these significant effects, even following non-nicotinized electronic cigarette vaping.”⁷

The study emphasized that good vascular function is crucial for maintaining efficient blood flow, delivering oxygen and nutrients, and removing waste from the body. When your blood vessels cannot expand and contract properly, it puts you at risk of serious health issues such as blood clots, high blood pressure and stroke.⁸

Another significant aspect of the research was the reduction in oxygen saturation following vaping. Lower oxygen levels in the blood mean that the body’s organs and tissues do not receive the necessary oxygen to function optimally. Over time, this contributes to the development of vascular diseases, posing long-term health risks for regular vapers.⁹

The mechanisms behind these effects involve the inhalation of various chemicals present in e-cigarette vapor. When users vape, they are not just inhaling water vapor; the vapor contains harmful substances like lead, nickel, formaldehyde, propylene glycol and glycerin. These chemicals cause oxidative stress and inflammation in the blood vessels, leading to impaired endothelial function — the ability of blood vessels to dilate and constrict as needed.¹⁰

Additionally, the study found that even nicotine-free e-cigarettes are harmful due to the presence of other toxic components. This underscores the misconception that e-cigarettes without nicotine are harmless. The combination of these chemicals disrupts the normal functioning of the vascular system, making e-cigarette users more susceptible to cardiovascular diseases.¹¹

Experts involved in the study emphasized the need for more research to confirm these findings and to understand the long-term implications of vaping. However, the immediate negative effects on vascular function and oxygen saturation provide compelling evidence against the notion that vaping is a safe alternative to smoking.

Dr. Albert Rizzo, chief medical officer of the American Lung Association, commented on the study, stating that vaping exposes users to more than just harmless water vapor:

“We don’t know a whole lot about the effects of the ingredients of e-cigarettes with regard to effects on our lungs, effects on our blood vessels, and even though there [are] supposedly less toxins than a regular cigarette, we don’t know the long-term effects of these modalities are. Tests like these keep showing there are short-term effects,” he said.¹²

The Link Between Vaping and Lung Inflammation

A recent review published in the Annual Review of Physiology journal explored the harmful effects of e-cigarettes on lung health, particularly focusing on inflammation and acute injuries related to vaping.¹³ The research aimed to understand how vaping contributes to lung diseases and the underlying mechanisms that cause these health issues.

The study examined various groups, including young adults and nonsmokers who have started using e-cigarettes, and found that e-cigarette use is linked to significant lung inflammation and injuries, and has led to a rise in cases of EVALI.¹⁴

One of the key findings was that the chemicals in e-cigarette vapor, such as nicotine, causes cytotoxicity, which means they are toxic to cells in the lungs. This cytotoxicity causes inflammation, where the lung tissues become swollen and irritated. The study highlighted that this inflammation is not just a short-term issue but could cause chronic lung diseases over time.¹⁵

The research also delved into the role of neutrophils, a type of white blood cell, in the inflammation process. Neutrophils are meant to protect the lungs by moving to areas of harm and fighting infections. However, the chemicals in e-cigarettes disrupt their normal function, causing them to overreact and contribute to excessive inflammation. This overreaction damages the delicate structures in the lungs, making them more vulnerable to diseases.¹⁶

Furthermore, the study found that repeated exposure to e-cigarette chemicals affects multiple organs in the body, not just the lungs. This is because the harmful substances in the vapor enter the bloodstream through the lungs, reaching other parts of the body and causing widespread inflammation and damage.¹⁷

The mechanisms behind these harmful effects involve the rapid delivery of toxic chemicals into the bloodstream through the lungs. When users inhale e-cigarette vapor, they are not only taking in nicotine but also a cocktail of other harmful substances like heavy metals and toxicants. These substances cause oxidative stress, leading to cell and tissue damage.¹⁸

“Suppression of antimicrobial functions of both macrophages and neutrophils by e-cigarette aerosols in vitro and ex vivo supports the concept that e-cigarette use damages host defenses and will lead to increased susceptibility to pulmonary infections,” the researchers said.¹⁹

Additionally, the study pointed out that the variety of chemicals in e-cigarette aerosols makes it difficult to pinpoint a single cause of lung damage. Instead, it is the combination of multiple toxic substances that triggers various health issues.²⁰ This complexity underscores the need for comprehensive regulations to control the ingredients used in e-cigarette liquids and to protect public health.

These Strategies Will Help You Quit Smoking and/or Vaping

Addressing the damaging effects of vaping requires a comprehensive approach focused on restoring your overall health and strengthening your body from within. By taking these proactive steps to enhance your well-being, you’ll create a solid foundation that makes quitting smoking more achievable and less stressful:

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Notes

^1, 2 Annals of the American Thoracic Society, Jan 2023;20(1):1-17

^{3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12} CNN Health, November 28, 2024

^{13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20} Annu Rev Physiol. 2021 Nov 1;84:611–629 

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Bryce Martinez (18) from Pennsylvania is mounting a legal challenge against major food companies, alleging that their ultra-processed foods (UPFs) led to his development of Type 2 diabetes and fatty liver disease at the age of 16.  

The 11 firms listed in the lawsuit are Kraft Heinz, Mondelez, Coca-Cola, Post Holdings, PepsiCo, General Mills, Nestle’s (US), WK Kellogg, Mars, Kellanova and Conagra.  

UPFs have undergone multiple processing steps and often contain additives, preservatives and artificial ingredients. These UPFs have become staples in many households. Examples of UPFs are prepackaged soups, many breakfast cereals, sauces, frozen pizza, ready-to-eat meals, hot dogs, sausages, sodas, ice cream and store-bought cookies, cakes, candies and doughnuts.   

Martinez’s legal team contends that the big food corporations have deliberately engineered their products to trigger addictive responses. His lawyers at Morgan & Morgan, a major US law firm, says the case is unprecedented and includes claims for conspiracy, negligence, fraudulent misrepresentation and unfair business practices.  

Martinez had regularly consumed popular UPFs throughout his childhood. The lawsuit challenges the food industry’s argument that consumers have free choice in their dietary decisions. It argues that the notion of free choice is compromised by aggressive marketing tactics, especially aimed at children, and the addictive nature of these products.      

UPFs are highly profitable for corporations. The same companies that dominate the UPF market are intertwined with investment firms like BlackRock and Vanguard, which also hold stakes in the pharmaceutical industry. This dual investment creates a cycle where investment firms profit from both the sale of harmful foods and the treatment of diseases associated with these products.   

Furthermore, the prevailing economic system creates a paradoxical situation where workers, whose pension funds are often managed by these same investment giants, find themselves financially tethered to a cycle that undermines their own health and well-being.  

There is a famous quote often attributed to farmer, poet and campaigner Wendell Berry:  

“People are fed by the food industry, which pays no attention to health, and are treated by the health industry, which pays no attention to food.”  

For a long time, that has served both industry’s interests very well.  

Corporate Science and ILSI  

The influence that giant corporations have on the food system is encapsulated by the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI). Presenting itself as an independent scientific organisation, across the world, from China to India, the ILSI plays a crucial role in promoting narratives that benefit its corporate funders.     

According to the report Partnership for an Unhealthy Planet (Corporate Accountability, 2020), political interference by food and beverage transnationals like Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Nestlé and PepsiCo is pervasive. The report shows how these corporations have leveraged the ILSI to cripple progress on nutrition policy across the globe.  

After documenting that the ILSI has spun a complex web of revolving doors or partnering with leading research institutions in India (including “controlling” the Niti Aayog, the Government of India’s policy think tank) to denigrate traditional diets, the report states:  

“ILSI India is emblematic of how ILSI at large ensures that the food and beverage industry are able to deepen their capture of public policy and discourse thereabouts across the globe. One such example of this is an ILSI-sponsored study on sugar consumption by two of India’s most respected research entities, the Indian Council of Medical Research and the National Institute of Nutrition.”  

It adds:  

“… the study’s intent seems to be the absolution of food products marketed by ILSI’s corporate backers and/or redirection of public dietary concerns toward the traditional foods ILSI’s funders would hope to supplant.”  

The ILSI generates scientific data and provides it to state agencies, working to harmonise food regulations and facilitate international trade, not least by shaping Codex standards and guidelines. It has a notable influence on Codex through its collaborations with regulatory bodies involved in setting food safety standards.  

The Codex Alimentarius Commission is an international organisation jointly run by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO). Its published goals are to develop and adopt uniform food standards for its member countries and to promote the free and unhindered international flow of food goods, thereby eliminating trade barriers to food and (supposedly) providing food safety.  

Biotechnology, pesticides, food additives and contaminants are some of the issues discussed in Codex meetings. The FAO says: “Codex standards are based on the best available science assisted by independent international risk assessment bodies or ad-hoc consultations organized by FAO and WHO.”  

Codex standards serve in many cases as a basis for national legislation. It decides on minimum food residue levels for pesticides, allowable amounts of aluminium, lead and arsenic in food and which substances or products are dangerous. These decisions affect the products and markets of huge corporations that have hundreds of millions of dollars at stake.  

The ILSI has infiltrated key national and international food and health regulatory and decision-making bodies in an attempt to lobby away or discredit any potential decision that may affect their bottom line (see The opaque world of Codex Alimentarius and Monsanto ‘toxic’ relations).     

According to Ivica Kelam of the Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek in Croatia:   

“The ILSI enjoys close relationships with regulatory bodies including the Joint WHO/FAO Expert Committee on Food Additives and the European Food Safety Authority, which rely on the substantial resources controlled by the ILSI. The organisation not only influences Codex standards through direct cooperation with national and international regulators but also indirectly through the networks it develops.”  

Funders of the ILSI have included at some point Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Mars, Mondelez, General Mills, Nestle, Kellogg, Hershey, Kraft, Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, Starbucks Coffee, Monsanto, CropLife International, Syngenta, Dow AgroSciences, Pioneer Hi-Bred, Bayer CropScience, BASF, Cargill, Unilever and Campbell Soup (see the reports Pushing partnerships: corporate influence on research and policy via the International Life Sciences Institute and ILSI is a food industry lobby group).   

Bryce Martinez is up against some very powerful forces that will do everything they possibly can to stave off any challenge that could potentially represent a critical threat to their power, profits and practices.     

Glaring Hypocrisy  

In late 2020, the Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI) released  a report that described how Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Nestlé and PepsiCo used the COVID event to aggressively market UPFs.  

In Brazil, Nestlé, Bauducco and Danone donated more than 400 tons of food, including UFPs deemed unhealthy according to official Brazilian dietary guidelines. In South Africa, Coca-Cola donated soft drinks to families in townships and multiple healthcare centres.   

The GHAI notes that big food corporations also touted their unhealthy UPFs as essential, safe products and immune boosters. In Brazil, The ILSI cynically promoted processed foods as allies in the fight against COVID.  

In Japan, Coca-Cola encouraged people to exercise at home while ‘in quarantine’ through online exercise videos, pledging to donate up to one million drinks to app users who tracked 1,000 steps a day. In Brazil, McDonalds posted videos on X showing kids pressuring their parents to go to McDonalds during ‘quarantine’ to safely pick up food through the contactless drive thru.  

The report highlighted how the lack of healthy food regulations worldwide enabled these corporations to polish their public images while undermining public health. The reality is that research indicates diets high in UPFs may undermine immunity through several mechanisms, primarily related to nutrient deficiencies, inflammation and alterations in the gut microbiome.  

The GHAI says that the very companies who had already contributed to rising rates of obesity and diet-related diseases exploited the COVID event to position themselves and their products as “essential” while also, directly and indirectly, influencing public health policy.   

A peer-reviewed study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine showed that increased consumption of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) was associated with more than 10 per cent of all-cause premature, preventable deaths in Brazil in 2019. UPFs have steadily replaced the consumption of traditional whole foods, such as rice and beans, in Brazil (see also the report Free trade and Mexico’s junk food epidemic).  

In high-income countries like the United States and the United Kingdom, UPFs account for more than half of total calorific intake, a much higher figure than that for Brazil. And it is the poorer sections of society that rely more on UPF items because of their low cost. Yet corporate-backed narratives often downplay these risks or frame them as issues of personal responsibility rather than systemic problems.     

Studies have associated UPFs with significant increased risks of cardiovascular disease, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity and metabolic syndrome, high blood pressure and abnormal blood lipid levels, anxiety and mental disorders, depression and cognitive decline and impairment. There is also increased risk of certain cancers, particularly ovarian and breast cancers. (See this, this, this and this.)  

The GHAI report described how the very corporations that have driven the spiralling public health crisis to alarming levels were using an event framed as a public health emergency to their advantage. Their cynicism and hypocrisy are impossible to ignore.  

What was once nature’s gift (wholesome food) has been transformed to become an industrial commodity. As UPS have come to increasingly dominate diets and wreak havoc on human health, profit margins are boosted and consumers are regarded as mere collateral damage to be rinsed for further profit by the ‘healthcare’ industry.  

For further insights, see the author’s books Sickening Profits: The Global Food System’s Poisoned Food and Toxic Wealth and Power Play: The Future of Food.    

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Renowned author Colin Todhunter specialises in development, food and agriculture. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG).  

Colin Todhunter’s book Sickening Profits: The Global Food System’s Poisoned Food and Toxic Wealth provides further insight into the issues addressed above. It can be read here.  

Three separate reports published this month by leading international human rights and medical groups have detailed the same horrifying story: that Israel is well advanced in its genocide of the Palestinian population in Gaza.

Or, to be more accurate, they have confirmed what was already patently clear: that, for the past 14 months, Israel has been slaughtering tens of thousands of Palestinians with indiscriminate munitions, while at the same time gradually starving the survivors to death and denying them access to medical care.

Genocides can happen with gas chambers. Or with machetes. Or they can be carried out with 2,000lb bombs and aid blockades. Genocides rarely look the same. But they are all designed to arrive at the same endpoint: the elimination of a people.

Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) agree that Israel is striving for extermination. It has not hidden its intent, and that intent is confirmed by its actions on the ground.

Only the willfully blind, which includes western politicians and their media, are still in denial. But worse than denial, they continue to actively collude in this, the ultimate crime against humanity, by supplying Israel with the weapons, intelligence and diplomatic cover it needs for the extermination.

Last week, MSF issued its report, titled Life in the Death Trap That is Gaza, concluding that Israel was intentionally “unravelling the fabric of society”.

The medical charity observed: “The violence unleashed by Israeli forces has caused physical and mental damage on a scale that would overwhelm any functioning health system, let alone one already decimated by a crushing offensive and a 17-year-long blockade [by Israel].”

MSF added: “Even if the offensive ended today, its long-term impact would be unprecedented, given the scale of the destruction.”

Rebuilding the society and dealing with the health consequences will “span generations”.

Intention Proven

MSF’s findings followed hot on the heels of an 185-page report by Human Rights Watch, which concluded that Israel was committing “acts of genocide”.

The organisation limited its focus to one Israeli policy: its systematic effort to deprive the population of access to water – a clear measure of intentionality, the critical yardstick for judging whether mass killing has crossed into genocide.

At a news conference, Lama Fakih, HRW’s Middle East director, said their research had proved Israel was “intentionally killing Palestinians in Gaza by denying them the water that they need to survive”.

Israel had done so in four coordinated moves. It had blocked pipelines supplying water from outside Gaza. It had then cut off power to run the pumps that Gaza’s own supplies from wells and desalination plants depended on.

Next, it had destroyed the solar panels that were the backup to deal with such power cuts. And finally, it had killed crews trying to repair the supply system and aid agency staff trying to bring in water supplies.

“This is a comprehensive policy preventing people from getting any water,” HRW’s acting Israel and Palestine director, Bill Van Esveld, concluded. He added that the group had made “a very clear finding of extermination”.

‘Pattern of Conduct’

HRW echoed a much wider-ranging report by Amnesty International, the world’s best-known international human rights organisation.

In a 296-page report published in early December, Amnesty concluded that Israel had been “brazenly, continuously” committing genocide in Gaza – or “unleashing hell” as the organisation phrased it more graphically.

The period of Amnesty’s research ended in July, five months ago. Since then, Israel has further intensified its destruction of northern Gaza to drive out the population.

Nonetheless, Amnesty described a “pattern of conduct” in which Israel had deliberately obstructed aid and power supplies, and detonated so much explosive power on the tiny enclave – equivalent to more than two nuclear bombs – that water, sanitation, food and healthcare systems had collapsed.

The scale of the attack, it noted, had caused death and destruction at a speed and level unmatched in any other 21st-century conflict.

Budour Hassan, Amnesty’s researcher for Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, said Israel’s actions went beyond the individual war crimes associated with conflicts: “This is something deeper.”

Agreeing with major Holocaust and genocide scholars, Amnesty concluded that the high bar needed to prove genocidal intent in law was crossed last May when Israel began destroying Rafah, the area in southern Gaza that it had herded Palestinian civilians into as a supposedly “safe zone”.

Israel had been warned not to attack Rafah by the world’s highest court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), but went ahead anyway.

‘Mass Denial’

For some time, leading Holocaust and genocide scholars – among them Israelis – have been speaking up to warn not only that a genocide is unfolding, but that it is nearing completion.

Last week, Omer Bartov even managed to get his message out on CNN. He told Christiane Amanpour that Israel was carrying out “a war of annihilation” on the Gaza Strip. “What the IDF [Israeli military] is doing there is destroying Gaza,” he said.

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Amos Goldberg, another Israeli Holocaust expert, noted that Raphael Lemkin, a Jewish-Polish scholar who coined the term “genocide”, described its two phases.

“The first is the destruction of the annihilated group and the second is what he called ‘imposition of the national pattern’ of the perpetrator. We are now witnessing the second phase as Israel prepares ethnically cleansed areas for Israeli settlements.”

Goldberg added: “Like in every other case of genocide in history, right now we have mass denial. Both here in Israel and around the world.”

Bartov’s invitation by CNN appeared to have been provoked by an article in Haaretz, Israel’s most liberal newspaper. It published last week testimonies from Israeli combat soldiers, in which they described committing and witnessing war crimes in Gaza. They paint a picture of systematic erasure that, even from their limited perspective, looks ominously like genocide.

The soldiers describe shooting dead anyone who moves inside undeclared so-called “kill zones”, even children, and then claiming them to be “terrorists”. The dead are left to be eaten by packs of dogs.

The only words one Israeli reservist found to describe Israel’s repeated and intentional killing of children in Gaza was “pure evil”.

According to a senior reserve commander recently returned from the enclave, the Israeli army has created “a lawless space where human life holds no value”.

Another says units compete to see who can kill the greater number of Palestinians, indifferent to whether they are Hamas fighters or civilians.

Others describe these units as operating like “independent militias”, unrestrained by military protocols.

‘Everyone Is a Terrorist’

How the Israeli army implemented the Gaza genocide is alluded to in the Haaretz article. After the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023, the military leadership devolved normally centralised decision-making to local field commanders.

Many of those commanders live in the most religiously extreme of the illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Not only are they Jewish supremacists, but they follow rabbis who believe all Palestinians, even babies, pose a threat to the Jewish people and must be exterminated.

Notoriously, a group of influential settler rabbis formalised their genocidal teachings into a book called The King’s Torah.

One senior commander identified by Haaretz is Brigadier General Yehuda Vach, a settler from Kiryat Arba, possibly the most extreme of all Israel’s West Bank settlements.

For many years, Vach headed the military’s officers training school, passing on his extreme views to a new generation of officers, presumably some of whom are now making decisions in Gaza.

Today, he heads Division 252, in which many of the soldiers who spoke to Haaretz have served.

One of his officers recounted how, after Hamas’ military leader Yahya Sinwar was killed in October, Vach held an official meeting to determine what to do with his body. He wanted to strip Sinwar’s corpse naked, put it in a public square, dismember it and pour sewage over the remains.

In an address to soldiers, he is reported to have echoed a genocidal view widely shared in Israel, that “there are no innocents in Gaza”. Even Israel’s supposedly liberal President Isaac Herzog has said as much.

But according to one officer, Vach has made this view an “operational doctrine”.

Vach’s view of Palestinians is that “everyone’s a terrorist”. And that means, given Israel’s current, explicit aims in Gaza, everyone must be killed.

Nothing Sticks

None of this should surprise us. Israeli leaders from the very start announced their genocidal intent. And more than a year ago, Israeli soldiers serving in Gaza began telling us of the systematic nature of Israel’s war crimes.

But like everything about this genocide, those accounts made no impact on the western political and media consensus. Nothing has stuck, even when it is the soldiers themselves documenting their atrocities, and even when it is Israeli Holocaust experts concluding that these crimes amount to genocide.

It has been nearly a year since the ICJ, comprising more than a dozen internationally respected judges, decided that a “plausible” case had been made that Israel was carrying out a genocide in Gaza.

The judiciary is amongst the most conservative of professions.

The situation in Gaza is incalculably worse than it was last January when the court issued its ruling.

But the wheels of justice are required to turn slowly, even though Gaza does not have time on its side.

How is this permanent condition of mass denial possible? There is nothing normal or natural about it. The denial is being actively and furiously manufactured.

Only because we live in a world where billionaires own our politicians and media do we need courts and human rights groups to confirm what we can already see quite clearly being live-streamed to our devices.

Only because we live in a world owned by billionaires do those same courts and rights organisations spend long months weighing the evidence to protect themselves from the inevitable backlash of smears aimed at discrediting their work.

And only because we live in a world owned by billionaires is it possible, even after all those delays, for our politicians and media to ignore the findings and carry on as before.

The system is rigged to favour the imperial hub of the United States and its client states.

If you are an African dictator, or an official enemy of the so-called West, the most minimal evidence suffices to prove your guilt.

If you are under the protection of the US godfather, no amount of evidencewill ever be enough to put you behind bars.

It is known as realpolitik.

Always Another Story

For many months, the western media’s role has been to gaslight us by pretending the genocide is something else.

First, the mass slaughter of Palestinians was presented simply as a natural desire by Israel to eliminate “terrorism” on its doorstep following the Hamas attack of 7 October 2023.

It was chiefly a story of Israeli “self-defence” that conveniently overlooked the preceding decades in which Israel had driven Palestinians off their land, either out of their homeland entirely or into ghettoes, then colonised the land illegally with apartheid-style Jewish settlements, and subjected the Palestinian ghettoes to brutal Israeli military rule.

In the coverage after 7 October, the Palestinians – long the victims of an illegal occupation – were viewed as squarely to blame for their own suffering. To suggest anything else – to worry that a genocide was unfolding – was a sure sign of antisemitism.

Then, as the slaughter intensified – as Gaza was levelled, hospitals wrecked, the population collectively punished with an aid blockade – the official story faltered.

So a new narrative was advanced: of international efforts to reach a ceasefire ending “the cycle of violence”, of the focus on securing the release of the hostages, of Hamas intransigence.

We were back to the familiar framework of an intractable conflict, in which both sides were to blame – though, of course, the Palestinians more so.

Now, as it becomes impossible to continue pretending that Israel wants peace, to ignore the fact that it is expanding the slaughter, not reining it in, the media strategy has shifted once again.

As the genocide reaches its “final stage” – as the Israeli Holocaust scholars Omer Bartov and Amos Goldberg warn – the media have largely lost interest. If there is no way to both-sides the genocide, then it must be disappeared.

And in media-land, there is always another story that can be promoted. There will always be another front-page lead rather than the most disturbing one of all, in which western leaders and the media are full participants in the live-streamed extermination of a people.

BBC Buries the News

That is the context for understanding the media’s collective yawn as the three genocide reports dropped one after another this month.

Israel’s accusations that Amnesty’s report was antisemitic were entirely expected. What should not have been was the media’s largely indifferent response.

The BBC was a case study in how to bury bad news. Its flagship television news programmes – the dominant news source for Britons – ignored the story completely.

Meanwhile, its poor cousin, the 24-hour news channel, which draws a far smaller audience, did mention the Amnesty report, but captioned it: “Israel rejects ‘fabricated’ claims of genocide.”

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In other words, when the BBC did offer very limited coverage, it skipped the news story of Amnesty’s findings and went straight to Israel’s predictable, outraged reaction.

In an investigation for Drop Site News last week, Guardian columnist Owen Jones spoke to 13 current and recently departed BBC staff. They said the corporation’s coverage of Gaza was heavily skewed to present Israel’s actions in a favourable light.

In a WhatsApp chat for senior BBC Middle East editors, correspondents and producers, one participant – incensed by the “fabricated claims” caption – wrote: “FFS! – It’s an open goal for those who say we’re frit [afraid] of upsetting the Israelis and keep on couching our stories in an ‘Israel says’ narrative’.”

The BBC’s website, by far the most influential English-language online news source, inexplicably ignored the Amnesty report for 12 hours after the embargo was lifted. Read this.

Even then, it appeared as the seventh item. For the following week, it was not included in the “Israel-Gaza” index on the website’s front page, making it unlikely it would be found.

This pattern has long been true in the BBC’s coverage of Israel and Palestine, but it has become far more glaring since the stakes were raised for Israel by its genocide.

As Jones’s investigation discloses, BBC management has tightly restricted control over the Gaza coverage to a small number of journalists known to hew closely to Israel’s view of events – and despite their editorial role provoking what Jones calls a “civil war” in the BBC newsroom.

Notably, Jones did not publish his investigation in the Guardian, where there have been similar reports of staff indignant at the paper’s failure to give proper weight to the genocidal nature of Israel’s actions.

Rigged Algorithms

What the BBC has been doing is not exceptional. As soon as a light is shone into the dark recesses of the state- and billionaire-owned media, the same picture always emerges.

Last week, an investigation revealed that Meta, the company that owns Facebook and Instagram, intentionally rigged its algorithms to suppress reports from the biggest Palestinian news sources after the Hamas attack of 7 October 2023.

Palestinian news outlets saw their views on Meta platforms fall significantly after the attack – on average by 77 percent – when they should have expected to see far greater interest. By contrast, views of Israeli news outlets rose sharply.

Paradoxically, the investigation was published by the BBC, though notably the research was initiated and carried out by the staff of its Arabic news service.

Also last week, more than a dozen whistleblowers from Deutsche Welle, Germany’s equivalent of state broadcaster the BBC, revealed to Al Jazeera that a culture of fear reigns in the newsroom when it comes to critical coverage of Israel.

Similar reports from whistleblowing staff have exposed the rigged nature of the coverage – always in Israel’s favour – in other major outlets, from CNN to the New York Times and the Associated Press news agency.

In reality, the same skewed news agenda can be found in every newsroom in every corporate media outlet. It just requires whistleblowers to come forward, and for there to be someone willing to listen and in a position to publish.

Why? Because a genocide unfolding in plain sight cannot be made to appear normal without an enormous expenditure of effort from institutional media to close the eyes of their audiences. To hypnotise us into indifference.

State of Anxiety

In part, because we still trust these institutions, even though their chief function is to persuade us that they are there for our benefit – rather than the reality that they serve the interests of the larger corporate structures to which they belong.

Those western structures are invested in resource theft, asset-stripping and wealth concentration – all, of course, pursued at the expense of the global south – and the war industries needed to make this pillage possible.

But also, it is part of our psychological makeup that we cannot sustain attention on bad news indefinitely.

To watch a genocide unfold week after week, month after month, and be unable to do anything to stop it, takes a terrible toll on our mental health. It keeps us in a permanent state of anxiety.

The corporate structures that oversee our media understand this only too well. Which is why they cultivate a sense of powerlessness amongst their audiences.

The world is presented as a baffling place, where there are inexplicable forces of evil that act without any comprehensible causation to destroy all that is good and wholesome.

The media suggest international affairs are little different from a game of whack-a-mole. Whenever the good West tries to solve a problem, another evil mole pops up its head, whether it be Hamas terrorists, Hezbollah terrorists, Syria’s former dictator Bashar al-Assad, or the mad mullahs of Iran.

With this as the framework for the Gaza genocide, audiences are left sensing either that what is happening to Palestinians, however horrifying, may be deserved or that investing too much concern is a waste of energy and time. Another crisis will be along in a moment equally demanding of our attention.

And so it will. Because that is precisely the way the corporate media works. It offers a conveyor belt of bad news, one bewildering event after another – whether it be another disgraced celebrity, or murdered schoolgirl, or an outbreak of war.

The media’s role – the reason states and corporations keep such a tight grip on it – is to stop us from gaining a wider picture of the world, one on which our hands look far more bloodied than the “terrorists” we sit in judgment on. One where a powerful western elite, its corporate empire headquartered in the US, runs the planet as nothing more than a wealth-extraction machine.

And so we, the publics of the West, shrug our shoulders once again: at “man’s inhumanity to man”, at “the cycle of violence”, at “the barbarians at the gate”, at “the white man’s burden”.

Nearly 15 months on, the Gaza genocide has become entirely normal, it has become just another minor, routine news item to be buried on the inside pages.

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Featured image: A boy sits in rubble in Gaza. Photo Credit: UNICEF

For nearly five centuries western imperialism has been without doubt the most destructive force at the world level. It has caused more death and destruction than anything else in the entire history of humankind.

During the days of colonial rule there were anti-imperialism movements all over the world involving millions of valiant and determined people. Partly due to these and partly due to inherent self-destructive tendencies of imperialism, the forces of imperialism were weakened in the period around 1945, coinciding with the end of the Second World War, and several countries became independent one after another.

However several imperial powers tried their best to delay their departure, hanging on for a decade or two in some colonies, killing millions directly and indirectly even during the last years, dividing and weakening their former colonies before leaving, sowing seeds of hostilities but blaming it all on people they had exploited ruthlessly using divide and rule policies for centuries.

This as well as the subsequent conduct of the former colonial powers on matters relating to trade, debt and increasing power of multinational companies, covert actions and destabilization of other countries, revealed that the former colonial powers never truly repented or regretted their ruthless exploitation of other countries and people for centuries, and have in fact pursued similar interests in other ways, sometimes participating in highly destructive wars and proxy wars for this.

Of course this is not true of many citizens of these countries who are fine human beings committed to justice and fairness. We are not talking of common people or dissenting people of these countries (many of whom as farmers, workers and independent intellectuals have their own bagful of complaints from their governments or from ‘deep state’). We are only opposing the unjust policies of most regimes of these countries and the continued pursuit of imperialism and neo-colonialism by them.

While the former imperialist powers had no real change of heart, in the new emerging situation the leadership of western imperialism was placed firmly with the USA while some of the former big imperial powers were often reduced to being loyal followers or vassals. While the USA led its followers into many highly destructive and unjust wars, often linked to control over oil, gas and other coveted resources or considered necessary for perpetuating or increasing western hegemony, some of the ‘vassals’ also continued with their own sub-imperialism agenda, generally under the US umbrella.

The USA used its power arrogantly, carelessly and foolishly on many occasions, but had many assets including dollar dominance– its currency being the world reserve currency, ability to spend relentlessly on expensive wars without running the risk of economic ruin (so far), by far the highest military budget with arsenals to match, NATO with its increasing membership, high level of control over world communications, media and propaganda.

Ignoring possibilities of enlightened or disciplined use of such strengths, arrogance in pursuing imperial objectives resulted in policies and decisions that led to huge destruction and immense suffering in many countries, alienating many people. Around the same time that the leadership of western imperialism passed into the hands of the USA, the Soviet Union emerged as the leader of the communist world, exercising excessive unjustified control over many countries and the republics integrated within the Soviet Union. The Soviet leadership made many serious mistakes resulting in enormous distress for several of its own people and the people of other countries, even though there were also notable achievements in many areas like industry, infrastructure, science and technology, education and health facilities. However it is not fair to keep ‘Soviet imperialism’ in the same category as western imperialism as at one level the Soviet Union had also sought to provide support for several liberation struggles and for many victims of western imperialism. The Soviet Union had grown out of aspirations for alternatives to aggressive capitalism and many people had sacrificed their life for this. If the path of hope got derailed leading to tyranny, at least part of the blame rests with the highly aggressive policies pursued by the western imperialist powers towards the Soviet Union which actually strengthened the hands of those in the Soviet Union who wanted to centralize arbitrary powers in a few hands. 

Anyway, the Soviet Union could not become the great alternative the world needed, and could not also win the deep affection and firm support of its people, so that when the western imperialist powers led by the USA engaged it in expensive competition for military superiority, the internally weakened Soviet Union started collapsing, a trend enhanced by mistakes like sending army to Afghanistan.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia became a victim of western imperialism during the decade 1990-2000 as forces of imperialism plundered it in collaboration with local elites and sought to weaken it further. However after Putin took over, Russia made significant recovery in its important human development indicators (UN figures) and also took important steps to safeguard its legitimate security interests from the relentless expansion of NATO which had been taken up in glaring violation of promises made earlier not to expand NATO an inch eastwards. The steps which Russia has taken to protect its security interests may have technically violated some international rules or laws (and in addition democracy here has been far from perfect) but nothing that has happened in recent times can adds up to what some have called ‘Russian imperialism’. The overall reality appears to be of Russia facing very aggressive and unjustified hostility from western imperialism and taking steps for its security. Yes, all wars are wrong particularly in these times and Russia has invaded Ukraine, but a careful study of all that has happened during 2008-2024 in this context would reveal that the Ukraine war has been instigated by western imperialism for its own reasons, causing enormous suffering to both neighbors.

China also emerged from the chaos of the Second World War as a very important communist power but the dream of providing a promising alternative to capitalism was soon lost here too as millions of innocent people lost their lives in very painful ways in the famine conditions of ‘the great leap forward’ and later in the so-called cultural revolution. Later, after making adjustments with world capitalism, China experienced very high economic growth for several years and increased its military might as well. China has been very aggressive at some levels, but still it will not be proper to speak of Chinese imperialism as yet. There are signs of Chinese aggression that indicate that there can be Chinese imperialism in future, as China relentlessly seeks more and more resources elsewhere for its large middle and high income population, but it will be unfair to speak of full-blown Chinese imperialism at present, particularly as a lot of Chinese military efforts are aimed at protecting its own security from western imperialism plus its local allies closer to China.

Around 2015, or a little before or after, western imperialism realized that both Russia and China had strengthened themselves adequately to emerge as great powers. Several western strategic experts recognize them as great powers. Hence the unipolar world of 1990 became a multi-polar world with three great powers. 

However western imperialism is based on achieving undisputed supremacy of the USA together with its close allies or vassal states. Hence increasingly during the last decade there has been talk of USA led or USA instigated wars or proxy wars against Russia and China. This can also lead to the Third World War and to nuclear war.

Hence to summarize we make two important points here from which we draw an important conclusion.

The first point is that today there are three great powers but only one full-blown imperialism which is western imperialism (although it has sub-imperialisms also of allies and vassals such as Israel and France some of which are in decline and some are becoming more aggressive).

Secondly, this imperialism is not only causing immense distress and destruction but in addition, and this is very important, this has also become an existential threat for the safety of the world. From this understanding we draw the conclusion that resisting western imperialism is of the highest importance today for the safety of the world but this resistance should be peaceful and should be taken forward in such a way that the possibility of war can be minimized. The resistance should take place in democratic and transparent ways, involving free debates and dialogues, and not in secretive and dogmatic ways. The broad-based opposition to imperialism at world level should be such that while defeating the present western imperialism, the possibilities of later-day emergence of any other force of imperialism can also be minimized at the same time. 

Hence the peace movement, or rather justice-based peace movement has become very important today. The justice-based peace movement, including disarmament movement, should involve more and more people, and they must have an understanding that resisting imperialism is extremely important for creating a safer world based on justice-based peace.

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Bharat Dogra is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include Protecting Earth for Children, Planet in Peril, Earth without Borders, Man over Machine and A Day in 2071. He is a regular contributor to Global Research. 

Featured image is from Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom

On December 17, a number of Palestinians alleging human rights violations by Israel in Gaza and the West Bank filed a federal lawsuit pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) against the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken. 

Their contention: that the US State Department has failed to implement the strictures of the Leahy Law.  The law, comprising one segment covering the State Department, and the other the Department of Defense, prohibits the use of US assistance to the units of foreign security forces suspected of committing gross violations of human rights (GVHRs).  The proviso for restoring that assistance can only take place if the offending entity in question takes adequate steps to address the violations.

Examples of such violations include torture, extrajudicial killing, prolonged detention without charges and trial, enforced disappearance, rape and, as broadly noted in the Leahy Law’s own definition “other flagrant denials of the right to life, liberty, or the security of the person.”

The action, supported by Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), seeks declaratory and injunctive relief based on Blinken’s “de facto refusal to implement the statute prohibiting US assistance to Israeli security force units about which there is credible information that they have committed gross violations of human rights”.

Blinken’s record when applying the Leahy Law to Israeli units is disturbingly scrappy.  In May, for instance, he explained to Congress that the punishments meted out to soldiers and officers in four cases prior to the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, were adequate.  One example deserves attention, involving an officer in the Shahar Search and Rescue Battalion of the IDF.

The soldier in question shot and killed Ahmed Manasra, an unarmed Palestinian, in March 2019.  A plea deal reached between the military prosecutor and the soldier, subsequently approved by a panel of military judges, proved exceedingly generous to the soldier as it was degrading to Manasra: a three-month term of community service, and a three-month suspended sentence.  Blinken accordingly found, as outlined in his memorandum of justification, that the Israeli government “is taking effective steps to bring to justice the responsible member of the Shahar Battalion.”  It was a decision perplexing to Tim Rieser, a longtime aide to the chief author of the relevant statute, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt).  Blinken’s justification was inconsistent “with how the law is written and how it was intended to be applied.”

Former State Department officials linked to the original Leahy Law have been less than impressed by the lethargic actions of their former employer.  Former Department member Stephen Rickard, who was also a former senior staff member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, confirms the favourable prejudice within the Department towards Israeli units, adopting what he calls a “‘see no evil, hear no evil’ policy”.  “If the State Department will not comply with the law, then it is time for the courts to vindicate the rule of law and order it to do so.”

Former State Department Josh Paul, before a press conference discussing the lawsuit, was also candid.

“I sat as part of the Israel Leahy Vetting Forum [ILVF] and saw repeatedly cases of gross violations of human rights being brought forward and senior officials being unwilling to act upon them because of fear of political consequences.”

The Forum has been more active of late, signalling, according to ProPublica, a marked departure “after years of deferential treatment of Israel”.  That said, the lawsuit contends that the ILVF’s vetting operations are, for the most part, “unique, complex, lengthy, high-level”, not to mention “arbitrary and capricious, and is not rationally related to advancing the purpose of the Leahy Law.”  This complexity is pure bureaucratic pantomime, intended to mask what is, at heart, a simple policy goal: exempting the conduct of Israeli forces from the level of scrutiny reserved for their international counterparts.

As the lawsuit contends, the State Department “annually vets hundreds of thousands of non-Israeli foreign security force units for compliance with the Leahy Law and ultimately suspends and deems thousands of them ineligible for US assistance.”  Since the law’s enactment in 1997, the department had failed to suspend or deem ineligible “a single Israeli unit despite overwhelming information of widespread GVHRs committed by Israel”.

In 2019, Congress amended the Leahy Law to require the Secretary of State to provide foreign governments a list of ineligible units under the law and receive assurances that those governments would comply with the Leahy prohibition and block US assistance to such units before transferring assistance in cases of “untraceable assistance”.  Despite this amendment, the IVLF failed to identify a single ineligible Israeli Unit responsible for gross human rights violations.

The failure to apply the law, the plaintiffs continue to argue, was “particularly shocking in the face of the unprecedented escalation of Israeli GVHRs since the Gaza War erupted on October 7, 2023.”  The provisional orders of the International Court of Justice directing Israel to cease depriving Palestinians of essential items for their survival, and heeding the UN Genocide Convention, along with arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, underlined that point.

This legal action is taking place in the footsteps of previous efforts launched in US courts.  In November 2023, a lawsuit was filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California by the Center for Constitutional Rights, acting for a number of Palestinian human rights organisations, along with Palestinians in Gaza and the United States.  It sought an order from the Court “requiring that the President of the United States, the Secretary of State, and the Secretary of Defense adhere to their duty to prevent, and not further, the unfolding genocide of Palestinian people in Gaza.”

The relevant duty arose by virtue of the UN Genocide Convention, being “judicially enforceable as a peremptory norm of customary international law.”  The complaint further argued that the genocidal conditions in Gaza had been “made possible because of unconditional support given [to Israel] by” President Joseph Biden, Secretary of State Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.

The applicants failed to convince the judge that they had jurisdictional grounds to sue the officials in question, despite the judge declaring that there had been plausible grounds that Israel was contributing to genocidal conditions.  This was subsequently affirmed on appeal by a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit, primarily on the political question doctrine.  The principle holds that courts are not to review instances where allegations of international law violations have taken place if there are substantial questions of foreign policy involved.  An expansive reading of this is arguably unwarranted, given that US obligations at international law would presumably fall within the bounds of curial assessment.  The litigants remain undeterred, and to challenge this further.

The litigation being steered by DAWN is likely to face similar arguments about jurisdiction: that assistance to foreign security units is a matter for the executive and therefore beyond a court’s assessment.  But trite as it is, courts are there to guard the appropriate application of statutes.  The Leahy Law, as evidence of Congressional instruction to the State Department, is unequivocal in its purpose and scope regarding gross human rights violations.  The time, it would seem, has come for those instructions to be applied to Israel without deferential favour.

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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: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv, Oct. 12, 2023. – Secretary Antony Blinken on X

Important article first published on December 19, 2024

The overthrow of Bashar al-Assad was long in the making and has nothing to do with a civil war. There has never been a fight of the Syrian people against Assad. But President al-Assad fought against foreign-infiltrated and paid mercenaries, terrorists, including US-created Al Qaeda and IS / ISIS.

The traditional allies like Russia, Iran, and Iraq, suddenly disappeared. Russia made a semblance of fighting alongside the already badly damaged Syrian Air Force – to no avail. Then the Russians left, or rather, became busy evacuating their air bases in Syria. In time, before they would fall into the eager hands of Israel and its allied terrorist bands.

The connection between the Zionist-Israeli war against Palestine, then Lebanon and now Syria, next possibly Iran and Saudi Arabia and the Ukraine war becomes ever clearer. Jordan is already in Israel’s back-pocket. Without a fight. It is all about the Big War for Greater Israel. “Greater Israel” is the hidden agenda in the Great Reset and especially the UN Agenda 2030.

Both of these “guiding documents” were created under control of the Zionist supremacists.

Greater Israel, driven by worldwide Zionism, is also behind the “normally” illegal agreement between the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the UN of 2019.

For years, NATO has been successful in provoking again and again Russia, with ever more aggressive advances surrounding Russia, but preparing Ukraine for a senseless and hopeless war against Russia. This war eventually happened, with President Putin falling for the bait in February 2022, invading the predominantly Russian Donbass area for salvaging them from the murderous Ukrainian Azov Nazi troops.

While adamantly opposing western weapon deliveries to Ukraine, hence supporting Russia, Mr. Erdogan was officially accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza. However, silently the Turkish PM supported the idea of a Greater Israel. Because, as part of a deal, Turkey was to incorporate northern Syria, which was long prepared as a 30-km wide “buffer zone,” under the pretext of preventing migration from Idlib to Turkey. 

The buffer zone served Turkey for years to transport stolen petrol from Syrian wells to Turkey and sell it to European customers. 

All the talk about a ceasefire, and the eventual truce agreement signed between Turkey and Russia in Moscow on March 5, 2020, was just a make-believe farce for Turkey, which, under Erdogan, has proven to be an unfaithful ally to just about any country to whom Turkey wanted to appear as trustworthy. Such betrayals include Russia as well as the US and NATO, of which Turkey is a prominent member.

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The NATO-provoked Russia-Ukraine conflict was the beginning of a senseless war, fought with western weapons and with western advice, and eventually with western mercenaries, if not specialized western troops, that had no other purpose than keeping Russia busy with Ukraine, losing tens of thousands of soldiers to western weapons so that Greater Israel could now march on – literally undisturbed.

The over a million Ukrainians senselessly killed shall not even be mentioned. All for the establishment of Greater Israel. All life is sacred, but none is as sacred as that of the Chosen People.

Some very smart psychological research must have been carried out by CIA-DARPA (the Pentagon-linked semi-secret thinktank, “Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency”), Mossad and MI6 – on President Putin. They have carefully studied his hesitancy on self-imposed “red-lines”, his eagerness to belong to the “west”, and concluded, the west could do almost anything and Putin’s reactions would just be half-hearted. 

The last one of those half-hearted warnings was the Russian launching of the world’s most advanced supersonic multi-warhead, multi-directional, ultra-state-of-the-art Oreshnik long-range missile, towards a relatively harmless weapon-depot in Dnipro, Ukraine, on November 21, 2024. And that after Russia having been attacked by western made ATACMS (US), and Storm Shadows (UK-France) – which were Mr. Putin’s latest Red Line.

Putin’s unimpressive reaction gave the signal that the final war on Syria could start and be finished in a few days. The end game was fast. It started on November 27, 2024 by Syrian “opposition forces”, meaning US, Israel, UK, and possibly also Turkey funded and created terrorist forces like ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and other mercenaries. 

They advanced rapidly, led by Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, leader of the “Levant Liberation Committee”,  a Sunni Islamist political and paramilitary organization. Aleppo fell first, then Hama and almost instantly, Damascus.

Russia, China, Iran, and Iraq were disturbingly absent. Without Russia and China, Iran would have been fully exposed to US and possibly Israeli attack missiles – targeting Iran’s nuclear energy facilities, a “coup” prepared by the recent negative inspection report by the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), an agency dancing to the tunes of western commandos. 

It was all planned, an almost perfect strategy, that started playing out with the US – Madame Victoria Nuland, Deputy Foreign Secretary-instigated Maidan Coup, in Kiev, on February 21, 2014. Mr. Jens Stoltenberg, former Secretary General of NATO, was right when he said the war started already in February 2014. And ten years later it was concluded – with a giant step forward by Zionist-Israel towards a Greater Israel for the “Chosen People”.

Strategically speaking, sadly, and for now, the west won and the east – Russia and her allies – lost. See also Paul Craig Robert’s excellent analysis.

What will happen next is a new ball-game. Was Russia prepared for this scenario? Being able to act now? For example, by using now the Oreshnik super-missile to strike Russia’s strategic targets in the west, in Israel and NATO countries, to – perhaps, reverse the trend? 

Or is Russia just ready for internal damage control, leaving the world’s new globalist order, beginning with Greater Israel, play out?

Is the world experiencing planned chaos? Or a last-minute avoidance – and reversal – of a checkmate? 

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During the past weekend, President al-Assad transferred to the Syrian Prime Minister, Mohammed al-Bashir, the responsibility to hand over the country in a peaceful way to a new “government chosen by the people.” This new government is being established by foreign-funded terrorists. 

President al-Assad left the country in a military jet. He is currently in Moscow, where President Putin greeted him and has granted him political asylum. Mr. Assad’s wife, Asma, has already been in Moscow for several months, where she is receiving cancer treatment.

According to a weak declaration describing the situation, Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s Foreign Minister, it is US policy in the Middle East and Syria that is responsible for the constant attacks on Syria, already during the times of Bashar al-Assad’s father, and it ceaselessly continued when his son, Bashar, took over. 

Bashar al-Assad is an ophthalmologist, who had studied medicine in London. He is NOT the dictator made out to be by the west, and propagated by the western lie-media. Mr. Lavrov really does not bring any news on the table; he is just confirming the obvious.

President al-Assad wanted a free Syria for his people, pursued a liberal policy on religion – Christians were welcome – and gender equality for his highly educated people. Foreign funding for the usual “divide to conquer”, especially by the US, created religious divisions in Syria, and eventually some 50,000 Christians left the country.

Lavrov makes the US responsible for the rapid escalation and conquering of Aleppo, Homs, Hama and finally Damascus by foreign-funded terrorists, including by Turkey and Israel. 

Israel occupied two-thirds of the Golan Heights area of Syria, following the 1967 Six-Day War, and then effectively annexed it in 1981. Except for the US, this action was never recognized by the UN and the international community. As part of the US-instigated escalation, in 2024 Israel occupied the remaining one third of the area. Israel has been launching missiles against and bombing Syria for most of 2024. 

As it is clear today, Syria was then and is today part of the Zionist-Israel’s larger plan of a Greater Israel.

In hindsight, the so-called Arab Spring – a US-UK-Israel secret services organized Arab uprising that started in December 2010 in Tunisia, was also the signal for the US to intensify bombing of Syria, leading to the “Syrian Arab Spring” of March 2011. It converted to what is known as the “Syrian Civil War” – a misnomer for a US-led and paid for endless war of attrition, leaving Syria almost defenseless, up to the final assault, the end game of December 2024. 

The more active precursor to the “endless war of attrition”, started already in 2000, when Qatar declared, they were going to build a US$ 10 billion, 1,500 km gas pipeline through Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria to Turkey, and from there to further distribution to Europe. Syria, an ally of Russia, rejected, since Russia was the main supplier of gas to Europe. 

Strategic planners knew, of course, that Syra would not accept the pipeline through her country. Although expected, the rejection was not liked by the US. It gave Washington an argument to start a low-key “Syrian civil war” as a CIA operation, by regular, dispersed, and deadly attacks by western funded terrorist groups.

According to Seymour Hersh, already in 2006 – possibly earlier – the US Embassy in Damascus funded dissidents, Syrian, or terrorist “imports”, to the tune of five million dollars to systematically destabilize the country.

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Today, in practical terms, Syria no longer exists. Since the western take-over of Syria, all the way to and including Damascus, Israel has launched several hundred attacks by war planes on Syria, the largest ever since the Israeli-Syria conflict began in 1967. And this after the fall of Damascus. Attacks against a helpless Syria. 

The goal of these countless and ceaseless Israeli airstrikes is to destroy all remaining weapons and war potential. It is typical for a country that plans a full take-over with occupation.

The question remains: Is this the beginning of a new Middle Eastern status quo? A Greater Israel, absorbing roughly two-thirds of what today is called the Middle East – see map above – including the world’s largest pool of hydrocarbons – essentially controlling the world’s energy supply?

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Peter Koenig is a geopolitical analyst and a former Senior Economist at the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO), where he worked for over 30 years around the world. He is the author of Implosion – An Economic Thriller about War, Environmental Destruction and Corporate Greed; and co-author of Cynthia McKinney’s book “When China Sneezes: From the Coronavirus Lockdown to the Global Politico-Economic Crisis” (Clarity Press – November 1, 2020).

Peter is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG). He is also a non-resident Senior Fellow of the Chongyang Institute of Renmin University, Beijing.

Featured image: Syrians wave Russian and Syrian flags during a protest against US-led air strikes in Damascus, Syria on 14 April 2018. (Photo credit: VCG Photo)

The statements made by Donald Trump to his guests at Mar-a-Lago were by no means spontaneous. Were they the object of prior discussions with his advisors?

Is Trump ignorant regarding constitutional issues, not to mention the complex geography of North America? “Canada is not for sale”.

His proposal to the Ottawa government –were it be taken seriously– is tantamount to a neocolonial style annexation applied to a Sovereign Nation State, a federation of ten provinces and three territories, which is larger than the United States of America.

The issue of Annexation as well an outright invasion of Canada have been on the drawing board of the U.S. War Department since the end the First World War.

 1. What Canadians Know: British North America Act. Confederation (1867)

The Bill to Annex Canada  was introduced in 1866, While it was not adopted by the House of Representatives, the text of the bill was nonetheless a draft of an invasion plan. It was to come into force upon its proclamation by US president Andrew Johnson (right). It included the territories of British North America from Newfoundland and the Maritimes to British Columbia, extending North into the Hudson Bay territory and North West Territory bordering onto “Russian America” (i.e Alaska) (see map below).

It consisted in the outright confiscation of public lands. It also implied US control over the trans Canada railway system, waterways, canals as well as control over the Saint Lawrence seaway.

The US government had also contemplated paying “compensation” to the Hudson Bay Company. This consisted essentially in a plan to confiscate the territories under H.B.C jurisdiction (see map), “in full discharge of all claims to territory or jurisdiction in North America, whether founded on the charter of the [Hudson Bay] company or any treaty, law, or usage.”

The United States will pay ten millions of dollars to the Hudson Bay Company in full discharge of all claims to territory or jurisdiction in North America, whether founded on the charter of the company or any treaty, law, or usage. (Article XI)

The territorial division of British North America is outlined in the bill.  The various constituent “Canadian states” would conform to US laws in setting up their legislature.

 2. What Canadians Do Not Know. Omitted From Our History Books

While the 1866 Annexation project was stalled upon the adoption of the British North American Act in 1867, US plans to annex and/or invade Canada militarily were contemplated in the 1930s.

“If US war plans for the conquest of Canada provoke laughter, that is a comment on those who are laughing, not a comment on the war plans. In its day, War Plan RED was not meant to be funny.

The 1928 draft stated that “it should be made quite clear to Canada that in a war she would suffer grievously.”

The 1930 draft stated that “large parts of CRIMSON territory will become theaters of military operations with consequent suffering to the population and widespread destruction and devastation of the country… 24 In October
1934, the Secretary of War and Secretary of Navy approved an amendment authorizing the strategic bombing of Halifax, Montreal and Quebec City by “immediate air operations on as large a scale as practicable.”

General Douglas MacArthur who subsequently led US forces in The Pacific during World War II, not to mention the conduct of the carpet bombing raids against North Korea (1950-1953) was actively involved in the planning of the invasion of Canada from 1930-1937. General MacArthur had been appointed U.S Army Chief of Staff in 1930.

(Image: Gen. MacArthur with Gen. Eisenhower right)

The war plan was explicitly geared towards the conquest of Canada by the U.S.

“The U.S. Army’s mission, [written in capital letters], was “ULTIMATELY, TO GAIN COMPLETE CONTROL OF CRIMSON [Canada].”

According to Floyd Rudmin quoting the original war documents (link no longer functional).

“In March 1935, General Douglas MacArthur proposed an amendment making Vancouver a priority [bombing] target comparable to Halifax and Montreal.” (Ibid)

Screen Shot, Daily Mail 

The Washington Post, which casually dismissed the historical significance of “Joint Army and Navy Basic War Plan — Red”, nonetheless acknowledged the aggressive nature of the proposed military endeavor:

“A bold plan, a bodacious plan, a step-by-step plan to invade, seize and annex our neighbor to the north. …First, we send a joint Army-Navy overseas force to capture the port city of Halifax, cutting the Canadians off from their British allies.

Then we seize Canadian power plants near Niagara Falls, so they freeze in the dark.

Then the U.S. Army invades on three fronts — marching from Vermont to take Montreal and Quebec, charging out of North Dakota to grab the railroad center at Winnipeg, and storming out of the Midwest to capture the strategic nickel mines of Ontario.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy seizes the Great Lakes and blockades Canada’s Atlantic and Pacific ports.  … “(Raiding the Icebox; Behind Its Warm Front, the United States Made Cold Calculations to Subdue Canada, by Peter Carlson, Washington Post, 30 December 2005, emphasis added).

While the above Washington Post assessment describes the features of an all out war against Canada, the Global and Mail twists realities upside down. The Red War Plan to Attack CRIMSON was casually presented as a peacemaking endeavor to rightfully defend the U.S. against the British:

First approved in 1930, Joint Army and Navy Basic War Plan – Red was drawn up to defend the United States in the event of war with Britain.

It was one of a series of such contingency plans produced in the late 1920s. Canada, identified as Crimson, would be invaded to prevent the Britons from using it as a staging ground to attack the United States. (Globe and Mail, December 31, 2005, emphasis add)

The original documents pertaining to the invasion of Canada including “War Plan Red” and Canada’s “Defence Scheme No. 1.” are in the archives of the US Army War College in Carlisle, Pa. [link no longer active]

The complete text of War Plan Red is contained in Annex III. The complete text of the 1866 Annexation Plan is contained in Annex I.

The  plan is detailed. It involves both military as well an intelligence components.

According to historian John Major “War, Plan Red” also consisted in “a series of possible pre-emptive American campaigns to invade Canada in several areas and occupy key ports and railways before British troops could provide reinforcement to the Canadians…”

  5. Canada’s National Defense

The Canadian federal government and military were fully aware of these “Secret” US plans to invade Canada. In the 1920s, Lieutenant James “Buster” Sutherland Brown  had been appointed Director of Military Operations and Intelligence in Ottawa to address the issue of Canada’s national security. (image right)

His tasks consisted in developing contingency war plans in the case of a US attack against the Dominion of Canada.  Under the helm of “Buster” Sutherland Brown (subsequently promoted to Brigadier), Canada’s response to US threats was formulated under “Defence Scheme No. 1”, a counterattack contingency plan, in the case of a US invasion.

“Defense Scheme No. 1” was abandoned in 1931 by Canada’s chief of the general staff, A.G.L. McNaughton (following the adoption of “War Plan Red” in 1930) , on the grounds that “the Americans would inevitably win such a war” and there was no use in acting upon a contingency plan.

6. Ottawa Caves In 

 The watershed decision by the Conservative government of Prime Minister R. B. Bennett (image left) which came to office in August 1930 was to abandon Canada’s national defense plan. This decision constituted a de facto recognition of  US hegemony in North America. 

While the invasion of Canada under Joint Army and Navy Basic War Plan — Red was not carried out, the military threat of a U.S invasion plan has served to oblige Canada to ultimately surrender to US political and economic pressures.

Canadians From Coast to Coast. We are a Confederation. A Nation State.  Let Us Take Control of Our History

The People of the United States of America are our Neighbours and our Friends.

Canadians across the Land are in solidarity with their longstanding commitment to social justice, fundamental human rights and “Real Democracy”. 

O regime de Kiev já não está preocupado em disfarçar os seus crimes. O Presidente ucraniano, Vladimir Zelensky, admitiu recentemente ter tentado subornar um líder político europeu. O seu comportamento corrupto foi testemunhado por vários outros funcionários da UE, que permaneceram em silêncio face ao ato, o que mostra como a corrupção e o suborno são agora práticas comuns entre os políticos ocidentais.

Zelensky disse recentemente que ofereceu dinheiro ao primeiro-ministro eslovaco, Robert Fico, durante uma reunião em Bruxelas. Anteriormente, Fico tinha dito que rejeitou uma oferta de 500 milhões de euros de Zelensky em troca do apoio eslovaco à entrada da Ucrânia na OTAN.

“Zelensky perguntou-me se eu votaria a favor da adesão da Ucrânia à OTAN se ele me desse 500 milhões de euros em ativos russos (…) Você conhece a minha opinião sobre a adesão da Ucrânia à OTAN, e é estranho que ele tenha me feito tal pergunta porque ele sabe muito bem que o convite da Ucrânia à OTAN é completamente irreal”, disse Fico.

Zelensky confessou ter oferecido o dinheiro, mas disse que os motivos eram diferentes. Segundo o presidente ucraniano, o motivo da proposta foi uma tentativa de compensar financeiramente a Eslováquia pelo impacto negativo da decisão da Ucrânia de cortar o trânsito de gás russo através do país – o que criará um grave problema de abastecimento de gás para a Eslováquia. Zelensky disse ter oferecido à Fico “soluções alternativas” para o gás russo, que o líder eslovaco rejeitou. Assim, como último recurso, Zelensky alegadamente ofereceu o dinheiro para compensar o país pelo impacto.

“Oferecemos-lhe soluções relativas a potenciais compensações para os eslovacos – especificamente os eslovacos – pelas perdas do trânsito de gás russo, bem como alternativas para o trânsito – qualquer outro gás, não russo, a pedido da Comissão Europeia”, disse ele.

Na prática, a declaração de Zelensky não soou como uma explicação, mas simplesmente como uma admissão de culpa. Não importa qual era a intenção de Zelensky ao oferecer o dinheiro a Fico. Independentemente do que foi oferecido em troca do valor, o ato foi uma tentativa de suborno. Não faz sentido falar em “compensação financeira” pelo impacto da crise do gás, uma vez que todos os eslovacos são prejudicados pela crise de abastecimento, e não apenas o primeiro-ministro. Assim, seja em troca de apoio à adesão à OTAN ou à questão do gás, Zelensky ofereceu de fato dinheiro a Fico em troca de favores políticos, o que é um ato corrupto.

Além disso, Zelensky reiterou as suas afirmações anteriores de que Fico resiste a apoiar a Ucrânia apenas por razões pessoais. Afirma, sem apresentar qualquer prova, que o primeiro-ministro eslovaco está envolvido em vários esquemas de corrupção em parceria com o presidente Vladimir Putin e outros políticos e empresários russos. É curioso ver como Zelensky acusa infundadamente outros políticos de corrupção, quando ele próprio admite ter agido de forma corrupta ao tentar subornar um líder estrangeiro.

É importante sublinhar que o encontro entre Fico e Zelensky ocorreu durante um evento da UE em Bruxelas, e foi certamente testemunhado por outros líderes europeus. A falta de condenação formal por parte da UE deste tipo de comportamento corrupto é preocupante. Isto mostra como os países da UE normalizaram a corrupção, traindo os seus próprios princípios democráticos e orientações jurídicas.

Outro detalhe interessante é que o dinheiro oferecido por Zelensky fazia parte dos ativos financeiros russos congelados na UE. Por outras palavras, o presidente ucraniano tentou subornar o primeiro-ministro eslovaco com dinheiro russo roubado, tornando o ato ainda mais desonesto. Isto não é surpreendente, considerando que o roubo de ativos russos para financiar os planos de guerra da OTAN já se tornou uma realidade no Ocidente, e é atualmente uma das fontes de fundos para a ajuda europeia ao regime neonazista.

A recusa de Fico em aceitar a proposta de Zelensky mostra que ele é um líder comprometido com o bem-estar do seu povo, priorizando os interesses nacionais eslovacos sobre os seus próprios ganhos pessoais. Isto explica porque é que ele é um político tão popular no seu país e porque é que os cidadãos eslovacos confiam nele para liderar a nação no atual cenário de tensões e conflitos na Europa.

Fico está a desempenhar um papel fundamental na construção de uma alternativa política dentro da UE. A sua aliança com Viktor Orban da Hungria representa a possibilidade de um futuro melhor para o bloco europeu. Inspirados por Fico e Orban, outros políticos e figuras públicas na Europa estão a ganhar força e a construir conjuntamente uma alternativa ao atual establishment liberal. Parece que nem mesmo o suborno e a repressão serão capazes de impedir o crescimento de uma alternativa patriótica e iliberal na Europa.

Lucas Leiroz de Almeida

Artigo em inglês : Zelensky admits he tried to bribe Robert Fico, InfoBrics, 26 de Dezembro de 2024.

Imagem :  InfoBrics

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Lucas Leiroz, membro da Associação de Jornalistas do BRICS, pesquisador do Centro de Estudos Geoestratégicos, especialista militar.

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

Impeachment of President in Seoul, Political Insanity in Kiev: “Thrilled by the Prospect of Thermonuclear War”? Who Is Pulling the Strings?

By Drago Bosnic, December 27, 2024

What we’ve learned so far is that the dangers of a global confrontation are lost on many people, particularly (and most disturbingly) those in power. One of the latest such cases was seen in South Korea, where the deeply unpopular President Yoon Suk Yeol tried to (ab)use his powers to gain absolute political control by prompting the government to launch swarms of drones at nuclear-armed North Korea.

In America It’s Another Week to be Proud of! Is Biden Poised to Ban 2025 by Executive Order?

By Philip Giraldi, December 27, 2024

Something good happened in Washington last week, suggesting that the year might actually end on a high note without Joe Biden starting World War 3 and opening up all the country’s prisons for the on-the-street rehabilitation of the inmates where they will undoubtedly learn new skills.

Trump Now Threatening Panama, His “Neo-Monroeism” Might Set Americas Ablaze

By Uriel Araujo, December 27, 2024

Last week, US President-elect Donald Trump said the canal is a “vital national asset” fort the United States and threatened to reassert American control over it.

Greenland – For Protection or for Sale?

By Bharat Dogra, December 27, 2024

At a time when environmentalists are rightly very concerned about the protection of the highly sensitive ecology of Greenland, the headlines are instead filled with talk regarding the ‘sale’ of Greenland initiated by President-elect Trump’s provocative and disturbing statement of buying Greenland. 

There Is No Gold-Standard Polio Vaccine

By Richard Gale and Dr. Gary Null, December 27, 2024

Efforts to eradicate polio, once considered a public health triumph, are now threatened by a complex interplay of scientific, logistical, and geopolitical challenges. The emergence of vaccine-derived polioviruses (VDPVs) and a rise in vaccine-related complications have introduced unforeseen obstacles.

Washington Deploys Proxies to Xinjiang to Scuttle China’s Giant Infrastructure Project

By Mike Whitney, December 27, 2024

A Uyghur separatist group that helped to topple the government of Bashar al Assad has declared its intention to return to Xinjiang in order to conduct military operations against the People’s Republic of China.

They Must Have Their Srebrenica in Syria…

By Stephen Karganovic, December 26, 2024

Following the abrupt and mysterious change of circumstances in Syria, the collective West propaganda machinery went into overdrive to pillory the previous government for a variety of heinous offences, real and imagined.

I have received the following New Year’s update from my confidential on-the-ground correspondent in Syria:

The catastrophic economic conditions resulting from theft of Syrian oil, gas, wheat and cotton fields, and Western sanctions, led Al-Assad’s Syrian government to seek rapprochement with the UAE & Saudis. The price was distancing Syria from the Resistance Axis, resulting in a series of catastrophic security steps.

The main result was dismantling of the Syrian popular resistance forces which had grown to 120,000, leading to reduction of the Iranian and Hezbollah presence. These steps led to Syria being effectively defenseless against the Jihadis. The Resistance Axis already knew by 2020 that Syria was lost. Anyhow, whoever takes control of Syria is actually taking hold of a ball of fire.

More results:

1. Most importantly the economic catastrophe which neither Turkey nor Qatar can sustain.

2. Clashes between Israel/US proxies & Turks in eastern Syria.

3. Uncontrollable terrorist groups wreaking havoc on Syrian society and emergence of resistance against the Israel/US/Turkey occupation.

It sure looks like it was a positive geostrategic chess move by Russia & Iran to let events take their course, even though, unfortunately, the population of Syria will pay the price. Yet chances are that a much stronger Syria will emerge.

Recall April 2003 and Iraq, with Bush’s “Mission Accomplished.” Saddam was removed, but a powerful anti-US/Israel resistance emerged. The RIC of Russia, Iran, and China were strengthened significantly in all spheres during the period 2003 – 2024. In essence, the US occupation was a major geostrategic setback for the Empire.

Thus after a period of chaos that may last a year or two in Syria, a much stronger Syria and Resistance Axis can be expected to emerge.

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This was originally published on Three Sages.

Richard C. Cook is co-founder and lead investigator for the American Geopolitical Institute.  Mr. Cook is a retired U.S. federal analyst with extensive experience across various government agencies, including the U.S. Civil Service Commission, FDA, the Carter White House, NASA, and the U.S. Treasury. He is a graduate of the College of William and Mary. As a whistleblower at the time of the Challenger disaster, he exposed the flawed O-ring joints that destroyed the Space Shuttle, documenting his story in the book “Challenger Revealed.” After serving at Treasury, he became a vocal critic of the private finance-controlled monetary system, detailing his concerns in “We Hold These Truths: The Hope of Monetary Reform.” He served as an adviser to the American Monetary Institute and worked with Congressman Dennis Kucinich to advocate for replacing the Federal Reserve with a genuine national currency. See his new book, Our Country, Then and Now, Clarity Press, 2023. Also see his Three Sages Substack and his American Geopolitical Institute articles at https://www.vtforeignpolicy.com/category/agi/.

“Every human enterprise must serve life, must seek to enrich existence on earth, lest man become enslaved where he seeks to establish his dominion!” Bô Yin Râ (Joseph Anton Schneiderfranken, 1876-1943), translation by Posthumus Projects Amsterdam, 2014. Also download the Kober Press edition of The Book on the Living God here. 

He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

Featured image is from Turkiye Today

Something good happened in Washington last week, suggesting that the year might actually end on a high note without Joe Biden starting World War 3 and opening up all the country’s prisons for the on-the-street rehabilitation of the inmates where they will undoubtedly learn new skills.

The good thing was the signing by Biden of a bill, perhaps with a little bit of help from his friends to make sure he spelled his name correctly, to make the Bald Eagle the official bird of the United States of America. The Eagle has been around the American Republic virtually since its foundation, appearing on the Great Seal and on various documents and even on currency, but it has never been officially dubbed the national bird.

All honor of place is due to the great bald eagle, but one might recall that Benjamin Franklin once suggested that the best choice for the national bird would be the wild turkey. And Biden still has time for mischief, including possibly ennobling turkeys or even the issuance of a pardon to himself for ignoring the United States Constitution for four years. And Joe might well choose to go preemptive by pardoning Hillary Clinton for all those classified emails and other documents that somehow disappeared from her home and office ten years ago. But apart from that, it is somehow reassuring to be able to keep repeating “only three more weeks of Biden and Harris” even though the potential for more damage to the Bill of Rights remains enormous.

Joe is well remembered for his open borders invitation which has produced huge crowds of happy American voters who were clearly not delighted to share the burden of millions of uneducated and unskilled foreigners who have demonstrated their ability to burn to death women sleeping on subway trains in New York City just to see what a flaming human body looks like. Oh, and the new Americans have to be housed and fed by the existing population as the process grinds on, but that is what the Democrats running nearly all the major US cities have come to expect from a cowed population that now understands that opposing government policies puts one on the FBI enemies list.

Joe and his stalwart band of liars have also connived in pulling together two wars in which the United States had no actual interest, arming and funding both Ukraine and Israel. Israel has said thank you by adroitly engaging in genocide against the Palestinian people while Kiev is somewhat clumsily occupied in trying to draw the US and NATO into open warfare against Russia, which would become a nuclear World War 3, so there is still time Joe! And then there is the new war going on in Syria where the US armed and trained militias are fighting similarly armed and trained militias controlled by the Turks, who are poised to divide what once was a place called Syria with the Israelis. The Zionists have for many years been planning to exterminate Lebanese and Syrians as well as Palestinians to create a Greater Israel.

But Joe and his buddies apparently are not satisfied with having started two wars when there are so many other places that need a stern dose of the old “rules based international order” to get their houses in order. China is number one on the list as it is outperforming the United States and the Europeans economically. And one can always use the excuse that it is threatening good old Taiwan to crank up a shooting war. And then there is Iran, everyone’s favorite when it comes to “who is next on the list?” Israel has eliminated Hezbollah and Syria, with US connivance and approval, to open the door to destroying the Iranian non-existent nuclear weapons program. Both Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have been openly discussing that option as it would mean bombing Iran’s military bases as well as its technical research facilities. Donald Trump has been involved in similar discussions with Netanyahu.

How the attacks on Iran might play out is interesting to contemplate and might follow something like the model of what happed to Syria. Recent reports indicate that something unexpected took place during an Israeli bombing attack directed against a Syrian strategic military site located near the city of Tartus. Israel has been bombing Syria constantly since the government of Bashar al-Assad fell and it has particularly targeted any sites or weapons warehouses that the new government can use to defend itself or establish its territorial integrity. The bombing in question used what many suspect to be a tactical nuclear weapon in an effort to completely obliviate the Syrian military installation that houses scud surface-to-surface missiles among other high-level ordnance. A huge explosion was noted on seismographs located five hundred miles away, as far as Iznik in Turkey. The blast might have been caused by the detonation of the many weapons stored in the facility, but the suspicion grows that Israel, protected as always by Washington even when it commits mass murder or defies international conventions on banned weapons, continues to believe that it can do and get away with anything.

Even if Biden does not open any new doors to further deploy the US military, there is considerable danger that he will succeed in locking new President Donald Trump in the conflicts currently going on. Trump is not averse to using force when it is what he considers it the best option. He has lately said some ridiculous things, arguing that the United States considers the “ownership and control of Greenland” to be an “absolute necessity” for maintaining American “national security” and “freedom throughout the world.” This has naturally riled the people who actually live in Greenland who now are wondering how they are blocking freedom globally.

The statement on Greenland came after Trump in a conversation at Mar-a-Lago demoted Prime Minister Trudeau of Canada by giving him the title of “Governor”, calling Canada the 51^st State of the United States “union,” which would “save on taxes and military protection.” Trump also has threatened to take over the Panama Canal and tweeted “we’ll see about that!” in response to the President of Panama’s declaration that every inch of the Panama Canal belongs to Panama. Trump then posted up a graphic on his website featuring “Welcome to the United States Canal!” above a picture of the American flag flying over a lock in the Panama Canal. Trump has also allegedly privately considered invading Mexico in order to combat the drug cartels on the US border and using American soldiers to block illegal immigrants seeking to cross.

Trump’s ignorance over who is doing what in the Middle East is astonishing but largely derives from his own personal and family attachment to Zionism and more particularly to his reliance on billionaire Jewish donors. The serial appointments of pro-Israel nominees to the key cabinet posts where decisions impacting Israel will be made for the next four years both will shape policy and guarantee that Trump stays on track with Israel, just as Joe Biden did when surrounded by his own Jewish neocons. Trump has already vowed that there will be “hell to pay” in the Middle East if the remaining Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip are not released by his January 20^thinauguration.

Likewise, Israeli government officials, including Netanyahu, cannot wait for current Secretary of State Antony Blinken to be replaced by Florida congressman Marco Rubio. Blinken has been a complete tool of Israel but he projects a certain timidity. Rubio shows no such restraint and is very clear on what he believes to be true. He recently called Hamas “animals” and made clear that they are “100% to blame” for everyone killed in Israel and in Gaza during the current war. The moment he assumes control, there will be the “maximum pressure” that Trump often cites on Hamas to surrender or face the consequences. The Trump administration will supply Israel with bunker-busting bombs and whatever else is needed to kill anyone perceived to be an enemy of the Jewish state. Trump’s nominee for defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has said, “If you love America, you should love Israel.” He will back that up by delivering on Israel’s military needs as defined by Netanyahu.

So there you go! The old year is ending on both a bang and a whimper. Joe Biden still has plenty of opportunity to raise hell and tie Trump to certain policies, particularly when it comes to continuing “useless” wars. Trump for his part will enter office owned by Israel and led by the nose by his belligerent cabinet. The actual needs and interests of the American people will be, as usual, invisible to the politicians and lost in the shuffle.

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Philip M. Giraldi, Ph.D., is Executive Director of the Council for the National Interest, a 501(c)3 tax deductible educational foundation (Federal ID Number #52-1739023) that seeks a more interests-based U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Website is councilforthenationalinterest.org, address is P.O. Box 2157, Purcellville VA 20134 and its email is [email protected].

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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   

Following are some key points from a discussion with my friend Qusay (not his real name) in Damascus. He is a translator and university professor. The situation in Syria continues to evolve. See the X account of Tim Anderson @TimAnd2037 for videos showing ongoing atrocities which contradict the western and allied  media narrative. 

Syria Is Secular

“I’m Muslim but we celebrate Christmas. Syria is a secular country. We celebrate all other religions and sects. I remember when I was a child, my father used to celebrate this day and say, ‘this is the day of the birth of Jesus Christ, our prophet. So we must enjoy it. We must spread love, peace.’ This is part of the Syrian mentality to celebrate all these events because we learn from this love, sacrifice, peace and these things. So this is something of our tradition. We hope this will not end.”

Situation in Damascus

“The first four days after Assad’s departure were chaos, looting and stealing. After that, there has been a kind of peace in Damascus. But today, the situation is very dangerous again. My wife and I went to buy some things for the house. But there was too much firing of weapons. We had to return home. It’s now dangerous again.” 

Situation in Aleppo

“In Aleppo, they banned one of the prominent minority religious sites. Because of this, there have been demonstrations. Two people were killed. There was a pretrial hearing and yesterday three judges were killed while they were going home. Things are getting worse. Some people are now saying ‘We are going to arm our people. You are unable to protect us, you are against us.’ This is the dangerous situation today.”

Curfew

“We have curfew for 12 hours. People are not allowed to go out.  Before this, things were calm and they were quiet. But for today, yes, things are getting worse. We hope they will not get out of control. “

Food, Electricity, and Fuel

“There is electricity in Aleppo only one half or one hour per day. At the beginning in Aleppo, the new rulers brought in power generators and for two or three days there was much more electricity. Before they took over the rest of Syria. Now people rarely have electricity. I live in Dummar project, one of the good areas in Damascus. We have electricity for one hour every 12 hours, just two hours per day.

“Food prices have recently gone down. But many people don’t have money and cannot pay.  The new government said that people will not get their salary for this month because in Syria people used to get their salaries in advance. They said, we will not give you your salary because you already took it at the beginning of December. So people now are really starving because of this.

“Transportation costs have increased four to five times. It is almost not worth it for many people to go to work. The new leadership say that they are now studying this and will raise the salaries three or four times. But according to what we see, these are all just false attempts to calm people down.

“Before they took over the rest of Syria, they promised the people of Aleppo that it would be paradise. They said they are going to give people the salary equivalent to  250 US dollars per month. That is a big increase and people were very happy for this. Now, after they took over the rest of Syria, they said, okay, we cannot do this because there are a lot of obligations and now we will study salaries and let’s see.”

Threats to Syrian Industry

“The entry of Turkish goods are now threatening Syrian industry. Turkish goods are coming into Syria with low prices and better quality. Syrian industry has been damaged by western sanctions, the high prices of fuel and electricity, and other factors. So they cannot compete with those of Turkey. Just yesterday, a leader of industry called on the new government to impose taxes on imported goods. Syrian industry needs some protection. So we don’t know where things will go. Rumors are everywhere in Syria.”

Security 

“So far the only security are those who came from HTS.  They are very few in number.  Recently, they made announcements for the previous soldiers or policemen to return. The new leadership said they will make a reconciliation for all previously recruited soldiers or policemen. They said to go to these centers and if they see that you didn’t make any crimes against the opposition or any torture or things, they’re going to recruit you within the new staff of police. We will see.”

Colleges and Universities

“They changed the names of universities into other names. They changed everything related to Baath Party or Assad to other names. The public universities are now open. Each day has a daylight prayer inside the university. They stop all lectures and have this prayer and all people group to have it. But it’s free for you to pray or not to pray. They don’t force anyone to participate. Yet. So far they are not enforcing any Islamic rules. For instance, women can go to streets without hijab or scarf.

“Private universities were looted and still have postponed classes. Classes are to resume on January 4. “

West and Allies Are Coming to Damascus

“The new rulers are receiving delegations from all around the world. But so far we haven’t seen any good coming from this. People start to lose their patience because they see rich countries come to us and nobody brings any fuel, oil or needed supplies. So why are they coming if they don’t have immediate solutions? There are delegations from USA, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Jordan and many other countries. So people say, okay, it’s good that now they have these relations, but what is the effect?  Why hasn’t anything changed?” 

Syrians Returning or Departing? 

“Many friends told me that the moment they can leave the country, they’re going  to depart.  They are seeing the situation very dark with the advancements of Israel into Syrian lands. And unfortunately now we don’t have any power to resist because Israel destroyed all the military capacities of the Syrian army. So people, they know that things are not going to be in a good situation. People are very afraid. Many people  don’t have money to go to their work or to feed their babies or to do anything.

“Are people returning from abroad? It is hard to tell. At the beginning there were estimates that around 20,000 Syrians returned from Turkey to their villages. Turkey is facilitating the return of Syrians. This is part of the whole program. But other Syrians have left.  Especially Shia Muslims. I know a lot, especially who were soldiers. They left for Lebanon because they were afraid for their security and safety.”

Why Did the Syria Army Collapse? 

“This is a mystery because there are no true data about this. Some people say that Assad was informed by Russia that they can’t protect him any more. So he informed the army that they should surrender and they don’t need to fight back. There are many stories. What is true? Unfortunately President Assad didn’t leave any statement behind him, which makes people very angry to be frank with you.” 

Public Reaction to Assad’s Departure

“Soldiers were fighting for the country when they found out that Bashar al Assad left the country. This was irresponsible from his side because there were people who were depending on him, they were believing in him and suddenly he left everything. At least he should tell people that I’m leaving, you can surrender. 

“He really turned people against him. He didn’t warn his soldiers or high officials or anyone else that he’s leaving. Another thing is that the images from Sednaya Prison were really terrifying. And this is the thing that turned all people against the regime because they have live video broadcasting from Sednaya Prison. So people have seen this live broadcasting. Why should you torture these people? So yes, these two things turned people against him. 

“When Aleppo was lost, he never spoke out. He never showed up. He never encouraged people, he never said, we will get  Aleppo back. Any normal person would say something. But he lived in his ivory tower. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey said that two days before the fall they contacted him and wanted to speak with him, to negotiate.  But he refused.  I don’t know why he committed these mistakes. By his mistakes, all has been lost. 

“And then you leave without telling your people, the people who lost their lives, the people who sacrificed their children for you because they believed you are going to unite Syrians. We know that he could unite Syrians, we know this, but by these mistakes that he made, all of us are lost.”

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On September 13, the Washington DC-based National Endowment for Democracy (NED) announced that the infamous Victoria Nuland is joining their Board of Directors, “effective immediately”. She had already been on the board in the 2018–2021 timeframe, but as her State Department career came first, it seems she wasn’t as active as is usually expected from top-ranking officials. However, as is typically the case with the vast majority of monstrous neocon war criminals, Nuland was the perfect candidate for the job. NED Chairman Kenneth Wollack didn’t hide how thrilled he was that they were getting some “backup”, praising Nuland’s “distinguished career across multiple administrations” and adding that “she brings the experience and expertise that will contribute measurably to NED’s mission and work”.

Obviously, the warmongering oligarchy in Washington DC adores someone like Victoria Nuland. Her “distinguished career” indeed spans decades, both under the Biden and Obama administrations. During her tenure, relations between Russia and the United States reached a point lower than ever before, including the peak of the (First) Cold War. Nuland’s most fateful “career moments” came when she was the Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs from 2013 until 2017, particularly in late 2013/early 2014. In effect, her aggressive style of “diplomacy” pushed Ukraine into a decade-long bloodbath, as she was one of the architects of the infamous Maidan coup. This disastrous color revolution launched Nuland’s career into orbit, to the absolute pleasure of every warmonger in Washington DC.

From 2021, she was the Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs, as well as the Acting Deputy Secretary of State from 2023 before formally retiring in early 2024. That was exactly the time when the NATO-orchestrated Ukrainian conflict escalated, forcing Russia to respond with a strategic counteroffensive (SMO). Nuland was happy that she could help make things even worse, even effectively admitting that the US was engaged in all sorts of terrorist activities, including the attack on the Nord Stream pipelines and the Pentagon-run biolabs in NATO-occupied Ukraine and around the world. Obviously, for her, these were all “perfectly legitimate biological research facilities” that were “completely harmless” as long as they were not in “the wrong hands” (presumably any other except American).

Nuland’s snarky boastfulness about the terrorist attack on the pipelines, which, in her words, became “a hunk of metal at the bottom of the sea”, clearly indicates who’s behind it. Still, this never prevented the mainstream media machine and top-ranking Western officials from openly blaming Russia for it, which is only the tip of the iceberg of absurd lies the political West has been disseminating about the Eurasian giant. However, what’s far more disturbing is Nuland’s remark just before the monstrous Crocus City Hall terrorist attack that killed 145 civilians. Namely, on the second anniversary of the SMO, she threatened Russia, saying that the so-called “military aid” provided to the Neo-Nazi junta will ensure that “Putin faces some nasty surprises on the battlefield this year”. Days later, she left the State Department.

In other words, Nuland is the bringer of death, destruction and chaos, at best. Unfortunately, her renewed NED appointment went largely unnoticed, but the consequences of it are already visible. Interestingly, the NED effectively told us what she would be doing there. On the occasion of her reactivation as a member of the board, NED President and CEO Damon Wilson said that “as NED partners face increasing threats from autocrats around the world, Ambassador Nuland’s experiences will help the Endowment sharpen its approach to supporting democracy advocates”, adding that “her life-long commitment to democracy will be a valuable addition to the NED Board at this consequential moment for our mission”. Now, you’re probably wondering – what exactly is their “democratic mission”?

Image: NED Logo (Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0)

The NED itself insists that it’s “an independent, nonprofit, grant-making foundation dedicated to the development and strengthening of democratic institutions around the world”. Now, this “independent organization” is getting money from the US Congress and uses it to “fund more than 2,000 grants in over 100 countries”. Their website also says that “the NED’s grants program is augmented by the International Forum for Democratic Studies; the Journal of Democracy; the Reagan-Fascell Fellowships Program; the World Movement for Democracy; and the Center for International Media Assistance”. However, it’s important to note that this extremely dangerous organization is effectively a CIA front. NED simply serves as a much more overt vanguard of the malignant US influence.

Namely, much of the work that the infamous CIA and similar American spy agencies usually do covertly in “non-democratic” countries is taken over by the NED as soon as “freedom and democracy” infests the unfortunate place. They were particularly active in the former Eastern Bloc (especially Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union), financing coups and color revolutions, even helping start wars that would allow the US military to just walk in soon after and effectively occupy the targeted country. Thus, Nuland’s “expertise” certainly comes in handy and it’s quite clear why the organization is “thrilled” to have her in their top decision-making body. Now, if we analyze the events that have taken place in the last two months, we can conclude that Victoria Nuland hasn’t wasted a second of her time.

Namely, we’ve had the terrorist takeover of Syria (with the US/NATO invasion of that country being a part of the so-called “Arab Spring”, NED involvement is virtually guaranteed), we have the EU-backed protests in Georgia and now in also in Serbia. And while it may seem too early to tell now, we might soon see them in other “non-compliant” countries such as Slovakia and/or Hungary. In other words, Nuland is certainly an unadulterated war criminal, but also an extremely effective one. Organizations such as the NED should be treated as terrorist groups that serve as the vanguard of US aggression against the world. Everyone getting money from them is essentially a danger to the integrity of any country on the planet and should be treated as a dangerous foreign agent, which also explains why the US is against laws defining them as such.

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

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Corruption and mismanagement by the Mozambican government fueled feelings of exclusion and revolt among local youth, facilitating recruitment by terrorist groups and allowing the creation of extremist bases in the African country. Yet, with conflict raging in the northern province of Cabo Delgado since 2017, leading to the internal displacement of around 1 million people, Western media continues to ignore the conflict and focus on Ukraine.

The conflict in the former Portuguese colony was fueled by a combination of political, economic, and social factors, especially in the north of the country, the most impoverished region with high levels of social and economic marginalization and where the province of Cabo Delgado is located. This impoverishment is pronounced in areas where the State does not have the capacity to protect or develop basic services, creating fertile ground for terrorist movements.

It is also very important to keep in mind that the insurgency was started by local young people who began to organize themselves in small groups that evolved into movements that ended up connecting to global networks of extremism, such as the Islamic State [Daesh].

The situation is aggravated by the region’s rich natural resources, including huge oil and natural gas reserves, which arouse monetary incentives. When the reserves were discovered, the local population expected economic development, which did not happen. What happened was the arrival of multinational companies and the government’s interest in solely exploiting resources without plans for social change in the region. These factors fuel a lot of resentment among the local population and provide a platform for radicalizing the youth.

Frequent terrorist attacks are claimed by Al-Shabab, which is not the group of the more famous movement of the same name operating in Somalia. Al-Shabab in Cabo Delgado is different and began with a group of young people dissatisfied with the Mozambican government, accusing the government of corruption and mismanagement and remaining in power for decades through fraudulent elections.

These groups began to be influenced by extremist Islamic ideologies, which take advantage of the situation of extreme marginalization to criticize local and national elites for corruption and exclusion and end up fueling this feeling of anger against the Mozambican State. In 2019, Al-Shabab aligned itself with Daesh, which had first claimed attacks in that region in June of that year.

Daesh often seeks to consolidate its influence in regions rich in natural resources, such as Cabo Delgado province, to obtain illegal financing for its operations and strengthen its presence in several territories. The alignment with Daesh meant that Al-Shabab gained logistical support and global propaganda, connecting Cabo Delgado to a larger movement of global jihadism.

Throughout the seven-year conflict, the Mozambican government has attempted to contain the insurgency with a strategy that has relied on the presence of foreign troops in the country, mainly from Rwanda and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). This strategy has resulted in recapturing some areas controlled by the insurgents, but the purely military response has been heavily criticized.

The military response does not adequately address the root of the conflict—the marginalization and socioeconomic exclusion of local communities. Furthermore, the presence of foreign forces in the country raises questions about national sovereignty and the sustainability of security operations.

Several factors contribute to the conflict in Cabo Delgado, which remains invisible in mainstream Western media. In Africa, there are several conflicts, such as in South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, with very significant numbers of victims. Even so, they do not attract much attention from Western media, which instead continues to champion Ukraine’s war on Russia.

In the global context, the conflict goes under the radar because the northern region of Mozambique is further away from the country’s economic centre. Where there is not much money, there is not as much attention.

It is as if the lives of people living in Mozambique’s most impoverished regions are worth less in the Western global imagination compared to the difficult situation in Ukraine, which is self-imposed due to the Kiev regime’s refusal to negotiate with Moscow. Western mainstream media rarely gives space to conflicts in Africa, which is why these conflicts are often not even reported, especially as the West’s immediate interests are in opposing Russia rather than radical Islamist militant groups and improving the economic situation in Africa.

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October 7, 2024 marks the anniversary of the US-NATO bombing and invasion of Afghanistan on the grounds that Afghanistan had attacked America on September 11, 2001.

First published on October 4, 2023,  The Section on America’s “Just War” against Afghanistan  was added on December 16, 2023.

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Syria was a secular society, Afghanistan was a secular society. The logic of destruction of an entire is very similar. Al Qaeda Terrorism.

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Introduction

The NeoCons’ agenda is not to “win the war” but to engineer the breakup of sovereign nation states, destroy their culture and national identity, derogate fundamental values and human rights.

The strategic objective is to trigger political and social chaos, engineer the collapse of national economies, appropriate the countries’ wealth and resources, impoverish the entire Planet including the American Homeland. 

It’s a mesh of weapons of mass destruction, covert intelligence operations, propaganda and “strong economic medicine”. The criminality of the US/NATO hegemonic agenda is beyond description. 

This article focusses on Women’s Rights in Afghanistan “Before” and “After” the conduct of Washington’s “Humanitarian War” against Afghanistan, which commenced at the height of the Cold War in 1979. entitled the Soviet-Afghan War. It was a carefully planned  intelligence operation.

It is preceded by a review of America’s “Just War” against Afghanistan.  

The CIA was directly involved from the outset in recruiting and supporting the “Islamic brigades” including Osama bin Laden.

 .

America’s “Just War” against Afghanistan

A second war and invasion of Afghanistan under US-NATO auspices was carried on October 7 2001, four weeks after the tragic events of 9/11.

It was defined as “A JUST WAR” by Richard Falk, renowned scholar, professor of International and Humanitarian Law at Princeton, ant-war activist and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations: 

Analyzing The Evidence 

 .

U.S. Foreign Policy in the Wake of 9/11

.

In the wake of 9/11, The Just War Concept has become embedded in U.S. Foreign Policy. It constitutes an anti-Muslim narrative of going after the alleged “Islamic terrorists” when those terrorists have (since the early 1980s) been routinely recruited by US intelligence.

.

The “Just War Concept”  was skilfully coupled with other related narratives including “Counter-Terrorism” directed against Islamic Jihadists, “Responsibility to Protect” , “Exporting Democracy”, etc.

.

The Just War Concept goes against everything which is part of a real peace movement which consists in what Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, former Prime Minister of Malaysia defined as “The Criminalization of War” first formulated in Kuala Lumpur in December 2005. 

 .

Under International law, there is not such thing as “A Just War”. Under “The criminalization of war” all wars of aggression are criminal undertakings, with the exception of “Self-Defense” (which describes the battle of Palestine against the Israeli led invasion). 

I

Prior to the CIA Sponsored “Islamic Insurgency”  

against the People of Afghanistan  

“Before”

Unknown to Americans, in the 1970s and early 1980s, Kabul was “a cosmopolitan city. Artists and hippies flocked to the capital. Women studied agriculture, engineering and business at the city’s university. Afghan women held government jobs”. 

“Prior to the rise of the Taliban [which was instrumented by the CIA], women in Afghanistan were protected under law and increasingly afforded rights in Afghan society. Women received the right to vote in the 1920s; and as early as the 1960s, the Afghan constitution provided for equality for women. There was a mood of tolerance and openness as the country began moving toward democracy.

Women were making important contributions to national development. In 1977, women comprised over 15% of Afghanistan’s highest legislative body. It is estimated that by the early 1990s, 70% of schoolteachers, 50% of government workers and university students, and 40% of doctors in Kabul were women.”(Bureau of Democracy and Human Rights, U.S. State Department, 2001, link no longer functional ) 

A record store in Kabul

A co-ed biology class at Kabul University

Public transportation in Kabul 

University students, early 1970s

Women working in one of the labs at the Vaccine Research Center

Mothers and children playing at a city park—without male chaperones

II

Starting under Reagan. Derogation of Women’s Rights.

Destruction of an Entire Country

“After”

Osama bin Laden, America’s bogyman, was recruited by the CIA in 1979 at the very outset of the US sponsored jihad.

He was 22 years old and was trained in a CIA sponsored guerilla training camp. The architects of the covert operation in support of “Islamic fundamentalism” launched during the Reagan presidency played a key role in launching the “Global War on Terrorism” (GWOT) in the wake of 9/11.

Under the Reagan adminstration, US foreign policy evolved towards the unconditional support and endorsement of the Islamic “freedom fighters”. In today’s World, the “freedom fighters” are labelled “Islamic terrorists”.

President Reagan and Mujahideen leaders from Afghanistan, 1980s

III

The Soviet-Afghan War 

The Soviet-Afghan war was part of a CIA covert agenda initiated during the Carter administration, which consisted  in actively supporting and financing the Islamic brigades, later known as Al Qaeda.

The number of CIA sponsored religious schools (madrasahs) increased from 2,500 in 1980 to over 39,000. USAID generously financed the process of religious indoctrination, largely to secure the demise of secular institutions and the collapse of civil society. 

In the Pashtun language, the word “Taliban” means “Students”, or graduates of the madrasahs (places of learning or coranic schools) set up by the Wahhabi missions from Saudi Arabia, with the support of the CIA.

“The United States spent millions of dollars to supply Afghan schoolchildren with textbooks filled with violent images and militant Islamic teachings….

The primers, which were filled with talk of jihad and featured drawings of guns, bullets, soldiers and mines, have served since then as the Afghan school system’s core curriculum. Even the Taliban used the American-produced books ….

‘The pictures [in] the texts are horrendous to school students, but the texts are even much worse’ said Ahmad Fahim Hakim, an Afghan educator [working with] a Pakistan-based nonprofit.

An aid worker in the region reviewed an unrevised 100-page book and counted 43 pages containing violent images or passages.

Published in the dominant Afghan languages of Dari and Pashtu, the textbooks were developed in the early 1980s under an AID grant to the University of Nebraska-Omaha and its Center for Afghanistan Studies. The agency spent $51 million on the university’s education programs in Afghanistan from 1984 to 1994“, (Washington Post, 23 March 2002)

“Advertisements, paid for from CIA funds, were placed in newspapers and newsletters around the world offering inducements and motivations to join the [Islamic] Jihad.” (Pervez  Hoodbhoy, Peace Research, 1 May 2005)

“Bin Laden recruited 4,000 volunteers from his own country and developed close relations with the most radical mujahideen leaders. He also worked closely with the CIA, … Since September 11, [2001] CIA officials have been claiming they had no direct link to bin Laden.” (Phil Gasper, International Socialist Review, November-December 2001)

IV

Women’s Rights, Poverty and Despair

The media casually blames this on the Taliban, without acknowledging that Islamic Fundamentalism and the koranic schools had been imposed by the CIA.

Public education was destroyed and the Rights of Women in a predominately secular society which took its roots in the 1920s were DESTROYED.

This destruction is coupled with the massive impoverishment of  an entire country. 

V

“Before” and “After”.

A Criminal Undertaking. Who’s Behind It?

“A once prosperous country has been precipitated into extreme poverty and despair. It’s a crime against humanity. 

According to the UN, Afghanistan is currently experiencing extensive food shortages and famine.

It should be understood that this war started more than 40 years ago in 1979 with the CIA recruitment of jihadist mercenaries (Al Qaeda) funded by the trade in narcotics. 

The endgame was to destroy Afghanistan as a progressive and independent nation state committed to education, culture and women’s rights.” 

What the media describes as the “tyrannical policies of the Taliban” bears the footprints of the CIA which imposed Islamic Fundamentalism, while concurrently engineering the collapse and impoverishment of a progressive secular Nation State.

President Ronald Reagan issued (and signed) the National Security Decision Directive 166 (NSDD 166), which de facto authorized  “stepped-up covert military aid to the Mujahideen” as well as CIA support to religious indoctrination.

The promotion of “Radical Islam” was a deliberate CIA initiative (NSDD 166) which in the wake of 9/11 has served as justification to waging a “Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) in the Middle East, Central Asia, Southeast Asia and sub–Saharan Africa. 

Our Thoughts are with the People of Afghanistan.

Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research, September 9, 2023

Independent media have been warning about the dangers of thermonuclear annihilation for decades. Recently, I’ve had  discussing the issue with Prof. Michel Chossudovsky, who has been fiercely antiwar his entire life and is involved in countless peace movements and organizations around the world. Unfortunately, what we’ve learned so far is that the dangers of a global confrontation are lost on many people, particularly (and most disturbingly) those in power. One of the latest such cases was seen in South Korea, where the deeply unpopular President Yoon Suk Yeol tried to (ab)use his powers to gain absolute political control by prompting the government to launch swarms of drones at nuclear-armed North Korea. This nearly resulted in a direct confrontation between the two countries.

Yoon ordered his now-former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun to launch a swarm of drones at Pyongyang in order to provoke an attack which would then be used as a pretext for a nationwide martial law. It’s virtually guaranteed that the United States was also involved, as the opposition is getting “too cozy” with China and has shown readiness for dialogue with North Korea. On December 14, Yoon was impeached by the Parliament in Seoul, suspending his presidential powers (of 300 MPs, 204 voted in favor, including 12 members of his own party). Now, even the Constitutional Court of Korea is discussing his permanent removal from office. The scandal shook not only millions of South Koreans, but also people around the world, as the government turned out to be their actual enemy while pointing fingers at the neighbor to the north.

On the other hand, while reason prevailed in Seoul, total insanity is still ruling in other US/NATO vassals and satellite states. Namely, we all know how dangerously delusional the Neo-Nazi junta is. However, even after a decade of near-constant escalation, we’ve never really gotten used to the suicidal depravity of those running it. For years, the Kiev regime has been talking about acquiring thermonuclear weapons, which is completely unacceptable to several global powers, including Russia that has been adamant about it for around three decades. Still, this keeps coming up, with the political West covertly supplying the materials needed to build such weapons. More recently, it culminated with American propositions that the Neo-Nazi junta be given not only thermonuclear warheads, but also the previously banned medium-range missiles.

Now, many might discard all this as just pure scaremongering. However, the latest statements coming from the Neo-Nazi junta suggest that this is far more serious. Namely, Yevhen Karas, the leader of the infamous S14, an extremist organization linked to the CIA-backed “Svoboda” and “Right Sector”, is absolutely thrilled by the prospect of a thermonuclear war. According to Karas, pushing Russia to the brink would be “good”, because nuclear war would “force everyone to support Ukraine and turn away from Russia”. In his opinion, voiced in an interview with “Radio Bayraktar” on December 16, the Kiev regime “wouldn’t lose in case of a nuclear strike”. It should be noted that Karas is the commander of the “Reid”, 413th Separate Battalion which mostly uses drones and that precisely these unmanned systems would be most affected.

“Nuclear war is good. After a nuclear strike, nothing worse will happen, and finally, we will no longer whine about it. That’s it – it happened, we keep on fighting,” he stated, adding: “We won’t lose in case of a nuclear war. Because of it, India and China will move away from Russia and it will force the whole West to support us. I’m for nuclear war. I think that after ‘Stalker 2’ we are prepared for it better than anyone on the planet.”

Karas also noted that, after a nuclear war, “we” (it’s not entirely clear who he’s referring to) can focus on AI and robots, obviously not realizing how thermonuclear weapons function. Namely, the EMP effect of a nuclear explosion fries electronics and also disrupts signals and communications. Not to mention the sheer magnitude of physical destruction caused by such a conflict. However, the illogic doesn’t end there in the case of Karas, as he thinks that the Kremlin won’t use thermonuclear weapons because that’s “good for Ukraine”. He obviously never heard top-ranking officials in Moscow (including President Vladimir Putin) warn against escalation, because Russia would be forced to respond either way. More importantly, the political West which initiated the conflict in Ukraine, wouldn’t be spared in any way.

For years, the Kremlin has been warning against attempts to cause a localized nuclear conflict between Moscow and the Neo-Nazi junta, but the latter thinks this is still possible and that it can even “win”. Such dangerous delusions could lead to hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of additional casualties in NATO-occupied Ukraine, or worse, billions in case of a global escalation. This is precisely what happens when the political West keeps giving unconditional support to various extremist organizations led by psychopaths. And if you think Karas isn’t one, just contemplate the fact that he thinks “Ukraine is ready for nuclear war” because of “Stalker 2”, a post-apocalyptic video game. For years, analysts and regular people alike have been warning such extremists think life is like “Call of Duty” and other video games.

Obviously, this was supposed to be hyperbole. However, it seems Neo-Nazis like Karas really think that video games can “help” a person prepare for a post-apocalyptic scenario. For any remotely sane person, it’s very difficult (if not impossible) to fathom the sheer magnitude of such dangerous delusions. However, the one good thing about statements such as the one Karas made is that the whole world can see what we’re dealing with when it comes to the Kiev regime.

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

This Monday, in response to Trump’s threats, China has voiced its support to Panama’s sovereignty over the Panama Canal. The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said the Panama Canal, a “golden waterway for connectivity among countries” is “a great creation of the Panamanian people”, and that “China has always supported the people of Panama in their just cause for sovereignty over the Canal.” She added the canal  should remain a “permanently neutral international waterway.”

Last week, US President-elect Donald Trump said the canal is a “vital national asset” fort the United States and threatened to reassert American control over it. Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino responded firmly, by saying:

“As president, I want to express precisely that every square meter of the Panama Canal and its adjacent zone belongs to Panama and will remain so. The sovereignty and independence of our country are not negotiable.”

He added:

“The canal is not under direct or indirect control, neither by China, nor by the European community, nor by the United States, nor by any other power. As a Panamanian, I strongly reject any manifestation that distorts this reality.”

Trump is claiming Panama charges “exorbitant prices” to US ships to which Mulino responded by stating that the rates to use the canal are established in a public manner, “in an open hearing, considering market conditions, international competition, operating costs and the maintenance and modernization needs of the interoceanic route.” As is the case with complaints about NATO member fees and with Canada’s border problems, this seems to be yet another instance of Trump’s employing extremely aggressive rhetoric so as to threateningly pressure other states into making concessions or “complying” with American interests and demands.

The canal has been described as a maritime throat, connecting the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Panama gained its independence from Colombia in 1903 and after that was long the target of American interventions to ensure US control over the so-called Canal Zone. Only in September 1977 were the Torrijos-Carter Treaties signed, thereby determining that by December 3, 1999 the canal would be returned to Panamanian control.

One should keep in mind that Colombia (a very close US ally) once had control over the canal and lost it after Washington supported separatists who seceded from Colombia to establish the independent state of Panama. This was a kind of geopolitical maneuver to make it easier for Washington to interfere in the new and weaker state. Colombia’s national memory resent it to this day, and the current presidency, despite its friendship with the US, seems to have no qualms about enhancing its cooperation with China.

For example, with the Belt and Road’s initiative, Beijing has been planning to connect the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, which could be a game-changer development with global effects that go way beyond boosting the flow of goods between the Latin American and Asian continents.

Nadia Helmy, a Visiting Senior Researcher at the Centre for Middle Eastern Studies (Lund University, Sweden) and Director of the South and East Asia Studies Unit, wrote in 2023 that Colombian President Gustavo Petro had been in talks with China to create “an alternative to the Panama Canal”. This could involve a “dry channel” through which the Colombian Buenaventura port would be linked to Atlantic shores (Barranquilla) by means of a railway crossing the country. Petro in fact stressed the Colombian interests in advancing such projects soon after the December 2022 election.

So far it is hard to say how likely it is that such plans could materialize even in the long run. In any case, in this complex game, while supporting Panama’s sovereignty over the existing canal against American menaces, China (and Colombia, for that matter), might also have their own alternative plans – which are sure to displease both Panama itself and the US.

About four years ago I wrote on how Chinese presence in the Caribbeans amid the New Cold War threatened American dominance in the region and could extend to Latin America in general. Chinese diplomatic, trade and military influence in the continent has indeed snowballed, as I wrote last year. Washington of course still retains its hegemonic position in the Americas, but it is visibly declining. Thus, Trump’s strident threats are also a sign of weakness.

With Trump’s hyperbolic style, his threats should not always be taken at face value. This, however, does not mean that they should ever be dismissed as “mere” rhetoric. In politics, talking is acting and functions as a tool to exert pressure and to increase tensions.

Take Trump’s “threats” against NATO, for instance: if taken at face value, for those of a hysterical “Westernist” stance, they spell “isolationism” and thus the end of the Alliance and trouble for Europe in an apocalyptic scenario. Whereas for those of a rather naïve anti-imperialist stance, they are instead the promise of a new peaceful multipolar NATO-free world. In reality, as I wrote, it is more about further shifting the “burdens” of NATO onto European partners plus further proxifying the American proxy attrition war against Russia by turning the European bloc into a full-fledged American proxy.

A similar thing happens with regard to Trump’s neo-Monroeism. Rather than being about simply withdrawing from the larger global geopolitical chess to focus on the American continent; it is, more likely, about further bringing Great Power competition home to the Americas and thus further making Latin America the stage for this geopolitical dispute.

In other words, it is not about either projecting power regionally in the continent or being engaged across the Atlantic and the Pacific: in all likelihood, it will be one plus the other, rather than one or the other. Trump’s threats against Greenland clearly demonstrate it, by the way.

With Trump’s intervention plans for Mexico, plus his verbal attacks against Canada, and Panama, it is quite clear that, despite Trump being apparently a little more willing to discuss a peace plan for Ukraine for instance, the United State during his presidency will nevertheless remain a focal point for increasing tensions regionally and globally, as has been the case with all his predecessors for the last decades.

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

Featured image: Neopanamax ship passing through the Agua Clara locks (Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0)

While the mainstream propaganda machine continues to run the ludicrous “Moscow is losing” narrative, the Russian military continues with both steady advances in Ukraine and a massive modernization program. Over the previous two days alone, it took over around 100 km² previously under the Neo-Nazi junta’s control. The South Front reports that these advances, mostly by the “Tsentr” (“Center”) Group of Forces, are going steady across the frontlines, resulting in about 1,600 casualties for the Kiev regime and approximately 50 destroyed units of various types of military equipment. The “Tsentr” Group’s assault formations not only managed to advance through the Neo-Nazi junta’s heavily defended positions, but also defeated four motorized infantry brigades (including marines and the National Guard).

In the meantime, the mainstream propaganda machine continues to publish nonsense about the supposed Russian casualties. According to their latest claims,

“exactly 780,860 aggressor’s troops were eliminated, 24,672 air targets of invaders were shot down, while nearly 10,000 tanks, 20,000 armored vehicles, over 20,000 artillery systems and well over 2,000 MLRS (multiple launch rocket systems) and SAM (surface-to-air missile) systems were destroyed”.

However, it seems the Russian military didn’t get the memo it got “destroyed” years ago and still continues to advance, stubbornly refusing to accept these numbers as “facts”. It seems that “all those shovels” are doing a pretty good job. And speaking of “shovels”, the Kremlin is getting a lot more of those, particularly in recent days and weeks.

First and foremost, the Strategic Missile Forces (RVSN) continue to be prioritized as the most important segment of the Russian Armed Forces. They just rearmed another missile division with second-to-none “Avangard” hypersonic glide vehicles (HGVs), one of the most advanced and powerful weapons ever made. It boasts an unrivaled speed of Mach 28 (nearly 10 km/s or over 33,000 km/h), making it the fastest hypersonic weapon in the world and the only strategic HGV deployed by any country. The unnamed division is reportedly located in the Orenburg oblast (region), implying that it’s part of the 31st Missile Army which is composed of three divisions (8th, 13th and 42nd). The deployment was confirmed on December 18. The 13th Red Banner Missile Division was the first in the world to be equipped with an HGV in 2019.

Image: The UR-100UTTKh ICBM launched from the Dombarovsky Air Base carrying the Avangard (Licensed under CC BY 4.0)

The “Avangard” was in development in the 1980s, but went dormant after the end of the (First) Cold War. However, after the United States unilaterally withdrew from the ABM (anti-ballistic missile) Treaty in 2002, President Vladimir Putin ordered an immediate reactivation of the program, with the first public announcement about it made in 2004. At the time, it was met with widespread ridicule in the political West, but nobody’s laughing now that at least three RVSN divisions have the HGV while not a single NATO member (the US included) can match Moscow in hypersonic technologies (not even tactical or operational, to say nothing of strategic weapons of this type). To put the “Avangard’s” power into perspective, we can compare it to the recently unveiled “Oreshnik”, which looks like rather “mediocre” in comparison, despite its impressive capabilities.

However, while the political West can still only dream about such weapons, the Kremlin already made adequate defenses against them, including the now legendary S-500 SAM/ABM system. Also on December 18, the Russian military announced that it has completed the formation of its first S-500 divizion (as is known in Russian military nomenclature and is not to be confused with division). The “Prometheus” is a multirole system that can intercept targets flying at around 7 km/s, making it the only such SAM/ABM system in the world. In addition to aircraft and missiles, the S-500 also has anti-satellite (ASAT) capabilities. It has the potential to entirely nullify NATO’s strategic ISR (intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance), making it particularly dangerous for the political West and its ability to conduct aggression against the world with impunity.

On the other hand, the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) are certainly not neglected. In the last several days, new units of Su-34 strike fighters and next-generation Su-57 multirole jets were delivered, adding to the VKS’s already impressive arsenal. The Su-57 delivery (announced on December 23) is the third since mid-September (the previous one was in mid-November), while the Su-34 was received in April, June, September, October and November. Along with the Su-35S, these two types have been particularly effective and are produced in larger numbers than other jets. The exact figures have been a state secret in recent years, but the number of serial Su-57s in active service is likely past 30 (if not close to 40) at this point. In addition to expansion in production, the jet is also getting a steady stream of upgrades.

This also includes next-generation engines that will likely power the upcoming Izdeliye 41 (literally Product 41), colloquially better known as the MiG-41. Various military sources indicate that the Su-57S is now regularly used in deep-strike missions in areas as far as Lvov (near the Polish border). This is partially confirmed by the recent incident involving the S-70 “Okhotnik” drone that the Su-57 was forced to shoot down over an area with a high concentration of the Kiev regime’s air defenses.

In addition to jets, the Russian military is now also getting thousands of new advanced tanks, including hundreds of the formidable T-90Ms. However, in addition to regular deliveries of domestic weapons, what caught the attention of many observers is the increase in the acquisition of North Korean systems.

In previous months, the footage of the so-called “Koksan” SPG (self-propelled gun) being transported on railcars was published for the first time. The latest videos confirm an increase in the delivery of these massive 170 mm artillery pieces. However, there’s also speculation that new types of North Korean weapons are being acquired, namely the “Pukkuksong-2” MRBMs (medium-range ballistic missiles). This is yet to be confirmed by either Moscow or Pyongyang, but the latest footage shows railcars transporting vehicles resembling the North Korean weapon. Reliable data on the “Pukkuksong-2” is sorely lacking, but various estimates put its maximum range at 2,500 km. If the reports are true, such weapons could give Russia a significant advantage in Europe, making it an efficient stopgap solution until the “Oreshnik” is fielded in greater numbers.

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Efforts to eradicate polio, once considered a public health triumph, are now threatened by a complex interplay of scientific, logistical, and geopolitical challenges. The emergence of vaccine-derived polioviruses (VDPVs) and a rise in vaccine-related complications have introduced unforeseen obstacles. Despite the decades that our federal health officials believed mass vaccination campaigns were making progress, polio cases remain a persistent threat driven by socio-political factors, vaccine-associated risks, and new strains that may have very likely developed from over-vaccination. Research from leading institutions such as Stanford University, the CDC, and global health organizations like the World Health Organization (WHO) has increasingly confirmed independent researchers’ long-held concerns that the polio vaccines’ success story has been overblown. 

The WHO in earnest launched its global polio eradication initiative in 1988. In 2002, Europe declared itself to be polio-free. In 2015, the WHO declared wild poliovirus type 2 was eradicated globally. However, recent detections of vaccine-derived poliovirus in Europe and the US, outbreaks in the Philippines, and resurgent cases across Africa and Asia have proven that vaccine-derived herd immunity has been nothing more than a myth. 

For example, earlier this year researchers from the universities of Essex and Cranfield in the UK discovered poliovirus in wastewater samples from Germany, Spain, and Poland. Although no clinical cases were reported, the detection is worrisome. It signals the ongoing circulation of the virus. These findings highlight how the live attenuated virus in the oral polio vaccine (OPV) may have mutated and regained virulence. The British researchers noted that the strains identified were linked to vaccine-derived poliovirus. These detections parallel earlier outbreaks in Tajikistan and Ukraine in 2021 and Israel in 2022, where vaccine-derived strains caused paralytic disease. In the backdrop of the genocide against Palestinians, polio cases are reaching epidemic proportions in Gaza. In the UK, poliovirus was similarly detected in wastewater in 2022. 

Vaccine-derived polioviruses arise from the oral polio vaccine, which contains a weakened live viral strain. Under certain conditions, it can mutate and regain its virulence. It is particularly dangerous in regions with poor sanitation where it spreads through fecal contamination. These mutated strains then behave like wild poliovirus and cause paralytic disease. This problem with the oral polio vaccine was first documented in 2000 and has gained prominence with the increase in polio vaccination campaigns. For instance, during the first nine months of 2014, Nigeria recorded more polio cases caused by vaccine-derived polioviruses than wild poliovirus. In 2019, the Philippines declared a polio outbreak nearly two decades after being certified polio-free by the WHO. A case was confirmed in a three-year-old girl in Lanao del Sur province followed by poliovirus being detected in sewage samples from Manila and waterways in Davao. Genetic sequencing has also linked these outbreaks to cross-border transmission fueled by population movements. In 2020, Sudanese children were being paralyzed by vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 that was traced to an outbreak originating in Chad. Although the live polio vaccine has been discontinued in developed nations, due to its risks in causing polio-like paralysis, it is still administered in poorer undeveloped countries. As long as the drug companies continue to make and distribute oral polio vaccines, solely for its cost saving benefits and ease to manufacture, vaccine-induced paralysis will rise. These outbreaks attributed to VDP type 2 highlight the risks associated with oral polio vaccine in areas with inadequate sanitation and water utility systems. Dr. Walter Orenstein, a professor of medicine at Emory University and former director of the US National Immunization Program has described vaccine-derived polioviruses as “the biggest surprise” in global vaccination efforts. 

Today, US health authorities proudly claim the nation is polio-free. Medical authorities and advocates of mass vaccination raise the polio vaccine as an example of a vaccine that eradicated a virus and therefore proof of the “herd immune theory.” The simplistic belief that regional eradications of polio are an exemplary model of vaccine-induced herd immunity applicable for all other vaccines is both naïve and dangerous. It is a propagandist narrative that won’t disappear.  It was parroted during the Covid-19 pandemic. For example, a University of Otago study claimed that mass Covid-19 vaccinations would achieve even better results than the polio vaccine. The entire one-size-fits-all study was fundamentally flawed.  The New Zealand scientists’ claim that COVID-19 eradication might be feasible, and even more achievable than polio eradication, is fundamentally flawed. By drawing comparisons between COVID-19 and diseases like polio, the study overlooked critical distinctions in viral behavior, vaccine efficacy, and risk-benefit ratios due to adverse effects. It also failed to account for the fact that neither the Pfizer nor Moderna mRNA vaccines are capable of preventing infection, transmission and viral shedding.  

Image: Copyright: AP

In light of the growing life-threatening risks associated with Covid-19 vaccines, it has become abundantly clear that fast tracking unsafe and poorly researched vaccines is a disastrous public health policy. This was also the case for one of the first polio vaccines in 1955. In fact, the polio vaccine received FDA approval and licensure only after two hours of regulatory review – the fastest approved drug in the FDA’s history. Known as the Cutter Incident, named after the vaccine’s manufacturer Cutter Laboratories, within days after its first mass administration, 40,000 children were left with polio, 200 with severe paralysis and ten deaths.  Shortly thereafter the vaccine was quickly withdrawn from circulation and abandoned.[1]

Modern medical wisdom believes that the enterovirus associated with poliomyelitis is a highly infectious disease. The virus enters the body’s system through the gastrointestinal tract, often because of fecal contamination in water resources. According to the CDC, the majority of people who contract this enterovirus will not experience any symptoms. Approximately 25% will show temporary flu-like symptoms that disappear after several days. It is only after the virus enters the bloodstream and infects alpha-motor neurons located in the spinal cord’s anterior gray matter that there is the risk of paralytic poliomyelitis. 

A question that has plagued historians of medicine is whether or not the scourge of paralysis starting in 1916, well before the introduction of the first polio vaccine, was actually caused by the virus. Before 1916, when there was an enormous leap in paralysis cases in a single year—from zero to 3 cases per 10,000—why were there no recorded cases in the medical literature before that time? Moreover, after a couple years, the cases declined back to near zero. For the next 35 years, there would continue to be spikes and declines until 1948 when polio cases started to skyrocket. 

The enterovirus theory has never provided a satisfactory answer to account for poliomyelitis’ sporadic trends. In a recent article about the Rockefeller Institute’s role in fraudulent research to identify the pathogen behind the rise in poliomyelitis, William Engdahl presents a 1909 paper published by Rockefeller employees Simon Flexner and Paul Lewis whereby they assert the poliomyelitis virus had been identified after injecting diseased human tissue into monkeys, who then developed symptoms. However, Flexner and Lewis admitted they found no bacteria or conclusive evidence of a virus. They acknowledged, “We failed utterly to discover bacteria… and we had failed to obtain any such bacteria from the human material studied by us;” yet, they concluded the cause “must” be a virus, despite lacking any scientific proof. Their experiment involved using impure, contaminated materials, including spinal cord, brain, and even fecal matter, injected into monkeys. This speculative leap was accepted by the medical world without scientific proof, and the existence of an enterovirus as a paralytic agent remained unverified until 1955.

In his Vaccines, Autoimmunity and the Changing Nature of Childhood Illness, Dr. Thomas Cowan identifies some odd coincidences during the periods when paralysis cases spiked. For example, the first cases of paralytic polio clustered around Coney Island in New York, and later started to appear in the larger cities of the Northeastern states, such as Boston, Philadelphia and Baltimore.  Curiously, the two major spikes in poliomyelitis cases — 1916 to 1918, and 1948-1955 — correlate with the widespread use of two dangerously neurotoxic chemicals: arsenite of soda and dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane, commonly known as DDT.

At the end of the 19th century, the majority of sugar came from Hawaii’s sugarcane plantations. The industry was in a crisis due to weed proliferation. A plantation owner, Charles Eckhart, came up with the idea of spraying fields with a very potent form of arsenic known as arsenite of soda. Arsenic is also highly toxic to anterior horn cells, motor neurons that protect gray matter in the spinal cord. Over the years, sugar entering the US mainland was heavily contaminated with this neuro-toxin.  The first recorded case of so-called polio was noted in Sweden where an arsenic-based insecticide was employed, and the famous Vermont polio outbreak several years later happened in a region where a lead arsenite spray was used to eradicate gypsy moths.  Around this same period, the Swiss scientist Paul Hermann Muller first synthesized DDT in 1874 and started to be used as an insecticide in Europe to combat gypsy moths.

However, the largest rise in polio cases occurred when DDT was indiscriminately sprayed across large regions of the US. Older generations will remember television scenes of children literally being sprayed down with the chemical. Not all scientists were convinced that the epidemic of paralytic cases was being caused by a virus. Dr. John Polyani, who would later receive the Nobel Prize in chemistry, opposed the hypothesis because it failed to meet Koch’s postulates: 1) a pathogenic organism must be present in every case of disease, 2) that the pathogen must be isolated from a disease host, and 3) the disease must be reproduced when introduced into a healthy host. These postulates have never been completely validated for an enterovirus as being the causal agent of poliomyelitis.

In the 1940s, a Connecticut physician Dr. Morton Biskind identified a relationship between poliomyelitis paralysis and the widespread use of DDT. Other researchers followed suit, including Dr. Ralph Scoby who testified before Congress in 1952 — after the radical decline in paralysis cases following a reduction in DDT usage. Scoby called polio “classic poisoning.” The following year Biskind published a paper concluding that “central nervous system diseases such as polio are actually the physiological and symptomatic manifestations of the ongoing government and industry sponsored inundation of the world’s populace with central nervous system poisons.”  His testimony before Congress stated that DDT’s poisoning of the spinal cord may also “increase the susceptibility to the virus.” The pharmaceutical industry, fully committed to a vaccine against an enterovirus, never heeded this other body of evidence challenging the viral-only theory.

Despite the medical establishment still promulgating the untruth that the Salk vaccine was a modern medical success, the National Institutes of Health was once convinced that the vaccine contributed to a rise in polio and paralysis cases in the 1950s. In her 1957 book The Poisoned Needle, Eleanor McBean documented that government officials called the vaccine “worthless as a preventive and dangerous to take.” Some states such as Idaho where several people died after receiving the Salk vaccine, wanted to hold the vaccine makers legally liable.  Dr. Salk himself testified in 1976 that his killed virus vaccine, which continued to be distributed in the US until 2000, was the “principal if not sole cause” of all polio cases in the US since 1961. However, after much lobbying and political leveraging, the drug industry seduced the US Public Health Service to proclaim the vaccine safe.[2]  

The 1950s marked a decade of remarkable medical achievement; it also marked a period of scientific naiveté and enthusiastic idealism. After paralytic conditions were given a variety of names in an attempt to distinguish them (e.g., polio, aseptic meningitis, Coxsackie, etc.), another problem arose.

One of the more misleading names given to paralysis that may or may not be associated with the vaccine is Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) and Non-Polio Acute Flaccid Paralysis (NPAFP). This is a class of paralysis indistinguishable from the paralysis occurring in thousands within the vaccinated population. It was incumbent upon health authorities to transfer polio vaccine-related injuries to non-poliovirus causation in order to salvage vaccination campaigns and relieve public fears. With the World Health Organization (WHO) leading efforts to eradicate polio through the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), the terminology became a tool to focus public health narratives on eliminating wild poliovirus. However, increasing evidence suggested that many cases of paralysis—clinically indistinguishable from polio—were occurring in individuals vaccinated with the oral polio vaccine. These cases often tested negative for wild poliovirus, leading to their classification as Non-Polio Acute Flaccid Paralysis. Critics argue that this reclassification served to protect the public image of vaccination campaigns, particularly as cases of vaccine-derived poliovirus emerged. Dr. Suzanne Humphries and her colleagues noted a direct relationship between the increase in Acute Flaccid Paralysis through 2011 and government claims of declining polio infectious rates parallel with increased vaccination.[3]

Cases classified as Non-Polio Acute Flaccid Paralysis lack laboratory confirmation of wild poliovirus. However, studies demonstrate that vaccine-derived strains can cause paralysis. Furthermore, studies from India and other regions have shown a strong correlation between high oral polio vaccine use and increased Non-Polio Acute Flaccid Paralysis rates that raise concerns that the live vaccine contributes to paralysis. In one study, Indian scientists estimated that 491,000 cases of paralysis were due to vaccine-related complications.[4] A follow up study in the Indian Journal of Medical Ethics concluded that the WHO’s surveillance methods to distinguish between polio and Non-Polio Acute Flaccid Paralysis is artificial and has been driven by vaccine policy and not science.[5] Similar cases have been observed following the administration of other vaccines, including the HPV vaccine Gardasil, meningitis vaccines, and flu shots. Another study by Nathanson and Kew described the biomechanisms by which live oral polio vaccine strains mutate in the human gut, increases their neurovirulence and lead to NPAFP.[6]

It is important to note the dismal failures in Bill Gates’ polio eradication campaigns in India. Touted as one of the “most expensive public health campaigns in history” according to Bloomberg Business, as many as 15 doses of oral polio vaccine failed to immunize the poorest of Indian children. Severe gastrointestinal damage due to contaminated water and wretched sanitation conditions have made the vaccine ineffective. According to epidemiologist Nicholas Grassly at Imperial College London, “ There is increasing evidence that oral polio failure is the result of exposure to other gut infections.”[7]

Another more frightening incident of Gates’ polio vaccine boondoggles was launched upon rural India in 2011. This particular polio vaccine contained an increased dosage of the polio virus. In the April-June 2012 issue of the Indian Journal of Medical Ethics, a paper reported the incidence of 47,500 new cases of Non-Polio Acute Flaccid Paralysis, following Gates polio campaign.[8] The following year, there were over 53,500 reported cases. Non-Polio Acute Flaccid Paralysis is clinically indistinguishable from wild polio paralysis as well as polio vaccine-induced paralysis. The primary difference is that NPAFP is far more fatal.[9]

Physicians at New Delhi’s St. Stephens Hospital analyzed national polio surveillance data and found direct links between the increased viral dosages and the high number of Non-Polio Acute Flaccid Paralysiscases. Coincidentally, the two states with the highest number of cases, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, are also the two states with the worst water contamination, poverty and the highest rates of gastrointestinal diseases reported by Bloomberg. As early as 1948, during a particularly terrible polio outbreak in the US, Dr Benjamin Sandler at Oteen Veterans’ Hospital observed the relationship between polio infection, malnutrition and poor diets relying heavily on starches.[10] Despite this crisis, in January 2014, Bill Gates, the WHO and the Indian government announced India is today a polio-free nation.[11] Another sleight of hand performance of the polio vaccine’s magical act.

One of the largest and most devious medical scandals in the history of American medicine also concerns the polio vaccine. In his excellent history about polio, Neil Miller recounts the story of Dr. Bernice Eddy, a scientist at the NIH who in 1959 “discovered that the polio vaccines being administered throughout the world contained an infectious agent capable of causing cancer.” As the story is told, Eddy’s attempts to warn federal officials resulted in being removed from her laboratory and demoted at the agency.[12]  It was only later that one of the nation’s most famous vaccine developers, Maurice Hilleman at Merck identified the agent as a cancer causing monkey virus, SV40, very commonly found in African rhesus monkeys and used to culture the polio virus in vaccine development. When tested, this contaminant virus was found in all samples of Sabin’s oral polio vaccine. It was also found in Salk’s killed polio injectable vaccine. No one knows for certain how many Americans received SV40 contaminated vaccines, but some estimates put the figure as high as 100 million people. In 1963, that was greater than half the American population when the vaccine was removed from the market.

Many Americans today—even more internationally—continue to be physically compromised from the legacy of this vaccine. Among some of the more alarming discoveries since the discovery of the SV40 in Salk’s and Sabin’s polio vaccines and its carcinogenic footprint in millions of Americans are:

• Loyola University Medical Center identified SV40 in 38% of bone cancer cases; 58% of mesothelioma cases, a life threatening lung cancer, had SV40 present.[13]
• A large national cancer database found mesotheliomas were 178% higher among those who received the polio vaccines
• A study published in Cancer Research found SV40 in 23 percent of blood samples and 45% of semen samples analyzed, thereby confirming that the monkey virus can be sexually transmitted.[14]
• Osteosarcomas are 10 times higher in states where the SV40-contaminated polio vaccine was most administered, particularly throughout the Northeastern states [15]
• Two 1988 studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine reported that SV40 can be passed on to infants whose mothers had received SV40 tainted vaccines. Those children later had a 13 times greater rate of brain tumors compared to children whose mothers did not receive the polio vaccines.[16]

There is a large body of scientific literature detailing the catastrophic consequences of SV40 virus infection. As of 2001, Neil Miller counted 62 peer-reviewed studies confirming the presence of SV40 in a variety of human tissues and different carcinomas.  Although the killed polio vaccines administered in developed countries no longer contain the SV40 virus, the oral vaccine continues to be the vaccine of choice in poorer developing countries.  After almost sixty years of silence and a federally sanctioned cover up, the CDC finally admitted in 2013 that the Salk and Sabin vaccines were indeed contaminated with the carcinogenic SV40 monkey virus.[17]

The polio vaccines on the market have not improved very much during the past 70 years. They continue to rely upon primitive manufacturing technology and animal tissue culturing. The present IPV vaccine issued in the US uses Vero cells, a continuous line of monkey kidney cells, during the cultivation process. The vaccine contains phenoxyethanol (a preservative used in cosmetics and personal care products); in 2008 the FDA issued a warning concerning phenoxyethanol as a nervous system depressant in Mommy’s Bliss Nipple Cream due to its risks to infants.[18] Nevertheless, there is no such warning regarding the toxic preservative in injectable vaccines, which the FDA considers “safe.” Other ingredients include the carcinogen formaldehyde, and several antibiotics (i.e., neomycin, streptomycin and polymyxin B). 

The Indian examples mentioned above, and subsequent cases in other developing nations, scientifically support a claim that has been stated for many decades; that is, improving sanitation, providing clean water, healthy food, and the means for better hygiene practices are the safest and most efficacious measures for fighting infectious disease. According to statistics compiled by Neil Miller, Director of ThinkTwice Global Vaccine Institute, the polio death rate had declined by 47% from 1923 to when the vaccine was introduced in 1953. In the UK, the rate declined 55% and similar rates were observed in other European countries.[19] Many historians of science, such as Robert Johnson at the University of Illinois, agree that the decrease in polio and other infectious diseases during the first half of the twentieth century were largely the result of concerted national public health efforts to improve sanitation and public water systems, crowded factory conditions, better hygienic food processing, and new advances in medicine and health care. Relying upon the unfounded myth that vaccines are a modern miracle to protect a population suffering from extreme conditions of poverty, while failing to improve these populations’ living standards, is a no-win scenario. Vaccines will continue to fail and further endanger the millions of children’s health with severely impaired immune systems with high levels of vaccines’ infectious agents and other toxic ingredients.

Now with the reappearance of polio cases worldwide, we should ask whether or not a new more virulent poliovirus has begun to merge as a result of over-vaccination.  In 2014, researchers at the University of Bonn isolated a new strain of poliovirus that was responsible for a severe polio outbreak in the Republic of Congo. This strain exhibited mutations that allowed it to evade vaccine-induced immunity, leading to an unusually high case-fatality rate of 47 percent; most affected individuals had previously been vaccinated against poliovirus.[20] One of the first discoveries of the vaccine contributing to the rise of new polio strains was reported by the Institut Pasteur in 1993. Dr. Crainic at the Institut proved that if you vaccinate a person with three poliovirus strains, a fourth strain will emerge; therefore, the vaccine itself is contributing to recombinant activity between strains. A later study isolated poliovirus strains with recombinant genomes from cases of vaccine-induced paralytic poliomyelitis. These recombinant genomes were naturally occurring, and included a genetic exchange between the attenuated vaccine polio strain and wild polioviruses and other enteroviruses.[21] This research gave proof that genetic changes can occur in vaccine viral strains that lead to more pathogenic variants. 

Moreover, since the poliovirus is excreted through a person’s GI system, it is no surprise it would be present in sewage and then some water resources. Recent studies have identified the presence of vaccine-derived polioviruses in environmental water samples that further indicate the failure of polio eradication campaigns based upon mass-vaccination. As we’ve seen, developed countries are not immune from this crisis. In 2022, the CDC detected VDPV Type 2 circulating in wastewater samples in Rockland County, New York. Genetic sequencing linked the environmental isolates to a clinical case of paralytic polio in a Rockland resident thereby confirming community transmission.[22] This year in Gaza, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) found circulating VDPV Type 2 at several different sites.[23] Other more recent incidents have occurred in Egypt, Haiti and the Dominican Republic.[24]

Although the emergence of new polio strains cannot be directly attributed to over-vaccination, more recent research now indicates that shortly after being vaccinated with OPV, the live virus can mutate quickly and shed to the larger community. In a study published in a 2023 issue of Vaccine, scientists at the University of Utah further observed the genetic instability of the vaccine’s poliovirus that can lead to more virulent strains and pose serious public health risks. The study tracked the shedding and transmission of polioviruses after a vaccination campaign in semi-rural communities in Mexico by analyzing over 15,000 stool samples. They found that the vaccine virus undergoes genetic mutations shortly after administration, with some mutations leading to a reversion to virulence. Notably, these revertant strains were transmitted not only among vaccinated individuals but also within unvaccinated community members, which would increase the potential for outbreaks. Even in populations with high vaccination coverage, the genetic evolution the live vaccine can lead to the emergence of transmissible, virulent strains.[25]

It is now the habit of our federal health agencies to review the studies provided by vaccine manufacturers and then reinterpret the evidence as it sees fit. They are never held accountable for misinformation and even blatant negligence that threatens the health of countless children at the cost of tens of billions of dollars. Vaccine policies are driven by biased committees, with deep conflicts of interest, that govern vaccine scheduling. Even if a wild assumption could be made that the polio vaccines are responsible for disease’s eradication in the US, what has been the trade off?  According to the American Cancer Society, by 2030 approximately 1.9 million new cancer cases will be diagnosed annually. In 2023, there were about 1,958,310 new cancer cases in the U.S., equating to roughly 5,370 cases per day. About 8 percent of Americans—26 million people—have an autoimmune disease with some sources suggesting it may be as high as 50 affected individuals.  How many of these may be directly or indirectly associated to the polio and other vaccines? It can no longer be disputed that the polio vaccine’s devastating aftermath raises serious questions. 

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They are regular contributors to Global Research.

Notes

[1] Miller N. The polio vaccine: a critical assessment of its arcane history, efficacy, and long-term health-related consequences. Medical Veritas. Vol. 1 239-251, 2004

[2] McBean E. The Poisoned Needle. Mokelumne Hill, California: Health Research,1957

[3] Humphries S and Bystrianyk R. Dissolving Illusions: Disease, Vaccines and the Forgotten History. Self-published. 2013, pp 222-292

[4] Vashisht J, Puliyel P. Trends in Non-Polio Acute Flaccid Paralysis and its Association with Pulse Polio Immunization in India. Inter J Environ Res and Public Health, 2015; 12: 357-374

[5] Mishra M, Dubey S. Historical Trends in Non-Polio Acute Flaccid Paralysis. Indian J Medical Ethics, 2019;18: 238-245.

[6] Nathanson D, Kew A. The Pathogenesis of Vaccine-Associated Paralytic Poliomyelitis. Reviews of Medical Virology, 2016; 22: 344-356.

[7] Narayan A. Extra Food Means Nothing to Stunted Kids with Bad Water Health, Bloomberg Business. June 12, 2013

[8] Vashisht N, Puliyel J. Polio Program: Let Us Declare Victory and Move On, Indian J of Medical Ethics. April-June 2012; 9:2: 114-117

[9] “53,000 Paralysis Cases in India from Polio Vaccine in a Year” Child Health Safety. December 1, 2014.

[10] Miller N. op cit.

[11] Krishnan V. India to get polio-free status amid rise in acute flaccid paralysis cases, Live Mint (India), January 13, 2014.

[12] Miller N. op cit.

[13] Carbone M, et al. SV-40 Like Sequences in Human Bone Tumors, Oncogene, 1996;13(3): 527–35

[14]  Miller N. op cit.

[15]  Lancet, March 9, 2002

[16] Miller N. op cit.

[17] Mihalovic D. CDC Admits 98 Million Americans Received Polio Vaccine in an 8 Year Span When It Was Contaminated with Cancer Virus. Prevent Disease, July 17, 2013

[18] “Is Phenoxyethanol in cosmetics safe?” Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/health/phenoxyethanol

[19] Miller N. op cit.

[20] Drexler JF, et al. Robustness against serum neutralization of a poliovirus type 1 from the 2010 outbreak in the Republic of Congo. Proc Nat Acad Sciences, 2014;11(35): 12889–12894.

[21]  Georgescu MM, Delpeyroux F, Crainic R. Poliovirus with natural recombinant genomes isolated from vaccine-associated paralytic poliomyelitis. J Virology  1999;73(10): 894-8951.

[22] Link-Gelles R, Lutterloh E, et al. Public Health Response to a Case of Paralytic Poliomyelitis in an Unvaccinated Person and Detection of Poliovirus in Wastewater — New York, June–August 2022. MMWR Early Release. August 19, 2022 / 71(33): 1065-1068.

[23] Polio Global Eradication Initiative. Variant type 2 poliovrius isolated from sewage samples in Gaza. Jul 19, 2024. https://polioeradication.org/news/variant-type-2-poliovirus-isolated-from-sewage-samples-in-gaza

[24] Miller N. op cit.

[25] Walter KS, Altamirano J, et al. Rapid emergence and transmission of virulence-associated mutations in the oral poliovirus vaccine following vaccination campaigns. Vaccines. Sep 2023; 8(137).

Featured image: A child receiving an oral polio vaccine (From the Public Domain)

At a time when environmentalists are rightly very concerned about the protection of the highly sensitive ecology of Greenland, the headlines are instead filled with talk regarding the ‘sale’ of Greenland initiated by President-elect Trump’s provocative and disturbing statement of buying Greenland. 

Before coming to the details of this, it should be stated at the outset that there is something wrong about the state of the world in which the most prominent leader of the most powerful country talks brazenly about the buying or selling of a country. This becomes all the more disturbing when such talk continues even after the people and leaders of the country object to this.

Greenland is no small country. It is spread over 836,330 square miles. The earliest biggest annexation for USA was of Louisiana in 1803 from France involving land area a little less than that of Greenland.

At present Greenland is an autonomous territory with significant democratic progress (including progress towards potential independence) under the overall control of Denmark and a significant military presence of USA. Despite its huge area Greenland has only about 56,000 indigenous residents, mostly the Inuit people. Trade and economic relations with China have been growing rapidly in recent times.

Denmark’s control over Greenland is also a go-back to colonel times but Denmark has at least been somewhat sensitive to the desire of local people first for autonomy and then for independence. In 1775 Denmark-Norway declared Greenland a colony, in 1814 Norway handed over Greenland to Denmark, in 1880 Denmark started more organized colonizing in Greenland, around 1941 Germany’s invasion of Denmark prompted the USA to send some of its soldiers quietly to Greenland, in 1951 its military presence there was regularized by a treaty. In 2019 President Trump made his first offer of possibly buying Greenland, an idea that was opposed by Denmark strongly and did not advance much at that time.

However Trump and his advisers had obviously not forgotten about this and even before occupying the White House, on December 22 President-elect Trump stated while naming his ambassador to Denmark,

“For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the world, the USA feels that ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity. “

Greenland’s PM Mute Egede responded to this by stating that Greenland is “not for sale and will never be for sale…We must not lose our years long fight for freedom.”

Greenland’s strategic and sea route importance has increased in the wake of the Ukraine war and the ongoing higher rate of ice melting which is likely to increase further in times of climate change. Greenland has offshore reserves of oil and gas, and it has big reserves of rare earth minerals, perhaps next only to those of China. In fact during the 1970s US Vice President Nelson Rockefeller had specifically has suggested buying Greenland mainly for its mineral wealth.

Hence mining and militarization may become increasingly important in Greenland, while aspirations of local people for independence as well as environmental protection concerns may be pushed behind. This is worrying at a time when ecological protection is needed on urgent basis. In 2022 the melting of as much as 18 billion tons of ice sheets was reported in just three days of mid-July in Greenland. Very frightening estimates have been presented of the extent of rise in sea level if melting on such a scale continues.

This was not the first instance of such massive ice melting within a short time, nor is it likely to be the last. This has also highlighted the need for a more protective future for Greenland. But it appears that some powerful persons have an entirely different view on the matter. 

Even President Truman made an offer in 1946 to purchase Greenland for 100 million dollars. This offer was refused, but Denmark later succumbed to USA pressure to set up military bases in Greenland, including a nuclear powered station Camp Century.

With its strategic location close to Russia as well as the USA, Greenland remains of great military interest to the USA. This is a factor which has acquired more importance recently with the accentuation of big power rivalries.

This Arctic region is highly sensitive from the ecological point of view, a sensitivity which has increased further in times of climate change. As the ice sheets which cover vast areas melt under the influence of global warming, buried carbon deposits will be released and sea levels will rise. The region’s unique biodiversity including polar bears and seals will be badly threatened.

Hence there is a strong case for the entire Greenland to be administered by the United Nations as a zone of neutrality, peace and environment protection. Under such an arrangement, ecologically protective livelihoods and basic facilities will be ensured by a UN administered program, which will treat the entire island as an area of ecological protection where any exploitation of natural resources will be strictly controlled and no warfare will be allowed. In addition there will be a very careful well-planned effort for undoing the damage already done.

As the snow melts with global warming, the remains of what was once a nuclear-powered military station (Camp Century) of the USA will open up, requiring a very careful clean-up effort. An even bigger danger exists in the form a nuclear weapon which was lost here in a bomber airplane accident in 1968. This was the peak of the cold war period when some USA bomber planes carrying nuclear weapons used to be in the air all the time and the Thule military base in Greenland was a special place for these operations due to the relative proximity of Russian targets from here. The airplane accident took place when the USA bomber containing nuclear weapons was approaching this military base in Greenland. The USA had obtained the permission of the Denmark government to set up this military base but it is not at all certain whether the Denmark government, let alone the local communities, had been informed about the transactions here involving the transport of nuclear weapons. 

Actually the plane contained four nuclear weapons and three could be recovered. In the salvage operation in 1968 thousands of pieces of debris as well as millions of tons of ice, suspected to contain radioactive debris, were collected. Still one weapon could not be found despite the huge research effort. Workers employed in the clean-up work suffered from cancer later and have been claiming compensations till recently.

It is by now widely accepted that in this accident as many as four nuclear weapons were endangered, three were recovered more or less in tact but one hydrogen bomb was never recovered. One aspect of a UN-administrated protective future should be to be on constant alert for any tell-tale signs of damage from this so that a potential catastrophic event can still be prevented.

While the wider paradigm of future development should be based on ecological protection, protective livelihoods, peace and neutrality, within this paradigm local people should have all the autonomy for highly decentralized governance. There should be a special program of mental health and well-being to bring down the high rate of suicides and substance abuse in the region.

Clearly there are several serious issues in Greenland which have to be sorted out. A big effort with continuity has to be made to ensure a more protective future for Greenland which is in fact important for the entire world.

Hence all the recent talk of the buying or selling of Greenland is deeply worrying and such deals are likely to be the starting point of ecologically destructive activities at a time when the urgent need is for ecologically protective planning. Hence the buying and selling of Greenland should be opposed and instead there should be emphasis on ensuring policies based on welfare of local people and protection of environment. 

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He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

A Uyghur separatist group that helped to topple the government of Bashar al Assad has declared its intention to return to Xinjiang in order to conduct military operations against the People’s Republic of China. The announcement suggests that Washington and its allies are preparing to open another front in a war that has already plunged large parts of eastern Europe and the Middle East into chaos. The announcement was mostly ignored by the western media, but analysts believe we may have entered a new phase in America’s struggle to preserve its waning hegemony, a phase in which the probability of a direct clash between the United States and China has increased dramatically.

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Also, if we assume that Washington’s sabotage of the Nordstream pipeline was designed to prevent the economic integration of Russia with the European Union, then we must assume that the same blueprint will be applied to China. Washington will use its Uyghur proxies to sever the critical arteries that link China to Europe, thus, blocking the rise of a free trade Superstate that would severely undermine US regional influence. This means we should expect a wave of asymmetrical attacks on vital infrastructure aimed at preventing the development of China’s signature Belt and Road Initiative. (More on this later) As always, US foreign policy is guided by the despotic credo called the Wolfowitz Doctrine which states the following:

Our first objective is to prevent the re-emergence of a new rival, either on the territory of the former Soviet Union or elsewhere, that poses a threat on the order of that posed formerly by the Soviet Union. This is a dominant consideration underlying the new regional defense strategy and requires that we endeavor to prevent any hostile power from dominating a region whose resources would, under consolidated control, be sufficient to generate global power.

Central Asia is the hill on which the US empire has chosen to die. Even so, a “cornered” Superpower that is armed to the teeth and led by ravenous warhawks can do considerable damage before it is brought to heel. That said, Washington’s focus on Central Asia is thoroughly understandable given the fact that the area is on-track to become the most populous and prosperous region in the world. Here’s how Zbigniew Brzezinski summed it up in The Grand Chessboard in 1997:

“For America, the chief geopolitical prize is Eurasia… (p.30)….. Eurasia is the globe’s largest continent and is geopolitically axial. A power that dominates Eurasia would control two of the world’s three most advanced and economically productive regions. ….About 75 per cent of the world’s people live in Eurasia, and most of the world’s physical wealth is there as well, both in its enterprises and underneath its soil. Eurasia accounts for 60 per cent of the world’s GNP and about three-fourths of the world’s known energy resources.” (p.31)

While Brzezinski helps us to grasp Eurasia’s importance vis a vis America’s ambition to maintain its grip on global power, political analyst Li Jingjing provides the details of why the US has chosen to use the Uyghurs as a means to destabilize Central Asia. Check out this riveting video that explains Xinjiang’s geostrategic importance and how it led to the creation of the “Uyghur genocide” hoax:

Li Jingjing—Do you know why the US wants to separate Xinjiang from the rest of China?

Because Xinjiang ‘s location is way too important geopolitically. Through Xinjiang, China can bring something to all of Eurasia that scares US politicians the most: Peace.

Let me explain why.

First, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, located in northwest China, connects China with Central Asia. Xinjiang shares borders with eight countries: Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. Xinjiang wasn’t just a key hub in the ancient Silk Road, it’s also a key gate for the current Belt and Road Initiative to expand westward. It will connect East Asia, Central Asia, West Asia and Europe.

This is the region that the US government and several western governments have been spending billions of dollars in the past decades to sponsor terrorism, wars and instabilities. The textbook divide and conquer strategy, because Eurasia is too big, and if they unite, they will be too strong. And that is a threat to the US maintaining its privileged position in the world, in other words, hegemony over the world.

However, China’s Belt and Road Initiative is bringing infrastructure and economic development to this region. China-Europe railways go through here, billions of dollars in trade is taking place at ports in Xinjiang and this economic development will raise the living standards of people across the region. And when people are better off, there will be no reason to participate in wars and terrorism.

So the US came up with a plan, they decided to support separatism and divide Xinjiang from China. In the 1990s, Graham E Fuller who served in the National Intelligence Council and the CIA, wrote a report called “The Xinjiang Problem”. In the report, he was teaching his fellow politicians and scholars, how to play the “Uyghur card” to stoke separatism among Uyghurs to destabilize and contain China. According to retired Lt. Colonel Lawrence B Wilkerson, who served as chief of staff under Secretary of State Colin Powell.

“Here is what we decided for Afghanistan. We were in Afghanistan as we were in post WW2 Germany, for 50 years. It has nothing to do with Kabul and state building, nothing to do with fighting the Taliban, or proving we can reconcile with the Taliban, and nothing to do with fighting any terrorist group. Because it is the only hard power the US has that sits proximate to the Belt and Road Initiative of China that runs across Central Asia. If we had to impact that with military power, we are in a position to do so in Afghanistan.

And the second reason we’re there is because we are cheek and jowl with the potentially most unstable nuclear stockpile on the face of the earth, in Pakistan. We want to be able to leap on that stockpile and stabilize it if necessary.

And the third reason we’re there is because there are 20 million Uyghurs. And if the CIA has to mount an operation using those Uyghurs, as Erdogan has done in Syria against Assad,there are 20,000 of them in Idlib in Syria right now, (That’s why the Chinese might be deploying military forces to Syria in the very near future to take care of those Uyghurs that Erdogan invited in.) Well, the CIA would want to destabilize China, and that would be the best way to do it to foment unrest and to join with those Uyghurs in pushing the Han Chinese in Beijing from internal places rather than external.”

Unfortunately for the US, their plan to separate China is failing. All 56 ethnic groups in China love and support each other, we united and hold on to each other like pomegranate seeds. And we will unite with the rest of the world to build a community with a shared future for all mankind. How the CIA Plans to Destabilize Central Asia by Playing the Uyghur Card, Li Jingjing @Jingjing_Li

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Bottom line: The Uighur genocide is a human rights hoax that has been concocted in order to justify future hostilities against the PCR. In a recent article, editor Ron Unz exposed this sham and said this:

For several years our government and our mainstream media have heavily promoted claims of a Chinese genocide of the Uyghurs of Xinjiang, supposedly drawing upon secretive intelligence sources that I found very dubious. After watching those four hours of personal travelog footage, I consider those incendiary claims as totally preposterous as anything I’ve ever heard.Propaganda-Hoaxes vs. Chinese Reality, Ron Unz, Unz Review

Here’s more from Unz:

Top officials of the…. Trump Administration….(declared) that China was committing “genocide” against its Muslim Uyghur population of Xinjiang province, with the New York Times and our other leading media outlets endorsing and heavily amplifying those explosive accusations….. I regularly ridiculed those accusations, emphasizing that they seemed based upon no solid evidence and greatly reminded me of the false claims of Saddam’s WMDs that that been used to launch our ill-fated Iraq War….. What made these accusations about Xinjiang seem so totally absurd was that the huge province was completely open to both Chinese and foreign tourists, who regularly traveled there in large numbers, attracted by its scenic vistas and interesting Muslim Turkic culture. The notion that China was committing a “genocide” in a region constantly crisscrossed by tourists seemed like the most mindless sort of dishonest propaganda, aimed at the gullible and the dim-witted. Propaganda-Hoaxes vs. Chinese Reality, Unz Review

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Unz’s view of the Uighur genocide is further reinforced by the group’s suspicious relationship to the CIA which suggests that the militants have been groomed for carrying out Washington’s geopolitical agenda. Check out this excerpt from an article at Global Research:

The Turkistan Islamic Party (TIC), a terrorist organization, was founded by Uyghur jihadists in 1988, just as separatist uprisings were breaking out in Xinjiang province, north-western China. The Turkistan Islamic Party, previously known as the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, received CIA sponsorship from its early existence.

In contradictory fashion, the Turkistan Islamic Party, which is based largely in north-western Pakistan, is deemed a terrorist organization by the United States, along with other major countries like Russia, and of course China and its neighbor Pakistan.

By 2001, militant Uyghurs were preparing for guerrilla warfare in the same camps situated in Afghanistan where the CIA and ISI, Pakistan’s intelligence service, had once provided training to Mujahideen extremists – in order to hamper Soviet troops embedded in Afghanistan 40 years ago. Between 1990 and 2001, the Turkistan Islamic Party perpetrated over 200 terrorist acts, including blowing up vehicles, market places and assassinating Chinese government officials….

High profile Uyghur separatists, like the Xinjiang-born Anwar Yusuf Turani, founder of the East Turkestan Government in exile, is himself living in the state of Virginia, on America’s east coast. Turani has been a willing tool in Washington’s power game with China; in June 1999, he met with president Bill Clinton and asked him to back political movements seeking independence for Xinjiang; and Turani later enjoyed dialogue with Clinton’s successor, George W. Bush, who promised to support the “fundamental human rights” of “Uyghurs and others living in China”….

Further prominent Uyghur exiles living in America have called for Xinjiang’s independence from China, such as Rebiya Kadeer, a five-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee, born in Xinjiang, and who also resides in the US state of Virginia.

For 11 years until November 2017, she was the leader of the World Uyghur Congress (WUC), headquartered in Munich, and which is partly funded by the National Endowment For Democracy (NED). The NED, partially subsidised by the United States Congress, has a long history of “soft power” interference in sovereign states around the world: China, Nicaragua, the Ukraine, and so on.

The World Uyghur Congress was established in April 2004 by Erkin Alptekin, a former adviser to the CIA.
Seventy Years of U.S. Destabilisation in China. U.S. Sponsored Uyghur Insurgency in Xinjiang, Global Research

So, a number of Uyghur separatists are “living in Virginia” (as guests of the CIA?) and we are expected to believe that Washington’s only interest is human rights?

Nonsense. The US is obviously arming, training and funding another vicious terrorist organization it intends to use to inflict a “strategic defeat” on China, the same as it is doing to Russia in Ukraine.

This is from an article at the Asia Times:

The rapid collapse of the Syrian Arab Army in the face of the advance of Turkish-backed Hayat Tahrir al-Sham… has drawn attention to the foreign fighters within their ranks. First and foremost among those foreign fighters are the Uyghurs from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. They used to fight China as part of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement but rebranded as the Turkistan Islamic Party some years back.

Regardless of whichever name they go by, the… organization has a history of collaborating with terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda in support of the quest to carve out a Uyghur state from China. That’s why it was designated as a terrorist group by the UN Security Council….

Members of the group just released a video from Syria calling for militant jihad against China. Yang Xiaotong contributed a detailed Asia Times piece on this subject under the title “China has cause to be terrified of rebel-run Syria.” Two of the most important points are that the Turkistan Islamic Party is recruiting members from Central Asia and that it could reestablish itself in Afghanistan to carry out attacks against the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

The corridor is considered to be the Belt and Road Initiative’s flagship project, and for years it’s been the target of attacks by the Balochistan Liberation Army….

the Turkistan Islamic Party could re-establish itself in Afghanistan … it could attack the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor …. it can’t be ruled out that the Turkistan Islamic Party might opportunistically want to hit China’s soft spot…

Beyond attacking Pakistani-based Belt and Road projects, such opportunistic motivation could also find relevance in Central Asia…. There are Uyghur communities in Kazakhstan and in perennially unstable Kyrgyzstan from which the Turkistan Islamist Party could find recruits – whether to carry out attacks against Belt and Road projects there or in Pakistan….

Another factor for observers to keep in mind is the role of Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence agency. The Washington Post reported that GUR played a role in HTS’s blitz across Syria. …Nevertheless, the contemporary GUR is also a CIA project, as the Washington Post reported in late 2023.

The possibility thus arises of the CIA using GUR as a plausibly deniable proxy for managing or at least encouraging the Turkistan Islamist Party’s expansion to the geostrategic Central Asian region between Russia and China. Uyghur separatist threat could reach beyond China’s Xinjiang, Asia Times

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Of course, this is exactly what’s happening. The CIA is directly involved in hybrid war on China that will include the destruction of soft targets that are essential to complete Beijing’s massive infrastructure project. And what other choice does Washington have? Like Israel, Washington cannot preserve its privileged place in the world order by competing on a level playing field with China that has already overtaken the US in nearly every area of commerce, science and technology. The only way the US can maintain its tenuous grip on power is obliterating anything that threatens its global dominance and then convincing the world that it is just fighting for human rights. Here’s more from the Times of Israel:

Uighur militants have killed hundreds, if not thousands, in attacks inside China in a decades-long insurgency that initially targeted police and other symbols of Chinese authority but in recent years also included civilians. Extremists with knives killed 33 people at a train station in 2014. Abroad, they bombed the Chinese embassy in Kyrgyzstan in September last year; in 2014, they killed 25 people in an attack on a Thai shrine popular with Chinese tourists…..

China is just like the West, its officials say: the country is a victim of terror, and Uighur men are pulled by global jihadi ideology rather than driven by grievances at home.…. Seyit Tumturk, a Uighur activist in Turkey who often speaks to fighters in Syria… said it was impossible for Uighurs militants to liberate Xinjiang…. But he said Chinese President Xi Jinping’s ambitious project to develop railway lines, ports, and other infrastructure linking various regions to China makes Beijing vulnerable to militant attacks abroad.

The Islamic State took credit in June for kidnapping and killing two Chinese teachers in Pakistan’s Baluchistan province, which is a cornerstone of Beijing’s so-called Belt and Road infrastructure project….

Chinese officials and Western analysts alike say that the Uighurs’ experience in the Syrian jihadi melting pot will likely exacerbate violence against “soft” targets outside China. China’s foreign ministry called the Turkistan Islamic Party a security threat for the Middle East. Uighur militants in Syria look to Zionism as model for their homeland, Times of Israel

So—according to the Times of Israel—the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) is a ruthless group of bloodthirsty mercenaries who are motivated more by “global jihadi ideology rather than driven by grievances at home”. This is the organization the US has decided to back in its quest to destabilize China. And, notice that the authors of the Times article have drawn the same conclusion as the author of the Asia Times piece, that the Uyghurs MO will be to attack soft targets that will impact critical infrastructure in order to isolate China from the West while US military bases and Pacific alliances tighten the noose on China’s maritime trade.

And what targets will these Asian jihadis choose?

Some analysts like Andrew Korybko think that they will “carry out attacks against the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor….. (which) is considered to be the Belt and Road Initiative’s flagship project, Asia Times

But IMHO, I think Washington will attack critical nodes on the China-Europe Freight Train (CEFT) system. Keep in mind, the United States remains fully-committed to preventing the re-emergence of a rival in a region it considers vital to its national security (Central Asia) so, logically, we should expect that it will take extraordinary steps to separate China from Europe and, thus, lay the groundwork for economic strangulation. Here’s more from the The European Financial Review:

China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) will officially be ten years old in 2023…. A crucial precursor to the BRI, and arguably its most prominent flagship project, the China-Europe Freight Train (CEFT) has already run through its first decade of 2011-21. With 82 routes currently connecting nearly 100 Chinese cities to around 200 cities across 24 European countries and more than a dozen Central, East, and Southeast Asian countries, the CEFT has formed a vast transcontinental freight system spanning both ends of Eurasia. While only 17 freight trains ran from China to Europe in the CEFT’s inaugural year of 2011, 60,000 trains cumulatively will have traversed the Eurasian landmass and its maritime margins by October 16, 2022 when the 20th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) opens in Beijing.

As the CEFT enters its second decade poised for continued growth, a critical question looms: Is Russia’s war against Ukraine disrupting the CEFT, and how? On the one hand, the CEFT has depended heavily on Russia as both the most important terminus and through-corridor accounting for 37 percent of all CEFTs through 2021, leading Germany at 24.3 percent and Poland at 23.4 percent. On the other hand, the CEFT is anchored to a vast network of major and minor cities with grounded flexibility and resilience to weather the Ukraine storm.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 threw a big geopolitical wrench into the CEFT-enabled Eurasian freight network….. The disruption appears major as the war is the biggest European conflict in eight decades, with severe geopolitical consequences…… Some disruption might arise…. as European companies avoid using the Russian Railway, fearing economic sanctions….

As the war in Ukraine keeps geopolitical tensions high, the extensive city-based CEFT network has acquired sufficient resilience from its continued expansion, improved infrastructure, and operational adaptability. These qualities may ensure the CEFT’s sustainability as a Eurasia-wide freight system. Eurasia’s Freight Infrastructure vs. Russia’s War in Ukraine, Chicago Council on Global Affairs

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While economic sanctions on Russia have reduced freight traffic along the northern route by roughly 50 percent, the makeshift blockade in the Red Sea by the Houthis has dramatically impacted shipping through the Suez Canal. These growing threats to global security have shifted traffic to the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR)—which is a trade route from the Black Sea and the Caucasus to the Central Asian steppe. This so called Middle Corridor which ” follows the route of the ancient Silk Road” offers a viable alternative to the northern route but also faces its own security and infrastructure challenges.

Regrettably, we think US foreign policy strategists will focus on this Middle Corridor as a prime chokepoint for disrupting China’s freight service to Europe. Once again, the US cannot prevail in its war against China unless it is able to weaken the country via sanctions, isolation and persistent proxy warfare. Washington is positioning itself to either block or sabotage China’s trade-flows to Europe just like it sabotaged the flow of Russian gas to Europe. We believe that Uyghur jihadists will be used to help conduct these operations.

We also think that Washington will use any overreaction by Beijing as an excuse to deploy the U.S. Navy to block energy shipments to China, thereby preventing the country from accessing the resources it needs to heat its homes and fuel its industries. China imports over 70 percent of its oil which makes it vulnerable to hostile interdiction.

The US used this same strategy against Japan just months before the attack on Pearl Harbor, so it fully understands the implications of its actions.

Bottom line: Western elites have already decided that they will do ‘whatever it takes’ to preserve America’s global primacy. And, if that means nuclear war, then so be it.

*

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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

First published on May 20th, 2016

Laissez faire was planned, explained Karl Polanyi in The Great Transformation: The origins of the market system go back to the intentional project of institutional transformation initiated in England in the 19th century, establishing a free labor market, free trade and the gold standard. Institutions such as the unions, the industrial cartels and the Welfare State instead emerged subsequently as spontaneous counter-reactions to laissez faire. Kari Polanyi Levitt and Mario Seccareccia show, with a new periodization, how this dialectic interaction, or ‘double movement’ can still guide the understanding of today’s Neoliberalism.

Philip Mirowski has produced some truly exceptional works on the historical roots and intellectual history of what is described as the Neoliberal Thought Collective (NTC). These works have been rightly celebrated for deepening our understanding of the continued popularity and dominance of neoliberal policy ideas in the second decade of the twenty-first century (see, for, instance, Mirowski [2013] and Mirowski and Plehwe [2009]).

Neoliberalism, just like some other overworked buzzwords du jour (to use his expression) such as globalization and financialization, has slipped into the common lexicon, especially of political economists, over the last few decades. This expression is normally connected with the rise of the visible hand of the so-called “pro-market” minimalist state in seeking to remove all vestiges of the postwar Keynesian welfare state that had resulted from social struggles rejecting the old economic liberalism of the nineteenth century.

For this reason, it cannot be associated merely with the dominance of neoclassical economic ideas and methodology. As he correctly depicts in Figure 3 of his working paper (Mirowski 2014, p. 10), those are quite distinct in nature. An example of these divisions are the differences and tensions within the large NTC over such matters as how economic agents behave in processing information: the neo-Austrians reject outright models of perfect knowledge and point to the market as the only correct source of information, while the Chicago rational expectations tribe starts with the presupposition of quasi-perfect knowledge. Because of differing presuppositions, there ensue differences in how, for instance, the neoliberals view the state as an instrument to protect the “market” from the demands of the “people”, while the neoclassicals see it as an exogenous entity potentially generating market “imperfections”. Yet, as Mirowski (2014) rightly points out, there remains among most economists much skepticism as to the existence of neoliberalism as an intellectual movement itself. This is so despite the fact that neoliberalism has slowly achieved such a global political influence in government policy circles since its beginnings during the interwar era of the last century and in the immediate post-WWII years with the founding of the Mont Pèlerin Society in 1947.

We are in complete agreement with Philip Mirowski (2014) on the existence of an organized Neoliberal Political Project (NPP) — whose presence he tries to detect and measure by using various analytical tools of research. For instance, he provides an empirical review of the number of books and articles referring to neoliberalism, particularly since the 1980s, and he studies the proliferation of neoliberal think-tanks and other such lobby groups, often masquerading as research institutes that can hijack government policies at the local and national levels and end up almost as in camera advisors to elected representatives. A very good example of this is right here in Canada over the last decade. In this country, there has been much suspicion about the relationship between the previous Conservative government that was defeated recently in the October 2015 election and such neoliberal think-tanks as the Vancouver-based Fraser Institute, and lobby groups such as the Toronto-based National Citizens Coalition. The latter had actually once been headed by none other than our former Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, who is himself a political ideologue associated with the broad NPP.

However, this kind of capture of the state is hardly new. A similar takeover is discussed by Karl Polanyi in The Great Transformation, in reference to the emergence and development of what he dubbed the liberal creed in Ricardian and post-Ricardian England of the nineteenth century. His historical reconstruction focused precisely on the political strategies that were deployed by groups adhering to this creed to capture the state and redefine its role. Indeed, it is surprising that Karl Polanyi is not mentioned or cited once in Mirowski (2014).

This avoidance of Polanyi is somewhat surprising, since he had been the most solid opponent of many of the early twentieth-century neoliberal writers that Mirowski mentions. It was the case particularly with Ludwig von Mises already during the 1920s and early 1930s in Vienna, that is, much before the Keynes-Hayek debates that ensued in the late 1930s. But he also engaged debates with other liberal/neoliberal writers and eventual members of the Mont Pèlerin Society, such as Walter Lippmann (Polanyi 1944, p. 148). Indeed, while they did not actually know each other personally, Friedrich von Hayek and Karl Polanyi followed parallel paths from the two diametrically-opposed intellectual circles emerging in the Red Vienna of the 1920s, with each of them leaving for Britain in the early 1930s and then eventually to the United States (see, for more details, Polanyi Levitt 2012-13; 2013).

The Importance of Karl Polanyi’s Analysis to Understanding Current Neoliberalism

For Karl Polanyi, the liberal creed was the set of organizing principles that guided the nineteenth-century movement after the Great Reform Act of 1832, that had represented the political defeat of the British aristocracy by the then rising industrial class or bourgeoisie. Its purpose was to design and establish a self-regulating market system that would include the creation of markets for fictitious commodities, namely pseudo-markets for labor, land and money.

Until then, the principle of laissez-faire, as it had been embraced, for instance, by eighteenth-century French Physiocratic writers, had a much more limited focus. The goal of these earlylaissez-faire opponents of mercantilism was narrowly to free commodity markets from the yoke of mercantilist regulatory structures, especially as the latter impacted on agriculture. The nineteenth-century liberal creed was, instead, an all-encompassing principle for redesigning society as a ubiquitous and “self-regulating” market system. This wider social project required a threefold institutional transformation, consisting of separate acts of policy that had long been debated and planned by its proponents. The first of these was to establish “free labor”, towards whom an employer had no other obligation than to pay a market wage.

This necessitated the creation of a capitalistic/competitive labor market by, for instance, abolishing outdoor poor relief, such as those associated with the Speenhamland system in England, thereby largely dis-embedding the labor market from its larger societal base. The second wasfree trade of commodities by imposing and extending the rules of a “de-regulated” goods market on a world scale. Under Pax Britannica, free trade policy entailed a precise hegemonic power relation with Britain importing from cheap sources of raw materials while, in return, selling more processed manufactured goods both domestically and internationally. David Ricardo had envisaged this structure of “free trade” at the end of the Napoleonic wars in 1815 in his critique of the Corn Laws, so as to sustain industrial rates of profit and forestall what he believed to be their inevitable fall. Thirdly, there was the establishment of the gold standard in order to remove discretionary monetary intervention as had existed previously during the Napoleonic wars and to impose a supposedly automatic (non-discretionary) monetary order, which, among other things, relied especially on a key power relation between Britain and its fledgling colonies (see de Cecco 1984).

In the British context, these foundational changes took place within a decade or so of the Great Reform act with, respectively, the adoption of the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846 and, in 1844, Sir Robert Peel’s Bank Charter Act, which established the Bank of England as a central bank. While the first largely eliminated the previous Poor Laws that allowed local parishes to distribute the relief to the indigent, and while the repeal of the corn law sacrificed domestic agriculture, making the country dependent on cheap imports, the purpose of the Bank Charter Act was to make capitalist enterprises and the haute finance believe that whatever they received in net revenues was as “real” as its equivalent in solid gold and to insure complete convertibility without monetary “debasement.” Karl Polanyi insisted that, in order for the so-called self-regulated market system to be established, those three conditions needed to be secured through political action, whose enactment served to “dis-embed” or institutionally to separate the “self-regulating market” from its broader social sphere.

Polanyi argued that, before 1832, changes were introduced by legislated actions of parliament dominated by the landed aristocracy. Changes usually took decades to unwind and be effective. Instead, many of the legislative changes of the following decade were introduced abruptly and, like in the case of the Poor Law, brutally. From that point onwards, further action required simply an administrative act. The buildup and enhancement of the administrative capacity of the state therefore aimed at introducing and preserving the emerging liberal order. In that connection, Polanyi cited Jeremy Bentham, who was a staunch believer in the efficiency of the administrative apparatus of the government, as illustrated by his famous inspection house project, the Panopticon, for the efficient supervision of penitentiaries, industrial establishments and schools (Polanyi 1944, p. 146). Centralized state bureaucracy became a decisive means of implementation and management of the changes to the Poor Laws; that is, to echo Michel Foucault, to establish and maintain the social order.

This had little to do with the laissez-faire demands of the anti-mercantilist critics of the previous era. Nor was the new order the outcome of some spontaneous developments. Instead, the new institutional structure of the so-called “self-regulating market” was itself the result of the concerted actions of the state to ensure compliance under the terms stipulated by the new order. In that sense, it was hardly a self-regulating system since, from the very beginning, it needed to be established and maintained by a strong bureaucracy and other elements of the state apparatus to enforce compliance. Indeed, as Polanyi affirmed, “laissez faire was planned” (Polanyi 1944, p. 147).

But what Polanyi also taught us is that if the market order was not natural, the reactions of the society were. A counter movement to the imposed laissez faire arose spontaneously from a great variety of sources. Those included struggles of the factory workers, that established their right to organize in trade unions, business claims for the “right” to establish cartels to protect themselves from cut-throat competition, states’ prerogative to shield their “infant industries” through tariff protection, and so on. These dialectic interactions generated a double movement that ultimately resolved into democratic reforms of the state, with the liberal institutions progressively sided by new structures, such as trade unions and mass socialist parties both on the European continent and, to a lesser extent, on the North American continent.

Following WWI and the Russian Revolution, the post-WWI struggles led to intellectual debates such as, for instance, Polanyi’s encounter with Ludwig von Mises, which occurred as early as 1922 in Vienna. In this latter case, the debate first arose over issues relating to the socialist municipal administration, with Mises praising for a return to the liberal era of the nineteenth-century belle époque. Interestingly, as Polanyi (1944) points out, the term “collectivism” had already been coined by such late nineteenth-century authors as Albert Dicey (1919), as a way to discredit the social responses to the liberal model. Following Dicey’s attack, Ludwig von Mises and his protégé, Friederich von Hayek, began to promote a startling image of the so called “collectivist state,” that supposedly stood in stark contrast to the principles of liberty typical of the liberal creed. It was from these repeated attacks on the Polanyian double movement, or what Mises and Hayek repeatedly described as the “state collectivist” movement, that the newly-emerging neoliberal creed was born.

The Neoliberal Era: What are the Differences?

At the core, the vocabulary of the neoliberal creed was not very different from the nineteenth century liberal rhetoric, preaching the virtues of competition and so forth. We could say that the former intellectual baggage served as source and inspiration for the latter (see Henry 2010), yet there was a substantive difference. In fact, by the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the liberal state had undergone considerable reforms. For instance, by the 1920s and 1930s, the British liberal movement came to be associated with important figures such as John Maynard Keynes and William Beveridge, who sought to save capitalism from its own destructive tendencies by means of what, in the early post-WWII era, came to be called the Keynesian welfare state. One has only to recall the title and content of Lord Beveridge’s famous 1944 book, Full Employment in a Free Society, to recognize the transformation that liberalism had undergone. Hence, as a result of the Polanyian double movement, liberalism had undergone a metamorphosis that was far more compatible with the current usage of the term in the United States and Canada, which reflects the welfare state policies of the New Deal era.

Neoliberalism, instead, developed already in the 1930s in opposition to this newly-reformed twentieth-century liberalist “synthesis,” or what some may also describe as the Galbraithian countervailing powers (see Galbraith 1952), which had arisen out of the Polanyi’s double movement. Once again, the goal of the neoliberal movement was to capture the state and impose a new order, while pretending to hark back to the ideals of nineteenth-century liberalism. As recognized by Polanyi, neoliberals like Walter Lippmann neither believed inlaissez faire nor in democratic governance. Actually, as Hayek explained in his book The Constitution of Liberty, they were aware that once the new neoliberal order were established, it would have to be protected against political interference of the mass democracy; that is, from the inevitable political pressures resulting from Polanyi’s double movement.

But what are the precise pillars of the neoliberal creed that emerged since the late 1930s and promoted by the members of the Mont Pèlerin Society and the allied organizations that flourished especially since the 1970s? Interestingly, also the neoliberal movement came to follow a three-pronged strategy somewhat analogous, in its rationale, to the earlier liberalism: First, their policy perspective in support of competition favored a restructuring of the labor market. They promoted policies that would weaken workers’ organizations, by arguing that workers should be let negotiate individually with their employers. But the argument for breaking the “monopoly” power of trade unions and supporting the “right to work” of working people did not apply to transnational business enterprises, with corresponding anti-trust laws. Similarly, they promoted austerity measures to starve the public sector for funds, in the name of combating waste and suppressing inflationary pressures. These policies have served the purpose of attacking the Keynesian welfare state and reducing state transfers to households, thereby weakening even more the position of labor. Much as it had happened under the Poor Laws reforms in the nineteenth century, this dis-embedded further the labor market, with some of the same consequences in terms of stagnant, if not declining, real wages.

The second pillar, free trade or what has been termed globalization, also further reinforced the effects on the labor market via the out-sourcing of jobs. However, modern free trade is even more rules-based than its nineteenth-century predecessor. These rules are promoted and administered by important supra-national institutions, such as the World Trade Organization. As a result, unrestricted flows of goods and capital, which had also existed in the nineteenth century, are now coupled with international accords, which seek to protect cross-border investment and offer legal privileges to corporations. A perfect example is the NAFTA agreement between Mexico, US and Canada (not to mention the current Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP)), which clearly advantages big outsourcing firms in ways that would have been unthinkable in the nineteenth century.

Third, Neoliberals have promoted greater monetary integration and hierarchical currency structures not that dissimilar to the pound sterling-based power relations under the gold standard but even more asymmetrical. Although somewhat more fragmented than under Pax Britannica, the US dollar reigns as the supreme reserve currency, with trading countries accumulating dollar reserves, just like in the nineteenth century they held gold reserves. With the exception of core dominant industrialized countries that have floating exchange rates, there is a huge constellation of trading countries that are either completely or partly dollarized through a variety of fixed exchange rate regimes. But perhaps even more problematic is the monetary regime that a large number of countries on the European continent had embraced with the adoption of the Euro: they have gone even further than under the gold standard by giving up their national currencies altogether and choosing to accept a rules-based fiscal straitjacket (see Seccareccia and Correa, 2015). That surely would have surprised even Karl Polanyi, since, as he had recognized, countries did not really abide by such strict rules with the gold standard being often reduced to a “mere pretense” (Polanyi 1944, p. 204)! Indeed, many writers associate the Eurozone project to a neoliberal monetary architecture already concocted by Mont Pèlerin economists such as Hayek and Lionel Robbins as early as the late 1930s, as well as by writers associated with the Vichy regime during the Second World War (see Thomasberger 2015; and Parguez 2016).

In conclusion, from a Polanyian perspective we can identify an evolution in historical stages from the Liberal creed to current Neoliberalism, as described in Figure 1. Modern neoliberalism, just like its nineteenth century forerunner, is an integrated system that, as Mirowski (2014) says, dares not speak its own name as an ideological movement that bows to the temple of the almighty market. However, this market fundamentalism, as Block and Somers (2014) refer to it, is a much more virulent phenomenon than its predecessors. As Polanyi himself pointed out in the Great Transformation, and as discussed by Polanyi-Levitt (2013, Chapter 2), neoliberalism is a particularly effective ideology because of its methodological individualism. This peculiarity makes the double movement more difficult to trigger: In the last three Neoliberal decades, as Wolfgang Streeck (2014) argues, capitalism seems to have lost a capacity for collective action. Nowadays, Margaret Thatcher’s famous statement still weighs heavily on our fragmented society when she asserted that “… there is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families.” It is this distorted and misleading individualistic ideology that modern counter movements have had such a difficult time opposing, and it is on that precise intellectual front that progressive/heterodox economists must do more to meet the challenge.

Kari Polanyi Levitt is Professor Emerita of Economics at McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; and Mario Seccareccia is Professor of Economics at the University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Notes:

Beveridge, William H. (1944), Full Employment in a Free Society, London: Allen & Unwin.

Block, Fred, and Margaret R. Somers (2014), The Power of Market Fundamentalism, Karl Polanyi’s Critique, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.

De Cecco, Marcello (1984), Money and Empire: International Gold Standard, 1890-1914, (Second edition), New York: St. Martin’s Press.

Dicey, Albert Venn (1917), Lectures on the Relation between Law and Public Opinion in England during the Nineteenth Century, Liberty Fund edition available online at:http://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/2119 .

Galbraith, John Kenneth (1952), American Capitalism, The Concept of Countervailing Power, Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Hayek, Friedrich A. (1978), The Constitution of Liberty, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Henry, John F. (2010), “The Historic Roots of the Neoliberal Program”, Journal of Economic Issues, Vol. 44, no. 2 (June), pp. 543-50.

Mirowski, Philip (2013), Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, New York: Verso.

Mirowski, Philip, and Dieter Plehwe, eds. (2009), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making of the Neoliberal Thought Collective, Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Mirowski, Philip (2014), “The Political Movement that Dared not Speak its Own Name: The Neoliberal Thought Collective under Erasure”, Institute for New Economic Thinking, Working Paper No. 23 (September); at: http://ineteconomics.org/uploads/papers/WP23-Mirowski.pdf.

Parguez, Alain (2016), “Economic Theories of Social Order and the Origins of the Euro”,International Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 45, no. 1 (Spring), pp. 2-16.

Polanyi, Karl (1944), The Great Transformation, The Political and Economic Origins of our Times, Boston: Beacon Press, 2001.

Polanyi Levitt, Kari (2012-13), “The Power of Ideas: Keynes, Hayek and Polanyi”, International Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 41, no. 4 (Winter), pp. 5-15.

Polanyi Levitt, Kari (2013 ), From the Great Transformation to the Great Financialization, Halifax & Winnipeg: Fernwood Books, and London: Zed Books.

Seccareccia, Mario, and Eugenia Correa (2015), “Supra-National Money and the Euro Crisis: Lessons from Karl Polanyi”, Forum for Social Economics, Vol. 44, pp. 1-23; online at:http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/GFjUfjk6musVZiqGGtac/full .

Streeck, Wolfgang (2014), “How Will Capitalism End?”, New Left Review, No. 87 (May-June), pp. 35-64; available online at: https://newleftreview.org/II/87/wolfgang-streeck-how-will-capitalism-end .

Thatcher, Margaret (1987), “Epitaph for the eighties? ‘There Is No Such Thing as Society”: Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, talking to Women’s Own magazine, (October 31 1987), The Sunday Times reprint at: http://briandeer.com/social/thatcher-society.htm .

Thomasberger, Claus (2015), “Europe at the Crossroads: Failed Ideas, Fictional Facts, and Fatal Consequences”, Forum for Social Economics, Vol. 44, no 2, pp. 179-200.

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First published on December 24, 2021

***

In December 2021, we were told by our governments to prepare for Christmas under Lockdown.

To protect you and your loved ones against the so-called deadly Covid Omicron Variant.

The announcement regarding Omicron was made on Black Friday November 2021, the day after Thanksgiving.

Anthony Fauci led the disinformation campaign, intimating that Omicron “is already in the United States but has yet to be detected”

The alleged spread of  Omicron during the 2021 Christmas holiday period was used as a pretext and a justification for implementing partial lockdowns, restrictions on travel as well as confinement and stay at home mandates during the Christmas holiday. 

While this year’s Christmas  holiday has returned to “normality”,  the global crisis affecting humanity still prevails. requiring a firm commitment to peace, social justice and solidarity Worldwide.

Video: “Imagine All The People”: 2021 Christmas and New Year Under Lockdown

“The Spirit of Christmas” was also used as a means to speed up Big Pharma’s “killer vaccine”. 

click lower right corner of screen to access Rumble and/or leave a comment

Video: “Imagine all The People”: 2021 Christmas and New Year Under Lockdown

Add a comment. Spread the Word. Link to Bitchute 

And now imagine, John Lennon’s song:

“Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us, only sky

Imagine all the people
Livin’ for today

Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion, too

Imagine all the people
Livin’ life in peace

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man

Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will live as one

***

See Michel Chossudovsky‘s E Book entitled

The Worldwide Corona Crisis:  Global Coup d’État against Humanity

By Prof Michel Chossudovsky, August 2022

**

The Omicron Fraud Used to Justify the “Christmas Covid Lockdown”

By Prof Michel Chossudovsky, December 19, 2021

Bombshell: CDC No Longer Recognizes the PCR Test As a Valid Method for Detecting “Confirmed Covid-19 Cases”

By Prof Michel Chossudovsky, December 22, 2021

On Pfizer’s “confidential” Report on the Killer Vaccine confirming crimes against humanity

Bombshell Document Dump on Pfizer Vaccine Data

By Global Research, December 23, 2021

Dear Readers,

Every year has its own surprises but 2024 has been the most difficult year for us by far. Global Research is a purely reader-supported organization.

Our readership has shrunk despite our best efforts to extend our online reach. External search engines continue to exclude us from their search results. And social media platforms either suspend our account or shadow-ban our content.

Needless to say, online censorship has taken a heavy toll on our finances. We are close to being unable to cover the costs associated with running the Global Research website and its affiliates and are losing money every month.

To those who have supported us by making a donation or becoming a member, our heartfelt gratitude for your generosity. You have greatly helped us in the past months.

We want to remain hopeful and strive for a better 2025. If each of our readers made a donation during this Season of Giving, regardless of the amount, we would be able to carry on with our mandate into the next year. 

We thank you for your support and wish you all the best for the coming holiday period!

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Video: “Wiping Gaza Off the Map”: Big Money Agenda. Confiscating Palestine’s Maritime Natural Gas Reserves

Felicity Arbuthnot, December 3, 2024

German Government Admits There Was No Pandemic

Baxter Dmitry, November 8, 2024

There Never Was a “New Corona Virus”, There Never Was a Pandemic

Prof Michel Chossudovsky, December 11, 2024

Food Production Is Causing “Global Warming”, “Farms Must Shut Down”: 13 Nations Sign Agreement to Engineer Global Famine by Destroying Food Supply

Hunter Fielding, October 26, 2024

“A NATO invasion of nuclear Russia is currently underway, and the world is unaware that it is in World War III”. Has President Putin’s Patience Reached Its Limits?


Peter Koenig, November 25, 2024

It’s a “Killer” Vaccine Worldwide: Japanese Researchers Say Side Effects of COVID Vaccines Linked to 201 Types of Diseases

Prof Michel Chossudovsky, December 20, 2024

“Greater Israel”: The Zionist Plan for the Middle East

Israel Shahak, December 20, 2024

Bombshell: ‘You Were Right, Vaccines Are Killing Millions of Our Loved Ones’. Japan’s Former Minister of Internal Affairs Apologizes to the Unvaccinated

Sean Adl-Tabatabai, October 29, 2024

The Dark Origins of the Davos’ Great Reset

F. William Engdahl, October 3, 2024

Excess Deaths and Depopulation: Shall We Sit Around in Our Insouciance and Permit This to Happen?

Dr. John Campbell, November 25, 2024

Canadian Government Admits 48,780 Excess Deaths in 2022 (17% Increase in Mortality). There Is No Evidence COVID-19 Vaccines Saved a Single Life in Canada During 2021-2022

Dr. William Makis, November 5, 2024

Endorse Robert F. Kennedy Jr: The COVID “Killer Vaccine”. People Are Dying All Over the World. It’s a Criminal Undertaking. We Call Upon Its Immediate Cancellation!

Prof Michel Chossudovsky, November 15, 2024

The Next Crisis “Bigger Than COVID”: Paralysis of Power Supply, Communications, Transportation. The WEF “Cyber Attack” Scenario, “Usher In the Great Reset”

Prof Michel Chossudovsky, July 5, 2024

What Was COVID Really About? Triggering a Multi-Trillion Dollar Global Debt Crisis. “Ramping Up an Imperialist Strategy”?

Colin Todhunter, October 3, 2024

Video: Archbishop Carlo Vigano. A False Pandemic and The Imposition of a False Vaccine. A Criminal Plan of World Depopulation

His Excellency Carlo Maria Viganò, June 21, 2024

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

Prof Michel Chossudovsky, November 12, 2024

Epidemic of 15-19 Year Olds Dropping Dead in Schools and Dorms Across USA and Canada in April 2023

Dr. William Makis, May 2, 2024

Pfizer’s “Secret” Report on the COVID “Vaccine”. Beyond Manslaughter. The Evidence Is Overwhelming. The Vaccine Should be Immediately Withdrawn Worldwide

Prof Michel Chossudovsky, August 10, 2024

Is the Gaza-Israel Fighting “A False Flag”? They Let It Happen? Their Objective Is “to Wipe Gaza Off the Map”?

Philip Giraldi, November 18, 2024

The Brain Is the Battlefield of the Future. The WEF’s Stated Objective Is “Altering the Human Being”

Peter Koenig, November 9, 2024

To read translation into Arabic, scroll down  AI

فيديو: “محو غزة من الخريطة”: أجندة المال الكبير. مصادرة احتياطيات فلسطين من الغاز الطبيعي البحري

لقراءة الترجمة إلى اللغة العربية، قم بالتمرير لأسفل

Introduction

Israel has launched an invasion (October 7, 2023) of the Gaza Strip.

As outlined by Felicity Arbuthnot with foresight 10 years ago in a December, 30 2013 article: 

“Israel is set to become a major exporter of gas and some oil, “If All Goes to Plan”.

In the current context, Israel’s “All Goes to Plan” option consists in bypassing Palestine and “Wiping Gaza off the Map”,  as well confiscating ALL Gaza’s maritime offshore gas reserves, worth billions of dollars. 

The ultimate objective is not only to exclude Palestinians from their homeland, it consists in confiscating the multi-billion dollar Gaza offshore Natural Gas reserves, namely those pertaining to the BG (BG Group) in 1999, as well the Levant discoveries of 2013. 

Update. Israel’s Secret Intelligence Memorandum

An official “secret” memorandum authored by Israel’s  Ministry of Intelligence “is recommending the forcible and permanent transfer of the Gaza Strip’s 2.2 million Palestinian residents to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula”, namely to a refugee camp in Egyptian territory. There are indications of Israel-Egypt negotiations  as well as consultations with the U.S. 

The 10-page document, dated Oct. 13, 2023, bears the logo of the Intelligence Ministry … assesses three options regarding the future of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip … It recommends a full population transfer as its preferred course of action. … The document, whose authenticity was confirmed by the ministry, has been translated into English in full here on +972. See below, click here or below to access complete document (10 pages)

First published on October  22, 2023. Video added on October 27, 2023, Update, November 1, 2023

***

Video: Michel Chossudovsky, Interview with Caroline Mailloux, Lux Media

To leave a comment and/or Access Rumble click to lower right hand corner

Felicity Arbuthnot’s 2013 Analysis 

“The Giant Leviathan natural gas field, in the eastern Mediterranean, discovered in December 2010, widely described [by governments and media] as “off the coast of Israel.”

These Levant reserves must be distinguished from those discovered in Gaza in 1999 by British Gas, which belong to Palestine. Felicity Arbuthnot’s analysis nonetheless confirms that “Part of the Leviathan Gas fields lie in Gazan territorial waters” (See Map Below). 

Whilst Israel claims them as her very own treasure trove, only a fraction of the sea’s wealth lies in Israel’s bailiwick as maps. Much is still unexplored, but currently Palestine’s Gaza and the West Bank between them show the greatest discoveries… (Felicity Arbuthnot, 2013) 

Flash Forward to October 2023

Netanyahu’s October 2023 declaration of war against 2.3 million people of the Gaza Strip is a continuation of its 2008-2009 invasion of Gaza under “Operation Cast Lead.” 

The underlying objective is the outright military occupation of Gaza by Israel’s IDF forces and the expulsion of Palestinians from their homeland.

.

The ultimate objective is not only to exclude Palestinians from their homeland, it consists in confiscating the multi-billion dollar Gaza offshore Natural Gas reserves, namely those pertaining to the BG (BG Group) in 1999, as well the Levant discoveries of 2013. 

Egypt-Israel “Secret Bilateral Talks” 

In 2021-22, Egypt and Israel were involved in “secret bilateral talks” regarding “the extraction of natural gas off the coast of the Gaza Strip. 

“Egypt succeeded in persuading Israel to start extracting natural gas off the coast of the Gaza Strip, after several months of secret bilateral talks.

This development … comes after years of Israeli objections to extract natural gas off the coast of Gaza on [alleged] security grounds, … 

British Gas (BG Group) has also been dealing with the Tel Aviv government.

What is significant is that the civilian arm of the Hamas Gaza government has been bypassed in regards to exploration and development rights over the gas fields: 

The field, which lies about 30 kilometers (19 miles) west of the Gaza coast, was discovered in 2000 by British Gas (currently BG Group) and is estimated to contain more than 1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. 

The official in the Egyptian intelligence service told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, “An Egyptian economic and security delegation discussed with the Israeli side for several months the issue of allowing the extraction of natural gas off the coast of Gaza. …Al-Monitor, October 22, 2022

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Egypt and Israel, which had the rubber-stamp of the Palestinian National Authority (PA):

“The Egyptian official explained that Israel required the start of practical measures to extract gas from the Gaza fields at the beginning of 2024, to ensure its own security. (Al-Monitor, October 22, 2022

Netanyahu’s Timeline: “Before The Beginning of 2024”

The timeline resulting from these bilateral Israel-Egypt “secret talks” i.e. confiscation of Palestine’s offshore Maritime Gas Reserves is “The Beginning of 2024”.

United Nations Assessment

An important United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) (2019) report describes Palestine’s predicament as follows: 

Geologists and natural resources economists have confirmed that the Occupied Palestinian Territory lies above sizeable reservoirs of oil and natural gas wealth, in Area C of the occupied West Bank and the Mediterranean coast off the Gaza Strip.

However, occupation continues to prevent Palestinians from developing their energy fields so as to exploit and benefit from such assets. As such, the Palestinian people have been denied the benefits of using this natural resource to finance socioeconomic development and meet their need for energy.

The accumulated losses are estimated in the billions of dollars. The longer Israel prevents Palestinians from exploiting their own oil and natural gas reserves, the greater the opportunity costs and the greater the total costs of the occupation borne by Palestinians become.

This study identifies and assesses existing and potential Palestinian oil and natural gas reserves that could be exploited for the benefit of the Palestinian people, which Israel is either preventing them from exploiting or is exploiting without due regard for international law. (UNCTAD, August 2019, emphasis added, download complete report)

Crimes against Humanity

In the words of Netanyahu who is on Record for Supporting and Financing a faction within Hamas:  

Crimes against humanity beyond description by the Netanyahu government against the People of Palestine,

Crimes also committed against the People of Israel who are the victims of the Hamas “False Flag Attack” carefully engineered by Mossad-IDF.

There are deep-seated divisions within Hamas. Our “False Flag” analysis pertains to a military-intelligence faction within Hamas which cooperates with Israeli and U.S. intelligence.  See:

Is the Gaza-Israel Fighting “A False Flag”? They Let it Happen? Their Objective Is “to Wipe Gaza Off the Map”?

By Philip Giraldi and Prof Michel Chossudovsky, October 20, 2023

Michel Chossudovsky,  Global Research, October 21, 2023

Below is the 2013 article by Felicity Arbuthnot

Israel Gas-Oil and Trouble in the Levant

by Felicity Arbuthnot 

Global Research, 

December 13, 2013

Israel is set to become a major exporter of gas and some oil, if all goes to plan. The giant Leviathan natural gas field, in the eastern Mediterranean, discovered in December 2010, is widely described as “off the coast of Israel.”

 At the time the gas field was:

“ … the most prominent field ever found in the sub-explored area of the Levantine Basin, which covers about 83,000 square kilometres of the eastern Mediterranean region.” (i)

Coupled with Tamar field, in the same location, discovered in 2009, the prospects are for an energy bonanza for Israel, for Houston, Texas based Noble Energy and partners Delek Drilling, Avner Oil Exploration and Ratio Oil Exploration.

Also involved is Perth, Australia-based Woodside Petroleum, which has signed a memorandum of understanding for a thirty percent stake in the project, in negotiations which have been described as “up and down.”

There is currently speculation that Woodside might pull out of the deal: “ …since the original plans to refrigerate the gas for export were pursued when relations between Israel and Turkey were strained. That has changed, more recently, which has opened the door for gas to be piped to Turkey.”

The spoils of the Leviathan field has already expanded from an estimated 16.7 trillion cubic feet (tcf ) of gas to nineteen trillion – and counting:

”We’ve discovered nearly 40 tcf of gas, and we have roughly 19 tcf of that gas that’s available for export to both regional and extra-regional markets. We see exports reaching 2 billion cubic feet a day in capacity in the next decade. And we continue to explore.”, stated Noble Vice Chairman Keith Elliot (ii) There are also estimated to be possibly six hundred million barrels of oil, according to Michael Economides of energytribune.com (“Eastern Mediterranean Energy – the next Great Game.”)

 However, even these estimates may prove modest. In their: “Assessment of Undiscovered Oil and Gas Resources of the Levant Basin Province, Eastern Mediterranean”, the US Department of the Interior’s US Geological Survey, wrote in 2010:

“We estimated a mean of 1.7 billion barrels of recoverable oil and a mean of 122 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas in this province using a geology based assessment methodology.”

Nevertheless, Woodside Petroleum, might also be hesitant to become involved in further disputes, since they are already embroiled, with the Australian government, in a protracted one in East Timor relating to the bonanaza of energy and minerals beneath the Timor Sea, which has even led to East Timor accusing Australia “of bugging East Timorese officials during the negotiations over the agreement.”(iii)

Woodside’s conflict in East Timor however, may well pale against what might well erupt over the Leviathan and Tamar fields. The area is not for nothing called the Levantine Basin.

Whilst Israel claims them as her very own treasure trove, only a fraction of the sea’s wealth lies in Israel’s bailiwick as maps (iv, v, see below) clearly show.

Much is still unexplored, but currently Palestine’s Gaza and the West Bank between them show the greatest discoveries, with anything found in Lebanon and Syria’s territorial waters sure to involve claims from both countries.

In a pre-emptive move, on Christmas Day, Syria announced a deal with Russia to explore 2,190 kilometres (850 Sq. miles) for oil and gas off its Mediterranean coast, to be: “… financed by Russia, and should oil and gas be discovered in commercial quantities, Moscow will recover the exploration costs.”

Syrian Oil Minister, Ali Abbas said during the signing ceremony that the contract covers “25 years, over several phases.”

Syria, increasingly crippled by international sanctions, has seen oil production plummet by ninety percent since the largely Western fermented unrest began in March 2011. Gas production has nearly halved, from thirty million cubic metres a day, to 16.7 cubic metres daily.

The agreement is reported to have resulted from “months of long negotiations” between the two countries. Russia, as one of the Syrian government’s main backers, looks set to also become a major player in the Levant Basin’s energy wealth. (vi)

Lebanon disputes Israel’s map of the Israeli-Lebanese maritime border, filing their own map and claims with the UN in 2010. Israel claims Lebanon is in the process of granting oil and gas exploration licenses in what Israel claims as its “exclusive economic zone.”

That the US in the guise of Vice President Joe Biden, as honest broker, acting peace negotiator in the maritime border dispute would be laughable, were it not potential for Israel to attack their neighbour again. In a visit to Israel in March 2010, Biden announced: “There is absolutely no space between the United States and Israel when it comes to Israel’s security- none at all”, also announcing on arrival in Israel:”It’s good to be home.”

Given US decades of  “peace brokering” between Israel and Palestine, this is already a road of pitfalls, one sidedness and duplicity, well traveled. There is trouble ahead.

Oh, and in demonology, Leviathan is one of the seven princes of Hell.

Notes

i. http://www.offshore-technology.com/projects/leviathan-gas-field-levantine-israel/

ii. http://m.theage.com.au/business/options-widen-for-woodsides-leviathan-partners-20131219-2znu6.html

iii. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-04/east-timor-offers-funds-for-onshore- gas-processing/4933106

iv. http://www.offshore-technology.com/projects/leviathan-gas-field-levantine-israel/leviathan-gas-field-levantine-israel1.html

v. http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Leviathan+gas+project+Israel+map&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=ntC2UvO7IcPE7Ab7rIDYCQ&ved=0CEQQsAQ&biw=1017&bih=598

vi. http://www.phantomreport.com/syria-inks-oil-gas-deal-with-russia-firm#more-20238

****

Michel Chossudovsky’s

Video: War and Natural Gas: The Israeli Invasion and Gaza’s Offshore Gas Fields

By Prof Michel Chossudovsky, April 25, 2024

Almost fifteen years ago in December 2008, Israel invaded Gaza under “Operation Cast Lead (2008-2009)”.

The following article was first published by Global Research in January 2009 at the height of the Israeli bombing and invasion under Operation Cast Lead.

War and Natural Gas:

The Israeli Invasion and Gaza’s Offshore Gas Fields

by Michel Chossudovsky

January 8, 2009

The December 2008 military invasion of the Gaza Strip by Israeli Forces bears a direct relation to the control and ownership of strategic offshore gas reserves. 

This is a war of conquest. Discovered in 2000, there are extensive gas reserves off the Gaza coastline. 

British Gas (BG Group) and its partner, the Athens based Consolidated Contractors International Company (CCC) owned by Lebanon’s Sabbagh and Koury families, were granted oil and gas exploration rights in a 25 year agreement signed in November 1999 with the Palestinian Authority.

The rights to the offshore gas field are respectively British Gas (60 percent); Consolidated Contractors (CCC) (30 percent); and the Investment Fund of the Palestinian Authority (10 percent). (Haaretz, October 21,  2007).

The PA-BG-CCC agreement includes field development and the construction of a gas pipeline.(Middle East Economic Digest, Jan 5, 2001).

The BG licence covers the entire Gazan offshore marine area, which is contiguous to several Israeli offshore gas facilities. (See Map below). It should be noted that 60 percent of the gas reserves along the Gaza-Israel coastline belong to Palestine.

The BG Group drilled two wells in 2000: Gaza Marine-1 and Gaza Marine-2. Reserves are estimated by British Gas to be of the order of 1.4 trillion cubic feet, valued at approximately 4 billion dollars. These are the figures made public by British Gas. The size of Palestine’s gas reserves could be much larger.

Map 1

Map 2

Who Owns the Gas Fields

The issue of sovereignty over Gaza’s gas fields is crucial. From a legal standpoint, the gas reserves belong to Palestine.

The death of Yasser Arafat, the election of the Hamas government and the ruin of the Palestinian Authority have enabled Israel to establish de facto control over Gaza’s offshore gas reserves.

British Gas (BG Group) has been dealing with the Tel Aviv government. In turn, the Hamas government has been bypassed in regards to exploration and development rights over the gas fields.

The election of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in 2001 was a major turning point. Palestine’s sovereignty over the offshore gas fields was challenged in the Israeli Supreme Court. Sharon stated unequivocally that “Israel would never buy gas from Palestine” intimating that Gaza’s offshore gas reserves belong to Israel.

In 2003, Ariel Sharon, vetoed an initial deal, which would allow British Gas to supply Israel with natural gas from Gaza’s offshore wells. (The Independent, August 19, 2003)

The election victory of Hamas in 2006 was conducive to the demise of the Palestinian Authority, which became confined to the West Bank, under the proxy regime of Mahmoud Abbas.

In 2006, British Gas “was close to signing a deal to pump the gas to Egypt.” (Times, May, 23, 2007). According to reports, British Prime Minister Tony Blair intervened on behalf of Israel with a view to shunting the agreement with Egypt.

The following year, in May 2007, the Israeli Cabinet approved a proposal by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert  “to buy gas from the Palestinian Authority.” The proposed contract was for $4 billion, with profits of the order of $2 billion of which one billion was to go the Palestinians.

Tel Aviv, however, had no intention on sharing the revenues with Palestine. An Israeli team of negotiators was set up by the Israeli Cabinet to thrash out a deal with the BG Group, bypassing both the Hamas government and the Palestinian Authority:

“Israeli defence authorities want the Palestinians to be paid in goods and services and insist that no money go to the Hamas-controlled Government.” (Ibid, emphasis added)

The objective was essentially to nullify the contract signed in 1999 between the BG Group and the Palestinian Authority under Yasser Arafat.

Under the proposed 2007 agreement with BG, Palestinian gas from Gaza’s offshore wells was to be channeled by an undersea pipeline to the Israeli seaport of Ashkelon, thereby transferring control over the sale of the natural gas to Israel.

The deal fell through. The negotiations were suspended:

 “Mossad Chief Meir Dagan opposed the transaction on security grounds, that the proceeds would fund terror”. (Member of Knesset Gilad Erdan, Address to the Knesset on “The Intention of Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to Purchase Gas from the Palestinians When Payment Will Serve Hamas,” March 1, 2006, quoted in Lt. Gen. (ret.) Moshe Yaalon, Does the Prospective Purchase of British Gas from Gaza’s Coastal Waters Threaten Israel’s National Security?  Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, October 2007)

Israel’s intent was to foreclose the possibility that royalties be paid to the Palestinians. In December 2007, The BG Group withdrew from the negotiations with Israel and in January 2008 they closed their office in Israel.(BG website).

Invasion Plan on The Drawing Board

The invasion plan of the Gaza Strip under “Operation Cast Lead” was set in motion in June 2008, according to Israeli military sources:

“Sources in the defense establishment said Defense Minister Ehud Barak instructed the Israel Defense Forces to prepare for the operation over six months ago [June or before June] , even as Israel was beginning to negotiate a ceasefire agreement with Hamas.”(Barak Ravid, Operation “Cast Lead”: Israeli Air Force strike followed months of planning, Haaretz, December 27, 2008)

That very same month, the Israeli authorities contacted British Gas, with a view to resuming crucial negotiations pertaining to the purchase of Gaza’s natural gas:

“Both Ministry of Finance director general Yarom Ariav and Ministry of National Infrastructures director general Hezi Kugler agreed to inform BG of Israel’s wish to renew the talks.

The sources added that BG has not yet officially responded to Israel’s request, but that company executives would probably come to Israel in a few weeks to hold talks with government officials.” (Globes online- Israel’s Business Arena, June 23, 2008)

The decision to speed up negotiations with British Gas (BG Group) coincided, chronologically, with the planning of the invasion of Gaza initiated in June. It would appear that Israel was anxious to reach an agreement with the BG Group prior to the invasion, which was already in an advanced planning stage.

Moreover, these negotiations with British Gas were conducted by the Ehud Olmert government with the knowledge that a military invasion was on the drawing board. In all likelihood, a new “post war” political-territorial arrangement for the Gaza strip was also being contemplated by the Israeli government.

In fact, negotiations between British Gas and Israeli officials were ongoing in October 2008, 2-3 months prior to the commencement of the bombings on December 27th.

In November 2008, the Israeli Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of National Infrastructures instructed Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) to enter into negotiations with British Gas, on the purchase of natural gas from the BG’s offshore concession in Gaza. (Globes, November 13, 2008)

“Ministry of Finance director general Yarom Ariav and Ministry of National Infrastructures director general Hezi Kugler wrote to IEC CEO Amos Lasker recently, informing him of the government’s decision to allow negotiations to go forward, in line with the framework proposal it approved earlier this year.

The IEC board, headed by chairman Moti Friedman, approved the principles of the framework proposal a few weeks ago. The talks with BG Group will begin once the board approves the exemption from a tender.” (Globes Nov. 13, 2008)

Gaza and Energy Geopolitics 

The military occupation of Gaza is intent upon transferring the sovereignty of the gas fields to Israel in violation of international law.

What can we expect in the wake of the invasion?

What is the intent of Israel with regard to Palestine’s Natural Gas reserves?

A new territorial arrangement, with the stationing of Israeli and/or “peacekeeping” troops?

The militarization of the entire Gaza coastline, which is strategic for Israel?

The outright confiscation of Palestinian gas fields and the unilateral declaration of Israeli sovereignty over Gaza’s maritime areas?

If this were to occur, the Gaza gas fields would be integrated into Israel’s offshore installations, which are contiguous to those of the Gaza Strip. (See Map 1 above)

These various offshore installations are also linked up to Israel’s energy transport corridor, extending from the port of Eilat, which is an oil pipeline terminal, on the Red Sea to the seaport – pipeline terminal at Ashkelon, and northwards to Haifa, and eventually linking up through a proposed Israeli-Turkish pipeline with the Turkish port of Ceyhan.

Map 3

Ceyhan is the terminal of the Baku, Tblisi Ceyhan Trans Caspian pipeline.

“What is envisaged is to link the BTC pipeline to the Trans-Israel Eilat-Ashkelon pipeline, also known as Israel’s Tipline.” (See Michel Chossudovsky, The War on Lebanon and the Battle for Oil, Global Research, July 23, 2006)

Readers’ Thanks to Michel Chossudovsky

• Thank you for your continued activism and truth-telling. A thankless task but the right thing.

• You Sir are a Canadian hero. Thank you for your wonderful site and all the fine work you have done over the many years I have followed your work.

• Michel Chossudovsky, you are a voice of reason and understanding. Thank you for your awareness. I am a Syrian/American. I heard one voice during the bombing of Gaza of a child screaming for his father and his father could not reach him, but he cried out to him, “PUT YOUR HEART ON MY HEART.” Those humans who are putting your Heart on Palestine, thank you.

فيديو: “محو غزة عن الخارطة”: أجندة مالية ضخمة ومصادرة احتياطيات الغاز الطبيعي البحرية في فلسطين

لقراءة الترجمة باللغة العربية، قم بالتمرير للأسفل

فيديو: “محو غزة من الخريطة”: أجندة المال الكبير. مصادرة فلسطينية من الغاز الطبيعي البحري

لقراءة الترجمة إلى اللغة العربية، قم بالتمرير للأسف

 

مقدمة

بدأت إسرائيل غزوًا (7 أكتوبر 2023) لقطاع غزة.

وكما أوضحت فيليسيتي أربوثنوت  في   مقال  لها بتاريخ 30 ديسمبر 2013 قبل عشر سنوات:

من المتوقع أن تصبح إسرائيل مصدرًا رئيسيًا للغاز وبعض النفط، إذا سارت الأمور كما هو مخطط لها.

في السياق الحالي، فإن  خيار  إسرائيل “كل شيء يسير كما خططت له” يتلخص في تجاوز فلسطين و” محو غزة عن الخريطة” ، فضلاً عن مصادرة جميع احتياطيات الغاز البحرية قبالة سواحل غزة، والتي تبلغ قيمتها مليارات الدولارات. 

إن الهدف النهائي لا يقتصر على استبعاد  الفلسطينيين من وطنهم، بل  يتلخص  في  مصادرة احتياطيات الغاز الطبيعي قبالة سواحل غزة والتي تقدر بمليارات الدولارات، وهي على وجه التحديد تلك التي تعود إلى شركة بي جي (BG Group) في عام 1999 ، بالإضافة إلى  اكتشافات  بلاد الشام في عام 2013. 

تحديث. مذكرة استخباراتية سرية إسرائيلية

وتوصي مذكرة رسمية “سرية” أعدتها وزارة الاستخبارات الإسرائيلية ” بالنقل القسري والدائم لسكان قطاع غزة البالغ عددهم 2.2 مليون فلسطيني إلى شبه جزيرة سيناء المصرية”، أي إلى  مخيم للاجئين في الأراضي المصرية. وهناك مؤشرات على  مفاوضات إسرائيلية مصرية فضلاً عن مشاورات مع الولايات المتحدة  .

الوثيقة المكونة من 10 صفحات، والمؤرخة في 13 أكتوبر 2023، تحمل شعار وزارة الاستخبارات  … تقيم ثلاثة خيارات فيما يتعلق بمستقبل الفلسطينيين في قطاع غزة … وتوصي بنقل كامل للسكان باعتباره مسار العمل المفضل لديها.  … الوثيقة، التي أكدت الوزارة صحتها، تمت ترجمتها إلى اللغة الإنجليزية بالكامل هنا على +972. انظر أدناه، انقر هنا أو أدناه للوصول إلى الوثيقة الكاملة (10 صفحات)

 

نُشر لأول مرة في 22 أكتوبر 2023. تمت إضافة الفيديو في 27 أكتوبر 2023، التحديث بتاريخ 1 نوفمبر 2023

 

***

فيديو: ميشيل شوسودوفسكي، مقابلة مع كارولين مايلو، لوكس ميديا

 

ميشيل شوسودوفسكي – تتبع الأموال: مصادرة احتياطيات الغاز الطبيعي في فلسطين

لترك تعليق و/أو الدخول إلى Rumble، انقر على الزاوية اليمنى السفلية

 

تحليل فيليسيتي أربوثنوت لعام 2013 

حقل ليفياثان العملاق للغاز الطبيعي، الذي اكتُشف في شرق البحر الأبيض المتوسط ​​في ديسمبر/كانون الأول 2010، والذي وصفه على نطاق واسع [من قبل الحكومات ووسائل الإعلام] بأنه “قبالة سواحل إسرائيل”.

ولابد من التمييز بين احتياطيات غاز ليفياثان   وتلك التي اكتشفتها شركة الغاز البريطانية في غزة عام 1999 ، والتي تنتمي إلى فلسطين.  ومع ذلك، يؤكد تحليل فيليسيتي أربوثنوت أن ” جزءاً من حقول غاز ليفياثان يقع في المياه الإقليمية لغزة” (انظر الخريطة أدناه). 

في حين تزعم إسرائيل أنها كنزها الخاص، فإن جزءًا ضئيلًا فقط من ثروات البحر يقع في منطقة نفوذ إسرائيل على شكل خرائط. وما زال الكثير غير مستكشف، ولكن حاليًا تُظهِر غزة الفلسطينية والضفة الغربية بينهما أعظم الاكتشافات… ( فيليسيتي أربوثنوت ، 2013)

الانتقال السريع إلى أكتوبر 2023

إن إعلان نتنياهو في أكتوبر/تشرين الأول 2023 الحرب على 2.3 مليون إنسان في قطاع غزة هو استمرار لغزوه غزة في عامي 2008 و2009 تحت مسمى عملية “الرصاص المصبوب”. 

الهدف الأساسي هو الاحتلال العسكري الكامل لقطاع غزة من قبل قوات جيش الدفاع الإسرائيلي وطرد الفلسطينيين من وطنهم.

ولكن ينبغي لي أن أذكر أن هناك مصالح مالية قوية تسعى إلى الاستفادة من المشروع الإجرامي الإسرائيلي ( الإبادة الجماعية)  الموجه ضد غزة. 

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إن الهدف النهائي لا يقتصر على استبعاد  الفلسطينيين من وطنهم، بل  يتلخص  في  مصادرة احتياطيات الغاز الطبيعي قبالة سواحل غزة والتي تقدر بمليارات الدولارات، وهي على وجه التحديد تلك التي تعود إلى شركة بي جي (BG Group) في عام 1999 ، بالإضافة إلى  اكتشافات  بلاد الشام في عام 2013. 

“محادثات ثنائية سرية” بين مصر وإسرائيل 

وفي عامي 2021 و2022، أجرت مصر وإسرائيل “محادثات ثنائية سرية” بشأن “استخراج الغاز الطبيعي قبالة سواحل قطاع غزة”.

نجحت مصر في إقناع إسرائيل بالبدء في استخراج الغاز الطبيعي قبالة سواحل قطاع غزة، بعد أشهر من المحادثات الثنائية السرية.

ويأتي هذا التطور بعد سنوات من الاعتراضات الإسرائيلية على استخراج الغاز الطبيعي قبالة سواحل غزة لأسباب أمنية [مزعومة]، … 

وكانت شركة الغاز البريطانية (BG Group) تتعامل أيضًا مع حكومة تل أبيب.

والأمر المهم هو أن الذراع المدني لحكومة حماس في غزة تم تجاوزه فيما يتعلق بحقوق التنقيب والتطوير في حقول الغاز:

تم اكتشاف الحقل ، الذي يقع على بعد حوالي 30 كيلومترًا (19 ميلًا) غرب ساحل غزة، في عام 2000 من قبل شركة بريتيش غاز (مجموعة بي جي حاليًا) ويقدر أنه يحتوي على أكثر من تريليون قدم مكعب من الغاز الطبيعي .

وقال المسؤول في جهاز المخابرات المصري لـ”المونيتور” شريطة عدم الكشف عن هويته: “إن وفداً اقتصادياً وأمنياً مصرياً ناقش مع الجانب الإسرائيلي منذ عدة أشهر مسألة السماح باستخراج الغاز الطبيعي قبالة سواحل غزة… المونيتور، 22 أكتوبر 2022

تم توقيع مذكرة تفاهم بين مصر وإسرائيل، والتي حصلت على ختم مطاطي من السلطة الوطنية الفلسطينية:

وأوضح المسؤول المصري أن إسرائيل اشترطت بدء الإجراءات العملية لاستخراج الغاز من حقول غزة مطلع عام 2024، لضمان أمنها. ( المونيتور، 22 أكتوبر/تشرين الأول 2022)

الجدول الزمني لنتنياهو: “قبل بداية عام 2024”

الجدول الزمني الناتج عن هذه “المحادثات السرية” الثنائية بين إسرائيل ومصر، أي مصادرة احتياطيات الغاز البحرية الفلسطينية هو “بداية عام 2024”.

تقييم الأمم المتحدة

يصف تقرير مهم صادر عن مؤتمر الأمم المتحدة للتجارة والتنمية (الأونكتاد)  (2019) محنة فلسطين على النحو التالي:

وأكد الجيولوجيون وخبراء اقتصاد الموارد الطبيعية أن الأراضي الفلسطينية المحتلة تقع فوق خزانات كبيرة من ثروات النفط والغاز الطبيعي، في المنطقة (ج) من الضفة الغربية المحتلة وساحل البحر الأبيض المتوسط ​​قبالة قطاع غزة.

ومع ذلك، لا يزال الاحتلال يمنع الفلسطينيين من تطوير حقول الطاقة لديهم لاستغلال هذه الأصول والاستفادة منها. وبالتالي، حُرم الشعب الفلسطيني من الاستفادة من فوائد استخدام هذه الموارد الطبيعية لتمويل التنمية الاجتماعية والاقتصادية وتلبية احتياجاته من الطاقة.

وتقدر الخسائر المتراكمة بمليارات الدولارات. وكلما طالت مدة منع إسرائيل الفلسطينيين من استغلال احتياطياتهم من النفط والغاز الطبيعي، كلما زادت تكاليف الفرصة البديلة، وارتفعت التكاليف الإجمالية للاحتلال التي يتحملها الفلسطينيون.

تحدد هذه الدراسة وتقيم احتياطيات النفط والغاز الطبيعي الفلسطينية الحالية والمحتملة التي يمكن استغلالها لصالح الشعب الفلسطيني، والتي تمنع إسرائيل الشعب الفلسطيني من استغلالها أو تستغلها دون مراعاة القانون الدولي. ( الأونكتاد ، أغسطس/آب 2019، التأكيد مضاف، تنزيل التقرير الكامل)

الجرائم ضد الإنسانية

وعلى حد تعبير نتنياهو الذي  سجل دعمه وتمويله لفصيل داخل حماس:  

“إن أي شخص يريد إحباط قيام الدولة الفلسطينية عليه أن يدعم تعزيز حماس وتحويل الأموال إليها…  وهذا جزء من استراتيجيتنا ـ عزل الفلسطينيين في غزة عن الفلسطينيين في الضفة الغربية”.

(بنيامين نتنياهو، تصريح في اجتماع لأعضاء الكنيست من حزب الليكود في مارس/آذار 2019، هآرتس ، 9 أكتوبر/تشرين الأول 2023، التشديد مضاف)

“لقد تم التعامل مع حماس كشريك على حساب السلطة الفلسطينية لمنع عباس من التحرك نحو إنشاء دولة فلسطينية. وتم ترقية حماس من جماعة إرهابية إلى منظمة أجرت إسرائيل معها مفاوضات عبر مصر، وسُمح لها بتلقي حقائب تحتوي على ملايين الدولارات من قطر عبر معابر غزة.”

( تايمز أوف إسرائيل ، 8 أكتوبر 2023، التشديد مضاف)

جرائم ضد الإنسانية تفوق الوصف ترتكبها حكومة نتنياهو بحق شعب فلسطين،

كما ارتكبت جرائم ضد شعب إسرائيل الذي أصبح ضحية “هجوم العلم الكاذب” الذي نفذته حماس بعناية من قبل  الموساد والجيش الإسرائيلي.

هناك انقسامات عميقة الجذور داخل حماس. ويتعلق تحليلنا “بالعلم الكاذب” بفصيل عسكري استخباراتي داخل حماس يتعاون مع الاستخبارات الإسرائيلية والأميركية.   انظر:

هل حرب غزة مع إسرائيل “كذبة”؟ هل سمحوا لها بالحدوث؟ هل هدفهم “محو غزة عن الخارطة”؟

بقلم فيليب جيرالدي والأستاذ ميشيل شوسودوفسكي ، 20 أكتوبر 2023

 

ميشيل شوسودوفسكي ، الأبحاث العالمية، 21 أكتوبر 2023

 

فيما يلي مقالة كتبتها فيليسيتي أربوثنوت عام 2013

 

 

الغاز والنفط الإسرائيليان والمشاكل في بلاد الشام

بقلم فيليسيتي أربوثنوت 

البحث العالمي، 

13 ديسمبر 2013

من المتوقع أن تصبح إسرائيل مصدراً رئيسياً للغاز وبعض النفط، إذا سارت الأمور كما هو مخطط لها. ويُوصَف حقل ليفياثان العملاق للغاز الطبيعي، في شرق البحر الأبيض المتوسط، والذي اكتُشِف في ديسمبر/كانون الأول 2010، على نطاق واسع بأنه “قبالة سواحل إسرائيل”.

 في ذلك الوقت كان حقل الغاز:

“… الحقل الأبرز الذي تم اكتشافه على الإطلاق في المنطقة المستكشفة جزئيًا في حوض بلاد الشام، والتي تغطي حوالي 83000 كيلومتر مربع من منطقة شرق البحر الأبيض المتوسط.” (i)

وبالإضافة إلى حقل تمار، الذي تم اكتشافه في عام 2009 في نفس الموقع، فإن الآفاق تشير إلى ثروة طاقة هائلة بالنسبة لإسرائيل، وشركة نوبل إنرجي ومقرها هيوستن بولاية تكساس وشركائها ديليك دريلينج وأفنر أويل إكسبلوريشن وراشيو أويل إكسبلوريشن.

وتشارك في المفاوضات أيضاً شركة وودسايد بتروليوم، ومقرها بيرث في أستراليا، والتي وقعت مذكرة تفاهم للحصول على حصة ثلاثين بالمائة في المشروع، والتي وصفت بأنها “متقلبة”.

هناك تكهنات حاليا بأن شركة وودسايد قد تنسحب من الصفقة: “… حيث تم تنفيذ الخطط الأصلية لتبريد الغاز للتصدير عندما كانت العلاقات بين إسرائيل وتركيا متوترة. وقد تغير هذا مؤخرا، مما فتح الباب أمام نقل الغاز عبر الأنابيب إلى تركيا”.

لقد توسعت غنائم حقل ليفياثان بالفعل من حوالي 16.7 تريليون قدم مكعب من الغاز إلى تسعة عشر تريليون قدم مكعب – وما زال العدد في تزايد:

“لقد اكتشفنا ما يقرب من 40 تريليون قدم مكعب من الغاز، ولدينا ما يقرب من 19 تريليون قدم مكعب من هذا الغاز متاح للتصدير إلى الأسواق الإقليمية وخارجها. ونتوقع أن تصل الصادرات إلى 2 مليار قدم مكعب يوميًا في العقد المقبل. ونحن نواصل الاستكشاف”.، كما صرح نائب رئيس شركة نوبل كيث إليوت (ii) كما يُقدر أن هناك ستمائة مليون برميل من النفط، وفقًا لمايكل إيكونوميدس من energytribune.com (“طاقة شرق البحر الأبيض المتوسط ​​- اللعبة الكبرى القادمة”).

 ولكن حتى هذه التقديرات قد تكون متواضعة. ففي تقريرها  “تقييم موارد النفط والغاز غير المكتشفة في إقليم حوض المشرق، شرق البحر الأبيض المتوسط”، كتبت هيئة المسح الجيولوجي الأميركية التابعة لوزارة الداخلية الأميركية في عام 2010:

“لقد قمنا بتقدير متوسط ​​1.7 مليار برميل من النفط القابل للاستخراج ومتوسط ​​122 تريليون قدم مكعب من الغاز القابل للاستخراج في هذه المقاطعة باستخدام منهجية تقييم تعتمد على الجيولوجيا.”

ومع ذلك، قد تتردد شركة وودسايد بتروليوم أيضاً في الانخراط في المزيد من النزاعات، لأنها متورطة بالفعل، مع الحكومة الأسترالية، في نزاع مطول في تيمور الشرقية يتعلق بمخزون الطاقة والمعادن تحت بحر تيمور، والذي أدى حتى إلى اتهام تيمور الشرقية لأستراليا “بإزعاج المسؤولين التيموريين الشرقيين أثناء المفاوضات بشأن الاتفاق”.(iii)

ولكن الصراع الذي تخوضه شركة وودسايد في تيمور الشرقية قد لا يقارن بما قد يندلع بشأن حقول ليفياثان وتامار. ولم يطلق على هذه المنطقة اسم حوض ليفانتين عبثاً.

في حين تدعي إسرائيل أنها كنزها الخاص، فإن جزءًا ضئيلًا فقط من ثروة البحر يقع ضمن نطاق سيطرة إسرائيل، كما تظهر الخرائط (الرابع، الخامس، انظر أدناه) بوضوح.

ولا يزال هناك الكثير من الأشياء غير المستكشفة، ولكن قطاع غزة في فلسطين والضفة الغربية بينهما يظهران حاليا أعظم الاكتشافات، ومن المؤكد أن أي شيء يتم العثور عليه في المياه الإقليمية اللبنانية والسورية ينطوي على مطالبات من كلا البلدين.

 

وفي خطوة استباقية، أعلنت سوريا في يوم عيد الميلاد عن اتفاق مع روسيا لاستكشاف 2190 كيلومترا (850 ميلا مربعا) من النفط والغاز قبالة سواحلها في البحر الأبيض المتوسط، على أن يتم: “… تمويله من قبل روسيا، وإذا تم اكتشاف النفط والغاز بكميات تجارية، فسوف تسترد موسكو تكاليف الاستكشاف”.

وقال وزير النفط السوري علي عباس خلال حفل التوقيع إن العقد يمتد “25 عاماً على عدة مراحل”.

لقد شهدت سوريا، التي تعاني من عجز متزايد بسبب العقوبات الدولية، انخفاض إنتاج النفط بنسبة تسعين في المائة منذ بدأت الاضطرابات التي تدعمها الدول الغربية في مارس/آذار 2011. كما انخفض إنتاج الغاز إلى النصف تقريبا، من ثلاثين مليون متر مكعب يوميا، إلى 16.7 متر مكعب يوميا.

وتشير التقارير إلى أن الاتفاق جاء نتيجة “أشهر من المفاوضات الطويلة” بين البلدين. ويبدو أن روسيا، باعتبارها أحد الداعمين الرئيسيين للحكومة السورية، عازمة على أن تصبح أيضاً لاعباً رئيسياً في ثروة الطاقة في حوض المشرق العربي.

لبنان ينفي خريطة إسرائيل للحدود البحرية بين إسرائيل ولبنان، وقدم خريطته ومطالباته إلى الأمم المتحدة في عام 2010. تزعم إسرائيل أن لبنان في صدد منح تراخيص لاستكشاف النفط والغاز في ما تدعي إسرائيل أنه “منطقتها الاقتصادية الخالصة”.

إن قيام الولايات المتحدة، تحت ستار نائب الرئيس جو بايدن، بدور الوسيط النزيه والمفاوض الفعلي في النزاع على الحدود البحرية، قد يكون أمراً مثيراً للسخرية، لولا وجود احتمالات بأن تشن إسرائيل هجوماً جديداً على جارتها. ففي زيارة إلى إسرائيل في مارس/آذار 2010، أعلن بايدن: “لا توجد أي مساحة على الإطلاق بين الولايات المتحدة وإسرائيل عندما يتعلق الأمر بأمن إسرائيل ـ لا توجد أي مساحة على الإطلاق”، كما أعلن لدى وصوله إلى إسرائيل: “من الجيد أن أعود إلى الديار”.

وبعد عقود من “وساطة السلام” التي قامت بها الولايات المتحدة بين إسرائيل وفلسطين، فإن هذا الطريق مليء بالمخاطر والانحياز والازدواجية، وهو طريق سلكته الولايات المتحدة كثيراً. وهناك مشاكل تنتظرنا.

أوه، وفي علم الشياطين، ليفيثان هو أحد أمراء الجحيم السبعة.

ملحوظات

i. http://www.offshore-technology.com/projects/leviathan-gas-field-levantine-israel/

ii. http://m.theage.com.au/business/options-widen-for-woodsides-leviathan-partners-20131219-2znu6.html

ثالثا: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-04/east-timor-offers-funds-for-onshore-gas-processing/4933106

رابعا. http://www.offshore-technology.com/projects/leviathan-gas-field-levantine-israel/leviathan-gas-field-levantine-israel1.html

v. http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Leviathan+gas+project+ Israel+map&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=ntC2UvO7IcPE7Ab7rIDYCQ&ved=0CEQQsAQ&biw=1017&bih=598

سادسا. http://www.phantomreport.com/syria-inks-oil-gas-deal-with-russia-firm#more-20238

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ميشيل شوسودوفسكي

فيديو: الحرب والغاز الطبيعي: الغزو الإسرائيلي وحقول الغاز البحرية في غزة

بقلم البروفيسور ميشيل شوسودوفسكي ، 25 أبريل 2024

 

قبل خمسة عشر عامًا تقريبًا، في ديسمبر/كانون الأول 2008، غزت إسرائيل قطاع غزة في إطار عملية “الرصاص المصبوب (2008-2009)”.

نُشرت المقالة التالية لأول مرة على موقع جلوبال ريسيرش في يناير/كانون الثاني 2009 في ذروة القصف والغزو الإسرائيلي في إطار عملية الرصاص المصبوب.

الحرب والغاز الطبيعي:

الغزو الإسرائيلي وحقول الغاز البحرية في غزة

بقلم ميشيل شوسودوفسكي

8 يناير 2009

 

إن الغزو العسكري الذي شنته القوات الإسرائيلية على قطاع غزة في ديسمبر/كانون الأول 2008 له علاقة مباشرة بالسيطرة على احتياطيات الغاز الاستراتيجية البحرية وامتلاكها. 

إنها حرب غزو، فقد تم اكتشاف احتياطيات ضخمة من الغاز قبالة سواحل غزة في عام 2000. 

حصلت شركة بريتيش غاز (بي جي جروب) وشريكتها شركة كونسوليديتد كونتراكتورز انترناشيونال (سي سي سي) ومقرها أثينا والمملوكة لعائلتي صباغ وخوري اللبنانيتين على حقوق التنقيب عن النفط والغاز في اتفاقية مدتها 25 عاما تم توقيعها في نوفمبر/تشرين الثاني 1999 مع السلطة الفلسطينية.

وتعود حقوق حقل الغاز البحري إلى شركة بريتيش غاز (60%) وشركة كونسوليديتد كونتراكتورز (30%) وصندوق الاستثمار التابع للسلطة الفلسطينية (10%). (هآرتس، 21 أكتوبر/تشرين الأول 2007).

وتتضمن الاتفاقية بين شركة الغاز الطبيعي وشركة البترول البريطانية وشركة سي سي سي تطوير الحقل وبناء خط أنابيب للغاز. (مجلة ميدل إيست إيكونوميك دايجست، 5 يناير/كانون الثاني 2001).

وتغطي رخصة شركة بي جي كامل المنطقة البحرية قبالة سواحل غزة، والتي تجاور عدة منشآت غاز بحرية إسرائيلية. (انظر الخريطة أدناه). وتجدر الإشارة إلى أن 60% من احتياطيات الغاز على طول ساحل غزة وإسرائيل تعود إلى فلسطين.

حفرت مجموعة بي جي بئرين في عام 2000: غزة مارين 1 وغزة مارين 2. وتقدر شركة بريتيش غاز احتياطيات الغاز بنحو 1.4 تريليون قدم مكعب، بقيمة تقارب 4 مليارات دولار. وهذه هي الأرقام التي أعلنتها شركة بريتيش غاز. وقد يكون حجم احتياطيات الغاز في فلسطين أكبر من ذلك بكثير.

الخريطة 1

الخريطة 2

من يملك حقول الغاز؟

إن قضية السيادة على حقول الغاز في غزة تشكل أهمية بالغة. فمن الناحية القانونية، فإن احتياطيات الغاز تعود إلى فلسطين.

إن وفاة ياسر عرفات وانتخاب حكومة حماس وانهيار السلطة الفلسطينية مكنت إسرائيل من ترسيخ سيطرتها الفعلية على احتياطيات الغاز البحرية في غزة.

كانت شركة الغاز البريطانية (بي جي جروب) تتعامل مع حكومة تل أبيب. وفي المقابل، تم تجاوز حكومة حماس فيما يتعلق بحقوق التنقيب والتطوير في حقول الغاز.

كان انتخاب رئيس الوزراء أرييل شارون في عام 2001 نقطة تحول كبرى. فقد تم الطعن في سيادة فلسطين على حقول الغاز البحرية أمام المحكمة العليا الإسرائيلية. وصرح شارون بشكل لا لبس فيه بأن “إسرائيل لن تشتري الغاز من فلسطين أبدًا”، مشيرًا إلى أن احتياطيات الغاز البحرية في غزة تنتمي إلى إسرائيل.

في عام 2003، استخدم أرييل شارون حق النقض ضد صفقة أولية كانت ستسمح لشركة الغاز البريطانية بتزويد إسرائيل بالغاز الطبيعي من آبار غزة البحرية. (صحيفة الإندبندنت، 19 أغسطس/آب 2003).

لقد كان انتصار حماس في الانتخابات عام 2006 سبباً في انهيار السلطة الفلسطينية، التي أصبحت محصورة في الضفة الغربية، تحت حكم محمود عباس بالوكالة.

وفي عام 2006، كانت شركة “بريتيش غاز” على وشك توقيع اتفاقية لضخ الغاز إلى مصر. (صحيفة تايمز، 23 مايو/أيار 2007). ووفقاً للتقارير، تدخل رئيس الوزراء البريطاني توني بلير لصالح إسرائيل بهدف إحباط الاتفاقية مع مصر.

وفي العام التالي، في مايو/أيار 2007، وافقت الحكومة الإسرائيلية على اقتراح تقدم به رئيس الوزراء إيهود أولمرت “لشراء الغاز من السلطة الفلسطينية”. وكان العقد المقترح بقيمة أربعة مليارات دولار، مع أرباح تقدر بنحو ملياري دولار، يذهب مليار منها إلى الفلسطينيين.

ولكن تل أبيب لم تكن لديها أي نية لتقاسم العائدات مع فلسطين. لذا فقد شكل مجلس الوزراء الإسرائيلي فريقاً إسرائيلياً من المفاوضين للتوصل إلى اتفاق مع مجموعة بي جي، متجاوزاً بذلك حكومة حماس والسلطة الفلسطينية:

” تريد السلطات الدفاعية الإسرائيلية أن يحصل الفلسطينيون على أموال في صورة سلع وخدمات، وتصر على عدم وصول أي أموال إلى الحكومة التي تسيطر عليها حماس .” (المصدر نفسه، التشديد مضاف)

وكان الهدف الأساسي هو إلغاء العقد المبرم في عام 1999 بين مجموعة بي جي والسلطة الفلسطينية بقيادة ياسر عرفات.

وبموجب الاتفاق المقترح مع شركة بي جي في عام 2007، كان من المقرر أن يتم نقل الغاز الفلسطيني من آبار غزة البحرية عبر خط أنابيب تحت البحر إلى ميناء عسقلان الإسرائيلي، وبالتالي نقل السيطرة على بيع الغاز الطبيعي إلى إسرائيل.

فشلت الصفقة وتم تعليق المفاوضات:

“لقد عارض رئيس الموساد مائير داغان هذه الصفقة لأسباب أمنية، حيث أن العائدات سوف تستخدم لتمويل الإرهاب”. (عضو الكنيست جلعاد أردان، خطاب أمام الكنيست حول “نية نائب رئيس الوزراء إيهود أولمرت شراء الغاز من الفلسطينيين عندما يخدم الدفع حماس”، 1 مارس/آذار 2006، مقتبس من مقال الفريق أول (المتقاعد) موشيه يعلون، هل يشكل الشراء المحتمل للغاز البريطاني من المياه الساحلية لغزة تهديداً للأمن القومي الإسرائيلي؟  مركز القدس للشؤون العامة، أكتوبر/تشرين الأول 2007)

كانت نية إسرائيل هي منع إمكانية دفع العائدات المالية للفلسطينيين. وفي ديسمبر/كانون الأول 2007، انسحبت مجموعة بي جي من المفاوضات مع إسرائيل، وفي يناير/كانون الثاني 2008 أغلقت مكتبها في إسرائيل. ( موقع بي جي على الإنترنت ).

خطة الغزو على لوحة الرسم

بدأت خطة غزو قطاع غزة تحت مسمى عملية “الرصاص المصبوب” في يونيو/حزيران 2008، بحسب مصادر عسكرية إسرائيلية:

“وقالت مصادر في مؤسسة الدفاع إن وزير الدفاع إيهود باراك أصدر تعليمات لقوات الدفاع الإسرائيلية بالاستعداد للعملية قبل أكثر من ستة أشهر [يونيو/حزيران أو قبل يونيو/حزيران]، في الوقت الذي بدأت فيه إسرائيل التفاوض على اتفاق لوقف إطلاق النار مع حماس.” (باراك رافيد، عملية “الرصاص المصبوب”: الضربة الجوية الإسرائيلية جاءت بعد أشهر من التخطيط، هآرتس، 27 ديسمبر/كانون الأول 2008) .

وفي الشهر نفسه، اتصلت السلطات الإسرائيلية بشركة “بريتش غاز”، بهدف استئناف المفاوضات الحاسمة المتعلقة بشراء الغاز الطبيعي من غزة:

“اتفق كل من المدير العام لوزارة المالية ياروم أرياف والمدير العام لوزارة البنى التحتية الوطنية هزي كوجلر على إبلاغ بي جي برغبة إسرائيل في تجديد المحادثات.

وأضافت المصادر أن شركة بي جي لم ترد رسميا بعد على طلب إسرائيل، ولكن من المرجح أن يأتي مسؤولون تنفيذيون من الشركة إلى إسرائيل خلال بضعة أسابيع لإجراء محادثات مع مسؤولين حكوميين. (جلوبس أونلاين – ساحة الأعمال الإسرائيلية، 23 يونيو/حزيران 2008)

لقد تزامن قرار تسريع المفاوضات مع شركة الغاز البريطانية (بي جي جروب) مع التخطيط لغزو غزة الذي بدأ في شهر يونيو/حزيران. ويبدو أن إسرائيل كانت حريصة على التوصل إلى اتفاق مع مجموعة بي جي قبل الغزو، الذي كان في مرحلة متقدمة من التخطيط.

فضلاً عن ذلك فإن حكومة إيهود أولمرت كانت تجري هذه المفاوضات مع شركة الغاز البريطانية وهي تعلم أن الغزو العسكري كان على وشك الحدوث. ومن المرجح أن الحكومة الإسرائيلية كانت تفكر أيضاً في ترتيبات سياسية إقليمية جديدة “لما بعد الحرب” في قطاع غزة.

في واقع الأمر، كانت المفاوضات بين شركة بريتش غاز والمسئولين الإسرائيليين جارية في أكتوبر/تشرين الأول 2008، أي قبل شهرين أو ثلاثة أشهر من بدء القصف في 27 ديسمبر/كانون الأول.

في نوفمبر/تشرين الثاني 2008، أصدرت وزارة المالية الإسرائيلية ووزارة البنية التحتية الوطنية تعليمات لشركة الكهرباء الإسرائيلية بالدخول في مفاوضات مع شركة الغاز البريطانية لشراء الغاز الطبيعي من امتياز شركة الغاز البريطانية في غزة. (جلوبس، 13 نوفمبر/تشرين الثاني 2008)

“كتب المدير العام لوزارة المالية ياروم أرياف والمدير العام لوزارة البنى التحتية الوطنية هيزي كوجلر إلى الرئيس التنفيذي لشركة الكهرباء الإسرائيلية آموس لاسكر مؤخرًا، لإبلاغه بقرار الحكومة السماح للمفاوضات بالمضي قدمًا، بما يتماشى مع الاقتراح الإطاري الذي وافقت عليه في وقت سابق من هذا العام.

وقد وافق مجلس إدارة اللجنة الكهروتقنية الدولية، برئاسة موتي فريدمان، على مبادئ الاقتراح الإطاري قبل بضعة أسابيع. وسوف تبدأ المحادثات مع مجموعة بي جي بمجرد موافقة المجلس على الإعفاء من العطاء. (جلوبس، 13 نوفمبر/تشرين الثاني 2008)

غزة والجغرافيا السياسية للطاقة 

إن الاحتلال العسكري لقطاع غزة يهدف إلى نقل السيادة على حقول الغاز إلى إسرائيل في انتهاك للقانون الدولي.

ماذا يمكننا أن نتوقع في أعقاب الغزو؟

ما هي نوايا إسرائيل فيما يتعلق باحتياطيات الغاز الطبيعي في فلسطين؟

ترتيب إقليمي جديد، مع تمركز قوات إسرائيلية و/أو قوات “حفظ السلام”؟

عسكرة كامل ساحل غزة، وهو أمر استراتيجي بالنسبة لإسرائيل؟

المصادرة الكاملة لحقول الغاز الفلسطينية والإعلان أحادي الجانب عن السيادة الإسرائيلية على المناطق البحرية في غزة؟

وإذا حدث هذا، فإن حقول الغاز في غزة سوف تندمج في المنشآت البحرية الإسرائيلية المتاخمة لتلك الموجودة في قطاع غزة. (انظر الخريطة رقم 1 أعلاه)

وترتبط هذه المنشآت البحرية المختلفة أيضاً بممر نقل الطاقة الإسرائيلي، الممتد من ميناء إيلات، وهو محطة لأنابيب النفط، على البحر الأحمر إلى الميناء البحري ــ محطة أنابيب النفط في عسقلان، وشمالاً إلى حيفا، ليرتبط في نهاية المطاف من خلال خط أنابيب إسرائيلي تركي مقترح مع ميناء جيهان التركي.

الخريطة 3

جيهان هي المحطة النهائية لخط أنابيب باكو وتبليسي جيهان عبر بحر قزوين.

“إن ما نخطط له هو ربط خط أنابيب باكو – تبيليسي – هرمزكان بخط أنابيب إيلات – عسقلان العابر لإسرائيل، والمعروف أيضاً باسم خط أنابيب إسرائيل”. (انظر ميشيل شوسودوفسكي، الحرب على لبنان والمعركة من أجل النفط، جلوبال ريسيرش، 23 يوليو/تموز 2006).

 

شكر القراء لميشيل شوسودوفسكي

• أشكرك على نشاطك المستمر وقول الحقيقة. إنها مهمة غير مجزية ولكنها الشيء الصحيح.

• سيدي، أنت بطل كندي. أشكرك على موقعك الرائع وعلى كل العمل الرائع الذي أنجزته على مدار السنوات العديدة التي تابعت فيها عملك.

• ميشيل شوسودوفسكي، أنت صوت العقل والفهم. أشكرك على وعيك. أنا سوري/أمريكي. سمعت صوتًا أثناء قصف غزة لطفل يصرخ مناديًا على أبيه ولم يستطع والده الوصول إليه، لكنه صاح به: “ضع قلبك على قلبي”. أشكر هؤلاء البشر الذين يضعون قلوبهم على فلسطين.

المصدر الأصلي لهذه المقالة هو Global Research

حقوق الطبع والنشر © فيليسيتي أربوثنوت والأستاذ ميشيل شوسودوفسكي ، الأبحاث العالمية، 2024

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[First published on December 17, 2019]

“Once upon a midnight clear, there was a child’s cry, a blazing star hung over a stable, and wise men came with birthday gifts. We haven’t forgotten that night down the centuries. We celebrate it with stars on Christmas trees, with the sound of bells, and with gifts… We forget nobody, adult or child. All the stockings are filled, all that is, except one. And we have even forgotten to hang it up. The stocking for the child born in a manger. It’s his birthday we’re celebrating. Don’t let us ever forget that. Let us ask ourselves what He would wish for most. And then, let each put in his share, loving kindness, warm hearts, and a stretched out hand of tolerance. All the shining gifts that make peace on earth.”—The Bishop’s Wife (1947)

The Christmas story of a baby born in a manger is a familiar one.

The Roman Empire, a police state in its own right, had ordered that a census be conducted. Joseph and his pregnant wife Mary traveled to the little town of Bethlehem so that they could be counted. There being no room for the couple at any of the inns, they stayed in a stable (a barn), where Mary gave birth to a baby boy, Jesus. Warned that the government planned to kill the baby, Jesus’ family fled with him to Egypt until it was safe to return to their native land.

Yet what if Jesus had been born 2,000 years later?

What if, instead of being born into the Roman police state, Jesus had been born at this moment in time? What kind of reception would Jesus and his family be given? Would we recognize the Christ child’s humanity, let alone his divinity? Would we treat him any differently than he was treated by the Roman Empire? If his family were forced to flee violence in their native country and sought refuge and asylum within our borders, what sanctuary would we offer them?

A singular number of churches across the country are asking those very questions, and their conclusions are being depicted with unnerving accuracy by nativity scenes in which Jesus and his family are separated, segregated and caged in individual chain-link pens, topped by barbed wire fencing.

These nativity scenes are a pointed attempt to remind the modern world that the narrative about the birth of Jesus is one that speaks on multiple fronts to a world that has allowed the life, teachings and crucifixion of Jesus to be drowned out by partisan politics, secularism, materialism and war.

The modern-day church has largely shied away from applying Jesus’ teachings to modern problems such as war, poverty, immigration, etc., but thankfully there have been individuals throughout history who ask themselves and the world: what would Jesus do?

What would Jesus—the baby born in Bethlehem who grew into an itinerant preacher and revolutionary activist, who not only died challenging the police state of his day (namely, the Roman Empire) but spent his adult life speaking truth to power, challenging the status quo of his day, and pushing back against the abuses of the Roman Empire—do?

Dietrich Bonhoeffer asked himself what Jesus would have done about the horrors perpetrated by Hitler and his assassins. The answer: Bonhoeffer risked his life to undermine the tyranny at the heart of Nazi Germany.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn asked himself what Jesus would have done about the soul-destroying gulags and labor camps of the Soviet Union. The answer: Solzhenitsyn found his voice and used it to speak out about government oppression and brutality.

Martin Luther King Jr. asked himself what Jesus would have done about America’s warmongering. The answer: declaring “my conscience leaves me no other choice,” King risked widespread condemnation when he publicly opposed the Vietnam War on moral and economic grounds.

Even now, despite the popularity of the phrase “What Would Jesus Do?” (WWJD) in Christian circles, there remains a disconnect in the modern church between the teachings of Christ and the suffering of what Jesus in Matthew 25 refers to as the “least of these.”

As the parable states:

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’”

This is not a theological gray area: Jesus was unequivocal about his views on many things, not the least of which was charity, compassion, war, tyranny and love.

After all, Jesus—the revered preacher, teacher, radical and prophet—was born into a police state not unlike the growing menace of the American police state. When he grew up, he had powerful, profound things to say, things that would change how we view people, alter government policies and change the world. “Blessed are the merciful,” “Blessed are the peacemakers,” and “Love your enemies” are just a few examples of his most profound and revolutionary teachings.

When confronted by those in authority, Jesus did not shy away from speaking truth to power. Indeed, his teachings undermined the political and religious establishment of his day. It cost him his life. He was eventually crucified as a warning to others not to challenge the powers-that-be.

Can you imagine what Jesus’ life would have been like if, instead of being born into the Roman police state, he had been born and raised in the American police state?

Consider the following if you will.

Had Jesus been born in the era of the America police state, rather than traveling to Bethlehem for a census, Jesus’ parents would have been mailed a 28-page American Community Survey, a mandatory government questionnaire documenting their habits, household inhabitants, work schedule, how many toilets are in your home, etc. The penalty for not responding to this invasive survey can go as high as $5,000.

Instead of being born in a manger, Jesus might have been born at home. Rather than wise men and shepherds bringing gifts, however, the baby’s parents might have been forced to ward off visits from state social workers intent on prosecuting them for the home birth. One couple in Washington had all three of their children removed after social services objected to the two youngest being birthed in an unassisted home delivery.

Had Jesus been born in a hospital, his blood and DNA would have been taken without his parents’ knowledge or consent and entered into a government biobank. While most states require newborn screening, a growing number are holding onto that genetic material long-term for research, analysis and purposes yet to be disclosed.

Then again, had Jesus’ parents been undocumented immigrants, they and the newborn baby might have been shuffled to a profit-driven, private prison for illegals where they first would have been separated from each other, the children detained in make-shift cages, and the parents eventually turned into cheap, forced laborers for corporations such as Starbucks, Microsoft, Walmart, and Victoria’s Secret. There’s quite a lot of money to be made from imprisoning immigrants, especially when taxpayers are footing the bill.

From the time he was old enough to attend school, Jesus would have been drilled in lessons of compliance and obedience to government authorities, while learning little about his own rights. Had he been daring enough to speak out against injustice while still in school, he might have found himself tasered or beaten by a school resource officer, or at the very least suspended under a school zero tolerance policy that punishes minor infractions as harshly as more serious offenses.

Had Jesus disappeared for a few hours let alone days as a 12-year-old, his parents would have been handcuffed, arrested and jailed for parental negligence. Parents across the country have been arrested for far less “offenses” such as allowing their children to walk to the park unaccompanied and play in their front yard alone.

Rather than disappearing from the history books from his early teenaged years to adulthood, Jesus’ movements and personal data—including his biometrics—would have been documented, tracked, monitored and filed by governmental agencies and corporations such as Google and Microsoft. Incredibly, 95 percent of school districts share their student records with outside companies that are contracted to manage data, which they then use to market products to us.

From the moment Jesus made contact with an “extremist” such as John the Baptist, he would have been flagged for surveillance because of his association with a prominent activist, peaceful or otherwise. Since 9/11, the FBI has actively carried out surveillance and intelligence-gathering operations on a broad range of activist groups, from animal rights groups to poverty relief, anti-war groups and other such “extremist” organizations.

Jesus’ anti-government views would certainly have resulted in him being labeled a domestic extremist. Law enforcement agencies are being trained to recognize signs of anti-government extremism during interactions with potential extremists who share a “belief in the approaching collapse of government and the economy.”

While traveling from community to community, Jesus might have been reported to government officials as “suspicious” under the Department of Homeland Security’s “See Something, Say Something” programs. Many states, including New York, are providing individuals with phone apps that allow them to take photos of suspicious activity and report them to their state Intelligence Center, where they are reviewed and forwarded to law-enforcement agencies.

Rather than being permitted to live as an itinerant preacher, Jesus might have found himself threatened with arrest for daring to live off the grid or sleeping outside. In fact, the number of cities that have resorted to criminalizing homelessness by enacting bans on camping, sleeping in vehicles, loitering and begging in public has doubled.

Viewed by the government as a dissident and a potential threat to its power, Jesus might have had government spies planted among his followers to monitor his activities, report on his movements, and entrap him into breaking the law. Such Judases today—called informants—often receive hefty paychecks from the government for their treachery.

Had Jesus used the internet to spread his radical message of peace and love, he might have found his blog posts infiltrated by government spies attempting to undermine his integrity, discredit him or plant incriminating information online about him. At the very least, he would have had his website hacked and his email monitored.

Had Jesus attempted to feed large crowds of people, he would have been threatened with arrest for violating various ordinances prohibiting the distribution of food without a permit. Florida officials arrested a 90-year-old man for feeding the homeless on a public beach.

Had Jesus spoken publicly about his 40 days in the desert and his conversations with the devil, he might have been labeled mentally ill and detained in a psych ward against his will for a mandatory involuntary psychiatric hold with no access to family or friends. One Virginia man was arrested, strip searched, handcuffed to a table, diagnosed as having “mental health issues,” and locked up for five days in a mental health facility against his will apparently because of his slurred speech and unsteady gait.

Without a doubt, had Jesus attempted to overturn tables in a Jewish temple and rage against the materialism of religious institutions, he would have been charged with a hate crime. Currently, 45 states and the federal government have hate crime laws on the books.

Had anyone reported Jesus to the police as being potentially dangerous, he might have found himself confronted—and killed—by police officers for whom any perceived act of non-compliance (a twitch, a question, a frown) can result in them shooting first and asking questions later.

Rather than having armed guards capture Jesus in a public place, government officials would have ordered that a SWAT team carry out a raid on Jesus and his followers, complete with flash-bang grenades and military equipment. There are upwards of 80,000 such SWAT team raids carried out every year, many on unsuspecting Americans who have no defense against such government invaders, even when such raids are done in error.

Instead of being detained by Roman guards, Jesus might have been made to “disappear” into a secret government detention center where he would have been interrogated, tortured and subjected to all manner of abuses. Chicago police have “disappeared” more than 7,000 people into a secret, off-the-books interrogation warehouse at Homan Square.

Charged with treason and labeled a domestic terrorist, Jesus might have been sentenced to a life-term in a private prison where he would have been forced to provide slave labor for corporations or put to death by way of the electric chair or a lethal mixture of drugs.

Indeed, as I show in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, given the nature of government then and now, it is painfully evident that whether Jesus had been born in our modern age or his own, he still would have died at the hands of a police state.

Thus, as we draw near to Christmas with its celebrations and gift-giving, we would do well to remember that what happened on that starry night in Bethlehem is only part of the story. That baby in the manger grew up to be a man who did not turn away from evil but instead spoke out against it, and we must do no less.

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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 new book Battlefield America: The War on the American People  is available at www.amazon.com. Whitehead can be contacted at [email protected].

As sanções anti-Rússia continuam a ter consequências econômicas extremamente negativas para os próprios países ocidentais, especialmente na Europa, onde a crise energética parece longe de terminar. De acordo com relatórios recentes, os estados europeus já estão a esgotar as suas reservas de gás, correndo um elevado risco de escassez massiva nos próximos meses. Isto mostra claramente como a UE agiu de forma irresponsável e anti-estratégica ao implementar medidas coercivas que não afetaram Moscou, mas prejudicaram profundamente a própria Europa.

Segundo o Financial Times (FT), a UE está a expandir as suas retiradas das instalações de armazenamento de gás, bem como a lançar um esforço sem precedentes para acumular novas reservas dado o elevado risco de escassez. O jornal adianta que a quantidade de gás em estoque caiu 19%, atingindo o nível mais baixo desde a crise energética de 2021.

Desde Setembro, o nível de armazenamento de gás da UE caiu para 75%, em comparação com 90% no ano passado durante o mesmo período. Este valor é considerado baixo e suscita preocupações entre os responsáveis, pois é altamente recomendável que os países mantenham enormes reservas de gás, especialmente durante o inverno, quando o consumo de energia é maior.

“A UE está a esvaziar as suas instalações de armazenamento de gás ao ritmo mais rápido desde a crise energética de há três anos, à medida que o clima mais frio aumenta a procura e o continente enfrenta um declínio nas importações marítimas (…) A última vez que as reservas de gás do continente foram esvaziadas este rapidamente em meados de Dezembro foi em 2021, quando a Rússia começou a cortar o fornecimento de gás por gasoduto antes da sua invasão em grande escala da Ucrânia. Os níveis de armazenamento da UE estão agora em 75 por cento (…) Os níveis de armazenamento estavam perto de 90 por cento de meados de dezembro do ano passado”, diz o artigo do FT.

Os especialistas ocidentais identificaram o inverno rigoroso na Europa como a principal causa da crise energética, o que parece ser um argumento falacioso. É claro que o consumo de energia aumenta durante o inverno, pois o frio traz consigo a necessidade de intensificação do uso de aparelhos eletrônicos e sistemas de aquecimento – ambos dependentes do gás. Contudo, isto não é suficiente para explicar as razões da crise.

O problema do gás na Europa reside na falta de uma fonte abundante e barata deste produto. Anteriormente, ao manterem uma parceria energética com a Rússia, os países europeus, especialmente potências industriais como a Alemanha, dispunham de uma fonte de gás segura, barata e ilimitada, que permitia aos cidadãos e às empresas consumir energia em grande escala sem se preocuparem com quaisquer problemas de abastecimento. No entanto, esta situação mudou em 2022, quando a UE decidiu aderir à onda irresponsável de sanções anti-russas promovida pelos EUA.

Ao cortarem a cooperação com a Rússia, os países da UE perderam o acesso à fonte de energia mais segura do continente europeu, tornando-se dependentes de fontes estrangeiras – muitas das quais passam por rotas longas e caras, como o gás americano. Além disso, como sublinham os especialistas do Financial Times, a inserção da Europa no mercado global do gás também a tornou apenas mais um comprador num cenário competitivo, onde vários países procuram simultaneamente acesso à commodity. Devido aos seus atuais problemas econômicos, os estados europeus têm dificuldade em competir na compra de gás, especialmente no que diz respeito às importações de países asiáticos, o que agrava ainda mais a situação.

Na prática, a crise energética e econômica da Europa é um ciclo vicioso: sem o gás russo, os países europeus não têm energia suficiente para abastecer as suas indústrias, o que leva a um declínio da situação econômica. Sem indústria, não há dinheiro para importar gás em quantidades suficientes, tornando impossível escapar ao ciclo de crise. Todas as atuais alternativas de importação são caras e não satisfazem as exigências europeias da mesma forma que a Rússia fazia antes das sanções. Esta situação deverá piorar ainda mais a partir de agora, uma vez que o regime de Kiev prometeu proibir o fornecimento de gás russo à Europa através do seu território, extinguindo de uma vez por todas o que resta da parceria energética Moscou-UE.

Na verdade, o futuro da Europa parece incerto e perigoso. A UE está a sofrer as consequências dos seus próprios erros, embora pareça incapaz de compreender isso e de tomar medidas pragmáticas para reverter os erros. Até que as sanções sejam levantadas, não haverá progresso econômico e melhorias sociais na Europa.

Lucas Leiroz de Almeida

Artigo em inglês : https://infobrics.org/post/43071

Imagem :  InfoBrics

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Lucas Leiroz, membro da Associação de Jornalistas do BRICS, pesquisador do Centro de Estudos Geoestratégicos, especialista militar.

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

Following the abrupt and mysterious change of circumstances in Syria, the collective West propaganda machinery went into overdrive to pillory the previous government for a variety of heinous offences, real and imagined. The largely invented horror stories publicised after 8 December are shaped by an unmistakably political agenda. They serve as a cynical alibi for the utter devastation wrought upon Syria by terrorist, head-chopping gangs trained, financed, and unleashed by the very regional and ultramarine powers which are engaged in the spreading of those falsehoods.

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Attentive readers will recall numerous false flags and horror porn mantras about “Assad killing his own people” that resonated throughout the decade and a half long assault on Syria. Most were quickly discredited as nasty fabrications. But, of course, the purpose of propaganda is not to demonstrate facts but to influence perceptions and create indelible subliminal impressions. In this infamous category, the alleged Ghouta chemical weapon attack on Syrian civilians, falsely attributed to the Assad government and subsequently debunked, is a salient example. The fabricated incident was thoroughly investigated and ultimately  found to be devoid of substance, but attesting to the power of professionally conducted disinformation even many years after discreditation Ghouta remains a vibrant propaganda meme firmly embedded in the public mind as an atrocity typifying the malevolence of the “Assad regime.”

No sooner did the rebranded Al Qaeda terrorists march into Damascus than, as if on cue, on 9 December the collective West media initiated an aggressive attempt to shift public attention away from the victorious radical thugs and their sordid past. Saydnaya Prison, previously (if we disregard a 2017 Amnesty International mention) a virtually unknown venue now unveiled as the “Assad regime slaughterhouse,” suddenly was thrust into the limelight in a sensationalistic narrative that was absurd on its face. It was alleged by the BBC, a known source of trustworthy information, that Saydnaya was a horrific dungeon consisting of multiple underground levels, each independently secured by electronic doors. Within this prison complex, it was further alleged, “more than 100,000 detainees who can be seen on CCTV monitors” were trapped and dying without food or water and chocking from lack of ventilation, abandoned by sadistic Assad guards who, when fleeing the premises, malevolently absconded with the codes required to open the electronic door systems.

Left unexplained is how over the years the logistical operation necessary to sustain a prison facility the size of a moderate sized town escaped the notice of aerial surveillance platforms that were observing every inch of Syrian territory for the duration of the conflict. How was it possible after regime change to analyse CCTV monitor data in just a single day in order to reach the conclusion that “over 100,000 prisoners” were trapped inside? And if those CCTV data had indeed been sifted through why have they not been shown to the international public to corroborate beyond doubt the emerging human tragedy of such mind-boggling proportions? Are the electronic portals to the underground cell complexes so impregnable that they may be opened only by the use of the unavailable codes in the guards’ possession, or might there be other means of forcing them and liberating the endangered prisoners?

The latest news on this topic is that “Syria rebels [are] unable to open Assad’s Sednaya ‘Red Cells’ where prisoners are ‘choking to death’.” The problem is that this news item is dated 9 December, but now it is over two weeks later. Since 9 December there has been no follow-up, no updates on how successful the rescuers may have been in opening the electronic doors and gaining access to those trapped inside. In fact, the distressing Saydnaya story has since been obliterated completely from the Western media news radar screen, as abruptly as it appeared. Now that the shocking and unsubstantiated allegations have had their psychological effect on the public mind a complete blackout prevails.