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Yesterday I provided examples of how the establishment, which can only lie, is trying to narrative manage the no longer deniable evidence that the Covid vax is deadly and harmful to health.
One of the narrative management tricks is to admit the adverse effects of the “vaccine” but to sweep them under the rug as “rare.”
If the dangers of the “vaccine” were rare, Big Pharma would not have its shills at work trying to discredit or dismantle the vaccine adverse events reporting system.
That the deaths and health injuries are anything but rare is evident from the report by a US Navy medic that Department of Defense data show that US Navy pilots have suffered a:
937% increase in heart failure
152% increase in cardiomyopathy
69% increase in ischemic heart disease
36% increase in hypertensive disease
36% increase in hypertensive disease
63% increase in other forms of heart disease
The corrupt US Department of Defense, a ramp for the excess profits of the armaments industry, tried to blame the events on the Covid virus itself.
However, “according to information published by the US Army, 97% of active-duty U.S. troops are fully vaccinated, 90% of Army National Guard members are fully vaccinated, and 91% of U.S. Army Reserve members are fully vaccinated.”
So, if the “vaccine” did not cause the deaths and health injuries, and the virus was responsible, obviously the “vaccine” was totally ineffective in protecting against the virus.
In actual fact, according to independent medical scientists, the “vaccine” not only did not protect but caused more deaths and worst health injuries than the virus itself. This is the honest, documented, verified conclusion of medical scientists whose research and results are not financed by Big Pharma and the universities that rely on pharmaceutical industry grants. It is the independent scientists who are motivated by truth instead of profit and career who tell the truth and suffer for it.
As the US Navy medic now suffers. Lt. Ted Macie met with the female Chief of Naval Operations and her aide, and afterward found that he was blocked from access to his computer. Charges are likely pending against him.
So, we see how powerful Big Pharma is. Not even the US Navy is permitted to release unclassified data that show the devastating impact of the Covid “vaccine.” See this.
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Paul Craig Roberts is a renowned author and academic, chairman of The Institute for Political Economy where this article was originally published. Dr. Roberts was previously associate editor and columnist for The Wall Street Journal. He was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy during the Reagan Administration. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.
Featured image: Pfc. Shaniah Edwards, Medical Detachment, prepares to administer the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to soldiers and airmen at the Joint Force Headquarters, February 12, 2021. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Sgt. Leona C. Hendrickson – Source.)
The Worldwide Corona Crisis, Global Coup d’Etat Against Humanity
by Michel Chossudovsky
Michel Chossudovsky reviews in detail how this insidious project “destroys people’s lives”. He provides a comprehensive analysis of everything you need to know about the “pandemic” — from the medical dimensions to the economic and social repercussions, political underpinnings, and mental and psychological impacts.
“My objective as an author is to inform people worldwide and refute the official narrative which has been used as a justification to destabilize the economic and social fabric of entire countries, followed by the imposition of the “deadly” COVID-19 “vaccine”. This crisis affects humanity in its entirety: almost 8 billion people. We stand in solidarity with our fellow human beings and our children worldwide. Truth is a powerful instrument.”
Reviews
This is an in-depth resource of great interest if it is the wider perspective you are motivated to understand a little better, the author is very knowledgeable about geopolitics and this comes out in the way Covid is contextualized. —Dr. Mike Yeadon
In this war against humanity in which we find ourselves, in this singular, irregular and massive assault against liberty and the goodness of people, Chossudovsky’s book is a rock upon which to sustain our fight. –Dr. Emanuel Garcia
In fifteen concise science-based chapters, Michel traces the false covid pandemic, explaining how a PCR test, producing up to 97% proven false positives, combined with a relentless 24/7 fear campaign, was able to create a worldwide panic-laden “plandemic”; that this plandemic would never have been possible without the infamous DNA-modifying Polymerase Chain Reaction test – which to this day is being pushed on a majority of innocent people who have no clue. His conclusions are evidenced by renown scientists. —Peter Koenig
Professor Chossudovsky exposes the truth that “there is no causal relationship between the virus and economic variables.” In other words, it was not COVID-19 but, rather, the deliberate implementation of the illogical, scientifically baseless lockdowns that caused the shutdown of the global economy. –David Skripac
A reading of Chossudovsky’s book provides a comprehensive lesson in how there is a global coup d’état under way called “The Great Reset” that if not resisted and defeated by freedom loving people everywhere will result in a dystopian future not yet imagined. Pass on this free gift from Professor Chossudovsky before it’s too late. You will not find so much valuable information and analysis in one place. –Edward Curtin
ISBN: 978-0-9879389-3-0, Year: 2022, PDF Ebook, Pages: 164, 15 Chapters
All Global Research articles can be read in 51 languages by activating the Translate Website button below the author’s name (only available in desktop version).
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Brazilian Musician MC Katia a Fiel had a minor surgery in July 2023 to remove a 5cm fibroid. She ended up with two leg amputations.
MC Katia was COVID-19 Vaccinated with one dose J&J Janssen:
On July 3, 2021 she wrote on Twitter: “For the love of God just stop talking about Vaccine side effects and go get vaccinated!!!!”
She had been very enthusiastic about the COVID-19 Vaccine for months.
A brief explanation of what happened in July 2023:
My Take…
COVID-19 Vaccinated do extremely poorly with even the most minor surgeries – they tend to develop blood clots either during or shortly after the operation and these clots can be devastating and in many cases, FATAL.
This is happening with all COVID-19 Vaccines, not just the original “clot shots” which were AstraZeneca and J&J (and the reason they were pulled off the market).
I wrote an article about this on Sep. 15, 2023: “Minor surgeries turn deadly for the COVID-19 mRNA Vaccinated – 16 tragic stories” (click here)
According to WHO VigiAccess, 65% of COVID-19 Vaccine injured are WOMEN.
COVID-19 Vaccinated women are suffering blood clots after minor surgeries, which are commonly cosmetic surgeries, like the following example of a 21 year old London, UK resident Dellie Isla, who had a labiaplasty in April 2023 and within hours developed blood clots which required 3 emergency surgeries.
It’s one thing for a 70+ year old COVID-19 Vaccinated woman to die from blood clots after a shoulder surgery, like Nancy Crookston who died on Nov. 17, 2023. No one will think twice about such a case.
It’s an entirely different case for 21 year olds to die the same way.
Sometimes you die at the start of a surgery like Carolyn Dixon from Charlotte, NC, did on Nov. 7, 2023.
(Note: The “Disinformation is Deadly” facebook badges in all 3 cases)
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Of course, it’s happening to men as well. Here is a very routine surgery in a 20 year old baseball player for George Mason University (Fairfax, VA), Sang Ho Baek, which was fatal.
46 year old football coach Radford Dudoit, at Kalani High School, Hawaii had complications after heart surgery, losing both feet and his left hand. He died Feb. 1, 2024.
“May have been a blood clot from a surgery he had recently” – Constantino Frangos died Nov. 2023.
Conclusion
Where can we find evidence? UK government data.
522% increase in hematological disabilities in 2022 in the UK.
Blood clotting disorders +162%
platelet disorders +221%
Blood disorders +137%
This isn’t “Long COVID” which barely registers a small blip in 2020.
These are COVID-19 Vaccine Induced hematological disorders.
So what do you do if you’re COVID-19 Vaccinated and you need a surgery?
Avoid elective surgeries where possible.
Otherwise, inform your doctor of the significantly elevated risk of blood clots due to COVID-19 Vaccines.
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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.
The Worldwide Corona Crisis, Global Coup d’Etat Against Humanity
by Michel Chossudovsky
Michel Chossudovsky reviews in detail how this insidious project “destroys people’s lives”. He provides a comprehensive analysis of everything you need to know about the “pandemic” — from the medical dimensions to the economic and social repercussions, political underpinnings, and mental and psychological impacts.
“My objective as an author is to inform people worldwide and refute the official narrative which has been used as a justification to destabilize the economic and social fabric of entire countries, followed by the imposition of the “deadly” COVID-19 “vaccine”. This crisis affects humanity in its entirety: almost 8 billion people. We stand in solidarity with our fellow human beings and our children worldwide. Truth is a powerful instrument.”
Reviews
This is an in-depth resource of great interest if it is the wider perspective you are motivated to understand a little better, the author is very knowledgeable about geopolitics and this comes out in the way Covid is contextualized. —Dr. Mike Yeadon
In this war against humanity in which we find ourselves, in this singular, irregular and massive assault against liberty and the goodness of people, Chossudovsky’s book is a rock upon which to sustain our fight. –Dr. Emanuel Garcia
In fifteen concise science-based chapters, Michel traces the false covid pandemic, explaining how a PCR test, producing up to 97% proven false positives, combined with a relentless 24/7 fear campaign, was able to create a worldwide panic-laden “plandemic”; that this plandemic would never have been possible without the infamous DNA-modifying Polymerase Chain Reaction test – which to this day is being pushed on a majority of innocent people who have no clue. His conclusions are evidenced by renown scientists. —Peter Koenig
Professor Chossudovsky exposes the truth that “there is no causal relationship between the virus and economic variables.” In other words, it was not COVID-19 but, rather, the deliberate implementation of the illogical, scientifically baseless lockdowns that caused the shutdown of the global economy. –David Skripac
A reading of Chossudovsky’s book provides a comprehensive lesson in how there is a global coup d’état under way called “The Great Reset” that if not resisted and defeated by freedom loving people everywhere will result in a dystopian future not yet imagined. Pass on this free gift from Professor Chossudovsky before it’s too late. You will not find so much valuable information and analysis in one place. –Edward Curtin
ISBN: 978-0-9879389-3-0, Year: 2022, PDF Ebook, Pages: 164, 15 Chapters
All Global Research articles can be read in 51 languages by activating the Translate Website button below the author’s name (only available in desktop version).
To receive Global Research’s Daily Newsletter (selected articles), click here.
Click the share button above to email/forward this article to your friends and colleagues. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter and subscribe to our Telegram Channel. Feel free to repost and share widely Global Research articles.
In this second episode of The Hidden Hand Behind UFOs, the figure of H.G. Wells is introduced as a student of X Club leader Thomas Huxley and the father of modern predictive programming. H.G. Wells’ efforts to tear down the wall separating fantasy from fiction, while setting the stage for world government, transhumanism, UFOs and thermonuclear weapons of mass destruction as an alchemical solution to deconstructing society (and thence reconstructing society) under a new science of controls.
How did Wells’ followers spearhead the creation of the Manhattan Project, League of nations and UN? How did Wells’ ‘science of controls’ outlined in his New World Order, World Brain and Open Conspiracy set the stage for Cybernetics and Transhumanism after WW2? What is the Fabian Society that Wells’ led and how did it shape so much of the 20th century? Most importantly, how does all of this play into the revival of a new occult priesthood managed by a technocratic elite?
Find out by watching (and sharing) Hidden Hand Behind UFOs Ep. 2: H.G. Wells’ War Of The Worlds and the Dawn of a New Age (co-written by Matthew Ehret and Cynthia Chung, narrated by Matthew Ehret, and directed by Jason Dahl)
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Cynthia Chung is a lecturer, writer and co-founder and editor of the Rising Tide Foundation (Montreal, Canada). She can be reached at cynthiachung.substack.com.
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In the climate of a global pandemic, COVID-19 vaccines were rolled out under emergency use authorization after a much shorter than normal testing period. Millions of people rolled up their sleeves because they were told they were doing their part to end the pandemic. But for some—it didn’t go as expected.
The Unseen Crisis is a feature-length documentary that provides an intimate, uncensored look into the lives of those who live with the debilitating after-effects of the COVID-19 vaccines. It examines the issue of COVID-19 vaccine injury claims in a fresh, honest, and comprehensive manner with expert interviews, whistleblowers’ statements, and government health statistics.
This is a documentary about people, not politics.
The patients in the documentary suffered severe reactions to the shot and their health spiraled out of control. When they reached out to the public health system and pharmaceutical companies for help and support, instead of being acknowledged, cared for, and studied; they were ignored, censored, and called “anti-vaxxers” despite having gotten the shot. These patients are by no means isolated cases. The world is witnessing a growing epidemic of COVID-19 vaccine injuries that can no longer be ignored.
Fortunately, a small community of doctors are bravely trying to unravel the mystery of these injuries and how to treat them. They too were shocked to find themselves shut out of the mainstream medical community, simply for practicing what every doctor is trained to do.
But ultimately, The Unseen Crisis is a story of hope and triumph. In spite of everything, this group has learned to rely on themselves and work together to find relief. Determined, principled, and surprisingly positive, they truly embody the resilient American spirit.
For those suffering in silence, hope begins with having a voice. The “Unseen Crisis” finally gives them one.
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This article was first published in September 2011.
Author’s Introduction and Update
This weekend We Commemorate Saint Patrick’s Day, March 17, 2024:
But there is another important event in the history of Ireland. The 52nd Anniversary of Bloody Sunday.
It happened 52 years ago on January 30, 1972
It is important that in the context of the Saint Patrick’s Commemoration, the Bloody Sunday 1972 Event be firmly recognized.
Justice was never rendered. Those responsible including for the massacre including Sir General Michael Jackson (who played a key role in Yugoslavia and Iraq) were rewarded.
Thirteen people were shot dead when soldiers opened fire on civil rights demonstrators in Derry on 30 January 1972.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin laid a wreath at a memorial ceremony in Londonderry [January 2022] and said he supported the families’ campaign for justice. (See BBC Report)
Images:thanks to the BBC
Justice was Never Rendered.
In March 2019, a former soldier “known” as “Sergeant O”, was interviewed by the BBC. “He still believes the actions by soldiers on the [Bloody Sunday] day were “a job well done”“(Belfast Herald, March 5, 2019).
Sargeant O’s statement is a bald face lie:
“We were under fire. We started looking for targets and started dropping them. Shooting them. The mood between the blokes was not elation but a job well done… But I don’t think all 13 were innocent – there were some bad people there. I don’t care what Lord Saville said, he wasn’t there.”
The Public Prosecution Service in Northern Ireland was scheduled in 2019 to ” decide whether any of the soldiers involved in the killings will face prosecution.”
The British government responded to this initiative with a view to undermining the judicial procedure: According to (former) Prime Minister May “attempts to prosecute” for events which happened almost 50 years ago require “greater legal protection”.
“The system to investigate the past does need to change to provide better outcomes for victims and survivors of the troubles but also to ensure members of our armed forces and police are not unfairly treated.”
.
The British government has protected those responsible for more than half a century.
What was the command structure. Who decided?
.
The military officers who gave orders to shoot in the “Bloody Sunday” massacre bear responsibility and should be considered for prosecution.
Who are they? Three names stand out.
Lieutenant Coronel Derek Wilford commander of the First Battalion of the Parachute Regiment (1 PARA), which constituted an elite special force unit of the British Army, retired in 1982.
Sir General Michael Jackson. In 1972 Jackson was Captain of the First Battalion of the Parachute Regiment and second in command (after Wilford) in the Bloody Sunday massacre. Jackson was subsequently rewarded and promoted. He was never investigated for the crimes committed in Northern Ireland in 1972. In 2003, he was promoted U.K. Chief of the General Staff (retired in 2006)
Major-General Sir Robert Ford, Commander of Land Forces in Northern Ireland in 1972. (retired in 1981, deceased in 2015)
The Bloody Sunday massacre was led by two commanding officers of the parachute regiment:
Lieutenant Coronel Derek Wilford and Captain Michael Jackson.
Pursuant to their ordersthe parachute regiment opened fire.
While the two commanding officers (Wilford and Jackson) ordered the soldiers to shoot, they were under the orders of General Sir Robert Ford. The First Battalion of the Parachute Regiment which led the Bloody Sunday massacre was under General Ford’s jurisdiction.
Both Wilford and Jackson were rewarded rather than prosecuted for their role in the 1972 massacre.
Wilford, who retired from the Armed Services, was awarded the Order of the British Empire by H.M. Government in October of 1972, less than a year following the January 30, 1972 massacre.
Michael Jackson’s role in Bloody Sunday did not hinder his military career. In fact quite the opposite. He ascended to the highest rank of the British military, before retiring in 2006 from the rank of Commander of the General Staff (CGS).
These are the individuals who should be considered for prosecution.
Below is my article first published in 2011.
My thoughts today are with the families of the victims. My own family is from Northern Ireland.
Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research, March 17, 2021, January 28, 2022, March 15, 2024
War Crimes: From Bloody Sunday in Derry, Northern Ireland
to Croatia, Kosovo and Iraq
Michel Chossudovsky
Global Research. September 2011
Almost 40 years later, the 5000 page Saville Commission Report into the 1972 Bloody Sunday massacre in Derry, Northern Ireland, while calling for compensation to the victims’ families, fails to identify who were the perpetrators, both within H.M government and the British Army.
“The North’s Public Prosecution Service (PPS) is continuing to scrutinise the Saville report to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to bring charges against British soldiers involved in Bloody Sunday on January 30th, 1972. While progress has been made on the issue of compensation there have been no substantial developments in relation to the possibility of British soldiers being charged. The PPS confirmed yesterday that the 5,000-page report by Lord Saville into Bloody Sunday remains under examination but that it is not yet in a position to rule on whether or not criminal cases can be taken against British soldiers involved in the shootings over 39 years ago.” (Irish Times, September 22, 2011)
The payment of compensation is intended to whitewash Her Majesty’s government.
Were these spontaneous killings or were members of the First Battalion of the Parachute Regiment obeying orders from higher up?
While the possibility of bringing criminal charges against British soldiers has been raised, the broader issue of “Who” within the British military and intelligence apparatus ordered the 1972 killings in Derry has never been addressed.
What was the underlying command structure of the First Battalion of the Parachute Regiment which carried out the massacre?
General Sir Robert Ford was the Commander of Land Forces in Northern Ireland in 1972. The First Battalion of the Parachute Regiment was under his jurisdiction.
Lieutenant Coronel Derek Wilford was commander of the First Battalion of the Parachute Regiment (1 PARA), which constituted an elite special force unit of the British Army.
Wilford described by the BBC as “a well-respected high-flying officer” was exonerated by the 1972 Widgery Tribunal.
While attention has been placed on the role of Lieutenant Colonel Derek Wilford, the role of his adjutant, Captain Michael Jackson (who at the time had links to the Army’s Intelligence Corps) has been obfuscated since the outset of the investigation in 1972. Jackson was allegedly also instrumental in the cover-up.
Captain Michael Jackson was second in command (Adjutant) of the First Battalion of the Parachute Regiment. He started his military career in 1963 with the Intelligence Corps. The Int Corps is a unit of military intelligence and counter-intelligence attached to the British Army, which played a key role in Northern Ireland.
The so-called “14 Intelligence Company” also referred to as “14 INT” or ‘The Det” “was a British Army special forces unit, established during the Troubles, which carried out surveillance operations in Northern Ireland”. ( http://www.eliteukforces.info/the-det/).
General Sir Michael Jackson
Under the orders of Lieutenant Coronel Derek Wilford, Captain Michael Jackson and thirteen other soldiers of the parachute regiment opened fire:
“on a peaceful protest by the Northern Ireland civil rights association opposing discrimination against Catholics. In just 30 minutes, 13 people were shot dead and a further 13 injured. Those who died were killed by a single bullet to the head or body, indicating that they had been deliberately targeted. No weapons were found on any of the deceased.” (Julie Hyland, “Head of NATO Force in Kosovo was Second-in-command at “Bloody Sunday” Massacre in Ireland”, World Socialist Website, 19 June 1999).
Both Wilford and Jackson were rewarded rather than prosecuted for their role in the 1972 massacre.
Wilford, who subsequently retired from the Armed Services, was awarded the Order of the British Empire by H.M. Government in October of 1972, less than a year following the January 1972 massacre.
Michael Jackson’s role in Bloody Sunday did not hinder his military career. In fact quite the opposite. He ascended to the highest rank of the British military, before retiring in 2006 from the rank of Commander of the General Staff (CGS).
In 1982 he became Commander of the 1st Battalion of the Parachute Regiment, and Brigade Commander in Northern Ireland in the early 1990s.
From his stint in Northern Ireland, he was reassigned under United Nations auspices to the theatre of ethnic warfare, first in Bosnia and Croatia and then in Kosovo.
In the immediate wake of the 1995 ethnic massacres in the Krajina region of Croatia largely inhabited by Serbs, General Michael Jackson was put in charge as IFOR commander, for organising the return of Serbs “to lands taken by Croatian HVO forces in the 1995 Krajina offensive”. (Jane Defense Weekly, Vol 23, No. 7, 14 February 1996).
And in this capacity Jackson “urged that the resettlement [of Krajina Serbs] not [be] rushed to avoid tension [with the Croatians]” while also warning returning Serbs “of the extent of the [land] mine threat.”(Ibid)
Following his stint in Bosnia Herzegovina and Croatia, Lieutenant General Mike Jackson led the June 1999 land invasion of Yugoslavia and was posted to Kosovo as KFOR Commander.
In Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo, General Michael Jackson applied the counter-insurgency skills acquired in Northern Ireland. In Kosovo he actively collaborated with the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) headed by Commander Agim Ceku.
Ceku and Jackson had worked together in Croatia in the mid-1990s.
Agim Ceku was Commander of the Croatian forces which conducted the Krajina massacre under “Operation Storm”.
Meanwhile, Jackson was responsible for the repatriation of Krajina Serbs, under UN auspices.
In turn, Military Professional Resources Inc (MPRI), a mercenary outfit on contract to the Pentagon was responsible for advising the Croatian HVO forces in the planning of “Operation Storm”. The same mercenary outfit was subsequently put in charge of the military training of the Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC) largely integrated by former KLA operatives.
1999 War Criminals Join Hands (Kosovo 1999).
From Left to Right: Hashim Thaci, Head of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), which had links to Al Qaeda and organized crime. Hashim Thaci had ordered political assassinations directed against the Party of Ibrahim Rugova. Thaci was a protégé of Madeleine Albright. [Later became President of Kosovo, still on the Interpol wanted list]
Bernard Kouchner, Head of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) in Kosovo (July 1999- January 2001), instrumental in elevating the KLA to UN status through the formation of the Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC).
General Michael Jackson, Commander of KFOR Troops in Kosovo.
General Agim Ceku, Military Commander of the KLA and the KPC, investigated by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) “for alleged war crimes committed against ethnic Serbs in Croatia between 1993 and 1995.” ( AFP 13 Oct 1999)
General Wesley Clark, NATO Supreme Commander.
While General Michael Jackson during his tenure as KFOR Commander in Kosovo (1999-2000) displayed token efforts to protect Serb and Roma civilians; those who fled Kosovo during his mandate were not encouraged to return under UN protection. In post-war Kosovo, the massacres of civilians were carried out by the KLA (and subsequently by the KPC). Both NATO and the UN turned a blind eye to the KLA’s targeted assassinations.
Upon completing his term in Kosovo, General Sir Michael Jackson was appointed Commander in Chief, U.K. Land Command (2000-2003).
And in February 2003, barely one month before the onslaught of the Iraq war, he was promoted to Chief of the General Staff (CGS)
As Chief of General Staff General Michael Jackson played a central role in the 2003 Iraq military campaign in close liaison with his US counterparts. He also played a key role in the military occupation of Southern Iraq, led by British forces based in Basra.
“Bloody Monday”, September 19, 2005 in Basra, Iraq
On Monday September 19, 2005, two British undercover “soldiers” dressed in traditional Arab garb, were arrested by the Occupation’s Iraqi police driving a car loaded with weapons, ammunition and explosives. Several media reports and eyewitness accounts suggested that the SAS operatives were disguised as Al Qaeda “terrorists” and were planning to set off the bombs in Basra’s central square during a major religious event.
The two SAS soldiers were “rescued” by British forces in a major military assault on the building where they were being detained:
“British forces used up to 10 tanks ” supported by helicopters ” to smash through the walls of the jail and free the two British servicemen.”
The incident resulted in 7 Iraqi deaths and 43 injured.
Instead of investigating and prosecuting those responsible for the Basra massacre led by British forces. the British government confirmed that it “will pay compensation for injuries and damage caused during the storming by the army of a police station in Basra in the operation to release two SAS soldiers” (The Scotsman, 15 Oct 2005).
The wording was reminiscent of the Bloody Sunday massacre: no prosecution, no investigation, no justice, but “compensation” as a cover-up to war crimes.
Captain Ken Masters of The Royal Military Police (RMP) in Basra had the mandate to investigate the circumstances of the “rescue” operation. To this effect, he also indicated that he would cooperate in his investigations, with the civilian Iraqi authorities.
The Royal Military Police (RMP) is the corps of the British Army responsible for the policing of service personnel, both in the U.K. and overseas.
As part of his RMP mandate, Captain Masters was to investigate “allegations that British soldiers killed or mistreated Iraqi civilians”. Specifically in this case, the inquiry pertained to the British attack on the prison on 19 September, where the 2 SAS soldiers were being detained for subsequent interrogation. The attack had been authorized by CGS General Sir Michael Jackson and British Defence Secretary John Reid.
“Compensation to the families of alleged Iraqi victims who died during the fracas depended on the official investigation being carried out by Captain Masters [of the Royal Military Police in Basra] and his team.”
That investigation was never carried out. Captain Ken Masters of the RMP allegedly “committed suicide” in Basra on the 15th of October 2005.
According to the MoD “the circumstances [of his death ] were not regarded as suspicious.” [emphasis added] The MoD report suggested that Captain Masters was suffering from “stress”, which could have driven him to commit suicide. In the words of a Defense analyst quoted by the BBC:.
“Capt Masters was part of quite a small outfit and his job would have been quite stressful. It’s quite an onerous job….. I think, [there is] quite a lot of stress involved” (BBC, 16 October 2005, emphasis added).
There were apparent disagreements between the MoD and Captain Masters who was responsible for investigating “the actions and behavior of military personnel”. (The Independent 17 Oct 2005).
The attack on the 19th of September to “rescue” the two SAS men was launched under the command of Brig John Lorimer. In a statement, Lorimer said that the purpose of the raid was to ensure the safety of the two SAS men.
On October 12, CGS General Sir Michael Jackson was in Basra for consultations with Brigadier John Lorimer.
CGS General Michael Jackson, had previously approved the rescue operation of the elite SAS men: “Let me make it clear that it was important to retrieve those two soldiers.” (quoted in The Times, 12 Oct 2005).
Three days later, following General Jackson’s visit to Basra, Captain Masters was dead:
“Captain Ken Masters, the top British military police investigator working in Iraq, was found hanged at his barracks in Basra [on October 15].”
No subsequent RMP investigation into the Basra “rescue” following Captain’s Masters untimely death was undertaken.
No police investigation was carried out into the unusual circumstances surrounding the death of Captain Masters.
It was an open and closed case.
The matter passed virtually unnoticed in the British media. Nonetheless, the Daily Mail (17 Oct 2005), dismissed the suicide thesis: “Little is known of his private life and it is said to be unlikely that the pressures of work would have led him to commit suicide.”
Apologizing for War Crimes
From Bloody Sunday in January 1972 in Derry, Northern Ireland to Croatia, Kosovo and Basra, Iraq in September 2005.
Last year in June 2010, General Sir Michael Jackson “apologised for Bloody Sunday” in a TV interview broadcast by the BBC.
“The former head of the British Army, General Sir Mike Jackson, has offered a ”fulsome apology” for the events of Bloody Sunday, following the publication of the Saville report into the events of 30 January 1972 in Londonderry. The findings called the fatal shootings of civilians by British soldiers a ”catastrophe” for Northern Ireland. Prime Minister David Cameron has said the killings of 13 marchers was ”unjustified and unjustifiable”.
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The Club of Rome, created in 1968, issued in 1991 its second “world-reaching” report, “The First Global Revolution”. See this.
Its preamble says,
“Ah Love! Could Thou and I with faith conspire, To grasp this sorry scheme of things entire, Would not we shatter it to bits and then, Remould it nearer to our heart’s desire.”
—Edward Fitzgerald, the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám is the title that Edward Fitzgerald gave to his 1859 translation from Persian to English of a selection of quatrains [4-line poem] attributed to Omar Khayyam, dubbed “the Astronomer-Poet of Persia”.)
At the end of the Foreword, there is another remarkable quote:
“No generation has ever liked its prophets, least of all, those who point out the consequences of bad judgement and lack of foresight.
The Club of Rome can take pride of the fact that it has been unpopular for the last twenty years. I hope it will continue for many years to come spell out the unpalatable facts and to unsettle the conscience of the smug and the apathetic.”
—(late) Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Message to the Delegates at the Twentieth Anniversary Conference of the Club of Rome, Paris, 1988
And another one highlighted in the text:
“The Cult of Sovereignty has become mankind’s major religion. Its God demands Human Sacrifice.” – Arnold Toynbee, British Historian and Philosopher
This is the tenor of the book throughout its 160 pages. It is spiked with arrogance and superiority. Together with its precursor, “Limits to Growth”, it promotes eugenics and is as of this day and beyond – if we let it – the blueprint for the WEF’s Great Reset and the UN Agenda 2030.
Together, these two reports promote, or rather dictate Destruction for Building Back Better (remember the never explained slogan of the neocons?), and eugenics. These are the top priorities under which humanity is living and suffering today.
That is why wars are supported over peace, why people have to be tricked into believing in uncountable and unpredictable pandemics – all on the horizon, like “Disease “X “ – and of course, do not worry, vaccines are on the drawing board, the mRNA kinds that modify your genes, so you become a better human being – code for “so you perish faster”.
Remember the slogan on top: “A Nation of Sheep will be ruled by Wolves.” For God’s sake – Let us stop being sheep.
What we are living these days. Weeks, months – and over at least the past 4 years, in ever-accelerating pace – is precisely the agenda, the dictate of the Club of Rome (CoR). Destruction is the name of the game.
Starting with the West, that includes, destruction of our economy, industry, infrastructure, agriculture – the very food we need to survive – services, health care, legal systems, ethics, faith, hope – and, finally humanity itself. We are now some 8 billion – they want us down to below 1 billion.
When we see doom – the cabal’s boots can complete its stampede.
Destruction – Initiated by France’s Macron?
A few days ago, France’s President Macron said openly and without remorse, “There are no limits to support for Ukraine”. He added, “France should abide by no limits or Russian “Red Line”, when it comes to backing Kiev.”
This is strong stuff. A provocation for Russia without precedence. Macron already earlier said, that sending NATO troops (French) to Ukraine was indeed an option.
This is putting the finger on the trigger for a nuclear blast. If it is not clear yet to the arrogant Washington puppets, Russia’s Red Line does not disappear because Mr. Macron says so. Russia’s nuclear arsenal is way superior to that of the US, which is stationed as NATO throughout Europe and Asia, pointing its nuclear warhead missiles towards Moscow.
If destruction must be, Mr. Macron, it will indeed be Europe again, the third time in just over a hundred years. Europe, and probably way beyond. This time, nobody can even imagine the extent of destruction – and the cost in human lives. And it may be too late for the western “elites” – masterminds of disaster – to run to their bunkers.
Former Russian president and current deputy head of the National Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, posted on “X” (former Twitter) that this means “Russia has no more red lines left for France.” He added “everything is allowed against enemies.”Here, the enemy being France and all those dragged along by French arrogance.
French European Parliamentarian, Florian Philippot, leader of the French Patriots Party, urged the French to impeach Macron before they are sent to die in Ukraine.
“It is up to every Frenchman to resist, for every mother to refuse to let her son die for Kiev, NATO and Blackrock,” Philippot said on “X”. “It’s up to us to fight to leave the EU and NATO and throw Macron out!”
Never before has a European, so-called “leader”, made such stern and provocative pronouncements, not even Macron. Who gave him orders to do so NOW? WHO GAVE HIM ORDERS?
Will he send officially French (NATO) troops to Ukraine? Thereby crossing Mr. Putin’s Red Line and provoking whatever Russia finds is necessary to protect her integrity, her land, and her people? It could be a nuclear – all destructive conflict. That is what many analysts predict and fear.
Is that what the power behind France and behind the dark cabal wants – a total destruction – which would also serve the depopulation agenda?
Maybe. Perhaps 2024 is the time.
The leader of the French Republican Party (The Gaullists), Eric Ciotti, is more prudent, saying supporting Ukraine by sending troops would be “irresponsible and dangerous,”.
Let us TRUST that humanity will find sanity, and rather depose Macron than follow his unthinkably dangerous advice and words and – God knows – deeds.
Moscow is alert. On a lower key, Moscow warns that NATO is becoming increasingly aggressive.
The plan is an engineered destruction of humanity?
Carrying out the Club of Rome’s mandate?
Mind you – the elite is not planning to self-destruct, of course not. Before total annihilation, they hope to seek rescue in their bunkers, wherever they are, maybe in a remote island of Hawaii, in New Zealand or simply in South Dakota – see this.
President Joe Biden’s State of the Union Address of 9 March 2024 is another disastrous message for total destruction, annihilation of civilization if he has his way. But he will not.
A “normal” State of the Union Address is about the United States, it is about the “State” of affairs of the nation, of the economy, of jobs, of growth and growth potential – about forecasts, development perspectives. It is a message of foresight, supposed to give people hope – to let them know their government plans to improve shortcomings. Nothing of that happened.
The first 20 minutes of the speech were dedicated to Ukraine alone – smashing President Putin and Russia, and
“We shall never abandon you Ukraine! We will always stand behind you.”
Promising sending another 90 billion dollars to the Ukrainian oligarchs. Taxpayers money, for zilch. Biden knows it. The US Congress knows it. Everybody knows it. This war is NEVER winnable against Russia. And why should it be?
Other than having prepared and started it – compliments of Madame Victoria Nuland [f*ck Europe], now gone, thanks God; a more than 10-billion-dollar preparation project – what remaining interest does the US have in fighting a proxy war some 10,000 km away, across the Atlantic and Europe? Certainly not National Security.
Boosting the profit margins of the Military Industrial Complex for sure is a good reason, and achieving “regime change” in Russia. Madame Nuland’s admitting words in an interview to CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, just days before her forced resignation.
Yes, it has always been about bringing Russia to the knees of the Washington wannabe Emperor, with a Russian puppet leader. They thought they had achieved their target in 1991, with then President Yeltsin, who was smarter than given credit for – when he introduced Mr. Vladimir Putin, appointing him in August 1999, as Prime Minister. It was clear that President Yeltsin was preparing Mr. Putin for the Kremlin. So much for defeating the West’s sneaky ways to subdue Russia.
Mr. Biden’s speech was also a rant against Republicans. Right at the beginning he compared former President Trump, his only opponent in the (still) planned November 2024 elections – to Hitler. That is what he called Donald Trump. This man, Biden, has zero decency. His face expressed anger throughout – he yelled and ranted. And, guess what – he got standing ovations. That speaks volumes for the State of the Union of the United States.
See this for the full speech:
Tucker Carlson responding to Joe Biden’s State of the Union Address said it was the United States’ worst ever State of the Union Address. In addition to describing the crime the US – the west – was financing in Ukraine, Tucker Carlson pointed to other destructive measures Biden promoted like transhumanism, and free abortion, in other words the Soros-funded Woke agenda – which doesn’t even hide its population reduction objective.
Illegal immigrants. Tucker Carlson also talked about Biden’s insane open-borders policy, bringing illegals into the US, even by plane loads, giving them shelter, food, debit cards never to be paid back [see video below] – mostly young men that could and are expected to serve in the US army.
Why would Biden do that?
These immigrants have zero allegiance to the US – and should serve in the US army?
Perhaps against the American people – during a provoked upraising?
See this for Tucker’s full analysis (9 March 2024):
“Illegal” immigrants are directly flown into the Unites States, the Biden Administration openly admits. So far, the official figure points to 320,000. The official reason is indeed, to make up for the military recruitment shortcomings.
The real reason is certainly somewhere else. Immigrants, especially when they come in masses, are always a disruption in the society they enter. It is the same in Europe, and Europe’s policy is not much different from that of the US. It is very much coordinated.
See this and this (14 min video “Redacted” of 7 March 2024).
In an interview with Tucker Carlson, Col. MacGregor warns about the plan to recruit illegals into the US military. Tucker said that Rome fell because foreigners who were not loyal to Rome populated its military and they turned on the people of Rome. For the same reason, retired Army Colonel Douglas Macgregor warned Americans against allowing illegal aliens to serve in the armed forces. See this (video 7 min – 4 March 2024).
Indeed, disrupting society. But why? Creating internal conflict, internal strive – maybe civil war? It is a means of destruction and the victims are the immigrants who are dreaming of a better world. Instead, they are being used for the Club of Rome’s precept od DESTRUCTION – to eventually rebuilding according to the elite’s desire.
These are just a few examples of the planned and engineered destruction – exactly as foreseen under the Club of Rome’s edicts.
People wake up. What happens in the US is already happening in a different, perhaps less visible version in Europe.
Stop being Nations of Sheep being ruled by Wolves.
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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 lectures at universities in the US, Europe and South America. He writes regularly for online journals and is the author of Implosion – An Economic Thriller about War, Environmental Destruction and Corporate Greed; and co-author of Cynthia McKinney’s book “When China Sneezes: From the Coronavirus Lockdown to the Global Politico-Economic Crisis” (Clarity Press – November 1, 2020).
Peter is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG). He is also a non-resident Senior Fellow of the Chongyang Institute of Renmin University, Beijing.
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Up to now, not once expressed by Turkey’s President R. T. Erdoğan a possibility to organize a national referendum on Turkish membership to the European Union (the EU) opened many questions of different nature followed by old and new problems.
A current European political concern is reflected in many controversial issues and one of those the most important is facing the EU about whether or not to accept Turkey as a full member state (being a candidate state since 1999). Turkey is, on one hand, governed as a secular democracy by moderate Islamic political leaders, seeking to play a role of the bridge between the Middle East and Europe. However, Turkey is, on other hands, almost 100% Muslim country with a rising tide of Islamic radicalism (especially since the 2023 Israeli aggression on Gaza and ethnic cleansing of the Gazan Palestinians), surrounded with the neighbors with a similar problem.
There are two fundamental arguments by all of those who are opposing Turkish admission to the EU:
1) Muslim Turkish citizens (70 million) will never be properly integrated into the European environment that is predominantly Christian; and
2) In the case of Turkish accession, historical clashes between the (Ottoman) Turks and European Christians are going to be revived. Here we will refer only to one statement against Turkish accession: it “would mean the end of Europe” (former French President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing) – a statement which clearly reflects the opinion by 80% of Europeans polled in 2009 that Turkey’s admission to the EU would not be a good thing. At the same time, there are only 32% of Turkish citizens who had a favorable opinion of the EU and, therefore, the admission process, for which formal and strict negotiations began already in 2005, is very likely to be finally abortive.
Islamic Fundamentalism and Turkey’s Admission to the EU
The question of Turkish admission to the EU is by the majority of Europeans seen through the glass of Islamic fundamentalism as one of the most serious challenges to the European stability and above all identity that is primarily based on the Christian values and tradition. Islamic fundamentalism is understood as an attempt to undermine existing state practices for the very reason that militant Muslims (like ISIS/ISIL/DAESH) are fighting to re-establish the medieval Islamic Caliphate and the establishment of theocratic authority over the global Islamic community – the Umma. Nevertheless, religious fundamentalism first came to the attention of the Western part of the international community in 1979 when a pro-American absolute monarchy was changed with a Shia (Shiia) Muslim anti-American semi-theocracy in Iran. In other words, Iranian Shia Muslim clerics, who were all the time the spiritual leaders of the Iranians, became now their political leaders too. The Iranian Islamic revolution of 1979 prompted possibilities of similar uprisings in other Muslim societies followed by pre-emptive actions against them by other governments.
What can be the most dangerous scenario for Turkey from the European perspective if the accession negotiations failed is, probably, Turkish turn towards the Muslim world followed by rising influence of Islamic fundamentalism which can be properly controlled by the EU if Turkey would become a member state of the club? That is, probably, the most important “security” factor to note regarding the EU-Turkish relations and accession negotiations. Namely, following the 9/11 terror attacks (on Washington and New York), it was becoming more and more clear that it was better to have (Islamic) Turkey inside the EU rather than as a part of an anti-Western bloc of Muslim states.
In general, for the Western governments and especially for the US and Israeli administrations, Shia Muslims became seen after the 1979 Iranian Islamic (Shia) revolution as the most potential Islamic fundamentalists and the religious terrorists. Therefore, the oppression of Shia minorities by the Sunni majorities in several Muslim countries are deliberately not recorded and criticized by the Western governments. The case of Alevi people in Turkey is one of the best examples of such policy. However, at the same time, the EU administration is paying a full attention to the Kurdish question in Turkey even requiring the recognition of the Kurds by the Turkish government as an ethnocultural minority (as different from the ethnic Turks). Why the Alevi people are in this respect discriminated by the EU’s minority policy in Turkey? The answer is because the Kurds are Sunni Muslims but Alevis are considered as a Turkish faction of (militant) Shia Muslim community within the Islamic world.
In the next paragraphs, I would like to put more lights on the question who are Alevi people and what is Alevism as a religious identity taking into account the fact that religion, undoubtedly, has become increasingly important in both the studies and practice of both international relations and global politics. We have to keep also in our minds that religious identity was predominant in comparison to national or ethnic identities for several centuries being the crucial cause of political conflicts in many cases.
What Is Alevism?
The Alevi people are those Muslims who believe in Alevism that is, in fact, a sect or form of Islam. Especially in Turkey, Alevism is a second common sect of Islam. The number of Alevi people is between 10−15 million. A name of the sect comes from the term Alevi what means “the follower of Ali”. Some experts in Islamic studies claim that Alevism is a branch of Shi’ism (Shia Islam), but, as a matter of fact, the Alevi Umma is not homogeneous and Alevism cannot be understood without another Islamic sect – Bektashism. Nevertheless, Alevi culture produced many poets and folk songs alongside with the fact that Alevi people are experiencing many every-day life problems to live according to their belief in Islam.
The Alevis (Turkish: Aleviler or Alevilik; Kurdish: Elewî) are a religious, sub-ethnic, and cultural community in Turkey representing at the same time the biggest sect of Islam in Turkey. Alevism is a way of Islamic mysticism or Sufism that is believing in one God by accepting Muhammad as a Prophet, and the Holy Qur’ān. Alevi people loves Ehlibeyt – the family of Prophet Muhammad-, unifying prayer and supplication, prayer in their language, to prefer free person instead of Umma (Muslim community), to prefer to love God instead of God’s fear, to overcome Sharia reaching to real world, believing to Holy Qur’ān’s genuine instead of shave. Alevism has found its cure in human love; they believe that people are immortal because a person is manifested by God. Women and men are praying together, in their language, with their music that is played via bağlama, with semah. Alevism is an entirety of beliefs that depends on Islam’s rules which based on the Holy Qur’ān, according to Muhammad’s commands; by interpreting Islam with universal dimension, it opens new doors to earth people. The Alevi system of belief is Islamic with a triplet composed by Allah, Muhammad, and Ali.
There are many strong arguments about the relationship between Alevism and Shi’ism. Some researchers say that Alevism is a form of Shi’ism but some of them say that Alevism is sectarian. We have to keep in mind that Shi’ism is a second common type of Islam in the world after Sunnism. This is a branch of Islam which is called as the Party of Ali for the reason that it recognizes Ali’s claim to succeed his cousin and father-in-law, the Prophet Muhammad, as the spiritual leader of Islam during the first civil war in the Islamic world (656−661). In most of the Islamic countries the Sunnis are in majority, but the Shi’ites comprise some 80 million believers, or, in other words, around 13% out of all world’s Muslims. The Shi’ites are predominant in three countries: Iran, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates. However, Alevism cannot be understood as identical to Sufism that is the mystical aspect of Islam which arose as a reaction to strict religious orthodoxy. Sufis seek personal union with God and their Christian Orthodox counterparts in the Middle Ages were the Bogumils.
Undoubtedly, Alevism has some similar issues with Shi’ism but, at the same time, there are a lot of differences concerning a general practicing of Islam. However, in some Western literature, Alevism is presented as a branch of Shi’ism, or more specifically, as a Turk or Ottoman way of Shi’ism.
Split Within Muslims
We have to keep in mind on this place that the Islamic expansion in the 7th and 8th centuries was accompanied by political conflicts which followed the death of the Prophet Muhammad, and the question of who is entitled to succeed him is splitting up the Muslim world up today. In other words, when the Prophet died, a caliph (successor) was chosen to rule all Muslims. However, as the caliph lacked prophetic authority, he enjoyed secular power but not an authority in religious doctrine. The first caliph was Abu Bakr who is considered together with his three successors as the “rightly guided” (or orthodox) caliphs. They ruled according to the Quran and the practices of the Prophet, but, thereafter, Islam became split up into two antagonistic branches: Sunni and Shia.
The Sunni-Shia division basically started when Ali ibn Abi Talib (599−661), Muhammad’s son-in-law and heir, assumed the Caliphate after the murder of his predecessor, Uthman (574−656). The Civil war was ended with the defeat of Ali with the victory of Uthman’s cousin and governor of Damascus, Mu’awiya Ummayad (602−680) after the Battle of Suffin. However, those Muslims (like the Alevi people, for instance) who claimed that Ali was the rightful calif took the name of Shiat Ali – the “Partisans of Ali”. They believe that Ali was the last legitimate caliph and, therefore, the Caliphate should pass down only to those who are direct descendants of the Prophet Muhammad through his daughter, Fatima, and Ali, her husband. Ali’s son, Hussein (626−680), claimed the Caliphate, but the Ummayads killed him together with his followers at the Battle of Karbala in 680. This city, today in contemporary Iraq, is the holiest of all sites for Shia Muslims (Shi’ism). Regardless to the fact that the Prophet’s Muhammad’s family line was ended in 873, the Shia Muslims believe that the last Muhammad’s descendant did not die as he is rather “hidden” and will return. Those basic Shia interpretations of the history of Islam are followed by the Alevi people and, therefore, many researchers are simply considering Alevism as a faction of the Shi’ism.
The dominant branch of Islam is Sunni. The Sunni Muslims, differently to their Shia opponents, are not demanding that the caliph has to be of a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad. They are also accepting the Arabic tribal customs in government. According to their point of view, a political leadership is in the hands of the Muslim community as such. Nevertheless, as a matter of fact, the religious and political power in Islam was never again united into a political community after the death of the fourth caliph.
Alevism in Islam
Alevi people believe in one God, Allah, and, therefore, Alevism, as a form of Islam, is a monotheistic religion. Like all other Muslims, the Alevis understand that God is in everything around in nature. It is important to notice that there are those Alevis who believe in good and bad spirits (and kind of angels), and, therefore, they often practice superstition in order to benefit from good ones and to avoid harm from bad ones. For that reason, for many Muslims, Alevism is not a real Islam as it is more a form of paganism imbued with Christianity. However, a majority of Alevis do not believe in these supernatural beings saying that it is an expression of Satanism.
The essence of Alevism is in the fact that Alevis believe that according to the original text of the Quran, Ali, Muhammad’s cousin, and son-in-law, was to be the Prophet’s successor as God’s vice-regent on earth or caliph. However, they claim that the parts of the original Quran related to Ali were taken out by his rivals. According to Alevis, the Quran, as a fundamental holy book for all Muslims, should be interpreted esoterically. For them, there are much deeper spiritual truths in the Quran than the strict rules and regulations that appear on the lateral surface. However, most Alevi writers will quote individual Quranic verses as an appeal for authority to support their view on a given topic, or to justify a certain Alevi religious tradition. The Alevis generally promote the reading of the Quran rather in the Turkish language than in Arabic, stressing that it is of the fundamental importance for a person to understand exactly what he or she is reading what is not possible if the Quran is read in the Arabic. However, many Alevis do not read the Quran or other holy books, nor base their daily beliefs and practices on them as they consider these ancient books to be irrelevant today.
The Alevis are reading three different books. If according to their opinion, there is not a proper information in the Quran, as the Sunnis corrupted the authentic words of Muhammad, it is necessary to reveal original Prophet’s messages by alternative readings. Therefore, Alevi believers are looking to (1.) the Nahjul Balagha, the traditions and sayings of Ali; (2.) the Buyruks, the collections of doctrine and practices of several of the 12 imams, especially Cafer; and (3.) the Vilayetnameler or the Menakıbnameler, books that describe events in the lives of great Alevis such as Haji Bektash. Except for these basic books, there are some special sources to participate in the creation of Alevi theology like poet-musicians Yunus Emre (13−14th century), Kaygusuz Abdal (15th century), and Pir Sultan Abdal (16th century).
The foundation of Alevism is in the love to Prophet and Ehlibeyt. Twelve Imams are godlike glorified by the Alevis. Waiting for the last Imam’s (Muslim religious leader) reappearance, the Shia Muslims established a special council composed of 12 religious scholars (Ulema) that elect a supreme Imam. For instance, Ayatollah (“Holy Man”) Ruhollah Khomeini (1900−1989) enjoyed that status in Iran. Most Alevis believe that the 12th Imam, Muhammed Mehdi, grew up in secret to be saved from those who wanted to exterminate the family of Ali. Many Alevis believe Mehdi is still alive and/or he will come back to earth one day. According to Alevis, Ali was Muhammed’s intended successor, and therefore the first caliph, but competitors stole this right from him. Muhammed intended for the leadership of all Muslims to perpetually stem from his family line (Ehli Beyt) by beginning with Ali, Fatima, and their two sons, Hasan and Hüseyin. Ali, Hasan, and Hüseyin are considered the first three Imams, and the other nine of the 12 Imams came from Hüseyin’s line. Just to remind ourselves, the names and approximate dates of the birth and death of the 12 Imams are:
İmam Ali (599-661)
İmam Hasan (624-670)
İmam Hüseyin (625-680)
İmam Zeynel Abidin (659-713)
İmam Muhammed Bakır (676-734)
İmam Cafer-i Sadık (699-766)
İmam Musa Kâzım (745-799)
İmam Ali Rıza (765-818)
İmam Muhammed Taki (810-835)
İmam Ali Naki (827-868)
İmam Hasan Askeri (846-874)
İmam Muhammed Mehdi (869-941).
For the Alevis, to be a really good person is an inalienable part of their life philosophy. It is important to notice that the Alevis are not turned to the Black Stone (Kaaba) which is in Mecca in the Sunni Saudi Arabia, and, as it is known, the Muslim community’s member is supposed to visit it for Hajj at least once in the life. Alevis’ first fasting is not in Ramadan, it is in Muharram and it takes 12 days not, 30 days. The second fasting for them is after the Feast of Sacrifice for 20 days and another one is the Hizir fast. In Islam, there is a rule, if a person has enough money, he/she should give to a poor person a specific amount but the Alevis prefer to donate money to Alevi organizations but not to the individuals. As they don’t go to Mecca for Hajj, they visit some mausoleums, like of Haji Bektaş, (in Kırşehir), Abdal Musa (in Tekke Village, Elmalı, Antalya), Şahkulu Sultan (in Merdivenköy, İstanbul), Karacaahmet Sultan (in Üsküdar, İstanbul) or Seyit Gazi (in Eskişehir).
Bektashism
Haji Bektash (Bektaş) Wali was a Turkmen who was born in Iran. After graduated, he had moved to Anatolia. He educated a lot of students and he and his students had served a lot of religious, economic, social, and martial services in Ahi Teşkilatı. Haji Bektash started gradually to be popular among the Ottoman elite military detachment – the Janissaries. Nevertheless, he was not of the Alevi origin but he adopted the rules of the Alevi believers into his personal life. That sect, or a form of Islam, was founded in the name of Haji Bektash Wali whose members depend on the love of Ali and twelve imams. Bektashism was popular in Anatolia and the Balkans (especially in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Albania) and it is still alive today.
Over the course of time, Bektashism became improved by taking some features of old beliefs of Anatolia and Turkish culture. However, Bektashism is the most important part of Alevism as many rules of Bektashism are incorporated in Alevism. For the Alevi believers, the mausoleum of Haji Bektash Wali in Nevşehir in Anatolia is an important point of the pilgrimage. Finally, in Turkey, Bektashism and Alevism, in fact, cannot be treated as different concepts of the Islamic theology.
Problems and Difficulties of Alevis in the Ottoman History and Turkey
When the Ottoman state was established at the end of the 13th century and at the beginning of the 14th century, it did not have sectarian frictions within Islam. At that time, Alevis occupied a lot of chairs in state institutions. The Janissaries (originally Sultan’s bodyguard) were members of Bektashism what means that even Sultan tolerated in full such way of the interpretation of the Quran and the early history of Islam. However, how the Ottoman state was involved in the process of imperialistic transformation by the annexing surrounding provinces and states, Sunnism was getting more and more important because the Sunni Muslims were becoming a clear majority of the Ottoman Sultanate and, therefore, Sunnism was much more useful for the state administration and the system of governing. The Ottoman state became on the East involved into the chain of conflicts with the Safavid Empire (Persia, today Iran, 1502−1722) – a country with a clear majority of those Muslims who expressed Shi’ism that is a form of Islam very similar to Alevism. The Alevi group, who complained to go being more Sunni in the Ottoman Sultanate, became sympathizing Safavid Shah İsmail I (1501−1524) and his state as it was based on Alevism. The animosity between the Ottoman Alevis and Ottoman authorities became more obvious in 1514 when the Ottoman Sultan Selim I (1512−1520) executed some 40.000 Alevis together with the Kurdish people while going to have a decisive Battle of Chaldiran (August 23rd) in Iran against Shah Ismail I. Till the end of the Ottoman Sultanate in 1923, Alevis have been oppressed by the authorities as the sectarian believers who were not fitting to the official Sunni theology of Islam.
After the end of the Ottoman Empire in 1923, Alevis were glad in the first years of the new Republic of Turkey which declaratively proclaimed a segregation of the religion from the state what practically meant that there was no any official state religion in the country. The Alevi population of Turkey supported most of the reforms with a great hope that their social status is going to be improved. However, after the first years of the new state, they started to experience some difficulties as, de facto, a religious minority. The 1960s were very important for the Turkish society for at least three reasons: (1.) The immigration had started from the rural area to the urban area following a new process of industrialization; (2.) The immigration abroad mostly to West Germany according to the German-Turkish the so-called Gastarbeiter Agreement; and (3.) A further democratization of political life. As a consequence, in 1966, Alevis had established their own political party – Birlik Partisi (Unity Party). In 1969, Alevis as a minority group sent eight members to the Parliament according to the results of the parliamentary elections. However, in 1973, the party had sent just one member to the Parliament, and finally, in 1977, the party had lost its efficiency. In 1978, in Maraş and in 1980, in Çorum, hundreds of Alevis were killed as a consequence of the conflict with the majority Sunni population but the most notorious Alevi massacre happened in 1993 on July 2nd in Sivas when 35 Alevi intellectuals were killed in Madimak Hotel by a group of religious fundamentalists.
Undoubtedly, the Alevi believers still are facing many problems in Turkey today in connection with a freedom of religious expression and the recognition as a separate cultural group. For example, the religious curriculum does not have any information about Alevism but rather only on Sunnism what means that Alevism is not studied on the regular basis in Turkey. Alevism is deeply ignored by Turkey’s administration, for instance, by the Presidency of Religious Affairs (est. 1924) that is an institution dealing with the religious questions and problems but in practice, it is working according to the rules of a Sunni Islam. However, on the other hand, there are and some improvements of Alevi cultural life as, for instance, many foundations and other civic public intuitions are opened to support it. Nevertheless, Alevis, like Kurds, are not recognized as a separate ethnocultural or religious group in Turkey due to the Turkish understanding of a nation (millet) that is inherited from the Ottoman Sultanate according to which, all Muslims in Turkey are treated as ethnolinguistic Turks. The situation can be changed as Turkey is seeking the EU’s membership and, therefore, certain EU’s requirements have to be accepted among others and granting minority rights for Alevis and Kurds.
Conclusions
Alevism is a sect of Islam, and it shows many common points with Shi’ism. However, we can not say that it is a part of Shi’ism as a whole. Alevi culture has a rich heritage in poems and musicians because of their worship style. In Anatolia, Bektashism is usually connected with Alevism.
The Alevi people were living in the Ottoman Sultanate and its successor the Republic of Turkey usually with the troubles as they with their religion did not fit to the official (Sunni) expression of Islam.
Today, Alevis in Turkey are fighting to be respected as a separate religious-cultural group who can freely demonstrate their peculiar way of life. As a matter of fact, the Alevi people could not express freely themselves for the centuries including and present-day Turkey which should learn to practice both minority rights and democracy.
Finally, if Turkey wants to join the EU, surely, it has to provide a maximum of required standards of protection of all kind of minorities including and religious-cultural ones. That can be a chance for the Alevi people in Turkey to improve their status within the society.
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Dr. Vladislav B. Sotirović is a former university professor in Vilnius, Lithuania. He is a Research Fellow at the Center for Geostrategic Studies. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.
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As if they did not have enough on their plate already, Serbs are now worked up over a child abduction scandal with official fingerprints all over it.
Besides the mother, the victims are three brothers, aged 10, 6, and 3.
To make the case even more poignant, the children go by the angelic names of Michael, Raphael, and Gabriel, given them by their single mother Ana Mihaljica who, in addition to her regular job, is also an Orthodox theology student.
The authorities were acting on the spurious pretexts that the mother was too poor to properly provide for the needs of her offspring (in that regard she has plenty of company in Third World Serbia) and that a fire which accidentally broke out in their grandfather’s apartment when they were not even physically present there endangered the children’s safety. Thus armed with irrefutable proof of parental malfeasance, in November of 2023 the authorities literally snatched the children from their devastated mother Ana Mihaljica’s arms and spirited them off to parts unknown.
It is feared that the plan is to put the children up for foreign adoption, which Serbian law has greatly facilitated, at the going rate of between 30,000 and 50,000 euros per auctioned off child, a lucrative scheme and attractive sum that assuredly makes corrupt officials salivate.
Ironically, the government agency many Serbs hold accountable for the disaster that has befallen the Mihaljica family operates with a mandate to protect the rights of children and to look after their welfare.
Nearly every country in the collective (or should we say – “enlightened”?) West has such an outfit which in almost every known instance has generated more grief and trauma than any semblance of child or family wellbeing. Researchers who have studied the matter closely and, just as importantly, have also followed the money trail, claim that Barnevernet, the Norwegian institution which had pioneered many notorious practices in the child welfare business, has much to answer for regarding the abuses resulting from the internationalisation of its dreaded “child protection” methodology.
The Serbian “child protection agency” is effectively a franchise of Barnevernet whose experienced personnel were contracted to train their Serbian colleagues and write their operational child snatching manuals. What euphemistically is called child protection has is fact imposed as a key condition for European integration which requires the Eastern European “lesser brethren” to divest themselves not just of their economic assets but cultural values and human resources as well.
Barnevernet itself, the Norwegian mentor of the Serbian copycat agency organised under its auspices, it has been persuasively suggested, is actually a linear descendant of a German Nazi outfit, Lebensborn. The latter outfit, interestingly, was running a major operation on the territory of occupied Norway during the war. In the course of the last several decades, Russian families aspiring to settle in Norway to enjoy its idyllic blessings discovered to their chagrin that their healthy, bright, and blue eyed children were prime targets of the Barnevernet Gestapo. They and parents of other ethnicities were eventually astonished to discover that in Norway, at least in this particular realm of human relations, “diversity,” though it is one of the central “universal” values the West insistently preaches, does not apply. Child rearing practices and family interaction models that in their native cultures had been practiced successfully for centuries by Barnevernet standards constitute child abuse and criminal offences justifying violent family break-up. To many devastated parents of Russian as well as other cultural backgrounds it must have seemed that some essential features of the Nazi heritage continue to exert their odious influence, notwithstanding the passage of time and unaffected by outward ideological mimicry.
After several high profile incidents involving the confiscation of Russian children by the government child protection agency acting with the licence of the Norwegian state, the Russian government drew proper conclusions. Diplomatic efforts to secure the liberation of sequestered children and reunification of broken families being of no avail, Russian citizens intending to settle or even travel to Norway are now admonished that they are acting at their own risk by raising and treating their children in the style to which they were accustomed and which in their native country over the centuries had produced satisfactory results. To add a further layer of protection to Russian children, and acknowledging the unhealthy moral climate of Western societies the majority of adoptive parents were coming from, Russian parliament prohibited most foreign adoptions altogether.
However, quod licet Iovi, non licet bovi. Effective solutions available to a superpower are foreclosed to neo-colonial client states. The people of Serbia and other Eastern European vassalages can only dream of resorting to protective counter-measures to safeguard their children, environment, mineral deposits, territory, historical memory, cultural patrimony, or whatever else they might hold dear that their imperial masters have decided to seize with the eager and venal collaboration of local political elites.
In consequence, Serbia has been turned into a “don’t ask, don’t tell” child adoption (in reality minor trafficking) paradise. The relevant facts and statistics are appalling. In 2014 a law was passed in Serbia facilitating fast-track adoptions of minors, but it applies only to foreigners. The Ministry of Social Welfare signed agreements with seven foreign adoption entities, all from collective West countries of course, authorising them to act as exclusive agents for the placement of Serbian minors with adoptive parents abroad. The procedure was streamlined to a “6-step process” so that the foreign client need make only one visit to Serbia and within twenty-one days the selected child is delivered to him, her, or “zir.” Use of the woke pronoun option seems entirely appropriate because one of the agencies authorised by the Serbian government, ominously, happens to be called Rainbow Kids Adoption and Child Welfare Advocacy. Further elaboration of this point seems unnecessary. Under the agreement with foreign agencies, Serbian authorities may make inquiries about the minor for only fifteen days after the adoption is finalised and the child is whisked off abroad. Prior to that the adoptive parent is expected to remain in Serbia for three weeks to undergo a background check and complete the paperwork. Is three weeks enough to get to know the character and the proclivities of an adoptive parent? Do Serbian officials even care?
With such intense supervision, lucky is the child who does not end up in the clutches of traffickers, perverts, or worse.
There are about 6,000 “adoptable” children in Serbia today, orphans as well as minors forcibly separated from their natural parents and caregivers for a wide variety of spurious and arbitrary reasons. About eight hundred Serbian families have expressed an interest in adopting, but since unlike foreigners most lack the cash to cover the hefty “processing fee” they face interminable bureaucratic challenges after which the majority simply give up.
The stand-off between the anguished Serbian mother Ana Mihaljica and outraged fellow-citizens of Novi Sad who have rallied to her cause, and Barnevernet’s Balkan spin-off, the local abduction agency masquerading as a child protection service, is the direct result of inhumanity and pervasive corruption on an appalling scale. But there is a much deeper level to it that needs to be explored. Beyond ordinary moral and pecuniary corruption, no doubt present, we also see here the contours of a frighteningly inhuman and comprehensively ideological programme. That sordid ideological design now threatens all of humanity and it cannot be referenced in terms milder than the “S” word that the President of Russia used in one of his public addresses to expose the diabolical inspiration of the demented, moribund West and its fellow-travellers. A fundamental objective of that nefarious project is to wage unrelenting war on every facet of normalcy in order to void natural and traditional relations between human beings, including relations of love and trust between parents and children. Victory in that war requires the expropriation of children by the globalist, corporate state and ultimately their management and servile indoctrination by bureaucratic fiat. It is that broader context that explains the clear pattern observable all around, for none of it is haphazard. From state sponsored abduction of children on the pretext of ensuring their “welfare” to the induction of minors into the transgender cult through the weaponised state “educational system,” without notice to or consent of parents, the natural caregivers, the design is unmistakably clear.
Eastern European governments have largely succumbed. Acting in disregard of their citizens’ desires and for paltry rewards earned by immoral compliance, their leaders kowtow to the programme which ensures the continued enslavement and ultimately the destruction of their societies. Serbia is an instructive case study and the Mihaljica abduction, brazenly carried out in full view of the entire country, highlights in concentrated form what is at stake in the battle for the bodies and souls of society’s most vulnerable members, its children.
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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.
Rethinking Srebrenica examines the forensic evidence of the alleged Srebrenica “massacre” possessed by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague. Even though the ICTY created more than 3,500 autopsy reports, many of these autopsy reports were based on bone fragments, which do not represent complete bodies. An examination of the matching femur bones found reveals that there were only about 1,900 complete bodies that were exhumed. Of these, some 1,500 autopsy reports indicated a cause of death consistent with battlefield casualties. Only about 400 autopsy reports indicated execution as a cause of death, as revealed by ligatures and blindfolds. This forensic evidence does not warrant the conclusion of a genocide having taken place.
Karganovic examines the events that took place in Srebrenica in July 1995 in a wholistic manner instead of restricting it to a three-day event. The ten chapters cover:
1) Srebrenica: A Critical Overview;
2) Demilitarization of the UN Safe Zone of Srebrenica;
3) Genocide or Blowback?;
4) General Presentation and Interpretation of Srebrenica Forensic Data (Pattern of Injury Breakdown);
5) An Analysis of the Srebrenica Forensic Reports Prepared by the ICTY Prosecution Experts;
6) An Analysis of Muslim Column Losses Attributable to Minefields, Combat Activity, and Other Causes;
7) The Genocide Issue: Was there a Demonstrable Intent to Exterminate All Muslims?;
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The 148-page document released by the CDC was in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by the Epoch Times. The totally redacted CDC study on myocarditis after mRNA vaccination can be accessed here.
The CDC "released" a 148 page study on myocarditis after COVID-19 "vaccination" and every single page is completely redacted. This must be a new record. https://t.co/kIE2s7Wl2zpic.twitter.com/M6xDbRYMZx
“Seeing some confusion about this document: It’s a CDC document sent to us in response to a Freedom of Information Act request and is fully redacted.”
“The request asked for information about the CDC’s MOVING project. The team has posted several studies, including this one. The CDC plans to submit another paper on updated findings from the project for peer review, a spokesperson told us in January.”
The establishment narrative around the COVID-19 mRNA vaccinations and serious health consequences including myocarditis continues to unravel in the face of public scrutiny.
Dr Anthony Fauci finally admitted during an interview on ABC’s “This Week” in September last year that the Covid-19 mRNA jabs can cause myocarditis.
After months of dismissing or downplaying concerns about the potential side effects of the experimental vaccines, president Biden’s former covid czar now says that there is a myocarditis risk, particularly in young men.
During the interview, Fauci was asked to discuss the recent surge in COVID-19 cases and the ongoing vaccine drive.
Fauci now admits the vaccine causes myocarditis.
Something that would have gotten you banned on twitter if you said it a year ago… pic.twitter.com/j87FTOSEbc
Meanwhile, nine new members appointed to the committee that advises the CDC on vaccine recommendations have taken huge payouts from Big Pharma companies to push the deadly mRNA vaccines, according to a new investigation.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in mid-February appointed the new members to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), which dictates U.S. vaccine policy.
“ACIP has long been a rubber stamp for any and all vaccines Big Pharma wants to push. But the brazenness of the HHS-Big Pharma fusion has never been so much on display.
“The only silver lining in this grotesque display is that more and more people are waking up to the reality that ACIP has nothing to do with health and everything to do with profit.”
The ACIP is described as an independent, nonfederal expert body made up of professionals with clinical, scientific and public health expertise. The committee decides which vaccines should be recommended to the public, who should take them and how often — recommendations the CDC typically rubber stamps.
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Baxter Dmitry is a writer at The People’s Voice. He covers politics, business and entertainment. Speaking truth to power since he learned to talk, Baxter has travelled in over 80 countries and won arguments in every single one. Live without fear. Email: [email protected]
Featured image is from NaturalNews.com
The Worldwide Corona Crisis, Global Coup d’Etat Against Humanity
by Michel Chossudovsky
Michel Chossudovsky reviews in detail how this insidious project “destroys people’s lives”. He provides a comprehensive analysis of everything you need to know about the “pandemic” — from the medical dimensions to the economic and social repercussions, political underpinnings, and mental and psychological impacts.
“My objective as an author is to inform people worldwide and refute the official narrative which has been used as a justification to destabilize the economic and social fabric of entire countries, followed by the imposition of the “deadly” COVID-19 “vaccine”. This crisis affects humanity in its entirety: almost 8 billion people. We stand in solidarity with our fellow human beings and our children worldwide. Truth is a powerful instrument.”
Reviews
This is an in-depth resource of great interest if it is the wider perspective you are motivated to understand a little better, the author is very knowledgeable about geopolitics and this comes out in the way Covid is contextualized. —Dr. Mike Yeadon
In this war against humanity in which we find ourselves, in this singular, irregular and massive assault against liberty and the goodness of people, Chossudovsky’s book is a rock upon which to sustain our fight. –Dr. Emanuel Garcia
In fifteen concise science-based chapters, Michel traces the false covid pandemic, explaining how a PCR test, producing up to 97% proven false positives, combined with a relentless 24/7 fear campaign, was able to create a worldwide panic-laden “plandemic”; that this plandemic would never have been possible without the infamous DNA-modifying Polymerase Chain Reaction test – which to this day is being pushed on a majority of innocent people who have no clue. His conclusions are evidenced by renown scientists. —Peter Koenig
Professor Chossudovsky exposes the truth that “there is no causal relationship between the virus and economic variables.” In other words, it was not COVID-19 but, rather, the deliberate implementation of the illogical, scientifically baseless lockdowns that caused the shutdown of the global economy. –David Skripac
A reading of Chossudovsky’s book provides a comprehensive lesson in how there is a global coup d’état under way called “The Great Reset” that if not resisted and defeated by freedom loving people everywhere will result in a dystopian future not yet imagined. Pass on this free gift from Professor Chossudovsky before it’s too late. You will not find so much valuable information and analysis in one place. –Edward Curtin
ISBN: 978-0-9879389-3-0, Year: 2022, PDF Ebook, Pages: 164, 15 Chapters
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Following the February 29 Israeli slaughter of at least 115 starving Palestinians lined up for food aid, there was little or no outrage by the same Western media which would have howled if the perpetrator were Russia or Syria.
According to the Gaza Health Ministry, early morning on Thursday, February 29, Israeli forces opened fire on unarmed Palestinians waiting just southwest of Gaza City for desperately needed food aid. As a result, at least115 civilians were killed and over 750 wounded.
Popular US commenter Judge Andrew Napolitano said in a recent interview with award-winning analyst Professor Jeffery Sachs,
“Innocent Gaza civilians were lined up to receive flour and water from an aid truck, and more than 100 were slaughtered, mowed down, by Israeli troops. This has got to be one of the most reprehensible and public slaughterings that they’ve engaged in.”
The official Israeli version of events, unsurprisingly, puts the blame on the Palestinians themselves. The deaths and injuries were supposedly caused by a stampede, and the Israeli soldiers only fired when they felt they were endangered by the crowd. The BBC even cited one army lieutenant as saying that troops had “cautiously [tried] to disperse the mob with a few warning shots.”Mark Regev, a special adviser to the Israeli prime minister, went as far as to tell CNN that Israeli troops had not been involved directly in any way and that the gunfire had come from “Palestinian armed groups.”
Testimonies from survivors and doctors tell a different story, though, saying the majority of those treated after the incident had been shot by Israeli forces. Legacy media reports, however, use characteristically neutral wording when evidence starts to stack up against Israel. “112 dead in chaotic scenes as Israeli troops open fire near aid trucks, say Gaza officials,” a Guardian headline reads. Palestinians always seem to just “die,” not get killed, and Israeli troops seem to have just “opened fire” nearby. The skewed wording conventions persist even despite the attribution to Palestinian officials present in that same headline – officials like the Palestinian Foreign Ministry, which was quite clear in accusing Israel of perpetrating a ”massacre” as part of a “genocidal war.”
“Chaos” and “die” in the headline. Israel’s denial (lies) in the sub-heading. A lesson in how to both report on and deny a cold-blooded massacre simultaneously: https://t.co/rzWeLX0Mrt
The article does eventually cite the acting Director of al-Awda hospital as saying most of the 161 casualties treated appeared to have been shot. The confusing headline was likely intentional, counting on most people not bothering to read the article in full.
In a report published on March 3, Euro-Med stated members of its field team were present at the time of the incident and “documented Israeli tanks firing heavily towards Palestinian civilians while trying to receive humanitarian aid.” The report goes on to cite Dr Jadallah Al-Shafi’i, head of nursing at Shifa, Gaza’s main hospital, saying, “paramedics and rescue workers were among the victims,” and that at Shifa “they observed dozens of dead and injured, hit by Israeli gunfire.”
The report also cites Dr Amjad Aliwa, an emergency specialist at Shifa who was also on site when Israel opened fire. According to Aliwa, the Israeli fire began, “as soon as the trucks arrived on Thursday at 4 am.”
But the February 29 massacre, tragic as it is, is only a part of the current stage of Israel’s war on Gaza: the deliberate starvation of Palestinians. And like the massacre itself, the whole issue is being subjected to the hands-off wording treatment by establishment media.
Fadi Al-Zalat, a six-year-old Palestinian child, is currently battling malnutrition and dehydration at Kamal Adwan Hospital, a consequence of the Israeli blockade in northern Gaza. pic.twitter.com/PGL0psGDsi
On February 29, the New York Times published an article whose headline, “Starvation Is Stalking Gaza’s Children,” suggests starvation is a mysterious malicious force with a will of its own, skirting the mention of the Israeli siege as its obvious cause.
Again, as with the Guardian article, a few paragraphs in, the NYT piece does state that the “hunger is a man-made catastrophe,” describing how Israeli forces prevent food delivery and how Israeli bombardments make aid distribution dangerous.
It mentions the hunger, “is caused but also partly hidden by a pitiless war that has obliterated hospitals, flooded morgues and damaged communication networks, leaving us to cobble together what’s happening from scraps of information.”
The pitiless Israeli war on Gaza has been documented live since October 7. Cobbling scraps of information is not necessary; Israel’s destruction of Gaza has been done with the whole world watching.
”…Israel has deliberately starved the people of Gaza. Starved! I’m not using an exaggeration, I’m talking literally starving a population. Israel is a criminal, is in non-stop, war crime, status now. I believe in genocidal status.”
Anyone who’s been paying attention knows that the February 29 massacre was not the first such incident, and likely not the last. A thread on Twitter/X outlines this, noting, ”Before yesterday’s “Flour Massacre”, the IDF has been shooting indiscriminately for WEEKS at starved Gazans awaiting aid trucks at the exact same spot, virtually every single day!”
Before yesterday's "Flour Massacre", the IDF has been shooting indiscriminately for WEEKS at starved Gazans awaiting aid trucks at the exact same spot, virtually every single day!
The thread (warning: graphic images!), compiled by Gazan analyst and Euro-Med chief of communications Muhammad Shehada, gives examples of Israeli soldiers firing on Palestinians every single day in the week prior to February 29.
The final post in the thread, referencing February 18, shows a Palestinian man splayed on the ground, “shot in the head by the IDF at the Rasheed street as he came looking for food.”
You can bet that, were these Syrian or Russian soldiers firing on starving civilians, the outrage would be front page, 24/7, for weeks. Scratch that, they wouldn’t even have to do it – just a hint of an accusation would have been enough to get the presses going.
Starvation in Syria Was a Media Trope
The NYT article mentioned above notes that “Reports of death by starvation are difficult to verify from a distance.” But ‘verifying from a distance’ is precisely what the NYT and other Western media did repeatedly in Syria over the years.
In areas occupied by (then) al-Nusra, Jaysh al-Islam, and the other extremist terrorist gangs which the West and corporate media dubbed “rebels,” food aid was always taken by the respective terrorists and withheld from the civilian population, causing starvation in some districts. Madaya, to the west of Damascus, eastern Aleppo, and later eastern Ghouta were districts most loudly campaigned over in legacy media, providing covering fire for the broader US-led campaign to overthrow the Syria government.
Palestinians are starving to death, preventable starvation orchestrated by the genocidal Israeli regime & enabled by the majority of Western states.
Backing the claims that the government was starving civilians were mostly “unnamed activists” or activists whose allegiance to Nusra, or even ISIS, was very overt.
As I would see and hear whenever one of these regions was liberated, ample food and medicine had been sent in, but civilians never saw it. Time and again, in eastern Aleppo, Madaya, al-Waer, eastern Ghouta, to name key areas, civilians complained that terrorist factions hoarded food and medicine, and if they sold it to the population, it was at extortionist prices people couldn’t afford.
In the old city of Homs in 2014, back then dubbed by legacy media as the “capital of the revolution,”starved residents I met told me the West’s precious “rebels” had stolen every morsel of food from them, stealing anything of value as well.
Yet, media headlines about these regions screamed about starvation, outright blaming the Syrian government, and were accompanied by disturbing images of emaciated civilians (some of which were not even from Syria) meant to evoke strong emotions among readers and viewers. The same media largely opts not to show you gaunt, starving, Palestinians in Gaza.
(it wasn't the government which caused the starvation, the govt sent aid into Madaya, it was the West's terrorists within Madaya who hoarded food).
Media were SO outraged..& used photos from places outside of Syria to claim it was in Madaya.https://t.co/GMnh6pDjB0
Tellingly, Syrian towns surrounded by terrorist forces, besieged, bombed, sniped and starved, got virtually no media coverage. It didn’t fit NATO’s narrative of “rebels”=good, Assad=bad.
But in Gaza the world watches in real time as Palestinians die from the ongoing, preventable, starvation.
Open the Borders
Some days ago, the CEO of Medical aid for Palestinians, Melanie Ward, in an interview with CNN, named Israel as the cause of starvation in Gaza.
“It’s very simple: it’s because the Israeli military won’t let it in. We could end this starvation tomorrow very simply if they would just let us have access to people there. But it’s not being allowed. This is what they said [on October 9], ‘Nothing will go in’,” Ward said.
"This is the fastest decline in a population's nutrition status ever recorded. That means children are being starved at the fastest rate the world has ever seen."@melanie_ward speaks with @IsaCNN about the catastrophic levels of hunger that Israel's blockade is causing in Gaza pic.twitter.com/FthwccFEBG
She described the starvation as “the fastest decline in a population’s nutrition status ever recorded. What that means is that children are being starved at the fastest rate the world has ever seen. And we could finish it tomorrow, we could save them all. But we’re not being able to.”
This is echoed by UNICEF. The press-release for its February 2024 report notes that 15.6 % (one in six children) under two years of age are “acutely malnourished” in Gaza’s north. “Of these, almost 3% suffer from severe wasting, the most life-threatening form of malnutrition, which puts young children at highest risk of medical complications and death unless they receive urgent treatment,” UNICEF notes.
Even worse, “since the data were collected in January, the situation is likely to be even graver today,” UNICEF warns, likewise noting the rapid increase of malnutrition is “dangerous and entirely preventable.”
Professor Sachs made an important point:
“This will stop when the United States stops providing the munitions to Israel. It will not stop by any self control in Israel, there is none…They believe in ethnic cleansing or worse. And it is the United States which is the sole support…that is not stopping this slaughter.”
Air-dropping paltry amounts of food aid into Gaza is not the answer. It both legitimizes Israel’s deliberate starvation of Gaza and also makes those Palestinians who run toward the aid sitting ducks for the Israeli army to maim or kill. The only solution is to immediately open the borders and allow in the hundreds of aid trucks parked in Egypt. And end the Israeli bombardment of Gaza.
The Gaza Ministry of Health reports that the death toll of the Israeli aggression has reached 31,045, with 72,654 injuries since October 7 last year. pic.twitter.com/JXDIDEtha5
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How delicious is political hypocrisy. Abundant and rich, it manifests in the corridors of power with regularity. Of late, there is much of it in the US Congress, evident over debates on whether the platform TikTok should be banned in the United States. Much of this seems based on an assumption that foreign companies are not entitled to hoover up, commodify and use the personal data of users, mocking, if not obliterating privacy altogether.
US companies, however, are.
While it is true that aspects of Silicon Valley have drawn the ire of those on The Hill in spouts of select rage, giants such as Meta and Google continue to use the business model of surveillance capitalism with reassurance and impunity.
In May 2023, the disparity of treatment between the companies was laid bare in a Congressional hearing that smacked the hands of Mark Zuckerberg and Sundar Pinchai with little result, while lacerating TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew. “Your platform should be banned,” blustered Chair Cathy McMorris-Rodgers (R-WA) of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
The ongoing concern, and one with some basis, is TikTok’s link with parent company ByteDance. Being based in China, the nexus with the authoritarian state that wields influence on its operations is a legitimate concern, given national security laws requiring the company to share data with officials. But the line of questioning proved obtuse and confused, revealing an obsession with themes resonant with McCarthyite hysteria. On several occasions, the word “communists” issued from the lips of the irate politicians, including regular references to the Chinese Community Party.
Alex Cranz, writing for The Verge, summarised the hectoring session well:
“Between their obsession with communism, their often obnoxious and condescending tone, and the occasional assumption that Chew was Chinese, despite his repeated reminders that he is Singaporean, the hearing was a weird, brutal, xenophobic mess.”
TikTok, for its part, continues to tell regulators that it has taken adequate steps to wall off the data of its 150 million users in the US from ByteDance’s operations, expending US$1.5 billion in its efforts to do so. A January investigation by the Wall Street Journal, however, found that “managers sometimes instruct workers to share data with colleagues in other parts of the company and with ByteDance workers without going through official channels”. How shocking.
Cranz might have also mentioned something else: that the entire show was vaudevillian in its ignorance of US government practices that involved doing exactly what ByteDance and TikTok are accused of: demanding that companies share user data with officials. If he is to be forgotten for everything else, Edward Snowden’s 2013 disclosures on the National Security Agency’s collaboration with US telecom and internet companies on that point should be enshrined in posterity’s halls.
The PRISM program, as it was called, involved the participation of such Big Tech firms as Google, Facebook, YouTube and Apple in sharing the personal data of users with the NSA. Largely because of Snowden’s revelations, end-to-end encryption became both urgent and modish. “An enormous fraction of global internet traffic travelled electronically naked,” Snowden remarked in an interview with The Atlantic last year. “Now it is a rare sight.”
The US House of Representatives has now made good its threats against TikTok in passing a bill that paves the way for the possible imposition of a ban of the app. It gives ByteDance a six-month period of grace to sell its stake in the company, lest it face a nationwide block. Whether it passes the Senate is an open question, given opposition to it by certain Republicans, including presidential hopeful Donald Trump. Other politicians fear losing an invaluable bridge in communicating with youthful voters.
On March 13, however, the righteous were shining in confidence. The House’s top Democrat, Hakeem Jeffries, claimed that the bill would lessen “the likelihood that TikTok user data is exploited and privacy undermined by a hostile foreign adversary” while Wisconsin Republican Mike Gallagher declared that the US could no longer “take the risk of having a dominant news platform in America controlled by a company that is beholden to the Chinese Communist Party.” The subtext: best leave the despoiling and abuse to US companies.
The blotted copybooks of such giants as Meta and Google have tended to only feature in morally circumscribed ways, sparing the model of their business operations from severe scrutiny. On January 31, the Senate Judiciary Committee gave a farcical display of rant and displeasure over the issue of what it called “the Online Child Exploitation Crisis.” Pet terrors long nursed were on show: the mania about paedophiles using social media platforms to stalk their quarry; financial extortion of youth; sexploitation; drug dealing.
Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) made much of Zuckerberg on that occasion, but only as a prop to apologise to victims of Meta’s approach to child users. The Meta CEO has long known that such palliative displays only serve as false catharsis; the substance and rationale of how his company operations gather data never changes. And the show was also all the more sinister in providing a backdrop for Congressional paranoia, exemplified in such proposed measures as the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA).
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has rightly called KOSA a censorship bill which smuggles in such concepts as “duty of care” as a pretext to monitor information and conduct on the Internet. The attack on TikTok is ostensibly similar in protecting users in the US from the prying eyes of Beijing’s officials while waving through the egregious assaults on privacy by the Silicon Valley behemoths. How wonderfully patriotic.
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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]
While the US publication Foreign Policy accepts Putin’s case on non NATO Ukraine and concedes that Russia cares more for Ukraine than the West there is great dissension within the western alliance. Jens Stoltenberg speaking at Sweden’s NATO membership ceremony continues the war rhetoric.
President Biden began his State of the Union speech with an impassioned warning that failing to pass his $61 billion dollar weapons package for Ukraine “will put Ukraine at risk, Europe at risk, the free world at risk.” But even if the president’s request were suddenly passed, it would only prolong, and dangerously escalate, the brutal war that is destroying Ukraine.
The myth is that Israel is a major U.S. strategic asset, described as a sort of unsinkable American aircraft carrier vital to Washington’s interests in the Middle East. The line of argument of those who share this myth is to show that the United States has economic and strategic interests in the oil-rich Middle East (which nobody denies) and to quote American (and, of course, Israeli) political figures who claim that Israel is the best or even the sole U.S. ally in the region.
Justin Trudeau is trying to pass Bill C-63 into law — which would make it illegal to “express hate on the internet.” The Liberal government is trying to make it illegal to express an intense dislike for somebody or something.
In the aftermath of the NATO-backed 2014 Maidan coup that brought Neo-Nazis to power in Ukraine, there has been a systematic nazification of Ukrainian youth, including underage children.
As I reported recently, now that it can no longer be denied that the Covid “vaccine” causes death and a large variety of serious health effects, Big Pharma and its shills are adjusting the narrative. A “study” was done admitting the adverse effects of the “vaccine” but pronouncing them to be “rare.”
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In my recent trip to Russia, I visited the “New Territories” of the Russian Federation and witnessed firsthand their struggle for identity and survival.
Tucker Carlson’s confused exasperation over Russian President Vladmir Putin’s extemporaneous history lesson at the start of their landmark interview, which was aired on February 9, 2024 (and which has since been seen by more than a billion people worldwide), underscored the reality that, for a western audience, the question of the historical bona fides of Russia’s claim of sovereign interest in territories located on the left bank of the Dnieper River, and which are currently claimed by Ukraine, is confusing to the point of incomprehension (for the cartographically challenged, the determination of what constitutes the “left” and “right” banks of a river is determined by the direction of flow of the river; the Dnieper River flows from the north to the south, and as such the “left” bank is the land located to the east of the Dnieper River).
Vladimir Putin, however, did not manufacture his history lesson from thin air. Anyone who followed the speeches and writings of the Russian President over the years would have found his comments to Mr. Carlson quite familiar, echoing both in tone and content previous statements made concerning both the viability of the Ukrainian state from a historic perspective, and the historical ties between what Putin has called Novorossiya (New Russia) and the Russian nation.
For example, on March 18, 2014, during his announcement regarding the annexation of Crimea, the Russian President observed that “After the [Russian] Revolution [of 1917], for a number of reasons the Bolsheviks—let God judge them—added historical sections of the south of Russia to the Republic of Ukraine. This was done with no consideration for the ethnic composition of the population, and these regions today form the south-east of Ukraine.”
Later during a televised question and answer session, Putin declared that “what was called Novorossiya back in tsarist days—Kharkov, Lugansk, Donetsk, Kherson, Nikolayev and Odessa—were not part of Ukraine then. These territories were given to Ukraine in the 1920s by the Soviet Government. Why? Who knows? They were won by Potemkin and Catherine the Great in a series of well-known wars. The center of that territory was Novorossiysk, so the region is called Novorossiya. Russia lost these territories for various reasons, but the people remained.”
Novorossiya wasn’t just a construct of Vladimir Putin’s psyche, but rather a notion drawn from historic fact that resonated with the people who populated the territories so encompassed. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, there was an abortive effort by pro-Russian citizens of the new Ukrainian state to restore Novorossiya as an independent region which would initially encompass Odessa, Mykolaiv, Kherson, and Crimea, with the possibility of later expanding into other regions, such as Zaporizhia, Dnipropetrovsk, and Kharkov.
While this effort failed, the concept of a greater Novorossiya confederation was revived in May 2014 by the newly proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics. But this effort, too, was short lived, being put on ice in 2015. This, however, did not mean the death of the idea of Novorossiya. On February 21, 2022, Vladimir Putin delivered a lengthy address to the Russian nation on the eve of his decision to send Russian troops into Ukraine as part of what he termed a Special Military Operation. Those who watched Tucker Carlson’s February 9, 2024 interview with Putin would have been struck by the similarity between the two presentations.
While Putin did not make a direct reference to Novorossiya, he did outline fundamental historic and cultural linkages which serve as the foundation for any discussion about the viability and legitimacy of Novorossiya in the context of Russian-Ukrainian relations. “I would like to emphasize,” Putin said, “once again that Ukraine is not just a neighboring country for us. It is an integral part of our own history, culture, and spiritual space. It is our friends, our relatives, not only colleagues, friends, and former work colleagues, but also our relatives and close family members. Since the oldest times,” Putin continued, “the inhabitants of the south-western historical territories of ancient Russia have called themselves Russians and Orthodox Christians. It was the same in the 17th century, when a part of these territories [i.e., Novorossiya] was reunited with the Russian state, and even after that.”
The Russian President set forth his contention that the modern state of Ukraine was an invention of Vladimir Lenin, the founding father of the Soviet Union. “As a result of Bolshevik policy,” Putin stated, “Soviet Ukraine arose, which even today can with good reason be called ‘Vladimir Ilyich Lenin’s Ukraine.’ He is its author and architect. This is fully confirmed by archive documents.”
Putin went on to issue a threat which, when seen in the context of the present, proved ominously prescient. “And now grateful descendants have demolished monuments to Lenin in Ukraine. This is what they call decommunization. Do you want decommunization? Well, that suits us just fine. But it is unnecessary, as they say, to stop halfway. We are ready to show you what real decommunization means for Ukraine.”
In September 2022 Putin followed through on this threat, ordering referenda in four territories (Kherson and Zaporizhia, and the newly independent Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics) to determine whether the populations residing there wished to join the Russian Federation. All four did so. Putin has since then referred to these new Russian territories as Novorossiya, perhaps nowhere more poignantly that in June 2023, when he praised the Russian soldiers “who fought and gave their lives to Novorossiya and for the unity of the Russian world.”
The story of those who fought and gave their lives to Novorossiya is one that I have wanted to tell for some time now. I bore witness to the extremely one-sided coverage of the military aspects of Russia’s Special Military Operation here in the United States. Like many of my fellow analysts, I had to undertake the extremely difficult task of trying to parse out fact from an overwhelmingly fictional narrative. Nor was I helped in any way in this regard by the Russian side, which was parsimonious in the release of a narrative that reflected their version of reality.
In preparing for my December 2024 visit to Russia, I had hoped to be able to visit the four new Russian territories to see for myself what the ground truth was when it came to the fighting between Russia and Ukraine. I also wanted to interview Russian military and civilian leadership to get a broader perspective of the conflict. I had reached out to the Russian Foreign and Defense ministries through the Russian Embassy in the United States, bending the ear of both the Ambassador, Anatoly Antonov, and the Defense Attache, Major-General Evgeny Bobkin, about my plans.
While both men supported my project and wrote recommendations back to their respective ministries in this regard, the Russian Defense Ministry, which had the final say over what happened in the four new territories, vetoed the idea. This veto was not because they didn’t like the idea of me writing an in-depth analysis of the conflict from the Russian perspective, but rather that the project as I outlined it, which would have required sustained access to frontline units and personnel, was deemed too dangerous. In short, the Russian Defense Ministry did not relish the idea of me being killed on their watch.
Under normal circumstances, I would have backed off. I had no desire to create any difficulty with the Russian government, and I was always cognizant of the reality that I was a guest in their country.
The last thing I wanted to be was a “war tourist,” where I put myself and others at risk for purely personal reasons. But I also felt strongly that if I were going to continue to provide so-called “expert analysis” about the Special Military Operation and the geopolitical realities of Novorossiya and Crimea, I needed to see these places firsthand. I strongly believed that I had a professional obligation to see the new territories. Fortunately for me, Alexander Ziryanov agreed.
It wasn’t going to be easy.
We first tried to enter the new territories via Donetsk, driving west out of Rostov-on-Don. However, when we arrived at the checkpoint, we were told that the Ministry of Defense had not cleared us for entry. Not willing to take no for an answer, Alexander drove south, towards Krasnodar, and then—after making some phone calls—across the Crimean Bridge into Crimea. Once it became clear that we were planning on entering the new territories from Crimea, the Ministry of Defense yielded, granting permission for me to visit the four new Russian territories under one non-negotiable condition—I was not to go anywhere near the frontlines.
We left Feodosia early on the morning of January 15, 2024. At Dzhankoy, in northern Crimea, we took highway 18 north toward the Tup-Dzhankoi Peninsula and the Chonhar Strait, which separates the Syvash lagoon system that forms the border between Crimea and the mainland into eastern and western portions. It was here that Red Army forces, on the night of November 12, 1920, broke through the defenses of the White Army of General Wrangel, leading to the capture of the Crimean Peninsula by Soviet forces. And it was also here that the Russian Army, on February 24, 2022, crossed into the Kherson region from Crimea, beginning the Special Military Operation.
The Chonhar Bridge is one of three highway crossings that connect Crimea with Kherson. It has been struck twice by Ukrainian forces to disrupt Russian supply lines, once on June 22, 2023, when it was struck by British-made Storm Shadow missiles, and once again on August 6, 2023, when it was hit by French-made SCALP missiles (a variant of the Storm Shadow). In both instances, the bridge was temporarily shut down for repairs, evidence of which was clearly visible as we made our way across the bridge, and on to the Chonhar checkpoint, where we were cleared by Russian soldiers for entry into Kherson.
The Chonhar Bridge following an attack using French-made SCALP missiles, August 2023
At the checkpoint we picked up a vehicle carrying a bodyguard detachment from the reconnaissance company of the Sparta Battalion, a veteran military formation whose roots date back to the very beginning of the Donbas revolt against the Ukrainian nationalists who seized power in Kiev during the February 2014 Maidan coup. They would be our escort through Kherson and Zaporizhia—even though we were going to give the frontlines a wide berth, Ukrainian “deep reconnaissance groups,” or DRGs, were known to target traffic along the M18 highway. Alexander was driving an armored Chevrolet Suburban, and the Sparta detachment had their own armored SUV. If we were to come under attack, our response would be to try and drive through the ambush. If that failed, then the Sparta boys would have to go to work.
Our first destination was the city of Genichesk, a port city along the Sea of Azov. Genichesk is the capital of the Genichesk District of Kherson and, since November 9, 2022, when Russian forces withdrew from the city of Kherson, it has served as the temporary capital of the Kherson Region. Alexander had been on his phone since morning, and his efforts had paid off—I was scheduled to meet with Vladimir Saldo, the Governor of the Kherson Region.
Genichesk is—literally—off the beaten path. When we reached the town of Novoalekseyevka, we got off the M18 highway and headed east along a two-lane road that took us toward the Sea of Azov. There were armed checkpoints all along the route, but the Sparta bodyguards were able to get us waived through without any issues. But the effect of these checkpoints was chilling—there was no doubt that one was in a region at war.
To call Genichesk a ghost town would be misleading—it was populated, and the evidence of civilian life was everywhere you looked. The problem was, there didn’t seem to be enough people present. The city, like the region, was in a general state of decay, a holdover from the neglect it had suffered at the hands of a Ukrainian government that largely ignored territories that had, since 2004, voted in favor of the Party of Regions, the pro-Russian party of former President Viktor Yanukovich, who was ousted from office because of the February 2014 Maidan coup. Nearly two years of war had likewise contributed to the atmosphere of societal neglect, an impression which was magnified by the weather—overcast, cold, with a light sleet blowing in off the water.
As we made our way into the government building where the government of the Kherson Region had established its temporary offices, I couldn’t help but notice a statue of Lenin in the courtyard. Ukrainian nationalists had taken it down on July 16, 2015, but the citizens of Genichesk had reinstalled it in April 2022, once the Russians had taken control of the city. Given President Putin’s feeling about the role Lenin played in creating Ukraine, I found both the presence of this monument, and the role of the Russian citizens of Genichesk in restoring it, curiously ironic.
Vladimir Saldo was a beacon of brightness, a man imbued with enthusiasm for his work. A civil engineer by profession, with a PhD in economics, Saldo had served in senior management positions in the “Khersonbud” Project and Construction Company before moving into politics, serving in the Kherson City Council, the Kherson Regional Administration, and two terms as the mayor of the city of Kherson. Saldo, as a member of the Party of Regions, was cast into political exile following the Maidan coup of 2014, when the Ukrainian nationalists who had seized power banned the party.
Alexander Ziryanov and I had the pleasure of meeting with Vladimir Saldo in his office in the governmental building in downtown Genichesk. We talked about a wide range of issues and topics, including Saldo’s own path from a Ukrainian construction specialist to his current position as the Governor of Kherson Oblast.
We talked about the war.
But Saldo’s passion was the economy, and how he could help revive the civilian economy of Kherson in a manner that best served the interests of its diminished population—on the eve of the initiation of the Special Military Operation, back in early 2022, the population of Kherson Oblast stood at just over a million persons, most of whom resided in the city of Kherson, which some 280,000 people called home. By November 2022, following the withdrawal of Russian forces from the right bank of the Dnieper River—including the city of Kherson—the population of Kherson Oblast had fallen to under 400,000, and with dismal economic prospects, the numbers kept falling. Most of those who left were Ukrainians who did not want to live under Russian rule. But many others were Russians and Ukrainians who felt that they had no future in war-torn Kherson, and as such sought their fortunes elsewhere in Russia.
“My job is to give the people of Kherson hope for a better future,” Saldo told me. “And the time for this to happen is now, not when the war ends.”
Restoration of Kherson’s once vibrant agricultural sector was a top priority, and Saldo had personally taken the lead in signing agreements for the provision of Kherson produce to Moscow supermarkets. Saldo had also turned Kherson into a special economic zone, where potential investors and entrepreneurs could receive preferential loans and financial support, as well as organizational and legal assistance for businesses willing to open shop in Kherson.
The man responsible for making Vladimir Saldo’s vision into reality is Mikhail Panchenko, the Director of the Kherson Region Industry Development Fund. I met Mikhail in a restaurant located across the street from the governmental building which Saldo called home. Mikhail had come to Kherson in the summer of 2022, leaving a prominent position in Moscow in the process. “The Russian government was interested in rebuilding Kherson,” Mikhail told me, “and established the Industry Development Fund as a way of attracting businesses to the region.” Mikhail, who was born in 1968, was too old to enlist in the military. “When the opportunity came to direct the Industry Development Fund came, I jumped at it as a way to do my patriotic duty.”
The first year of the fund’s operation saw Mikhail hand out 300 million rubles in loans and grants (some of which was used to open the very restaurant where we were meeting). The second year saw the allotment grow to some 700 million rubles. One of the biggest projects was the opening of a concrete production line capable of producing 60 square meters of concrete per hour. Mikhail took Alexander and I on a tour of the plant, which had grown to three production lines generating some 180 square meters of concrete an hour. Mikhail had just approved funding for an additional four production lines, for a total concrete production rate of 420 square meters per hour.
“That’s a lot of concrete,” I remarked to Mikhail.
“We are making good use of it,” he replied. “We are rebuilding schools, hospitals, and government buildings that had been neglected over the years. Revitalizing the basic infrastructure a society needs if it is to nurture and growing population.”
The problem Mikhail faced, however, is that most of the population growth being experienced in Kherson today came from the military. The war couldn’t last forever, Mikhail noted. “Someday the army will leave, and we will need civilians. Right now, the people who left are not returning, and we’re having a hard time attracting newcomers. But we will keep building in anticipation of a time when the population of Kherson Oblast will grow from an impetus other than war. And for that,” he said, a twinkle in his eye, “we need concrete!”
The author (center, pointing) with Alexander Ziryanov (left) and Mikhail Panchenko (right)
I thought long and hard about the words of both Vladimir Saldo and Mikhail Panchenko as Alexander drove back onto the M18 highway, heading northeast, toward Donetsk. The reconstruction efforts being undertaken were impressive. But the number that kept coming to mind was the precipitous decline in the population—more than 60% of the prewar population had left the Kherson Region since the Russian military operation had begun.
According to statistics provided by the Russian Central Election Commission, some 571,000 voters took part in the referendum of joining Russia that was held in late September 2022. A little over 497,000, or some 87%, voted in favor, while a bit more than 68,800, or 12%, voted against.
These numbers, if accurate, implied that there was a population of over 760,000 eligible voters at the time of the election. While the loss of the city of Kherson in November 2022 could account for a significant source of the population drop that took place between September 2022 and the time of my visit in January 2024, it could not account for all of it.
The Russian population of Kherson in 2022 stood at approximately 20%, or around 200,000. One can safely say that the number of Russians who fled west to Kiev following the initiation of the Special Military Operation amounts to a negligible figure. If one assumes that the Russian population of Kherson Region remained relatively stable, then most of the population decline came from the Ukrainian population.
The author (left) with Vladimir Saldo (center) and Alexander Ziryanov (right)
While Vladimir Saldo did not admit to such, the Governor of neighboring Zaporizhia Region, Yevgeny Balitsky, has acknowledged that many Ukrainian families deemed by the authorities to be anti-Russian were forcibly deported from the Zaporizhia Region following the initiation of the Special Military Operation (Russians accounted for a little more than 25% of the pre-conflict Zaporizhian population). Many others fled to Russia to escape the deprivations of war.
Evidence of the war was everywhere to be seen. While the conflict in Kherson had stabilized along a line defined by the Dnieper River, Zaporizhia was very much a frontline region. Indeed, the main direction of attack of the Ukrainian 2023 Summer counteroffensive was from the Zaporizhian village of Robotine, toward the town of Tokmak, and on towards the temporary regional capital of Melitopol (the city of Zaporizhia remained under Ukrainian control throughout the conflict to date).
I had petitioned to visit the frontlines near Robotine but had been denied by the Russian Ministry of Defense. So, too, had my request to visit units deployed in the vicinity of Tokmak—too close to the front. The closest I would get would be the city of Melitopol, the ultimate objective of the Ukrainian counterattack. We drove past fields filled with the concrete “dragon’s teeth” and antitank ditches that marked the final layer of defenses that constituted the “Surovikin Line,” named after the famed Russian General Sergey Surovikin, who had commanded the Special Military Operation when the defenses were put in place.
The Ukrainians had hoped to reach the city of Melitopol in a matter of days once their attack began; they never penetrated past the first line of defense situated to the southeast of Robotine.
Melitopol, however, was not immune to the horror of war, with Ukrainian artillery and rockets targeting it often to disrupt Russian military logistics. I kept this in mind as we drove through the streets of the city, past military checkpoints, and roving patrols. I was struck by the fact that the civilians I saw were going about their business, seemingly oblivious to the everyday reality of war that existed around them.
As was the case in Kherson, the entirety of the Zaporizhia Region seemed strangely depopulated, as if one were driving through the French capital of Paris in August, when half the city was away on vacation. I had hoped to be able to talk with Yevgeny Balitsky about Zaporizhia’s reduced population and other questions I had about life in Zaporizhia during wartime, but this time Alexander’s phone could not produce the desired result—Balitsky was away from the region and unavailable.
If he had been available, I would have asked him the same question I had put to Vladimir Saldo earlier in the day: given that Vladimir Putin was apparently willing to return the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions to Ukraine as part of the peace deal negotiated in March 2022, how does the population of Zaporizhia feel about being part of Russia today? Are they convinced that Russia is, in fact, there to stay? Do they feel like they are a genuine part of the Novorossiya that Vladimir Putin speaks about?
Vladimir Saldo had talked in depth about the transition from being occupied by Russian forces, which lasted until April-May 2022 (about the time that Ukraine backed out of the agreed upon ceasefire agreement), to being administered by Russia. “There never was a doubt in my mind, or anyone else, that Kherson was historically a part of Russia,” Saldo said, “or that, once Russian troops arrived, that we would forever be Russian again.”
But the declining populations, and the admission of forced deportations on the part of Balitsky, suggested that there was a significant part of the population that had, in fact, taken umbrage at such a future.
I would have liked to hear what Yevgeny Balitsky had to say about this question.
Reality, however, doesn’t deal with hypotheticals, and the present reality is that both Kherson and Zaporizhia are today part of the Russian Federation, and that both regions are populated by people who had made the decision to remain there as citizens of Russia. We will never know what the fate of these two territories would have been had the Ukrainian government honored the ceasefire agreement negotiated in March 2022. What we do know is that today both Kherson and Zaporizhia are part of the “New Territories”—Novorossiya.
Russia will for some time find its acquisition of the “new territories” challenged by nations who question the legitimacy of Russia’s military occupation and subsequent absorption of Kherson and Zaporizhia into the Russian Federation. The reticence of foreigners to recognize these regions as being part of Russia, however, is the least of Russia’s problems—as was the case with Crimea, the Russian government will proceed irrespective of any international opposition.
The real challenge facing Russia is to convince Russians that the new territories are as integral to the Russian motherland as Crimea, a region absorbed by Russia in 2014 which has seen its economic fortunes and its population grow over the past decade. The diminished demographics of Kherson and Zaporizhia represent a litmus test of sorts for the Russian government, and for the governments of both Kherson and Zaporizhia. If the populations of these regions cannot regenerate, then these regions will wither on the vine. If, however, these new Russian lands can be transformed into places where Russians can envision themselves raising families in an environment free from want and fear, then Novorossiya will flourish.
Novorossiya is a reality, and the people who live there are citizens by choice more than circumstance. They are well-served by men like Vladimir Saldo and Yevgeny Balitsky, who are dedicated to the giant task of making these regions part of the Russian Motherland in actuality, not just in name.
Behind Saldo and Balitsky are men like Mikhail Panchenko, people who left an easy life in Moscow or some other Russian city to come to the “New Territories” not for the purpose of seeking their fortunes, but rather to improve the lives of the new Russian citizens of Novorossiya.
For this to happen, Russia must emerge victorious in its struggle against the Ukrainian nationalists ensconced in Kiev, and their western allies. Thanks to the sacrifices of the Russian military, this victory is in the process of being accomplished.
Then the real test begins—turning Novorossiya into a place Russians will want to call home.
*
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Introductory Note. Thirteen Years Ago. March 11, 2011
While commemorating the 13th anniversary of the Fukushima traged, the evidence amply confirms that this disaster has by no means been resolved.
The Fukushima disaster in March 2011 resulted in 16,000 deaths, causing some 165,000 people to flee their homes in the Fukushima area.
Both the Japanese and Western media tend to downplay the impacts of nuclear radiation which has spread to vast areas in Northern Japan, not to mention the contamination of water and the food chain.
The Fukushima disaster in Japan has brought to the forefront the dangers of Worldwide nuclear radiation.
The continued dumping of highly radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean constitutes a potential trigger to a process of global radioactive contamination.
“Unimaginable” levels of radiation still prevail. In the words of Dr. Helen Caldicott, “one millionth of a gram of plutonium, if inhaled can cause cancer”.
TEPCO is planning a release of “1.3 million tons of treated wastewater” over a period of 30 years.
85 Times More Cesium than Chernobyl
Amply documented the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) has been involved in a coverup. And so has the Japanese government. The Abe government had casually pointed to “harmful rumors”.
The destroyed reactors are tinderboxes of highly radioactive spent fuel rods that contain more cesium-137 than eighty-five (85) Chernobyls.
Cesium-137 in or near a human body erupts into a series of maladies, one after another in short order, depending upon level of exposure: (1) nausea (2) vomiting (3) diarrhea (4) bleeding (5) coma leading to death.”
The spent fuel rods at the Fukushima nuclear reactor site are stored in pools of water on the top floor of compromised reactor buildings 100 feet above ground level, except for Unit 3 which completed removal of its spent fuel rods in 2019, an extremely slow, laborious process that’s highly dangerous. (Robert Hunziker)
The present government’s stance remains notoriously ambiguous. Already in 2021, TEPCO acknowledged that the decommissioning of the Fukushima facility could last until 2051.
The Worldwide public health impacts which includes the contamination of the Pacific Ocean extending to the Western Hemisphere including the California coastline are incalculable.
The crisis in Japan has also brought into the open the unspoken relationship between nuclear energy and nuclear war.
Nuclear energy is not a civilian economic activity.
It is an appendage of the nuclear weapons industry which is controlled by the so-called defense contractors. The powerful corporate interests behind nuclear energy and nuclear weapons overlap.
Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research March 11, 2024
***
Originally published in January 2012, this study by Michel Chossudovsky confirms what is now unfolding: a Worldwide process of nuclear radiation.
The text was published as a chapter in Michel Chossudovsky’s 2015 bestseller:
The World is at a critical crossroads. The Fukushima disaster in Japan has brought to the forefront the dangers of Worldwide nuclear radiation.
The crisis in Japan has been described as “a nuclear war without a war”. In the words of renowned novelist Haruki Murakami:
“This time no one dropped a bomb on us … We set the stage, we committed the crime with our own hands, we are destroying our own lands, and we are destroying our own lives.”
Nuclear radiation –which threatens life on planet earth– is not front page news in comparison to the most insignificant issues of public concern, including the local level crime scene or the tabloid gossip reports on Hollywood celebrities.
Moreover, while all eyes were riveted on the Fukushima Daiichi plant, news coverage both in Japan and internationally failed to fully acknowledge the impacts of a second catastrophe at TEPCO’s (Tokyo Electric Power Co Inc) Fukushima Daini nuclear power plant.
The shaky political consensus both in Japan, the U.S. and Western Europe is that the crisis at Fukushima has been contained.
The realties, however, are otherwise. Fukushima 3 was leaking unconfirmed amounts of plutonium. According to Dr. Helen Caldicott,
“one millionth of a gram of plutonium, if inhaled can cause cancer”.
An opinion poll in May 2011 confirmed that more than 80 per cent of the Japanese population do not believe the government’s information regarding the nuclear crisis. (quoted in Sherwood Ross, Fukushima: Japan’s Second Nuclear Disaster, Global Research, November 10, 2011)
The Impacts in Japan
The Japanese government has been obliged to acknowledge that “the severity rating of its nuclear crisis … matches that of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster”. In a bitter irony, however, this tacit admission by the Japanese authorities has proven to be part of the cover-up of a significantly larger catastrophe, resulting in a process of global nuclear radiation and contamination:
“While Chernobyl was an enormous unprecedented disaster, it only occurred at one reactor and rapidly melted down. Once cooled, it was able to be covered with a concrete sarcophagus that was constructed with 100,000 workers. There are a staggering 4400 tons of nuclear fuel rods at Fukushima, which greatly dwarfs the total size of radiation sources at Chernobyl.” ( Extremely High Radiation Levels in Japan: University Researchers Challenge Official Data, Global Research, April 11, 2011)
Fukushima in the wake of the Tsunami, March 2011
Worldwide Contamination
The dumping of highly radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean constitutes a potential trigger to a process of global radioactive contamination.
Radioactive elements have not only been detected in the food chain in Japan, radioactive rain water has been recorded in California:
“Hazardous radioactive elements being released in the sea and air around Fukushima accumulate at each step of various food chains (for example, into algae, crustaceans, small fish, bigger fish, then humans; or soil, grass, cow’s meat and milk, then humans). Entering the body, these elements – called internal emitters – migrate to specific organs such as the thyroid, liver, bone, and brain, continuously irradiating small volumes of cells with high doses of alpha, beta and/or gamma radiation, and over many years often induce cancer”. (Helen Caldicott, Fukushima: Nuclear Apologists Play Shoot the Messenger on Radiation, The Age, April 26, 2011)
While the spread of radiation to the West Coast of North America was casually acknowledged, the early press reports (AP and Reuters) “quoting diplomatic sources” stated that only “tiny amounts of radioactive particles have arrived in California but do not pose a threat to human health.”
“According to the news agencies, the unnamed sources have access to data from a network of measuring stations run by the United Nations’ Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization. …
… Greg Jaczko, chair of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, told White House reporters on Thursday (March 17) that his experts “don’t see any concern from radiation levels that could be harmful here in the United States or any of the U.S. territories”.
The spread of radiation. March 2011
Public Health Disaster. Economic Impacts
What prevails is a well organized camouflage. The public health disaster in Japan, the contamination of water, agricultural land and the food chain, not to mention the broader economic and social implications, have neither been fully acknowledged nor addressed in a comprehensive and meaningful fashion by the Japanese authorities.
Japan as a nation state has been destroyed. Its landmass and territorial waters are contaminated. Part of the country is uninhabitable. High levels of radiation have been recorded in the Tokyo metropolitan area, which has a population of 39 million (2010) (more than the population of Canada, circa 34 million (2010)) There are indications that the food chain is contaminated throughout Japan:
Radioactive cesium exceeding the legal limit was detected in tea made in a factory in Shizuoka City, more than 300 kilometers away from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Shizuoka Prefecture is one of the most famous tea producing areas in Japan.
A tea distributor in Tokyo reported to the prefecture that it detected high levels of radioactivity in the tea shipped from the city. The prefecture ordered the factory to refrain from shipping out the product. After the accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, radioactive contamination of tea leaves and processed tea has been found over a wide area around Tokyo. (See 5 More Companies Detect Radiation In Their Tea Above Legal Limits Over 300 KM From Fukushima, June 15, 2011)
Japan’s industrial and manufacturing base is prostrate. Japan is no longer a leading industrial power. The country’s exports have plummeted. The Tokyo government has announced its first trade deficit since 1980.
While the business media has narrowly centered on the impacts of power outages and energy shortages on the pace of productive activity, the broader issue pertaining to the outright radioactive contamination of the country’s infrastructure and industrial base is a “scientific taboo” (i.e the radiation of industrial plants, machinery and equipment, buildings, roads, etc).
A “coverup report” by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (May 2011), entitled “Economic Impact of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Current Status of Recovery“presents “Economic Recovery” as a fait accompli.
It also brushes aside the issue of radiation.
The impacts of nuclear radiation on the work force and the country’s industrial base are not mentioned. The report states that the distance between Tokyo -Fukushima Dai-ichi is of the order of 230 km (about 144 miles) and that the levels of radiation in Tokyo are lower than in Hong Kong and New York City. (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Impact of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Current Status of Recovery, p.15).
This statement is made without corroborating evidence and in overt contradiction with independent radiation readings in Tokyo (see map below). In recent developments, Sohgo Security Services Co. is launching a lucrative “radiation measurement service targeting households in Tokyo and four surrounding prefectures”.
“A map of citizens’ measured radiation levels shows radioactivity is distributed in a complex pattern reflecting the mountainous terrain and the shifting winds across a broad area of Japan north of Tokyo which is in the center of the of bottom of the map.”
“Radiation limits begin to be exceeded at just above 0.1 microsieverts/ hour blue. Red is about fifty times the civilian radiation limit at 5.0 microsieverts/hour. Because children are much more sensitive than adults, these results are a great concern for parents of young children in potentially affected areas.”
The fundamental question is whether the vast array of industrial goods and components “Made in Japan” — including hi tech components, machinery, electronics, motor vehicles, etc — and exported Worldwide are contaminated? Were this to be the case, the entire East and Southeast Asian industrial base –which depends heavily on Japanese components and industrial technology– would be affected. The potential impacts on international trade would be farreaching. In this regard, in January, Russian officials confiscated irradiated Japanese automobiles and autoparts in the port of Vladivostok for sale in the Russian Federation. Needless to say, incidents of this nature in a global competitive environment, could lead to the demise of the Japanese automobile industry which is already in crisis.
While most of the automotive industry is in central Japan, Nissan’s engine factory in Iwaki city is 42 km from the Fukushima Daiichi plant. Is the Nissan work force affected? Is the engine plant contaminated? The plant is within about 10 to 20 km of the government’s “evacuation zone” from which some 200,000 people were evacuated (see map below).
Nuclear Energy and Nuclear War
The crisis in Japan has also brought into the open the unspoken relationship between nuclear energy and nuclear war.
Nuclear energy is not a civilian economic activity. It is an appendage of the nuclear weapons industry which is controlled by the so-called defense contractors. The powerful corporate interests behind nuclear energy and nuclear weapons overlap.
In Japan at the height of the disaster, “the nuclear industry and government agencies [were] scrambling to prevent the discovery of atomic-bomb research facilities hidden inside Japan’s civilian nuclear power plants”.1 (See Yoichi Shimatsu, Secret Weapons Program Inside Fukushima Nuclear Plant? Global Research, April 12, 2011)
It should be noted that the complacency of both the media and the governments to the hazards of nuclear radiation pertains to the nuclear energy industry as well as to to the use of nuclear weapons.
In both cases, the devastating health impacts of nuclear radiation are casually denied. Tactical nuclear weapons with an explosive capacity of up to six times a Hiroshima bomb are labelled by the Pentagon as “safe for the surrounding civilian population”.
No concern has been expressed at the political level as to the likely consequences of a US-NATO-Israel attack on Iran, using “safe for civilians” tactical nuclear weapons against a non-nuclear state.
Such an action would result in “the unthinkable”: a nuclear holocaust over a large part of the Middle East and Central Asia. A nuclear nightmare, however, would occur even if nuclear weapons were not used.
The bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities using conventional weapons would contribute to unleashing another Fukushima type disaster with extensive radioactive fallout.
Os Institutos Nacionais de Saúde (NIH) estão financiando pesquisas sobre como aumentar a aceitação da vacina contra o papilomavírus humano (HPV) entre meninos e meninas do quinto ano na África do Sul, a partir de documentos obtidos pela Children’s Health Defense (CHD) através de um pedido de um Freedom of Information Act revelado.
O NIH concedeu aproximadamente US$ 340.000 aos investigadores principais, Dra. Ingrid Katz, médica do Brigham and Women’s Hospital em Massachusetts, e Lisa Michelle Butler, Ph.D., epidemiologista da Universidade de Connecticut.
A subvenção financia um projeto para desenvolver e testar estratégias de comunicação escolar dirigidas às crianças e aos seus pais nas escolas da província de KwaZulu-Natal, na África do Sul, para determinar que tipos de comunicação têm maior probabilidade de resultar em mais crianças a receberem a vacina contra o HPV.
Os investigadores esperam que as estratégias de comunicação escolar que desenvolvem ajudem a aumentar a vacinação contra o HPV em crianças e adolescentes na África do Sul, da taxa atual de 37% das raparigas para a taxa alvo de mais de 80% de todas as crianças com idades entre os 9 e os 12 anos.
Esperam utilizar mais tarde a mesma estratégia noutros países de baixo e médio rendimento para aumentar também as suas taxas.
“As vacinas contra o HPV não foram avaliadas de forma independente em termos de segurança e eficácia”, disse o Dr. Shankara Chetty, clínico geral e cientista natural de KwaZulu-Natal. “Como tal, nenhuma estratégia de marketing coercitiva será suficiente para informar honestamente os destinatários sobre a sua decisão de consentimento.”
“Vendo que os menores estão sendo alvo, é imperativo que os tutores destes menores recebam todas as informações atuais e, mais importante, sejam informados da falta de informações sobre segurança e eficácia para fazer uma escolha informada”, disse Chetty. “Isso não pode ser feito pela indústria lucrando com sua implementação.”
Parte de uma iniciativa de subsídio de US$ 40 milhões para promover vacinas contra o HPV
O CHD identificou em junho de 2023 quase 50 subsídios concedidos pelo Departamento de Saúde e Serviços Humanos (HHS) dos EUA e suas subagências, incluindo o NIH. As subvenções, totalizando mais de 40 milhões de dólares, foram destinadas a universidades, sistemas de saúde e departamentos de saúde pública para utilizarem estratégias de psicologia comportamental para aumentar a adesão à vacina contra o HPV entre os adolescentes.
Esta é a primeira subvenção identificada pelo CHD que utiliza os mesmos métodos para atingir crianças na África.
A pesquisa se enquadra em um programa mais amplo entre instituições do HHS, que inclui centenas de milhões de dólares em subsídios para desenvolver e testar estratégias para aumentar a aceitação de todas as vacinas entre comunidades de baixa renda e comunidades de cor, hesitantes em vacinas, usando mensagens “culturalmente adaptadas” em nome da “equidade na saúde”.
Está também em linha com um esforço para fornecer financiamento substancial para aumentar as taxas de vacinação contra o HPV, “aumentando a consciencialização” e combatendo a “desinformação”.
Além de satisfazer os objetivos do HHS, o projeto da África do Sul responde a um programa global estabelecido em 2020 pela Assembleia Mundial da Saúde da Organização Mundial da Saúde (OMS) para erradicar o câncer do colo do útero como um problema de saúde pública em todo o mundo, em grande parte através da vacinação contra o HPV.
A Gavi, a Vaccine Alliance, apoiada pela Fundação Bill & Melinda Gates, anunciou no ano passado que investiria mais de 600 milhões de dólares para atingir o seu objetivo de vacinar 86 milhões de meninas contra o HPV em países de baixa e média renda até 2025, em grande parte através de campanhas nacionais de vacinação.
A África do Sul foi um dos primeiros países africanos a lançar uma campanha nacional de vacinação nas escolas, dirigida às meninas de 9 anos ou mais que frequentam o quarto ano nas escolas públicas.
Katz e Butler relataram no seu pedido de subvenção que a campanha foi inicialmente “bem-sucedida”, mas as taxas caíram desde então, especialmente durante e após a pandemia da COVID-19.
Shabnam Palesa Mohamed, diretora executiva do CHD África, disse ao The Defender que ficou desapontada ao ver investigadores sul-africanos colaborarem no projeto.
Ela disse:
“É difícil compreender porque é que os investigadores da UKZN [Universidade de KwaZulu-Natal] não consideram esta experiência manipulativa com crianças racista e desumanizante. A indústria farmacêutica tem um histórico terrível na África, onde a farmacovigilância é fraca ou inexistente, em grande parte devido ao financiamento farmacêutico de cientistas, autoridades reguladoras e departamentos de saúde. UKZN não é exceção. Seus financiadores incluem a Fundação Bill e Melinda Gates.
“Lembro-me dos cientistas comportamentais que ajudaram o governo do Reino Unido a manipular o público [durante a pandemia de COVID-19] e mais tarde disseram que ficamos sistematicamente ‘atordoados com a transformação da psicologia comportamental em arma’ durante a pandemia.”
South Africa project ‘smacks of pharmaceutical imperialism’
Under the $340,000 grant awarded to Katz and Butler, principal investigators will collaborate with a team of psychologists, an education specialist, an epidemiologist and a biomedical engineer from U.S. universities and the UKZN, along with the local department of health and elementary schools in an urban setting in the KwaZulu-Natal province.
The name of the city and schools where the project will be implemented were redacted from the FOIA documents provided to CHD.
Researchers will specifically target “diverse populations” and integrate “the voices of individuals living in low-resource settings” as they try to understand why children don’t take the HPV vaccine and in particular why those numbers declined after the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Health equity is at the core of our research,” they wrote.
However, Mohamed said, “Manipulating children and families from underprivileged backgrounds is the essence of medical colonialism.”
She added:
“Not for the first time, there will be no proper informed consent with these children or their families, and there will be no compensation for harms or death caused.
“The role of the controversial NIH in behavioral manipulation — the same NIH that did not expose the WHO facilitating fertility experiments on Kenyan girls and women — smacks of pharmaceutical imperialism.”
The researchers hypothesize declining HPV vaccination rates may be linked to COVID-19-related program interruptions, “increased medical mistrust, and vaccine hesitancy related to misinformation spread on social media,” which they seek to correct.
They are expanding the HPV vaccine target population to include boys and children in private schools who were not initially included in South Africa’s national school-based vaccination program.
Currently, GSK’s bivalent Cervarix vaccine is administered at no charge by school nurses in public schools on two designated days per year. Boys and private school children must pay for the shot.
The HPV vaccine has not previously been made widely available to boys in the country, and most low- and middle-income national vaccination campaigns target girls only.
However, since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2009 expanded the license for use in males ages 9-26 for the prevention of genital warts, and in 2011 the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommended it for routine use in boys, vaccination campaigns, at least in the U.S. and Europe, have also targeted boys.
To develop the communication materials for testing, researchers held initial meetings with school principals and teachers, nurses and parents of boys and girls enrolled in public and private schools in the study area. They reported respondents expressed a desire to “center community knowledge.”
Respondents also indicated they wanted to make the vaccine program “inclusive” of boys and private school children and to have access to “culturally tailored education materials” to address persistent misunderstandings about vaccination — a set of goals that mirrors those of all other NIH-funded HPV uptake research programs in the U.S.
The pilot project will convene a “Stakeholder Working Group” with representatives from government, civil society, academia and those with legal, financial or ethical stakes in the HPV vaccination program. The group will meet periodically to discuss the research.
The researchers also plan to survey and interview children, families, teachers and school nurses about their ideas and behaviors related to the vaccine.
Based on information gathered in those meetings, they will develop a “multi-level communication strategy” for schools that includes promotional curricular material aimed at children and informational brochures to be distributed to parents.
They also will develop a “conversation map” strategy for teachers and nurses fluent in Zulu that they can use as a tool to “facilitate dialogue” around “misinformation” and vaccine efficacy.
The study’s success will be measured by how many children get vaccinated two months, six months and 12 months after the intervention and whether they get an initial dose or the full two-dose series. It also will measure whether the research subjects’ knowledge, ideas and beliefs about the HPV vaccine change.
The project targets fifth-graders and their parents, the researchers wrote, because research has found low coverage in South Africa is primarily due to lack of parental consent. It also targets those who might be able to influence the parents, such as teachers and nurses.
The five-school randomized controlled pilot study funded by the grant will target 200 parents and children and 16 teachers and nurses.
In the Phase 2 trial, a 10-school randomized study will aim for about 1,500 participants.
Parents and students will be recruited in the selected schools through a letter sent home with the fifth-graders asking them to consent to participate in surveys and to share their children’s immunization records. People interviewed will provide verbal consent to be interviewed.
After the pilot study, researchers will refine their materials and launch the Phase 2 randomized control trial in more schools.
The Phase 2 trial is scheduled to begin in January 2025, according to the U.S. government clinical trials website. It is unclear whether funding has already been secured for the Phase 2 trial.
Justification: cervical cancer eradication
According to Gavi, nearly 80-90% percent of the approximately 300,000 deaths per year from cervical cancer — the fourth most common cancer among women — occur in low- and middle-income countries and the majority occur in sub-Saharan Africa.
The HPV virus has been associated with cervical cancer, although the vast majority of HPV infectionsclear on their own.
There are more than 150 strains of HPV. High-risk HPV types can cause cervical cell abnormalities that are precursors to cancer, although HPV infection is not the sole risk factor for cervical cancer.
Regular pap screening has been found to reduce the incidence and mortality of cervical cancer among women by at least 80%.
However, according to Gavi, “Cervical cancer is almost entirely vaccine-preventable, which means that alongside screening for early detection, rolling out the HPV vaccine is critical to preventing infections.”
The grant documents use this same language although they are less equivocal, stating that cervical cancer is “entirely preventable” with the HPV vaccine. This is despite the fact that the vaccines have not been tested for cancer prevention, only for their ability to suppress target strains of HPV.
In 2012, Gavi began supporting national HPV vaccine introductions in low- and middle-income countries and it continues to do so today.
A total of 122 WHO member states have added the HPV vaccine to their routine immunization schedules.
However, according to research published in Preventative Medicine, vaccine uptake is highly uneven and researchers argue more “effective communication strategies” are needed.
When South Africa’s program launched in 2012, 86.6% of age-eligible girls were vaccinated in the first year. But by 2019 the numbers were down to 69% and in 2021 they were down to 37%.
HPV vaccine dangers remain unaddressed by project proponents
Peer-reviewed scientific literature from the U.S., Australia, Denmark, Sweden, France and Japan, and statistics published by public health agencies in each of these countries, demonstrate plausible associations between HPV vaccination and autoimmune conditions.
According to an article in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, most low- to middle-income countries have very low reporting rates for adverse events associated with vaccines or other pharmaceutical products, so it is difficult to track injuries related to previous vaccine rollouts.
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The current dominant system of the American establishment would use the invisible dictatorship of compulsive consumerism of material goods to nullify the ideals of the primal individual and transform him into an uncritical being, fearful and conformist who will inevitably join the ranks of a homogeneous society, uniform and easily manipulated by the techniques of mass manipulation and would have as a pillar of its political system the successive alternation in power of the Democratic Party and the Republican (both supported by the Israeli lobby).
Thus, in a speech delivered at the New York meeting of the World Jewish Congress in 2016, the then Vice President Joe Biden stated:
“I am a Zionist, but for this it is not necessary to be a Jew”, after which he was granted the “Theodor Herzl” Award and became the new capped AIPAC.
Do the US and Israel Share the Same Geopolitical Interests?
Kennedy’s assassination had as collateral damage the birth of a political system under the tutelage of the “Power in the Shadow”, being since then hostages all successive US Presidents-elect according to the confession made by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to then Foreign Minister Shimon Peres in October 2001:
“We, the Jewish people, control the United States and the Americans know”, (“The Israeli Lobby and American Foreign Policy” by John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt, 07-04-2006), for which they would use lobbies of pressure between which the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) would stand out.
AIPAC would be the most influential pro-Israeli lobby in the US, with more than 100,000 members (150 of them dedicated exclusively to lobbying Congress, to the White House and all administrative bodies in political decision-making that may affect the interests of the State of Israel).
Although it has always been believed that the AIPAC would be a “virtual government” that would direct the foreign policy of the United States based on the Israeli interests, the reality would be that the pro-Israeli lobby has real weight in the spheres of power because the US and Israel have almost always shared identical geopolitical interests since the founding of the State of Israel in 1948.
So, the U.S. would count on Israel to keep the Arab States of the Middle East under constant threat of attack and ensure the flow of Arab oil necessary for the West; and Israel could not continue to exist in its current form without the strong political and material support it receives from EE.UU. (about $3.8 billion per year in military aid) that would have made him the US continental carrier. However, Netanyahu’s geopolitical myopia prevented him from intuiting that a new asymmetric punishment in Gaza would destroy the entente between the US, Israel, Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, Morocco and Saudi Arabia, which would collide with US geopolitical objectives of isolating Iran.
These Arab countries signed under the presidency of Trump the Abraham Accords in which for the first time countries such as the Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco recognized the existence of the State of Israel; and Saudi Arabia was about to sign them, but the massacre committed by the Jewish army in Gaza could cause those countries to reject these agreements and break diplomatic relations with Israel that would again be isolated in the Middle East.
Are False Flag Attacks Planned in the US and the Persian Gulf?
The signs of Biden’s senility, the fentanyl crisis, the high cost of living and the increase in citizen insecurity would have sunk Biden’s popularity to historic lows, which would facilitate the triumphant return of Donald Trump in the November presidential elections by having cleared the way to the White House after the latest decisions of the Supreme Court. However, Trumpian isolationism would be a missile on the waterline of the military-complex. In the next five years, the recovery of the role of the United States as a world gendarme has been outlined through an extraordinary increase in US military interventions abroad to recover Unipolarity on the global geopolitical board.
Thus, Israel’s invasion of Gaza would only be the tip of the iceberg of a secret agreement reached between Biden and Netanyahu in their effort to prevent Trump’s predictable triumph in the November elections.
According to the Plan, the CIA and the Israeli Mossad would prepare false flag attacks similar to 9/11 in the US and the Persian Gulf and after attributing their authorship to the Iranians, the Democratic Congress would proceed to declare a state of war. This process is known as “statutory authorization” and is a prerequisite for President Biden to be able to apply the 1973 War Powers Act that empowers him to send troops abroad.
This will mark the beginning of a major regional conflict that will mark the future of the area in the coming years and that would be the lifeline for Biden who will try to postpone the November elections and climb in the polls against Trump, as well as for Netanyahu, who would manage to dodge pending trials and the possible indictment of crimes against humanity against the Gazan population.
Such a conflict could involve the three superpowers (US, China and Russia) counting as necessary collaborations with regional powers (Israel, Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Iran) and would cover the geographical space that extends from the Mediterranean arc (Israel, Syria and Lebanon) to Yemen and Somalia with the avowed aim of designing the cartography of the New Middle East favorable to the geopolitical interests of the USA, Britain and Israel.
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Germán Gorraiz Lopez is a political analyst. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.
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Indian academic Pratap Bhanu Mehta, a former president of the Centre for Policy Research, writes that a Trump election would be a threat for democracy in the US. Other experts have argued Trump could endanger NATO and bring back American isolationism. Things might not be quite so simple, though.
As I wrote recently, besides the much talked about issue of NATO’s enlargement, one should also consider the expansion of the US infamous Central Intelligence Agency (CIA): according to a recent New York Times’s exposé, in the past decade the Agency has backed a “network of spy bases” in Ukraine, including “12 secret locations along the Russian border” and a “secret intelligence partnership” has transformed the country into “one of Washington’s most important intelligence partners against the Kremlin.” Commenting on that, Mark Episkopos, a Eurasia Research Fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, highlights the fact that such a CIA-Ukraine partnership actually “deepened under the Trump administration, yet again putting the lie to the baseless idea that former President Trump was somehow amenable to Russia’s interests while in office.”
Moreover, in December 2017 then US President Donald Trump sold Kyiv “defensive” weapons, which, according to University of Chicago political science professor John Mearsheimer, “certainly looked offensive to Moscow and its allies in the Donbas region.” Of course, Ukrainian-American ties grew under US incumbent president Joe Biden, with 2021 Operation Sea Breeze ‘provocations the U.S.-Ukraine Charter on Strategic Partnership the same year, and much more, all the way to today’ crisis. The point however is that albeit arguably less blatantly hostile to Moscow (in some areas), it would be inaccurate to describe the previous Trump presidency as anything remotely similar to a “pro-Russian” administration.
It is true that last month, speaking at a rally, Trump said he once told an unnamed NATO ally that he would not, as the president, defend allies who fail to meet the Alliance’s defense spending duties. According to himself, he said:
“You didn’t pay? You’re delinquent? No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. You gotta pay. You gotta pay your bills.”
This kind of rhetoric, though, typical as it is of the former president style, should rather be interpreted as pre-election rhetoric to inflame his base – plus as a valid criticism, from an American perspective, of the fact that most NATO countries do fail to meet the agreed expenses goal of using at least 2 percent of their GDP in military spending.
This of course overburdens Washington – at the expense of its taxpayers.Trump’s (rhetorical) point has been denounced by many as a serious threat of letting Russia “conquer” much of Europe. In the real world, though, Moscow has no goal of conquering Ukraine (as any serious expert will tell you – its mains concerns being about NATO enlargement), much less any interest in invading NATO countries in Western Europe and thus bringing about Third World War – and, even if that were the case, the United States, with or without Trump, would of course have its own strategic reasons to oppose such hypothetical scenario by coming to the defense of its European allies, be they delinquent or not.
In the make-believe world of pro-Biden propagandists, Trump is a kind of “Russian agent” hell-bent on destroying American hegemony globally and thus letting “evil” prevail. The fantasies of some of the more naïve analysts of an “anti-imperialist” persuasion are quite similar, the only difference being that they perceive that to be a good thing and imagine the Republican favorite as a champion of multipolarity, world peace, and even of the Global South, if you will (Venezuelans might differ). None of that should be taken seriously, but, unfortunately, in the age of propaganda and of information warfare, it often does.
Rhetorics aside, far from being a marginal stance, the notion that military victory in Ukraine is unattainable is slowly gaining ground amid the American Establishment.
Trump could arguably be a little more quick to let it go, but that is all. James Stavridis, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe, writing for Bloomberg in November 2023, for instance, argued that Washington should learn from “the lessons of South Korea” and negotiate a “land for peace” deal to end combat in Ukraine.
This scenario would involve a kind of strategic retreat, from a Western perspective, to then invest in Western Ukraine, so to speak, so as to nurture it as a kind of Eastern European South Korea (with a persistent CIA presence, one could expect).
It is not always over even when it is “over”: such a scenario would clearly not do much for regional stability or peace in the long run. As I’ve written on more than one occasion, even after peace is achieved, as long as the Russian minority remains marginalized in Ukraine and as long as NATO enlargement continues, there will still be plenty of room for tension and conflict.
There is yet another issue: with the escalation of conflict in Palestine, the center of gravity for global tensions has changed. Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza and the West Bank, plus its operation in Syria and Lebanon, are also part of the Jewish state’s “non-official war” against Iran, with global consequences. The current crisis in the Red Sea, involving the Houthis is largely a collateral effect of the US-backed disastrous Israeli campaign in the Levant. Well, it turns out Trump is, by all indication, more of an unconditional supporter of Israel than Biden is – no matter how many red lines are crossed by the Jewish state in the Middle East. One may recall that it was then president Trump who assassinated Iranian general Soleimani, for instance. Recently, Trump has famously stated that Tel Aviv must “finish the problem.”
When interviewed for a Boston Globe’s story titled “Vote all you want. The secret government won’t change”, in 2014, Michael J. Glennon, professor of international law at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University (and author of “National Security and Double Government”), explained that much of the US foreign policy “programs” are, as John Kerry once famously said, “on autopilot”, and that “policy after policy after policy all continue virtually the same way that they were in the George W. Bush administration.” This situation is explained by this analyst with the concept of a “double government”, which is how he describes an almost self-governing defense and national security apparatus that operates in the United States without much accountability. Glennon’s aforementioned book was praised by former members of the State Department, Defense Department, CIA, and the White House. There is no reason to assume its conclusions are less true today.
To sum it up, there are limits on how much change a US president, on its own, can bring about to the superpower’s system of “double government” in terms of defense and foreign policy. The center of gravity of global tensions is changing, and Ukraine is no longer that important, to put it bluntly. Finally, Trump’s record as a former president in no way allows for a description of his administration either as “isolationist” or as “pro-Russian”.
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This article was originally published on InfoBrics.
Uriel Araujo is a researcher with a focus on international and ethnic conflicts. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.
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When the Neo-Nazi junta forces were effectively encircled in Avdeyevka, the newly appointed top commander General Oleksandr Syrsky had no choice but to officially order a retreat. The decision was militarily sound, albeit it came late.
This would probably make people think that Syrsky is a wise commander, as it makes no sense to simply throw away the lives of countless fighters for a prolonged PR “victory” that would inevitably turn into a defeat and lead to a near-total collapse of the frontline.
It should be noted that the Kiev regime forces had been retreating for approximately a week before they officially left Avdeyevka. Former top commander Valery Zaluzhnyeffectively left the “hot potato” to Zelensky and his entourage in order to save whatever was left of his potential political career, while Syrsky finally got the chance to fulfill his dream of leading the entire military.
However, Ukrainian soldiers don’t seem to share his excitement. On the contrary, many (if not most) seem to be terrified of the prospect. People outside of the military, even in Ukraine, are not aware of just how unpopular Syrsky is. His own soldiers call him “the butcher” due to his offensive tactics that never fail to lead to disastrous manpower and equipment losses. This was somewhat more manageable when the Neo-Nazi junta troops used mostly Soviet-era weapons, which Ukraine inherited in abundance after the unfortunate dismantling of the Soviet Union. However, as soon as NATO gear became more common, this practice proved to be absolutely unsustainable. Far more sensitive and less robust than Soviet-era equivalents, Western-made weapons are far more difficult to repair, replace or even tow away from the battlefield, including in case of minor technical issues.
The result is that the Kiev regime forces are left with even less equipment, forcing them to rely on the infantry far more, which inevitably leads to even higher casualties on top of already enormous losses.
The Neo-Nazi junta insists that it lost just over 30,000 men while supposedly killing up to 400,000 Russian soldiers, but nobody with a single half-functioning brain cell believes that. Figures vary significantly, but what is surely known is that the vast majority of soldiers on both sides die due to artillery, drones and long-range attacks. We also know that Russia has a massive advantage in all those categories, with estimates of its artillery dominance being up to 12:1. By employing basic math, we come to the conclusion that all one needs to do is simply flip the numbers given by the Kiev regime. And its losses are truly staggering, unparalleled in modern warfare.
How else would one explain that the Neo-Nazi junta is effectively raising its own Volkssturm and even considering forcibly conscripting up to 3,000,000 women, including pregnant ones? Does that sound like a decision someone who lost only 30,000 soldiers would even consider, let alone enforce? It’s quite clear that the Ukrainian people themselves are perfectly aware of the magnitude of the slaughter that NATO pushed them into. This is particularly true for soldiers, which is precisely why they’re so afraid of having Syrsky lead them. In a recent report by Politico, when asked about the new top commander, one soldier even openly said that “he will kill us all”. Syrsky has repeatedly demonstrated a willingness to throw men into the meatgrinder, be it the battle of Debaltsevo back in early 2015 or Artyomovsk (previously known as Bakhmut) last year, both of which he lost.
The casualties in both battles were enormous, leading to Syrsky’s previously mentioned unflattering nickname. Even in the case that the Kiev regime forces prevailed, such high losses were unjustified. However, the fact that he lost makes it all the more frustrating for the soldiers. In turn, this also affects the already low morale of the troops. This is one of the reasons why Zaluzhny was (and still is) much more popular. Namely, soldiers believe that he demonstrated a much more careful approach, as he was aware of his forces’ technological inferiority and limited resources. Whether this is true or not is up for debate, but Zaluzhny will surely use it for political gain in the future. Either way, the soldiers will have a tough time, especially with the Neo-Nazi junta’s plans for a new counteroffensive. Considering how the last one went, who wouldn’t be terrified of that?
“His leadership is bankrupt, his presence or orders coming from his name are demoralizing and he undermines trust in the command in general. His relentless pursuit of tactical gains constantly depletes our valuable human resources, resulting in tactical advances such as capturing tree lines or small villages, with no operational goals in mind,” one officer described Syrsky, according to ReMix News.
Syrsky and Zelensky are very similar in this regard. Neither ever enjoyed respect and authority in the military. For instance, both of them insisted on holding Artyomovsk, despite everyone else advising them to leave the city. After enormous casualties, the Kiev regime forces lost anyway and had to retreat. Zelensky wanted to hold it at all costs, as the previously mentioned PR “victories” are all he’s got, while Syrsky simply doesn’t accept the concept of active defense and defense-in-depth. Both concepts are actively employed by the Russian military and to great effect, as evidenced by the high casualties of the Neo-Nazi junta forces in the last two years. Worse yet for the Kiev regime, it keeps losing its most loyal henchmen, meaning that it’s largely left without highly motivated and well-trained soldiers who will be replaced by low-morale conscripts.
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This article was originally published on InfoBrics.
Drago Bosnic is an independent geopolitical and military analyst. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.
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As I reported recently, now that it can no longer be denied that the Covid “vaccine” causes death and a large variety of serious health effects, Big Pharma and its shills are adjusting the narrative.
A “study” was done admitting the adverse effects of the “vaccine” but pronouncing them to be “rare.” See this.
Next, Bloomberg Misinformation attributed the deaths and damaged health to Covid, not to the “vaccine.” Here is Jason Gale spinning the facts away from the “vaccine” to Covid itself:
“I’ve not seen any data or research in peer-reviewed journals proving that immunizations caused a quarter of a million excess cardiovascular disease deaths in the US. Only the opposite — that they saved millions of lives.”
This is an amazing statement considering that the evidence is so overwhelming that Big Pharma shills are now trying to close down or discredit the vaccine adverse effects reporting system: see this.
Harvard University, which has turned out to be another lie factory, has been forced to drop its “vaccine” mandate, but continues to “strongly recommend” that faculty and students “stay up-to-date” by taking the boosters. See this.
Harvard has followed up by firing one of the rare medical scientists who got the story right from the beginning. Dr. Martin Kulldorffexplains:
“I am no longer a professor of medicine at Harvard. The Harvard motto is Veritas, Latin for truth. But, as I discovered, truth can get you fired.”
In American universities today, telling the truth, along with using the wrong pronouns, are about the only things that can get you fired. As long as you lie in the interests of donors you are safe.
As I have noted, there are no public or private institutions that we can trust, least of all scientists and universities receiving grants from Big Pharma and medical regulatory agencies such as the FDA, NIH, CDC, WHO, which essentially are revolving doors with Big Pharma. Dr. Fauci at NIH actually was a co-owner of patents with Big Pharma. University research across the board is contaminated, because it is financed by the military/security complex, Big Pharma, corporations, and foundations with agendas. The way to be successful in American universities today is to serve these agendas. Harvard hides behind its motto–“Truth”–but as Dr. Kulldorff reports truth is what gets you fired. Money has as thoroughly corrupted scholarship as it has the character of the American people.
Today the focus of research and investors is artificial intelligence, which is technology devised for controlling the thoughts and behavior of humans. Enserfment, not liberation, is the agenda of artificial intelligence. We are being herded into a world in which controlled explanations will become our reality.
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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.
The Worldwide Corona Crisis, Global Coup d’Etat Against Humanity
by Michel Chossudovsky
Michel Chossudovsky reviews in detail how this insidious project “destroys people’s lives”. He provides a comprehensive analysis of everything you need to know about the “pandemic” — from the medical dimensions to the economic and social repercussions, political underpinnings, and mental and psychological impacts.
“My objective as an author is to inform people worldwide and refute the official narrative which has been used as a justification to destabilize the economic and social fabric of entire countries, followed by the imposition of the “deadly” COVID-19 “vaccine”. This crisis affects humanity in its entirety: almost 8 billion people. We stand in solidarity with our fellow human beings and our children worldwide. Truth is a powerful instrument.”
Reviews
This is an in-depth resource of great interest if it is the wider perspective you are motivated to understand a little better, the author is very knowledgeable about geopolitics and this comes out in the way Covid is contextualized. —Dr. Mike Yeadon
In this war against humanity in which we find ourselves, in this singular, irregular and massive assault against liberty and the goodness of people, Chossudovsky’s book is a rock upon which to sustain our fight. –Dr. Emanuel Garcia
In fifteen concise science-based chapters, Michel traces the false covid pandemic, explaining how a PCR test, producing up to 97% proven false positives, combined with a relentless 24/7 fear campaign, was able to create a worldwide panic-laden “plandemic”; that this plandemic would never have been possible without the infamous DNA-modifying Polymerase Chain Reaction test – which to this day is being pushed on a majority of innocent people who have no clue. His conclusions are evidenced by renown scientists. —Peter Koenig
Professor Chossudovsky exposes the truth that “there is no causal relationship between the virus and economic variables.” In other words, it was not COVID-19 but, rather, the deliberate implementation of the illogical, scientifically baseless lockdowns that caused the shutdown of the global economy. –David Skripac
A reading of Chossudovsky’s book provides a comprehensive lesson in how there is a global coup d’état under way called “The Great Reset” that if not resisted and defeated by freedom loving people everywhere will result in a dystopian future not yet imagined. Pass on this free gift from Professor Chossudovsky before it’s too late. You will not find so much valuable information and analysis in one place. –Edward Curtin
ISBN: 978-0-9879389-3-0, Year: 2022, PDF Ebook, Pages: 164, 15 Chapters
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President Biden began his State of the Union speech with an impassioned warning that failing to pass his $61 billion dollar weapons package for Ukraine “will put Ukraine at risk, Europe at risk, the free world at risk.” But even if the president’s request were suddenly passed, it would only prolong, and dangerously escalate, the brutal war that is destroying Ukraine.
The assumption of the U.S. political elite that Biden had a viable plan to defeat Russia and restore Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders has proven to be one more triumphalist American dream that has turned into a nightmare. Ukraine has joined North Korea, Vietnam, Somalia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Haiti, Libya, Syria, Yemen, and now Gaza, as another shattered monument to America’s military madness.
This could have been one of the shortest wars in history, if President Biden had just supported a peace and neutrality agreement negotiated in Turkey in March and April 2022 that already had champagne corks popping in Kyiv, according to Ukrainian negotiator Oleksiy Arestovych. Instead, the U.S. and NATO chose to prolong and escalate the war as a means to try to defeat and weaken Russia.
Two days before Biden’s State of the Union speech, Secretary of State Blinken announced the early retirement of Acting Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, one of the officials most responsible for a decade of disastrous U.S. policy toward Ukraine.
Two weeks before the announcement of Nuland’s retirement at the age of 62, she acknowledged in a talk at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) that the war in Ukraine had degenerated into a war of attrition that she compared to the First World War, and she admitted that the Biden administration had no Plan B for Ukraine if Congress doesn’t cough up $61 billion for more weapons.
We don’t know whether Nuland was forced out, or perhaps quit in protest over a policy that she fought for and lost. Either way, her ride into the sunset opens the door for others to fashion a badly needed Plan B for Ukraine.
The imperative must be to chart a path back from this hopeless but ever-escalating war of attrition to the negotiating table that the U.S. and Britain upended in April 2022 – or at least to new negotiations on the basis that President Zelenskyy defined on March 27, 2022, when he told his people, “Our goal is obvious: peace and the restoration of normal life in our native state as soon as possible.”
Instead, on February 26, in a very worrying sign of where NATO’s current policy is leading, French President Emmanuel Macron revealed that European leaders meeting in Paris discussed sending larger numbers of Western ground troops to Ukraine.
Macron pointed out that NATO members have steadily increased their support to levels unthinkable when the war began. He highlighted the example of Germany, which offered Ukraine only helmets and sleeping bags at the outset of the conflict and is now saying Ukraine needs more missiles and tanks.
“The people that said “never ever” today were the same ones who said never ever planes, never ever long-range missiles, never ever trucks. They said all that two years ago,” Macron recalled. “We have to be humble and realize that we (have) always been six to eight months late.”
Macron implied that, as the war escalates, NATO countries may eventually have to deploy their own forces to Ukraine, and he argued that they should do so sooner rather than later if they want to recover the initiative in the war.
The mere suggestion of Western troops fighting in Ukraine elicited an outcry both within France–from extreme right National Rally to leftist La France Insoumise–and from other NATO countries. German Chancellor Olaf Scholzinsisted that participants in the meeting were “unanimous” in their opposition to deploying troops. Russian officials warned that such a step would mean war between Russia and NATO.
But as Poland’s president and prime minister headed to Washington for a White House meeting on February 12, Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski told the Polish parliament that sending NATO troops into Ukraine “is not unthinkable.”
Macron’s intention may have been precisely to bring this debate out into the open and put an end to the secrecy surrounding the undeclared policy of gradual escalation toward full-scale war with Russia that the West has pursued for two years.
Macron failed to mention publicly that, under current policy, NATO forces are already deeply involved in the war. Among many lies that President Biden told in his State of the Union speech, he insisted that “there are no American soldiers at war in Ukraine.”
However, the trove of Pentagon documents leaked in March 2023 included an assessment that there were already at least 97 NATO special forces troops operating in Ukraine, including 50 British, 14 Americans and 15 French. Admiral John Kirby, the National Security Council spokesman, has also acknowledged a “small U.S. military presence” based in the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv to try to keep track of thousands of tons of U.S. weapons as they arrive in Ukraine.
But many more U.S. forces, whether inside or outside Ukraine, are involved in planning Ukrainian military operations; providing satellite intelligence; and play essential roles in the targeting of U.S. weapons. A Ukrainian official told the Washington Post that Ukrainian forces hardly ever fire HIMARS rockets without precise targeting data provided by U.S. forces in Europe.
All these U.S. and NATO forces are most definitely “at war in Ukraine.” To be at war in a country with only small numbers of “boots on the ground” has been a hallmark of 21st Century U.S. war-making, as any Navy pilot on an aircraft-carrier or drone operator in Nevada can attest. It is precisely this doctrine of “limited” and proxy war that is at risk of spinning out of control in Ukraine, unleashing the World War III that President Biden has vowed to avoid.
The United States and NATO have tried to keep the escalation of the war under control by deliberate, incremental escalation of the types of weapons they provide and cautious, covert expansion of their own involvement. This has been compared to “boiling a frog,” turning up the heat gradually to avoid any sudden move that might cross a Russian “red line” and trigger a full-scale war between NATO and Russia. But as NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned in December 2022, “If things go wrong, they can go horribly wrong.”
We have long been puzzled by these glaring contradictions at the heart of U.S. and NATO policy. On one hand, we believe President Biden when he says he does not want to start World War III. On the other hand, that is what his policy of incremental escalation is inexorably leading towards.
U.S. preparations for war with Russia are already at odds with the existential imperative of containing the conflict. In November 2022, the Reed-Inhofe Amendment to the FY2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) invoked wartime emergency powers to authorize an extraordinary shopping-list of weapons like the ones sent to Ukraine, and approved billion-dollar, multi-year no-bid contracts with weapons manufacturers to buy 10 to 20 times the quantities of weapons that the United States had actually shipped to Ukraine.
Retired Marine Colonel Mark Cancian, the former chief of the Force Structure and Investment Division in the Office of Management and Budget, explained,
“This isn’t replacing what we’ve given [Ukraine]. It’s building stockpiles for a major ground war [with Russia] in the future.”
So the United States is preparing to fight a major ground war with Russia, but the weapons to fight that war will take years to produce, and, with or without them, that could quickly escalate into a nuclear war. Nuland’s early retirement could be the result of Biden and his foreign policy team finally starting to come to grips with the existential dangers of the aggressive policies she championed.
Meanwhile, Russia’s escalation from its original limited “Special Military Operation” to its current commitment of 7% of its GDP to the war and weapons production has outpaced the West’s escalations, not just in weapons production but in manpower and actual military capability.
One could say that Russia is winning the war, but that depends what its real war goals are. There is a yawning gulf between the rhetoric from Biden and other Western leaders about Russian ambitions to invade other countries in Europe and what Russia was ready to settle for at the talks in Turkey in 2022, when it agreed to withdraw to its pre-war positions in return for a simple commitment to Ukrainian neutrality.
Despite Ukraine’s extremely weak position after its failed 2023 offensive and its costly defense and loss of Avdiivka, Russian forces are not racing toward Kyiv, or even Kharkiv, Odesa or the natural boundary of the Dnipro River.
Reuters Moscow Bureau reported that Russia spent months trying to open new negotiations with the United States in late 2023, but that, in January 2024, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan slammed that door shut with a flat refusal to negotiate over Ukraine.
The only way to find out what Russia really wants, or what it will settle for, is to return to the negotiating table. All sides have demonized each other and staked out maximalist positions, but that is what nations at war do in order to justify the sacrifices they demand of their people and their rejection of diplomatic alternatives.
Serious diplomatic negotiations are now essential to get down to the nitty-gritty of what it will take to bring peace to Ukraine. We are sure there are wiser heads within the U.S., French and other NATO governments who are saying this too, behind closed doors, and that may be precisely why Nuland is out and why Macron is talking so openly about where the current policy is heading. We fervently hope that is the case, and that Biden’s Plan B will lead back to the negotiating table, and then forward to peace in Ukraine.
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Why does the United States give total support to Israel?
In answer, there is a common myth shared by both champions and radical critics of the Zionist state which needs to be dispelled.
The myth is that Israel is a major U.S. strategic asset, described as a sort of unsinkable American aircraft carrier vital to Washington’s interests in the Middle East.
The line of argument of those who share this myth is to show that the United States has economic and strategic interests in the oil-rich Middle East (which nobody denies) and to quote American (and, of course, Israeli) political figures who claim that Israel is the best or even the sole U.S. ally in the region.
For example U.S. President Joe Biden has gone so far as to say that if Israel didn’t exist the U.S. should have invented it.
But the crucial evidence, totally missing from their analysis, is the slightest example of Israel actually serving American interests in the region.
If no examples are given, it’s simply because there are none. Israel has never fired a shot on behalf of the United States or brought a drop of oil under U.S. control.
We can start with a common sense argument: If the U.S. is interested in Middle East oil, why would it support a country that is hated (for whatever reasons) by all the populations of the oil producing countries?
In the 1950s, such was the reasoning of most U.S. experts, who put good relations with Arab countries ahead of support to Israel. This no doubt helps explain why AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, was founded in 1963, to align U.S. policy with that of Israel.
1967 War & After
U.S. support for Israel took off after the 1967 war. Israel’s success dealt a fatal blow to the Arab nationalism embodied by Egypt’s Gamal Nasser, which some U.S. policy-makers falsely saw as a potential communist threat (which they saw just about everywhere).
But the war was waged by Israel for its own interests and expansion, with no benefit to the United States.
On the contrary: a remarkable official silence has been maintained over the fact that in the course of that short war, the American intelligence gathering ship USS Liberty, which was spying on the conflict, was shelled for several hours by the Israeli air force, with the obvious intention to sink it, killing 34 sailors and wounding 174.
Damage to USS Liberty, June 1967. (Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain)
Had there been no survivors, Egypt could have been accused (making it a “false flag” operation). The survivors were ordered not to speak about it, and the incident was never fully investigated, accepting the official Israeli explanation that it was a “mistake.” In any case, Israel’s behavior was not exactly that of a precious ally.
When Israel attacked Lebanon in 2006, that country’s government was perfectly “pro-Western.” What’s more, during the 1991 war against Iraq over Kuwait, the United States insisted that Israel should not participate, because such involvement would have collapsed their Arab anti-Iraq coalition. Again, it’s hard here to see Israel as an indispensable “ally.”
U.S. post-9/11 wars have targeted Israel’s enemies — Iraq, Libya, Syria — with no advantage to U.S. oil companies, on the contrary. The question arises whether the U.S. choice of enemies in the Middle East has not been determined by the interests of a foreign government, contrary to American interests in the region.
Washington & Gaza Today
Now we come to the current situation: what interest does the United States have in the slaughter being perpetrated in Gaza?
In reality, what Washington is doing is trying to maintain good relations with their Arab allies (Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States) by pretending to seek a compromise while exerting no effective pressure on Israel – for instance, by cutting off funds.
And why don’t they? The answer is obvious but saying so is politically incorrect, and is rarely discussed by defenders of the myth, except to refute it. It is the action of the pro-Israeli lobby, which de facto controls Congress and without which no president can really act.
The lobby is no secret conspiracy. It is openly coordinated by AIPAC, which spreads billionaire donations throughout the U.S. political system and dictates the line to take on Israel to ensure a successful career.
Outside annual AIPAC meeting in Washington, March 2016. (Susan Melkisethian, Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Control is virtually complete over the two parties represented in Congress.
It is achieved primarily through the funding of election campaigns. All those who comply can count on campaign donations, while anyone daring to defy the lobby’s injunctions would quickly be challenged by a very well-funded opponent in the next primary election, thus losing support of his or her own party in the next election — as happened to Georgia representative Cynthia McKinney in 2002.
The lobby also animates smear campaigns against any critic of Israel, as seen recently in the attacks on university presidents (Harvard, MIT, Pennsylvania) for not having sufficiently cracked down on alleged student “anti-Semitism” on their campuses.
There are several books that explain in detail how the lobby works:
They Dare to Speak Out: People and Institutions Confront Israel’s Lobby (1985) by Paul Findley, a Republican congressman from Illinois, who details how the lobby politically “liquidated” all those who wanted a different policy in the Middle East, precisely because they wanted to defend the interests of the United States.
The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt (2007) a comprehensive and well sourced book on the functioning and the effects of the lobby.
Against Our Better Judgment : The hidden history of how the U.S. was used to create Israël, by Alison Weir, 2014, which goes back to the Balfour declaration.
One can also watch hidden-camera reports by Al Jazeeraon the lobby’s work in the U.S. and Britain.
The way the Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn was “eliminated” politically rests entirely on the lobby’s action and campaigns against his (imaginary) anti-Semitism. The same process is currently underway in France with Jean-Luc Mélenchon and his France Insoumise party.
American presidents as different as Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter have complained that their actions were hampered by the lobby. In fact, every American president has wanted to get rid of the “Palestinian problem” (through the two-state solution) but has been impeded by Congress.
As for Congress itself, let us quote very explicit insider testimony, that of James Abourezk, who was first a congressman and then a senator from South Dakota in the 1970s and who sent this letter in 2006 to Jeff Blankfort, an anti-Zionist activist:
“I can tell you from personal experience that, at least in the Congress, the support Israel has in that body is based completely on political fear — fear of defeat by anyone who does not do what Israel wants done. I can also tell you that very few members of Congress — at least when I served there — have any affection for Israel or for its Lobby. What they have is contempt, but it is silenced by fear of being found out exactly how they feel.
I’ve heard too many cloakroom conversations in which members of the Senate will voice their bitter feelings about how they’re pushed around by the Lobby to think otherwise. In private one hears the dislike of Israel and the tactics of the Lobby, but not one of them is willing to risk the Lobby’s animosity by making their feelings public.
Thus, I see no desire on the part of Members of Congress to further any U.S. imperial dreams by using Israel as their pit bull. The only exceptions to that rule are the feelings of Jewish members, who, I believe, are sincere in their efforts to keep U.S. money flowing to Israel.”
AIPAC Suppression
Abourezk added that the Lobby made every effort to suppress even a single voice of congressional dissent – as his own – that might question annual appropriations to Israel, so that
“if Congress is completely silent on the issue, the press will have no one to quote, which effectively silences the press as well. Any journalists or editors who step out of line are quickly brought under control by well organized economic pressure against the newspaper caught sinning.”
Abourezk once traveled through the Middle East with a reporter who wrote honestly about what he saw. As a result, newspaper executives received threats from several of their large advertisers that their advertising would be terminated if they continued publishing the journalist’s articles.
“I do not recall a single instance where any administration saw the need for Israel’s military power to advance U.S. Imperial interests. In fact, as we saw in the Gulf War, Israel’s involvement was detrimental to what Bush, Sr. wanted to accomplish in that war. They had, as you might remember, to suppress any Israeli assistance so that the coalition would not be destroyed by their involvement.
So far as the argument that we need to use Israel as a base for U.S. operations, I’m not aware of any U.S. bases there of any kind. The U.S. has enough military bases, and fleets, in the area to be able to handle any kind of military needs without using Israel. In fact I can’t think of an instance where the U.S. would want to involve Israel militarily for fear of upsetting the current allies the U.S. has, i.e., Saudi Arabia and the Emirates. The public in those countries would not allow the monarchies to continue their alliance with the U.S. should Israel become involved.”
Abourezk said that U.S. encouragement in its invasions of Lebanon “was merely an extension of the U.S. policy of helping Israel because of the Lobby’s continual pressure. … Lebanon always has been a ‘throw away’ country so far as the Congress is concerned, that is, what happens there has no effect on U.S. interests. There is no Lebanon Lobby.”
Alleged Strategic Value
The alleged strategic value of Israel is just one among many examples of claiming that some imperial/colonial project is necessary for the global capitalist system.
The Vietnam war was justified in part by the domino theory: all of South-East Asia would become communist if Vietnam “fell.” The only domino that fell was Cambodia, as a result of U.S. bombing, after victorious Vietnam intervened to overthrow a genocidal regime there.
South African apartheid was supported by the West, in part out of fear of communism, but the end of apartheid had no dramatic effect on capitalist imperialism in Africa.
If Israeli apartheid were to disappear in Palestine, oil and trade would still flow from the Middle East towards the West, and there would be no attempts by Houthis to block shipments in the Red Sea.
A realistic analysis shows that Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and aggressive policies toward its neighbors are entirely detrimental to American interests in the Middle East, which the current crisis only serves to highlight even more.
The trouble with the “Israel as U.S. aircraft carrier” thesis is that while it’s very comfortable for its defenders, it is also very damaging for the Palestinian cause.
It’s comfortable because it doesn’t risk incurring accusations of anti-Semitism, as it shifts responsibility for Israeli atrocities to American imperialism and its multinational corporations.
On the other hand, if you emphasize the Lobby’s leading role in U.S. Middle East policy, you will be accused of echoing fantasies and “conspiracy theories” about “Jewish power” dating from times when there was no Israel and thus no Israel Lobby.
Rejection of discredited stereotypes is no reason to ignore the facts of the unprecedented relationship that has developed between the United States and Israel.
Harm to Palestinian Cause
The “Israel as U.S. aircraft carrier” is precisely an Israeli argument designed to win over total U.S. political, financial and military support.
Thus it is no wonder that echoing that argument is extremely harmful to the Palestinian cause. If it were true, how could we hope to end this American support to Israel?
Persuade the American population to revolt against something said to be highly beneficial to U.S. interests? Or wait for American imperialism to collapse? That’s not likely to happen any time soon.
But if the power of the lobby is the key to U.S. support, then the strategy to be followed is much simpler and has a much greater chance of success: we need simply to dare speak out and tell the truth.
The public must realize that far from being an asset, Israel is a chronic liability that squanders billions of American dollars, drags the United States into wars and whose genocidal treatment of the Palestinians is radically destroying America’s moral pretensions in most of the world.
Once this is understood, support for Israel will collapse, and voters may put enough pressure on the national elite, the administration and even the intimidated Congress to reorient U.S. policy in line with genuine national interests.
There are signs that part of the economic ruling class is moving this way: Elon Musk’s defense of free speech on social networks is a step in the right direction (to the rage of Israel’s supporters).
Although Donald Trump, as president, did all he could for Israel, his popular slogan “America First” means something quite different, as understood by anti-interventionists on the right such as Tucker Carlson.
Unfortunately, many on the left cling to an ostensibly “Marxist” view that U.S. support for Israel must be motivated by economic interests, by capitalist profits, by control of the flow of Middle Eastern oil. This belief is not only unsupported factually, it amounts to an invitation to U.S. rulers to keep it up.
With worldwide indignation rising against the genocidal assault on Gaza, how is it possible for any American to claim that Israel is “acting in American interests?” Israel is responsible for its crimes, and it is both true and in the U.S. national interest to recognize that far from being a strategic asset, Israel is America’s No. 1 liability.
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Jean Bricmont is professor of theoretical physics at the Catholic University of Louvain (Belgium), and author of numerous articles and books, including Humanitarian Imperialism, La République des Censeurs,and Fashionable Nonsense (with Alan Sokal).
Diana Johnstone was press secretary of the Green Group in the European Parliament from 1989 to 1996. In her latest book, Circle in the Darkness: Memoirs of a World Watcher(Clarity Press, 2020), she recounts key episodes in the transformation of the German Green Party from a peace to a war party. Her other books include Fools’ Crusade: Yugoslavia, NATO and Western Delusions (Pluto/Monthly Review) and in co-authorship with her father, Paul H. Johnstone, From MAD to Madness: Inside Pentagon Nuclear War Planning (Clarity Press). She can be reached at [email protected]
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While there is widespread and increasing support for the protection of wildlife, avoidable obstructions have been created by the insistence of some conservationists and project authorities on pursuing conservation work in ways that involve the displacement of many villagers. Hence an avoidable conflict has been created, ignoring the alternative of pursuing conservation in ways that avoid such displacement and disruption of rural communities.
In fact in some places such disruption of rural communities has been accompanied also by a lot of violence against rural communities, at least partly to increase pressure on them to move out early.
Around 2000 people are alleged to have been killed and 30000 driven from homes to create a wildlife reserve in Myanmar (Panos background paper on ‘Parks and People’).
Currently thousands more are threatened by displacement caused by expansion of parks in Tanzania, particularly under the REGROW project.
This is extremely tragic, and entirely avoidable. As several experts have been pointing out, conservation models which are compatible with villagers’ sustainable livelihoods are not just possible, but may also have higher chances of success. Ramachandra Guha, delivering the keynote address to the Conference on Wildlife and Human Rights in Asia at the University of Oslo said,
“The belief in a total ban on human intervention is misguided. Studies show that the highest levels of biological diversity are often found in areas with some (though not excessive) human intervention. In opening up new niches to be occupied by insects, plants and birds, partially disturbed ecosystems can have a greater diversity than untouched areas.”
According to David Western, in East Africa,
“the ending of human activity in the parks, such as fires and shifting cultivation, has reduced biodiversity. Those human activities created the patchiness of terrain that encouraged more species. By pulling out the human components, and maintaining too many elephants we are losing biodiversity.”
In Bharatpur Park area of India (Rajasthan state), some years back villagers protested when the authorities banned grazing. In the ensuing conflict seven villagers were killed. Yet the Bombay Natural History Society concluded that here buffalo grazing was “an integral part of the ecosystem, helping to counter the tendency of the wetland to turn into a grassland.” Hence there was no need, even from a conservation viewpoint, to put a ban on grazing in the first place. The conflict, which caused the loss of life of innocent villagers, was thus entirely avoidable.
In some other cases also, including the famous ‘Valley of Flowers’ in Himalayan region, bans an traditional grazing had a negative impact on diversity and required a reintroduction of grazing or grass cutting.
Such research findings indicate that the interests of both human population as well as wild species in most situations can be better served by giving up the notion of parks as areas devoid of human intervention. A more rewarding approach will be to look at how local people can prove helpful in protection of animals and birds, trees and plants, and evolve a system based on involving as well as rewarding the people for their help, making creative use of their impressive knowledge of local forests as well as their various skills.
According to the Panos paper on People and Parks, the Kuikuru people in the upper Xingu valley of the Amazon rainforest can differentiate between 262 kinds of trees or plants and even more forms of animal life.
Forests play an important role in the food security of several indigenous communities by providing free of cost food which is shared much more equally and generously compared to cultivated and market-purchased food. A study by Living Farm organization in the Odisha tells us that 121 types of food available from forests are known to the tribal communities which are shared by the community and are particularly useful for meeting needs of several micro-nutrients. During the lean season and during drought years the importance of this forest food increases further.
Several communities of forest dwellers have been living in harmony with wildlife. They have self-imposed restrictions on forest-use as well as on hunting or causing any other harm to wild animals. There is much to learn from them regarding the way of peaceful coexistence with wildlife. Instead of officials and rangers trying to form such an understanding, more often the highly unfortunate trend has been to follow a policy to remove them from park areas, or at least to curtail their forest and other livelihood rights in a big way, thereby creating pressures on them to move away sooner or later.
When villagers are displaced from park areas, or their livelihood is gravely jeopardized then chances increase that some of them will be trapped by poachers and smugglers to work for them, thereby increasing the risks to wildlife as well, and turning protectors and potential protectors of wildlife into those who can threaten wildlife.
So removal of villagers from park area can be harmful not only for them but also for biodiversity. The approach should be to involve them in the protection of biodiversity. The famous ornithologist from India, Salim Ali, had made a strong pitch for this. He stated,
“No conservation laws or measures can succeed fully unless they have the backing of informed public opinion, which in our case means the usually illiterate village cultivator.” He added that we (the conservationists) have to find the right approach for involving the villagers, not excluding them. He added, “We have never really tried enough. Devising a realistic strategy is now a challenge to all conservationists.”
The significance of this viewpoint – of working with people and not against them – can be seen very clearly in the example of van gujjars, a semi-nomadic pastoral community which is being displaced from Rajaji National Park area in North India. For several years forest and wildlife officials have continued to propagate van gujjars’ pastoralism as being harmful for forests and wildlife, but this view was contested by voluntary organizations working with van gujjrs like Vikalp and Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra (RLEK).
RLEK also prepared a plan for Community Forest Management in Protected Areas (CFM-PA) to enable van gujjars, in cooperation with other villagers, to manage a part of the Park area. This plan document, prepared on the basis of detailed, meticulous fieldwork, provided a view of van gujjars’ relation with wildlife and forests which is very different from the dominant view propagated by most offocials. ( All quotes below are from the CFM-PA plan prepared by RLEK).
“All forest animals, whether fierce or gentle, are seen as interrelated components of the natural world and therefore to be cared for by mankind. “They are our children,” it is said, “for they have the same life as our own.”Moreover, ‘buffaloes have us to care for them but just because wild animals have nobody to care for them does not mean they should be harmed.”
“Jackals, snakes, leopards and even the irascible elephant are all given a respected place within the moral order of the natural world. Though different, like the five fingers of the hand, each has its part to play in the great scheme of things.”
“Since they are regarded as kin, no creature of the forest may be killed and even injury to one is cause for personal disgrace and discipline before the elders. No forest creature may be eaten or skinned and if found dead should be buried, preferably with a prayer similar to that used for human or buffalo burials.”
After describing this thinking of van gujjars this document adds,
“To walk through the forest with a van gujjar guide is a lesson in biodiversity; every species of tree is known, its quality as fodder, the timing of its leaf-fall, medicinal properties and so on. Every sound has meaning, every bird known and its habits noted, every fallen branch or tree noted.”
Clearly such communities can be a very big asset for the protection of forests and wildlife. Members of such communities can with a little training emerge as barefoot botanists and zoologists. Collectively, these communities can play a very important role on keeping away poachers and smugglers of forest produce.
Unfortunately such potential is not even considered by those officials or managers who approach the entire issue with a colonial or neo-colonial thinking which is ranged against the communities and the protection of their rights from the outset. They see their role more as policemen out to discipline people and remove them when required, instead of trying to become partners of communities in creative and cooperative efforts to save environment and at the same protect sustainable livelihoods.
Once such possibilities are explored in very creative and interesting ways for such cooperation, it will be found that sustainable livelihoods can not only co-exist with protection of wild-life but in addition the two cam be mutually supportive in very interesting ways. To give just one example, a community in an area where poaching is a threat can be involved in steps to check poaching either in terms of full-time or part time jobs for some of its members, or in terms of an annual collective grant to the community for supporting various welfare activities.
In areas of conflict like the Ruaha National Park in Tanzania from where large-scale displacement is planned and from where reports of terrible violence against villagers are already being received, there is a strong case for entirely changing the approach and the existing plans to avoid displacement and disruption of livelihoods, and instead embark on an approach that integrates protection of wildlife and forests with protection of sustainable livelihoods of communities.
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Bharat Dogra is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include Planet in Peril, Man over Machine and Protecting Earth for Children. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.
Featured image is from Environmental Investigation Agency
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Justin Trudeau is trying to pass Bill C-63 into law — which would make it illegal to “express hate on the internet.”
First, let’s look up the word “hate” in the Oxford Dictionary to keep us somewhat rooted in reality:
“Hate: intense or passionate dislike”
So the Liberal government is trying to make it illegal to express an intense dislike for somebody or something.
“The proposals contained in Bill C-63 are so bizarre and outrageous that most would dismiss them outright,” says host Bob Metz, in last week’s episode of Just Right. “Like something out of a science-fiction horror fantasy, the bill allows the government to convict, fine, and imprison ‘for life’ people who have not committed any speech offence, but who may do so in the future.”
Yes, you could go to jail if there are reasonable grounds to suspect you might leave a comment after a YouTube video about how much you dislike something (such as this Orwellian law) or somebody (such as our Orwellian prime minister).
“Hate is obviously a human emotion,” says Ezra Levant in the same episode of Just Right. “We all know that. Sometimes we feel love, sometimes we feel hate, sometimes we feel contempt, sometimes we feel respect. That’s a normal, human personality. And you could no more ban hate than you could pass the ‘Love Each Other Act’… You cannot eradicate hate from the human heart. The essence of this Bill C-63 is it turns that feeling into a crime. It’s not even a thought crime… It’s a feelings crime.”
I guess we are all going to jail.
But for an even more far-fetched “science-fiction horror fantasy” story, you can listen to Just Right’s exposé about how Bill C-63 “is the perfect weapon of violence for those consumed with irrational hatreds that they do not wish to have exposed” available here.
“How are such people to be identified? Through a ‘complaint’ system in which the identity of the complainant is kept a secret. The complainant can be anyone. As explained by Ezra Levant, “a person may lay an information if he fears that another person will commit a speech offense in the future.” And that’s just the tip of the iceberg of Bill C-63’s unconscionable and immoral proposals.
But more frightening than the contents of the bill itself are the people who would even allow themselves to entertain such evil. Former Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault, who drafted the law, has announced that the government also has a “nuclear option” by being able to make it impossible to access any specific website in the country.
The Trudeau government’s obsession with regulating and censoring the internet suggests that he and his government greatly fear the truth. Truth is, after all, what is being eliminated from any allowable public discussion.”
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John C. A. Manley is the author of Much Ado About Corona: A Dystopian Love Story , the forthcoming All The Humans Are Sleeping and other works of speculative fiction. You get free chapters from his novels by subscribing to his Blazing Pine Cone email newsletter at https://blazingpinecone.com/subscribe/
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While the US publication Foreign Policy accepts Putin’s case on non NATO Ukraine and concedes that Russia cares more for Ukraine than the West there is great dissension within the western alliance. Jens Stoltenberg speaking at Sweden’s NATO membership ceremony continues the war rhetoric:
Surrender is not a peaceful solution. We need to keep making Ukraine strong. We need to show Putin that he won’t get what he wants on the battlefield.
But a French military report leaked to the French media claims the opposite:
“the most serious error of analysis and judgment would be to continue to seek exclusively military solutions to stop hostilities.” A French officer summarises: “It is clear, in view of the forces present, that Ukraine cannot win this war militarily.”
The French report bears close scrutiny because (as Macron’s anger and increasingly aggressive rhetoric shows) the French probably have more troops on the ground in Ukraine than anyone and hundreds have been killed in Russian bombings of military planning targets. The French Report continues:
“Zelensky would need 35,000 men per month, he is not recruiting half of them, while Putin draws from a pool of 30,000 monthly volunteers. The Ukrainian failure at Avdiïvka shows that, despite the emergency dispatch of an “elite” brigade – the 3rd Azov air assault brigade – Kiev is not capable of locally re-establishing a sector of the collapsing front”
The Ukraine warmongers have also suffered a serious blow from the Pope who in a Swiss Television interview called on Kiev to negotiate a peace:
I believe that the stronger one is the one who sees the situation, the one who thinks about people, and the one who has the courage to raise the white flag and negotiate. Today it is possible to negotiate with the help of international powers. The word “negotiation” is a bold one. When you see that you are failing, that things are going wrong, you need to have the courage to negotiate. Shame on you, but how many deaths will this end in? Conduct negotiations in a timely manner, and look for some country that will act as a mediator.
Here Dmitry Babich contrasts western experts’ rational assessment of losses and military weakness with the aggressive and hysterical rhetoric of so many western “Statesmen”.
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US Foreign Policy Journal Argues Against NATO Membership for Ukraine[1]
By Dmitry Babich
The recent statements of Western leaders on the Ukraine war give the impression of schizophrenia. What is strange about the current situation is the fact that the irresponsible statements are made by political leaders in power, while at least some voices in the media and the opposition are trying to call the “decision makers” back to reason.
It used to be the other way round: “wild dreams” and extreme rhetoric were the realm of the media, while political figures were expected to act responsibly.
Even in the political class Macron’s outlandish statement that sending NATO troops to help Zelensky’s regime “was not excluded” was soon defused by the French Defence Minister Sebastian Lecornu who said such a decision was “not on the table at the moment”.
The Polish foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski called for “asymetric escalation” in Ukraine – from NATO’s side. In Sikorski’s opinion, the presence of NATO troops in Ukraine “should not be something unthinkable.” No surprise in this statement of this former British citizen (Sikorski fled Poland in the difficult times of the martial law in the 1980s) and the husband of the “neocon media Valkiria” Ann Applebaum.
The rare voices of reason are heard from the expert side – from a small part of the professional media.
Foreign Policy, one of America’s most authoritative magazines on international affairs, even published an article denying the need for Kiev to join NATO. The article is headlined “NATO Should Not Accept Ukraine – for Ukraine’s Sake.” The article’s two authors promise to provide “the top five reasons why expanding the Western alliance would make Kiev even worse off.”
The article’s authors, Stephen Walt and Robert Renée Belfer, realise that they are going against the Western mainstream, because their suggestion not to take Ukraine into NATO is actually Russia’s long standing red line – repeated many times prior to February 2022 by President Putin.
So, what made Foreign Policy’s authors vie away from the Western mainstream on the NATO-Ukraine narrative? One of the factors was Kiev’s ongoing military failure. Here is a quote from The Foreign Policy article:
”Turning to Ukraine, our belief that bringing it into NATO now (or in the near future) is unwise rests on several assumptions. One is that Ukraine cannot reverse the situation on the battlefield and reconquer its lost territory unless it gets a lot more weaponry and has time to reconstitute its forces after the setbacks of the past year. It is suffering from a severe (and probably irreversible) shortage of manpower and the combination of drone surveillance, artillery, and extensive Russian fortifications will make it difficult-to-impossible for Kyiv to make large territorial advances. Ukraine’s cheerleaders in the West were wrong last spring when they offered up optimistic forecasts about the then-upcoming counteroffensive. And they are repeating this error now by suggesting that there are still lots of ways for Ukraine to turn the tide.”
“Kiev cannot reverse the situation on the ground”, FP’s article says, “where the tides of battle have shifted against Ukraine.” FP brings bad news to Zelensky’s regime: with every passing day it has a slimmer chance of “reconquering lost territory.”
But the leading reason for the authors’ shift to realism is not even military, it is psychological. Who cares more about Ukraine – the answer to this question became obvious in the last few months.
“Our assumption is that Russia’s leaders care more about Ukraine’s fate than the West does,” the article says.
The issue is not only post-war reconstruction, which Russia has already started in, say, Mariupol. No NATO country is ready to commit any number of troops to Ukraine that would be even remotely comparable to the Russian army’s contingent now operating at the frontline.
The authors belatedly acknowledge that the West has not acted in Ukraine’s interest from the very beginning:
“NATO’s oft-repeated commitment to bring Ukraine into the alliance undoubtedly fuelled Moscow’s concerns.” “The evidence that the prospect of NATO joining NATO fuelled Putin’s actions is impossible to deny” – in this way the Foreign Policy article belatedly admits a simple truth that had been denied in both Washington and Brussels for years.
So, NATO membership for Ukraine “will only prolong the war”, Foreign Policy concludes, and one could not agree more. “Neutrality may not be that bad for Ukraine” – that is also true. The question is: why is the wise opinion confined to the fringes of the expert community, while Macron’s and Sikorski’s outlandish aggressive suggestions are the mainstream?
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“If Ukraine gets in, we need to leave NATO,” he wrote in The American Conservative
“Despite what the Biden administration and the foreign policy establishment would claim, Russia’s decision to pursue military objectives in Ukraine was due in large part to the prospect of further NATO expansion for both Ukraine and Georgia, a redline that Vladimir Putin drew as far back as 2008. Rather than taking such warnings seriously, the U.S. and European capitals continued to beat the drum of expansion by touting the foolish desires of the “rules-based international order” above realism.”
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In the aftermath of the NATO-backed 2014 Maidan coup that brought Neo-Nazis to power in Ukraine, there has been a systematic nazification of Ukrainian youth, including underage children.
Many of the children initially brainwashed into this rabidly Russophobic ideology (among other forms of hatred) were in their early 20s when the special military operation (SMO) started. They formed the very core of the Neo-Nazi junta troops, loyal to the cause of eradicating anyone deemed “Untermenschen”. That is, until they had to face the actual Russian military. Since then, the number of the most loyal and highly motivated Kiev regime soldiers has fallen dramatically.
The sheer magnitude of their casualties versus Moscow’s forces makes it impossible to sustain such losses without a massive reduction in the Neo-Nazi junta’s fighting capabilities. In order to ameliorate the issue, the Kiev regime is looking for ways to force ever more people into becoming cannon fodder in NATO’s aggression against Russia. Apart from the regular kidnapping of people on streets of Ukrainian towns and cities, there’s also a more tight border control, where any conscription dodgers caught trying to escape are subjected to brutal treatment. This is hardly surprising given the fact that even people with severe physical and mental disabilities are being pressed into service, while the same is now being done to women, including pregnant ones. The Neo-Nazi junta now wants millions of childless women to join them as well.
According to the Ukrainian Texty publication, there are approximately 5 million men who could be conscripted, with the Kiev regime planning to force 500,000 of them into its ranks. The report also claims that there are at least 1.1 million people in the military, over 60,000 of whom are women. Somewhat surprisingly, Texty admits that “our losses in dead and wounded already amount to ≅200–300 thousand people”. Although far less than the estimates of many military analysts who are already putting that number much closer to half a million, this admission is far more realistic than the ludicrous 30,000 figure given by the Neo-Nazi junta. Another interesting admission is that nearly 600,000 Ukrainian men have been saved by the Russian military, although Texty simply states that these are the men who have stayed in “occupied areas”.
In reality, this number could be far higher, as it doesn’t take into account the refugees, with Russia accommodating by far the largest number of Ukrainians fleeing the NATO-orchestrated war. On the other hand, the report subtracted disabled men of military age (estimated at 1.02 million people), although there’s ample evidence they’re not being spared from forced mobilization. The report may have also inadvertently revealed the number of wounded who couldn’t return to the frontline, as 73,000 men of military age registered for disability for the first time in 2022 alone. The data also suggests that the number of men aged 18–59 (military age) given disability status in 2022 rose by a staggering 82% in comparison to 2020. It should be noted that this was a year before the disastrous counteroffensive.
Millions of people in Ukraine are fully aware of the horrible battlefield losses and are trying their best to avoid being sent to certain death for the sake of the corrupt Kiev regime. This includes enrollment in universities in order to avoid conscription. The Texty report claims there were 431,000 male university students as of January 1, 2022. Ukrainian law allows them to avoid conscription as long as they’re enrolled in a university. According to the report, the number of first-year students has approximately doubled over the past two years. The 2021 statistics show there were 91,500 freshmen, which rose to 166,300 and over 200,000 in 2022 and 2023, respectively. Thus, the NATO-backed Neo-Nazi junta is looking for cannon fodder elsewhere. As previously mentioned, women are now being increasingly targeted for this purpose.
The report found there are 5.6 million Ukrainian women “of military age” (18-60) and supposedly “eligible for military service”. Texty claims that 46% of them are raising children, meaning that over 3 million women would be targeted for conscription. According to their assessment, “if the war drags on for years or if Russia dramatically increases the number of its forces, the conscription of women can significantly improve the situation”. Texty further adds that this is supposedly “good”, citing the example of “democratic countries, [where] women have equal rights with men and participate in all types of activities that were previously considered purely male”. The very idea that the countries of the political West are supposedly “democratic” shows just how incredibly naive (or at the very least brainwashed) the authors are.
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This article was originally published on InfoBrics.
Drago Bosnic is an independent geopolitical and military analyst. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.
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His name? Paul Levine. His injury? Life-threatening heart damage after two Pfizer COVID shots.
After a close-call with death, he pushed himself to heal the heart muscle and pursue recovery. A doctor affirmed that he should not receive any further COVID injections, but Paul has been permanently scarred from getting any immunizations:
“I won’t vaccinate anymore.”
He shares his story in this CHD.TV narrative.
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The Worldwide Corona Crisis, Global Coup d’Etat Against Humanity
by Michel Chossudovsky
Michel Chossudovsky reviews in detail how this insidious project “destroys people’s lives”. He provides a comprehensive analysis of everything you need to know about the “pandemic” — from the medical dimensions to the economic and social repercussions, political underpinnings, and mental and psychological impacts.
“My objective as an author is to inform people worldwide and refute the official narrative which has been used as a justification to destabilize the economic and social fabric of entire countries, followed by the imposition of the “deadly” COVID-19 “vaccine”. This crisis affects humanity in its entirety: almost 8 billion people. We stand in solidarity with our fellow human beings and our children worldwide. Truth is a powerful instrument.”
Reviews
This is an in-depth resource of great interest if it is the wider perspective you are motivated to understand a little better, the author is very knowledgeable about geopolitics and this comes out in the way Covid is contextualized. —Dr. Mike Yeadon
In this war against humanity in which we find ourselves, in this singular, irregular and massive assault against liberty and the goodness of people, Chossudovsky’s book is a rock upon which to sustain our fight. –Dr. Emanuel Garcia
In fifteen concise science-based chapters, Michel traces the false covid pandemic, explaining how a PCR test, producing up to 97% proven false positives, combined with a relentless 24/7 fear campaign, was able to create a worldwide panic-laden “plandemic”; that this plandemic would never have been possible without the infamous DNA-modifying Polymerase Chain Reaction test – which to this day is being pushed on a majority of innocent people who have no clue. His conclusions are evidenced by renown scientists. —Peter Koenig
Professor Chossudovsky exposes the truth that “there is no causal relationship between the virus and economic variables.” In other words, it was not COVID-19 but, rather, the deliberate implementation of the illogical, scientifically baseless lockdowns that caused the shutdown of the global economy. –David Skripac
A reading of Chossudovsky’s book provides a comprehensive lesson in how there is a global coup d’état under way called “The Great Reset” that if not resisted and defeated by freedom loving people everywhere will result in a dystopian future not yet imagined. Pass on this free gift from Professor Chossudovsky before it’s too late. You will not find so much valuable information and analysis in one place. –Edward Curtin
ISBN: 978-0-9879389-3-0, Year: 2022, PDF Ebook, Pages: 164, 15 Chapters
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“Never has our future been more unpredictable, never have we depended so much on political forces that cannot be trusted to follow the rules of common sense and self-interest—forces that look like sheer insanity, if judged by the standards of other centuries.”—Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism
This is the state of our nation that no is talking about—not the politicians, not the courts, and not Congress: the government’s power grabs are growing bolder, while the rights of the citizenry continue to be trampled underfoot.
Hitler is hiding in the shadows, while the citizenry—the only ones powerful enough to stem the authoritarian tide that threatens to lay siege to our constitutional republic—remain easily distracted and conveniently diverted by political theatrics and news cycles that change every few days.
This sorry truth has persisted no matter which party has controlled Congress or the White House.
These are dangerous times.
Yet while the presidential candidates talk at length about the dangers posed by the opposition party, the U.S. government still poses the gravest threat to our freedoms and way of life.
Police shootings of unarmed individuals, invasive surveillance, roadside blood draws, roadside strip searches, SWAT team raids gone awry, the military industrial complex’s costly wars, pork barrel spending, pre-crime laws, civil asset forfeiture, fusion centers, militarization, armed drones, smart policing carried out by AI robots, courts that march in lockstep with the police state, schools that function as indoctrination centers, bureaucrats that keep the Deep State in power: these are just a few of the ways in which the police state continues to flex its muscles in a show of force intended to intimidate anyone still clinging to the antiquated notion that the government answers to “we the people.”
Consider for yourself the state of our nation:
Americans have little protection against police abuse. The police and other government agents have been generally empowered to probe, poke, pinch, taser, search, seize, strip and generally manhandle anyone they see fit in almost any circumstance, all with the general blessing of the courts. It is no longer unusual to hear about incidents in which police shoot unarmed individuals first and ask questions later. What is increasingly common, however, is the news that the officers involved in these incidents get off with little more than a slap on the hands.
Americans are little more than pocketbooks to fund the police state. If there is any absolute maxim by which the federal government seems to operate, it is that the American taxpayer always gets ripped off. This is true, whether you’re talking about taxpayers being forced to fund high-priced weaponry that will be used against us, endless wars that do little for our safety or our freedoms, or bloated government agencies with their secret budgets, covert agendas and clandestine activities.
Americans are no longer innocent until proven guilty. We once operated under the assumption that you were innocent until proven guilty. Due in large part to rapid advances in technology and a heightened surveillance culture, the burden of proof has been shifted so that the right to be considered innocent until proven guilty has been usurped by a new norm in which all citizens are suspects. Indeed, the government—in cahoots with the corporate state—has erected the ultimate suspect society. In such an environment, we are all potentially guilty of some wrongdoing or other.
Americans no longer have a right to self-defense. While the courts continue to disagree over the exact nature of the rights protected by the Second Amendment, the government itself has made its position extremely clear. When it comes to gun rights in particular, and the rights of the citizenry overall, the U.S. government has adopted a “do what I say, not what I do” mindset. Nowhere is this double standard more evident than in the government’s attempts to arm itself to the teeth, all the while viewing as suspect anyone who dares to legally own a gun, let alone use one in self-defense. Indeed, while it still technically remains legal to own a firearm in America, possessing one can now get you pulled over, searched, arrested, subjected to all manner of surveillance, treated as a suspect without ever having committed a crime, shot at, and killed.
Americans no longer have a right to private property. If government agents can invade your home, break down your doors, kill your dog, damage your furnishings and terrorize your family, your property is no longer private and secure—it belongs to the government. Likewise, if government officials can fine and arrest you for growing vegetables in your front yard, praying with friends in your living room, installing solar panels on your roof, and raising chickens in your backyard, you’re no longer the owner of your property.
Americans no longer have a say about what their children are exposed to in school. Incredibly, the government continues to insist that parents essentially forfeit their rights when they send their children to a public school. This growing tension over whether young people, especially those in the public schools, are essentially wards of the state, to do with as government officials deem appropriate, in defiance of the children’s constitutional rights and those of their parents, is at the heart of almost every debate over educational programming, school discipline, and the extent to which parents have any say over their children’s wellbeing in and out of school.
Americans are powerless in the face of militarized police forces. With local police agencies acquiring military-grade weaponry, training and equipment better suited for the battlefield, Americans are finding their once-peaceful communities transformed into military outposts patrolled by a standing military army.
Americans no longer have a right to bodily integrity. The debate over bodily integrity covers broad territory, ranging from abortion and euthanasia to forced blood draws, biometric surveillance and basic healthcare. Forced vaccinations, forced cavity searches, forced colonoscopies, forced blood draws, forced breath-alcohol tests, forced DNA extractions, forced eye scans, forced inclusion in biometric databases: these are just a few ways in which Americans continue to be reminded that we have no control over what happens to our bodies during an encounter with government officials.
Americans no longer have a right to the expectation of privacy. Despite the staggering number of revelations about government spying on Americans’ phone calls, Facebook posts, Twitter tweets, Google searches, emails, bookstore and grocery purchases, bank statements, commuter toll records, etc., Congress, the president and the courts have done little to nothing to counteract these abuses. Instead, they seem determined to accustom us to life in this electronic concentration camp.
Americans no longer have a representative government. We have moved beyond the era of representative government and entered the age of authoritarianism, where all citizens are suspects, security trumps freedom, and so-called elected officials represent the interests of the corporate power elite. This topsy-turvy travesty of law and government has become America’s new normal.
Americans can no longer rely on the courts to mete out justice. The U.S. Supreme Court was intended to be an institution established to intervene and protect the people against the government and its agents when they overstep their bounds. Yet through their deference to police power, preference for security over freedom, and evisceration of our most basic rights for the sake of order and expediency, the justices of the Supreme Court have become the architects of the American police state in which we now live, while the lower courts have appointed themselves courts of order, concerned primarily with advancing the government’s agenda, no matter how unjust or illegal.
I haven’t even touched on the corporate state, the military industrial complex, SWAT team raids, invasive surveillance technology, zero tolerance policies in the schools, overcriminalization, or privatized prisons, to name just a few, but what I have touched on should be enough to show that the landscape of our freedoms has already changed dramatically from what it once was and will no doubt continue to deteriorate unless Americans can find a way to wrest back control of their government and reclaim their freedoms.
This steady slide towards tyranny, meted out by militarized local and federal police and legalistic bureaucrats, has been carried forward by each successive president over the past seventy-plus years regardless of their political affiliation.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
We are walking a dangerous path right now.
Having allowed the government to expand and exceed our reach, we find ourselves on the losing end of a tug-of-war over control of our country and our lives. And for as long as we let them, government officials will continue to trample on our rights, always justifying their actions as being for the good of the people.
Yet the government can only go as far as “we the people” allow. Therein lies the problem.
The pickle we find ourselves in speaks volumes about the nature of the government beast we have been saddled with and how it views the rights and sovereignty of “we the people.”
Now you don’t hear a lot about sovereignty anymore. Sovereignty is a dusty, antiquated term that harkens back to an age when kings and emperors ruled with absolute power over a populace that had no rights. Americans turned the idea of sovereignty on its head when they declared their independence from Great Britain and rejected the absolute authority of King George III. In doing so, Americans claimed for themselves the right to self-government and established themselves as the ultimate authority and power.
In other words, in America, “we the people”— sovereign citizens—call the shots.
So when the government acts, it is supposed to do so at our bidding and on our behalf, because we are the rulers.
That’s not exactly how it turned out, though, is it?
In the 200-plus years since we boldly embarked on this experiment in self-government, we have been steadily losing ground to the government’s brazen power grabs, foisted upon us in the so-called name of national security.
We have relinquished control over the most intimate aspects of our lives to government officials who, while they may occupy seats of authority, are neither wiser, smarter, more in tune with our needs, more knowledgeable about our problems, nor more aware of what is really in our best interests.
The government has knocked us off our rightful throne. It has usurped our rightful authority. It has staged the ultimate coup. Its agents no longer even pretend that they answer to “we the people.”
Worst of all, “we the people” have become desensitized to this constant undermining of our freedoms.
How do we reconcile the Founders’ vision of the government as an entity whose only purpose is to serve the people with the police state’s insistence that the government is the supreme authority, that its power trumps that of the people themselves, and that it may exercise that power in any way it sees fit (that includes government agents crashing through doors, mass arrests, ethnic cleansing, racial profiling, indefinite detentions without due process, and internment camps)?
They cannot be reconciled. They are polar opposites.
We are fast approaching a moment of reckoning where we will be forced to choose between the vision of what America was intended to be (a model for self-governance where power is vested in the people) and the reality of what it has become (a police state where power is vested in the government).
We are repeating the mistakes of history—namely, allowing a totalitarian state to reign over us.
Former concentration camp inmate Hannah Arendt warned against this when she wrote:
“No matter what the specifically national tradition or the particular spiritual source of its ideology, totalitarian government always transformed classes into masses, supplanted the party system, not by one-party dictatorships, but by mass movement, shifted the center of power from the army to the police, and established a foreign policy openly directed toward world domination.”
So where does that leave us?
Aldous Huxley predicted that eventually the government would find a way of “making people love their servitude, and producing dictatorship without tears, so to speak, producing a kind of painless concentration camp for entire societies, so that people will in fact have their liberties taken away from them, but will rather enjoy it, because they will be distracted from any desire to rebel by propaganda or brainwashing, or brainwashing enhanced by pharmacological methods. And this seems to be the final revolution.”
Stop allowing yourself to be distracted and diverted.
Learn your rights.
Stand up for the founding principles.
Make your voice and your vote count for more than just political posturing.
Never cease to vociferously protest the erosion of your freedoms at the local and national level.
Most of all, do these things today.
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While the COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine Injured who develop Turbo Cancers are being gaslit by low level doctors and MD propagandists on Twitter and other social media, Big Pharma is in a literal feeding frenzy, buying up every “novel” cancer treatment imaginable at massive premiums.
“Feminists” like Tammy Duckworth or Nancy Pelosi will always agree that Israel treats women great, as if Palestinian women who are murdered and abused at the hands of Israel don’t exist at all. The subtext of this being that Palestinian women couldn’t possibly know what’s good for them. That’s disdain. That’s not feminism.
How can humanity allow an openly ongoing continuous mass murder of children, captive children at that, for over four months time, with the criminally insane maniac Netanyahu ordering the mass murder, promising the world he will not stop the killing for the foreseeable future?
Thousands of civilians living under terrorist occupation in Idlib have taken to the streets to demand the fall of the government on Friday. No, not the Syrian government in Damascus, but the Idlib government ruled by Abu Mohamed al-Julani, and his terrorist group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).
Concern has been expressed by health experts in the USA that life-expectancy in this country has been reducing steadily in comparison to levels attained in several other rich countries.
How will the deck chairs be arranged on the deck of the Titanic the morning after election day? Assuming there is an election day. I am going to try to give a short answer to the question of what is really going on here?
On Monday, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said that many large and small economies around the world have expressed willingness to start trading in rupee terms with India, which could be a “game-changing” development for India’s trade. This is another important step taken towards de-dollarisation and would better protect India’s economy in case of any future US-led sanctions.
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Am feeling some slight pangs of hunger as I sit down to my dinner, and the thought automatically arises, ‘how could a starving person take the immeasurably more severe hunger pain caused by the strong contractions of the stomach when it’s empty,’ and that makes me think of the poor desperately hungry children being starved in Gaza. Am still aware of the good taste of the food in my mouth but suddenly am not enjoying eating.
I want to tell the children I feel are watching me eat, to go watch the sky for an American plane dropping meals to them, but I know the severely traumatised children (who have their eyes on the food on my plate), have had their homes, playgrounds and schools destroyed, many of their brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, uncles and aunts, teachers and playmates killed or horribly wounded, some crippled, by bombs dropped by American planes piloted by Israelis dropping American bombs on them day and night for as long as they can seem to remember. I sense they are still watching me and my (their) food.
(America has also been allowing its client state Israel to starve the citizens of Gaza by blocking food and water from entering into Gaza and U.S.A. has used its veto power to vote down demands of the UN Security Council for a ceasefire.)
Can’t Take It Anymore
In his 93rd year this writer remembers all too well American warplanes dropping uncounted thousands of American bombs invariably landing on some millions of dear children, become our children, in Korea. In Vietnam, in Laos, in Cambodia, more recently in Iraq, and lesser amounts of bombs killing children in dozens of small countries in between Cambodia and Iraq.
Can’t forget either the starvation American military interventions for regime change, invasions, bombings and cruel sanctions has caused, for it’s children, become our children, who suffer and die firstly and mostly.
Oh, a reader might point out almost correctly, right now, it is the Israeli government and Israelis who are killing maiming and starving children, (our children), in its illegally militarily occupied Palestinian land Gaza, and not Americans. But the kids starring at me while I eat uncomfortably are not backing away, letting me off the hook. I am doomed to have lost any chance of regaining “ignorance is bliss” for having years ago subscribed to daily newsletters “Information Clearing House” and “Counter Currents” and since October 7, have been Googling “Al Jazeera” for ‘news of Palestine’ every morning.
Post Script
Most people are too busy making a living, taking care of their families and being misled and propagandised by journalists working for ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, CNN or PBS.
In our present era, still hegemonic colonialist U.S., U.K., Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Israel have gone on having their satellite powered CIA overseen [1] media entertainment/news conglomerates, along with those of ally Japan, managing public opinion throughout more than half of the world, and for four months have had their journalists underreporting as much as possible the ongoing genocide and obliteration of cities in the Gaza Strip, while avidly focusing public attention on Israelis held hostage by Palestinians, with no mention of the many thousands of Palestinians, including women and children, held in Israeli prisons, and highlighting Israeli propaganda of ever new completely unsubstantiated accusations of unbelievably outrageous grisly atrocities during the successful Palestinian guerrilla attack back on October 7, seeking to justify its annihilation of Palestinians in Gaza.
However, since the last days of February and the build up of rage throughout a world, journalists of Western media have begun to report some of the wonton genocidal cruelty of the continued bombing, air striking, shelling and shooting down and starving to death already more that 30,000, mostly women and children, within an illegally militarily captive and sealed off population of some 2.3 million Palestinians most of whom now are displaced, homeless crowded together in tents and make shift coverage without few toilets and getting weak and sick from lack of food and even water! Now some Western journalists will be scripted to report the number children who have already starved to death.
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Note to readers: Please click the share button above. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter and subscribe to our Telegram Channel. Feel free to repost and share widely Global Research articles.
Jay Janson is an archival research peoples historian activist, musician and writer; has lived and worked on all continents; articles on media published in China, Italy, UK, India and in the US by Dissident Voice, Global Research; Information Clearing House; Counter Currents and others; now resides in NYC; First effort was a series of articles on deadly cultural pollution endangering seven areas of life emanating from Western corporate owned commercial media published in Hong Kong’s Window Magazine 1993; Howard Zinn lent his name to various projects of his; Weekly column, South China Morning Post, 1986-87; reviews for Ta Kung Bao; article China Daily, 1989. Is coordinator of the Howard Zinn co-founded King Condemned US Wars International Awareness Campaign, and website historian of the Ramsey Clark co-founded Prosecute US Crimes Against Humanity Now Campaign, which contains a history of US crimes in 9 countries up to 2006 9 countries up to 2006.
Note
1. “Worldwide Propaganda Network Built by the C.I.A,” December 26, 1977, New York Times
Featured image is from Countercurrents
Further Reading
Hegemonic Western Colonialist Media Journalists Are Accessories to Israeli Mass Murder of Children in Gaza, by jay janson “Modern Israel enjoys “the same encouragement, the same funding, and the same support” of the collective West like Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Germany before the World War II, The Western elites kept quiet because they were preparing Hitler for him to launch his military power against the Soviet Union. ultimately, Hitler was a construct, a monster created by the collective West. See this, Feb. 2, 2024
UN Told Israelis Give The Land & Homes Back and Compensate Palestinians! Resolution #194 12/11/1948! (1774 views) Israel, as an occupying power, does not have “the right for self-defense” – UN International Court, 2004. Arab Palestinians are fighting to be freed from their open air concentration prison. See this, November 18, 2023
“Freedom! Justice!” Demand of Generations of Palestinians Will Not Be Denied All That Much Longer (463 views) Israeli government policies have consistently made Israel’s intentions seem to be something like ‘We Will Keep These People Captive While We Take Their Land As Ours Piece by Piece,’ and ‘Get These People Gone the sooner the better.’ See this, December 12, 2023.
US OK’s Bombing Children as Hamas Fights for Their Freedom from Illegal Israeli Military Occupation (1390 views) It is common knowledge that Israel maintains an illegal air, sea and land blockade on Gaza, not allowing anyone, including children, to escape being bombed to death. The US government, providing Israel with warplanes, missiles, weapons, ammunition and political and diplomatic backing, is complicit in this ongoing genocide of bombing to death thousands of militarily confined civilians, mostly women and children. See this, December 10, 2023
“Freedom! Justice!” Demand of Generations of Palestinians Will Not Be Denied All That Much Longer (463 views) Israeli government policies have consistently made Israel’s intentions seem to be something like ‘We Will Keep These People Captive While We Take Their Land As Ours Piece by Piece,’ and ‘Get These People Gone the sooner the better.’ See this, December 12, 2023
Mass Murder Bombing Gaza Cities Into Rubble Indicts Israel’s U.S. Patron’s Corporate World Hegemony (852 views) Global corporate capitalism led by the hegemonic state, the United States, is a fundamentally immoral and irrational system. In capitalism, both states and corporations are designed to maximize short-term power and profits for the super-wealthy corporate elite. Mass Murder is OK. See this, December 28, 2023
Einstein Cited Equally Horrific Terrorist Massacre of Arabs + USA Origen of Killing in Palestine (1752 views) Until the U.S. forced through United Nations plan for the partition of Palestine is recognized as having been intended to torch British ruled Palestine while British forces were withdrawing as a prearranged stratagem of an archetypal Colonial Powers crime against humanity, the same genocidal warfare and misery that was calculated and expected, will continue and spread, See this, October 31, 2023
If Palestinians Quoted Martin Luther King “US is Greatest Purveyor of Violence in World?” (1138 views) Why Palestinians? Firstly, because the U.S. provides the warplanes, weapons and munitions that has made possible the genocide of already 23,000 captive Palestinians under military occupation in Gaza, most of whom are women and children January 15, 2024 If Palestinians Quoted Martin Luther King See this
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I was three years old when CODEPINK was founded, by women I still interact with on a daily basis. So I’ve been able to hear what sort of discursive battles they had to face in the United States with other “feminist” groups in the lead up to the US invasions and occupations of the early 2000’s. Media or politicians would show pictures of women in Kabul or Baghdad wearing hijabs and insist that it was actually the US military that would bring them empowerment.
That notion is obviously, to us at least, rooted in racism, condescension, and quite frankly – misogyny. And I want to talk about the condescension part and how I feel it’s my responsibility as a feminist in the west, a part of a feminist organization in the west to throw condescension out the window, and what sort of political clarity it provides in incredibly important moments like right now.
I looked up the definition of “condescending” for this, just to see if it would provide anything I didn’t already know. What we immediately assume the word to mean if we had heard it before is something like patronizing, or talking down to people. But what is also included in the definition of condescension is “disdain”. Disdain is the feeling that someone is unworthy of your respect.
We know how mainstream western feminists talk about Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim women. Examples include insisting, either directly or indirectly, that war and occupation will help them somehow or that their oppressors treat women better than they do.
“Feminists” like Tammy Duckworth or Nancy Pelosi will always agree that Israel treats women great, as if Palestinian women who are murdered and abused at the hands of Israel don’t exist at all. The subtext of this being that Palestinian women couldn’t possibly know what’s good for them. That’s disdain. That’s not feminism.
Having a perspective on feminism that rejects condescension allows us to avoid the same pitfalls so many people didn’t when the US was talking about invading Afghanistan under the guise of “liberating women.”
When the New York Times came out with a story about mass rape on October 7, we were able to ask “where is your evidence?”
And we were right to ask those questions, right? And we should be asking a lot of questions when the intent of the story was to galvanize feminists in the west to support the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people. They didn’t need evidence. They just needed western women to consent to dropping bombs on Palestinian women to exact revenge for something that they completely made up. It demanded we value Israeli women over Palestinian women because that’s what they do.
Feminism that is free of condescension allows us to act with clarity in these moments. It allows us to act with humility. It allows us to be in genuine solidarity with women all over the world and not just in our hyper specific contexts. We can only know what’s best for us as individuals, but what’s best for women as a whole will be shaped by Palestinian resistance struggles, and struggles for gender oppressed people all over the world. May we all operate with this razor sharp clarity, without condescension until Palestine is free and long after.
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How can humanity allow an openly ongoing continuous mass murder of children, captive children at that, for over four months time, with the criminally insane maniac Netanyahu ordering the mass murder, promising the world he will not stop the killing for the foreseeable future.
Benjamin Netanyahu, as the Prime Minister of State of Israel, has commanded the murder, maiming and starving to death 31,000 captive Palestinians under Israel’s Illegal Military Occupation by his four months long orders for Israel’s air forces to continuously bomb and air strike Israel’s illegally military occupied Palestinian territory of Gaza, and by his orders blocking food, water, electricity, fuel and medicine from entering Gaza.[1][2]
Jan 30th Satellite data analysis showed the extent of the destruction.
The analysis suggests between 144,000 and 175,000 buildings across the whole Gaza Strip had been destroyed or damaged already six weeks before this writing. That was already between 50% and 61% of Gaza’s buildings.[1] As of March 5th, 70% of homes in Gaza are thought to be destroyed.[2]
Soon after Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, Israel (read Netanyahu) blocked entry of all food, water, fuel, medicine and other supplies into Gaza. Under U.S. pressure, Netanyahu began to allow a trickle of aid trucks to enter from Egypt at the Rafah crossing, and in December opened one crossing from Israel into southern Gaza.[3]
Only someone criminally insane would starve children to death — if we hear of someone starving a child, don’t we call the police? Where is everyone? Especially in the global south where murderous colonialism is remembered?
At this writing a total of 13,430 children have been killed in the Gaza Strip by the Israeli airstrikes and ground operations ordered by criminally insane Prime Minister Netanyahu since Oct. 7.[4]
What is more precious than the life of a child and why hasn’t Netanyahu been stopped taking already 13,500 children’s lives?
It noted that 8,900 women were killed over the course of 150 days, adding that 7,000 people, 70% of whom are women and children, are still under the rubble or missing.[4]
Only a racist madman would continue ordering thousands the deaths of thousands of women along with their children.
The Gaza media office said that 364 health personnel and 132 journalists also lost their lives during the period.[4]
So it’s kill, kill everyone! And nobody says much about it.
Warning against a growing famine in Gaza, the Gaza Media Office said Israeli military has prevented the entry of food and aid supplies and has even targeted aid vehicles trying to reach the region, causing the deaths of dozens of people looking for food for their families.[4]
Under International Humanitarian Law,
“the occupying power must ensure the humane treatment of the population and provide for their basic needs, including food and medical care.”[5]
Netanyahu has had the Israeli military push 85% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.[4]
Israel not Netanyahu stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.
Netanyahu Must be Prosecuted
Nations cannot be prosecuted. Individual perpetrators of crimes must be prosecuted.“Whether they are constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials or private individuals.” [Article IVConvention on Genocide.] That is an obligation of international customary law and therefore, binding on all States, whether or not they have ratified the Genocide Convention.[5] Article II reads, “Genocide means acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part,a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, Killing members of the group; Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.”[6] See this.
Unfortunately, there are more than a few Israelis, even rabbis, [7] who are led to believe genocide can be God’s will.
Deuteronomy 2:16:
“You must not let any living thing survive among the cities of these people the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.”
Genesis 15:18:
“On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates.”
1 Samuel 15:3:
“… and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling” [Standard Bible]
Netanyahu is certainly not the only Israeli guilty of mass murdering Palestinians.
Israeli pilots know they kill children when dropping massive amount of bombs on city centres. Have the pilots been made to feel that God, and not just Netanyahu, is on their side in any and all circumstance?
Netanyahu uses October 7th Hamas led guerrilla attack as a pretext to annihilate the Palestinians trapped in Gaza.
Is Netanyahu crazed with guilt for Israelis having learned of his having funded factions within Hamas for years? (Netanyahu’s plan was keep Palestinians divided and thus less unable to create a Palestinian state.)
Netanyahu said, “whoever is against a Palestinian state should be for” transferring the funds to Gaza, because maintaining a separation between the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza helps prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state. [Jerusalem Post, March 12, 2019] [8]
Media fabricates Israel as victim: Netanyahu as saviour, Western journalists work as accessories to genocide through ‘news’ selection and omissions.
The United Nations human rights chief on Friday condemned the record expansion of illegal Israeli apartheid settlements in the occupied West Bank including East Jerusalem and the “dramatic increase” in violence against Palestinians by Israeli occupation forces and settlers. Over 720,000 Israeli settlers live illegally in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
”Reports this week that Netanyahu has approved plans to build a further 3,476 settler homes in fly in the face of international law,”
According to the report, Israeli occupation forces and settlers have killed at least 413Palestinians—including 107 children—while wounding more than 4,600 others in the West Bank since October 7. [9]
Israel’s generations long illegal and very often murderous occupation of Palestinian lands and settler colonialism notwithstanding, CIA-overseen PPS,CNN,CBS,NBC,ABC,FOX CNN, and other U.S. and European entertainment/news conglomerates [10] have had their viewers, listeners and readers focus their attention on the 100+ Israelis held hostages without ever mentioning their release being bargained for some of the many thousands Palestinians including, women and children, imprisoned by Israel.
Corporation journalists for months have had their audiences watch, hear and read interviews of relatives of the Israeli hostages, while Israel and Netanyahu, with U.S. warplanes, bombs and missiles, have been committing genocide and making 80% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million homeless.[11]
Mindbogglingly, criminal media has cruelly underreported Palestinian intense suffering as Israel blocked food, water, fuel, electricity and medicine from entering Gaza until the point when children began to die of malnutrition. Israel’s planned starvation is now a indescribably horrific double sided genocide as the bombing and shelling of starving captive Palestinians continues with U.S.A. constantly replenishing Israel’s used up munitions while its criminal media make ‘the hostages’ ‘the hostages’ ‘the 100+ hostages’ and Israel’s criticism of Palestinian freedom fighting guerrillas successful attack on October 7.
Netanyahu would not be able to continue to order the Gazagenocide withoutthe continuing supply of weaponry from the U.S.[12] and without CIA controlled media journalists, [10] who are accessories to the ongoing double genocide.[see earlier article: Hegemonic Western Colonialist Media Journalists Are Accessories to Israeli Mass Murder of Children, Counter Currents, Feb. 26, 2024. [13]
International recognition of Netanyahu as criminally insane would seem to be a step in the direction.
It might get more Israelis to be concerned, to rethink, and consider halting their ongoing horrific genocide. and since Netanyahu’s starvation of children genocide was backed from its beginning and for four months by the Biden administration, once it could be widely established or accepted world wide that Netanyahu is criminally insane, it would become easier to focus attention on the mental disability of U.S. President Biden, the facilitator of the genocide in Gaza.
The majority humanity of the Global South might become more vocal in condemnation of the genocide, Netanyahu and the present leader of violent Western hegemonic colonialist imperialism.
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Note to readers: Please click the share button above. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter and subscribe to our Telegram Channel. Feel free to repost and share widely Global Research articles.
Jay Janson is an archival research peoples historian activist, musician and writer; has lived and worked on all continents; articles on media published in China, Italy, UK, India and in the US by Dissident Voice, Global Research; Information Clearing House; Counter Currents and others; now resides in NYC; First effort was a series of articles on deadly cultural pollution endangering seven areas of life emanating from Western corporate owned commercial media published in Hong Kong’s Window Magazine 1993; Howard Zinn lent his name to various projects of his; Weekly column, South China Morning Post, 1986-87; reviews for Ta Kung Bao; article China Daily, 1989. Is coordinator of the Howard Zinn co-founded King Condemned US Wars International Awareness Campaign, and website historian of the Ramsey Clark co-founded Prosecute US Crimes Against Humanity Now Campaign, which contains a history of US crimes in 9 countries up to 2006 9 countries up to 2006
Notes
1. At least half of Gaza’s buildings damaged or destroyed … – BBC https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68006607
2. Zeitoun neighbourhood in rubble: 70% of homes in Gaza thought to be destroyed Al Jazeera, March 5 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgaptVioFME
5. Regardless of how many claims it makes about annexation, under International Humanitarian Law, the occupying state does not acquire sovereignty over the occupied territory. The occupying power must ensure the humane treatment of the population and provide for their basic needs, including food and medical care.Oct 30, 2023 GENEVA CONVENTION RELATIVE TO THE PROTECTION OF CIVILIAN PERSONS IN TIME OF WAR OF 12 AUGUST 1949, Article 60 II. Responsibilities of the Occupying Power. page 189
7. Rabbi Dov Lior, a national- religious leader and the chief rabbi of Kiryat Arba and Hebron, published a letter on Monday saying that Jewish law permits destroying the entire Gaza Strip[Jerusalem Post, July 23, 2014]
8. Netanyahu: “Money to Hamas part of strategy to keep Palestinians divided” Jerusalem Post, MARCH 12, 2019 https://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Netanyahu-Money-to-Hamas-part-of-strategy-to-keep-Palestinians-divided-583082#google_vignette
12. The U.S. has provided (or is on track to provide) Israel over 25,000 tons of military supplies: dozens of F‑35 and F-15 fighter jets (to be received in the coming years), a dozen Apache helicopters, two thousand Hellfire missiles, MK‑84 bombs and Joint Direct Attack Munitions to guide them, Spice bombs, M141 bunker‑buster munitions, one million rounds of 7.62mm munitions and thousands of 155mm artillery shells, 30mm cannon munitions, night‑vision devices and much more. Meanwhile, the presence of U.S. surveillance drones in Gaza suggests the possibility of greater U.S. military involvement than previously thought. https://informationclearinghouse.blog/2024/03/08/complicity-in-genocide-the-case-against-the-biden-administration/12/
14. Complicity in Genocide—The Case Against the Biden Administration March 8, 2024, Information Clearing House
These briefs make it abundantly clear that the Biden administration, in its steadfast support of the Israeli government, is complicit in the ongoing genocide, the displacement of approximately 80% of Palestinians from their homes and the deaths of more than 29,000 so far in this latest chapter of a 76‑year-long Nakba (catastrophe) that never ended.
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Thousands of civilians living under terrorist occupation in Idlib have taken to the streets to demand the fall of the government on Friday. No, not the Syrian government in Damascus, but the Idlib government ruled by Abu Mohamed al-Julani, and his terrorist group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).
On Saturday, 1,500 Uyghurs strapped on suicide vests and marched from Idlib eastwards to attack the Syrian Arab Army (SAA), the only national army in Syria under the command of the administration in Damascus. The SAA repelled the attack and 60 of these Asian terrorists were killed, while hundreds of them were injured.
Experts feel that the attack on the SAA was a strategy by Julani to deflect on the civilian uprising against him and his terrorists.
HTS set up several checkpoints in Idlib on Thursday, aimed at preventing protests against Julani and HTS, who opened fire at protestors in the Aleppo countryside.
On February 6, it was reported that tens of women went out in a protest in Al-Atareb city in western Aleppo countryside against HTS, demanding the release of detainees, fair and speedy trials for prisoners and the overthrow of Julani. A day it was reported that dozens of people went out on protests in Binsh Town in Idlib countryside against HTS.
Women in Idlib are singled out for harsh treatment by HTS. They have to conform to a strict dress code, they can’t attend training programs offered by international humanitarian groups hoping to train people with employable skills, and they can’t work in places with men. Even Saudi Arabia’s rule for females is better than Idlib.
Over the past years, HTS has prevented the entry of many foodstuffs such as vegetables, fruits, and fuels from areas controlled by the Syrian National Army, the Turkish supported terrorist group north of Aleppo.
Hundreds of civilians staged anti-HTS demonstrations in Idlib city, the towns of Ariha, Killi, Hazanu, Binnish, Al-Dana and Sarmada in Idlib countryside and Al-Atarib city in the western countryside of Aleppo, calling for the downfall of Julani, HTS, release of detainees in HTS prisons and punishing every person involved in torturing civilians in those prisons.
During the US-NATO attack on Syria for regime change, which began in 2011, Idlib became a center for armed fighters seeking to establish an Islamic State in Syria.
The US government supported the Radical Islamic terrorists based in Idlib, because it is located on the border with Turkey, which had been used by the US to train and weaponize the terrorists. In other parts of the world, you may find the US fighting terrorists, but in Idlib is was to their advantage to use the terrorists as ‘boots on the ground’.
Idlib is a small, rural province between the coastal city of Latakia, and the industrial capital of Syria, Aleppo. Idlib’s resource is olive trees and the production of olive oil. But, after the CIA set up shop in Turkey, under the CIA program named “Timber Sycamore” which President Obama directed, Idlib became vital in the US-NATO attack on Syria.
The CIA under took the training of terrorists, supplying them with paychecks financed by Qatar, supplying them with weapons shipped from Libya to Turkey and trucked across the border to Idlib. In 2017, President Trump shut the CIA program which had cost the US taxpayers billions of dollars.
Julani is commander in chief HTS. The group is the occupying force in Idlib since 2015. Julani is Syrian, but born in Saudi Arabia. He fought against the US military in Iraq, and there became associated with Abu Mustafa Baghdadi, the founder if ISIS. Julani left Iraq for Syria and established the Al Qaeda branch in Syria, called Jibhat al-Nusra.
After the UN and the US designated al-Nusra as a terrorist group, Julani changed his groups’ name to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in order to continue receiving support from the US.
Every drop of aid coming in from the UN and other charities to Idlib passes through the hands of Julani and his officers. Julani built a large, two-story shopping Mall, with escalators, in which he sells the humanitarian aid surplus. If you are on his deserving list, you will get free aid, but if you have criticized him or his group, you will receive nothing and have to buy what you want from his Al Hamra Mall.
Julani was asked to clean-up his image by the US State Department, and he dressed in a suit and tie for an interview with an American media. Even though the US has issued a $10 million reward on Julani as a terrorist, the Oval Office has continued their support for him, because this suits the US interest in keeping a tiny piece of Syrian territory out of the hands of the administration in Damascus.
Julani has said that the
“Nusra Front doesn’t have any plans or directives to target the West. We received clear orders from Ayman al-Zawahiri not to use Syria as a launching pad to attack the U.S. or Europe.”
This statement was to position Julani as an American-friendly terrorist. His US handlers gave him advice to focus on fighting Al Qaeda and ISIS in order to make him and HTS look like they share a common enemy with the US.
HTS has imposed check-points between Idlib and Aleppo in which they profit from goods and people moving between the two areas. They collect taxes, tariffs and duties on everything moving in or out of Idlib.
The Turkish military invaded Syria for a two-fold purpose: to support the terrorists in Idlib, and to set-up Turkish affiliated terrorists north of Aleppo, which borders Idlib.
Turkey is a NATO member, and is an American ally. America also has occupation troops in Syria, but those are supporting the SDF and YPJ, which Turkey regards as terrorists aligned with PKK, a vicious communist terrorist group which has killed over 30,000 people over decades.
In Idlib, under Julani, they refer to their government as ‘The Salvation Government’. In the area north of Aleppo, the Turkish occupiers refer to their government as the ‘Interim Government’. Both groups levy taxes and charges on the civilians living under armed occupation. Even though both armed groups are following Radical Islam, which is a political ideology, they are in competition with one another over money matters: how to bleed the civilians of every penny.
The President of Turkey, Erdogan, regards the Chinese citizens in far western China as the descendants of the ancestors of modern Turkey. These people are ethnically Uyghurs, and their political party is the Eastern Turkmenistan Islamic Party (TIP). Their pale blue and white flags can be seen in the US, as the State Department has taken them under their wing as an insult and threat to China, the US perceived enemy.
Thousands of Uyghurs were given fake passports by Erdogan, and transported to Idlib in an effort to overthrow the Damascus government, as part of the US-NATO plan. Damascus did not fall, but the Uyghurs are still there. They feel that establishing an Islamic State in China is well over their ability, but the next best plan is to establish an Islamic State in Syria, which dove-tailed nicely with the plan from Washington, DC.
The situation in Idlib is at a stand-still. The status quo has been maintained by the US, Turkey and their terrorists. Caught in the middle are 3 million civilians who earn for freedom and life. They are being used as pawns in a dirty political game which seeks to keep Syria split apart and unable to recover from over a decade of conflict.
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The 2024 US presidential election is raising a degree of excitement in certain quarters.
Witness the chilling performance of 81-year-old President Joe Biden at the March 6, 2024, State of the Union address, with Kamala Harris popping up every 15 seconds or so to lead the clattering Congresspersons in feverish applause.
The message? President Joe Biden “will not bow down.” Nancy Pelosi called the spectacle “a master class.” Others called it another example of “Dark Brandon.”
Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump cheers on Israel in its assaults on the Palestinians, while his chorus of “deplorables” hoot and holler from the audience pit and Merrick Garland rounds up even more January 6 “rioters” to throw behind bars. Meanwhile, Fani Willis and Jack Smith sweat bullets over giving Trump his “day in court.” Meanwhile the Supreme Court, fresh off a 9-0 decision to allow Trump ballot access, lurks.
No offense, but Cornel West has long since said anything impactful.
Finally, Jill Stein, the Green, calls out the war machine in her lonely voice that was yet potent enough eight years ago to earn a taste of Hillary Clinton’s spleen, who claimed that Jill was yet another of Putin’s ubiquitous secret agents.
Then there’s the mysterious “No Labels” candidate, another attempt by a few vain money-bags at trotting a “spoiler” across the stage.
And where, oh where, is Col. Douglas MacGregor?
Of course, close to half the electorate will not even bother to vote. And honestly, why should they?
The ship is sinking—everyone knows that.
Meanwhile, the Neocons (remember PNAC?) press remorselessly for World War III against a) “the Putin” b) Xi and/or c) BRICS, Iran, the Axis of Resistance and anyone else who “will not bow down.”
And we haven’t even touched on the question of what exactly are President Joe Biden’s millions of illegals here for?
So my question is, how will the deck chairs be arranged on the deck of the Titanic the morning after election day?
Assuming there is an election day.
I am going to try to give a short answer to the question of what is really going on here?
Let’s start with the obvious fact that sitting at the top of Western society—at the pinnacle of the Empire’s elite—are a small number of very rich people who seem to get richer and richer with every twist and turn of events.
These people have under their control a financial system that runs by lending businesses and people money—putting them into more and more debt.
They do this by lending money they do not have at rates of interest that used to be called “usury”; and sometimes still is, in the case of 22.75% APR credit card rates. They create this money “out of thin air” through a privilege called “fractional reserve banking.”
It has long been known that the overall effect of usury is gradually to suck all the available money in circulation into the financiers’ own hands.
When the society where they reside goes broke, in spite of citizens’ best efforts to survive by climbing the earnings heap, the money-lenders go to war and take over other nations and suck all of their available money into their own bank accounts.
The people who were divinely inspired to create the Judeo-Christian religion understood all this, which is why both the Old and New Testaments forbade usury.
Many have believed it’s why Jesus drove the money-changers from the Temple, an incident the Bible suggests was the last straw for the priests and Pharisees who had lapsed from their own ancient faith. The Islamic religion also condemns usury.
This is why the medieval church outlawed usury, creating one of the most happy and prosperous societies on record during the High Middle Ages. It’s why Shakespeare wrote, “Neither a borrower nor a lender be,” and why America’s greatest sage, Benjamin Franklin, wrote, “Rather go to bed without dinner than to rise in debt.”
It’s why Abraham Lincoln spent Greenbacks into circulation during the Civil War rather than borrow from the New York and London banks. It’s why hundreds of American businesses and communities created scrip currency throughout the 19th century and began to do it again during the Great Depression.
It’s also why a few hardy souls today created Bitcoin, or trade through barter associations, or have conducted various experiments in local currency. It’s why anyone else who wishes to protect themselves or their families will get out of debt as soon as possible, though many others cling to a semblance of prosperity by gaming the system—often to the detriment of other members of society.
Among the most predatory of game-players are the vulture capitalists who take out millions in short-term loans for “leveraged buyouts,” where they fire most of the employees and strip the assets, then saddle the business remnant with the debt that sinks the entire enterprise. As bad are boards of directors who borrow money for stock buybacks to enrich themselves, their hedge fund partners, and the top corporate executives. This is what weapons manufacturers are doing with Congressional appropriations supposedly to create American jobs and help Ukraine.
It’s also a fact that every business trying to stay in existence does its best to avoid debt. In fact, paying down debt is a major cause of businesses raising prices—i.e., inflation.
Bankruptcy is obviously a safety valve against total societal collapse, but with many limitations and pitfalls.
Governments at all levels are also in thrall to the usury system, with bankruptcy, or default, a potential nightmare. “Debt service” is an ever-present tax burden for the entire population.
Usury banking did not exist in the growing prosperity of colonial America but began to take root with the Bank of North America in 1780, followed over the years by the First and Second Banks of the U.S. and the national banking system that began in 1863, with the final nail driven into the Constitution’s coffin with the Federal Reserve System created in 1913. With the Federal Reserve, the usury system had triumphed. As night follows day, over a century of world war followed and is still going on.
It’s the system of usury that for the last several centuries has been swinging open the doors to endless war, organized crime, exploitation, pollution, genocide, pandemics, terrorism, addictions, depressions, poverty, subversion, and the other ills that corrupt the world today. Contrary to the World Economic Forum and Club of Rome, both billionaires’ confabs, the fault is not too many “useless eaters.” The fault, rather, is the money these billionaires skim through fractional reserve banking at compound interest.
The Greens are the only political party with a monetary reform plank that would change the usury system. But this isn’t gathering much attention, is it?
It’s all so distracting that few people notice dropping temperatures, nightfall coming, and the icebergs gathering in the sea.
But election day, November 5, 2024, is just around the corner. The Titanic has set off on its appointment with destiny. Time for people to get themselves a comfortable seat on the deck of the ship.
Or not, as the case may be.
“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.
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Our Country Then and Now takes us on a 400-year journey through America’s history, providing unique snapshots from African enslavement, native dispossession, financial scandals, and wars of expansion and aggression, interspersed with tales from author Richard C. Cook’s ancestry—from Puritan forebears to fighters in the American Revolutionary War and the Civil War, to Midwest Pioneer farmers and their relations with native nations.
O presidente Biden recebeu calorosamente Giorgia Meloni na Casa Branca e, depois de agradecê-la pelo “apoio inabalável da Itália à Ucrânia”, conversou com ela sobre a situação em Gaza, onde “a perda de vidas é de partir o coração”. Ele então declarou que, para ajudar o povo de Gaza, “faremos lançamentos aéreos de alimentos e suprimentos para a Ucrânia e tentaremos abrir outras rotas de acesso à Ucrânia”, um deslize freudiano que permaneceu no vídeo oficial no site do governo italiano, visto por milhares de membros do governo e do parlamento, administradores locais e jornalistas da grande mídia. Evidentemente, o que quer que o presidente dos Estados Unidos diga não pode ser questionado.
A mídia política dominante também não permite que os dados oficiais sobre os suprimentos militares dos EUA para Israel sejam publicados. Assim que Israel iniciou a guerra em Gaza, os EUA forneceram 10.000 toneladas de armas transportadas em 244 aviões de carga e 20 navios em pouco mais de um mês. Isso incluiu mais de 15.000 bombas, inclusive bombas de uma tonelada, e 50.000 projéteis de artilharia. O governo Biden então deu a Israel mais de US$ 14 bilhões para comprar mais armas dos EUA. Isso significa que a maior parte das 70.000 toneladas de bombas que arrasaram bairros residenciais em Gaza, massacrando civis palestinos, foi fornecida a Israel pelos EUA. Eles também forneceram bulldozers Caterpillar, que, equipados com blindagem, avançam junto com os tanques, demolindo tudo o que encontram com seu peso de 64 toneladas.
Os números do genocídio em curso em Gaza falam por si: até o momento, 37.534 pessoas foram assassinadas e estão desaparecidas; 13.430 crianças foram assassinadas; 8.900 mulheres foram mortas; 364 profissionais da área médica foram mortos; 269 foram sequestrados; 132 jornalistas foram assassinados; 71.920 ficaram feridos; 17. 000 crianças ficaram sem pais; 32 hospitais fora de serviço; 53 centros de saúde fora de serviço; 700.000 pacientes com doenças infecciosas; 350.000 pacientes com doenças crônicas ficaram sem tratamento; 270.000 casas destruídas; 400 escolas e universidades destruídas; 500 mesquitas destruídas; 290 sítios arqueológicos destruídos.
Il presidente Biden, mentre continua a sostenere militarmente e politicamente il genocidio che Israele sta commettendo in Palestina, annuncia nel discorso sullo stato dell’Unione di aver dato ordine alle Forze Armate statunitensi di guidare una missione di emergenza per stabilire un molo temporaneo nel Mediterraneo, sulla costa di Gaza, in grado di accogliere grandi navi che trasportano cibo, acqua, medicine e rifugi temporanei. “Gli Stati Uniti – assicura – “guidano gli sforzi internazionali per portare più assistenza umanitaria a Gaza”.
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During a recent discussion that I had with two friends who had lived for several years in the USA, I expressed concern in particular regarding three aspects of US society which I had been studying recently:
an alarming rise in child depression prompting professional organizations to speak of a national emergency related to this,
an alarming rise in the maternal mortality rate and
a very high number of poverty-related deaths.
My friends simply refused to believe all of this and instead gave me friendly advice on re-checking. However after seeing the relevant references they expressed great surprise how they had missed these important aspects earlier.
This was not an unexpected response, given the fact that several deeply troubling aspects of US society do not receive the attention these deserve.
It is even more difficult to find an honest analysis of several such important aspects.The response of my friends prompted me to bring together and analyse more such aspects at one place, in the hope that this may contribute in a small and humble to re-emphasizing the urgency of social and policy reform in the USA.
Life Expectancy and Excess Deaths
Concern has been expressed by health experts in the USA that life-expectancy in this country has been reducing steadily in comparison to levels attained in several other rich countries. This has led some researchers to explore the number of excess deaths in the USA (or number of ‘missing Americans’) which they define as the deaths which are in excess of the number that would have taken place if the life-expectancy rates in the USA had remained at par with those of comparable rich countries.
One such important recent study by Jacob Bor, Andrew C. Stokes and others has been published in the journal PNAS Nexus on May 29, 2023. This study has estimated the number of such excess deaths in the USA in 2019 at 622,534.
During the next two years the number of such excess deaths went up to over a million, but as these were COVID years and a number of other issues become involved, we will go here only by the lower number of excess deaths recorded for a normal year at over 600,000. So what this study is saying that on the basis of comparisons with other rich countries, the USA should have been able to achieve the sort of life expectancy that results in avoiding over 600,000 deaths in a year.
Poverty Related Mortality
Earlier another study by David Brady on only poverty related mortality published in the USA in JAMA Internal Medicine in April 2023 (for over 15 years age group) had estimated that there are 183,000 poverty related deaths in a year in the USA.
UN data tells us that at a time when maternal death rate was declining in most countries, in the USA maternal death rate increased to a shocking extent from 12 to 21 during 2000-2020.
More such data can be provided to show that the number of excess, easily avoidable deaths in the USA is shockingly high at well over half a million every year. A very big contribution to human welfare can be made by taking steps to ensure that these avoidable deaths are actually avoided.
The steps that are needed for improvements are well-known in a country so blessed with eminent scholars.
Discrimination, Social Inequality and Health Services
In a nutshell, health services have to be improved in a big way for all weaker sections without any discrimination, inequalities must be reduced in a big way so that the poorer people have much better access to nutrition, environment and safety must be much better protected, shelter and health and overall social conditions need to be improved to make way for better physical and mental health while avoiding all harmful addictions.
The bigger question is—when these solutions are well-known, why have not these been adopted and why the situation in some importance respects continues to deteriorate? This is the really crucial question which needs to go beyond the analysis generally available in academic papers as this concerns important political issues of injustice. We need to ask why billions are easily available in the USA for weapons but even millions are not available for some important aspects of social justice, why billions worth of tax gifts can be given to the rich but millions worth of essential expenditure for the poorest is more difficult to find.
The fact is that a system of injustice has become so deeply established in the USA that solutions outside this system are difficult to implement. What should be emphasized is that this system of injustice is causing even more harm to people of other countries than what it is causing to people within USA.
Due to this system if 600,000 excess deaths a year are caused in the USA, then a similar or higher number deaths are likely being caused in other countries as well.
The USA’s Forever Wars
The number of deaths caused by the USA’s forever wars is in many millions as can be seen by adding up the immediate and longer-term mortality figures of wars in Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Afghanistan and elsewhere (in addition of course there was the use of atomic bombs against Japan after Japan had already been defeated for all practical purposes).
Then there are a large number of deaths caused by arbitrary imposition of wide-ranging sanctions, highly unjust interventions and coups in other countries which resulted in a large number of deaths (in countries like Congo, Chile, Iran, Nicaragua, Haiti, Greece etc.). Then there are also the large number of deaths associated with exports of weapons as well as several highly hazardous products and technologies. Hence in brief we can say that unjust systems in the USA cause avoidable 600,000 excess deaths in the USA and a somewhat higher number in other countries annually. Excess deaths in other countries are defined here as deaths caused by various injustices of the US (or allies acting under US leadership), whether in the form of wars or coups or subversions or exploitation.
These excess deaths inside and outside USA are two parts of the same unjust system, an important aspect missed by most academic studies. Once you establish an unjust system that inflicts unjust wars on other countries, then the same unjust system adopts internal unjust and discriminative policies within the country too, although this may get partially softened by electoral considerations at times.
Another reflection of how internal and external injustices are closely related is the fact that the leaders with the biggest promise of justice have been assassinated within the USA as also in other countries with fingers pointed towards the same US agency.
This is how the assassinations of President John Kennedy and President Allende are related, this is how the assassinations of Presidential candidate Robert Kennedy Sr. and President Lumumba are related, this is how the killings of Martin Luther King Jr. and Che Guevara are related.
Leaders most capable of bringing justice and peace are removed before they can achieve their potential.
So as several eminent scholars have suggested the solution for the USA to avoid excess deaths is to improve health care and socio-economic conditions for the lower half of the population, but in addition if we go a step further and ask why this has not happened in recent years, then we also need to say more clearly and loudly that the established unjust system must be challenged and replaced by a system that is based on justice internally and externally.
Such struggles against well-established systems of injustice are needed in so many countries but most of all these are needed in the USA as this is the most powerful and influential country in the world whose policies have a worldwide impact. From a world perspective the struggle is against the unjust establishment of the USA, just the top 5% or so, and never against the people of the USA and in fact the struggling American people need all the worldwide solidarity to help in their struggles.
The creation of a justice-based USA is a very important part of the worldwide struggle against injustice. The aim should never be to replace a world dominated by the USA by a world dominated by China but instead our aim should be to create a USA, a China and the entire world based on justice, peace and environment protection.
The dominant thinking at world-level is of equating ever-increasing income and wealth as well as the accompanying access to more and more material goods and services with increasing levels of happiness. But this is quite often not reflected in the reality of rich or even richest societies. An increasingly important aspect of socio-economic reality of world is that significant levels of distress can exist in the middle of high GNP levels and other signs of prosperity. This can be the result of economic inequalities, social contradictions and other less understood factors.
Food Insecurity
In the context of the USA, a study by the Urban Institute in 2018 found that nearly 40 per cent of adults and their families in USA struggled to afford at least one basic need for health care, housing, utilities or food in 2017, even in normal conditions of high employment levels.
In this study based on a well-being and basic needs survey in the age-group 18-64, 23% said that they were food insecure in the last 12 months. 18% struggled to pay medical bills while almost the same percentage decided to go without some required medical treatment due to costs.
In a population of more than 330 million people and 128 million households in the USA, around 45% persons suffer from chronic diseases, many from multiple chronic diseases. Regularity of medicines is very important for all of them, but price of medicines in the USA is often much higher than in comparable countries. Nearly 40 million medically consulted injuries and poisoning cases are reported in a year. 12 million vehicles are involved in crashes in one year.
With the advent of COVID and much higher unemployment levels, the situation in terms of struggle to meet basic needs worsened. What is more, in 2020 it was reported that child poverty levels have been found to be 1.5 times higher than adult poverty levels. As for senior citizens, the Elderly Economic Security Standard Index found that in 2016 a majority of them lacked the “financial resources required to meet basic needs.”
Poverty and Social Distress
The Eviction Lab, Princeton University, has estimated that there are 3.7 million eviction cases in the USA in a typical year. The authorities intervened in COVID times to prevent the likely escalation in evictions by imposing moratoriums but now these are being phased down. The rent relief grants are also getting reduced considerably as funds committed for this have been exhausted in several states.
Nearly 28 per cent of US households are single person households. A survey by Cigna before the onset of COVID revealed that almost half of the adults feel lonely sometimes or all the time. Increasing loneliness has been associated with significant increase of dementia, coronary disease and stroke.
Nearly 50% of all US marriages end in divorce or separation. In households with children, 50% of divorces lead to push towards poverty. Children suffer very adverse short-term and long-term impacts of divorce and separation.
10 to 12 million persons, mostly women, are physically abused in a year by an intimate partner, nearly 20 per minute.
On a typical day, about 20,000 phone calls are placed on domestic violence helplines, mostly by women.A report on child abuse is made every 10 seconds. Authorities trace 656,000 victims of child maltreatment in a year, but the problem is bigger. More than 4 million referrals are made to child protection agencies in a year.
About 10 million people face incarceration in a year. Over 1.2 million violent crimes are reported in a year, while the actual number is higher.
1 in 4 adults –26%–suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year, several from more, according to the National Institute of Mental Health Disorders. A 2019 study published in JAMA Paediatrics analysing official data reported that 1 in 6 children are affected by a mental health disorder.During the last decade, a big rise in depression, even self-harm has been reported among adolescents, even before the onset of COVID.
1.4 million suicide attempts take place in a year. Suicide among 10 to 14 year old girls doubled , while emergency room admissions for suicidal ideation and attempts by children and adolescents also roughly doubled during the last decade.
A significant part of distress is due to high levels of inequalities– the bottom 50% of population has only 1.5% of the country’s wealth—but different kinds of distress and tensions exist at high levels in all sections of society.
We have many reports and studies on various aspects of increasing distress from time to time, only to discover some time later that remedial actions based on these have at best provided some temporary relief only while the deeper causes remain. Clearly this must change. Distress reduction based on a comprehensive understanding and deeper linkages must become the main focus of domestic policy.
At a wider level this draws attention to the highly mistaken notion of equating higher income and wealth necessarily with genuine happiness, let alone any sincerely felt feeling of a life well lived. More debate and dialogue on this, leading to better understanding of the limits of understanding life’s worth in terms of merely income and wealth, can help to pave the way for meaningful social change at several levels.
All this is particularly important in the context of understanding distress and uncertainly levels among children, adolescents and young adults. The latest official statistics of ‘Youth Risk Behaviour Survey’ (YRBS), USA, 2011-2021 released recently by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, (CDC), USA, have revealed truly alarming levels of distress among US youth.
From a distance youth of other countries perceive life of youth in USA to be a life of joy and fun in a prosperous land free of various social inhibitions, and crave for a similar life. The results of this survey may be an eye opener for them too and highlight the need for a different path.
As the USA is one of the highest GDP countries, the prevalence, persistence and increase of such high levels of distress among US youth calls for serious analysis to find real causes as well as solutions so that US youth can have a happier and more meaningful life.
The YRBS statistics tell us that in year 2021 42% of US high school students “experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness”. When this figure was reported at 28% in 2011 this was considered to be quite high and hence brought forth calls for several remedial actions. Despite these, the number has increased persistently and steadily during the decade—30% in 2013 and 2015, 31% in 2017, 37% in 2019 and 42% in 2021. In the case of female students, this percentage is even higher—in 2021 as many as 57% of female high school students experienced persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness.
Further, in 2021, the YRBS tells us, 29% of high school students experienced poor mental health. In the case of female students, 41% experienced poor mental health.
What is even more alarming in the YRBS data is that in 2021, as many as 22% high school students in the USA “seriously considered attempting suicide”. Here also we see an overall increasing trend from 16% in 2011 to 22% in 2021. In the case of female students this number was as high as 30% in year 2021. In other words, almost one-third of female high students in the USA were so distressed as to “seriously consider attempting suicide” during this year.
In fact the YRBS statistics tell us that as many as 18% of high school students in the USA had actually “made a suicide plan” in 2021. This also had an overall increasing trend from 13% in 2011 to 18% in 2021. In the case of female students this percentage was again higher at 24 in year 2021.
Most sadly, the YRBS survey tells us that as many as 10% of high school students in the USA actually attempted suicide in 2021. This means that one out of 10 USA high school students attempted suicide in 2021. This percentage increased from 8 in 2011 to 10 in 2021. The number of female students who attempted suicide in 2021 was again higher at 13%.
Another aspect of distress suffered more by female students related to sexual violence. 18% of female students experienced sexual violence by anyone during the past one year.
These high levels of distress are extremely troubling and have increased despite remedial actions proposed by eminent experts in the past. Instead of merely repeating such advice, there is clearly need for deeper introspection and more sincere efforts to find real causes and solutions. More than individual consultations, efforts to find the illness of entire society are needed.While eminent experts are deeply concerned about this issue, they may be missing some wider important issues due to examining issues more closely in a narrower framework.
In particular it is important to examine the links of the increasing internal distress of USA society with the increasing aggression of the USA at international level. As this writer has emphasized several times, such links need to be recognized and will help the peace movement within the USA to mobilize people to create a society which is at peace with itself and with the entire world, devoted more to reducing its own distress as a higher priority.
Another question that arises relates to the higher distress suffered by female students (compared to male students) according to almost all criteria. If the USA is supposed to be a society based on gender justice, then why is this happening? This should be seen in the context of high levels of violence and distress suffered by women and female children in other contexts also in the USA, for which a lot of additional data is available. However confining ourselves only to YRBS data for the time being, isn’t it alarming that as many as 57% of female high school students experience persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, 41% experience poor mental health, 18% experience sexual violence in a year, 30% seriously consider attempting suicide in a year, 24% make a suicide plan in a year and 13% actually attempt suicide in a year, all this at levels much higher than male students.
The USA has frequently criticized gender injustice in other countries but should it not also look inwards to ask why girls in the USA are so distressed despite the outer appearance of a very free and liberated society. In this context also there is a clear need to explore linkages between internal distress and aggression on the one hand and massive distress caused by aggression in other countries on the other hand.
Once these wider links are recognized, then these can pave the way for creating a US society which is at peace with itself as well as with the rest of the world. This should be one of the highest priorities for our deeply troubled world.
Other than YRBS data, there have been several other indications of the deep distress within US society. This is evident from the call given twice in recent times by the top child health organizations in the country for declaring a mental health national emergency for children and adolescents, given the scale of these problems. If this won’t wake up a society to the need for wider introspection, what else will?
One of the clearer aspects of the existing sad situation is that much more resources are needed for meeting the needs of the bottom 50% of the people of the USA who currently have only 1.5 per cent of the country’s wealth. It will not be difficult to find resources for them as wealth and income are currently so highly concentrated at the top levels in the USA. What is more military spending by the USA is extremely high. Most US official figures mention military expenditure in a year of around 880 billion dollars, but other defence analysts also mention higher figures mention going up to 1.4 trillion or 1400 billion. Without sacrificing defence considerations in any realistic sense and with some overdue reforms to curb corruption, wastage and overpricing by contractors, it should be possible to cut the military spending by about one-half or so, making available between 400 to 700 billion dollars annually for meeting essential welfare needs of American and other people. A figure of just 20 billion dollars has been frequently mentioned in terms of significantly meeting the needs of homeless people in the USA, and a somewhat similar figure would go a long way in reducing hunger to a significant extent in the USA. In the context of reducing extreme poverty and hunger to a significant extent at the world level, figures of 100 to 50 billion dollars per year each have been frequently mentioned.
Multibillion “Humanitarian Wars” versus Peace, Justice and Welfare
Clearly very big gains are waiting to be achieved at the level of the USA and at world level if only the USA can become a country which is much more oriented towards peace, justice and welfare.
On the other hand, an idea of the highly destructive consequences of USA’s existing policy distortions is conveyed by the fact that in terms of direct as well as indirect deaths the War on Terror alone has caused 4.5 million deaths (this estimate of Brown University also needs updating and include some other counties as well) and has cost the USA 8000 billion dollars (about a billion dollars a day or 12000 dollars per second over a 22 year period).
This is why we stated earlier too that while reforms are needed in all countries but it is reforms in the USA for creating a society based on peace and welfare which are most urgently needed and can benefit the entire humanity. Hence the people of the USA who are dedicated to peace, justice and environment protection have a very big responsibility for bringing these reforms. It is people’s movements on which highest hopes rest, keeping in view the increasing alienation of top leadership from these important reforms.
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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 and A Day in 2071. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.
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When we look at the general political and economic course in the world and in Türkiye, the picture that stands out is; political instability, economic turmoil and a trend towards global migration and war. Türkiye is right in the middle of all this turbulence.
The Western-oriented neoliberal economy is in an extremely bad point. For example, while the economy of warring Russia is standing, the economy of non-warring Turkey is in a very bad situation.
Economic programs based on imports and hedge funds are heading towards complete bankruptcy due to both domestic political-economic collapses and external deteriorations. Reducing the legal system and state order to a single party also negates policies based on imports and foreign investment.
Politics, on the other hand, is turning towards complete religious totalitarianism.
After the local elections, the governing party AKP’s plan is to consolidate its power with a new constitution. A pivot to the USA and new concessions are on the horizon in order to get permission from the Western system to do this.
When these developments are combined with the latest situation in global great power competition, we are faced with an extremely dangerous situation for Turkiye.
There is an increasing pressure for war in the world. The United States and its allies do not want to accept defeat in Ukraine. Europe is suicidally preparing for a war against Russia under the umbrella of NATO. The war, whose seeds were sown and harvested by the USA in Ukraine, affected European economies extremely badly.
The Israeli genocide in Palestine is waiting for an opportunity to evolve into a regional war.
This crisis, which the USA did not actually plan, contains the potential for a series of chain reactions that will drive it out of the Middle East and West Asia.
While the far-right government in Israel wanted to impose its own agenda on the United States, it actually undermined the White House’s forward-looking plans.
The USA’s next target after Russia would normally be the People’s Republic of China via Taiwan.
The USA advanced its infrastructure work and took action to establish new alliances in order to continue the NATO structure in the Pacific.
The collective West’s concern was global hegemony slipping from its grasp. The reason for this is the great economic performance of developing countries, especially China, over the last 40 years. Asian powers, led by China and Russia, do not have difficulty finding allies in Africa, South America and even Europe. Because Asian powers represent a multipolar alternative to the decaying unipolar world order of the United States.
While China and Russia are creating a global communication scheme with new sea and trade routes, the West, led by the USA, is establishing strategies to prevent them.
To put it very simply, the East (or global south) represents peace and cooperation, while the collective West brings war and instability to the table.
The role assigned to Turkiye in the new global architecture formed after the Second World War was as an outpost in the Western camp.
This positioning, which was designed as NATO membership and then being connected to the EU door, turned Turkey into a self-sufficient, externally dependent and satellite country, deviating from Atatürk’s goal of modern civilization.
Periodic breakthroughs were suppressed by military and militia elements in the NATO order that took over the state. The military coups of 12 March 1971 and 12 September 1980 are clear examples of this.
The hot-money loving comprador bourgeoisie and the business world, which could not go further than being a Western agency, became the strongest supporters of the system.
After the anti-Communism; policing implemented since the 1950s, the second role that the USA assigned to Turkey after 1980 was the “Green Belt” (moderate Islam). The entire nation state, along with labor and national capital, was targeted, and the political, social and cultural system was aimed to be religious and to ensure that Turkey remained underdeveloped and could be governed by a single authority.
Today, both the world and Türkiye are at a very critical crossroads.
Let alone regional and civil wars, we are at a moment when World War III is likely to break out.
Türkiye, on the other hand, resembles a ship that is being tried to be sailed with a so-called ‘balance’ foreign policy in this environment of turmoil.
However, the ship takes on water in the Western camp and is gradually sinking.
Luckily there are new alternatives in the East/South camp; Like BRICS+ and the like. Ethiopia, Egypt, Iran, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia were added to China, Russia, Brazil, India and South Africa as of 2024.
It is stated that 25 countries, especially Nigeria and Mexico, are candidates for the secret to become a member of BRICS. BRICS+, which is the harbinger of a new world order that is not based on hegemony and the dollar, but is egalitarian, win-win type of infrastructure, commercial and industrial cooperation, is a lifesaver for Turkey in this stormy ocean.
The only way for Turkey to take its rightful place in this new world order is to quit being the satellite of the West and leave NATO and the EU Customs Union.
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Hasan Erel is a Turkish journalist-writer. He worked as a diplomacy and foreign news reporter and editor in TRT and other media for 30 years. He is a frequent commentator of Sputnik News radio and CRI Turk in Turkiye.
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Feb. 5, 2024 – Novartis in the lead to acquire cancer drug developer MorphoSys-sources
Dec. 26, 2023 – Bristol Myers Squibb announces intent to buy RayzeBio for $4.1 billion (104% premium)
Nov. 22, 2023 – Boehringer Ingelheim expands immuno-oncology portfolio with the acquisition of bacterial cancer therapy specialist T3 Pharma
Oct. 8, 2023 – Bristol Myers Squibb announces purchase of Mirati Therapeutics for $5.8 billion
Oct. 3, 2023 – Eli Lilly to Acquire POINT Biopharma to Expand Oncology Capabilities into Next-Generation Radioligand Therapies
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Mar. 11, 2024 – Pfizer bets on cancer drugs to recover from rapid decline of COVID business
Pfizer’s $43 billion acquisition of Seagen doubled Pfizer’s cancer drug pipeline to 60 different experimental programs
Pfizer had a 4 hour investor event last week
Chris Boshoff, a longtime Pfizer executive who leads Pfizer’s oncology research and development, said during the investor event that Pfizer has 10 manufacturing sites producing cancer drugs on three continents, while Seagen had just one.
Pfizer expects 2/3 of its oncology revenue to come from new drugs and new indications for existing products by end of decade.
The “outdo cancer” catchphrase caught on during Pfizer’s 60–second Super Bowl ad that it reportedly spent more than $14 million on — which boasted the big pharma company’s 175-history as as famous scientists like Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein rocked out to Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now.”
Pfizer said it can produce 8 blockbuster cancer drugs by 2030
Mar. 11, 2024 – Merck Completes $650 million Acquisition of Harpoon Therapeutics
“We continue to augment and diversify our oncology pipeline with innovative approaches to help people with cancer worldwide,” said Dr. Dean Y. Li, president, Merck Research Laboratories.
Harpoon has a number of cancer drugs in the pipeline called “T-cell engagers” for small cell lung cancer, neuroendocrine tumors, multiple myeloma, etc.
The acquisition is part of Merck’s focus on cancer and exploration of immuno-oncology. In fact, Merck said it has one of the industry’s largest development programs, spanning 30-plus tumor types. The biopharmaceutical giant added it continues to strengthen its portfolio through purchases, as with Harpoon.
Merck announced several deals in 2023, including the up to $610 million acquisition of biopharmaceutical company Caraway Therapeutics and its $10.8 billion purchase of Prometheus Bioscienes Inc.
“Using its proprietary Tri-specific T cell Activating Construct (TriTAC) platform, the engineered proteins tell a patient’s own T-cells to attack target cells that express specific proteins, or antigens, carried by the target cells. To that end, Harpoon’s ProTriTAC platform keeps the T-cell engager inactive until it reaches the tumor.”
Mar. 7, 2024 – Johnson & Johnson Completes Acquisition of Ambrx ($2.0 billion)
“Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) announced today it has successfully completed the acquisition of Ambrx Biopharma, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with a proprietary synthetic biology technology platform to design and develop next-generation antibody drug conjugates (ADCs), in an all-cash merger transaction for a total equity value of approximately $2.0 billion”
“the acquisition presents a distinct opportunity for Johnson & Johnson to design, develop and commercialize targeted oncology therapeutics”
“The Ambrx team has developed a promising pipeline and ADC platform that will be a strong complement and strategic fit to our oncology innovation strategy“
“Ambrx’s proprietary ADC technology incorporates the advantages of highly specific targeting monoclonal antibodies securely linked to a potent chemotherapeutic payload to achieve targeted and efficient elimination of cancer cells without the prevalent side effects typically associated with chemotherapy”
AbbVie has completed a $10.1 billion acquisition of cancer drug maker ImmunoGen.
“Together with ImmunoGen, we have the potential to continue redefining the standard of care for those living with cancer,” said Robert A. Michael, president and chief operating officer, AbbVie. “The addition of ImmunoGen’s treatment for ovarian cancer will accelerate our ability to help patients today, expand our oncology pipeline and drive long-term revenue growth well into the next decade.”
“ImmunoGen’s follow-on pipeline of ADCs further builds on AbbVie’s existing solid tumor pipeline of novel targeted therapies and next-generation immuno-oncology assets, which have the potential to create new treatment possibilities across multiple solid tumors and hematologic malignancies”
Feb. 5, 2024 – Novartis in the lead to acquire cancer drug developer MorphoSys ($1.6 billion Euros)
Novartis is in advanced talks to acquire MorphoSys AG (MORG.DE), a German developer of cancer treatments that has a market value of 1.6 billion euros ($1.7 billion)
MorphoSys main revenue generator is a lymphoma drug called Monjuvi
Monjuvi’s U.S. net product sales were $92 million in 2023, and that it expected these sales to come in between $80 million and $95 million in 2024. The company has said it expects revenue to go up as Monjuvi is approved for more indications.
Headquartered in Planegg, Germany, MorphoSys develops drugs to fight deadly forms of cancers such as myelofibrosis, which is a rare type of bone marrow cancer, and certain types of lymphomas.
Ultimately, the acquisition is not entirely driven by the portfolio, and Novartis is seeking to use its previous collaborative experience with MorphoSys to expand its developments internally
Dec. 26, 2023 – Bristol Myers Squibb announces intent to buy RayzeBio for $4.1 billion (104% premium)
The company’s RayzeBio acquisition bolsters the company’s longer-term effort to establish a presence in the buzzing radiopharma scene. By spending $62.50 per share to buy RayzeBio, BMS adds a pipeline of actinium-based radiopharmaceutical therapeutics (RPTs) to its fold.
“include potential treatments for gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NETs), small cell lung cancer and hepatocellular carcinoma, among other cancers.”
actinium-based radiopharmaceutical therapeutics (RPTs) work by binding to tumor cells and killing the cancer cells through targeted radiation (my specialty)
“Acquiring RayzeBio’s differentiated actinium-based radiopharmaceutical platform will establish Bristol Myers Squibb’s presence in one of the most promising and fastest-growing new modalities for the treatment of patients with solid tumors—delivering radioactive payloads to cancer cells in a targeted manner,” BMS’ chief medical officer, Samit Hirawat, M.D., said in a statement.”
From RayzeBio’s perspective, the biotech believes Bristol’s “well-established presence in oncology and deep expertise in developing, commercializing and manufacturing treatments on a global scale makes it the ideal partner for RayzeBio at this important moment in our evolution,”
Major competitors in the radiopharma arena include Novartis and its established lutetium-based medicines Lutathera and Pluvicto, plus new entrant Eli Lilly after it forked over $1.4 billion for Point Biopharma Global.
Nov. 22, 2023 – Boehringer Ingelheim expands immuno-oncology portfolio with the (450 million CHF) acquisition of bacterial cancer therapy specialist T3 Pharma
“Despite the significant transformation of the cancer treatment landscape by immunotherapies, long-term remissions only occur in 15-20% of cancer patients. Boehringer Ingelheim aims to considerably increase this rate by utilizing complementary immuno-oncology platforms such as T-Cell Engagers (TcEs), oncolytic viruses, and cancer vaccines, which have the potential to turn cold tumors into hot ones, extending the benefits of immunotherapy to more patients”
“The acquisition of T3 Pharma will significantly expand our immuno-oncology pipeline portfolio and is synergistic with many of our existing R&D programs. This will bring us closer to achieving our vision of driving a paradigm shift in cancer care treatments”
“T3 Pharma has developed a unique platform using engineered Yersinia enterocolitica bacteria to deliver bioactive proteins directly and selectively into the tumor micro-environment, while sparing healthy tissues. The bacteria can be loaded with multiple immune-modulatory proteins of choice, enabling the design of immuno-oncology combination therapies in one single agent.”
“This strategy aims to enable smart combinations that deliver life-changing and best-in-class treatments that may offer the greatest benefit for people affected by cancer.”
Oct. 8, 2023 – Bristol Myers Squibb announces purchase of Mirati Therapeutics for $5.8 billion
U.S. health regulator had in December approved Mirati’s lung cancer drug, Krazati, to treat adults with advanced lung cancer.
The oral drug — the company’s only approved product — is designed to target a mutated form of a gene known as KRAS, which occurs in about 13% of non-small cell lung cancer
In early October, Bristol Myers Squibb moved on Mirati after a yearslong courtship, inking a buyout worth up to $5.8 billion for the cancer specialist and its FDA-approved lung cancer drug Krazati.
Oct. 3, 2023 – Eli Lilly to Acquire POINT Biopharma (for $1.4 billion) to Expand Oncology Capabilities into Next-Generation Radioligand Therapies
Eli Lilly announced a definitive agreement to acquire POINT Biopharma, radiopharmaceutical company with a pipeline of radioligand therapies in development for the treatment of cancer.
“POINT operates a 180,000-square-foot radiopharmaceutical manufacturing campus in Indianapolis, as well as a radiopharmaceutical research and development center in Toronto”
“POINT aims to transform precision oncology by combining a portfolio of targeted radioligand assets, a seasoned management team, an industry-leading pipeline, in-house manufacturing capabilities, and secured supply for medical isotopes including actinium-225 and lutetium-177”
“We are excited by the potential of this emerging modality and see the acquisition of POINT as the beginning of our investment in developing multiple meaningful radioligand medicines for hard-to-treat cancers”
“Over the past few years, we have seen how well-designed radiopharmaceuticals can demonstrate meaningful results for patients with cancer and rapidly integrate into standards of care, yet the field remains in the early days of the impact it may ultimately deliver,” said Jacob Van Naarden, President of Loxo@Lilly, the oncology unit of Eli Lilly and Company
“POINT’s lead programs are in late-phase development. PNT20021 is a prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) targeted radioligand therapy in development for patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) after progression on hormonal treatment”
My Take…
Pfizer spent $43 billion to acquire Seagen (42% premium).
Johnson & Johnson spent $2 billion to buy Ambrx.
AbbVie spent $10.1 billion to buy Immunogen at 95% premium.
Bristol Myers Squibb to buy Mirati Therapeutics for $5.8 billion at 52% premium.
Bristol Myers Squibb to buy RayzeBio for $4.1 billion at 104% premium
Novartis in the lead to acquire cancer drug developer MorphoSys ($1.6 billion Euros)
Eli Lilly is spending $1.4 billion to acquire Point Biopharma Global and according to Forbes, is paying a 90% premium.
Boehringer spent 450 million CHF to buy T3 Pharma and its targeted bacteria platform.
Conclusion
While the COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine Injured who develop Turbo Cancers are being gaslit by low level doctors and MD propagandists on Twitter and other social media, Big Pharma is in a literal feeding frenzy, buying up every “novel” cancer treatment imaginable at massive premiums.
When my Cancer Treatment Program was illegally sabotaged by Alberta Health Services starting in 2016, and AHS seriously harmed or outright murdered over 2450 of my cancer patients at Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton, which led to a $13.5 million lawsuit against AHS which is still ongoing, there was no money in the cancer treatments I was providing (targeted radiopharmaceuticals).
In 2023, two of these acquisitions involve my Cancer Treatments & Expertise: Bristol Myers Squibb $4.1 billion deal for RayzeBio and Eli Lilly’s $1.4 billion deal for Point Biopharma Global. How times change.
Trudeau re-built my Cancer Program in Vancouver, British Columbia as “ARTMS” which was just acquired by Telix for $82 million on Mar.4, 2024 – how much investment Trudeau and his Liberal friends have in that (would make great investigative journalism for anyone interested).
Bottom line is, whether establishment doctors believe in mRNA Induced Turbo Cancer or not is irrelevant, hundreds of billions will be made treating it.
In 2023, the top 10 Big Pharma buyout deals came to $115.8 billion, increasing from 2022 ($65 billion) and 2021 ($53 billion).
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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.
The Worldwide Corona Crisis, Global Coup d’Etat Against Humanity
by Michel Chossudovsky
Michel Chossudovsky reviews in detail how this insidious project “destroys people’s lives”. He provides a comprehensive analysis of everything you need to know about the “pandemic” — from the medical dimensions to the economic and social repercussions, political underpinnings, and mental and psychological impacts.
“My objective as an author is to inform people worldwide and refute the official narrative which has been used as a justification to destabilize the economic and social fabric of entire countries, followed by the imposition of the “deadly” COVID-19 “vaccine”. This crisis affects humanity in its entirety: almost 8 billion people. We stand in solidarity with our fellow human beings and our children worldwide. Truth is a powerful instrument.”
Reviews
This is an in-depth resource of great interest if it is the wider perspective you are motivated to understand a little better, the author is very knowledgeable about geopolitics and this comes out in the way Covid is contextualized. —Dr. Mike Yeadon
In this war against humanity in which we find ourselves, in this singular, irregular and massive assault against liberty and the goodness of people, Chossudovsky’s book is a rock upon which to sustain our fight. –Dr. Emanuel Garcia
In fifteen concise science-based chapters, Michel traces the false covid pandemic, explaining how a PCR test, producing up to 97% proven false positives, combined with a relentless 24/7 fear campaign, was able to create a worldwide panic-laden “plandemic”; that this plandemic would never have been possible without the infamous DNA-modifying Polymerase Chain Reaction test – which to this day is being pushed on a majority of innocent people who have no clue. His conclusions are evidenced by renown scientists. —Peter Koenig
Professor Chossudovsky exposes the truth that “there is no causal relationship between the virus and economic variables.” In other words, it was not COVID-19 but, rather, the deliberate implementation of the illogical, scientifically baseless lockdowns that caused the shutdown of the global economy. –David Skripac
A reading of Chossudovsky’s book provides a comprehensive lesson in how there is a global coup d’état under way called “The Great Reset” that if not resisted and defeated by freedom loving people everywhere will result in a dystopian future not yet imagined. Pass on this free gift from Professor Chossudovsky before it’s too late. You will not find so much valuable information and analysis in one place. –Edward Curtin
ISBN: 978-0-9879389-3-0, Year: 2022, PDF Ebook, Pages: 164, 15 Chapters
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When Napoleon engaged Russia in a European land war, the Russians mounted a determined defense, and the French lost.
When Hitler tried the same, the Soviet Union responded similarly, and the Germans lost.
In World War 1 and its post-revolutionary civil war (1914-1922), first Russia and then the USSR defended with far greater effect against two invasions than the invaders had calculated. That history ought to have cautioned U.S. and European leaders to minimize the risks of confronting Russia, especially when Russia felt threatened and determined to defend itself.
Instead of caution, delusions prompted ill-advised judgments by the collective West (roughly the G7 nations: the U.S. and its major allies).
Those delusions emerged partly from the collective West’s widespread denial of its relative economic decline in the 21st century. That denial also enabled a remarkable blindness to the limits that decline imposed on the collective West’s global actions. Delusions also flowed from a basic undervaluation of Russia’s defensiveness and its resulting commitments. The Ukraine war starkly illustrates both the decline and the costly delusions it fosters.
The United States and Europe seriously underestimated what Russia could and would do to prevail militarily in Ukraine. Russia’s victory—at least so far after two years of war—has proven decisive.
Their underestimation stemmed from a shared inability to grasp or absorb the changing world economy and its implications.
By mostly minimizing, marginalizing, or simply denying the decline of the U.S. empire relative to the rise of China and its BRICS allies, the United States and Europe missed that decline’s unfolding implications.
Russia’s allies’ support combined with its national determination to defend itself have so far defeated a Ukraine heavily funded and armed by the collective West. Historically, declining empires often provoke denials and delusions that teach their people “hard lessons” and impose on them “hard choices”. That is where we are now.
The economics of the U.S. empire decline constitutes the continuing global context.
The BRICS countries’ collective GDP, wealth, income, share of world trade, and presence at the highest levels of new technology increasingly exceed those of the G7.
That relentless economic development frames the decline of the G7’s political and cultural influences as well. The massive U.S. and European sanctions program against Russia after February 2022 has failed. Russia turned especially to its BRICS allies to quickly as well as comprehensively escape most of those sanctions’ intended effects.
UN votes on the ceasefire issue in Gaza reflect and reinforce the mounting difficulties facing the U.S. position in the Middle East and globally. So does the Houthis’ intervention in Red Sea shipping and so too will other future Arab and Islamic initiatives supporting Palestine against Israel. Among the consequences flowing from the changing world economy, many work to undermine and weaken the U.S. empire.
Trump’s disrespect for NATO is partly an expression of disappointment with an institution he can blame for failing to stop empire’s decline.
Trump and his supporters broadly downgrade many institutions once thought crucially central to running the U.S., empire globally.
Both the Trump and Biden regimes attacked China’s Huawei corporation, shared commitments to trade and tariff wars, and heavily subsidized competitively challenged U.S. corporations.
Nothing less than a historic shift away from neoliberal globalization toward economic nationalism is underway. An American empire that once targeted the whole world is shrinking into a merely regional bloc confronting one or more emerging regional blocs. Much of the rest of the world’s nations—a possible “world majority” of the planet’s people—are pulling away from the U.S. empire.
U.S. leaders’ aggressive economic nationalist policies distract attention from the empire’s decline and thereby facilitate its denial. Yet they also cause new problems.
Allies fear that economic nationalism in the United States already has or will soon adversely affect their economic relations with the United States; “America first” targets not only the Chinese. Many countries are rethinking and reconstructing their economic relations with the United States and their expectations about those relations’ futures. Likewise, major groups of U.S. employers are reconsidering their investment strategies.
Those who invested heavily overseas as part of the neoliberal globalization frenzies of the last half century are especially fearful. They anticipate costs and losses from policy shifts toward economic nationalism. Their pushback slows those shifts. As capitalists everywhere adjust practically to the changing world economy, they also quarrel and dispute the direction and pace of change. That injects more uncertainty and volatility into a thereby further destabilized world economy. As the U.S. empire unravels, the world economic order it once dominated and enforced likewise changes.
“Make America Great Again” (MAGA) slogans have politically weaponized U.S. empire’s decline, always in carefully vague and general terms.
They simplify and misunderstand it within another set of delusions. Trump will, he promises repeatedly, undo that decline and reverse it. He will punish those he blames for it: China, but also Democrats, liberals, globalists, socialists, and Marxists whom he lumps together in a bloc-building strategy. There is rarely any serious attention to the economics of the G7’s decline since to do so would critically implicate capitalists’ profit-driven decisions as key causes of the decline. Neither Republicans nor Democrats dare do that. Biden speaks and acts as if the U.S. wealth and power positions within the world economy were undiminished from what they were across the second half of the 20th century (most of Biden’s political lifetime).
Continuing to fund and arm Ukraine in the war with Russia, like endorsing and supporting Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, are policies premised on denials of a changed world. So too are successive waves of economic sanctions despite each wave failing to achieve its goals. Using tariffs to keep better, cheaper Chinese electric vehicles off the U.S. market will only disadvantage U.S. individuals (via such Chinese electric vehicles’ higher prices) and businesses (via global competition from businesses buying the cheaper Chinese cars and trucks).
Perhaps the greatest, costliest delusions that follow from a denial of years of decline dog the upcoming presidential election. The two major parties and their candidates offer no serious plan for how to deal with the declining empire they seek to lead. Both parties took turns presiding over the decline, yet denial and blaming the other is all either party offers in 2024. Biden offers voters a partnership in denial that the empire is declining. Trump promises vaguely to undo the decline caused by bad Democratic leadership that his election will remove. Nothing either major party does entails sober admissions and assessments of a changed world economy and how each plans to cope with that.
The last 40 to 50 years of the economic history of the G7 witnessed extreme redistributions of wealth and income upward. Those redistributions functioned as both causes and effects of neoliberal globalization. However, domestic reactions (economic and social divisions increasingly hostile and volatile) and foreign reactions (emergence of today’s China and BRICS) are undermining neoliberal globalization and beginning to challenge its accompanying inequalities. U.S. capitalism and its empire cannot yet face its decline amid a changing world. Delusions about retaining or regaining power at the top of society proliferate alongside delusional conspiracy theories and political scapegoating (immigrants, China, Russia) below.
Meanwhile, the economic, political, and cultural costs mount. And on some level, as per Leonard Cohen’s famous song, “Everybody Knows.”
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Richard D. Wolff is professor of economics emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a visiting professor in the Graduate Program in International Affairs of the New School University, in New York. Wolff’s weekly show, “Economic Update,” is syndicated by more than 100 radio stations and goes to 55 million TV receivers via Free Speech TV. His three recent books with Democracy at Work are The Sickness Is the System: When Capitalism Fails to Save Us From Pandemics or Itself, Understanding Socialism, and Understanding Marxism, the latter of which is now available in a newly released 2021 hardcover edition with a new introduction by the author.
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One of the critical historical conjunctures within the mass Civil Rights Movement took place in Selma, Alabama during the early months of 1965.
Although local activists and members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) had been active in the area for several years prior, the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the rising tide of expectations among African Americans created the conditions for 1965 to be an explosive year.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., co-founder and president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), entered the fray in Selma prompting the city, county and state authorities to step-up their repressive mechanisms which had kept the overwhelming majority of African Americans off the voter registration lists throughout Alabama. The March 7, 1965 attack by a combined police force from the state, county and city of Selma, would draw the outrage of people around the U.S. and internationally.
Consequently, it was a moment of irony when United States Vice-President Kamala Harris stood on a platform in Selma on March 3 evoking the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement while calling for what appeared to be a ceasefire in Gaza.
Yet, if one listened carefully, it revealed the consistent policy of the U.S. towards the Palestinian question.
Although Harris received her loudest applause when she uttered the word “ceasefire”, she then went on to uphold the right of the Israeli settler-colonial state to defend itself and to continue its existence as a racist entity. The Vice-President then declared that Israel was justified in its attempts to eliminate Hamas as a resistance movement.
Since October 7, more than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).
Hospitals, neighborhoods, schools, mosques, churches, medical facilities and marketplaces have been targeted for destruction by Tel Aviv. Hundreds of thousands have been wounded, injured, traumatized and dislocated.
Famine is spreading throughout the Gaza Strip as IDF personnel fire weapons into crowds of people standing in line to receive food rations.
Obviously, Harris was telling African Americans and their allies what they wanted to hear. Most people within Black communities across the country are in favor of a permanent ceasefire, not the six-week pause advanced by Harris on behalf of the administration of President Joe Biden.
Thousands of leading African American clergymen acting independently or within the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church and the African Methodist Episcopal Zion (AMEZ) along with other denominations, have put distance between themselves and the administration. In several Democratic Party primary elections, such as Michigan, where over 101,000 people voted “uncommitted”, has sent a definite message to the White House regarding its prospects for re-election in November.
State of the Union: More Imperialist Rhetoric from the White House
A few days before the State of the Union Address by Biden, he was seen on national television eating ice cream saying he had been told by his national security advisor that a ceasefire was imminent by the end of the week. Such optics infuriated many people in the U.S. and around the world. This ceasefire has not yet materialized while the IDF continues its bombardments and the blocking of much-needed humanitarian assistance.
During the speech by the president, he pleaded for the Congress to provide additional aid to the Ukrainian government to continue the war which Kiev is losing.
He said that if the House would pass a “border bill” he would be able to end the crisis of migration which is a major concern of the electorate from both dominant parties.
In regard to Palestine, the president said that more aid needed to be delivered to Gaza to address the humanitarian crisis. He never accepted the fact that the crisis was engineered by the Israeli regime with the backing of Washington. Despite this reality, there was no direct call for a permanent ceasefire or negotiations for the creation of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state.
Overall, there was no mention of any fundamental shift in policy towards Tel Aviv. The weapons and other material assistance flowing into the settler-colonial state will not be interrupted. He reiterated the tone set by Harris earlier in the week when the president said categorically that the White House would not abandon the Israeli state.
Airdrops of meals ready to eat have already caused the deaths of several people. Biden announced at the State of the Union before the full Congress that the Pentagon had plans to build a temporary port in the Eastern Mediterranean to deliver food and supplies to residents of Gaza. He emphasized that no U.S. troops would enter the besieged territory in these aid deliveries.
These statements by Biden and his administration functionaries are clearly for the consumption of the public in this election year. The entire tone of the State of the Union speech was that of a campaign rally.
However, the widening regional war in West Asia was never assessed. To reveal the actual magnitude of the crisis would further expose the failures of the White House foreign and military policies in West Asia as well as Eastern Europe and the African continent.
Regional Resistance Determined to Continue Attacks Against Israel, the U.S. and its Allies
US occupation forces in Iraq targeted by resistance
In addition to the underwriting and logistical support for the genocide in Gaza, the West Bank and throughout the Israeli Occupied Territories (IOT), the Biden administration has engaged in bombing operations in Iraq, Syria and Yemen. Biden during the State of the Union alluded to his objective of keeping the shipping lanes open in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. What he did not say was that despite the mobilization of the British Royal Air Force along with its U.S. counterparts, they have not been able to halt the attacks on shipping interests in the region carried out in solidarity with Palestine.
The actions of the Yemeni Armed Forces (YAF) are not taking place within a vacuum. Southern Lebanon, which shares a border with the north of the IOT, has been the scene of some of the most intense fighting against Tel Aviv in many years.
In a report on March 11 published by Al Mayadeen Television, it notes:
“The Islamic Resistance in Lebanon – Hezbollah carried out several operations on Monday, in support of the resilient people of Gaza and its Resistance against Israeli sites, soldier gatherings, and equipment along the Palestinian-Lebanese border. On March 11, 2024, the Islamic Resistance conducted eight operations against the Israeli occupation, confirming direct hits…. Earlier on Monday, the Deputy Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Sheikh Naim Qassem, affirmed that the Resistance was prepared to counter any expansion in aggression, emphasizing that it is most ready to support Gaza until the Israeli aggression on the Strip ceases. In his speech during the memorial ceremony of three martyrs from the southern Lebanese village of Blida, Sheikh Qassem said Hezbollah is not concerned with any Israeli statement regarding a ground invasion of Lebanon, be it an exaggeration or a declaration. He stressed that the Resistance remains defensive, supportive, and determined to defy Israel, affirming that it will not be intimidated.”
The pledge to shutdown shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, which supports the economic interests of Israel, by the Yemeni Ansar Allah, has won a tremendous propaganda victory in favor of the anti-Zionist and anti-imperialist forces in the region. These solidarity efforts are drawing the Pentagon towards military strikes which only increase the resentment and hatred towards the U.S. government.
Al Mayadeen pointed to a U.S. media outlet, the Atlantic, which wrote an evaluation of the situation involving the status of Yemen throughout the region, saying that:
“Previously, a piece published on The Atlantic magazine’s news website suggested that Yemeni Ansar Allah leader Sayyed Abdul-Malik al-Houthi ‘may now be the most popular public figure in the Middle East.’ The piece pointed out that since the Yemeni Armed Forces began their operations in the Red Sea in November in support of the Palestinian people, Sayyed al-Houthi ‘has been treated like a latter-day Che Guevara, his portrait and speeches shared on social media across five continents.’ It emphasized that although it remains challenging to assess the consequences of the attacks, the Yemeni operations created a gap in the global economy. The operations, according to the piece, turned the Yemeni Ansar Allah movement into ‘heroes for Arab and Muslim youths who embrace the Palestinian cause,’ and even influenced Western progressives. Elsewhere, the piece indicated that the U.S.-British aggression did not deter the Yemeni Armed Forces, adding that ‘since staking claim to the Palestinian cause,’ the Yemeni forces ‘have come to seem unstoppable.’”
Even though the U.S. corporate and government-controlled media regurgitates the political line of the Biden administration which attributes the military capacity of the resistance forces from Hamas and the other nine brigades fighting the IDF in Gaza, to Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) in Iraq and the anti-occupation groupings in Syria, to assistance provided by the Islamic Republic of Iran. Tehran has denied providing military support to these groupings although it is in political agreement with the war against the IDF and its imperialist allies.
Biden has failed to effectively deflect the attention of millions of people in the U.S. from the siege on Gaza and the expanding regional resistance to Zionism and imperialism. If these militarist adventures by the White House are not brought to a halt, it could very well result in the ascendancy of another administration led by former President Donald J. Trump.
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Abayomi Azikiwe is the editor of the Pan-African News Wire. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.
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Norwegian sociologist Johan Galtung, who has developed an academic understanding of peacebuilding and is known as “the father of peace studies,” passed away on February 17, 2024, at the age of 93. A recipient of the Right Livelihood Award in 1987, Galtung was a dedicated peace advocate whose influence extended far beyond national borders.
“His legacy serves as a reminder of the power of compassion, empathy, and dialogue in resolving conflicts and building a more harmonious world,” said Ole von Uexkull, Right Livelihood’s Executive Director. “His tireless efforts to promote non-violent alternatives and address the root causes of conflict have left an indelible mark on the world.”
Born on October 24, 1930, in Oslo, Norway, Galtung dedicated his life to fostering understanding, dialogue, and reconciliation in areas of conflict globally. His holistic approach to peacebuilding, encompassing both structural and cultural dimensions, revolutionised the field of peace studies and inspired generations of peace activists. He has also created a new approach to economics that can more comfortably accommodate the overarching goals of peace, development, human growth and ecological balance.
Galtung’s contributions to peace and reconciliation extended beyond academia. He helped mediate more than 150 conflicts globally, working to bridge divides and build sustainable peace processes. He was also a strong advocate of “peace journalism” as a way to counteract war and violence-based reporting.
In 1993, Johan Galtung founded TRANSCEND, a network for Peace and Development, which is now running Transcend Peace University with a number of courses online, Transcend University Press, Transcend Media Service with material on current events, and Transcend Research Institute.
Galtung received the Right Livelihood Award in 1987 for “his systematic and multidisciplinary study of the conditions which can lead to peace.”
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Mit diesem Aufruf wird die Schweizer Bevölkerung aufgefordert, von der Schweizer Regierung den Austritt aus der Weltgesundheitsorganisation (WHO) zu verlangen – und zwar mit sofortiger Wirkung.
Wir, die Schweizerinnen und Schweizer, haben das verfassungsmässige Recht auf Initiativen oder Referenden. Es ist höchste Zeit, dass wir, das Volk, von dieser Möglichkeit Gebrauch machen und den Schweizer Bundesrat und das Parlament auffordern, auf die Mitgliedschaft in der WHO zu verzichten, der Organisation, die kurz davor steht, zum weltweiten Diktator in Gesundheitsfragen zu werden, brutaler und radikaler, als es die Menschheit je zuvor erlebt hat.
Die von der WHO auferlegten Covid-Mandate waren nur ein Vorläufer dessen, was kommen könnte.
In den letzten Jahren bereitete die WHO hinter verschlossenen Türen einen sogenannten “Pandemie-Vertrag” oder ein “Pandemie-Abkommen” vor, das Teil der 2005 eingeführten und jetzt drastisch überarbeiteten “Internationalen Gesundheitsvorschriften” (IGV) werden sollte.
Wenn diese beiden neuen “regelbasierten Ordnungen” (‚rules-based orders‘) von der Weltgesundheitsversammlung (WHA – 27. Mai bis 1. Juni 2024 in Genf) angenommen werden, stünde das Gesundheitsdiktat der WHO über der Souveränität jeder Nation und würde die gesundheitliche Selbstbestimmung der Vergangenheit angehören lassen.
Wenn die WHO eine Krankheit, ob künstlich erzeugt oder nicht, zu einer Pandemie erklärt, müssten ihre Befehle befolgt werden. Wenn die WHO eine allgemeine Impfung beschliesst, müssen ihre Anordnungen befolgt werden.
In der Schweiz würden solch drastische Änderungen der nationalen Gesundheitsgesetzgebung eine Änderung der Bundesverfassung erfordern. Nach der Schweizer Verfassung selbst müssten solche Änderungen vom Schweizer Volk per Referendum genehmigt werden. Ein solches Referendum hätte gute Chancen vom Volk abgelehnt zu werden.
Um auf eine Volksabstimmung zu verzichten, sieht es so aus als arbeite die Schweizer Regierung – Bundesrat und Parlament – derzeit an einer Vorabänderung der nationalen Schweizer Gesundheitsgesetzgebung, damit diese den Anforderungen eines möglicherweise bevorstehenden WHO-Pandemieabkommens und der neuen IGV entspricht. Eine Verfassungsänderung wäre dann möglicherweise nicht mehr nötig, da sich die neuen Schweizer Gesundheitsstandards mit dem potenziellen neuen WHO-Diktat decken würden.
Dies soll halb im Verborgenen geschehen. Die meisten Bürger wissen es nicht. Die Schweiz soll – laut Verfassung – eine Demokratie und ein Land der politischen Neutralität sein; ein Land mit Selbstbestimmung und Souveränität in der Entscheidungsfindung, in dem die Stimme des Volkes und seine aktive Beteiligung zählen.
Das war einmal.
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Dieser Aufruf geht auch an den Schweizer Bundesrat und das Parlament.
Schämen Sie sich nicht, nach dem Covid- und Vaxx-Betrug, den Sie den Menschen auferlegt haben, der Bevölkerung die Ihre Gehälter und Pensionen bezahlt, uns, das Volk, erneut zu verraten – mit einer allenfalls vorauseilenden Zustimmung zu den neuen repressiven WHO-Regeln?
Wie wird Gesundheit definiert? Nach der WHO-Definition schließt Gesundheit auch den “Klimawandel”-Betrug ein, der bereits für das Übermaß an Dengue-Fieber in Brasilien und Malaria in Afrika verantwortlich gemacht wird – was die WHO und Bill Gates dazu veranlasst hat, Milliarden von gentechnisch veränderten (GMO) “impfenden” Moskitos freizusetzen. Sie haben bisher zu einem 400-prozentigen Anstieg des Dengue-Fiebers in Brasilien geführt, und in Afrika grassiert die Malaria trotz oder wegen der GMO-Moskitos.
Alle “klimabedingten Gesundheitsprobleme”, die von der WHO so definiert werden, würden ebenfalls unter die WHO-Gesundheitstyrannei fallen.
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Wie viele Menschen haben in den letzten drei Jahren ihre Angehörigen durch die giftigen Covid-Injektionen verloren? Tausende, vielleicht Zehntausende sind allein in der Schweiz an den Vaxxen gestorben, ein Vielfaches von denen, die an Covid starben, wenn man ehrlich rechnet. Wir wissen, dass Ehrlichkeit kein Teil des offiziellen Covid-Narrativs war und ist.
Eine konservative Zahl besagt, dass weltweit 17 Millionen Todesfälle auf die Impfung zurückzuführen sind. Eine realistischere Zahl geht eher in die Hundert Millionen, und das Schlimmste steht uns noch bevor, so Dr. Michael Yeadon, ehemaliger Vizepräsident und Leiter der Pfizer-Forschungsabteilung.
Damit Sie es wissen:
Gleichzeitig erlaubt der Bundesrat durch den kantonalen Föderalismus die Förderung der pathologischen, von Soros finanzierten Transgender-Woke-Agenda in der ganzen Schweiz, auch in den Schulen, und gibt Kindern bereits im Alter von 11 Jahren die Möglichkeit, ohne elterliche Einmischung über ihr Geschlecht zu entscheiden.
Diese Agenda wird auch vom Weltwirtschaftsforum (WEF), der WHO und ja, den Vereinten Nationen – den Eugenikern – gefördert. Homosexuelle und Transgender-Menschen können sich nicht fortpflanzen.
Seien Sie sich auch bewusst, dass jede neue “Impfung”, selbst die für Neugeborene empfohlenen, in Zukunft der mRNA-Typ sein wird, wie von Pfizer, Bill Gates und der WHO bereits angekündigt wurde. Der mRNA-Gen-verändernde Typ ist dafür bekannt, dass er im besten Fall das Autoimmunsystem reduziert und ein Spike-Protein produziert, dessen eine Eigenschaft ein schneller oder langsamer Killer ist – Herzmuskelentzündung, Hirnschlag, Thrombose, aggressive Turbokrebse und mehr.
Es ist auch bekannt, dass die mRNA-Impfungen die Fruchtbarkeit sowohl bei Frauen als auch bei Männern massiv verringern.
Zur Erinnerung: Das oberste Ziel des WEF, der WHO und der UNO-Agenda 2030, die wir heute erleben, ist eine drastische weltweite Entvölkerung, beginnend mit den westlichen Industriestaaten.
Lassen Sie uns, die Schweizer, Vorreiter für den Rest der Welt sein, indem wir unsere verfassungsmässigen Rechte einfordern und unsere Regierung auffordern, JETZT aus der WHO auszutreten.
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Peter Koenig ist geopolitischer Analyst und ehemaliger Ökonom bei der Weltbank und der Weltgesundheitsorganisation (WHO), wo er insgesamt über 30 Jahre lang in der ganzen Welt tätig war. Er schreibt regelmäßig für Online-Zeitschriften und ist Autor von Implosion – Ein Wirtschaftsthriller über Krieg, Umweltzerstörung und Konzerngier; sowie Mitautor von Cynthia McKinneys Buch “When China Sneezes: From the Coronavirus Lockdown to the Global Politico-Economic Crisis” (Clarity Press – November 1, 2020).
Peter ist Mitarbeiter des Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG). Er ist auch Senior Fellow des Chongyang Instituts der Renmin Universität in Peking.
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British journalist and author Owen Jones recently made a video describing in excruciating detail Israel’s ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank. Many others have also reported on this. Medical Aid CEO Melanie Ward says that “children are being starved at the fastest rate the world has ever seen.”
Jones concludes that Israel’s ruthless actions – publicly supported by Western governments at a time when the world is seeing them in real time – could prove the downfall of the West.
He points out that “Western governments have openly facilitated some of the worst crimes of our age” and concludes: “I don’t think the West is ever going to recover from this.”
It’s important to examine why the West is taking such irrational, immoral, and self-destructive actions.
The causation is clear, although relatively few are willing to mention it, and there’s always a cost in stating it. The major factor in this potentially catastrophic situation is the pervasive and extremely powerful influence of the pro-Israel lobby.
In this piece I will focus on the United States. Since in today’s world the US is considered the world’s most powerful country, the lobby is especially active here.
However, as I document in my book, the importance of the United States to the establishment of Israel was recognized even before that – over a century ago, in the early years of the movement to create a Jewish state on land that was 95% non-Jewish. As I report:
One of the founders of political Zionism, Max Nordau, wrote a few years after the [1897] Basel conference, “Zionism’s only hope is the Jews of America.”
At that time, and for decades after, the large majority of Jewish Americans were not Zionists. In fact, many actively opposed Zionism. In the coming years, however, Zionists were to woo them assiduously with every means at hand. The extent to which Nordau’s hope was eventually realized is indicated by the statement by a prominent author on Jewish history, Naomi Cohen, who in 2003 wrote, “but for the financial support and political pressure of American Jews… Israel might not have been born in 1948.”
To this might be added Zionists’ success in influencing American politicians, the media, and much of the general public.
While there are many Jewish Israelis and Jewish Americans who fervently oppose Israeli actions, their efforts are eclipsed by virtually all the national Jewish establishment organizations in the US. These have multi-million dollar budgets, enormous reach, and falsely imply that they represent all Jewish Americans, even though a growing number impose Israeli violence.
These organizations continue to support Israel even in the midst of today’s carnage in Gaza.
For years, ambitious politicians from both parties have competed to be more pro-Israel than anyone else, repeatedly vowing their loyalty to Israel and its alleged right to exist.
Numerous pro-Israel billionaires (some of them are listed here) donate to political parties with the condition that they support Israel. (It is difficult to find any American billionaires who donate on behalf of full rights for Palestinians.)
In addition, Israel partisans are embedded in the government and successfully promoted the devastating Iraq War. Pro-Israel organizations and individuals have similarly long pushed for war against Iran.
New York Times advertisement demonizing Iran with the list of groups that paid for it.
While on occasion there are excellent, accurate media reports on Israel-Palestine, in general US news coverage is Israel-centric and often extremely flawed.
The situation is similar for popular media, where Hollywood plays a significant role in influencing attitudes about Israel, Arabs, and Muslims. Top movie producers have worked with Israel to defend its actions.
Similarly, social media and internet companies include numerous Israel partisans and periodically shadow ban or outright ban organizations and individuals that provide factual information on the situation.
While pro-Israel organizations and individuals attacked these books and tried to claim they are “antisemitic,” these well-documented books make clear that there have long been Jewish groups and individuals opposing the lobby and supporting Palestinian rights.
Experts Raise the Alarm
Meanwhile, intelligence, military, and diplomatic experts have periodically pointed out the damage Israel is doing to the United States, but the media rarely report their statements.
It is time for more Americans to learn these facts and to speak out. It is time to stop allowing Influential groups of all sorts to cancel those whose information they dislike.
If Americans are to avoid their country’s decline and protect their families from its impact, it is essential to diagnose the cause and address it.
Until enough people are more concerned about supporting genocide and ethnic cleansing than they are of spurious accusations of antisemitism and are willing to speak about these uncomfortable facts, this lobby on behalf of a ruthless, supremacist foreign country will continue to dominate US policies, causing intolerable tragedy abroad and potentially fatal destruction at home.
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It’s hard for me even to begin. I shall have to beware, as a man must beware of a rabid fox that he wants to chase out of his garden: how will he approach it so that it does not bite and infect him?
I could not even begin to write about this monstrosity until after the judgment had been pronounced.
One of the two women, a single mother, 33, was sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment for attempted murder and ill-treatment, and the other, her lover and friend, 40, to 14 years’ imprisonment for incitement and counselling.
The first-named did not deny the facts, but kept making excuses, saying she was just listening to her friend’s advice.
The psychiatric expert stated that the woman suffers from a serious and irreversible psychological disorder which may lead her to repeat the acts resulting in bodily harm in the future.
She herself claimed that she had only wanted to raise her son, 12, who had allegedly rebelled against her and had been aggressive towards her, to make him “a successful and responsible person, both academically and privately”.
Similarly, the expert characterised her friend as mentally irreparably defective.
The latter admitted that she had advised her mother on educational measures, but claimed that she was unaware of the extremes to which they had gone. (During the time of the Covid-19 isolation, the two women lived together with their mother, but later the mentor moved away as she found a new partner.) During last week’s trial, the prosecution presented evidence that the two women were aware of the extent and intent of their actions.
At a critical moment, the mother searched the internet for information on how such acts are punished. The remorse she showed at the hearing, where she was once in tears (and another time after the verdict was handed down), and her statement that she doesn’t understand how such a thing could have happened, do not match up with the video of her son in the cage, twitching in a comatose state, upon whom she comments, “Look at the idiot what he’s at!”
The jury also found that there was no doubt that her older friend was the source of ideas what to do with the child — the one that had instigated the educational methods used by the mother.
The Austrian court also ordered punitive damages of €80,000 for both perpetrators. This small amount perhaps says something about the poor social situation of the convicted women.
The verdict was decided by an eight-member jury, which took 7 hours to reach its decision.
The abuse had been going on for years, but had intensified to the final degree, allegedly already in June, and absolutely certainly from the beginning of September 2022. The social services became aware of the problems in the family, they visited once in October and once in November, they noticed “abnormalities”, but they considered that there was no need to separate the child from the mother or to take any other action.
The mother’s educational measures were as follows:
She starved the child
She locked him in a dog cage measuring 57 x 83 x 63 cm for punishment and for the time when she was away from home, including overnight.
She taped his mouth, beat him (and also stabbed him with a stick through the cage cracks), poured ice water over his clothes, and then left the window in the basement in which he was kept wide open so that the temperature in the room was only a few degrees above zero.
“He was in the cage because he said he was going to throw himself out of the window,” she stated in her defence.
We know that she also mentally abused him, for example by humiliating, cursing and scolding him.
After seeing the boy’s twitches in the ultimate coma, the friend contacted a social worker who was not connected to the previous visits by the social services, and this social worker then persuaded the mother to call an ambulance after all.
The description suggests that the social worker and the counsellor had been well acquainted from before.
When the paramedics arrived, the child’s body temperature measured less than 27 degrees Celsius and he weighed only 75 pounds.
He survived by a miracle of emergency medicine. But the aforementioned expert also stated that he is “psychologically, without a doubt, irreparably destroyed”.
The verdict is not yet final.
The above did not happen, as you might think, here in backward Montenegro, about which I have dug up the following statistics on the opinion of Montenegrins as to what are the permanently permissible, occasionally permissible and impermissible behaviours by parents towards their child:
As you see from the bottom three lines, there is a majority consensus that puts shouting on a child, a swish with a cane and the barehand slap on the bottom among permissible educational measures.
Yes, people here are old-fashioned and they like to stick to their traditions.
But every day, on my walks about Podgorica, I witness the bustle of children being left by their parents to play happily unsupervised among themselves.
There is a transformer station not far from our house, in the middle of the convergence of three roads, and there is also a fenced-in basketball and football court added to this triangle plot. Ikeep seeing children there with the ball both in the rain and during the northern winds. They play, bigger and smaller mixed together.
No, the trial described above, which concluded this Friday with a conviction that is not yet final, took place in Krems, Austria, and the horrible acts I am describing took place in 2022 (and probably even before that) in the idyllic Tyrolean valley of Weidenthal.
I stumbled upon the newspaper report by chance: what I was really looking for was the streaming coverage of the elimination knockout between the Pustertal and Olimpija hockey teams. I found a link, and when I got to the page in question, I was also offered a link to their ‘Panorama’ report on the Krems trial. The match had not yet started, so I indulged myself with a quick read – and that was that.
I didn’t even watch the game. Couldn’t.
The fate of the poor boy haunted me through the night and into the next day.
In fact, even now, I am seized by that feeling of utter helplessness and despair that, adhering to the principle of empathy, naturally comes over when one reads something like this.
Central Europe, and especially the German part of it, is considered to be the ‘pot’ in which this kind of behaviour is readily cooked: the pot is made of iron, polished by tarnished decency, and the contents, hidden under the lid, simmer unseen until they sometimes happen to overboil.
“Of Monsters and of Conquerors”. The Children of Palestine
I’m writing this part after another sleepless night. Yesterday, I realised that I was being unfair in my appalment over the case. Here I was, shedding tears over only one life lost, while every day during the last five months I’ve been witnessing on the TV screen exactly the same sufferings. The only difference was that the suffering of the Palestinian children was worsening almost imperceptibly through time – giving me a chance to gradually develop a resistance. I got used to the bad news and learnt to ignore them.
Only this morning, after having been unexpectedly acquainted with yet another case of sadism in the middle of Europe (this time in Lower Saxonia), the shield of ennui has crumbled and I stand here in awe and horror and despair.
So at last, my heart cries for every one of the at least 600,000 children in Gaza, condemned to unimaginable suffering — until death from famine, if not from shooting, by those who demand that Palestinians do not “express their ingratitude”.
Those who are saying in scorn: “Kill a man and you’re a murderer. Kill a million of them, and there’s a conqueror.”
But they are wrong: the crime is the same, only the dimensions are enormously enlarged.
There are even additional similarities, like the perverse connection between the mother and her counsellor, the doer and the supporter.
What could be a just punishment for both?
But wait – the punishment for 30,000 murdered and 600,000 tortured children is even not defined by the Law.
Nobody could expect it to happen, not after Nuremberg.
And so, there seems to be no judge, no prosecutor, no jury, just the terrible silence of Yahweh who should step in as He used to do in other times when His chosen people had been drowning in sin.
Maybe He just cannot fathom – maybe the dimensions of the crime are too far beyond comprehension even for a god.
Emaciated 10-year-old Palestinian child, Yazan al-Kafarneh, now dead from severe malnourishment and insufficient healthcare. Source: Al-Jazeera
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Written on March the 5th 2024 by Branko, citizen of a former Austrian province.
Featured image: Displaced Palestinians wait to receive free food from a volunteer-run hospice near Nasser Medical Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, on Tuesday, January 9, 2024. Bloomberg
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On Monday, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said that many large and small economies around the world have expressed willingness to start trading in rupee terms with India, which could be a “game-changing” development for India’s trade. This is another important step taken towards de-dollarisation and would better protect India’s economy in case of any future US-led sanctions.
India’s Union Minister said some of the countries that have expressed willingness to start trading in rupees include neighbouring Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, as well as Gulf countries.
“At some point, more and more developed countries and countries in the Far East will also join the bandwagon,” he said, adding that “more and more countries are realising the advantages of trading in their own domestic currencies and a shift towards direct transactions between local currencies is gaining traction.”
He said that more and more countries are realising the benefits of trading in their domestic currencies, and there is a growing shift towards direct transactions between local currencies.
“Gradually, the conscience is setting in that rather than converting all the transactions into a third currency, both ways add significantly to transaction costs,” the minister said.
It is recalled that the United Arab Emirates was the first to accept payment in rupees for crude oil.
“We started with the UAE. The UAE was one of the first countries to accept this. It’s now picking up traction. We get a lot of countries who come and talk to us that they would like to also initiate direct transactions between the local currency and the rupee,” Goyal said.
India has already started trading in rupees with neighbouring countries like Nepal and Bhutan. Additionally, the rupee has been included in Sri Lanka’s list of designated foreign currencies to facilitate trade. Changes have been made in the Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) to support the use of the rupee in international trade with the aim of establishing the rupee as a global currency.
Using rupees and other local currencies is especially important in maintaining longstanding New Delhi-Moscow ties in the face of US sanctions against the Eurasian country.
Trade turnover between India and Russia increased in 2023 to a record $64 billion, with India’s imports of Russian products increasing by 1.8 times to $60.1 billion and exports of Indian goods increasing by 1.4 times to $4 billion. Russia is now the second-largest supplier of goods to India, trailing only China, and Russia has also overtaken Saudi Arabia to become India’s fourth-largest trading partner.
Although the United States remained India’s main trading partner last year, by the end of the year, the trade volume between the two countries declined by 9% to $119 billion. This is followed by trade volume with China at $116 billion, which declined by 2%, and trade volume with the United Arab Emirates at $78 billion, which declined by 7%.
Meanwhile, according to Arun Garodia, Chairman of the Engineering Export Promotion Council of India (EEPC), a body of over 12,000 small engineering goods exporters, during the current fiscal year ending in March, Indian exporters are expected to receive over a billion dollars’ worth of payments in rupees from Russia.
“Exporters are happy that they are receiving payments in rupees for exports to Russia,” he said.
Indian commerce ministry data showed that the South Asian country’s total exports to Russia rose 46.2% to $2.7 billion in the first eight months of fiscal year 2023/24, ending in March, while imports rose 54.8% to $40.5 billion during the same period. This growth in trade would not have been possible if India had not taken active steps in de-dollarisation by advancing trade in rupees and other currencies.
Following the launch of the special military operation against Ukraine, Russia was banned from using the SWIFT financial messaging system and, therefore, the US dollar to settle payments. Although this was supposed to create difficulties in India-Russia trade, India overtook Europe as the main buyer of offshore oil from Russia in 2022 and began buying Russian oil for UAE dirhams and rubles.
By imposing such measures against Russia, Washington accelerated de-dollarisation as it forced large economies like India to pursue what Indian foreign minister EAM Jaishankar terms “strategic autonomy.” India and other countries like Brazil did not end their relations with Russia just for the sake of the US, and Western sanctions only forced such countries to find ulterior methods and thus accelerate the de-dollarisation process.
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Ahmed Adel is a Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.
There’s no doubt that man has always had an instinct for material inventiveness and a fascination in advancing technological developments – coupled with a desire to make things go ever faster. But this has now taken us to a place where, if what it means to be human is to be respected, one should dare go no further.
Early this month, a federal judge dismissed a case brought by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) charging U.S. President Joe Biden, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken with complicity in the Israeli-led genocide in Gaza. But while many media outlets were quick to report on the case not moving forward, they largely missed a key aspect of the ruling.
Prominent Canadian physician Dr. Charles Hoffe has spoken out courageously to warn people of the very serious dangers of the Covid mRNA genetic “vaccines”. He now faces trial from the Canadian health authorities aiming to silence him and effectively destroy his medical practice.
If you read the establishment media, you might conclude that a serious battle is being waged by Israel and its most ardent supporters to tackle an apparent new wave of antisemitism in the West.
21-year-old Brittany McCarthy and 20-year-old Sofia Padoan were both mandated COVID-19 vaccines to be able to attend University. Both wanted to be healthcare workers. Both died from aneurysms.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky placed all his eggs in two heavily fortified entrenchments in the Donbass cities of Bakhmut and Avdiivka, where the longest, most intense and costly fighting of this two plus year war was lost.
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Haiti is in the headlines again and, as usual, the headlines on Haiti are mostly negative. They are also largely false. Haiti, they tell us, is overrun by “gang violence.” Haiti is “a failed state,” standing on the verge of “anarchy” and teetering on the edge of “collapse.” Haiti, they tell us, can only be stabilized and saved through foreign military invasion and occupation. We have seen these stories before. We know their purpose. They serve to cover up the true origins of the “crisis” in Haiti while justifying foreign military intervention and setting up an attack on Haiti’s sovereignty.
What is the reality behind the headlines? The reality is that the crisis in Haiti is a crisis of imperialism. Those countries calling for military intervention – the US, France, Canada – have created the conditions making military intervention appear necessary and inevitable. The same countries calling for intervention are the same countries that will benefit from intervention, not the Haitian people. And for twenty years, those countries that cast Haiti as a failed state actively worked to destroy Haiti’s government while imposing foreign colonial rule.
On Haiti, the position of the Black Alliance for Peace has been consistent and clear. We reject the sensationalist headlines in the Western media with their racist assumptions that Haiti is ungovernable, and the Haitian people cannot govern themselves. We support the efforts of the Haitian people to assert their sovereignty and reclaim their country. We denounce the ongoing imperialist onslaught on Haiti and demand the removal of Haiti’s foreign, colonial rulers.
What’s Going On in Haiti?
The crisis in Haiti is a crisis of imperialism – but what does this mean? It means that the failure of governance in Haiti is not something internal to Haiti, but it is a result of the concerted effort on the part of the west to gut the Haitian state and destroy popular democracy in Haiti.
Haiti is currently under occupation by the US/UN and Core Group, a self-appointed cabal of foreign entities who effectively rule this country.
The occupation of Haiti began in 2004 with the US/France/Canada-sponsored coup d’état against Haiti’s democratically elected president. The coup d’etat was approved by the UN Security Council. It established an occupying military force (euphemistically called a “peacekeeping” mission), with the acronym MINUSTAH. Though the MINUSTAH mission officially ended in 2017, the UN office in Haiti was reconstituted as BIHUH. BINUH, along with the Core Group, continues to have a powerful role in Haitian affairs.
Over the past four years, the Haitian masses have mobilized and protested against an illegal government, imperial meddling, the removal of fuel subsidies leading to rising costs of living, and insecurity by elite-funded armed groups. However, these protests have been snuffed out by the US-installed puppet government.
Since 2021, attempts to control Haiti by the US have intensified. In that year, Haiti’s president, Jovenel Moïse was assassinated and Ariel Henry was installed by the US and UN Core Group as the de facto prime minister. In the wake of the assassination of Moïse and the installation of Henry, the U.S. has sought to build a coalition of foreign states willing to send military forces to occupy Haiti, and to deal with Haiti’s ostensible “gang” problem.
The armed groups (the so-called “gangs”) mainly in the capital city of Haiti should be understood as “paramilitary” forces, as they are made up of former (and current) Haitian police and military elements. These paramilitary forces are known to work for some of Haiti’s elite, including, some say, Ariel Henry (Haiti’s former de facto prime minister). It should also be noted that Haiti does not manufacture guns; the guns and ammunition come primarily from the US and the Dominican Republic; and the US has consistently rejected calls for an arms embargo.
Moreover, as Haitian organizations have demonstrated, it is the UN and Core Group occupation that has enabled the “gangsterization” of the country. When we speak of “gangs,” we must recognize that the real and most powerful gangs in the country are the US, the Core Group, and the illegal UN office in Haiti – all of whom helped to create the current crisis.
Most recently, Ariel Henry traveled to Kenya to sign an agreement with Kenya prime minister William Ruto authorizing the deployment of 1,000 Kenyan police officers as the head of a multinational military force whose ostensible purpose was to combat Haiti’s gang violence. But the US strategy for Haiti appears to have collapsed as Henry has been unable to return to Haiti and there is renewed challenge to the constitutionality of that deployment.
The US is now scrambling for control, seeking to force Henry’s resignation while looking for a new puppet to serve as a figurehead for foreign rule of Haiti. While Haiti currently does not have a government, it has not descended into chaos or anarchy. The paramilitaries, it seems, are waiting for their orders to act, while the US strategy for Haiti is in crisis.
Why Haiti?
For BAP, the historic struggles of the Haitian people to combat slavery, colonialism, and imperialism have been crucial to the struggles of African people throughout the globe. The attacks on Black sovereignty in Haiti are replicated in the attacks on Black people throughout the Americas. Today, Haiti is important for U.S. geopolitical and economic viability. Haiti is in a key location in the Caribbean for US military and security strategy in the region, especially in light of the coming US confrontation with China and in the context of the strategic implementation of the Global Fragilities Act. Haiti’s economic importance stems from what western corporations perceive as a vast pool of cheap labor, and its unexploited land and mineral wealth.
BAP’S Position on the Current Situation in Haiti
BAP, as with many Haitian and other organizations, have consistently argued against a renewed foreign military intervention.
We have persistently demanded the end of the foreign occupation of Haiti. This includes the dissolution of the Core Group, the UN office in Haiti (BINHU), and the end of the constant meddling of the US, along with its junior partners, CARICOM, and Brazil’s Lula.
We have denounced the governments of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) (with the exception of Venezuela and Cuba), for supporting US plans for armed intervention in Haiti and the denial of Haitian sovereignty.
We have denounced CARICOM leaders, and especially Barbados Prime Minister, Mia Mottley, for not only supporting US planned armed intervention in Haiti and offering their police and soldiers for the mission, but for also following US and Core Group dictates on the way forward in Haiti. Haiti’s solutions should come from Haitian people through broad consensus. CARICOM leaders cannot claim to be helping Haiti when they are acting as neo-colonial stooges of the US and the Core Group.
We have denounced the role of Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva, for not only continuing Brazil’s role in the Core Group, but for also leading the charge, along with the criminal US government, for foreign armed military invasion of Haiti. We remind everyone that it was Lula’s government that led the military wing of the 2004 violent UN occupation of Haiti. Brazil’s soldiers led the mission for 13 years (until 2017).
In solidarity with Haitian groups, we have denounced the UN approved, US-funded, Kenyan-led foreign armed invasion and occupation of Haiti. We are adamant that a U.S./UN-led armed foreign intervention in Haiti is not only illegitimate, but illegal. We support Haitian people and civil society organizations who have been consistent in their opposition to foreign armed military intervention – and who have argued that the problems of Haiti are a direct result of the persistent and long-term meddling of the United States, the United Nations, and the Core Group.
We demand US accountability for flooding Haiti with military grade weapons. We demand that the US enforce the UN-stated arms embargo against the Haitian and U.S. elite who import guns into the country.
We will continue to support our comrades as they fight for a free and sovereign Haiti.
Long live Haiti!
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“Railee was born on August 18, 2016, to my oldest son and his wife. They live in a tiny town in Virginia. My husband and I live in Northern California.
I told him we had to visit her, so we packed up our car and headed east, planned to make it a… pic.twitter.com/M6iYqtSWRI
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Our thanks to Dr. William Makis for bringing this to our attention.
Aparentemente, Kiev não aprendeu com os seus recentes erros no campo de batalha e está a planejar novas manobras cruéis que certamente trarão derrotas humilhantes. De acordo com informações fornecidas por um importante responsável local, a Ucrânia planeia lançar uma nova contra-ofensiva contra a Rússia em 2024, tentando assim impedir novos avanços territoriais de Moscou. Obviamente, tal medida terá graves consequências para o regime, prejudicando ainda mais as forças neonazistas.
A afirmação foi feita pelo chefe das forças terrestres ucranianas, tenente-general Aleksandr Pavlyuk, durante entrevista à TV local. Afirmou que o exército do país quer impedir o progresso territorial russo, o que permitirá o reagrupamento das tropas ucranianas, retirando do campo de batalha os soldados mais exaustos e destacando novas unidades capazes de operar contra-ataques e manobras ofensivas.
“(Precisamos) criar um grupo de ataque e realizar ações de contra-ataque (…) Acho que em breve estabilizaremos a situação. (Nós) fazemos todo o possível para preparar as tropas para ações mais ativas e para tomar a iniciativa”, disse durante a entrevista.
Como é sabido, recentemente, o exército ucraniano sofreu pesadas perdas no campo de batalha, com os territórios controlados pelos russos aumentando cada vez mais. A principal derrota recente ocorreu na importante cidade de Avdeevka, onde o recém-nomeado comandante-em-chefe das forças armadas ucranianas, Aleksandr Syrsky, foi forçado a retirar as suas tropas para evitar sofrer ainda mais baixas, dada a elevada letalidade das operações. na região.
Syrsky, que anteriormente tinha sido o principal comandante ucraniano durante o “moedor de carne” de Artymovsk (chamado de “Bakhmut” pelos ucranianos) certamente não queria retirar as suas tropas tão facilmente. Mas as circunstâncias materiais e humanas do exército ucraniano obrigaram o comandante a tomar tal decisão: simplesmente, já não há gente suficiente para lutar na Ucrânia, sendo o poder de mobilização militar do país afetado pelas consequências demográficas da guerra. Com a escassez de tropas, não é possível travar batalhas prolongadas de desgaste, razão pela qual a retirada é a única opção.
Perante uma situação militar como esta, obviamente não é apropriado planejar qualquer grande ofensiva. A Ucrânia simplesmente não está em posição de escolher o que fazer no campo de batalha, uma vez que Moscou é o lado que controla as ações do conflito. O máximo que Kiev pode fazer na sua situação atual é tentar minimizar os danos, retirando as tropas e tentando implementar técnicas de combate assimétricas – se não houver possibilidade de rendição ou negociações de paz.
O principal problema, porém, é que o regime precisa continuar a chamar a atenção dos meios de comunicação internacionais se quiser receber mais armas e equipamento. Sem a assistência militar da OTAN, a Ucrânia não é capaz de lutar – e sem operações psicológicas com elevado impacto na opinião pública ocidental, os países da OTAN não têm argumentos para enviar armas para Kiev. Assim, como “solução”, o regime continua a tentar promover “grandes ofensivas” sem qualquer valor estratégico relevante, com a única intenção de gerar um impacto psicológico na opinião pública global e legitimar a ajuda militar.
Na verdade, qualquer outra “contra-ofensiva” terá inevitavelmente o mesmo resultado que a anterior: a Ucrânia será neutralizada durante os primeiros movimentos do contra-ataque, perderá um grande número de tropas e terá de recuar de regiões estrategicamente relevantes em face do avanço russo. No entanto, ao contrário das tentativas de ataque anteriores, desta vez a Ucrânia enfrentará uma situação ainda mais grave para repor as suas perdas, uma vez que as suas reservas humanas são cada vez mais escassas. Na prática, a medida será verdadeiramente suicida. Kiev estará simplesmente a dar um passo profundo em direção à sua derrota definitiva.
Os detalhes desta suposta nova “contraofensiva” ainda não são claros. Syrsky ainda não comentou o caso, com Pavlyuk apenas fazendo uma declaração pessoal durante uma entrevista. Mais informações sobre o tema serão certamente reveladas num futuro próximo. É importante lembrar que a tentativa de contra-ofensiva anterior foi repetidamente adiada, dadas as condições adversas no campo de batalha – razão pela qual é provável que o movimento atual também demore muito para ocorrer.
A única certeza por agora em todo este cenário é que, se realmente lançar uma nova “contraofensiva”, Kiev estará a tomar uma medida suicida, com consequências devastadoras para as suas tropas e para as suas posições no campo de batalha. É pouco provável que a Ucrânia consiga se recuperar novamente de um novo “moedor de carne”, razão pela qual as autoridades do país devem ser cautelosas antes de lançar medidas militares perigosas.
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Early this month, a federal judge dismissed a case brought by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR)charging U.S. President Joe Biden, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, and Secretary of State Antony Blinkenwith complicity in the Israeli-led genocide in Gaza.
But while many media outlets were quick to report on the case not moving forward, they largely missed a key aspect of the ruling:
the judge did not dismiss the case on its merits but rather because it fell “outside the court’s limited jurisdiction,” therefore rejecting it on technical grounds.
In fact, U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey White’s statement appeared to uphold some of plaintiff’s key charges in the case:
“Both the uncontroverted testimony of the plaintiffs and the expert opinion proffered at the hearing on these motions as well as statements made by various officers of the Israeli government indicate that the ongoing military siege in Gaza is intended to eradicate a whole people and therefore plausibly falls within the international prohibition against genocide.”
The judge went further, urging Biden and his administration officials to scrutinize “the results of their unflagging support” for the Israeli government’s assault on Gaza.
Judge White was not alone in his appraisal. The case, first heard on January 26 in front of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, saw roughly100 human rights and humanitarian aid groups write briefs supporting CCR’s charges against the Biden administration.
These briefs make it abundantly clear that the Biden administration, in its steadfast support of the Israeli government, is complicit in the ongoing genocide, the displacement of approximately 80% of Palestinians from their homes and the deaths of more than 29,000 so far in this latest chapter of a 76‑year-long Nakba (catastrophe) that never ended.
CCR’s lawsuit underscored the plight of a Palestinian people asserting their humanity and refusing to be sacrificed at the altar of U.S. geopolitical interests. By looking at the charges and evidence presented against the Biden administration, a clear picture emerges: The United States is actively aiding a campaign of mass slaughter in Gaza being carried out by the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
As multiple human rights advocates and experts such as Israeli historian and Associate Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies Raz Segal have laid out, Israel is carrying out a “textbook case of genocide” in Gaza, backed by clear genocidal intent, laid bare in Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant’s Oct. 9 declaration:
“We are imposing a complete siege on Gaza. No electricity, no food, no water, no fuel. Everything is closed. We are fighting human animals and we will act accordingly.”
In response to the case, the Biden administration countered that CCR’s lawsuit should not move forward because supporting Israel is a foreign policy decision reserved for the executive branch, free from judicial interference; that the United States is not responsible for how Israel, a foreign government, acts; and that there is no federal law allowing the plaintiffs to sue.
CCR noted, first, that the issue is not whether the U.S. can make foreign policy decisions involving Israel but rather that the decision to aid in a genocide violates federal law, and the courts have a duty to uphold the law even against U.S. officials.
Second, CCR explained in detail how the Biden administration, far from a neutral spectator, is actively supporting the genocide through military, economic and diplomatic assistance.
The administration now seeks to loosen WRSA-I restrictions for Israel, expanding access to weaponry, increasing the annual stockpile limits, and removing legislative oversight, while adding to the privileges Israel already enjoys such as permission to withdraw WRSA-I items without the prior justification required of all other recipient countries.
Financially, President Biden requested an emergency supplemental budget exceeding $14 billion to support Israel. The House of Representatives responded with a bill reflecting this amount plus billions of dollars for joint operations assistance. The Senate has now passed a bill for $14.1 billion permitting the supply of currently forbidden military items to Israel, as well as waiving WRSA-I caps. These bills are currently being debated in Congress but enjoy broad bipartisan support.
And, diplomatically, the United States exercised its veto privilege at the United Nations Security Council to stall international calls for a cease-fire in Gaza on October 18, December 8 and February 20. The December instance followed UN Secretary General António Guterres’s invocation of Article 99 of the UN Charter to refer to the Security Council a “matter which, in [his] opinion, may aggravate existing threats to the maintenance of international peace and security.”
Article 99 was last invoked in 1971 preceding the split of Bangladesh from Pakistan. Additionally, the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly supported cease-fire resolutions on October 27 and December 12, both of which the U.S. voted against. And, on December 22, the U.S. abstained from a Security Council vote to direct humanitarian aid to Gaza after stalling for four days to remove a call for cease-fire from the resolution.
These various forms of support unequivocally constitute aiding and abetting of Israel’s cataclysmic destruction of Gaza, and the CCR argued as much in establishing that the U.S. has been actively complicit in the ongoing genocide.
Relatedly, the CCR referenced this very aiding and abetting in claiming that they do have a federal right to sue under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS). As they explained, “aiding and abetting liability, particularly for U.S. defendants,” triggers the ATS goal of “provid[ing] a forum for violations of international law.”
Therefore, the CCR concluded, the courts do have a constitutional duty to put an end to the executive branch’s complicity in genocide; the executive branch is complicit based on its clear aiding and abetting in the form of military, financial and diplomatic support; and the ATS permits plaintiffs to sue federal officials for their violations of the Genocide Convention.
No Conditions
CCR further charged Biden, Blinken and Austin with failure to prevent the genocide. The Genocide Convention and customary international law compel governments to exercise due diligence to prevent genocide, and self-defense is legally insufficient as a justification for eradicating a population. U.S. officials are liable if they could likely influence Israel’s conduct and if they should have known that Israel’s acts raised a serious risk of genocide in Gaza.
In Gaza, the U.S. indisputably can influence Israel’s conduct. The U.S. fills 92% of Israel’s arms imports. Much of this equipment can only originate from the U.S. as it utilizes proprietary technologies. Defense Minister Gallant admitted as much, when the U.S. pressured for humanitarian aid to Gaza, noting that “[t]he Americans insisted and we are not in a place where we can refuse them. We rely on them for planes and military equipment. What are we supposed to do? Tell them no?” The Biden administration similarly boasted about its influence in persuading Israel to pause aggressions for seven days in late November.
And the United States is doubtlessly aware of the ongoing genocide in Gaza. The CCR shared its emergency legal briefing paper with Biden, Blinken, and Austin in October explaining these exact points. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled in January that there is a plausible risk that Israel is carrying out genocide. Additionally, more than 800 public officials and diplomats across a range of countries, close to 80 of whom are based in the U.S. and work primarily within Blinken’s State Department, warned in February that their governments were at risk of being complicit in genocide.
The Biden administration blanketly denies the genocide charges against Israel while refusing to investigate them altogether. President Biden vowed that his “administration’s support for Israel’s security is rock solid and unwavering.”
Secretary Blinken has stated his view that South Africa’s “charge of genocide [against Israel before the ICJ] is meritless.” And White House Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby said, on behalf of the Biden administration, that
“[w]e find [South Africa’s] submission meritless, counterproductive and completely without any basis in fact, whatsoever,” later insisting that “we find that that claim is unfounded.”
More recently, former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi baselessly claimed that
“nothing [the U.S. has] sent since Oct. 7 [to Israel] has contributed to this brutality,” despite well recorded evidence to the contrary.
The U.S. State Department ordered officials to refrain from using the phrases “de‑escalation,” “cease-fire,” “end to violence,” “end to bloodshed,” and “restoring calm” in press releases, and Secretary Blinken was found to have deleted references to a cease-fire in his posts on X (formerly Twitter) after they had already been sent out.
Conspicuously, a State Department task force on preventing atrocities took a full two weeks into the extremely brutal assault before meeting to discuss Israel and Palestine, and it was nevertheless sidelined by the administration.
According to Kirby, the U.S. imposes no conditions on weapons transfers to Israel even though the Foreign Assistance Act, the Leahy Law, and the Conventional Arms Transfer policy prohibit transfers when the weapons are likely intended to be used for genocide. Notably, transfers to most countries can be put on hold if one stakeholder suspects an item will be used unlawfully. In the case of Israel, multiple stakeholders, including the Bureau of Near East Affairs (NEA) and the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, must first agree that such risk exists, and the hold must be approved by the Deputy Secretary of State.
Moreover, these transfers are shrouded in secrecy. Whereas the U.S. published pages detailing what weapons, and in what quantities, it provided to Ukraine, governmental disclosures concerning Israel amount to one brief sentence. Josh Paul, former director in the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, remarks that there is no benefit in this secrecy except diminished oversight.
And the administration insists that it has remained close to the Israeli officials perpetrating the genocide. Kirby claimed that “we have, since the beginning of the conflict, in the early hours, maintained a level of communication with our Israeli counterparts to ascertain their intentions, their strategy, their aims.” Secretary Blinken has held hours-long conferences with Israeli military officials, and Secretary Austin had near-daily calls with Minister Gallant “to meet Israel’s needs, which include air defense, precision guided munitions, artillery and medical supplies.”
Responsibility to Act
The U.S. District Court in California, spotlighting the ICJ’s finding of plausible genocide, implored the administration to reconsider its course for the welfare of the Palestinian people, finding the judiciary to be lamentably powerless to interfere with foreign policy decisions.
Looking to the future, a group of South African lawyers stated to the Biden administration their intention to sue the U.S. government for “aiding, abetting and supporting, encouraging or providing material assistance and means to Israel” during a genocide. On February 12, the South African government urgently requested that the ICJ use its powers to prevent further genocidal acts by Israel in light of the most recent attack on Rafah, “the last refuge for surviving people in Gaza.”
As the CCR case makes clear, the United States government is currently facilitating the annihilation of Gaza and the Palestinian people. In the face of this massacre, Congress has a responsibility to rein in the abuses of the Biden administration by exercising its review authority to end any further aid to the Israeli government.
While recent efforts to condition such aid have failed, that should not prevent members of Congress from taking a clear stand: now is the time to hold the Biden administration accountable for its complicity in the crime of genocide.
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Azadeh Shahshahani is legal and advocacy director at Project South and a past president of the National Lawyers Guild. She tweets @ashshahahani and you can read her work at In These Times here.
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Biden’s more than one-hour speech in Congress without obvious mental crack-downs was completely out of line with Biden’s regular and quickly worsening health condition. Biden’s ability to perform for more than one hour in Congress can only have been due to a special and extremely hard cocktail of drugs and stimulants.
The effects from the special hard drug-mix Biden must have gotten for his 7 March 2024 State of the Union speech in Congress have worn off.
Probably even worse: Biden in the aftermath of his extra big drug-dose 7 March 2024 may well suffer from the hang-over effects of hard drugs – symptoms like fatigue, mental depression, and increased disorientation or even fits of hallucinations.
Two days later after his State of the Union speech, Biden has already returned to his usual lack of situational awareness. Biden’s unmissable Alzheimer and dementia symptoms are back in full public display – worse every day – all the time.
Biden again cannot even hold a few minutes talk without the most humiliating signs of dementia and Alzheimer.
“the same building where our freedom came under assault on July 6th” – (oops, should have been January 6th)
we cut the deficit, and we added more to the national deficit than any president – (clearly deranged)
forgets the name of the Federal Reserve and its chief – refers disparagingly to him as “that outfit”
“Send me to Congress” – (oops, should have been White House)
“I know all these leaders of Europe … they pull me aside and say: ‘I can’t win again’ ”.
After the one-hour parenthesis of Biden’s probably drug-driven circus performance of rants, raised voicing, and anger in Congress, Biden is again getting more and more disoriented all the time. And remember, that Biden in any crisis situation will have to decide between nuclear war or not.
The US will in November 2024 choose between a possible US “leader” who doesn’t know what he says, where he is, who is who in France, Egypt and elsewhere, and what countries Mexico, Gaza, Ukraine etc. are affected by what conflict. Or another US leader who does know, but whom a lot of “liberals” will hate to see back in office.
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Karsten Riise is a Master of Science (Econ) from Copenhagen Business School and has a university degree in Spanish Culture and Languages from Copenhagen University. He is the former Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Mercedes-Benz in Denmark and Sweden.
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AIR CANADA – Ottawa, Ontario – Mar. 3, 2024 – 55 year old Pilot Anand Acharya died after an almost 2 year battle with brain cancer. He was a PhD and an Air Canada Pilot on Boeing 777.
DELTA – NYC – Feb. 16, 2024 – 58 year old Capt Geoffrey John Brock died unexpectedly on Feb. 16, 2024 during a layover in Honolulu, HI.
DELTA – NYC – Feb. 15, 2024 – 41 year old Michael David O’Leary died suddenly after a 1.5 month battle with cancer. In 2022, Mike began working for Delta Airlines at JFK Airport in New York City, flying domestic and international routes throughout the United States and the world.
Pilot Deaths in 2024
Feb. 12, 2024 – United Airlines Pilot – 39 year old US Air Force Major Matthew Charles Kettler of Mason, Ohio, and current United Airlines pilot, died suddenly on Feb. 12, 2024.
Pilot Deaths On Duty in 2023
Sep. 23, 2023 – Alaska Airlines Pilot Death – 37 year old Captain Eric McRae died suddenly in his hotel room during layover, was to fly that morning
Aug. 17, 2023 – IndiGo Flight (NAG-PNQ) Nagpur to Pune, India, 40 year old Pilot Manoj Subramanium died after collapsing at the boarding gate, about to board.
Aug. 16, 2023 – Qatar Airways Flight QR579 (DEL-DOH) Delhi to Doha, Qatar, 51 year old pilot collapsed as a passenger inflight and died, plane diverted to Dubai.
Aug. 14, 2023 – LATAM Flight LA505 (MIA-SCL) Miami to Santiago, Chile – 2 hours into 8hr flight, 56 year old Captain Ivan Andaur collapsed and died in the lavatory – plane diverted to Panama City!
July 16, 2023 – Small plane – 2006 Piper Meridian, flying from Westchester NY, crashed at Martha’s Vineyard Airport after pilot had medical emergency upon final approach and passenger took control of the plane and attempted a landing. Pilot, 79 year old Randolph Bonnist, died later in hospital.
June 4, 2023 – Small plane – Cessna Citation N611VG flying Tennessee to Long Island, fighter jets spotted pilot slumped over in cockpit unconscious, plane crashed and all onboard died
May 3, 2023 – Air Transat and Air Canada Pilot Eddy Vorperian, age 48, died suddenly during layover in Croatia
March 11, 2023 – British Airways (CAI-LHR) pilot died of heart attack in crew hotel in Cairo before a Cairo to London flight (name & age not released)
Military Pilot Incapacitations and Deaths
July 19, 2023 – 37 year old US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Andrew James Lingenfelter, of Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, died on July 19, 2023 after battle with Pancreatic Turbo Cancer
May 9, 2023 – United Airlines and US Air Force Pilot Lt. Col. Michael Fugett, age 46, died unexpectedly at his home
Pilot Deaths (Not On Duty)
Dec. 24, 2023 – Singapore Airlines – Captain Lee Meng Chye Martin died suddenly
Dec. 5, 2023 – Volaris (El Salvador) Pilot – 30s year old Jose Espinal – El Salvador Pilot for Volaris (El Salvador), Air Jazeera Airways (Kuwait) and former VECA & TACA Airlines, died suddenly on Dec.5, 2023.
Nov. 16, 2023 – Air India Pilot – 37 year old Air India Pilot Captain Himanil Kumar had cardiac arrest at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport during training
Oct. 18, 2023 – Austrian Airlines Pilot – 43 year old Christian Zimmerebner, AUA Austrian Airlines Pilot and member of Dorfgastein mountain rescue, died suddenly on Oct.18, 2023 due to “serious illness”
May 2023 – 4 Singapore Airlines pilots died suddenly in May 2023
May 26, 2023 – Singapore Airlines Pilot – Capt Sebestian Tan Aik Chuang: died May 26, 2023 (cancer)
May 25, 2023 – Singapore Airlines Pilot – Capt Tan Joo Huat Colin: died May 25, 2023 (sudden)
May 24, 2023 – Singapore Airlines Pilot – Capt Fernando Cid: died May 24, 2023 (cancer)
May 11, 2023 – Singapore Airlines Pilot – Capt Wee Loong: died May 11, 2023 (sudden death)
April 13, 2023 – Phil Thomas, graduate of Flight Training Pilot academy in Cadiz, Spain (FTEJerez) died suddenly.
March 17, 2023 – Westjet Pilot – 39 year old Benjamin Paul Vige died suddenly in Calgary
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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.
The Worldwide Corona Crisis, Global Coup d’Etat Against Humanity
by Michel Chossudovsky
Michel Chossudovsky reviews in detail how this insidious project “destroys people’s lives”. He provides a comprehensive analysis of everything you need to know about the “pandemic” — from the medical dimensions to the economic and social repercussions, political underpinnings, and mental and psychological impacts.
“My objective as an author is to inform people worldwide and refute the official narrative which has been used as a justification to destabilize the economic and social fabric of entire countries, followed by the imposition of the “deadly” COVID-19 “vaccine”. This crisis affects humanity in its entirety: almost 8 billion people. We stand in solidarity with our fellow human beings and our children worldwide. Truth is a powerful instrument.”
Reviews
This is an in-depth resource of great interest if it is the wider perspective you are motivated to understand a little better, the author is very knowledgeable about geopolitics and this comes out in the way Covid is contextualized. —Dr. Mike Yeadon
In this war against humanity in which we find ourselves, in this singular, irregular and massive assault against liberty and the goodness of people, Chossudovsky’s book is a rock upon which to sustain our fight. –Dr. Emanuel Garcia
In fifteen concise science-based chapters, Michel traces the false covid pandemic, explaining how a PCR test, producing up to 97% proven false positives, combined with a relentless 24/7 fear campaign, was able to create a worldwide panic-laden “plandemic”; that this plandemic would never have been possible without the infamous DNA-modifying Polymerase Chain Reaction test – which to this day is being pushed on a majority of innocent people who have no clue. His conclusions are evidenced by renown scientists. —Peter Koenig
Professor Chossudovsky exposes the truth that “there is no causal relationship between the virus and economic variables.” In other words, it was not COVID-19 but, rather, the deliberate implementation of the illogical, scientifically baseless lockdowns that caused the shutdown of the global economy. –David Skripac
A reading of Chossudovsky’s book provides a comprehensive lesson in how there is a global coup d’état under way called “The Great Reset” that if not resisted and defeated by freedom loving people everywhere will result in a dystopian future not yet imagined. Pass on this free gift from Professor Chossudovsky before it’s too late. You will not find so much valuable information and analysis in one place. –Edward Curtin
ISBN: 978-0-9879389-3-0, Year: 2022, PDF Ebook, Pages: 164, 15 Chapters
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NATO’s never-ending encroachment on Russia’s borders is breaking world records in mere days. Just last week, a new major airbase was opened in Albania, despite the fact that Tirana effectively has no air force. NATO was also given full exterritoriality rights, meaning that Albania officially gave up on its already highly dubious “sovereignty”. Deployment of major ISR (intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance) and strike platforms in the area can certainly bolster the belligerent alliance’s highly destabilizing presence in both Southeastern and Eastern Europe. And yet, this is not enough. Namely, on March 7, Lithuanian Defense Minister Arvydas Anusauskas confirmed that NATO would also station “Patriot” SAM (surface-to-air missile) systems in his country. While Lithuania doesn’t border mainland Russia, it has an extensive border with Belarus and Moscow’s Kaliningrad oblast (region).
“This year, the rotational air defense system will finally become operational, at least partially,” Anusauskas stated at a press conference in Vilnius, adding: “Our goal is to have a rotation similar to the air policing mission… This principle would not be a one-off thing for several months but would cover all of our calendar months and significantly increase our air defense capabilities.”
It’s not yet clear how many of these systems could be deployed, but given the much smaller distances that it needs to cover than in Ukraine, deploying the “Patriot” in any of the Baltic states can certainly be more consequential.
Namely, the detection range of its AN/MPQ-65 radar (officially 150 km) could provide coverage into the airspace of both Belarus and the Kaliningrad oblast. In addition, Finland is acquiring similar, albeit more advanced air defense assets, including the Israeli “David’s Sling”, which has a significantly longer maximum engagement range. Amassing such SAM systems so close to Russia’s northwest is deeply destabilizing and antagonistic.
While other NATO member states in the relative vicinity of Russia’s borders also operate “Patriot” SAM systems, most notably Romania and (soon) Poland, both of these are far enough not to make the air defense system a strategic issue. On the other hand, other much longer-range weapons, such as the “Aegis Ashore” ABM (anti-ballistic missile) systems, are set to become fully operational in Poland in 2024, while another is already active in Romania (since at least 2016). It’s part of the wider ship-borne “Aegis” system that provides a level of strategic depth that neither the “Patriot” nor “David’s Sling” could. And while the system’s capabilities and effectiveness are certainly up for debate (particularly against Russian hypersonic missiles), the massive increase in their presence is of quantitative importance, which could at least partially ameliorate their qualitative shortcomings and other deficiencies.
And yet, this certainly isn’t the end of NATO’s highly destabilizing activities in Europe. Namely, its vassals and satellite states such as Finland are acquiring the F-35s, while also making it possible to accommodate other jets of the same type from the United States and other NATO member states. The forward presence of USAF F-35s in Eastern and Central Europe keeps expanding and getting ever closer to Russia.
Apart from Finland, it now includes Germany, Czechia and Poland, while the Dutch, Belgian and Italian F-35s will also be forward deployed to the area around the Baltic Sea. Worse yet, the jet has been certified to carry thermonuclear weapons, specifically the B61-12 bomb, with several NATO members having the ability to use them through nuclear sharing agreements with the US. This includes the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Italy, all of whom either operate F-35s or have them on order.
Namely, on March 9, the F-35 was confirmed to be certified to carry B61-12 thermonuclear gravity bombs. Although this refers only to the conventional F-35A, with F-35B and F-35C variants still lacking such capabilities, the latter two are deployed in much smaller numbers. The conventional F-35A is the most common version used by the USAF and other NATO air forces. The possibility of their large-scale deployment in Finland and the Baltic states gives the US premier strike capabilities, far greater than Russia ever had in Cuba 60 years ago.
He has repeatedly been warning that the sole purpose of this controversial technology is to exponentially amplify the effectiveness of America’s first-strike capabilities. And while some might discard Zuesse’s warnings and even decry them as “doom and gloom fantasy” or the mythical “Russian disinformation”, recent developments only reinforce his already sound hypothesis. What’s more, NATO is directly involved in these plans. Back in October last year, the belligerent alliance concluded the “Steadfast Noon” nuclear exercise involving approximately 60 aircraft, including nuclear-capable F-16s and B-52 strategic bombers simulating strikes with B61-12 bombs. It should be noted that these bombs will also be augmented by the upcoming B61-13 variant. And although the nature of this upgrade is classified, it’s safe to assume that they will also include the aforementioned “nuclear super-fuse” technology.
The Pentagon already announced that these new thermonuclear bombs will be comparable to the B61-7 version that can have a yield of up to 340 kt (roughly equivalent to 22-23 Hiroshima bombs). Faced with such escalation, Russia doesn’t exactly have a lot of choice but to be prepared. This is precisely why Russia has been conducting nationwide drills simulating an all-out nuclear attack, as well as its own retaliatory strikes on the aggressors. Earlier, the US FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) conducted similar warning exercises.
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This article was originally published on InfoBrics.
Drago Bosnic is an independent geopolitical and military analyst. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.
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US airman Aaron Bushnellsaid the words “This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal” before self-immolating in protest of the genocide in Gaza. That simple line has been reverberating throughout our collective consciousness ever since.
It seems like every day now we’re learning some horrible new fact about the US-centralized power alliance and the empire managers who carry out its malignant will for our world, because that’s just what our rulers have decided will be the norm for our species going forward.
Reports that Israel tortured UN workers to extract false testimony against Gaza’s primary humanitarian aid agency.
Images surfacing of airstrikes on Gaza occurring at the same time and location as airdrops of aid.
Israeli “demonstrators” bringing cotton candy machines and bouncy castles to create a fun, family-friendly atmosphere for their blockades to stop aid trucks from getting into Gaza.
The US president waxing poetically about how “heartbreaking” all the death and destruction in Gaza is when he himself is directly responsible for that death and destruction.
People in the world’s most powerful nation being told they have to choose between two candidates who both support this genocide.
The biosphere we depend on for survival being fed into a soulless profit-generating death machine because everything on our planet has been turned into a commodity.
The leaders of nuclear-armed states brandishing armageddon weapons at each other because a few manipulators in Washington DC and Virginia have decided that the US must maintain global hegemony at all cost.
A mind-controlled dystopia in which ordinary people are propagandized into accepting all this as perfectly fine.
This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal.
This madness will continue until we come together and resolutely decide the opposite.
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Prominent Canadian physician Dr. Charles Hoffe has spoken out courageously to warn people of the very serious dangers of the Covid mRNA genetic “vaccines”. He now faces trial from the Canadian health authorities aiming to silence him and effectively destroy his medical practice.
What is most disturbing about this unprecedented case is that, if the prosecution gets its way, all the evidence produced by the State claiming the Covid vaccines are “safe and effective” will be deemed indisputable, irrefutable — and Dr. Hoffe would not be able to defend himself or call expert witnesses!
In other words, a totalitarian show trial designed to intimidate all doctors and patients who value medical freedom of choice, the right to a fair trial, freedom of speech, and medical ethics.
The College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia, where Dr. Hoffe practices, had scheduled the disciplinary hearing for March 4th through March 15th. But at the last minute, the College pulled a fast one.
“When [the College] saw the mountain of evidence stacked against them, and against the public health narrative, obviously they panicked because I don’t think they realized how vigorous our opposition was going to be,” explains Hoffe in a March 7th interview.[1]
As a countermeasure, the College dumped a massive trove of documents on Dr. Hoffe’s lawyer AND invoked an almost unheard-of legal trick called Judicial Notice, which means the disciplinary Panel would accept all the College’s basic assertions as uncontestably true. Hoffe’s voluminous evidence — both from his own private practice as a family doctor and from the scientific literature — that the Covid mRNA vaccines cause widespread death, neurological problems, micro-clotting, infertility, immune-system damage, and other severe adverse side effects would be inadmissible.
Given this outrageous legal trick, Dr. Hoffe’s lawyer had no choice but to request an adjournment and hire four more attorneys to sift through the College’s eleventh-hour document-dump.
If the Disciplinary Committee implements Judicial Notice, explains Dr. Hoffe,
“I would have no opportunity to testify in my defense, nor would any of [my eight] expert witnesses….It would render this literally a kangaroo court. This is an astonishing act of injustice, where you literally accuse somebody of something and then remove their ability to defend themselves.”[2]
The government’s objective, he says, is “to try to make an example of me and make sure all the other doctors toe the line and keep quiet and just obey.” Dr. Hoffe, who is widely regarded as a heroic truth-teller across much of Canada, comes across as a down-to-earth man of great integrity, honesty and humility. An outspoken advocate for patient safety, medical ethics, and the Hippocratic oath (“First, do no harm”), he is accused by the medical authorities of spreading “misinformation,” putting people at risk, and encouraging “vaccine hesitancy.” After 31 years as an emergency room physician with not a single patient complaint against him, he was fired from his ER position for telling a nurse that somebody who had natural immunity didn’t need to get the Covid jab.
Exposing the Medical Cartel’s Coverup
In a speech delivered at the site of the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Vancouver in August 2022, Dr. Hoffe declared:
“What we have seen in the last 18 months since the start of the vaccine rollout is the biggest disaster in medical history. Never before in medical history has any medical treatment killed and maimed so many people….You only have to look at the OpenVAERS.com in the USA. 30,000 people dead, 55,000 permanently disabled, 50,000 cases of myocarditis, and 1.3 million vaccine injuries…This is an utterly failed experiment, and the College of Physicians and Surgeons here in B.C. is the one organization who could have and should have said no.”[3]
OpenVAERS.com is an easy-to-access version of the US Centers for Disease Control’s Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System. VAERS vastly underreports the number of vaccine-induced injuries and deaths, capturing an estimated 1% to 10% of adverse events.
In his March 7, 2024 interview about the upcoming trial, Hoffe notes that OpenVAERS currently reports “almost 70,000 permanently disabled and about 2 million vaccine injuries, and yet Health Canada and the FDA look the other way and continue to tell us it’s safe and effective.” At the time of this writing, OpenVAERS registered 37,231 COVID vaccine reported deaths.
The Covid vaccine manufacturers admit that their poorly tested, highly experimental injections do not prevent infection with Covid and do not stop transmission of the (alleged) SARS-CoV-2 virus.
And yet the charade goes on….in Canada, the United States, most of Europe, Australia and the no-longer “free world.”
Dr. Hoffe has repeatedly pointed out these facts as well as the fact that the more Covid shots you get, the more likely you are to be diagnosed with Covid. This is true of individuals and whole nations. As Hoffe cogently observes, “Every vaccine injury reporting system across the world reports record numbers of deaths and disabilities and vaccine injuries that we’ve never seen the likes of from any medical treatment in history. And yet they completely turn a blind eye and they just carry on recommending that people get vaccinated. It’s absolutely absurd.” [4]
Micro-clots
Dr. Hoffe determined that up to 62% of his patients who got the Covid mRNA vaccine develop micro-blood-clots too small to detect on MRI or CT scan. He was the first medical expert to state publicly that these blood clots are not rare.
According to Hoffe, these micro-clots permeate the capillary network in the vaxxed, resulting in blockage of capillaries (pulmonary arterial hypertension); this condition usually kills people within 3 years, and those who survive may suffer steady deterioration, especially if they take another Covid shot. The only way you can find out if the Covid “vaccine” gave you micro-blood clots is to ask your doctor to give you a D-dimer test, like the one Dr. Hoffe has performed on his patients.[5]
This finding alone should have led to the immediate withdrawal of all the Covid-19 genetic “vaccines.” They are indeed “clot-shots” as the critics have warned repeatedly. But the Pharma-controlled mainstream media lies and assures us that both large and tiny blood clots are “extremely rare,” when the opposite is true.
Most of Dr. Hoffe’s patients developed micro-clots within 7 days after the jab, but others may well experience micro-clotting later on as the genetic cocktail (“vaccine”) wreaks its harmful effects on the body.
Another Canadian doctor, Rochagné Kilian, an emergency medicine specialist in Ontario, sounded the alarm on the astronomical rise in D-dimer levels she observed in patients shortly after they received a Covid-19 vaccine. She links this phenomenon to micro-clotting, disseminated intravascular coagulation, and autoimmune disease in the vaxxed. Dr. Kilian lost her job and had her license to practice medicine suspended for warning the public about the very serious risks of the Covid shots.[6,7]
Support
To voice support for Dr. Charles Hoffe, please write concise, polite, yet strong letters to: The College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC 300–669 Howe Street Vancouver BC V6C 0B4 Canada
You could also fax them at 604-733-3503. FaxZero.com lets anyone send up to five free faxes per day to anywhere in the U.S. or Canada. The FaxZero website is easy to use and has no gimmicks or ads. Again, send polite, concise, powerfully worded faxes. The College’s website also has a Message facility (https://www.cpsbc.ca).
Let’s let the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC know what people think of their outrageous, underhanded ‘lawfare’ tactics and their persecution of an outstanding physician/healer.
The necessity of Dr. Hoffe to hire four additional lawyers will involve significant new legal expenses..
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The Worldwide Corona Crisis, Global Coup d’Etat Against Humanity
by Michel Chossudovsky
Michel Chossudovsky reviews in detail how this insidious project “destroys people’s lives”. He provides a comprehensive analysis of everything you need to know about the “pandemic” — from the medical dimensions to the economic and social repercussions, political underpinnings, and mental and psychological impacts.
“My objective as an author is to inform people worldwide and refute the official narrative which has been used as a justification to destabilize the economic and social fabric of entire countries, followed by the imposition of the “deadly” COVID-19 “vaccine”. This crisis affects humanity in its entirety: almost 8 billion people. We stand in solidarity with our fellow human beings and our children worldwide. Truth is a powerful instrument.”
Reviews
This is an in-depth resource of great interest if it is the wider perspective you are motivated to understand a little better, the author is very knowledgeable about geopolitics and this comes out in the way Covid is contextualized. —Dr. Mike Yeadon
In this war against humanity in which we find ourselves, in this singular, irregular and massive assault against liberty and the goodness of people, Chossudovsky’s book is a rock upon which to sustain our fight. –Dr. Emanuel Garcia
In fifteen concise science-based chapters, Michel traces the false covid pandemic, explaining how a PCR test, producing up to 97% proven false positives, combined with a relentless 24/7 fear campaign, was able to create a worldwide panic-laden “plandemic”; that this plandemic would never have been possible without the infamous DNA-modifying Polymerase Chain Reaction test – which to this day is being pushed on a majority of innocent people who have no clue. His conclusions are evidenced by renown scientists. —Peter Koenig
Professor Chossudovsky exposes the truth that “there is no causal relationship between the virus and economic variables.” In other words, it was not COVID-19 but, rather, the deliberate implementation of the illogical, scientifically baseless lockdowns that caused the shutdown of the global economy. –David Skripac
A reading of Chossudovsky’s book provides a comprehensive lesson in how there is a global coup d’état under way called “The Great Reset” that if not resisted and defeated by freedom loving people everywhere will result in a dystopian future not yet imagined. Pass on this free gift from Professor Chossudovsky before it’s too late. You will not find so much valuable information and analysis in one place. –Edward Curtin
ISBN: 978-0-9879389-3-0, Year: 2022, PDF Ebook, Pages: 164, 15 Chapters
All Global Research articles can be read in 51 languages by activating the Translate Website button below the author’s name (only available in desktop version).
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On the 2-year anniversary of Russia launching its Special Military Operation in Ukraine to de-Nazify and demilitarize Ukraine, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg boldly stated:
Ukraine is now nearer to NATO than ever before. We are assisting in improving your armed forces’ compatibility with our allies. We are opening a new Joint Center for Analysis, Training and Education in Poland together. We’re also strengthening our political relationship through the NATO-Ukraine Council, where we consult and make decisions together. Ukraine’s enlistment in NATO isn’t a question of if, but rather when.
Just two days later on Monday February 26th, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz arguing why he is opposed to sending his longer range Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine (with 500 km/310 mile range that can reach Moscow), he inadvertently outed Britain and France already having troops on the ground in Ukraine as of last year for target control launches of UK’s Storm Shadow and France’s Scalp cruise missiles inside Ukraine. Politician Scholz is very aware of the latest German poll shows that 61% of his nation’s population oppose sending Taurus missiles to Ukraine and 80% are against sending NATO troops.
Probably no accident that on that same day on February 26th, French President Emmanuel Macron dropped the bombshell suggesting NATO troops may need to be sent to Ukraine. Putin responded on Thursday February 29th saying that NATO entering Ukraine would risk igniting nuclear World War III.
On Friday March 1stUS Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned that if Ukraine falls, NATO will need to fight Russia. On the very same day RT reports that Russian spies release a transcript of a previously recorded 38-minute audio clip of top German generals discussing using Taurus missiles inside Ukraine to blow up Kerch Bridge that serves as a critical supply line from mainland Russia to Crimean Peninsula. The German generals discussed using British soldiers already in Ukraine to facilitate Taurus missiles launched.
On Wednesday March 6th Macron then goads other NATO members to not be “cowards,” actively recruiting NATO countries like Poland and the Baltic States to join France and Britain sending troops to Ukraine to fight Russians, especially if Moscow breaks through Ukraine’s eastern front, which is more than imminent. On Friday March 8th Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorskiemphasized the need to respond to Russia with “asymmetrical warfare,” adding:
The presence of NATO forces in Ukraine is not unthinkable.
On Thursday March 7th, UK Foreign Minister David Cameron met in Germany with his counterpart Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, urging Berlin to send Taurus missiles to show strength as the “only pathway to peace.”
Just three days earlier, Baerbock defying her boss called on her German government to “intensively consider” sending Taurus missiles, and in fact “all materials” to help Kiev.
Another prominent German politician, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, who heads Berlin’s parliamentary defense committee, is leading the coalition government’s opposition against Scholtz’s refusal, claiming it “only pleases Putin” as she plans to bring the issue to another parliamentary vote this week. UK’s ex-Defense Minister Ben Wallace, who sent the Storm Shadows missiles last year to Kiev, blasted Scholz stating:
As far as the security of Europe goes, he is the wrong man, in the wrong job at the wrong time.
The warring political majority are all counting on the weakling Scholz to once again cave in, like after he initially refused to give Ukraine Leopard tanks, and then reneged only to have most destroyed by Russia.
In recent days based on statements made by a growing number of warmongering European leaders, no doubt following their masters’ City of London orders, the threat of world war breaking out in Europe appears to be increasing on a near daily basis.
A pattern has emerged where the two current warfronts in Europe and the Middle East appear to be taking turns ramping up wider war hostilities, with as soon one flaring up, the other one lulls, and then vice versa.
This pattern may well be strategically timed because virtually 100% of today’s global population is totally against world war, and thus, the criminal Deep State cabal may actually be alternating tensions from week to week between these two warfronts.
All the while, each region is creepily moving toward worst-case scenario World War III.
If rising conflict came all at once, it would incur extreme oppositional pushback from the global masses, especially in the West because it’s been deliberately set up by the elites to lose on every front. Western political puppets are merely the globalists’ useful idiots counting on full protection from their masters for suicidally committing treason against their own blood sacrificed citizens.
Meanwhile, the most powerful NATO member, the US, has a stalled Congress in a quagmire after the House last month refused to pass the Senate’s $60 billion Ukraine package bill, due to not including support to bolster US border security. America’s impasse over delivering more aid to Kiev is forcing NATO in Europe to step up both its assistance and hawkish rhetoric.
On Thursday March 8th, Czech President Petr Pavel declared that 18 NATO countries are sending 800,000 artillery shells to Ukraine, keeping the war going at all cost, since Kiev’s acute ammunition shortage has reached critical emergency. Additionally, Pavel presented a proposal on Saturday March 9th for Western allies to send non-combat units directly to Ukraine for training purposes. This provocative intervention follows the more aggressive path led by UK and France, already deploying boots on the ground in Ukraine, assisting Kiev fire long-range cruise missiles not only at targets in annexed Russian regions, but directly at targets inside Russia as well. In tandem, a growing number of European puppet leaders are incrementally carrying out pressured demands of the central banking moneychangers that control both globalist entities in Brussels, the EU as well as NATO.
In response to NATO’s apparent rush to fast-track Ukraine into NATO as the next 33rd nation to join, on Saturday March 9th, Republican Utah Senator Mike Lee countered with:
If Ukraine is in NATO, the United States should be out, plain and simple. We must draw a redline with NATO: You can have Ukraine or the United States.
All of this bickering back and forth between pro-war NATO members pushing more aggressively than ever to escalate the hot war with Russia, while minority factions within US/NATO oppose the prospect of all-out war, resisting sending more Kiev arms.
As the impending Ukraine defeat becomes more glaringly obvious, war fatigue has been growing amongst both the West’s citizens and a few of their politicians. High profile dissenters against Brussel’s Ukraine war policy as a thorn in the side of the globalists are Slovakia’s Prime Minster Robert Fico and Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Plus, after over two years and a Ukraine victory now impossible, cracks in the NATO armor are fast spreading. Some leaders are worrying more these days over their own fragile economies, growing internal conflicts or their own political future during a year when a record 65 nations are holding national elections.
As a result, today’s NATO is anything but united, contrary to false claims by Stoltenberg and his fellow globalist pro-war cronies. The one government player most responsible for today’s gloomy outcome in Ukraine is Putin hater Victoria Nuland, who last week submitted her resignation to bow out, perhaps being picked over for her disastrous, failed policy.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyplaced all his eggs in two heavily fortified entrenchments in the Donbass cities of Bakhmut and Avdiivka, where the longest, most intense and costly fighting of this two plus year war was lost.
Ukraine’s tyrannical puppet’s all or nothing strategy failing to listen to his fired top commander General Zaluzhny, now conveniently removed to London as Kiev’s UK ambassador, will prove his downfall.
Though Zelensky lost opportunity to build up his defensive lines outside of Avdiivka, now his remaining forces are heavily outmanned, outgunned and lacking critical supplies as the larger Russian army is now rapidly advancing, perhaps all the way to Kiev. The bluster of launching another Ukraine counteroffensive is merely false bravado propaganda geared to entice more Western ammo and weapons.
But all the latest talk of NATO boots on the ground has to be music to Zelensky’s ears, and with NATO’s largest joint military exercises ongoing not far away until June 1st, his prayer may yet be answered. Again, the central bank money launderers have also placed all their eggs in their Ukrainian devil’s playground war basket, and as the West’s puppet masters’ demands never go unheeded, rising desperation calls for desperate measures that dictate all this latest war posturing.
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Joachim Hagopian is a West Point graduate, former Army officer and author of “Don’t Let the Bastards Getcha Down,” exposing a faulty US military leadership system based on ticket punching up the seniority ladder, invariably weeding out the best and brightest, leaving mediocrity and order followers rising to the top as politician-bureaucrat generals designated to lose every modern US war by elite design. After the military, Joachim earned a master’s degree in Clinical Psychology and worked as a licensed therapist in the mental health field with abused youth and adolescents for more than a quarter century. In Los Angeles he found himself battling the largest county child protective services in the nation within America’s thoroughly broken and corrupt child welfare system.
The experience in both the military and child welfare system prepared him well as a researcher and independent journalist, exposing the evils of Big Pharma and how the Rockefeller controlled medical and psychiatric system inflict more harm than good, case in point, the pandemic hoax and kill shot genocide. As an independent journalist for the last decade, Joachim has written hundreds of articles for many news sites, including Global Research, lewrockwell.com and currently https://jamesfetzer.org/ and https://thegovernmentrag.com. As a published author of a 5-book volume series entitled Pedophilia & Empire: Satan, Sodomy & the Deep State, Joachim’s books and chapters are Amazon bestsellers in child advocacy and human rights categories. His A-Z sourcebook series fully document and expose the global pedophilia scourge and remain available free at https://pedoempire.org/ contents/. Joachim also hosts the weekly Revolution Radio broadcast “Cabal Empire Exposed” on Friday morning at 7AM EST (ID: revradio, password: rocks!).
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On March 6, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held talks with Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, who was in Moscow on an official two-day working visit. The visit, at the invitation of the Russian Foreign Ministry, which has a lot of distinctive implications and strategic interpretations, was a conscious follow up to review and discuss Russian-Nigerian partnership issues that were raised long ago and during the second Russia-Africa summit held last July 2023.
Vice President Kashim Shettima headed the Nigerian delegation to attend that second Russia-Africa summit in St Petersburg. Foreign Minister Yusuf Maitama Tuggar was among the group. Often reiterated that Nigeria is one of Africa’s biggest countries and Russia’s priority partner in the West African region.
In the opening remarks and with historical precision, Lavrov mentioned the frequency Nigeria delegations visiting Moscow and added:
“This meeting reflects the long-term friendship between our nations and good prospects for the development of our relations at this stage. We consider Nigeria a priority partner on the African continent.”
In practical terms, Russia has maintained ‘cordial relationship’ with Nigeria these several years after the collapse of the Soviet era. The greatest achievement, of course, is sustaining the political consultations and frequent dialoguing several economic issues which have not been effectively implemented in the country.
At the media conference after their ‘behind-the-scene’ discussions on March 6, Sergey Lavrov and Yusuf Maitama Tuggar [re]affirmed their commitment to the Russian-Nigerian cooperation in political, trade, economic, humanitarian and other areas. It also included the prospects for expanding business contacts and implementing joint projects in energy, mining and mineral processing, construction and modernising infrastructure and agriculture.
“With this aim in view we have agreed to stimulate the activities of the Intergovernmental Commission for Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technological Cooperation and to make use of the capabilities of the Russia-Nigeria Business Council. We need to improve out legal framework for implementing projects of mutual interest. We have an interest in implementing the agreement on military-technical cooperation, which has recently been extended. Our Nigerian friends are interested in this too,” Lavrov emphasized.
Both Ministers Sergey Lavrov and Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, during the joint media conference, inevitably never pointed to a single project implemented, undertaken and successfully completed during these several years. The ministry’s website says Lavrov has held his position as foreign minister for two decades, since 2004, and has been dealing with Nigeria and African countries.
More than 15 years ago, Foreign Minister Lavrov held a review meeting with his Nigerian counterpart Minister Chief Ojo Mbila Maduekwe who paid a three-day working visit to Moscow. After that closed-door bilateral talks held in March 2009, both ministers, as always, held a brief media conference and emphatically noted that Moscow was prepared to offer trade preferences to the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
They also agreed on a broad range of bilateral economic issues, many of which have still not been implemented. Until today, Russia has never honoured its promise of extending trade preferences, in practical terms, to Nigeria. Extending trade preferences was interpreted as an integral part of strengthening bilateral economic and trade cooperation between the two countries.
For trade relations between Russia and Nigeria and other African states to improve appreciably, Professor Dmitri Bondarenko, deputy director of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute for African Studies, suggested “Russia gives some trade preferences to African countries – for example, tax exceptions or reduction among other measures. This can become an effective political step to strengthen economic cooperation with African countries.”
Today, Nigeria is Russia’s second largest trade partner, only in theory, among sub-Saharan African countries. Russian business circles show an ever greater interest, with sweet rhetorics, in entering the promising market of that large country. The volume of trade should be in the billions of dollars, even without military hardware. One of the major hindrances to free trade and a significant increase in trade transactions between Nigeria and Russia is the lack of direct air flights. This makes it more inconvenient and expensive for potential investors to travel easily to both countries. Besides, there are no adequate economic and social information available to potential Russian and Nigerian investors.
Russian and Nigerian ambassadors have come forth and back over the years. In May 2022, the Nigerian Ambassador to the Russian Federation, Professor Abdullahi Shehu, gave an inspiring lecture at the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Most of the points he raised in that lecture included decades of Moscow’s economic failures in Nigeria and in many African countries despite the boast of several years of cordial relationship with Africa.
Professor Shehu’s lecture script points to the fact that President Vladimir Putin considers Africa a so-called second frontier, after Eastern Europe for encircling Western Europe…these reasons may sound strategic yet they remain largely speculative and conjectural. Understandably, the perceived geopolitical irrelevance of Africa by Russia has changed only a little and new dynamics have beckoned on both sides of subsisting opportunities for increased collaboration between Africa and Russia.
Despite the tidal surge in the new Africa-Russia relations and given the strategic role played by the defunct Soviet Union, now succeeded by Russia, in the attainment of the independence of many African countries, both parties must accept the constraints posed on the former [Russia] by the new economic cum geopolitical realities. The acceptance of these new realities is important in order to properly assist in the management of Africa’s expectations from Russia particularly in the short term.
Today, for instance, Nigeria offers Russia the advantage of cheap and robust labour. Given Russia’s recent experience of sanctions by America and its western allies, a new model of doing business with Africa through investment has become, not only sustainable but also imperative. Perhaps, one of the sectors where this model of doing business can be symbiotically harnessed is in the field of agriculture and its value chain as a result of the steep rise in the large African market and the projected certainty of huge returns on investment in this sector, according to Ambassador Shehu.
Part of the major essence of this lecture was to look at the past with a view to charting a course for the future, inhaling the fresh aroma of the beauty of the ‘rose’ in Africa-Russia relationship, weeding out the thorns of inconvenience on which Africa and Russia have marched and straighten any crooked path along which both have passed so as to arrive faster to the desired destination. While Africa cherishes the important MOUs and agreements Russia has with Africa, there is need to translate such agreements and MOUs into concrete realities. Additionally, balancing of Russia’s commercial interests of arms sales to Africa will ensure that the latter enjoys relative stability and peace so vital for its own development.
Without doubts, Russia has had a long chequered history of post-Soviet diplomacy. Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo visited Russia in 2001. That year, Russia and Nigeria signed the fundamental document for interstate cooperation, the Declaration on Principles of Friendly Relations and Partnership. According to President Vladimir Putin, the Russian Federation, like the former Soviet Union, has always attached great significance to promoting its relations with the African continent. Nigeria occupies a special place among African countries. It is one of the largest and most powerful countries in Africa. Its head of state is a recognised leader not only on the continent, but in the whole world.
Discussions ended with the administrative long list of projects, and on top was joint activities in the sphere of high technology and the launching of several satellites to be used by Nigeria for environmental monitoring and remote sensing of the Earth are being contemplated. That was on March 6, 2001.
Since then, there had been a number of deals and business proposals that have never seen the bright sunlight. As far back in June 2009, Dmitry Medvedev as president visited Nigeria for the first time, held topmost state level talks on possible nuclear energy, oil exploration and military cooperation. There were talks also focusing on the establishment of petrochemical plant in Nigeria. Alongside there was also a declaration on principles of friendly relations and partnership between Nigeria and the Russian Federation.
Russian investors had wanted to revamp the Ajeokuta Iron and Steel Complex that was abandoned after the collapse of the Soviet Union more than three decades ago, and further take up energy, oil and gas projects in Nigeria, as well as facilitate trade between Nigeria and Russia. In addition, Russia has been prospecting for its nuclear-power ambitions down the years. The promise was to build two nuclear plants estimated cost at US$20 billion – the bulk of it by Russia, is to boost Nigeria’s electricity supply.
Russia’s second-largest oil company, and privately controlled Lukoil, has gone back and forth these several years with plans to expand its operations in Nigeria, and in a number of West African countries. There has been a long-dead silence after Gazprom, the Russian energy giant, signed an agreement with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation [NNPC] on the exploration and exploitation of gas reserves with a new joint venture company known as NiGaz Energy Company.
Some experts argue that there are many other aspects of the bilateral relations. With high interest, Russian officials are pushing for military-technical cooperation. The supply of Russian military equipment could play a high value addition to the fight against notorious Boko Haram. In most of the economic deals, the Nigerian political elites are under strong influence of Paris, London and Washington.
South African Institute of International Affairs [SAIIA], a Johannesburg based foreign policy think tank, put out a report titled “Russia’s Military Diplomacy in Africa: High Risk, Low Reward and Limited Impact” in part says that “Russia’s growing assertiveness in Africa is a driver of instability, its approach to governance encourages pernicious practices, such as kleptocracy and autocracy in Africa.” Worse is that Russia’s strengths expressed through military partnerships fall short of what is needed to address the complexities and scale of the problems facing those African countries. Russia encourages the military regimes [Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger] to hold onto political power, instead of returning to constitutional democracy.
Nigeria is an economic powerhouse in West African region. As well known, Nigeria is one of the Africa’s fastest growing economies and it boosts the largest population. Russia and Nigeria have some sort of economic relations, but these are not consistent with the long-standing cordial relations between both countries.
In addition, Nigeria is a vast market with huge potentials for prospective foreign investors and so is Russia. Regrettably, investors from both sides appear to know little about these opportunities. This is, usually attributed to the apparent inadequate knowledge of the many investment opportunities in both countries. Despite criticisms, reports show that majority prefer traditional markets – the United States and Europe, and now Asian region. The African political elite and business people choose the United States and Europe for their holidays and as tourism destinations.
Least we forget that Vladimir Putin held discussions with President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Muhammadu Buhari, who went to Sochi to take part in the first Russia-Africa summit in October 2019. Putin reminded during talks that priority to joint search for opportunities to broaden trade, economic and investment cooperation were assigned to the Intergovernmental Commission for Economic Cooperation and the Russia – Nigeria and Nigeria – Russia Business councils set up in 2006–2007.
In response, Muhammadu Buhari said in part:
“Mr President, there are many similarities between Russia under your leadership and Nigeria’s aspirations for the future. We can learn a lot from the experience of Russia’s ongoing reforms, of transitioning from oil-dependent economy to a modern, diversified and inclusive economy. Russia has through these reforms successfully privatised a number of state-owned entities, which have now become global household names. This is especially so in the energy, manufacturing, defence and the metallurgical sectors.”
So it continues, without the least interruption, that Russia and Nigeria share experiences, exchange views on national and international platforms, maintain political dialogues, discuss economic cooperation and humanitarian issues. Russia and Nigeria shares similar position at the United Nations. Russia and Nigeria continue to keep cordial and mutually beneficial relationship in these past years since 1991 after Soviet’s collapse.
The term – bilateral relations – seen as a two-way street, Nigeria’s presence in the Russian Federation is only the diplomatic representative office. Public outreach diplomacy is generally ineffective, both ways between Russia and Africa. Compared, for example, to American Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and a number of trade preferences granted by Europe, Russians hardly encourage African presence in the Russian Federation. On the other hand, Russia hardly in speeches make reference to the African continental single market (AfCFTA). With an estimated 1.4 billion people, the market is potentially the largest, Africa – is the continent of the future.
As a matter of fact, in order to be part of this geopolitical arena, Russia has to take practical steps to move beyond AK-47 in raising its economic influence in Africa. It has to crack the local socio-cultural barriers and, in particular, the deep-seated bureaucracy too. In a continent beleaguered by the ravages of ethnic and political conflicts, Russian officials have to thoroughly study the local conditions before imposing the strategic economic initiatives and engaging local African partners and stakeholders.
In summary, the Russian strategic policy interest generally in Africa and specifically in Nigeria, given the strong limitation of its current capability and it’s re-emergence in Africa, is an earnest attempt to regain part of Soviet-era influence. But this current relations, within the context of geopolitical changes, must necessarily be conducted with consistency and in a concrete manner, but not with mere rhetorics. It is about time to act, aim at noticeable results. According to various narratives inside the continent, Russia appears only as an advocate of emerging multipolar order and as a reliable virtual investor in Africa.
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Kester Kenn Klomegah, who worked previously with Inter Press Service (IPS), Weekly Blitz and InDepthNews, is now a regular contributor to Global Research. He researches Eurasia, Russia, Africa and BRICS. His focused interest areas include geopolitical changes, foreign relations and economic development questions relating to Africa. As a versatile researcher, he believes that everyone deserves equal access to quality and trustworthy media reports.
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I recently returned from a twelve-day cruise to celebrate my wife’s seventieth birthday. I usually spend much of my cruise time in the ship’s bar instructing the bartender how to make a proper James Bond gin martini “shaken not stirred,” a successful endeavor which has transformed the alcohol culture on a number of vessels.
Less fruitful, however, have been my efforts to teach the waitstaff to sing “The Whiffenpoof Song.” But be that as it may, this particular cruise came at a time when Super Tuesday primaries were taking place in the US as well as the State of the Union Address.
In Europe the war in Ukraine appeared to be entering a new phase with France threatening to send its poilus to fight Russians and Germans contemplating the use of long-range missiles against Moscow.
Meanwhile in the Middle East the Gazans continue to be slaughtered by the Izzies, who are America’s perpetual best friend.
Joe Biden, who is arming Benjamin Netanyahu, is perversely planning to build an artificial “humanitarian” food and supplies delivering “floating harbor” attached to a pier offshore of Gaza that will be finished and ready for use in two months after the last Palestinian has died from starvation or disease. And, by the way, it will be constructed by US military personnel who will no doubt be targeted and killed by the Israelis using American supplied bombs as a case of “mistaken identity,” just as they murdered those 34 sailors and crew on board the USS Liberty back in 1967.
All of this seemingly uncoordinated activity generates a bit of confusion, while voters far and wide are wondering if their government leaders are all on Chinese produced fentanyl. That said, a cruise ship is a wonderful place to experience unedited what people are thinking. Present are Americans and foreigners from a range of socioeconomic backgrounds who are easy to meet with casually if one takes advantage of the multiple largely unstructured dining, drinking and entertainment experiences available on shipboard as well as the mingling during excursions on land.
A retired Italian engineer from Udine with whom I was drinking an ombra prosecco explained how he was feeling intense disagio, translated as uncertainty or unease, over the state of the world and not just his own country, pointing to the terrible electoral choice coming up in the US in November as well as the tottering regimes and struggling economies in Britain, Germany, France, the Netherlands and throughout Scandinavia.
Meanwhile all the politicians can talk about is more wars and the necessity of supporting clowns like Volodymyr Zelenksy and murderous thugs like the Israelis. There is increasingly no place to escape to.
Among the Americans, whom I assessed as predominantly well-off blue collar retired, many of whom haling from the Midwest or South, I did not spot a single MAGA hat or Biden-Harris t-shirt but did find that most people intended to vote even though they were completely fed up with the entire political process. Neither Trump nor Biden excited them in any way – nor did any of the non-major party hopefuls like RFK Jr. On the contrary, it seemed to most that the political class was out to punish the American people, a view that I heartily agreed with. Several Americans observed that if the current process whereby the US continues to go to war continues, the draft would inevitably be activated to fill the understrength ranks of the military, putting our children and grandchildren at risk. One woman commented that if there were a button that one could push in the voting booth that would get rid of all existing politicians she would push it. It reminded me of the William Buckley comment that “I would rather be governed by the first 2,000 people in the telephone directory than by the Harvard University faculty.” A wit subsequently quipped that the country might as a consequence well be run by several iterations of “Anthony A. Aardvark.”
The cruise also had a downside consisting of a glimpse of where corporate cruise-dom lines up on some international issues, which I only discovered subsequent to boarding. The ship we sailed on, part of the Holland-America fleet, would hold events on board in its shops sponsored by sellers of various goods and services.
Nevertheless, given a genocide that is clearly taking place in a place called Gaza together with a right-wing government in place in Israel that has openly advocates for an Israel “cleansed” of Arabs that will be both de facto and de jure Jews only, I was surprised to see such a tone deaf event sponsored by the ship entitled “The Colors of Israel Exhibition and Sale.”
My wife and I, who strongly support BDS (“boycott, divestment and sanctions”) when it comes to the Jewish state decided that a little intervention was definitely in order so we made up two posters that read “Boycott the Genociders” and we wandered down to the place where the event was to take place and took up position flanking the entrance.
Two Israeli young males were nearby giving us furtive looks as they were starting to unpack whatever it was they were intending to sell. We threatened no one but almost immediately two ship’s crewmen dressed in uniforms I had not seen before on board appeared to tell us that they were security and that any political advertising or harassment of vendors was strictly prohibited. They then took our posters away “for destruction.” I observed to them that I was wearing a USS Liberty remembrance shirt, which most definitely had to be considered a political statement, and I politely asked if I should remove it. The two conferred for a while and agreed that I could keep my shirt on as long as I didn’t use it to threaten or intimidate anyone.
Later that afternoon we heard several times the ship public address system promote the presence of the Israelis and their wares, something that it normally did not do for individual vendors and which I found very strange. And there was more, two days later, when the ship sponsored a walk around the deck to raise money to send to support Ukrainian refugees, which was, of course, itself a political statement over the nature of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. Those who contributed $25 and would do the walk would get a free t-shirt indicating in large white on black letters that they had done the charity deed.
When I saw the announcement of the walk on the day before it was to take place, I contacted ship management requesting an interview regarding what was being done, observing that relatively few Ukrainian civilians had been killed and most refugees from that country were displaced voluntarily, with many being helped by foreign refugee assistance agencies and even governments. By way of contrast tens of thousands of Gazans, mostly women and children, have been killed already in what was clearly a genocide and others were unable to escape their death trap ringed in as they are by the Israeli military. I sought inclusion of some mention of the suffering of the Palestinian children in the walk, making it more truly a tribute to innocent victims in both theaters of conflict.
I received no reply from the ship management and the walk proceeded as planned only including Ukraine with several hundred walkers participating. I later learned that Jewish organizations have been particularly active in assisting Ukrainian Jews who are seeking refugee status or other repatriation, and began to wonder what was up. Mentioning my concerns to a friend who was knowledgeable of the cruise ship industry I subsequently was informed that Holland-America operates ships named after Dutch cities and built in Venice that operate under the Netherlands flag for tax avoidance reasons even though its operational hubs are in Los Angeles and Seattle and most of its customers are Americans. It is actually physically owned by the larger Carnival Corporation, founded in 1972, which, between 1989 and 1999, acquired Holland-America, Windstar Cruises, Westours, Seabourn Cruise Line, Costa Cruises and Cunard Line. Carnival is now by far the largest cruise conglomerate in the world. It was founded by Israeli Ted Arison, now deceased, who was replaced by Mickey Arison, his Israeli born son, who now runs the company as its Chairman and CEO. Arison is also the owner of the NBA’s Miami Heat professional basketball team. He lives most of the year in Florida and owns two 200 foot yachts which he also uses as homes!
So, our cruise became something of an interesting experience with a disappointing ending as one must wonder where the money raised for a charity actually wound up! One thing for sure, we will be boycotting Mickey Arison’s Carnival fleet in the future. At a certain point, even as a relatively knowledgeable consumer, one gets tired of being bought and manipulated.
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This article was originally published on The Unz Review.
Philip M. Giraldi, Ph.D., is Executive Director of the Council for the National Interest, a 501(c)3 tax deductible educational foundation (Federal ID Number #52-1739023) that seeks a more interests-based U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Website is councilforthenationalinterest.org, address is P.O. Box 2157, Purcellville VA 20134 and its email is [email protected]. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.