Rest in Power, Kevin Zeese (1955 – 2020)

September 9th, 2020 by Margaret Flowers

It is with a sad heart that I report the sudden and unexpected death of Kevin Zeese early Sunday morning. Kevin was working up until the end and died in his sleep of a possible heart attack.

There will be an online tribute to Kevin on Saturday, September 19 at 3:00 pm Eastern/12:00 pm Pacific on Zoom. Click here to register. This event will also be livestreamed at Facebook.com/PopularResistanceOrg and YouTube.com/PopularResistanceOrg.

Kevin was going to write a newsletter this weekend about the extradition trial of Julian Assange, which begins today. Kevin understood the great importance of the prosecution of Julian Assange as a battle that will define journalism in the 21st century and our right to know.

He was helping to organize an online event featuring Daniel Ellsberg, James Goodale and Chris Hedges, moderated by Sue Udry. That event will still take place. You can register for it here. The Facebook page for it is here.

You can read the June 28th newsletter we wrote about Julian Assange, “Government Attacks Media as Peoples Media Reveals the Truth.”

Please follow the trial, spread the word about it and do what you can to support Assange. I know that Consortium News will be following it closely. His partner and the mother of his two sons launched a crowdfunding campaign for legal support.

Tributes to Kevin are already being posted. Here are a few:

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/us-activist-and-friend-to-venezuela-kevin-zeese-passes-away-20200906-0005.html

https://howiehawkins.us/hawkins-press-secretary-and-activist-kevin-zeese-has-passed-away/

https://www.coha.org/coha-expresses-its-heartfelt-solidarity-over-the-death-of-attorney-and-human-rights-activist-kevin-zeese/

https://davidswanson.org/kevin-zeese-irreplaceable/

https://taskforceamericas.org/tfa-statement-on-the-passing-of-kevin-zeese/>

https://www.wpc-in.org/statements/kevin-zeese-%E2%80%94-presente-people%E2%80%99s-movement-has-lost-one-its-most-beloved-and-treasured

https://www.antiwar.com/blog/2020/09/06/kevin-zeese-rip/

Kevin fought to bring truth every day. We must not lose this struggle.

I will do my best to keep Popular Resistance going and strive to maintain the high quality that Kevin brought to it. See above for the details of the online tribute his sons and I are planning. We are working on a fund to honor him and keep his legacy growing, as he deserves.

Rest in power, Kevin Zeese.

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Featured image: Longtime progressive activist and organizer Kevin Zeese died early Sunday, September 2, 2020. He was 64. (Image: Portrait of Kevin Zeese by Robert Shetterly)

The revelation that Canadian soldiers have been in Saudi Arabia for 17 years highlights Canada’s ties to the repressive monarchy, contribution to the Iraq war and hollowness of Canadian foreign policy mythology.

Recently researcher Anthony Fenton tweeted,

raise your hand if you knew that there was a ‘Detachment’ of Canadian soldiers serving under US auspices operating AWACS spy planes out of a Saudi Arabian air base since the war on Iraq began in 2003 to THE PRESENT DAY.”

The Canadian soldiers stationed at Prince Sultan Air base near Riyadh represent another example of Canada’s military ties to the authoritarian, belligerent monarchy. Canadian naval vessels are engaged in multinational patrols with their Saudi counterparts in the region; Saudi Air Force pilots have trained in Alberta and Saskatchewan; Montreal-based flight simulator company CAE has trained Saudi pilots in numerous locales; Canadian-made rifles and armoured vehicles have been shipped to the monarchy, etc.

According to DND, Canada’s deployment to Saudi Arabia began on February 27, 2003. That’s four weeks before the massive US-led invasion of Iraq. The Canadians stationed in Riyadh were almost certainly dispatched to support the US invasion and occupation.

In another example of Canadian complicity in a war Ottawa ostensibly opposed, it was recently reported that Canadian intelligence agencies hid their disagreement with politicized US intelligence reports on Iraq. According to “Getting it Right: Canadian Intelligence Assessments on Iraq, 2002-2003”, Canada’s intelligence agencies mostly concluded that Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction, which was the justification Washington gave for invading Iraq. While CSIS delivered a report to their US counterparts claiming Iraq was seeking nuclear weapons capabilities, more serious analyses, reported the Canadian Press, were “classified ‘Canadian Eyes Only’ in order to avoid uncomfortable disagreements with the U.S. intelligence community which would exacerbate the sensitivities affecting relations at the political level.”

As Richard Sanders has detailed, Canada supported the US-led invasion of Iraq in many ways: Dozens of Canadian troops were integrated in US units fighting in Iraq; US warplanes enroute to that country refueled in Newfoundland; Canadian fighter pilots participated in “training” missions in Iraq; Three different Canadian generals oversaw tens of thousands of international troops there; Canadian aid flowed to the country in support of US policy; With Canadian naval vessels leading maritime interdiction efforts off the coast of Iraq, Ottawa had legal opinion suggesting it was technically at war with that country.

As such, some have concluded Canada was the fifth or sixth biggest contributor to the US-led war. But the Jean Chrétien government didn’t do what the Bush administration wanted above all else, which was to publicly endorse the invasion by joining the “coalition of the willing”. This wasn’t because he distrusted pre-war US intelligence or because of any moral principle. Rather, the Liberal government refused to join the “coalition of the willing” because hundreds of thousands of Canadians took to the streets against the war, particularly in Quebec. With the biggest demonstrations taking place in Montréal and Quebecers strongly opposed to the war, the federal government feared that openly endorsing the invasion would boost the sovereignist Parti Québecois vote in the next provincial election.

Over the past 17 years this important, if partial, victory won by antiwar activists has been widely distorted and mythologized. The recent National Film Board documentary High Wire continues the pattern. It purportedly“examines the reasons that Canada declined to take part in the 2003 US-led military mission in Iraq.” But, High Wire all but ignores Canada’s military contribution to the war and the central role popular protest played in the “coalition of the willing” decision, focusing instead on an enlightened leader who simply chose to do the right thing.

The revelation that Canadian troops have been stationed in Saudi Arabia for 17 years highlights our military ties to the Saudi monarchy and warfare in the Middle East. It also contradicts benevolent Canada foreign policy mythology.

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Yves Engler is the author of 10 books, including A Propaganda System: How Canada’s Government, Corporations, Media and Academia Sell War and Exploitation

Featured image is from DV

The ongoing U.S. “war on terror” has forcibly displaced as many as 59 million people from just eight countries in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia since 2001, according to a new report published Tuesday by Brown University’s Costs of War Project.

Titled “Creating Refugees: Displacement Caused by the United States’ Post-9/11 Wars” (pdf), the new report conservatively estimates that at least 37 million people have “fled their homes in the eight most violent wars the U.S. military has launched or participated in since 2001.”

The latest figure represents a dramatic increase from the Costs of War Project’s 2019 report, which estimated that 21 million people had been displaced internally or forced to flee their home countries due to violence inflicted or unleashed by U.S.-led wars over the past two decades. That report also put the death toll of the so-called war on terror at 801,000 and the price tag at $6.4 trillion.

The new report argues that “wartime displacement (alongside war deaths and injuries) must be central to any analysis of the post-9/11 wars and their short- and long-term consequences.”

“Displacement also must be central to any possible consideration of the future use of military force by the United States or others,” the report states. “Ultimately, displacing 37 million—and perhaps as many as 59 million—raises the question of who bears responsibility for repairing the damage inflicted on those displaced.”

In addition to the tens of millions displaced by U.S. military actions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, the Philippines, Libya, and Syria, the report notes that millions more have been displaced by “smaller combat operations, including in: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, Niger, Saudi Arabia, and Tunisia.”

“To put these figures in perspective, displacing 37 million people is equivalent to removing nearly all the residents of the state of California or all the people in Texas and Virginia combined,” the report says. “The figure is almost as large as the population of Canada. In historical terms, 37 million displaced is more than those displaced by any other war or disaster since at least the start of the 20th century with the sole exception of World War II.”

David Vine, professor of anthropology at American University and the lead author of the new report, told the New York Times that the findings show “U.S. involvement in these countries has been horrifically catastrophic, horrifically damaging in ways that I don’t think that most people in the United States, in many ways myself included, have grappled with or reckoned with in even the slightest terms.”

Matt Duss, foreign policy adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), demanded such a reckoning in a tweet responding to the Costs of War Project’s latest findings.

“The scale of the disaster the United States has inflicted on the world—through three war on terror presidencies—is staggering,” wrote Duss. “We need a reckoning. We can’t simply move on.”

From Common Dreams: Our work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Feel free to republish and share widely.

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The highlights of the second day of Julian Assange’s extradition proceedings at the Central Criminal Court in London yielded an interesting bounty.  The first was the broader public purpose behind the WikiLeaks disclosures, their utility in legal proceedings, and their importance in disclosing instances of US extrajudicial killings, torture and rendition.  The second involved a discussion about the practice of journalism and the politicised nature of the prosecution against Assange.

Human rights attorney Clive Stafford Smith and founder of Reprieve, an organisation specialising in investigating instances of US detention, rendition and disappearances, was called by Mark Summers QC for the defence.  The disclosures by WikiLeaks, he claimed, had been important in the issue of challenging the legitimacy of US drone strikes in Pakistan.  Successful litigation conducted in that country found such strikes “criminal offences and that criminal proceedings should be initiated against senior US officials involved in such strikes.” A high court in Pakistan had found that they constituted a “blatant violation of basic human rights”.  Stafford Smith noted how the drone assassination program “leaked over to narcotics … they were targeting people for death for their involvement in drug trade because it was seen as funding terrorism.  I could go on…” 

The statement submitted to the court by Stafford Smith also emphasised how the WikiLeaks material disclosed on the treatment of detainees in Guantánamo were “the top of a very important discourse that would seem to be important in the public interest, about the abysmal intelligence used to detain prisoners and make important public policy decisions.”  Stafford Smith’s statement also volunteers a twist: that the material published by WikiLeaks on the subject seemed to be “the best face that the US government could put on the crimes it had committed against the Guantánamo prisoners.” 

In his testimony, Stafford Smith affirmed the mixed returns of those disclosures.  The leaks initially seemed to portray “the very worst that the US authorities confect about the prisoners I have represented”.  He was “frustrated” on first reading the WikiLeaks documents, thinking “they would leak what I get to see”.  The mosaic, however, was pieced together to disprove the case against his client. 

When it came to discussing the issue of enhanced interrogation techniques used by US personnel, Stafford Smith suggested the similarities shown in method to those used in the Spanish Inquisition.  “As you go through the documentation WikiLeaks leaked, there are all sorts of things identified, including where people are taken and renditioned … and that was the case in Binyam’s case.”  In being part of an effort to hold US officials to account for war crimes, Stafford Smith had a teasing pointer on the implications for WikiLeaks.  “Anyone can be sanctioned who is seeking to assist in an investigation which could lead to ICC [International Criminal Court] investigation, which is what WikiLeaks does”.  It was a pointed reminder that Assange’s defence team could well fall within the remit of US sanctions currently directed at the ICC by the Trump administration.  

In his overall assessment, Stafford Smith suggested that,

“The power and value of WikiLeaks disclosures about Iraq and Afghanistan can scarcely be understated, and are of ‘key importance’ to ‘evidence war crimes and human rights violations by the US and its allies.”

All of this left James Lewis QC of the prosecution more than a touch cranky.  Stafford Smith had referred to cables that did not form the subject of charges against Assange.  They were, claimed Lewis, irrelevant; the US case was only concerned with those documents that had revealed the names of informants.  The defence claim is precisely the opposite: that such documents as referred to by Stafford Smith would also be covered by the charges of Assange “communicating” and “obtaining” classified material.  The whole show could be the subject of a prosecution on US soil.  

Cheekily, Stafford Smith suggested that Lewis was “wrong about the way in which cases are prosecuted” in the US.  Merely because such cables were not outlined in the indictment did not suggest prosecutors would not use them in trial.  “You cannot tell the court how this case will be prosecuted.  You’re making things up.” 

Such legal bickering proved too much for Assange.  “This is nonsense,” he claimed from the dock.  “Apparently my role is to sit here and legitimate what is illegitimate by proxy.”  Cue Judge Vanessa Baraitser, who took witheringly to the intervention. “I understand of course you will hear things, most likely many things you would not like, and you would like to intervene but it is not your role.”  While Assange remaining in court was “something the court would wish for”, it “could proceed without you.”

A feature that has stood out in the entire endeavour against Assange is the stench of politics.  Lewis disagrees; the investigation into Assange and WikiLeaks has been an organic, methodical one, building since 2010 and flowering in 2020.  The testimony of journalism academic Mark Feldstein suggested otherwise.  He referred to a Washington Post piece from November 2013 highlighting the decision by the Obama administration to not proceed.  Officials from the Justice Department did stress at the time that no “formal decision” had been made, as the grand jury investigating WikiLeaks remained impanelled.  But there was “little possibility of bringing a case against Assange, unless he is implicated in criminal activity other than releasing online top-secret military and diplomatic documents.”  The implications of prosecuting Assange were evidently clear: to do so would lead to the obvious conclusion that US news organisations and journalists would also face the prosecutor’s brief. 

This cautionary attitude was not to be found at the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  In 2017, they were seeking a “head on a pike”.  By then, President Donald Trump had moved into an offensive mode against journalists; the then director of the Central Intelligence Agency Mike Pompeo was resolute in categorising WikiLeaks as a hostile non-state intelligence agency, while Jeff Sessions as Attorney-General was all zeal in asking prosecutors to take a closer look at the Assange case. 

But the worm had not entirely turned.  Federal attorneys such as James Trump, a figure in the prosecution of former CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling, who had leaked classified material to journalist James Risen, and Daniel Grooms, demurred.  Both were concerned that undertaking such a prosecution would fall foul of the First Amendment, and be plagued by legal and factual challenges.

Feldstein pushed home the points in his testimony in deeming the efforts against Assange political in nature.  The scope of the charges had no precedent; the Obama administration had shown reservations in embarking on what would be a fraught process; the wording of the superseding indictment suggested political leanings; and Trump had shown a deep antipathy for the press.  Previous efforts to prosecute journalists, he concluded, were “obviously highly political”.

Undeterred, the prosecution resorted to a conventional tactic: accusing the witness of speculating.  The reality Feldstein needed to consider was whether names had been revealed in the publication of such documents.  Doing so would result in harm. If this had been the case, suggested Feldstein, the prosecution might have simply used the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982, a narrower statute for the purpose.  Instead, terms such as “conspiracy” and “recruiting” – the sort normally coupled with “terrorist”, had been deployed.  Besides, the issue of “harm” tended to be a bread and butter response by governments that was impossible to prove and used to conceal improprieties.  

As a case in point, that most pertinent of precedents, the Pentagon Papers, was cited.  As Feldstein noted, the arguments made by prosecutors at the time about the consequences of their disclosure – possible prolongation of the Vietnam War, identification of CIA officials, exposure of war plans – were also caught up in the concept of “immediate and irreparable” harm.  It subsequently transpired that one prosecutor thought no harm would arise at all.  What mattered was the effort by the Nixon administration to question the loyalty of media outlets.

Standard journalistic method, Feldstein reiterated, directs the source, asking what is needed and seeking more information as relevant.  The journalist effectively works with the source.  Criminalising that as a case of “conspiring” would make the “most of what investigative journalists do … criminal.”

On the point of the journalist’s craft, the prosecution continued to push the precarious argument that the publishing activities of the New York Times were different from that of WikiLeaks.  Journalists did not steal or unlawfully obtain information.  Here, Feldstein conceded, things could be murky.  “We journalists are not passive stenographers.  To suggest receiving anonymously in the mail is the only way is wrong.”  As to whether he had engaged in publishing such information, Feldstein was unequivocal: not so much “classified documents” but certainly “soliciting and publishing secret information.”

A balanced overview of the day’s proceedings would have found Lewis struggling with the prosecution narrative focusing on alleged harm caused by Assange, the defence resolute in returning to the big picture element of the disclosures.  This was too much to expect from the pedestrian reporting of a Fourth Estate more obsessed with Assange the man.  From The Guardian to the Daily Beast, only one thing mattered: the warning by Judge Baraitser that Assange should keep silent and avoid any outbursts.  As Kevin Gosztola observed, “US prosecutors win the news cycle on Day 2.”

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Dr. Binoy Kampmark was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge.  He lectures at RMIT University, Melbourne. He is a frequent contributor to Global Research and Asia-Pacific Research. Email: [email protected]

Featured image is from InfoBrics

Below is a series of documents that proves the FBI has withheld critical information from 9/11 families and the American people.

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DOJ UBL Interpol

2002 DOJ Response to Request for Osama Bin Laden Arrest Warrant

The 2002 D.O.J. response to the 9/11 families’ legal team’s request for a copy of the arrest warrant of Osama Bin Laden. The DOJ responded to the request stating that for the legal team to access this information, they had to have Bin Laden sign a release form for his warrant. The 9/11 families want to know why the DOJ protected the privacy of a known terrorist leader?

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FOIA for Hijackers Passports

2017 DOJ Response to Request for 9/11 Hijackers’ Passports

The 2017 DOJ response to the 9/11 families’ legal team’s request for copies of visa records for 3 of the main 9/11 hijackers: Khalid al Mihdhar, Nawaf al Hazmi, and Salem al Hazmi. DOJ responded to the request stating the legal team had to provide obituaries/death certificates for the hijackers to obtain the documents. Why, 16 years after the 9/11 attacks, did the DOJ continue to protect the privacy of the hijackers?

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2012 FBI Report

2012 FBI 9/11 Investigation Status Report

Heavily redacted 2012 status report from the FBI regarding the progress of the 9/11 investigation. The most vital information provided by this document appears at the end of page 3 and beginning of page 4. It states “main subjects include Fahad al-Thumairy, Omar Ahmed al-Bayoumi, [redacted]. These subjects provided the hijackers with assistance in daily activities, including procuring living quarters, financial assistance, and assistance in obtaining flight lessons”. Who is the third redacted name who worked with two known Saudi government officials, Thumairy and Bayoumi, as they assisted the 9/11 hijackers assimilate into American life unnoticed before 9/11? The document also shows the ways the DOJ has continually prevented the 9/11 families from obtaining information regarding the people behind 9/11, through redacting and hiding key information from the families and their legal teams.

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Moore Declaration

Declaration of Former FBI Agent Stephen Moore

Sworn statement under oath from former FBI agent Stephen Moore regarding his time as head of the Los Angeles FBI 9/11 investigation from 2001-2008. Moore states that his investigation concluded that “diplomatic and intelligence personnel of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia knowingly provided material support to the [first] two 9/11 hijackers [who entered the U.S.] and facilitated the 9/11 plot.” The findings of the Los Angeles FBI investigation undermine the 9/11 Commission Report finding that two known Saudi officials, Thumairy and Bayoumi, did not provide assistance to the 9/11 hijackers. Why did one of the largest 9/11 FBI investigations find credible evidence implicating 2 Saudi officials, yet this evidence was ignored in the 9/11 Commission Report?

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911 Review Commission Report Excerpts

2015 FBI 9/11 Commission Report Review Excerpt

2015 FBI Review of original 2004 9/11 Commission Report. Highlighted sections from this excerpt mention two key pieces of evidence in our case. The first mentions 2 people who assisted the 9/11 hijackers based out of San Diego, al-Sadhan and al-Sudairy. These two men were later proven to be Saudi officials. The second highlighted section states that there was an additional individual tasked by al-Thumairy, a known Saudi official, to help take these two 9/11 hijackers assimilate when they were in San Diego. This section of evidence also allowed our legal team to track down the 2012 FBI report. What else was uncovered by the FBI’s follow-up 9/11 investigation from 2007-2016?

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O Lado Obscuro da 5G: o Uso Militar

September 9th, 2020 by Manlio Dinucci

A manifestação de 12 de Setembro, em Roma, “Stop 5G” concentra-se, com razão, nas possíveis consequências das emissões electromagnéticas para a saúde e para o meio ambiente, em particular sobre o decreto que impede os prefeitos de regulamentar a instalação de antenas 5G, na área municipal.

No entanto, continua a ignorar-se um aspecto fundamental desta tecnologia: o seu uso militar. Já falamos no il manifesto (10 de Dezembro de 2019), mas com resultados escassos. Os programas sucessivos lançados pelo Pentágono, documentados oficialmente, confirmam o que escrevemos há nove meses.

A “Estratégia 5G”, aprovada em 2 de Maio de 2020, estabelece que “o Departamento de Defesa deve desenvolver e empregar novos conceitos operacionais que utilizem a conectividade ubíqua oferecida pela tecnologia 5G para aumentar a eficácia, resiliência, velocidade e letalidade das nossas forças armadas”.

O Pentágono já está a experimentar as aplicações militares desta tecnologia em cinco bases aéreas, navais e terrestres: Hill (Utah), Nellis (Nevada), San Diego (Califórnia), Albany (Geórgia), Lewis-McChord (Washington), Confirmou, em conferência de imprensa, em 3 de Junho, o Dr. Joseph Evans, Director Técnico da 5G, do Departamento de Defesa.

Ele então anunciou que as aplicações militares da 5G, serão, em breve, testadas noutras sete bases: Norfolk (Virginia), Pearl Harbor-Hickam (Hawaii), San Antonio (Texas), Fort Irwin (Califórnia), Fort Hood (Texas), Camp Pendleton (Califórnia), Tinker (Oklahoma).

Os especialistas prevêem que a 5G terá um papel decisivo no desenvolvimento de armas hipersónicas, inclusive as que têm ogivas nucleares: para guiá-las em trajectórias variáveis, a fim de evitar mísseis interceptores, têm de recolher, processar e transmitir muito rapidamente, enormes quantidades de dados. É necessário o mesmo para activar as defesas em caso de ataque com tais armas, confiando nos sistemas automáticos.

A nova tecnologia também terá um papel fundamental na battle network (rede de batalha), sendo capaz de conectar milhões de equipamentos de rádio bidireccionais numa área circunscrita.

A 5G também será extremamente importante para os serviços secretos e para as forças especiais: tornará possível sistemas de espionagem muito mais eficazes e aumentará a letalidade dos drones assassinos.

Essas e outras aplicações militares dessa tecnologia estão, certamente, também a ser estudadas na China e noutros países. Portanto, o que está em curso sobre a 5G não é só uma guerra comercial.

Confirma-o o documento estratégico do Pentágono: “As tecnologias 5G representam capacidades estratégicas determinantes para a segurança nacional dos Estados Unidos e dos nossos aliados”. É necessário, portanto, “protegê-las dos adversários” e convencer os aliados a fazerem o mesmo para garantir a “interoperabilidade” das aplicações militares da 5G no âmbito da NATO.

Isto explica por que é que a Itália e os outros aliados europeus dos EUA excluíram a Huawei e outras empresas chinesas das licitações para o fornecimento de equipamentos de telecomunicações 5G.

“A tecnologia 5G – explica o Dr. Joseph Evans numa conferência de imprensa, no Pentágono – é vital para manter as vantagens militares e económicas dos Estados Unidos”, não só contra os seus adversários, principalmente a China e a Rússia, mas também contra os próprios aliados.

Por esta razão “o Departamento de Defesa está a trabalhar estreiramente com parceiros industriais, que investem centenas de biliões de dólares em tecnologia 5G, a fim de explorar esses investimentos maciços para aplicações militares de 5G”, incluindo “aplicações de dupla utilização” militares e civis.

Por outras palavras, a rede comercial 5G, construída por empresas privadas, é usada pelo Pentágono com uma despesa menor do que seria necessário se a rede fosse construída apenas para fins militares.

Serão os utentes comuns – a quem as multinacionais 5G venderão os seus serviços – a pagar pela tecnologia que, como prometem, deve “mudar as nossas vidas”, mas que, ao mesmo tempo, será utilizada para criar armas da nova geração para uma guerra, que significará o fim das gerações humanas.

Manlio Dinucci

 

il manifesto, 8 de Setembro de 2020

Manlio Dinucci

 

Artigo original em italiano :

Il lato oscuro del 5G: l’uso militare

il manifesto, 8 de Setembro de 2020

Tradutora: Maria Luísa de Vasconcellos

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Alexey Navalny, Novichok and Western Psy-ops

September 8th, 2020 by Nauman Sadiq

Novichok must be the most cryptic and deceptive chemical placebo ever developed by the erstwhile super-power that exploded the world’s largest 50 megaton Tsar Bomba in its heyday in the 1960s, because victims infected by it create an ephemeral stir across international media lasting a few days, recover within weeks and are never heard about again.

Globally renowned Putin-critic, albeit lacking a significant political constituency in Russia itself, Alexey Navalny was hastily transported out of Siberia to Berlin on August 22 after he fell ill due to the suspected poisoning of his tea. He had been in a medically induced coma since he had arrived in Germany.

A week later, on September 2, German Chancellor Angela Merkel (image, with Trump, August 2020) anxiously announced Navalny had been poisoned with the Cold War-era nerve agent Novichok. Mainstream media’s credulous sheeple were pondering over stately funeral arrangements and the likely place for a shrine where the illustrious anti-communist crusader would be buried.

But in a dramatic turn of events yesterday, September 7, the German officials gleefully announced Navalny was out of coma and was responding well to verbal and visual stimuli,  as he was found staring at German nurses.

Sarcasm aside, Novichok is the same group of nerve agents that was used on the Russian former spy Sergei Skripal, who was attacked in Britain two years ago.

On March 4, 2018, Sergei Skripal, a Russian double agent working for the British foreign intelligence service, and his daughter Yulia were found unconscious on a public bench outside a shopping center in Salisbury.

A few months later, in July 2018, a British woman, Dawn Sturgess, died after touching the container of the nerve agent that allegedly poisoned the Skripals, though it is contested if she ever came in contact with Novichok. Because what sort of a dopey secret agent would casually discard a bottle of nerve agent that allegedly looked like a perfume bottle in a public park, where a British lady would pick it up and spray it on herself to check out the fragrance? Instead of high-budget spy thriller, that sounds like a made-up cock and bull story.

Nevertheless, in the case of the Skripals, Theresa May, then the prime minister of the United Kingdom, promptly accused Russia of attempted assassinations and the British government concluded that Skripal and his daughter were poisoned with a Moscow-made, military-grade nerve agent, Novichok.

was recruited by the British MI6 in 1995, and before his arrest in Russia in December 2004, he was alleged to have blown the cover of scores of Russian secret agents. He was released in a spy swap deal in 2010 and was allowed to settle in Salisbury. Both Sergei Skripal and his daughter have since recovered and were discharged from hospital in May 2018.

The only plausible explanation for the media hype surrounding the poisoning of the Skripals and Navalny appears to be that Western powers want to impose economic sanctions on Russia and, as usual, the mainstream media has been tasked with the responsibility to create public opinion for the impending international isolation of Russia.

On the subject of economic sanctions, it’s an evident fact that neocolonial powers are ruled by behemoth corporations whose wealth is measured in hundreds of billions of dollars, far more than the total GDP of many developing nations. The status of these multinational corporations as dominant players in international politics gets official imprimatur when the Western governments endorse the congressional lobbying practice of so-called “special interest” groups, which is a euphemism for corporate interests.

Since the Western governments are nothing but the mouthpiece of business interests on international political and economic forums, therefore any national or international entity which hinders or opposes the agenda of corporate interests is either coerced into accepting their demands or gets sidelined.

In 2013, the Manmohan Singh’s government of India had certain objections to further opening up to the Western businesses. The Business Roundtable, which is an informal congregation of major US businesses and together holds a net wealth of $6 trillion, held a meeting with the representatives of the Indian government and literally coerced it into accepting unfair demands of the Western corporations.

The developing economies are always hungry for foreign direct investment (FDI) to sustain economic growth, and this investment mostly comes from the Western corporations. When the Business Roundtables or the Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) form pressure groups and engage in “collective bargaining” activities, the nascent and fragile developing economies don’t have a choice but to toe their line.

State sovereignty, that sovereign nation states are at liberty to pursue independent policies, particularly economic and trade policies, is a myth. Just like the ruling elites of the developing countries which maintain a stranglehold and monopoly over domestic politics; similarly, the neocolonial powers and multinational corporations control international politics and the global economic order.

Any state in the international arena which dares to transgress the trade and economic policies laid down by neocolonial powers and multinational corporations becomes an international pariah like Castro’s Cuba, Mugabe’s Zimbabwe, Ayatollah’s Iran, or more recently, Maduro’s Venezuela.

Venezuela has one of the largest known oil reserves in the world. Even though the mainstream media’s pundits hold the socialist policies of President Nicolas Maduro responsible for economic mismanagement in Venezuela, fact of the matter is that hyperinflation in its economy is the effect of US sanctions against Venezuela which have been put in place since the time of late President Hugo Chavez.

Another case in point is Iran which was cut off from the global economic system from 2006 to 2015, and then again after May 2018 when American President Donald Trump unilaterally annulled the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), because of Iran’s supposed nuclear ambitions. Good for Iran that it also has one of the largest oil and gas resources, otherwise it would have been insolvent by now.

Such is the power of Washington-led global financial system, especially the banking sector, and the significance of petro-dollar, because the global oil transactions are pegged in the US dollars all over the world, and all the major oil bourses are also located in the Western financial districts.

The crippling “third party” economic sanctions on Iran from 2006 to 2015 have brought to the fore the enormous power that the Western financial institutions and the petro-dollar as a global reserve currency wields over the global financial system.

It bears mentioning that the Iranian nuclear negotiations were as much about Iran’s nuclear program as they were about its ballistic missile program, which is an equally dangerous conventional threat to Israel and the Gulf’s petro-monarchies, just across the Persian Gulf.

Despite the sanctions being unfair, Iran felt the heat so much that it remained engaged in negotiations throughout the nearly decade-long period of sanctions, and such was the crippling effect of those “third party” sanctions on Iran’s economy that had it not been for its massive oil and gas reserves, and some Russian, Chinese and Turkish help in illicitly buying Iranian oil, it could have defaulted due to the sanctions.

Notwithstanding, after the brutal assassination of Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018, and the alleged (unconfirmed) hand of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman in the murder, certain naïve political commentators of the mainstream media came up with a ludicrous suggestion that Washington should impose sanctions on Saudi Arabia.

As in the case of aforementioned Iran sanctions, sanctioning Saudi Arabia also seems plausible; however, there is a caveat: Iran is only a single oil-rich state which has 160 billion barrels of proven oil reserves and has the capacity to produce 5 million barrels per day (mbpd) of crude oil.

On the other hand, the Persian Gulf’s petro-monarchies are actually three oil-rich states. Saudi Arabia with its 266 billion barrels of proven oil reserves and 10 mbpd of daily crude oil production, and UAE and Kuwait with 100 billion barrels of proven reserves, each, and 3 mbpd of daily crude oil production, each. Together, the share of the Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC) amounts to 466 billion barrels, almost one-third of the world’s 1477 billion barrels of total proven oil reserves.

Therefore, although imposing economic sanctions on the Gulf States might sound plausible on paper, the relationship between the Gulf’s petro-monarchies and the industrialized world is that of a consumer-supplier relationship. The Gulf States are the suppliers of energy and the industrialized world is its consumer, hence the Western powers cannot sanction their energy suppliers and largest investors.

If anything, the Gulf’s petro-monarchies had “sanctioned” the Western powers in the past by imposing the oil embargo in 1973 after the Arab-Israel War. The 1973 Arab oil embargo against the West lasted only for a short span of six months during which the price of oil quadrupled, but Washington became so paranoid after the embargo that it put in place a ban on the export of crude oil outside the US borders, and began keeping sixty-day stock of reserve fuel for strategic and military needs.

Nauman Sadiq is an Islamabad-based attorney, columnist and geopolitical analyst focused on the politics of Af-Pak and Middle East regions, neocolonialism and petro-imperialism.

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Fabricating a Pandemic – Who Could Organize It and Why

September 8th, 2020 by Dr. Gregory Sinaisky

It is difficult not to notice something contrived in the currently announced “pandemic” of the Novel Covid-19 virus. Media coverage of this event has all the hallmarks of a coordinated hysterical campaign, namely:

  • the use of emotions instead of numbers and logic (for example videos showing allegedly overflowing hospitals and morgues, which can easily be staged or occur due to a natural situation unrelated to Covid-19)
  • the refusal to even mention the most obvious counter-arguments (for example, the media will never compare the number of deaths caused by flu in recent years with Covid-19 deaths)
  • and the complete censorship of all opinions that disagree with the mainstream media narrative, even those that come from recognised experts.

We have witnessed the publication of numerous fake stories, like the CNN report about bodies being left on the streets in Ecuador which was later debunked. We have frequently seen hysterical headlines that are not supported in any way by the contents of the article.

Finally, the national, as well as the local coverage, is always vague, never saying who exactly is ill or what they’ve got, or whether they are at home or in a hospital, and they never say how they treat the disease. Vagueness in media is a sure sign of lying.

Out of any proportion to reality, the mass media continues to drone on ominously that this is the New Normal, and that we might as well get used to it, that the world will never be as it was before the coronavirus. This is nothing more and nothing less than classic psychological warfare.

Why would a viral outbreak require “psy-ops”, that is, unless something larger was afoot?

The mainstream media as usual labels everybody who objects to their version of events a “Conspiracy Theorist.”

However, in addition to usual roster of sceptics like James Corbett or Del Bigtree, we now have many established scientists and doctors publicly questioning the version of events that is being presented by the mainstream media and governments.

These are, to name a few: Dr Sucharit Bhakdi, a professor emeritus at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz and former head of the Institute for Medical Microbiology; Dr Wolfgang Wodarg, a member of PACE; Prof Dolores Cahill, Vice Chair of the IMI Scientific Committee (she has more important titles than I can fit here); Dr Peer Eifler from Austria; Dr Claus Köhnlein; Dr Scott Jensen, Minnesota Senator; Harvey A. Risch, professor of epidemiology at Yale School of Public Health.

Each one of these intelligent, articulate and trustworthy people with top credentials disagree with the official story.

All these doctors accuse media, governments and WHO of fabricating the Covid pandemic and abusing their powers by taking extreme measures in the face of a disease that has shown no signs of being any worse than a typical seasonal flu.

Some of these doctors add even more disturbing accusations, namely, that some patients died because doctors used a wrong treatment protocol, that medical authorities were directed to list ‘coronavirus’ as the cause of death even when no coronavirus analysis was made, that many deaths were caused by putting people with active Covid-19 into nursing homes and, finally, that a drug capable of saving hundreds of thousands of lives is being denied to the population.

The question is…is this campaign of fear a spontaneous overreaction to a new virus, or was it organized by somebody to achieve some malicious goals?

If we conclude that the pandemic indeed is fake, the worldwide media campaign manufactured, government officials and WHO bribed or coerced, then further questions arise. Is there anyone who has the ability to pull this off?

If yes, then why did they do it, and how?

Long before this “pandemic” we heard talk that we are living through a time of crisis, but it seems nobody ever fully identifies the crisis or what caused it. In our view, the false pandemic is closely related to this crisis and it is impossible to understand current events without a clear understanding of the crisis.

A short answer to the questions posed above: we live in a unique time, at the tail end of a European colonial project that existed for 500 years, making Europe and the US the richest, most influential part of the world and the envy of most of its inhabitants.

From the end of WWII through the 1960’s, this colonial project was gradually replaced by neo-colonialism, controlled almost exclusively by US plutocrats. In the last 10-20 years, the systems of neo-colonialism began to break down due to the economic rise of China and also due to the degeneration of Western elites. In recent years, what we call the Free World maintains its way of life simply by going deeper and deeper into debt.

This situation cannot continue indefinitely, and very soon we can expect an abrupt fall in the standard of living in the US, the UK and most European countries, accompanied by tremendous social upheavals. The US plutocracy has no economic or military means to stop this collapse.

A clever solution would be to pin the blame on a natural phenomenon, like a disease, and then justify any amount of violence necessary to keep the problems resulting from the crisis under control.

US plutocrats conveniently control most of the world’s media and have a huge network of “charitable” foundations and affiliated NGO institutions all over the world. This network has been used for generations as a tool for influencing media, educational institutions, governments and international organizations, for social engineering and ideological control.

 

 

We will now discuss above short thesis in more detail.

Is such a campaign at all possible?

Is there somebody out there who is capable of organising a world-wide media campaign supported by governments and international organisations?

Yes, we can be sure that such players exist because we have a recent example of one such media campaign that was clearly artificially created.

Coincidentally, this campaign was also aimed at convincing the population that we are in immediate danger, and that it will require drastic measures to save us.

I mean, of course, the Greta Thunberg campaign.

In no time at all, a 13-year-old girl was elevated to a position of worldwide prominence by mysterious agents. Whoever organised this campaign was also able to arrange for Greta to speak at the United Nations, the European Parliament, the Davos Economic Forum and so on. On top of this, Amnesty International gave her an award. This makes no sense unless Amnesty International is directed from the same center that command our “independent” mainstream media.

Just recently the first Gulbenkian Foundation Prize for Humanity, about one million Euros, was given to Greta. She was called “one of the most remarkable figures of our days” and a “charismatic and inspiring personality.”

It would be highly unlikely, to say the least, that journalists all over the world became simultaneously fascinated by this little girl and the simple-minded message she was coached to deliver. It is equally unlikely that the UN, the Davos Forum and the European Parliament all independently decided that her platitudes were something interesting and important for them to hear in person. And I am sure that the people in Amnesty International and the Gulbenkian Foundation are not so deranged as to sincerely believe in Greta’s greatness.

To believe that this campaign was caused exclusively by the virtues of Greta would be as naive as believing the 1960’s Soviet media campaign that once glorified the “simple Soviet girl” who wanted to donate her eyes to blind USA Communist party leader Henry Winston came into existence because of sincere journalistic interest in this “heroine” instead of being commanded by the Politburo.

Thus we can safely conclude that forces capable of organising worldwide media campaigns and influence the corridors of power do exist.

Volumes have been written about plutocratic control of the American media, among them “Manufacturing Consent” by Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky, “The Media Monopoly” by Ben Bagdikian, “Taking the Risk out of Democracy” by Alex Carey, “Media Control” and “Necessary Illusions” by Noam Chomsky.

Already in 1928, Edward Bernays, considered the father of public relations in America, wrote:

In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons…who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind.”

Noam Chomsky put it more bluntly:

Any dictator would admire the uniformity and obedience of the US media.”

Note that control over the US media is achieved without requiring direct ownership of it. Herman and Chomsky quote Sir George Lewis, that the market would promote those papers

enjoying the preference of the advertising public… advertisers thus acquired a de facto licensing authority since, without their support, newspapers ceased to be economically viable.”

Of course, only big advertisers can exercise significant political clout over the media. In the next part of our article we will describe an even more important source of media control, the so-called “charitable” foundations.

To a substantial extent, the mainstream media outside of the US is also controlled by American plutocrats.

Control is achieved in large part because the overwhelming majority of newspapers around the world get their international stories from three (3) news agencies. Two out of the three big news agencies, Reuters and Associated Press, are directly controlled by American plutocrats.

The role of news agencies is analysed in the article titled “The Propaganda Multiplier” published in Off-Guardian. In one particular case study, the geopolitical coverage in nine leading daily newspapers from Germany, Austria and Switzerland was examined for diversity and journalistic performance.

The results confirm a high dependence on global news agencies (from 63% to 90% of content, excluding commentaries and interviews) and the lack of their own investigative research.

More direct methods of control are described, for example, in the book Journalists for Hire: How the CIA Buys the News by Dr. Udo Ulfkotte. Dr. Ulfkotte died from heart attack at a relatively young age shortly after publishing his book in 2014. An English translation of his book is already for years listed as “Currently unavailable” on Amazon.

The invisible hand of the free market is refusing to bring this book to its readers. Although Dr. Ulfkotte mentions only the CIA in the title of his book, he makes it clear that “charitable” foundations are also heavily involved in foreign media control.

The hardest part to understand is how governments all over the world were forced to accept the media narratives during this false pandemic.

To start with, most governments have no independent capacity to evaluate medical events and they have no choice other than to accept WHO advice. Furthermore, US government and globalist medical organizations used their influence.

One of the very few heads of state who dared to reject the coronavirus panic, Belarusian President Lukashenko, testified that he was offered 950 million dollars from the IMF and the World Bank if he would introduce quarantine, isolation and curfew “like in Italy”.

The plutocratic influence network

To organise a worldwide campaign changing life in the whole world, a force that deserves to be called a shadow government is needed. Theodore Roosevelt, who was US President from 1901 to 1909, informed the world that:

Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people.”

He called this shadow government “the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics.”

However, to run a shadow government on such a scale, one needs large, well-financed institutions. Skull & Bones, the Masons or the Illuminati would not do. It would require an extensive network of institutions that employ well-paid professionals who are given reliable career paths.

The only way to run such an extensive network (designed, as it were, for essentially nefarious purposes) would be to keep it in full view, but disguised with an innocent appearing cover. US plutocrats a long time ago found the perfect cover story that would allow them to establish shadow government institutions.

These institutions are masked as “charitable” foundations. The foundations act through financing wide networks of “think tanks” and NGO’s all over the world, and therefore their power is not constrained by national boundaries.

The most notorious foundations are, to name but a few: The Rockefeller Foundation, The Ford Foundation, the Open Society Foundation, the Carnegie Foundation, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

One important line of foundation activity is helping careers of servile journalists, scholars and experts lifting them into positions of prominence. Foundations aid struggling journalists and academics by giving them “prestigious” prizes, fellowships and research grants. Though мany of these professionals will spend most or all of their careers in university and government being supported mostly by taxpayer money, they get these lucrative and prestigious appointments due to their history of conformity to foundation agenda.

For example, nothing will help a recent PhD in political or social sciences to get a tenure-track professorship position better than being awarded a grant by a foundation. In this way, foundations leverage their money by elevating professionals that have shown their fidelity to positions supported by state money in the amounts much greater than the money they have spent for prizes, fellowships and grants. The result is that, though few people occationally rebel, most of professionals in ideological sphere understand the game and toe the line.

Foundations often collaborate closely with the CIA, but it would be incorrect to say that the foundations are controlled by the CIA. It is rather that the same people who control the foundations, also control the government -including the CIA. Both systems are merely parts of a larger system that freely shares cadres between entities; this is often referred to as the “revolving door”. As an example, Reuel Marc Gerecht, a former CIA officer, is now a senior fellow at the “Foundation for Defense of Democracies.”

As we mentioned above, foundations act through think tanks and NGOs. Hundreds or thousands of these organisations exist. Here we will not make the effort to classify them and enumerate them. We will simply call all the foundations, together with think tanks and NGOs, the Plutocratic Influence Network (PIN).

The Plutocratic Influence Network is involved in ideological control, social engineering, and direct subversion of “dictatorships,” meaning regimes that do not allow American plutocrats to exploit their countries. Plutocratic media prefers to call PIN “Civil Society,” cleverly disguising PIN as a loose network of independent citizen initiatives and the basis of democracy.

Here is what think tanks do, according to Martin S. Indyk, vice president and director of the Foreign Policy Program at Brookings, one of the oldest and most prestigious think tanks in Washington:

Our business is to influence policy with scholarly, independent research, based on objective criteria, and to be policy-relevant, we need to engage policy makers,”

Of course, “objective research” never brings results which are contrary to plutocratic interests.

According to Matt Taibbi:

the largest dozen or so of these privately funded ‘research institutions’ have an immense impact on public discourse. The Heritage Foundation, the American Enterprise Institute and the Cato Institute exist solely to produce research and commentary that will influence public opinion. They have fancy halls in which to hold press conferences and roundtables and their hired help – people like Heritage’s Cohen and Carnegie’s McFaul – wait virtually around the clock for journalists to call.”
The Russia Journal, March 15-21, 2002

Think tanks also receive money directly from corporations and from Western governments. To complicate things further, foundations make grants to each other and occasionally to private companies.

The scale of foundation and think tank activity is enormous. According to political commentator Vladimir Simonov, in 2004 there were at least 2,000 Russian non-governmental organisations that live on US grants and other forms of financial assistance.” Many millions of dollars are spent on “nurturing some ‘independent press centres’, ‘public commissions’ and ‘charity foundations’” (RIA Novosti June 1, 2004).

The diabolical horns of the foundations pop up in the most unexpected places. The World Health Organisation, which most presume is a public resource, is “generously” supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF).

Swissmedic, the Swiss Agency for Therapeutic Products, (which sounds like the epitome of cleanness and neutrality) is also supported by BMGF. There is little doubt that we will find foundation money in hundreds of other organisations we had presumed neutral.

We can only guess how this money will influence bureaucrats and thus put much larger amounts of taxpayer money under foundation control. As experience shows, bureaucrats and politicians are surprisingly easy to bribe. All it takes is a little additional money for travel or a few conferences in nice places. Or it might be small bonuses on top of their salaries, or an opportunity to get a well-paid and honourable position after retirement or good jobs for bureaucrat’s relatives and friends.

While it is difficult to penetrate the secretive world of the Plutocratic Influence Network, sometimes events occur that show us the degree of coordinated control inside it. What is the connection between Transparency International (TI) and the Covid fake pandemic?

Dr Wolfgang Wodarg, previously a distinguished member of TI’s Board of Directors, publicly denied the existence of the pandemic. In response, Transparency International removed D. Wolfgang Wodarg from its board. The situation is bizarre.

Dr Wodarg (who is a medical doctor) had expressed his own professional opinion which was in no way related to his work at TI. The censorship of TI can only be explained by an order from those who fund and control it, i.e. the same Plutocratic Influence Network which, in our opinion, organised the whole Covid campaign.

Any serious investigation into the Plutocratic Influence Network requires huge resources and political will. The US Congress tried to investigate foundations only twice, the first time between 1913-1915 (the Walsh Commission) and then in 1954 (the Reece Committee).

The Walsh Commission was created to study industrial relations and touched foundations only tangentially. Its final report in 1915 points out that the goal of a foundation is not charity, at least not in the original meaning of this word, but ideological control over education and media:

The domination by the men in whose hands the final control of a large part of American industry rests is not limited to their employees, but is being rapidly extended to control the education and “social service” of the nation. This control is being extended largely through the creation of enormous privately managed funds for indefinite purposes, hereinafter designated as “foundations,” by the endowment of colleges and universities, by the creation of funds for the pensioning of teachers, by contributing to private charities as well as through controlling or influencing the public press.

The Reece Committee did a more comprehensive investigation, which however did not come to completion because it was sabotaged by powerful forces in Congress. Nevertheless, a lot of valuable materials were collected, and in 1958, Rene A. Wormser, a member of the Committee, published a book, Foundations: Their Power and Influence, in which he described the results of the investigation.

We have no space here to review this book and will limit ourselves to some short quotes.

Wormser notes a great (and dire) influence that foundation-financed social research has on government:

Many of these scholars…serve as “experts” and advisers to numerous governmental agencies. Social scientists may be said to have come to constitute a fourth major branch of government. They are the consultants of the government, the planners, and the designers of governmental theory and practice.

They are free from the checks and balances to which the other three branches of government (legislative, executive, and judicial) are subject. They have attained their influence and their position in government through foundation support.

What is more, much of this research can be classified as “scientism,” that is, pseudo-science pretending to be as objective as physics, but in fact giving results that are desired by those who run the show.

Wormser quotes the 1925 Carnegie Endowment for International Peace report which openly states its antidemocratic coercive goals:

Underneath and behind all these undertakings there remains the task to instruct and to enlighten public opinion so that it may not only guide but compel the action of governments and public officers in the direction of constructive progress.”

The book also describes briefly a blatant case of social engineering by the Rockefeller Foundation, when they supported the fake sex research of Dr. Kinsey. The Kinsey Reports went on to eventually cause tremendous changes in the private lives of Americans.

Here we can conclude that the Plutocratic Influence Network was created for influencing education, public opinion and governments. It may even alter our most basic and private attitudes by making use of covert propaganda and fake social “research”. The plutocrats have huge resources and many thousands of trained professionals to perform these tasks. Therefore, they are very likely to have the appropriate tools required to create a false pandemic.

We will talk about their specific techniques and goals below.

What crisis?

Since at least 2008 we have been hearing from everywhere that we live in troubled times, that a crisis is coming. According to WEF Founder Klaus Schwab, “The Great Reset” is required. The whole world order is nearing its end and new and sinister order is coming. What exactly this crisis is remains unexplained.

As already noted in the introduction, our claim is that the much-publicised impending crisis is simply the denouement of the European colonial project that began over 500 years ago. During this period of time, Western European civilization (including its extensions, most importantly the US) led the world economically and militarily, and dominated the world’s art, science and ideology. The result of this crisis will be the loss of Europe’s leading position and a precipitous drop in the standard of living of its population.

Western propaganda, of course, attributes the material prosperity of the West to freedom, democracy, free enterprise, free media, and human rights. And last but not least, to important contribution of feminism and LGBTQ+ rights. Though few Westerners would dare say it openly nowadays, most believe that their prosperity is also due to their superior work ethic and mental abilities.

In fact, it is the opposite. Western prosperity is based largely upon military power, the systematic violation of the most basic freedoms and human rights in exploited countries, and systematic interference in free markets. The wealth of the West is directly connected to the misery of most of the world.

US army bases all over the world, constant wars, bombings and drone strikes are not required for free trade and free markets. It would be naive to believe that the US Army is used to bring freedom and human rights onto benighted natives. On the contrary, armies are employed to steal resources and exploit conquered populations as cheap labour.

For our purposes we can divide the era of colonialism into three stages, Direct Colonialism, Neo-colonialism and, more recently, the Terminal Stage of Neo-colonialism which is based on deeper and deeper levels of indebtedness.

Western Direct Colonialism of the New World and what later became known as the Third World began in earnest over 500 years ago, but this period of direct rule gradually began to break down after the end of WWII.

When war between Nazi Germany and the USSR was ignited, it looked like the Anglo-American domination of the post-war world was assured. Unfortunately for the West, WWII led to the rise of the Soviet Union as a global power, and the creation of a socialist China (the full implications of which were not felt until recent decades). The American establishment briefly hoped that the situation might be saved by their new nuclear weapons; however, the Soviet nuclear bomb tested in 1949 put an abrupt end to their dreams of perpetual global rule.

Economically, though, full victory was achieved. At this point in time, the US produced 50 percent of the world’s economic output. Most technically-advanced products were manufactured only in the US and therefore sold at top prices, due to almost complete absence of competition. Their main industrial rivals, Germany and Japan, were laid in ruins.

The US planned to prevent the rebuilding of their industries in an attempt to maintain their economic world domination indefinitely. The Morgenthau Plan was a proposal to eliminate Germany’s ability to wage war by eliminating its arms industry and its ability to compete by restricting other key German industries. Japan was completely prostrate before the American Navy and occupation forces.

With the US economic and naval domination of the world, British, French and all the other colonies naturally began to fall under de facto control of the US. To exploit them, old style colonial direct control was no longer needed.

Therefore the decolonization process and transition to Neo-colonialism. In establishing formal independence of former colonies, Soviet help was only of secondary importance, except in China, Korea and later Vietnam.

Militarily and politically the West ran into a quagmire soon after WWII. The Soviet Union suddenly became a strong military rival, seizing control of Eastern Europe and immediately afterwards aiding China to liberate itself. There were strong communist parties in Italy, France and Greece; China soon began to put pressure on Asia, most significantly in Korea and Vietnam.

To contain the Soviet Union and China, the US desperately needed allies. The only solution was to allow Germany and Japan to restore and develop their industries.

As it turned out, this solution contained seeds of its own destruction. Over the years, German and Japanese manufacturers quickly became successful competitors, and gradually undermined American pre- eminence. America’s treatment of Germany and Japan is often presented to us as the epitome of virtuous generosity, of the beatific desire to share American-style democracy and prosperity with all the nations of the world.

This apparent open-handedness was, however, the exception rather than the rule. If these countries had not been needed as bulwarks to contain the spread of communism, they would have been left de-industrialized, backward and exploited.

Common tactics of neo-colonialists include bribing the local elites, providing them with weapons, loans, mercenaries, police and security services training, political and media support, offshore havens for stolen monies and the ever-present threat of direct military intervention. These methods are described in detail by Chomsky and Perkins among others.

After the breakup of the Soviet Union and the reforms in China, it looked again, as it did during WWII, that an era of US world domination was at hand. Russia was greatly weakened, its wealth plundered. Politically, it was dominated by the US. China appeared to be nothing more than a limitless Bangladesh, an endless source of cheap labor, a loss of control by the Communist Party just a matter of time.

Only one obstacle stood between the US and total world domination – the Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces.

It was expected, however, that Russia could not maintain them for long. The American foreign debt, which had grown so rapidly throughout the Reagan era because of growing Germans and the Japanese competition, stopped growing under Clinton. All looked rosy. Even military expenditures were somewhat reduced under Clinton. It was the “end of history”, they proclaimed.

And then, the victory unexpectedly turned into a crushing defeat. Putin wrestled control of Russia away from the West-friendly oligarchs and started to restore its economy, its independence, and its army. This was followed by unexpected victories over American-supported-and-armed Georgian forces in South Ossetia, then Crimea, Donbass and Syria. Russian military contractors began popping up in Libya and other African countries.

China has become even a bigger problem. The Chinese tricked the West in a big way. The Communist Party kept the control. They attracted Western companies with cheap labor, good organization and infrastructure. And then, the Party created conditions first for copying and mastering Western technologies and later for developing their own advanced technologies. Unlike Bangladesh, they did not let hard-earned dollars to be squandered for upper-class consumption. They spent them for education, research, infrastructure and building up their own industrial might.

With its growing economic power, China was able to do what the Soviet Union was never able to do – to displace the West economically in the Third World, which included most of Asia, Africa and Latin America. With losing its pre-eminent place at the top of the global economic pyramid, America’s foreign debt resumed its growth and has now reached truly unsustainable dimensions.

Similar debt crises have occurred in the UK, Spain, Italy and other countries that piggy-backed onto American neo-colonialism.

This crisis does not depend on the incompetency of Trump or the cleverness of Putin or Xi, it is entirely objective.

For a while after the initial setbacks, the US government continued to pin its hope on the military. After 2001 the Pentagon budget was growing again, starting up new wars all around the world.

However, these wars failed to produce the desired economic benefits. Quite the opposite. Gradually, American generals began to realize the limits of American military power. They realized that they cannot fight Russia and China under realistic scenarios. We have no space here for a more detailed analysis of this interesting and important question.

We found only one work that attempts to quantify the “real” GDP of Western countries – one that takes into account the massive foreign trade deficit. The Awara Study on Real GDP Growth Net-of-Debt concluded that:

The real, debt-adjusted, GDP growth of Western countries has been in negative territory for years. Only by massively loading up debt have they been able to hide the true picture and delay the onset of an inevitable collapse of their respective economies. The study shows that the real GDP of those countries hides hefty losses after netting the debt figures, which gives the Real-GDP-net-of-debt.”

This study claims that from 2009 through 2013, the real GDP-net-of-debt decreased approximately 45% in the US and the UK; it dropped in Spain by 55%, Italy by 35%, France by 30% and Germany by 18%. Though we do not consider these numbers precise, we think they reflect the reality pretty accurately.

Even though the West is already feeling a pinch, it is still very difficult for the majority of Westerners to recognize the coming crisis.

They may be reluctant to admit they were ever the beneficiaries of brutal colonial thievery, or that the free ride has come to an end. They short-sightedly focus on blaming China for taking their industrial jobs, never doubting for a moment their right to cheap Chinese products. They still fail to understand that when Western jobs come back, the goods currently being manufactured in China by cheap labor will become unaffordable to most Westerners.

Why would they do it?

Assume, as we have shown above, the ruling plutocrats have the ability to organize a fake worldwide pandemic. Why would they want to do such a thing? How would they profit? Let’s look at possible motives.

Nothing is new under the moon, and the regime in Washington has a history of using fabricated crises to achieve their goals. According to H.L. Mencken:

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”

One reason for a “pandemic” might be to extract benefits from the widespread economic disruption resulting from lockdowns. It is quite likely that the big companies will be able to swallow up their smaller competitors, who were often forced to close their doors by the local authorities.

US administrators and those of the European Union announced huge Covid19 relief measures to the tune of many hundreds of billions of dollars and euros respectively. Who will profit from this windfall? Most likely some well-connected big players. Business Insider magazine reported in June 2020 that “American billionaires are now nearly 20% richer than they were at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new report by the Institute for Policy Studies.”

Pharmaceutical companies will be certainly interested in vaccination profits. But are they powerful enough to pull the whole show? Not likely.

Atomization of society, breaking up community solidarity, eroding all non-monetary connections between people, destroying family relations and weakening blood ties, is a long-standing plutocratic project. Now, using this fake pandemic, the plutocrats have gone even further, now they train us to see each other not as friend, not as brother, not even as a source of profit, but mainly as a source of mortal infection.

This message is conveyed not only verbally through the mass media; we are physically compelled to keep our distance, shamed into refusing our neighbor’s handshake, and threatened with fines for being seen without a mask. The physical aspect of social engineering is more effective than simple verbal brainwashing and it makes the social changes more permanent.

Physical restraint creates social habits that will be difficult to break in the future.

While all the above reasons may be valid, the main reason in our opinion is the impending crisis of the West described above. The paradigm of Western society is based upon ever-growing consumption. Westerners do not understand that it is possible to live with less and be happy.

One can expect that the coming drastic fall in consumption will result in the permanent breakdown of Western society. We are already seeing widespread rioting in American cities. With the widely accepted cover story of the “global pandemic”, ruling plutocrats intend to cover up their past failures and continue ruling under an artificially created state of emergency.

Conclusion

We have presented our analysis of the current Covid-19 “pandemic”. If indeed deliberately planned it could be considered a crime against humanity. Even more ominously, there are indications that global lockdown is only the first taste of what eventually might be a semi-permanent state of emergency rule.

Bill Gates himself, on June 23 in a video currently featured on the US Chamber of Commerce Foundation website, openly promised us that there is going to be a “next one”, and – “That one, I say, will get attention this time.”

One of the most important considerations in investigating a suspected crime is finding a motive. Cui bono – who benefits? We described a possible motive for the events and showed that the suspects possess instruments that make fabricating a global “pandemic” possible.

If you work for a foundation, an NGO, an international organization, or a government and have first-hand internal knowledge of events, we invite you to write to us.

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Gregory Sinaisky has Ph.D. in Computer Science and lives in Zurich. He writes among other subjects about disinformation in media, military affairs, social and scientific topics.

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Il lato oscuro del 5G: l’uso militare

September 8th, 2020 by Manlio Dinucci

La manifestazione del 12 settembre a Roma «Stop 5G» si focalizza a ragione sulle possibili conseguenze delle emissioni elettromagnetiche per la salute e l’ambiente, in particolare sul decreto che impedisce ai sindaci di regolamentare l’installazione di antenne 5G sul territorio comunale.

Si continua però a ignorare un aspetto fondamentale di questa tecnologia: il suo uso militare. Ne abbiamo già parlato sul manifesto (10 dicembre 2019), ma con scarsi risultati. I successivi programmi varati dal Pentagono, ufficialmente documentati, confermano quanto scrivevamo nove mesi fa.

La «Strategia 5G», approvata il 2 maggio 2020, stabilisce che «il Dipartimento della Difesa deve sviluppare e impiegare nuovi concetti operativi che usino la ubiqua connettività offerta dal 5G per accrescere l’efficacia, la resilienza, la velocità e letalità delle nostre forze armate».

Il Pentagono sta già sperimentando applicazioni militari di questa tecnologia in cinque basi delle forze aeree, navali e terrestri: Hill (Utah), Nellis (Nevada), San Diego (California), Albany (Georgia), Lewis-McChord (Washington), Lo ha confermato, in una conferenza stampa il 3 giugno, il Dr. Joseph Evans, direttore tecnico per il 5G al Dipartimento della Difesa.

Ha quindi annunciato che applicazioni militari del 5G verranno tra poco testate anche in altre sette basi: Norfolk (Virginia), Pearl Harbor-Hickam (Hawaii), San Antonio (Texas), Fort Irwin (California), Fort Hood (Texas), Camp Pendleton (California), Tinker (Oklahoma).

Gli esperti prevedono che il 5G avrà un ruolo determinante nello sviluppo di armi ipersoniche, comprese quelle a testata nucleare: per guidarle su traiettorie variabili, sfuggendo ai missili intercettori, occorre raccogliere, elaborare e trasmettere enormi quantità di dati in tempi rapidissimi. Lo stesso è necessario per attivate le difese in caso di attacco con tali armi, affidandosi a sistemi automatici.

La nuova tecnologia avrà un ruolo chiave anche nella battle network (rete di battaglia), essendo in grado di collegare in un’area circoscritta milioni di apparecchiature ricetrasmittenti.

Estremamente importante sarà il 5G anche per i servizi segreti e le forze speciali: renderà possibili sistemi di spionaggio molto più efficaci e accrescerà la letalità dei droni-killer.

Queste e altre applicazioni militari di tale tecnologia sono sicuramente allo studio anche in Cina e altri paesi. Quella in corso sul 5G non è quindi solo una guerra commerciale.

Lo conferma il documento strategico del Pentagono: «Le tecnologie 5G rappresentano capacità strategiche determinanti per la sicurezza nazionale degli Stati uniti e per quella dei nostri alleati». Occorre quindi «proteggerle dagli avversari» e convincere gli alleati a fare lo stesso per assicurare la «interoperabilità» delle applicazioni militari del 5G nel quadro della Nato.

Ciò spiega perché l’Italia e gli altri alleati europei degli Usa hanno escluso la Huawei e altre società cinesi dalle gare per la fornitura di apparecchiature 5G per telecomunicazioni.

«La tecnologia 5G – spiega il Dr. Joseph Evans nella conferenza stampa al Pentagono – è vitale per mantenere i vantaggi militari ed economici degli Stati uniti», nei confronti non solo degli avversari, in particolare Cina e Russia, ma degli stessi alleati.

Per questo «il Dipartimento della Difesa sta lavorando strettamente con i partner industriali, che investono centinaia di miliardi di dollari nella tecnologia 5G, allo scopo di sfruttare questi massicci investimenti per applicazioni militari del 5G», comprese «applicazioni a duplice uso» militare e civile.

In altre parole, la rete commerciale del 5G, realizzata da società private, viene usata dal Pentagono con una spesa molto più bassa di quella che sarebbe necessaria se la rete fosse realizzata unicamente a scopo militare.

Saranno i comuni utenti, a cui le multinazionali del 5G venderanno i loro servizi, a pagare la tecnologia che, a quanto promettono, dovrebbe «cambiare la nostra vita», ma che allo stesso tempo servirà a realizzare armi di nuova generazione per una guerra che significherebbe la fine delle generazioni umane.

Manlio Dinucci

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Within the agreement on the normalization of economic relations between Belgrade and Pristina, which was signed in Washington last week, it was agreed that Serbia would move its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. It was this part of the agreement that triggered many reactions that has only created a greater rift between the US and the EU in the Balkans.

According to the document that Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić signed with Pristina and Washington, Serbia will become the first European country to open an embassy in Jerusalem. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Senator Ted Cruz were among the first to welcome the decision by Vučić. Netanyahu said that efforts are continuing to persuade other European countries to do the same and thanked US President Donald Trump for his contribution to that achievement. Senator Cruz said that he welcomed the move for Serbia to open its embassy in Jerusalem.

“I applaud President Vučić’s announcement that Serbia will be the first European country to open an embassy in Jerusalem, the capital of our ally Israel. We discussed these issues when we met in March and as I told him, Serbia is a mutual ally. This step deepens ties and I look forward to more such moves. On the other hand, completely different messages arrived from the European Union and Palestine,” Cruz said in abbreviated format on Twitter.

On Monday, the EU expressed “serious concern and regret” over Serbia’s decision to move its embassy in Israel. Muslim-majority Kosovo, which only has partial international recognition, also agreed to normalize its ties with Israel, including the establishment of diplomatic relations. Kosovo’s president, Hashim Thaçi, said on Twitter that Kosovo “will keep a promise to place its diplomatic mission in Jerusalem.”

The potential move by Belgrade and Pristina are contrary to the EU’s official policy that the status of Jerusalem should be worked out between Israel and the Palestinians as part of peace negotiations. European Commission spokesman Peter Stano said that for Brussels, the issue of moving embassies to Jerusalem is a bilateral announcement by Serbia towards Israel, emphasizing that the EU’s position is known and has not changed.

“There is no EU member state with an embassy in Jerusalem,” Stano said. “Any diplomatic steps that could call into question the EU’s common position on Jerusalem are a matter of serious concern and regret.”

Stano added that “since Kosovo and Serbia identified EU accession or EU integration as their strategic priority, the EU expects both to act in line with this commitment, so the European perspective is not undermined.”

Serbia has officially been an EU candidate country since 2012. Kosovo since 2013 has an association agreement with the EU since bloc members Greece, Cyprus Spain, Slovakia and Romania do not recognize Pristina’s independence. As both Belgrade and Pristina have aspirations for EU membership, diverting from official policy regarding Israel and Palestine has only angered Brussels. However, contradictions appear considering all EU members bar five recognize Kosovo’s independence, highlighting that the mythology of a united European foreign policy is fallacy, especially at a time when EU members disagree on how to deal with Turkey that is threatening war with Greece and Cyprus.

Rather, Brussels has been humiliated by US President Donald Trump, who, from his perspective, has achieved a powerful foreign policy victory just weeks out from the upcoming US elections. Although speculation was rife that the US was losing influence in the Balkans to the EU, particularly in Kosovo, the deal to open economic relations between Belgrade and Pristina, while adding extra recognition to Israel’s claim that Jerusalem is its eternal capital, has shown that Washington is not willing to give up its influence in the Balkans to the EU so easily.

None-the-less, Palestinians are expectedly enraged by the decision made by Belgrade and Pristina towards Jerusalem, with the Palestinian Authority threatening to sever diplomatic relations with any country that moves its embassy to Jerusalem. The Secretary General of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, Saeb Erekat, who was the main peace negotiator with Israel, announced on Twitter:

“Palestine will sever its relations with any country that will move or open its embassy to Jerusalem. We urge all nation states to abide by international law, including Security Council Resolutions 478 and 2334. Violating international law is a sign of weakness, not strength.”

Despite this threat from the Palestinian Authority, it appears that Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) could be the next European country to move its Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. Although BiH applied for EU membership in 2016, the Serbian member of the rotating Presidency of BiH, Milorad Dodik, stated that he would send a request to the Presidency that the Embassy of his country should be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. BiH has a rotating presidency between the country’s three main ethnic communities – Serbs, Croats and Bosnian Muslims. Although Dodik is an ethnic Serb that wants to follow Belgrade’s lead, it is likely that the Bosnian Muslim member of the presidency will vote against moving the country’s embassy to Jerusalem, while it is not known exactly how the Croat representative will decide.

Although Serbia and Kosovo are not EU members, the decision to move their embassies will not only strengthens Israel’s claim to Jerusalem, but it also puts Belgrade in a more favorable light in Washington’s view. The EU worries about such a move as it not only undermines their authority over Serbia and Kosovo, but the moving of their embassies could potentially see BiH and even Albania follow in Belgrade’s and Pristina’s footsteps. The EU does not have as much control over the Balkans as they thought, and Trump’s surprise deal between Belgrade and Pristina demonstrates this. This has certainly been a foreign policy victory for Trump, and just in time for the lead up to the November presidential elections.

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This article was originally published on InfoBrics.

Paul Antonopoulos is an independent geopolitical analyst.

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Selected Articles: Nord Stream 2 vs. Poisoning of Alexei Navalny

September 8th, 2020 by Global Research News

Your Man in the Public Gallery: the Assange Hearing Day 6

By Craig Murray, September 08 2020

If you asked me to sum up today in a word, that word would undoubtedly be “railroaded”. it was all about pushing through the hearing as quickly as possible and with as little public exposure as possible to what is happening.

Gates Foundation is Also Destabilizing Africa’s Food Economy. The Restructuring of Global Food Production

By F. William Engdahl, September 08 2020

The same Gates Foundation which is behind every aspect of the COVID-19 pandemic from financing much of the WHO budget, to investing in favored vaccine-makers like Moderna, is engaged in a major project in Africa which is destroying traditional small farmer production of essential food crops in favor of monoculture crops and introduction of expensive chemical fertilizers and GMO seeds that are bankrupting small farmers.

The Palestinian National Project: No Rallying Plan In Sight…Yet

By Rima Najjar, September 08 2020

Lockdowns and hygienic measures around the world are based on numbers of cases and mortality rates created by the so-called SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR tests used to identify “positive” patients, whereby “positive” is usually equated with “infected.” But looking closely at the facts, the conclusion is that these PCR tests are meaningless as a diagnostic tool to determine an alleged infection by a supposedly new virus called SARS-CoV-2.

The US has for years been objecting voraciously against this pipeline. Trump: “Why should we pay for NATO to defend Germany, when Germany buys gas from Russia and makes herself dependent on Russia?” – He added, “We offer Germany and Europe all the gas and energy they need.”

Today our thoughts are with Kevin Zeese, whose actions and writings together with Margaret Flowers reflect a far-reaching and lifelong commitment to people’s struggles.

Kevin Zeese’s Legacy lives.

An important article by Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers from 2019:

The US Must Grow Up and Respect Iranian Independence

By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, March 10 2019

One of the lessons from our recent visit to Iran as a Peace Delegation is that Iran is a mature country. It is 2,500 years old, ten times as old as the United States and one of the world’s oldest continuous major civilizations with settlements dating back to 7,000 BC. It was an empire that controlled almost half the Earth for over 1,000 years. It is hard not to see the US-Iran relationship as one between an adolescent bully and a mature nation.

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Syrian-Turkish tensions have ramped up in the region of Greater Idlib over the past few days.

On September 5, heavy clashes between Syrian troops and Turkish-backed militants broke out near the town of Fleifel and Saraqib in southeastern Idlib, near the town of al-Enkawi in northwestern Hama and Kafr Taal in western Aleppo. According to pro-militant sources, at least 5 Syrian Army troops were killed in injured in the confrontation. They claim that it is the Damascus government that violated the ceasefire triggering the confrontation. At the same time, Syrian sources say that the clashes started after the Turkish Armed Forces conducted several artillery strikes on Syrian Army positions near the town of Saraqib.

A day later, on September 6, the Turkish military once again shelled Syrian troops near Saraqib, and near Kafr Nabl. The impact of the strikes remain unclear. Nonetheless, pro-government sources did not report any casualties. In response to the attack, Syrian forces launched a series of strikes on positions of the Turkish-backed terrorist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham near the towns Fatterah, Sufuhon, Kafar Aweed and Kinsafra in the southern part of the so-called Idlib de-escalation zone.

Meanwhile, unidentified gunmen attacked a checkpoint of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham near the town of Kafar Takharim reportedly killing and injuring several terrorists. After the attack, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham security forces arrested five militants of a small local armed faction called the Hananu Brigade. The terrorist group suspected that these fighters were behind the attack, but this turned out to be untrue. The detained militants were released within a few hours. The real identity of the attackers remains unclear.

On September 7, the Turkish Defense Ministry said that a Turkish soldier had died from wounds received in an attack in southern Idlib. The attack by unidentified militants took place near Ariha. Syrian troops refrain from striking positions of the Turkish military, likely trying to avoid further escalation and demonstrate that the ceasefire regime still exists at least formally.

Nevertheless, the current situation, when Turkish forces attack the Syrian Army with impunity under the cover of the ceasefire, cannot last long and will likely inevitably lead to an escalation if the Erdogan regime does not change its behavior.

The Russian Aerospace Forces have intensified strikes on identified ISIS targets in the central Syrian desert, according to reports by pro-militant sources. Despite the recently concluded operation of the Syrian Army and the Russian military in the desert that allegedly resulted in the elimination of over 300 ISIS members, ISIS continues its attacks. The most recent attacks took place in western Deir Ezzor, south of Mayadin, in the area between the town of Hamimah and the T3 station and near Itriyah. Therefore, Russia, Syria and Iran continue their joint effort against ISIS.

On September 5, the Syrian Military Intelligence Directorate, the National Defense Forces and the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps detained 5 ISIS members wearing Iranian military uniforms and driving a vehicle with pro-Iranian slogans in Mayadin.

On September 7, local sources revealed that the Syrian Army with support of the Russian Aerospace Forces has launched a new security operation covering eastern Homs, eastern Hama, southern Aleppo and southern Raqqa. According to reports, up to 25 ISIS terrorists were already neutralized in these areas.

Some sources claim that the Damascus government is eager to neutralize the ISIS threat in the Homs-Deir Ezzor desert before the start of any new open confrontation with Turkey. If the new Turkish-Syrian conflict starts before this, ISIS terrorists will become an even more serious security problem for government forces.

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Your Man in the Public Gallery: the Assange Hearing Day 6

September 8th, 2020 by Craig Murray

I went to the Old Bailey today expecting to be awed by the majesty of the law, and left revolted by the sordid administration of injustice.

There is a romance which attaches to the Old Bailey. The name of course means fortified enclosure and it occupies a millennia old footprint on the edge of London’s ancient city wall. It is the site of the medieval Newgate Prison, and formal trials have taken place at the Old Bailey for at least 500 years, numbering in the hundreds of thousands. For the majority of that time, those convicted even of minor offences of theft were taken out and executed in the alleyway outside. It is believed that hundreds, perhaps thousands, lie buried under the pavements.

The hefty Gothic architecture of the current grand building dates back no further than 1905, and round the back and sides of that is wrapped some horrible cheap utility building from the 1930’s. It was through a tunnelled entrance into this portion that five of us, Julian’s nominated family and friends, made our nervous way this morning. We were shown to Court 10 up many stairs that seemed like the back entrance to a particularly unloved works canteen. Tiles were chipped, walls were filthy and flakes of paint hung down from crumbling ceilings. Only the security cameras watching us were new – so new, in fact, that little piles of plaster and brick dust lay under each.

Court 10 appeared to be a fairly bright and open modern box, with pleasant light woodwork, jammed as a mezzanine inside a great vault of the old building. A massive arch intruded incongruously into the space and was obviously damp, sheets of delaminating white paint drooping down from it like flags of forlorn surrender. The dock in which Julian would be held still had a bulletproof glass screen in front, like Belmarsh, but it was not boxed in. There was no top to the screen, no low ceiling, so sound could flow freely over and Julian seemed much more in the court. It also had many more and wider slits than the notorious Belmarsh Box, and Julian was able to communicate quite readily and freely through them with his lawyers, which this time he was not prevented from doing.

Rather to our surprise, nobody else was allowed into the public gallery of court 10 but us five. Others like John Pilger and Kristin Hrafnsson, editor in chief of Wikileaks, were shunted into the adjacent court 9 where a very small number were permitted to squint at a tiny screen, on which the sound was so inaudible John Pilger simply left. Many others who had expected to attend, such as Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders, were simply excluded, as were MPs from the German federal parliament (both the German MPs and Reporters Without Borders at least later got access to the inadequate video following strong representations from the German Embassy).

The reason given that only five of us were allowed in the public gallery of some 40 seats was social distancing; except we were allowed to all sit together in consecutive seats in the front row. The two rows behind us remained completely empty.

To finish scene setting, Julian himself looked tidy and well groomed and dressed, and appeared to have regained a little lost weight, but with a definite unhealthy puffiness about his features. In the morning he appeared disengaged and disoriented rather as he had at Belmarsh, but in the afternoon he perked up and was very much engaged with his defence team, interacting as normally as could be expected in these circumstances.

Proceedings started with formalities related to Julian’s release on the old extradition warrant and re-arrest under the new warrant, which had taken place this morning. Defence and prosecution both agreed that the points they had already argued on the ban on extradition for political offences were not affected by the superseding indictment.

Magistrate Baraitser then made a statement about access to the court by remote hearing, by which she meant online. She stated that a number of access details had been sent out by mistake by the court without her agreement. She had therefore revoked their access permissions.

As she spoke, we in the court had no idea what had happened, but outside some consternation was underway in that the online access of Amnesty International, of Reporters without Borders, of John Pilger and of forty others had been shut down. As these people were neither permitted to attend the court nor observe online, this was causing some consternation.

Baraitser went on to say that it was important that the hearing was public, but she should only agree remote access where it was “in the interests of justice”, and having considered it she had decided it was not. She explained this by stating that the public could normally observe from within the courtroom, where she could control their behaviour. But if they had remote access, she could not control their behaviour and this was not in the “interests of justice”.

Baraitser did not expand on what uncontrolled behaviour she anticipated from those viewing via the internet. It is certainly true that an observer from Amnesty sitting at home might be in their underwear, might be humming the complete soundtrack to Mamma Mia, or might fart loudly. Precisely why this would damage “the interests of justice” we are still left to ponder, with no further help from the magistrate. But evidently the interests of justice were, in her view, best served if almost nobody could examine the “justice” too closely.

The next “housekeeping issue” to be addressed was how witnesses should be heard. The defence had called numerous witnesses, and each had lodged a written statement. The prosecution and Baraitser both suggested that, having given their evidence in writing, there was no need for defence witnesses to give that evidence orally in open court. It would be much quicker to go straight to cross-examination by the prosecution.

For the defence, Edward Fitzgerald QC countered that justice should be seen to be done by the public. The public should be able to hear the defence evidence before hearing the cross-examination. It would also enable Julian Assange to hear the evidence summarised, which was important for him to follow the case given his lack of extended access to legal papers while in Belmarsh prison.

Baraitser stated there could not be any need for evidence submitted to her in writing to be repeated orally. For the defence, Mark Summers QC was not prepared to drop it and tension notably rose in the court. Summers stated it was normal practice for there to be “an orderly and rational exposition of the evidence”. For the prosecution, James Lewis QC denied this, saying it was not normal procedure.

Baraitser stated she could not see why witnesses should be scheduled an one hour forty five minutes each, which was too long. Lewis agreed. He also added that the prosecution does not accept that the defence’s expert witnesses are expert witnesses. A Professor of journalism telling about newspaper coverage did not count. An expert witness should only be giving evidence on a technical point the court was otherwise unqualified to consider. Lewis also objected that in giving evidence orally, defence witnesses might state new facts to which the Crown had not had time to react. Baraitser noted that the written defence statements were published online, so they were available to the public.

Edward Fitzgerald QC stood up to speak again, and Baraitser addressed him in a quite extraordinary tone of contempt. What she said exactly was: “I have given you every opportunity. Is there anything else, really, that you want to say”, the word “really” being very heavily emphasised and sarcastic. Fitzgerald refused to be sat down, and he stated that the current case featured “substantial and novel issues going to fundamental questions of human rights.” It was important the evidence was given in public. It also gave the witnesses a chance to emphasise the key points of their evidence and where they placed most weight.

Baraitser called a brief recess while she considered judgement on this issue, and then returned. She found against the defence witnesses giving their evidence in open court, but accepted that each witness should be allowed up to half an hour of being led by the defence lawyers, to enable them to orient themselves and reacquaint with their evidence before cross-examination.

This half hour for each witness represented something of a compromise, in that at least the basic evidence of each defence witness would be heard by the court and the public (insofar as the public was allowed to hear anything). But the idea that a standard half hour guillotine is sensible for all witnesses, whether they are testifying to a single fact or to developments over years, is plainly absurd. What came over most strongly from this question was the desire of both judge and prosecution to railroad through the extradition with as little of the case against it getting a public airing as possible.

As the judge adjourned for a short break we thought these questions had now been addressed and the rest of the day would be calmer. We could not have been more wrong.

The court resumed with a new defence application, led by Mark Summers QC, about the new charges from the US governments new superseding indictment. Summers took the court back over the history of this extradition hearing. The first indictment had been drawn up in March of 2018. In January 2019 a provisional request for extradition had been made, which had been implemented in April of 2019 on Assange’s removal from the Embassy. In June 2019 this was replaced by the full request with a new, second indictment which had been the basis of these proceedings before today. A whole series of hearings had taken place on the basis of that second indictment.

The new superseding indictment dated from 20 June 2020. In February and May 2020 the US government had allowed hearings to go ahead on the basis of the second indictment, giving no warning, even though they must by that stage have known the new superseding indictment was coming. They had given neither explanation nor apology for this.

The defence had not been properly informed of the superseding indictment, and indeed had learnt of its existence only through a US government press release on 20 June. It had not finally been officially served in these proceedings until 29 July, just six weeks ago. At first, it had not been clear how the superseding indictment would affect the charges, as the US government was briefing it made no difference but just gave additional detail. But on 21 August 2020, not before, it finally became clear in new US government submissions that the charges themselves had been changed.

There were now new charges that were standalone and did not depend on the earlier allegations. Even if the 18 Manning related charges were rejected, these new allegations could still form grounds for extradition. These new allegations included encouraging the stealing of data from a bank and from the government of Iceland, passing information on tracking police vehicles, and hacking the computers both of individuals and of a security company.

“How much of this newly alleged material is criminal is anybody’s guess”, stated Summers, going on to explain that it was not at all clear that an Australian giving advice from outwith Iceland to someone in Iceland on how to crack a code, was actually criminal if it occurred in the UK. This was even without considering the test of dual criminality in the US also, which had to be passed before the conduct was subject to extradition.

It was unthinkable that allegations of this magnitude would be the subject of a Part 2 extradition hearing within six weeks if they were submitted as a new case. Plainly that did not give the defence time to prepare, or to line up witnesses to these new charges. Among the issues relating to these new charges the defence would wish to address, were that some were not criminal, some were out of time limitation, some had already been charged in other fora (including Southwark Crown Court and courts in the USA).

There were also important questions to be asked about the origins of some of these charges and the dubious nature of the witnesses. In particular the witness identified as “teenager” was the same person identified as “Iceland 1” in the previous indictment. That indictment had contained a “health warning” over this witness given by the US Department of Justice. This new indictment removed that warning. But the fact was, this witness is Sigurdur Thordarson, who had been convicted in Iceland in relation to these events of fraud, theft, stealing Wikileaks money and material and impersonating Julian Assange.

The indictment did not state that the FBI had been “kicked out of Iceland for trying to use Thordarson to frame Assange”, stated Summers baldly.

Summers said all these matters should be ventilated in these hearings if the new charges were to be heard, but the defence simply did not have time to prepare its answers or its witnesses in the brief six weeks it had since receiving them, even setting aside the extreme problems of contact with Assange in the conditions in which he was being held in Belmarsh prison.

The defence would plainly need time to prepare answers to these new charges, but it would plainly be unfair to keep Assange in jail for the months that would take. The defence therefore suggested that these new charges should be excised from the conduct to be considered by the court, and they should go ahead with the evidence on criminal behaviour confined to what conduct had previously been alleged.

Summers argued it was “entirely unfair” to add what were in law new and separate criminal allegations, at short notice and “entirely without warning and not giving the defence time to respond to it. What is happening here is abnormal, unfair and liable to create real injustice if allowed to continue.”

The arguments submitted by the prosecution now rested on these brand new allegations. For example, the prosecution now countered the arguments on the rights of whistleblowers and the necessity of revealing war crimes by stating that there can have been no such necessity to hack into a bank in Iceland.

Summers concluded that the “case should be confined to that conduct which the American government had seen fit to allege in the eighteen months of the case” before their second new indictment.

Replying to Summers for the prosecution, Joel Smith QC replied that the judge was obliged by the statute to consider the new charges and could not excise them. “If there is nothing proper about the restitution of a new extradition request after a failed request, there is nothing improper in a superseding indictment before the first request had failed.” Under the Extradition Act the court must decide only if the offence is an extraditable offence and the conduct alleged meets the dual criminality test. The court has no other role and no jurisdiction to excise part of the request.

Smith stated that all the authorities (precedents) were of charges being excised from a case to allow extradition to go ahead on the basis of the remaining sound charges, and those charges which had been excised were only on the basis of double jeopardy. There was no example of charges being excised to prevent an extradition. And the decision to excise charges had only ever been taken after the conduct alleged had been examined by the court. There was no example of alleged conduct not being considered by the court. The defendant could seek extra time if needed but the new allegations must be examined.

Summers replied that Smith was “wrong, wrong, wrong, and wrong”. “We are not saying that you can never submit a new indictment, but you cannot do it six weeks before the substantive hearing.” The impact of what Smith had said amounted to no more than “Ha ha this is what we are doing and you can’t stop us.” A substantive last minute change had been made with no explanation and no apology. It could not be the case, as Smith alleged, that a power existed to excise charges in fairness to the prosecution, but no power existed to excise charges in fairness to the defence.

Immediately Summers sat down, Baraitser gave her judgement on this point. As so often in this hearing, it was a pre-written judgement. She read it from a laptop she had brought into the courtroom with her, and she had made no alterations to that document as Summers and Smith had argued the case in front of her.

Baraitser stated that she had been asked as a preliminary move to excise from the case certain conduct alleged. Mr Summers had described the receipt of new allegations as extraordinary. However “I offered the defence the opportunity to adjourn the case” to give them time to prepare against the new allegations. “I considered of course that Mr Assange was in custody. I hear that Mr Summers believes this is fundamental unfairness”. But “the argument that we haven’t got the time, should be remedied by asking for the time.”

Mr Summers had raised issues of dual criminality and abuse of process; there was nothing preventing him for raising these arguments in the context of considering the request as now presented.

Baraitser simply ignored the argument that while there was indeed “nothing to prevent” the defence from answering the new allegations as each was considered, they had been given no time adequately to prepare. Having read out her pre-prepared judgement to proceed on the basis of the new superseding indictment, Baraitser adjourned the court for lunch.

At the end of the day I had the opportunity to speak to an extremely distinguished and well-known lawyer on the subject of Baraitser bringing pre-written judgements into court, prepared before she had heard the lawyers argue the case before her. I understood she already had seen the outline written arguments, but surely this was wrong. What was the point in the lawyers arguing for hours if the judgement was pre-written? What I really wanted to know was how far this was normal practice.

The lawyer replied to me that it absolutely was not normal practice, it was totally outrageous. In a long and distinguished career, this lawyer had very occasionally seen it done, even in the High Court, but there was always some effort to disguise the fact, perhaps by inserting some reference to points made orally in the courtroom. Baraitser was just blatant. The question was, of course, whether it was her own pre-written judgement she was reading out, or something she had been given from on high.

This was a pretty shocking morning. The guillotining of defence witnesses to hustle the case through, indeed the attempt to ensure their evidence was not spoken in court except those parts which the prosecution saw fit to attack in cross-examination, had been breathtaking. The effort by the defence to excise the last minute superseding indictment had been a fundamental point disposed of summarily. Yet again, Baraitser’s demeanour and very language made little attempt to disguise a hostility to the defence.

We were for the second time in the day in a break thinking that events must now calm down and get less dramatic. Again we were wrong.

Court resumed forty minutes late after lunch as various procedural wrangles were addressed behind closed doors. As the court resumed, Mark Summers for the defence stood up with a bombshell.

Summers said that the defence “recognised” the judgement Baraitser had just made – a very careful choice of word, as opposed to “respected” which might seem more natural. As she had ruled that the remedy to lack of time was more time, the defence was applying for an adjournment to enable them to prepare the answers to the new charges. They did not do this lightly, as Mr Assange would continue in prison in very difficult conditions during the adjournment.

Summers said the defence was simply not in a position to gather the evidence to respond to the new charges in a few short weeks, a situation made even worse by Covid restrictions. It was true that on 14 August Baraitser had offered an adjournment and on 21 August they had refused the offer. But in that period of time, Mr Assange had not had access to the new charges and they had not fully realised the extent to which these were a standalone new case. To this date, Assange had still not received the new prosecution Opening Note in prison, which was a crucial document in setting out the significance of the new charges.

Baraitser pointedly asked whether the defence could speak to Assange in prison by telephone. Summers replied yes, but these were extremely short conversations. They could not phone Mr Assange; he could only call out very briefly on the prison payphone to somebody’s mobile, and the rest of the team would have to try to gather round to listen. It was not possible in these very brief discussions adequately to expound complex material. Between 14 and 21 August they had been able to have only two such very short phone calls. The defence could only send documents to Mr Assange through the post to the prison; he was not always given them, or allowed to keep them.

Baraitser asked how long an adjournment was being requested. Summers replied until January.

For the US government, Mark Lewis QC replied that more scrutiny was needed of this request. The new matters in the indictment were purely criminal. They do not affect the arguments about the political nature of the case, or affect most of the witnesses. If more time were granted, “with the history of this case, we will just be presented with a sleigh of other material which will have no bearing on the small expansion of count 2”.

Baraitser adjourned the court “for ten minutes” while she went out to consider her judgement. In fact she took much longer. When she returned she looked peculiarly strained.

Baraitser ruled that on 14 August she had given the defence the opportunity to apply for an adjournment, and given them seven days to decide. On 21 August the defence had replied they did not want an adjournment. They had not replied that they had insufficient time to consider. Even today the defence had not applied to adjourn but rather had applied to excise charges. They “cannot have been surprised by my decision” against that application. Therefore they must have been prepared to proceed with the hearing. Their objections were not based on new circumstance. The conditions of Assange in Belmarsh had not changed since 21 August. They had therefore missed their chance and the motion to adjourn was refused.

The courtroom atmosphere was now highly charged. Having in the morning refused to cut out the superseding indictment on the grounds that the remedy for lack of time should be more time, Baraitser was now refusing to give more time. The defence had called her bluff; the state had apparently been confident that the effective solitary confinement in Belmarsh was so terrible that Assange would not request more time. I rather suspect that Julian was himself bluffing, and made the call at lunchtime to request more time in the full expectation that it would be refused, and the rank hypocrisy of the proceedings exposed.

previously blogged about how the procedural trickery of the superseding indictment being used to replace the failing second indictment – as Smith said for the prosecution “before it failed” – was something that sickened the soul. Today in the courtroom you could smell the sulphur.

Well, yet again we were left with the feeling that matters must now get less exciting. This time we were right and they became instead excruciatingly banal. We finally moved on to the first witness, Professor Mark Feldstein, giving evidence to the court by videolink for the USA. It was not Professor Feldstein’s fault the day finished in confused anti-climax. The court was unable to make the video technology work. For ten broken minutes out of about forty Feldstein was briefly able to give evidence, and even this was completely unsatisfactory as he and Mark Summers were repeatedly speaking over each other on the link.

Professor Feldstein’s evidence will resume tomorrow (now in fact today) and I think rather than split it I shall give the full account then. Meantime you can see these excellent summaries from Kevin Gosztola or the morning and afternoon reports from James Doleman. In fact, I should be grateful if you did, so you can see that I am neither inventing nor exaggerating the facts of these startling events.

If you asked me to sum up today in a word, that word would undoubtedly be “railroaded”. it was all about pushing through the hearing as quickly as possible and with as little public exposure as possible to what is happening. Access denied, adjournment denied, exposition of defence evidence denied, removal of superseding indictment charges denied. The prosecution was plainly failing in that week back in Woolwich in February, which seems like an age ago. It has now been given a new boost.

How the defence will deal with the new charges we shall see. It seems impossible that they can do this without calling new witnesses to address the new facts. But the witness lists had already been finalised on the basis of the old charges. That the defence should be forced to proceed with the wrong witnesses seems crazy, but frankly, I am well past being surprised by anything in this fake process.

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American National Debt Increases and Becomes Unpayable

September 8th, 2020 by Lucas Leiroz de Almeida

The American national debt situation is reaching an extremely worrying point for the country’s stability. Recently, the debt reached its highest point since World War II, and is currently equivalent to the totality of the American economy itself. Debt has been high for years and the worsening has been progressive, however, with the pandemic of the new coronavirus, spending in the country was raised to the maximum and the crisis due to the national debt became almost inevitable.

With the economic crisis generated – or aggravated – by the pandemic, small and medium-sized companies are closing or reducing in size, which, consequently, significantly reduces the collection of taxes and the money available in public coffers. In addition, the government spends more to try to save such companies and guarantee workers’ rights, which raises public spending. Since the tax cut policies adopted by President Donald Trump in 2018, the deficit has only worsened, recently reaching its worst scenario. By 2020, the deficit will exceed 3 trillion dollars. It is no longer a simple matter of decreasing the amount of national revenue: the government is increasing this debt at a rate equivalent to 17% of annual GDP. This means that the debt, as it is now and considering that it tends to get even worse, simply cannot be paid.

According to experts, the amount of the American national debt – which was 17 trillion dollars in the beginning of 2020 – could reach around 33 trillion dollars by the end of the decade. For years, foreign debt purchases have been completely stagnant, it is unlikely that US domestic savings will be able to finance this huge increase in federal loans, leading the country to financial collapse.

It is expected that, with the pandemic, more than 2 trillion dollars is added to the national debt, considering that much of the new expenses and income losses are offset by savings from lower interest rates on the debt. The pandemic and the recession have brought irreversible consequences to the American debt. Although the crisis can be reduced and the situation generated by the pandemic can be controlled, the effects of the crisis will be long-lasting, if not perpetual, leading the American nation to bankruptcy. Since March 2020, the US government has provided about 5 trillion dollars in coronavirus rescue funds. A recent economic and social assistance law, passed in February, was responsible for the spent of 2 trillion dollars. Another law with a similar purpose of social aid has provided another 3 trillion since May. With this, the country is gradually making its situation more and more unsustainable and making the living conditions of the population worse.

However, there are still several other factors that evidence the possible US financial bankruptcy. Commercial sector’s debt has increased by more than 18% – and it is the biggest contributor to total debt, along with federal debt. American household debt also increased, reaching an increase of almost 4%, mainly due to the 3.2% increase in mortgages. Consumer debt increased by 1.6%. Stock values fell by 8 trillion dollars, while real estate values rose by 400 billion dollars in the first months of 2020.

The impacts of this crisis can be seen in literally every sector of American society. Trade, defense and security will be affected, as will civil rights and social stability, which was already beginning to be guaranteed with Trump’s policies before the pandemic. Simply put, the American state and American citizens will become poorer and the country will be more susceptible to the perpetuation of crises and internal instabilities. With the debt becoming unpayable – which, according to several experts, has already happened – the financial collapse will be inevitable, delivering a major blow against the very fragile American global hegemony. At the international level, the American financial collapse will mean the definitive Chinese victory in the current trade war. Washington will be forced to reduce its international ambitions and geopolitical projections to ensure the survival of its own structure as a sovereign national state.

So, a question remains unanswered: what will the future of the US be after the financial meltdown? If specialized and coherent planning is already being provided, it is possible to create a platform for economic recovery through tax reforms and strategic investments. This will require Washington’s exclusive attention to its internal affairs and will reduce the geopolitical dimension of the United States in the contemporary world.

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This article was originally published on InfoBrics.

Lucas Leiroz is a research fellow in international law at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

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The same Gates Foundation which is behind every aspect of the COVID-19 pandemic from financing much of the WHO budget, to investing in favored vaccine-makers like Moderna, is engaged in a major project in Africa which is destroying traditional small farmer production of essential food crops in favor of monoculture crops and introduction of expensive chemical fertilizers and GMO seeds that are bankrupting small farmers. The project, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), is directly connected with key global institutions behind the World Economic Forum’s Great Reset.

If we know the actual history of the Rockefeller Foundation and related tax-free undertakings of one of the world’s most influential families, it is clear that in key areas the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has inherited the Rockefeller agenda from the medical industrial complex to education to agriculture transformation.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, working in tandem with the closely allied Rockefeller Foundation, is not only at the center of the orchestration of unheard-of severe economic lockdown measures for the much-disputed COVID-19 illness. The Gates foundation is also at the very center of the UN Agenda 30 push to transform world agriculture into what they call “sustainable” agriculture. A keystone project for the past 14 years has been Gates’ funding of something called the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa or AGRA.

AGRA Fraud on Africa

When the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation founded AGRA in 2006, joined by their close ally, the Rockefeller Foundation, they proclaimed their goal was to “tackle hunger in Africa by working to achieve a food secure and prosperous Africa through the promotion of rapid, sustainable agricultural growth based on smallholder farmers.” AGRA promised to double the agricultural yields and incomes of 30 million small-scale food producer households by 2020.It is now 2020 and it has been a total failure in this regard. Notably,AGRA deleted these goals in June 2020 from its website without  explanation.Based on what they have done we can assume that was never the true goal of Gates and Rockefeller foundations.

In a 2009 speech in Iowa promoting his New Green Revolution for Africa, Bill Gates declared, “The next Green Revolution must be guided by smallholder farmers, adapted to local circumstances, and sustainable for the economy and the environment.” The Gates Foundation proclaimed that the AGRA “is an Africa-based and African-led effort to develop a thriving agricultural sector in sub-Saharan Africa.” Sounds very nice. Reality is quite different.

To further that “Africa-led” impression, Gates hired the former UN Secretary General, Ghana’s Kofi Annan. Annan had just retired amid an Iraq oil-for-food corruption scandal at the UN involving his son. Annan was to be the front face, the chairman of AGRA. In reality the Gates Foundation ran things, with their guy,Rajiv “Raj” Shah, directing implementation of policies in African target countries. When initial attempts to push Monsanto GMO seeds and pesticides on GMO-free African farmers met with great resistance, they shifted instead to sell conventional but Monsanto-owned seeds along with costly chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

Suspiciously, the Gates Foundation and AGRA have been anything but open and transparent about what they have accomplished in 14 years. For good reason. The model they have pushed in 13 African countries  has significantly worsened the food self-sufficiency of small farmers and instead created debt traps in which small producers are forced to take on heavy debt to buy expensive patented seeds, are forbidden to use own seeds or mixed crops, and forced to produce cash crops in a monoculture for export. AGRA has received more than $1 billion dollars from mainly the Gates Foundation, with USAID and the UK and German governments adding smaller sums.

False Promises

In a new detailed report evaluating results country-by-country, the reality of the Gates Africa agriculture project shows alarming, but not surprising, results. The report is called False Promises: The Green Revolution in Africa. It was prepared by a group of African and European NGO’S in collaboration with Timothy A. Wise, Senior Advisor at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy of Tufts University. The report  concluded, “yield increases for key staple crops in the years before AGRA were just as low as during AGRA. Instead of halving hunger, the situation in the 13 focus countries has worsened since AGRA was launched. The number of people going hungry has increased by 30 percent during the AGRA years… affecting 130 million people in the 13 AGRA focus countries.” That is no minor failure.

In an approach that is little different from the 19th Century racist European colonial practices, the Gates Foundation and its AGRA have seriously harmed small-scale food producers by subjecting them to high levels of debt. In Zambia and Tanzania, small-scale food producers were unable to repay the loans for fertilizer and hybrid seeds after the first harvest. AGRA projects also restrict the freedom of choice for small-scale food producers to decide for themselves what they want to grow. AGRA forces them to a one-sided cultivation of mainly maize for export markets, what global agribusiness wants. Not surprising as Bunge and other international grain cartel companies are involved with AGRA. Traditional climate-resistant and nutrient-rich crops have declined in alarming degrees in many cases.

The study found that for millet, an indigenous and vital cereal and fodder grain favored for 7,000 years due to its productivity and short growing season under dry, high-temperature conditions, AGRA has produced disaster. The report notes,“millet production fell by 24 percent in the 13 AGRA focus countries from 2006 to 2018. Moreover, AGRA lobbies governments on behalf of agricultural corporations to pass legislation that will benefit fertilizer producers and seed companies instead of strengthening small-scale food production.”

Rather than help local small farmers to improve their yield per acre, the AGRA merely repackages the 1960’s Green Revolution in Mexico and India for Africa, home to some of the world’s richest farmland soils. That Green Revolution of the 1960s, initiated by the Rockefeller Foundation, introduced industrial large-scale agriculture mechanization and introduction of chemical fertilizers and seeds from multinationals which went to the benefit of large farmers and destroyed much of the economy of small producers. That predictably bankrupted countless small producers. The result was that while select wealthy producers thrived, millions of poorer farmers were forced to flee to the cities where they settled in urban slums. But that in fact was a major aim of the first Green Revolution as it created a cheap workforce for the globalization drive of manufacture that was to follow.

The Gates and Rockefeller foundation-led AGRA in Africa is little different.  In 14 years, AGRA in Africa has influenced member governments to promote buying of multinational companies’commercial seeds every year and expensive chemical fertilizers, by promising grand gains that do not materialize. In the process traditional small farmers or farming communities are forbidden to use farm-saved or -bred seeds.

This is the same dependency model Monsanto and agribusiness has used with patented GMO seeds in the USA. The Gates Foundation is a significant shareholder in Monsanto, now part of Bayer AG. AGRA has done little or nothing to protect small farmers from being bankrupted by subsidized EU or USA imports. Instead their traditional food crops are being displaced by monoculture maize production for international export, leaving African countries more than ever dependent on more imported foods. The Gates AGRA is succeeding, but not in its cosmetic stated goals. Rather it has made African food production more globalized and dependent than ever on the will of global multinationals whose aim is cheap inputs. Under the ruse of giving farmers a “wider choice” of patented high-yield seeds (most for maize), they in fact limit a farmer’s choice. He must buy those seeds and is forbidden to reuse his own indigenous seeds. If at harvest time farmers are unable to sell his AGRA-mandated maize to repay his debt for seeds and fertilizer, they often are forced to sell their precious cattle or to incur even more debt-a classic colonial debt slavery model.

Dubious Leadership

The Gates Foundation has promoted AGRA as an “African initiative” and put itself as far as possible in the background. The new chairman of AGFA since August 2019 is Hailemariam Desalegn, Former Prime Minister of Ethiopia. Desalegn, former chairman of the Chair of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), the dictatorial ruling party where WHO head Tedros was also a Politburo member, was forced to resign in 2018 following mass protests.

Less public board members of AGRA include two leading executives of the agribusiness giant, Unilever, and two senior officials of the Gates Foundation, as well as from the Rockefeller-founded CGIAR- Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research. Other board members include a member of the Rockefeller Foundation trustees and a former Africa partner for the French bank, Rothschild &Cie .

As well, the new President of the Rockefeller Foundation, the founding perpetrator of the AGRA agenda,Dr. Rajiv J. Shah, is on the AGRA board. Shah left his earlier position with the Gates Foundation and was named USAID director under Obama. USAID not surprisingly became a partner of AGRA.In 2017 Shah moved from USAID to be tapped as President of the Rockefeller Foundation. Small world. The same Rockefeller Foundation is deeply involved in the World Economic Forum Great Reset. Shah just released a Rockefeller report, Reset the Table: Meeting the Moment to Transform the US Food System. It is a precursor to a major global “reset” of the food system being prepared by the circles around Gats and Rockefeller and the UN. More on that another time.

Since 2014 the President  of AGRA has been a controversial Rwandan former Agriculture Minister under the corrupt Kagame dictatorship. Agnes Kalibata also is a member of the Global Agenda Council of the World Economic Forum, the International Fertilizer Development Corporation (IFDC), based in USA.

In December, 2019, just before the public alarm over outbreak of a “novel coronavirus” in Wuhan China, UN Secretary General ,AntónioGuterres, named Kalibata to head the 2021 UN  Food Systems Summit. In response some 176 organizations from 83 countries, wrote to Guterres to repeal her appointment. Their letter stated,

“Founded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation, AGRA’s efforts have centered on capturing and diverting public resources to benefit large corporate interests. Their finance-intensive and high input agricultural model is not sustainable beyond constant subsidy, which is drawn from increasingly scarce public resources. Since 2006, AGRA has worked to open up Africa—seen as an untapped market for corporate monopolies controlling commercial seeds, genetically modified crops, fossil fuel-heavy synthetic fertilizers and polluting pesticides.”

In her defense 12 voices wrote to Guterres urging him to stand firm. Eleven of the 12 had links to the Gates Foundation. Their voice prevailed.

During the global grain crisis of the mid-1970’s then-US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, another Rockefeller protégé, allegedly declared

“Who controls the food controls the people.”

The globalization of world food production and creation of agribusiness, first guided by the Rockefeller Foundation and today with the Gates Foundation taking a more visible lead, is perhaps the most threatening factor to world health and mortality, far more than any coronavirus has shown.

Notably the same people promoting fear and lockdowns for that putative virus are busy reorganizing world food production in an unhealthy manner. It seems to be no coincidence as Bill Gates is a known advocate of eugenics and population reduction.

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F. William Engdahl is strategic risk consultant and lecturer, he holds a degree in politics from Princeton University and is a best-selling author on oil and geopolitics, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook” where this article was originally published. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization.

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“The achievement of Masarat’s ninth annual conference is that it has signaled, loudly and clearly, that change in Palestine is inevitable and that it is Palestinians themselves who will shape it.”

“To me, this conference seems like the first vote of a sequestered jury in a complicated criminal case who still need many days of deliberation before reaching a unanimous vote.”

Disagreement arose over the plan, the goals and the required action, how to deal with leaders, with existing forces with the tools at our disposal; there was dispute over whether to have a clean break from the existing political system as something that must necessarily be demolished or simply to bring down the leadership. There are those who justify and defend each proposition and those who criticize both deeply and call for change, even though the seeds of change have not matured yet despite the intensified need for them. This could mean that the collapse of the old order without an alternative will create a vacuum and ensuing chaos that the occupation is able to take advantage of, especially in light of its desire to alter the Palestinian Authority for the fourth time in sync with the new reality created by racist settler colonialism, which has striven for decades to create a fait accompli and facts on the ground that make the Israeli plan the only solution on the table, and the only game in town.

In this context, differences arose among the advocates of the one state and the so-called “two-state solution.” There is more than one school among those who advocate for the liberation of Palestine and the establishment of a single democratic state on the ruins of the settler colonial project: a bi-national state, a state for all its citizens, a state with multiple regimes, a racist Jewish state within which to struggle for equal rights, or a state based on the historical reconciliation between the Zionist movement and the Palestinian national movement … etc. Needless to say, neither of these two propositions is within reach, and there are different approaches to achieving each of them.

There are those who are calling for adherence to the negotiated settlements, while moving away from US sponsorship and expanding the framework of the Quartet.

And there are those who are calling for an end to the attempts to revive the negotiated settlement that Israel killed long ago and now wants to bury in the annexation plan it developed and is waiting for the appropriate time to implement.

There are those who do not see a contradiction [in working toward several goals at different stages or simultaneously] — ending the occupation and creating a state within the borders of 67, achieving individual and national equality for the Palestinians of the interior [citizens of Israel], the right of return, and at the same time struggling to establish a single democratic state on the ruins of the settler-colonial apartheid project. This group recognizes the limits of what can be achieved at this stage. At the same time, they refuse to abandon Palestinian national and strategic goals and the historical context of the struggle.

Disagreements [among activists] about how to organize also arose over questions about whether the Palestinian Authority could be reformed and rebuilt, or whether it has committed suicide in Oslo and since then, and therefore a new and creative way must be found to deal with the current reality [of Israeli expansionism]. There were also disagreements about what to do with the existing power structure [the Palestinian Authority], whether it is necessary to preserve it or whether it has to collapse –i.e., be dissolved, handing its keys over to the occupation, whether to preserve it despite the occupation’s plan to destroy it, or transform it into a tool of the national program within the Palestinian Liberation Organization after rebuilding the latter, or transform the existing power structure into a state.

Debate and disagreement arose again about the question of holding elections; should they be both presidential and legislative or only legislative? Or elections for the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian Liberation Organization? Or just for the National Council? And is this to be done electronically or in person? Are elections the magic wand that is able to resolve the Palestinian predicament, or are elections a means rather than a goal, one of the general tools of democracy within a comprehensive Palestinian resolution. Additionally, speakers disagreed on the form of resistance required [for liberation] — whether it ought to be armed or peaceful popular protest, or include all forms of struggle?

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The fine circus that is British justice resumed at London’s Central Criminal Court on September 7, with the continued extradition proceedings against Julian Assange.  Judge Vanessa Baraitser was concerned that approximately 40 individuals had received remote video access they apparently should not have.  “In error, the court sent out orders to others who had sought access.  I remain concerned about my ability to maintain the integrity of the court if they are able to attend remotely.” 

Showing a continuing obsession with controlling her court as manorial property, Baraitser felt that having such individuals access the proceedings might lead to breaches (she did not specify which ones).  “Once livestreaming takes place, the court cannot manage this breach even less when the person is outside the jurisdiction.” Inadvertently, the judge had put her finger on the very heart of WikiLeaks and the terror it inspires in the establishment: an event or occurrence that is published, remotely; information, previously confined, escaping.  “I want to make it clear that the public interest and allowing remote access is unlikely to meet the interests of justice tests.”  To wit, she needed new applications from the excluded observers.  “For those who consider they still cannot travel to the UK to attend the hearing, then they need to apply again and I will consider it.”

One of the organisations excluded by Baraitser’s ruling was Amnesty International, a body that has sent fair trial monitors to observe the practices of regimes more authoritarian and less inclined to observe the rule of law.  Marie Struthers stated it plainly, noting the initial rejection of the application for a physical spot last month, followed by the granting of six remote viewing slots, reduced to one, then, it transpired, none. “This is not normal.”  To have the organisation’s “legal observer … find out this morning that he had not been granted even REMOTE access to the Assange proceedings is an outrage.” 

Rebecca Vincent, director of international campaigns of Reporters Without Borders suggested that allowing “so few trial monitors [and] journalists into today’s hearing seemed more of a political decision rather than a logistical one.”  To such exclusions could also be added parliamentarians. 

With assured opacity and a lack of transparency, the scene was set.  What would Judge Baraitser come up with to restrict the scope of Assange’s case against extradition to the US?  One lay in controlling the presentation of witness statements.   The defence suggested a full show, assisting witnesses in going through their statements in court.  The public might be better informed of the issues. 

Baraitser offered a novel reading: doing so would not assist the defence, the public or Assange “and would not be a fair.”  Another way of reading it would have been: no justifications and podiums for the cause.  James Lewis QC of the prosecution thought that the statements were adequate enough.  It followed that they would be made public.  “In my view,” concluded Baraitser on that point, “there is no benefit whatsoever to allowing the witnesses give evidence in chief.”  Thirty minutes for orientation was more than adequate. 

Defence counsel Mark Summers QC focused on the staggered nature of the US indictment against Assange, beginning initially as a single charge, ballooning into an enlarged indictment stuffed by allegations of espionage, followed by a second superseding indictment.  “It is a curiosity that the US had, in previous hearings, been content for the hearings to go ahead in February and May, presumably knowing that this was coming.”  It was not initially clear what had changed, but by August 21, the material put before the court constituted a “potential standalone basis for criminality”.  Irrespective of whether the US rejected the existing allegations linked to Chelsea Manning, “Assange can be extradited and potentially convicted for this conduct on its own and this is a resounding and new development in this case.” 

One feature of the prosecution attacked by Summers was the mentioning of Assange’s alleged “co-conspirators” linked to hacking incidents.  As Kevin Gosztola reminds us, they had been subject of legal prosecutions in the US and UK a decade ago, while Sigurdur “Siggi” Thordarson was mentioned in a filing by the prosecution last year.  It followed that material from that case, which involved conviction in Iceland for fraud, theft and impersonation of Assange, should have been included in the previous indictment.  The defence also brought up those rich remarks by the Icelandic Interior Minister at the time, who “believed the investigation [of Thordarson by the FBI] was in order to ‘frame Assange’.”

Other co-conspirators mentioned were Hector Xavier Monsegur (“Sabu”), Jake Davis (“Topiary”) and Ryan Ackroyd (“Kalya”), all making legal appearances in the Southwark Crown Court for their alleged hacking spree with LuzSec.  The defence contended that, as they were all prosecuted in the UK despite “competing US indictments being issued during the currency of the UK case”, Assange should have been prosecuted in the UK alongside such conspirators at the time. “The forum bar is obviously engaged.”

The prosecution case, in short, had become a quite different creature to the beast it originally was.  The indictment now claimed, for instance, that Assange and WikiLeaks had assisted former security contractor Edward Snowden to evade arrest.  The prosecution had also brought the focus back on alleged nefarious cyber activity on Assange’s part, thereby discrediting the need to publish material exposing, for instance, US war crimes.  Targeting the hacker distracts from the more sinister implication of targeting a publisher. 

“It would be extraordinary for this court to be beginning an extradition hearing in relation to allegations like that within weeks of their announcement,” submitted Summers, “without warning and even more extraordinary to do so in circumstances where the defendant is in custody.” 

The stunning lack of fairness was emphasised.  It was “impossible” for Assange’s team to “deal with the allegations being put to him and in relation to material for which you have been provided no explanation for their late arrival.”  Inadequate time had been given and inadequate notice, on dealing with these new “separate criminal allegations”.  With that in mind, Summers submitted that the court excise the new allegations.

Obstacles to adequate preparation have never bothered the judge in this case.  With her usual rusted stubbornness, Judge Baraitser put the blame down to the defence, essentially approving the conduct of the US Department of Justice.  Excision could only be granted in instances of a bar outlined in statute or a case of abuse of process. But not even the forum bar seemed to sway her. 

Failing in that application, Summers moved to the issue of an adjournment to January.  It was not an application without risk, given Assange’s conditions in Belmarsh prison.  “We have not been able to answer the allegations which have only been made in the last few weeks.  This has been made worse because of the conditions we are having to work under.”  No earlier application had been made for the very simple reason that Assange had not seen the new request, hobbled by poor access to documentation provided by his defence team via traditional postal means.  “We have not had an opportunity to meet and consult with him.”  He still had not received “the revised opening note” with accompanying documentation that the DOJ was developing more than a narrative, but the basis for “standalone criminality capable of sustaining a conviction if accepted in its own right.” 

Judge Baraister initially offered a nibble of tokenistic interest.  She acknowledged that the defence team had not seen Assange for some six months, and wondered if they had spoken to him by phone. Yes, came the reply, but these were incoherent episodes, consisting of two short conversations.  He had “to take in information from us on – any view – complex documents and to make him aware of the issues and to take a decision on them.”  A 10 minute adjournment followed.  Baraitser’s decision: the defence should have applied previously to do so but did not; the defence, in not doing so, should have acted as if the proceedings would continue.

Peering through the ruins of a process that is becoming more political with each session was the testimony of Mark Feldstein of the University of Maryland, authority on history and journalism.  Feldstein’s point in defence of WikiLeaks is outlined in his statement: drawing exacting definitions of what journalism is or otherwise within the US Constitution makes little sense.  “Assange … is protected by the First Amendment whether he qualifies as a journalist or not.” 

The testimony proceeded to develop such ideas.  Thousands upon thousands of leaks of classified information had informed “the public about government decision making but they also evidence government dishonesty”. Journalists made Pulitzer Prize winning careers in using material from such leaks, an activity protected by the First Amendment as “the public had a right to be informed.”  Charging publishers and news outlets was simply not done; authorities preferred to charge the source or whistleblowers.  While history evinces cases of “presidential enemies” being sought, the line had always been drawn.  Till now.

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Dr. Binoy Kampmark was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge.  He lectures at RMIT University, Melbourne. He is a frequent contributor to Global Research and Asia-Pacific Research. Email: [email protected]

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In Venezuela, Juan Guaidó no longer appears to be the leader of the opposition. The forgiveness of 110 opponents by President Nicolás Maduro completely fragmented the political wing opposing the regime, which, in practice, removes from Guaidó the “monopoly” of militancy against the government. Maduro’s decision to forgive as many opponents as possible seems particularly strategic in an election year. For the December 2020 parliamentary elections, Maduro’s allies represent the only unified and solidly based political wing in the country, while currently his opponents are fragmented into several factions.

Another oppositionist leader, Henrique Capriles has already announced that he will dispute the elections. In recent times, after a long period of silence and inactivity, Capriles has occupied an increasingly prominent place in Venezuelan politics, diminishing Guaidó’s influence on the opposition. Capriles seems to have a more interesting political alternative for some opposition groups than the proposal by Guaidó, who is a politician absolutely aligned with external interests and who openly defends Venezuela’s total subordination to Washington.

[In the 2012 presidential Elections, Capriles received financial as well as political support from the Hanns Seidel Foundation linked to the right of Bavaria’s Christian Democratic Party, M.C. GR Editor]

Perhaps this was the reason for the fall of Guaidó’s political strength. 2020 was for the opposition leader the year of his abrupt fall. On February 5, Guaidó attended a conference at the Capitol in Washington DC and was applauded by Donald Trump, Nancy Pelosi and everyone in attendance. At that time, the illusion that Guaidó was in fact the president of Venezuela was fully consolidated. Guaidó himself believed to be the country’s president, which was the starting point of his downfall.

It seemed inevitable that the invention of the “Guaidó’s presidency” would result in the opposition being closed to the Venezuelan political reality. The history of the opposition leader, since his recognition in January 2019 by Trump, is a succession of errors and deficiencies that denounce his total inability to lead the country. The most notable mistakes so far have been his explicit participation in the landing of Colombian mercenaries on the Venezuelan coast and the leakage of his connections with drug trafficking in South America, which has greatly weakened his public image inside and outside Venezuela.

Guaidó’s decline, at first, had little impact on the Venezuelan opposition, as there was his “recognition” as the country’s president. But this illusion could not last long. The proximity of the parliamentary elections in December aroused in the Venezuelan opposition a strong wave of political realism and led different factions to assume the obvious truth: Guaidó is not the president of the country. This fact becomes even more evident when Maduro pardons and legalizes more than one hundred opponents, creating ties of cordiality in internal disputes – something that Guaidó still refuses to accept. Then a scenario was created in which the opposition is divided between those who recognize the legitimacy of the government and oppose it politically in the elections and, on the other hand, Guaidó, who recognizes himself as president with American support. This new scenario will completely change the way in which political disputes in Venezuela will take place and may even destabilize the opposition’s international alliances.

How long will Washington invest in Guaidó as its ally in opposing Maduro? What makes Guaidó more interesting than, for example, the political figure of Capriles or any other politician who will announce his candidacy for the December elections? Guaidó will not run in the parliamentary elections because he believes he is the president of the country, while other politicians will run and will be able to make real and effective opposition against Maduro. Will international actors interested in the fall of the government really continue to fuel the illusion that Guaidó is the president rather than supporting opponents within Parliament? It is a question that remains unanswered, but we can predict the outcome.

Indeed, there is no future for the Venezuelan opposition as it is today. The entire political wing that opposes Maduro is absolutely fragmented, with no unity of thought among its representatives, much less a solid national project. The only thing in common that opponents want is to overthrow Maduro, but that will not happen so easily. The Venezuelan government remains strong and well-structured, with an effective political apparatus at its disposal, which cannot be seen in the opposition. Opponents’ political forgiveness was a checkmate for the next elections. The weakness of the opposition became clear and all of its representatives were disadvantaged: Guaidó lost political strength and will possibly be without international alliances; the other opponents have broken ties with Guaidó and are not strong enough to face the government, even though they may run for election.

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Lucas Leiroz is a research fellow in international law at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

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US Wants to Convert QUAD into “Asian NATO”

September 8th, 2020 by Paul Antonopoulos

Speaking last week at the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum, US Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Biegun said that the US wants the defence relations with India, Japan and Australia – known as “the QUAD” – to resemble something more closely to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). QUAD is an acronym for Quadrilateral Security Dialogue” involving four countries – the US, Japan, India and Australia. The idea of ​​unifying four of some of the most important countries in the Indo-Pacific region was launched during the first term of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. That was in 2007. After that, the idea was forgotten for 10 years. By 2017, US President Donald Trump revived it when he started promoting the concept of the Indo-Pacific Strategy to prevent Chinese dominance in the region. QUAD played a leading role in the realization of this concept.

Biegun’s statement reveals that Washington’s goal is to get the four countries and others in the Indo-Pacific region to become a bulwark against “a potential challenge from China” and “to create a critical mass around the shared values and interests of those parties in a manner that attracts more countries in the Indo-Pacific and even from around the world … ultimately to align in a more structured manner.”

“The Indo-Pacific region is actually lacking in strong multilateral structures,” he said. “They don‘t have anything of the fortitude of NATO or the European Union. The strongest institutions in Asia oftentimes are not, I think, not inclusive enough and so … there is certainly an invitation there at some point to formalise a structure like this. Remember even NATO started with relatively modest expectations and a number of countries [initially] chose neutrality over NATO membership.”

Many politicians in the region are wary of these American ideas as it is clearly directed towards China. The Americans do not hide this motive either. In addition, Southeast Asian countries are not receptive to the idea of a military bloc in the region. The White House is striving to form a military bloc in Asia-Pacific, but establishing military cooperation corresponding with each country in the QUAD is not enough. Responsibility to each other is needed and the transformation of the entire region into an area of ​​responsibility of the new organization is what has to be created if they hope to oppose China. This ambition will not be done with just existing US military bases in Okinawa and Australia, but will have to ultimately expand the network of US bases across the Indo-Pacific region if they hope to contain China’s growing influence.

When NATO was established in Europe in 1949, 12 countries joined and nothing was mentioned in the legal documents about the Soviet Union. The socialist countries of Eastern Europe then quickly became the main rival of NATO. Currently NATO has 30 members and the bloc’s border are directly on Russia’s. Even with the collapse of the Soviet Union, NATO still orchestrated and headed the breakup of Yugoslavia and then the downfall of long time Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi.

The question then becomes whether Indo-Pacific people want such a similar organization in their region that can very easily bring war and destruction.

The US, which currently has a fierce conflict with China, certainly wants to strengthen its strategic positioning by creating a coalition of states wanting to resist China’s rise. Therefore, the US Department of Defense hopes that some Southeast Asian countries, mainly those that have territorial disputes with China, like Vietnam and the Philippines, will join the QUAD, contributing financially and materially to the overall military structure. And then, as is the case in Europe, “Asian NATO” could become a tool to enact American interests in the region.

As was the case with NATO in Europe, the national armies of coalition members had to buy weapons made by the US. Therefore, the US military industrial complex will strongly support the idea of ​​establishing an “Asian NATO.” This would present vast opportunities to the American military industry as countries that previously bought Russian weapons, like India, will have to completely refurbish. But in terms of priority, of course, is the desire to curb a growing China, meaning that the refurbishment of weapons will become secondary.

It is unlikely that the QUAD will be successful in converting into an “Asian NATO” against China as such a bloc would need greater support than just Australia, India and Japan. Without the support of massive Southeast Asian countries like Indonesia and Thailand, the “Asian NATO” will not be able to contain the rise of China. Such an alliance would be heavily dependent on India to match China’s manpower and capabilities, but they fall short as China has already begun to infrastructurally develop and become a mainstay of the economies of India’s neighbors, most notably Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, thereby themselves containing India. Without the help of Southeast Asia, the QUAD cannot oppose China despite Washington’s hopes.

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Paul Antonopoulos is an independent geopolitical analyst.

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The US Must Grow Up and Respect Iranian Independence

September 8th, 2020 by Kevin Zeese

One of the lessons from our recent visit to Iran as a Peace Delegation is that Iran is a mature country. It is 2,500 years old, ten times as old as the United States and one of the world’s oldest continuous major civilizations with settlements dating back to 7,000 BC. It was an empire that controlled almost half the Earth for over 1,000 years. It is hard not to see the US-Iran relationship as one between an adolescent bully and a mature nation.

The root cause of the problems between the United States and Iran is not because Iran has oil, an Islamic government, nuclear weapons or Iran’s role in the Middle East — it is because in 1979, Iran ended 26 years of US domination. Foreign Minister Zarif explained to our Peace Delegation:

“…the U.S. difficulty with Iran is not because of the region, not because of human rights, not because of weapons, not because of the nuclear issue – it’s just because we decided to be independent – that’s it – that’s our biggest crime.”

Since the 1979 Revolution, the US has sought to dominate Iran using sanctions and threats of military aggression. Iran has responded by seeking negotiation with the US. The Iran Nuclear Agreement (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, JCPOA), which took over ten years to finalize, was viewed by Dr. Zarif as a first step toward more agreements.

Although Iran fulfilled its side of the nuclear agreement, the US did not relieve the sanctions, as promised, and under the Trump administration, increased the sanctions and left the agreement. On our trip, we learned first hand about the impacts of these actions.

Facing The Ugly Realities Of US History With Iran

Correcting the relationship between the US and Iran begins with an honest review of US policy since 1953. It is a record for which the US should be ashamed and shows the need for a new approach.

Iran Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq.

The 1953 Coup

The August 19, 1953 coup was one the US denied for decades but has now been proven by documents released by the State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency. The British government also released documents showing its involvement. Information has been made public over the decades, but even after 65 years, many documents about ‘Operation Ajax’ remain classified.

The coup was led by CIA operative Kermit Roosevelt, the grandson of President Teddy Roosevelt and cousin of President Franklin Roosevelt. The coup not only impacted Iran but the Middle East and was a model for US coups around the world, which continue to this day. As we write, we are on our way to Venezuela where a US-led coup just failed.

The 1953 coup was preceded by economic sanctions to destabilize the Mossadegh government and a Guaido-like fake Prime Minister. The coup initially failed on August 16 when the Shah fled to Baghdad and then to Rome. Before fleeing, he appointed former Gen. Fazlollah Zahedi as Prime Minister to replace the elected Prime Minister Mossadegh. Zahedi continued the coup with the military arresting Mossadegh at his home on April 19. When Operation Ajax succeeded, Zahedi became Prime Minister and the Shah returned to rule as a brutal dictator until 1979. Mossadegh was imprisoned until his death in 1967.

US Den of Espionage by Barbara Briggs-Letson

Installation Of The Brutal Shah

The Shah became the enforcer for the United States in the Middle East. His rule coincided with the US war in Vietnam when the US focused its military in Southeast Asia. When President Nixon came to office in 1969, Iran was the single-largest arms purchaser from the US. Nixon encouraged a spending spree and by 1972, the Shah purchased over $3 billion of US arms, a twenty fold increase over 1971’s record.

US weapons buying continued throughout the decade dwarfing all US allies including Israel. The weapons being sold required thousands of US military support troops in Iran. In 1977, President Carter sold more arms to Iran than any previous years. Carter toasted the Shah as “a rock of stability” during a visit to Tehran at the end of 1977.

The stability was not as rock solid as Carter imagined. Domestically, a conglomerate of western oil companies ran the oil industry taking fifty percent of the profits but not allowing Iran to audit the accounts or have members on the board of directors. The Shah recognized Israel and put in place modernization policies that alienated religious groups. In 1963, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was arrested for making a speech against the Shah after several days of protests. The Shah’s brutal secret police, the SAVAK, made mass arrests and tortured and killed political prisoners. The Islamic clergy, still headed by Khomeini living in exile since 1964, became more vociferous in its criticisms.

Mass protests and strikes struck Iran in 1978. On November 4, 1979, Iranian students seized the US Embassy and held fifty-two hostages for 444 days until January 1981. Khomeini returned from exile in February 1979. In December, a new Constitution creating the Islamic Republic was approved by referendum and Khomeini became the Supreme Leader.

Graves of martyr’s from the Iraq-Iran War at the central cemetery of Iran’s capital Tehran by Philipp Breu.

US Supports Iraq’s War Against Iran

The Iraq war would not have been possible without US encouragement and support in the form of money, naval assistance and weapons. The US also provided Iraq with the ingredients for the chemical weapons as well as intelligence on where to use them. More than one million people were killed and more than 80,000 injured by chemical weapons in the Iraq war.

The US Shoots Down A Civilian Airliner

The US also killed 289 Iranians when a US missile shot down a commercial Iranian airliner in July 1988. The US has never apologized for this mass killing of civilians. When we were in Iran, we visited the Tehran Peace Museum and our delegation did what our country should do, apologized.

Forty Years Of US Economic Sanctions

The US has imposed economic sanctions since the Islamic Revolution began. In 1980, the US broke diplomatic relations with Iran and Carter put in place sanctions including freezing $12 billion in Iranian assets and banning imports of Iranian oil. Every president since Carter has escalated sanctions against Iran. In response, Iran has developed a “resistance economy” where it has become more self-sufficient and built relationships with other countries.

Announcement of the Iran Nuclear Agreement between six world powers and Iran in the Swiss town of Lausanne. Photo from CBS News.

US Withdrawal From Nuclear Agreement And Increased Sanctions

The most recent atrocity is the failure to live up to the carefully negotiated nuclear agreement. Iran’s Foreign Minister Zarif painstakingly negotiated the 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal between China, France, Russia, the UK, Germany, the US, and the European Union for more than a decade. Iran complied with all the requirements of the agreement, but the US did not lift sanctions, as promised, and exited the deal under President Trump, leading to protests against the US throughout Iran.

The people of Iran were joyous when the JCPOA was finalized as it promised relief, i.e., the release of $29 billion in Iranian funds held abroad, allowing US exports of Iranian oil, allowing foreign firms to invest in Iran and allowing trade with the rest of the world through the global banking system.

Instead of abiding by the agreement, the US escalated sanctions against Iran. Trump’s escalation has been harsh as the US seeks “to isolate Iran politically and economically, by blocking its oil sales, access to hard currencies and foreign investments, along with more harsh sanctions and overall financial hardships on the country.” Sanctions include secondary sanctions on non-US corporations and nations doing business with Iran, which the International Criminal Court found to be illegal.

These sanctions are having a significant human impact. They are causing a rapid devaluation of Iranian currency resulting in increasing costs of basic goods, including a tripling of the cost of imported goods such as cars. When we were in Iran, we heard firsthand about the impact sanctions have on people’s lives, e.g. the inability to get life-saving medicines, make financial transactions, use apps or translate books from the US into Farsi. In a restaurant, the menu warned prices may not be as listed because of rapid inflation. We interviewed Dr. Foad Izadi of the University of Tehran on Clearing the FOG about the impact of the sanctions and how US policies are alienating youth.

We spent time at the University of Tehran with students and faculty in the American Studies department. They were excited to speak with people from the United States, as few people from the US are able to get visas, and they lamented not being allowed to travel to the US. We found that we have much in common and believe we would benefit from more exchanges with Iranians.

Ongoing US Destabilization Iran And Threats Of War

Sanctions are designed to destabilize the government but are instead uniting people against the United States. If anything, US actions will put in place a more anti-US government in upcoming elections. The US has a flawed understanding of Iranian politics and global politics around US unilateral sanctions. The Iran sanctions are likely to speed up the de-dollarization of the global economy and end US dollar hegemony and are illegal.

The US is also fomenting rebellion. The Trump administration has been seeking regime change through various actions including violence. It created a Mission Center in the CIA focused on regime change in Iran and spends millions of dollars to encourage opposition in Iran, working to manipulate protests to support a US agenda. The threat of war continues and becomes ever more likely in an administration dominated by Iran hawks, John Bolton and Mike Pompeo.

US military bases around Iran.

Creating A Peaceful, Positive Relationship Between The US And Iran

The history of US behavior toward Iran cannot be ethically defended. The US needs to appraise this history and recognize it has a lot for which to apologize, then it must correct its policies.

A group of prominent Iranian-Americans recently sent an open letter to Secretary Pompeo, writing: “If you truly wish to help the people of Iran, lift the travel ban [although no Iranian has ever been involved in a terrorist attack on U.S. soil, Iran is included in Trump’s Muslim ban], adhere to the Iran nuclear deal and provide the people of Iran the economic relief they were promised and have eagerly awaited for three years.”

Until the US is ready to accept responsibility for its abhorrent actions, Iran will continue to build a resistance economy and relations with other countries. There is talk of US-sanctioned countries joining together as a countervailing force. Such countries include Russia, Iran, Syria, North Korea, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba, Somalia, Belarus, Iraq, a number of African countries and more, as well as China with US trade tariffs. Building relationships through civil society, academia, professional societies, and government are needed to create a unified opposition to challenge US sanctions.

Our tasks in the US are to create opportunities for greater knowledge about and exchanges with Iran. Students at the University of Tehran are interested in dialogue with students and professors in the US. Members of the peace delegation live in areas across the US and can speak to groups about Iran. Contact us at [email protected] if you are interested in any of the above. We must educate our members of Congress about Iran and insist that the sanctions be lifted and that the US rejoin the JCPOA, and we must stop the threats of war against Iran.

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From 9/11 to Covid-19: 19 Years of Media Lies.

September 8th, 2020 by Dr. Eric Beeth

Our media is dutifully reminding us that it was 19 years ago since the traumatic events of 9/11.

Here in Brussels, we usually have a solemn ceremony every Sept 11th in front of a large twisted metal beam from one of the top floors of the North WTC tower that is called the “9/11 and Article 5 Memorial”.  It reminds not only about the strange things that happened to the WTC that day, but also that these events led Europe to join in the “War on Terror” that Pres. George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld initiated on that day.  I never go to that Memorial : it is situated in the same Commune as where I live, but on the restricted grounds of NATO, where even journalists are no longer welcome, due to that strange SARS-virus everyone is talking about. 

To me, a simple General Practitioner in Belgium, this anniversary represents 19 years of media lies. More sadly for me, it also represents 19 years of complicit academic silence. 

The urge to write this today comes fresh from arriving back from a large demonstration in Brussels of the performing artists and event sector, who are now in their 7th month of not being able to work due to the fears of spreading the new SARS-CoV-2 virus.

The talking points of our leaders, like Ursula von der Leyen, the UN and WHO has been : “There is no treatment against Covid-19”, and “We will not go back to normal until the virus vanishes or there is a vaccine”.   

Major efforts are deployed to contain the spread of the new virus, including a tracking system that seems like the wet-dream of one of those IT-technofascists.

The government, media and academia keep hammering that these measures are necessary, as there is otherwise no way to counter this new virus.

But the people in the street do not believe what their government, media and academics are telling them.

Should we be surprised?

Every 11th of the month I take the day off, in protest against the complacency and complicitness of especially our media, politicians, lawyers and academics to not be curious about what really took place on September 11th, 2001.

One of those days of protest, back in June 2008, I found myself at a conference organized jointly by the Belgian Red Cross and EUropean RESources for victims of TErrorism (EURESTE).  The full day conference was about how to communicate to a population during a catastrophe.  The take home message was to make sure only one message was given, – even if it turns out later that this message is not the truthful one.

The take home message for a citizen should be:  do not trust an anonymous authority – especially if it is speaking with only one voice out of some kind of sanitary crisis task force. 

As we were discussing the events of September 11th during the conference, I brought up how the “Emergency Management Center”, ( just before evacuating WTC7 themselves) sent repetitious instructions not to evacuate the Twin Towers, even after the second plane had hit the South Tower.

We kind of had a similar situation here in Belgium, just as we started having an increase in Covid-19 cases, anonymous government experts put out recommendations not to use hydroxychloroquine to treat our vulnerable and sick patients.  They also managed to confiscate most of the available pharmaceutical stockpiles and move the HCQ to a secure place, where it was kept as reserves for the Belgian Army, and handed out parsimoniously to hospitals respecting strict regulations of its use.

It is not that hydroxychloroquine is a dangerous drug: it has been in use for 70 years and has probably been sold in more units than any other prescription drug.  What seemed to be so dangerous with the drug, was that if indeed it was a very cheap and effective way to treat early cases of COVID-19 in vulnerable patients, then the enormous “COVID-19 security measures” would no longer be necessary.

The big trouble is that once the government has closed ranks to defend its original message, a whole process of credibility damage management sets in, and the original erroneous messages need to be maintained. 

We can also see this with September 11th 2001 :  if you look up the event on a Wikipedia page today, you will read a tale about the tragic events of Sept 11 that closely follows the storyline that was penned in the New-York Times on Sept 12th 2001, or perhaps before that…

Through the magic of “The Great Wurlitzer”, this storyline went out to all the World’s newspapers and medias. Once the story-line established itself, it pancaked on more and more layers of professional spin so hardly any official media or academic institution challenged the story, even though any sane child above 10 years of age would understand that 3 enormous skyscrapers cannot pulverise to dust – and produce lakes of molten metal – by being hit by 2 airplanes. 

Due to the collective trauma of the crime that was perpetuated on Sept. 11th, peoples sane and comfortable belief in physical reality was severely shaken.  For a great many, especially the academics and the journalists, who are employed to be knowledgeable, could not face the cognitive pain of having to admit to themselves that they were perhaps wrong.  I have been witnessing a process of 19 years of damage control to protect the original narrative that was set into motion. 

This is why academia and main-stream news coverage and most politicians cannot be trusted today.

These people are engaged in damage control of their own reputation.  In order to thrive in their ranks, you need to prove how blind, ignorant or careless you are towards certain talking points/realities.  Like the politicians Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld, reality is no longer the place to be : the name of the game is to impose a reality like the builders of an Empire, for others to comply to.

If you would like to make a stand for Science, Truth and Justice in our society, it could have a lot of healing effect to actually also address this 19 year old cancer in our collective human psyche :  This week is a great time to find out from some of the best sources what independent researchers have uncovered thus far :  there will be a 3 day “Justice Rising Conference” from Sept 11th to September 13th.  You can all join in while the conference will be streaming on www.AE911Truth.org  .  The conference is free, but of-course we hope many will be inspired to join in and help in any way they can to restore integrity to academia and science.

AE911Truth.org is also running an appeal, together with 9/11 victim families, to force the National Institute for Standards in Technology ( NIST) to review and correct the many errors in the 2008 NIST report that describes the cause of collapse of WTC7 on the afternoon of Sept 11th 2001. 

The medical journal “The Lancet” had one of those NIST moments, when it was caught publishing flawed data that seemed to be tailor made to throw hydroxychloroquine in a bad light.  The publishing of such clearly falsified material had serious consequences: many doctors stopped giving their Covid-19 patients hydroxychloroquine, and some of these patients died.

As you blunder into more and more horridly bad policy decisions, the stakes increase to maintain the original storyline, even though a reality-check will show that you have built your castle in quicksand.

This is where we stand today :  we have the media, politicians and academia that we deserve, since we allow them – at least these last 19 ignominious years, to hide the obvious truth in plain sight, in order to be able to maintain their narrative. 

This time, it is not an un-investigated mass murder leading to 19 years of multiple ugly and totally unnecessary war theatres in foreign lands.  This time, it is about human society as we know it, being run by an elite that seeks total control over our body, and all our monetary transactions. 

The time is ripe to invite human values and common sense back to the forefront of our daily lives.

It is time that we put our chosen politicians and media to a litmus test : do they have any credibility about understanding common sense issues like what really happened on Sept. 11th 2001, or why is it that we have a World Health Organisation that seems uninterested in treatments that work against Covid-19, unless it involves an experimental vaccine destined for 7 Billion healthy people? 

The people who continue lying or push for well financed but extremely dangerous Big-Pharma/IT solutions, they do not deserve to be trusted. 

The human race has an opportunity NOW to go back to common sense, or it can choose to believe “Dr. Tedros” and “Dr. Bill Gates” that there is no going back to normal – unless we all sign on to the digital currency trap, and perhaps accept that our genome will need quarterly updates like our omnipresent Microsoft computers and Windows systems. 

I am sick of these last 19 years of media lies.

If you could help out to bring back common sense to our media, I promise I’ll go back to work, even on the 11th of the month!

Thank-you in advance for all who spread light, love, and common sense.  A very heart-felt thank-you to www.GlobalResearch.ca  for providing all these 19 years of independent journalism, that, much better than TNYT, helped me better understand the bigger picture as seen from diverse independent perspectives. 

Please remember to attend the 3 day FREE on-line conference at www.AE911Truth.org  + make a donation there or here , at www.GlobalResearch.ca 

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Will Trump Pardon Snowden and Assange if Re-elected?

September 8th, 2020 by Nauman Sadiq

Speculations about a presidential pardon for the whistleblower Edward Snowden, who leaked National Security Agency’s classified information to the press in 2013, have grown since last month after Donald Trump commented on the case in an interview [1] with The New York Post on August 13. “There are a lot of people that think that he is not being treated fairly,” Trump said in the interview, “I mean, I hear that.”

At another occasion, during a news conference at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, Trump said: “There are many, many people — it seems to be a split decision — many people think that he should somehow be treated differently and other people think he did very bad things, I’m going to take a very good look at it.”

What lends credence to the speculations that Edward Snowden could be granted a presidential pardon is the fact that a US Court of Appeals held the National Security Agency’s (NSA) program, leaked by Snowden, illegal last week [2], thus implicitly acquitting Snowden of any wrongdoing.

Top US intelligence officials had publicly insisted the NSA had never knowingly collected data from private phone records, until Snowden exposed evidence to the contrary in 2013.

Following the revelation, officials said the NSA’s surveillance program had played a crucial role in fighting domestic terrorism, including the convictions of Basaaly Saeed Moalin, Ahmed Nasir Taalil Mohamud, Mohamed Mohamud, and Issa Doreh, of San Diego, for providing aid to al-Shabab militants in Somalia.

But on Wednesday, September 2, the Court of Appeals said the claims were “inconsistent with the contents of the classified records” and the program had violated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The ruling, however, will not affect the 2013 convictions of the financiers of the al-Shabab militants.

Following the court ruling, Edward Snowden felt vindicated and jubilantly tweeted: “I never imagined that I would live to see our courts condemn the NSA’s activities as unlawful, and in the same ruling, credit me for exposing them, and yet that day has arrived.”

The case of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is more complicated since after serving a 50-week sentence for skipping bail, he is being kept in the high-security Belmarsh prison where his health is deteriorating. He appeared before the British Old Bailey Court today, September 7, for the hearing of a US extradition request, where fresh charges were brought against him. He had already been indicted by a grand jury in the US on 18 counts of violating Espionage Act and could serve up to 175 years in prison if convicted.

Nevertheless, Donald Trump is personally indebted to the Wikileaks for exposing the lies and deceits of Hillary Clinton, when she served as then-President Obama’s Secretary of State from 2009 to 2013, in the run-up to the 2016 US presidential elections.

In fact, in a November 2018 article titled “Manafort held secret talks with Assange in Ecuadorian embassy” [3] by the Guardian newspaper, the author of the report Luke Harding alleged that Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort held secret talks with Julian Assange inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2013, 2015 and in March 2016, and was offered pardon in exchange for helping Trump campaign defeat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 US presidential elections.

It bears mentioning that unlike dyed-in-the-wool globalists and interventionist hawks, such as Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton, who cannot look past beyond the tunnel vision of political establishments, it seems that pacifist and non-interventionist Donald Trump not only follows news from conservative mainstream outlets, like the Fox News, but is also familiar with alternative news perspectives, such as Breitbart and New York Post, though belonging to alt-right American libertarian movement.

The biggest hurdle in pardoning the whistleblowers and pursuing a non-interventionist foreign policy to appease Trump’s alt-right electoral base has been the American deep state, led by the State and Defense department bureaucracies.

Regarding the foreign policy, a clear schism between the White House and the American deep state, led by the Pentagon and the State Department, was evident throughout Trump’s four-year tenure. After being elected as the US president in January 2017, Donald Trump delegated operational-level decisions in the Middle East’s conflict zones, such as Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, to the Pentagon.

Former Secretary of Defense James Mattis and former National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster represented the institutional logic of the deep state in the Trump administration and were instrumental in advising Donald Trump to escalate the conflicts in Afghanistan and Syria.

They advised Trump to substantially increase the number of American troops deployed in Afghanistan, and in Syria, they were in favor of the Pentagon’s policy of training and arming 30,000 Kurdish border guards to patrol Syria’s northern borders along Turkey.

Both the decisions backfired on the Trump administration. The decision to train and arm 30,000 Kurdish border guards infuriated the Erdogan administration to the extent that Turkey mounted Operation Olive Branch in the Kurdish-held enclave of Afrin in northwest Syria lasting from January to March 2018.

It was the second military operation conducted by the Turkish armed forces and their Syrian militant proxies against the Kurdish-held areas in northern Syria. The first Operation Euphrates Shield in Jarabulus and Azaz in northern Syria lasted from August 2016 to March 2017, immediately after the foiled coup plot against the Erdogan administration in July 2016.

Nevertheless, after capturing Afrin in March 2018, the Turkish armed forces and their Syrian jihadist proxies mounted Operation Peace Spring in October 2019 and occupied a 30 kilometers deep stretch of land between Tal Abyad and Ain Issa in northeast Syria.

Thus, it didn’t come as a surprise that Trump replaced H.R. McMaster with John Bolton as National Security Advisor in April 2018 and Bolton too was sacked in September last year. Similarly, Secretary of Defense James Mattis also tendered his resignation in December 2018 over President Trump’s announcement of withdrawal of American troops from Syria following the defeat of the Republican Party candidates in the US midterm elections in November 2018.

In fact, Trump’s entire national security team remained a liability for him during his tenure as president, hampering his efforts to disengage from global conflicts. Nevertheless, he has grown more confident and assertive in the last year of his presidency.

In July, the Trump administration announced plans to withdraw 12,000 American troops from Germany and sought to cut funding for the Pentagon’s European Deterrence Initiative, though the main factor that prompted Trump to pull out American forces from Germany was German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s refusal to attend G-7 summit in person due to coronavirus outbreak. The summit was scheduled to be held at Camp David on June 10 but was cancelled. About half of the troops withdrawn from Germany were re-deployed in Europe, mainly in Italy and Poland, and the rest returned to the US.

Besides withdrawing 12,000 troops from Germany, the Trump administration has also pledged to scale down American troop presence in Afghanistan after reaching a peace deal with the Taliban on February 29. The United States currently has about 8,600 troops in Afghanistan, and plans to cut its troop levels in Afghanistan to “a number less than 5,000” by the end of November, Defense Secretary Mark Esper announced in August, before the complete withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan by April next year, as stipulated by the terms of the peace pact reached with the Taliban at Doha, Qatar.

Finally, after liberating Mosul and Anbar from the Islamic State in Iraq in July 2017 and Raqqa in Syria in October 2017, the Trump administration has decided [4] to reduce the number of American troops deployed in Iraq from current 5,200 to 3,500 troops in the next three months.

Similarly, before the evacuation of 1,000 American troops from northern Syria last year, the Pentagon had 2,000 US forces in Syria. After the drawdown of US troops at Erdogan’s insistence in order for Ankara to mount a ground offensive in northern Syria, the US has still deployed around 1,000 troops, mainly in oil-rich eastern Deir al-Zor province and at al-Tanf military base.

Al-Tanf military base is strategically located in southeastern Syria on the border between Syria, Iraq and Jordan, and it straddles on a critically important Damascus-Baghdad highway, which serves as a lifeline for Damascus. Washington has illegally occupied 55-kilometer area around al-Tanf since 2016, and several hundred US Marines have trained thousands of Syrian militants in the military base battling the Syrian government.

It’s pertinent to note that rather than fighting the Islamic State, the purpose of continued presence of the US forces at al-Tanf military base is to address Israel’s concerns regarding the expansion of Iran’s influence in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.

Nauman Sadiq is an Islamabad-based attorney, columnist and geopolitical analyst focused on the politics of Af-Pak and Middle East regions, neocolonialism and petro-imperialism.

Notes:

[1] Trump Says He’ll Look Into a Pardon for Edward Snowden:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/15/us/politics/trump-snowden-esper.html

[2] NSA surveillance exposed by Snowden ruled unlawful:

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-54013527

[3] Manafort held secret talks with Assange in Ecuadorian embassy:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/nov/27/manafort-held-secret-talks-with-assange-in-ecuadorian-embassy 

[4] US to reduce number of troops in Iraq from 5,200 to 3,500 in next three months.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/us-troops-iraq-pentagon-trump-soldiers-a9694081.html

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Kevin Zeese: A Tireless, Towering Voice for Peace and Justice

September 8th, 2020 by Felicity Arbuthnot

A tireless, towering voice for peace and justice has departed, leaving a hole in many hearts, his unexpected loss also rendering many eloquent fellow travellers lost for words in grief and shock.

Kevin Zeese died early on Sunday 6th September of a suspected heart attack.

One who spoke for many was former (US) Green Party Co-Chair Andrea Mérida Cuéllar:

“He was a giant among activists, a brilliant scholar and writer and a true lover of peace and justice. We remember his defence of the Venezuelan Embassy and subsequent victory on behalf of the Venezuelan people. He loved humanity so much that he never stopped fighting for it … He was a lion. He was amazing.”

Kevin, co-founder of Popular Resistance and a member of the Advisory Board of World Beyond War, crammed more into his sixty four years than many would believe possible, every action with impeccable research, commitment and devotion. He used his legal training to right wrongs, at home and abroad, undaunted. Hand-extending was often at considerable personal cost.

For instance, the reference to the Venezuelan Embassy, above, was in April-May 2019, when Kevin, his partner, Margaret Flowers, with Adrienne Pine, David Paul, and eighty others, moved in to the Embassy in Washington’s Georgetown to prevent the entirely illegitimate, Trump-designated “President” of Venezuela, Juan Gerardo Guaidó Márquez or fellow illegal aspirants, inhabiting the building in their effort to overthrow the legitimate President, Nicolás Maduro.

The US government laid siege to the Embassy, cutting of water, electricity and food supplies. To conserve food, all except the above four reluctantly left. The US government subsequently executed a SWAT-style raid on the Venezuelan government-backed, Embassy protectors.

The group faced a year in jail and $100,000 fine each. In February this year a Jury refused to convict the four. In June the charges were dropped.

Kevin Zeese, was tireless in denouncing:

“US illegal sanctions and covert operations that affect the progressive efforts of the peoples of Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Cuba, and beyond. His legal background only strengthened his conviction about the illegality of all these US unilateral sanctions that only increase the suffering of millions of Latin Americans”,

sums up Popular Resistance.Org

Last year, he and Margaret’s travels included Iran. Their article (1) with their ever joint bi-line should be read by every missile thumping, would-be Iran-invading Western politician, military planner and war-mongering General. And by all who want to know, understand and build bridges. It is a beautifully written, deep, shocking, shaming, indictment of (another) hideously painful, swathe of murderous US history.

They also reminded:

“The US also killed 289 Iranians when a US missile shot down a commercial Iranian airliner in July 1988. The US has never apologized for this mass killing of civilians. When we were in Iran, we visited the Tehran Peace Museum and our delegation did what our country should do, apologized.”

Written with knowledge, passion and understanding the concluding section believes that without sabre rattling and with will and desire: “Creating A Peaceful, Positive Relationship Between The US And Iran” is a realistic possibility.

Returning from Iran, they were greeted by the FBI. Peace making is clearly a threatening undertaking.

In tragic irony, Kevin died the day before the start of the trial of Julian Assange at London’s Central Criminal Court, attempting to extradite him to the US for publishing many truths, and shining lights on the lies which led to the illegal invasion of Iraq. He sat on the advisory board of Courage Foundation which defends Julian Assange, Edward Snowden, Jeremy Hammond, Chelsea Manning and other whistleblowers and where he stood in defence of dissidents and journalists.

Kevin Zeese was also Press Secretary to Howard Hawkins, a Co-Founder of the US Green Party and the party’s Presidential nominee in the 2020 Presidential election. He writes: “Kevin leaves an enormous hole in his wake. He would want his legacy to be that we filled it by multiplying our efforts to bring about a better world.”

Love, gratitude and thanks from across the globe embrace his memory and Margaret, and wish her every strength.

Today our thoughts are with Kevin Zeese, whose actions and writings together with Margaret Flowers reflect a far-reaching and lifelong commitment to people’s struggles.

Kevin Zeese’s Legacy lives.

Kevin has been contributing to Global Research since 2005. His incisive articles can be consulted below:

Archive of articles on Global Research

 

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¡Kevin Zeese, PRESENTÉ!

September 8th, 2020 by Black Alliance for Peace

The anti-imperialist and anti-war movement suffered a great loss early Sunday morning with the sudden passing of activist Kevin Zeese.

Margaret Flowers, his life partner, captured the sentiments of many of us who knew Kevin and were shocked by his passing, when she said to know Kevin is to know how ”… amazing, kind and selfless a person Kevin was. He never asked for anything, but was always there for others. He had such great knowledge and wisdom. He was a gentle giant and his death is a huge loss for me personally and I know for many people who are a friend or who worked with him over the years.”

It was that kind of solidarity and commitment to people that compelled Kevin, along with Margaret and all of the activists who became known worldwide as the Embassy Protection Collective, to hold the Venezuelan embassy in Washington, D.C., for 37 days to prevent it from being taken over by the unelected, right-wing forces who aligned with Juan Guaido. It was an amazing and heroic act of internationalist solidarity that will go down in the annals of the people’s history.

Another country Kevin was especially concerned about that now finds itself in the crosshairs of U.S. criminal aggression is Nicaragua.

The Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) shares those concerns and pledges to the memory of Kevin to raise the visibility inside the United States of the heroic struggle of the Nicaraguan people to preserve the integrity of their project.

Central to Kevin’s concerns was respecting the will and sovereignty of peoples around the world. That is why he adamantly opposed U.S. and European sanctions. Kevin recognized sanctions were acts of war, and that they usually target the civilian population with inevitable death, suffering and destruction. We at BAP will go even further and say sanction regimes are acts of state terrorism when they are applied unilaterally by rogue states, such as the United States.

So, while our hearts are heavy, we know Kevin would tell us not to mourn too long and get back to fulfilling our duty to organize and fight at the center of the U.S. empire. That is how Kevin will be present—as our inspiration, both as we struggle and once the people win!

***

Today our thoughts are with Kevin Zeese, whose actions and writings together with Margaret Flowers reflect a far-reaching and lifelong commitment to people’s struggles.

Kevin Zeese’s Legacy live.

Kevin has been contributing to Global Research since 2005. His incisive articles can be consulted below:

Archive of articles on Global Research

Driven by WHO, the Geneva UN Medical Directors (UNMD) group has just issued a CONSENSUS STATEMENT for UN staff in Geneva that is essentially warning UN staff of stricter measures to be taken, such as mask wearing in the office when 2-meter distances could not be respected, as well as increased working from home again, when as recently as in June these conditions were relaxed. Working from home means separating colleagues from each other, connecting them by Zoom, but NO HUMAN CONTACT. That’s the name of the game.

The UNMD refers to the Canton of Geneva’s new regulations, based on Switzerland’s claim of a steady increase in Covid-19 “infections”. Since the beginning of July new “cases” have surpassed 100 a day and reached even way beyond 200 at the end of July and above 250 in mid-August. The testing positive has allegedly steadily increased and often by close to 10% per day. Now, surprisingly – they say – 40% of the “cases” concern people between 20 and 40 years of age. But who checks? – Is it a mandate by WHO to diversify the statistics, so as to better justify universal vaccination and another total lockdown?

We know by now that nothing of this, masks, “cases / infections”, quarantine, lockdown, vaccination, or any other repressive measure have anything to do with covid. They are means and instruments for the New World Order (NWO) to “train” the population for total obedience and control by the invisible super power, or deep dark state. WHO plays a key role in this nefarious plans, as it still is regarded by most people and governments as an authority, as far as world health is concerned which sadly, it has ceased to be decades ago.

The Canton of Geneva, where, incidentally, WHO and the UN are located, is the “worst” Canton of Switzerland, counting for about a third of all “infections”. So, say the Swiss authorities. A spokesperson of the Swiss Ministry of Health remarked, “if Geneva were a separate country, anybody coming from Geneva to the rest of Switzerland would have to go into quarantine.”

How scary!

That’s the level of fearmongering going on – justifying obliging face masks in public places and shops and closed areas. Never mind that there is a strong protest of small shop keepers and retail corporations, since they are losing rapidly customers. People do not want to shop with masks. They also find it useless. So, they migrate to online shopping, much of it abroad. Retail losses are estimated at least at 30%. There is already talk of forcing a masquerade also in the streets. Likewise, new emphasis is put on ‘social distancing’. People are to be trained and reminded at every corner to stay away from each other. A masquerade with people walking – in lockstep – or standing two meters apart.

If a Martian would see the human race, no backbone, no self-esteem, just following orders for what most serious scientists consider human history’s worst hoax – he or she, the Martian, would think “the human race has gone mad, let them lockstepping themselves into oblivion. Let’s the hell get out of this lovely blue but crazy planet.”

And the population zombies along because the authorities order them to do so, under threat of fines – against all common sense. But zombies have been deprived of any common sense to resist in masses. Such restrictions and more are now in place until at least 1 October 2020. That’s about the beginning of the 2020 / 2021 flu season which will be conveniently mixed up with covid-19 – and justifies another lockdown – not to forget – with mass vaccination, for covid and flu. Quarantine, livelihood destruction – an economic skyfall into more poverty, more misery, more deprivation, more famine – more death. Not covid- death, but socioeconomic death. That’s exactly what the eugenics fanatics are dreaming of. A decimation of the world population.

WHO is part and parcel of the party, recommending these steps, if and when they are told to do so. By the invisible monsters, of course. The UN is going along. Or, is it the UN who has forced these increasing covid figures in Geneva, so they may prepare first their staff, then the population in general – worldwide – for a new lockdown in October-November? – All is possible.

We are in for the long haul; the UN paper suggests. And so do authorities (sic-sic), not only in Switzerland, but all around the world. Look at the tyrannical oppressive measures of Melbourne, the Department of Victoria in Australia; similar in New Zealand; South Africa; Thailand has hermetically closed all her borders – Germany is preparing for a new lockdown, though they say the contrary (not withstanding a strong popular resistance), so is France – and the US, State by sorry State, as they are battling racial unrest, Woke protests, Black Lives Matter (BLM) movements, and anti-police riots. All organized and paid for by the Soroses, Rockefellers, Fords, Gates and more oligarchic “philanthropic” humanitarian foundations. The mainstream cannot even keep up anymore with covering the US city chaos.

All this talk, predictions, projections, threats, contradictions, anarchy in the cities – is fabricated on purpose not only to confuse, but also to repress and depress people. Hopelessness is an effective weapon. It’s a weaponized narrative.

The “Consensus Statement of the Geneva UN Medical Directors network” starts by saying – “The recent surge in new cases” – without ever describing what NEW CASES entail.

New infections? Newly tested positive, but no symptoms? Sick people? Hospitalized people? People who died? – In fact, the death rate has not gone up whatsoever. Nobody has died from these “new cases” or “new infections”. But nobody reports on this important fact.

It sounds dramatic: a case, an infection — but nobody dares ask the so-called pathetic and corrupted authorities such crucial questions. Nobody asks for an explanation what these “increased figures” really mean? – Are they increased as a function of increased testing? How is testing performed? Does anybody ever ask how the infamous and controversial polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests are performed and analyzed, and the results reported into the annals of statistics, so as to produce ever more “virus-cases”?

The website “Virology Down Under” reports a comment of Professor Martin Haditsch, writing in ProMed-mail:

As to my knowledge “infection” is defined as the proof of an infectious agent AND the proof of multiplication of this agent inside the body (OR associated inflammatory response that can be linked to this agent). Therefore, my question is: where was the specimen taken from the “asymptomatic” nurses? PCR, as we all know, just detects nucleic acids. So, if multiplication cannot be proven and no local or systemic inflammatory response is given, how was “contamination” (no matter whether due to inactivated parts of MERS-CoV or even complete virus particles) ruled out? This is not a semantic question only but should impact the reported number of “cases”.

Does the surge in “new cases” coincide with a surge of new tests?

Who makes the tests?

Is there an independent entity that controls the tests, monitors the tests, as to who is tested and when and with what frequency tests are carried out – and the results reported? For example, are people who are tested several times, also reported several times?

The UNMD CONSENSUS STATEMENT is nothing but a support to the globalized fearmongering. It fits an agenda, a huge sinister agenda. The compulsory mask wearing is the most detested measure imposed by the deep dark state – the invisible masters that are pressuring us into a NWO scheme. They know it. They love it. They are psychopaths. And mask-wearing is dangerous, dangerous for one’s health and well-being.

In most places in Europe, the new school year just began. Students in many places are forced to wear masks, where “social distancing” in class rooms cannot be respected. Many students have been interviewed throughout Europe – and probably on other Continents too. Their response is almost unanimous – masks are uncomfortable, concentration is faltering after about two hours, we are exhausted in the evening and often have headaches. No wonder, breathing your own CO2 instead of oxygen cannot be very healthy.

The forced mask-wearing is an important agenda in the Great Transformation or the Great Reset, predicted by both the IMF and the WEF (World Economic Forum), to be officially “rolled out” in Davos, Switzerland in January 2021. It is an agenda of re-education by rituals. The mask wearing is a ritual on behavioral acceptance. It’s a ritual of initiation towards obedience. The faster and easier you accept the mask, the faster you are accepted – accepted in society. Most people want to be accepted. It makes them comfortable, no matter how much this acceptance is uncomfortable and based on lies.

Watch the first 4 min. of this video.

Then there are the few who will resist, who don’t care about acceptance. They fiercely resist. The system of tyranny makes sure they are socially discriminated and excluded from “society” they are social no-goes. They are looked at as if they were monsters, spreaders of disease, discriminated against, excluded. It is the old “divide to conquer”. Your friend for years has suddenly become your enemy. Families, groups, clubs, entire societies are divided and made to despise each other – division along the ‘ritual line’.

Amazing how it works for masks. Wait until you see how it works for vaccination – another ritual being prepared, as we are oblivious to what’s awaiting us in the next 5 to 10 years. Think Agenda ID2020 and Agenda 2030 – under the UN disguise of Sustainable Development Goals.

We are not doomed yet. But we have to act fast and decisively and in unison – in solidarity. Let’s reinvent solidarity.

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Peter Koenig is an economist and geopolitical analyst. He is also a water resources and environmental specialist. He worked for over 30 years with the World Bank and the World Health Organization around the world in the fields of environment and water. He lectures at universities in the US, Europe and South America. He writes regularly for Global Research; ICH; New Eastern Outlook (NEO); RT; Countercurrents, Sputnik; PressTV; The 21st Century; Greanville Post; Defend Democracy Press; The Saker Blog, the and other internet sites. He is the author of Implosion – An Economic Thriller about War, Environmental Destruction and Corporate Greed – fiction based on facts and on 30 years of World Bank experience around the globe. He is also a co-author of The World Order and Revolution! – Essays from the Resistance. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization.

Closing down the Global Economy as a means to combating the Virus.

That’s what they want us to believe.

If the public had been informed that Covid-19 is “similar to Influenza”, the fear campaign would have fallen flat…

The data and concepts have been manipulated with a view to sustaining the fear campaign.

The estimates are meaningless.

The figures have been hyped to justify the lockdown and the closure of the national economy, with devastating economic and social consequences.

The Virus is held responsible for poverty and mass unemployment. 

Video: What is Covid-19. The Fear Campaign has no Scientific Basis. Michel Chossudovsky

With Excerpts from Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s Speech to a Mass Protest Movement in Berlin

Note: According to scientific opinion, Covid-19 is akin (similar) to Seasonal Influenza (Flu) (Viruses A, B), Covid-19 is a coronavirus.

The common cold is often triggered by a coronavirus. “Common human coronaviruses, including types 229E, NL63, OC43, and HKU1, usually cause mild to moderate upper-respiratory tract illnesses, like the common cold.”

Seasonal influenza is not a coronavirus.

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Selected Articles: COVID-19 Tests and Assange’s Extradition Hearing

September 7th, 2020 by Global Research News

We hope that by publishing diverse view points, submitted by journalists and experts dotted all over the world, the website can serve as a reminder that no matter what narrative we are presented with, things are rarely as cut and dry as they seem.

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COVID19 PCR Tests Are Scientifically Meaningless

By Torsten Engelbrecht and Konstantin Demeter, September 07, 2020

Lockdowns and hygienic measures around the world are based on numbers of cases and mortality rates created by the so-called SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR tests used to identify “positive” patients, whereby “positive” is usually equated with “infected.”

But looking closely at the facts, the conclusion is that these PCR tests are meaningless as a diagnostic tool to determine an alleged infection by a supposedly new virus called SARS-CoV-2.

The U.S. Is Determined to Make Julian Assange Pay for Exposing the Cruelty of Its War on Iraq

By Prof. Vijay Prashad, September 07, 2020

The hearing that Assange will face has nothing to do with the reasons for his arrest from the embassy of Ecuador in London on April 11, 2019. He was arrested that day for his failure to surrender in 2012 to the British authorities, who would have extradited him to Sweden; in Sweden, at that time, there were accusations of sexual offenses against Assange that were dropped in November 2019. Indeed, after the Swedish authorities decided not to pursue Assange, he should have been released by the UK government. But he was not.

Julian Assange: Future Generations of Journalists Will Not Forgive Us if We Do Not Fight Extradition

By Peter Oborne, September 07, 2020

Indeed, Assange’s extradition hearing at the Old Bailey next week marks a profound moment for British journalists. Assange faces 18 charges under the US Espionage Act, which carry a potential sentence of 175 years – put away for the rest of his life.

But his case represents an attack on journalism and democratic accountability. If Britain capitulates to Trump’s America, the right to publish leaked material in the public interest could suffer a devastating blow.

The “Stalinist” Trial of Julian Assange

By John Pilger, September 07, 2020

If the powerful lie to us, we have the right to know. If they say one thing in private and the opposite in public, we have the right to know. If they conspire against us, as Bush and Blair did over Iraq, then pretend to be democrats, we have the right to know.

It is this morality of purpose that so threatens the collusion of powers that want to plunge much of the world into war and wants to bury Julian alive in Trumps fascist America.

Sweden Now Has a Lower COVID-19 Death Rate than the US. Here’s Why It Matters

By Jon Miltimore, September 07, 2020

Experts and media around the world all seemed to agree, with a few notable exceptions, that lockdowns were the sound approach to the COVID-19 pandemic.

There’s been much less talk about Sweden of late. The reason, it would seem, is that Sweden’s strategy appears to have tamed the virus. While countries around the world are experiencing a resurgence of COVID-19 outbreaks, Sweden’s COVID-19 deaths have slowed to a crawl.

As British Judge Made Rulings Against Julian Assange, Her Husband Was Involved with Right-wing Lobby Group Briefing Against WikiLeaks Founder

By Matt Kennard and Mark Curtis, September 07, 2020

Westminster chief magistrate Lady Emma Arbuthnot made two key legal rulings against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in February 2018, which ensured he would not be able to take up his asylum in Ecuador.

Around this time, her husband, Lord James Arbuthnot, a former Conservative defence minister with links to the British military and intelligence establishment, was working closely with the neo-conservative Henry Jackson Society (HJS), a pressure group with a strongly anti-Assange agenda. Lord Arbuthnot has hosted and chaired events for the HJS at the House of Lords and long sat on its “political council”.

Australian Government’s Own Website Admits COVID Tests Are Totally Unreliable

By Dr. David James, September 07, 2020

They know their PCR tests are dodgy and the serology tests are useless, so they are hiding it in plain sight in the hope that no-one picks up on it.

Yet testing positive is what is being called a ‘case’ (a word that usually applies people who are obviously sick) and the rise in so-called ‘cases’ is being used as the rationale for abusive and absurd lockdowns in Melbourne (where this writer lives).

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As the Israel-Palestine conflict grinds on with no end in sight, Israel and the US have launched an all-out push to resolve the conflict once and for all, on Israel’s terms. If the manoeuvre is successful, Israel will end up with all of the territories it conquered during the 1967 war, including all of the Golan Heights and Jerusalem and most of the Palestinian Territories, including the best sources of water and agricultural land. The West Bank will find itself in the same situation as the Gaza strip, cut off from the outside world and surrounded by hostile Israeli military forces and Israeli settlements.

Palestine in the regional and international geopolitical context

The current economic, political and social situation in Palestine must be considered in the regional context. Two aspects are of most immediate relevance in this sense: the first is the long running confrontation between the US, Israel, the Saudis and the UAE (along with their other allies and associates) and the ‘Axis of Resistance’.

The second geopolitical development that is of fundamental significance for the Palestinian people is the attempt by Israel (with the emphatic support of the Trump administration and most of the US Congress) to resolve the ‘Palestinian question’ by normalizing relations with as many Arab and Muslim countries as possible while at the same time proceeding with the plan to annex large chunks of Palestinian territory and keeping the Palestinian inhabitants in conditions of severe deprivation and isolation.

In each instance there are broad similarities but also some significant differences in the postures of different countries and international organizations to these two key topics. There are also the superimposed bilateral and multilateral confrontations and rivalries, of which the mutual antagonism between Iran and the US, Israel and the Saudis is one of the most important. There is also the rivalry between Turkey, the Saudis and Iran to be considered the ‘leader’ of the Muslim world, and a deepening enmity and confrontation between Turkey and Egypt. All of these elements and opposing forces are also deeply involved in the conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Libya and Yemen.

The ‘Axis of Resistance’ comprises the countries and groups determined to confront the efforts by the US and Israel to impose their hegemony over the course developments take, the core of which consists of Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah. Other Muslim and Arab countries are not willing to directly confront the US and Israel, or are allied to greater or lesser degree with them against Iran and the other members of the resistance (the Saudis in particular).

The topic of the normalization of relations with Israel prior to a conclusive peace agreement with the Palestinians has also polarized the region since the deal concluded between the UAE and Israel. Most Arab and Muslim countries have stated that they will not be normalizing relations with Israel as yet, and that they remain committed to the Arab Peace Initiative, notwithstanding that many already have significant unofficial and semi-covert relations with Israel.

While Russia and to a lesser extent China are cooperating with the members of the Axis of Resistance in Syria to defeat the foreign-backed terrorist groups that continue to occupy and ravage some parts of the country, most now concentrated in Idlib province, they are understandably reluctant to become directly involved in the military confrontation with the US and Israel that is taking place there. While the European Union generally goes along with the US and Israel on many issues, most of its member countries have clearly stated that they do not and will not support Israel’s annexation of occupied Palestinian territories.

A broader consideration of each country’s reactions to these parallel developments – the emergence and consolidation of the ‘Axis of Resistance’ and the normalization of relations with Israel – also provides important insights into the current political trajectory and objectives of the dominant political factions in each country in the region, though the nature and configuration of the opposing social and political forces and the internal dynamics that have produced that trajectory must be considered separately in each instance.

This is just and true and revealing in the case of the internal politics of the predominantly Judaeo-Christian denominated Western countries – United States, Israel and Europe (as well as Australia and New Zealand) – as it is in the predominantly Arab and Muslim countries in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

In the United States, the Israel-Palestine conflict and associated disputes in the Middle East is one of the most polarizing political issues in terms of international events, and each side can find support among a wide range of social sectors, political organizations and social movements. While most of the Congress and the White House invariably support Israel, the Palestinian cause can count on the support of a small number of members of Congress and numerous civil society organizations and social movements.

Two first-term Congresswoman in particular, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, have drawn the ire of the corporate press and many of their political opponents (including from their supposed allies in the Democratic Party). In 2019 Israel barred them from entering Israel or the Palestinian territories, a decision that was encouraged and applauded by the Trump administration and by Donald Trump personally.

US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman said the US “supports and respects” Israel’s decision to deny entry to Tlaib and Omar.

“This trip, pure and simple, is nothing more than an effort to fuel the (boycott movement) engine that Congresswomen Tlaib and Omar so vigorously support,” Friedman said in a statement released Thursday evening.

Slamming the boycott movement as “economic warfare designed to delegitimize and ultimately destroy the Jewish State,” Friedman defended Israel’s right to deny entry to those who support a boycott of the country. LINK

The criticism and condemnation of their strong statements in support of the rights of the Palestinian people in ‘the corridors of power’ in Washington and the US corporate media is probably matched only by their popularity on ‘the Arab street’.

The two main contenders for the presidency in November’s elections, Donald Trump and Joe Biden, are both ardent supporters and promoters of Israel, and the Palestinians can only expect vocal opposition to recognition of their rights from that quarter unless a surprise candidate emerges in the meantime.

Many people are trying to persuade ex-Navy SEAL and former governor of Minnesota Jesse Ventura to run for the presidency; if that were to occur, it might be possible that he could garner sufficient popular support to challenge what appears set to be a one horse race between the Republicans and Democrats at this stage.

The Boycott, Divest, Sanction (BDS) movement has been an attempt by civil society groups to contest and counteract the clear favouritism for Israel against Palestine that exists within the upper echelons of the two main political parties, and therefore the White House, the Congress, the Pentagon, and high-level State officials.

The BDS movement is present worldwide, and faces basically similar conditions in all Western countries (in Europe, Australia and New Zealand) – that is, very pro-Israel ruling political parties which determine all government policies on the matter, which do not reflect a much more non-partisan, evenly split (between ‘pro-Israel’ and ‘pro-Palestine’ sentiments) or even pro-Palestinian rights attitude within society more generally. The BDS movement has been strongly condemned by most members of the Congress and the corporate media, as well as by many state legislatures in the US.

The entrenched bipartisan pro-Israel attitude in the US includes commitments to provide at least $3billion of financial and military support annually for consecutive 10-year periods, close military and technological cooperation and support in all fields, and the promise to ensure that Israel maintains a ‘qualitative edge’ over any and all possible opponents in the Middle East, irrespective of Israel’s foreign policies and objectives and what Israel does with the weapons the US provides. Nothing at all is offered to the Palestinians.

The US also provides strong diplomatic support for Israel, taken to new levels during the Trump administration which has moved the US embassy to Jerusalem after recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and endorsed the Israeli occupation of and assertion of sovereignty over the Golan Heights, both decisions in contravention of all international laws and over forty years of almost unanimous UN Security Council and General Assembly resolutions on the matter (usually, the only votes against being the US, Israel and a small number of tiny US-dependent countries). The US has vetoed all resolutions in the Security Council critical of Israel regardless of the circumstances, with one exception towards the end of Obama’s presidency which called on Israel to withdraw from all occupied Palestinian territories and emphasized that all Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories are illegal.

Closer to the location in Europe, civil society groups and some politicians – rarely from the ruling parties – have formed alliances and campaigns to support the rights of the Palestinians, including the Boycott, Sanctions and Divestment movement. The Freedom Flotilla, which has attempted to breach Israel and Egypt’s strict economic and physical blockade of Gaza and deliver food and medicines on several occasions, is one significant example. The flotilla that attempted to breach the blockade in 2010 was intercepted, the crew and passengers accompanying them in an act of solidarity were arrested and imprisoned, and the ships and cargos confiscated.

The Gaza flotilla raid was a military operation conducted by Israeli commandos against six civilian ships of the ‘Gaza Freedom Flotilla’ on 31 May 2010 in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea. Ten activists were killed during the raid and many more wounded. Ten Israeli soldiers were wounded, one seriously.

Numerous other attempts have been made to deliver food and medicine, however none have succeeded in breaching the blockade. Plans to send another Freedom Flotilla to Gaza in May of this year were interrupted by the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic, however the organizers still intend to set sail for Gaza when global health and travel restrictions permit. LINK

The situation in Gaza

The Palestinian territories have been rocked by extremely asymmetrical clashes and fighting since the 1980s, in which Israel has not hesitated to deploy the full weight of its vastly superior firepower against the occupants of the Gaza strip in particular. The first round of sustained open conflict broke out in 1987:

Intifada, also spelled intifadah, Arabic intifāḍah (“shaking off”), refers to two popular uprisings of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip aimed at ending Israel’s occupation of those territories and creating an independent Palestinian state. The first intifada began in December 1987 and ended in September 1993 with the signing of the first Oslo Accords, which provided a framework for peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

The second intifada, sometimes called the Al-Aqṣā intifada, began in September 2000. Although no single event signalled its end, most analysts agree that it had run its course by late 2005. The two uprisings resulted in the death of more than 5,000 Palestinians and some 1,400 Israelis. LINK

Israel imposed a strict physical and economic blockade on Gaza in 2007 after HAMAS won the legislative elections in the Gaza strip. The PLO won the elections in the West Bank, and Mahmoud Abbas was declared president. For almost the entire period since then Egypt has also closed its border with Gaza and prevented the movement of all people and goods.

The Palestinian economy had already been devastated during the second Intifada, and the strict blockade and isolation imposed by Israel and Egypt has ensured that there has been no significant economic recovery. With a population of just under 5 million in the Palestinian territories (with well over a million more Palestinians living in impoverished refugee camps in neighbouring countries), average annual GDP per capita has hovered around $2000 per capita in the West Bank and closer to $800-900 per capita in Gaza.

The Israel-Palestine Conflict, Annexation And Normalization

Agriculture accounts for approximately 10% of GDP, light industry 23% and services around 65% of total GDP and broadly similar proportions of employment. Palestine’s main exports are olives, citrus fruit, vegetables, limestone, flowers and textiles. The main imports are food, consumer goods and construction materials. Unemployment has been estimated at around 20-30% of the workforce since the start of the second Intifada, and youth unemployment has usually been significantly above 40%. The Palestine economy and society have been pushed into a condition of stasis and dependency on foreign ‘aid’.

The Israel-Palestine Conflict, Annexation And Normalization

Palestine GDP 1995-2020

The Israel-Palestine Conflict, Annexation And Normalization

Palestine GSP per capita 2010-2018

The Israel-Palestine Conflict, Annexation And Normalization

Unemployment rate in Palestine 1995-2020

The Israel-Palestine Conflict, Annexation And Normalization

Youth unemployment in Palestine

Top 10 Trading Partners (2018)

Palestine exports:

Palestine imports:

Source: Trading Economics

The already crippled Palestinian economy received another devastating blow in 2008-2009 when the Israeli leadership launched ‘Operation Cast Lead’, a period of massive air and artillery strikes against the entire Gaza enclave. The Institute for Middle East Understanding summarized the impact of the prolonged military operation on Gaza’s infrastructure, population and economy:

  • According to investigations by independent Israeli and Palestinian human rights organizations, between 1,385 and 1,419 Palestinians were killed during Cast Lead, a majority of them civilians, including at least 308 minors under the age of 18. More than 5000 more were wounded. Thirteen Israelis were also killed, including 3 civilians.
  • According to the UN, 3,540 housing units were completely destroyed, with another 2,870 sustaining severe damage.
  • More than 20,000 people – many of them already refugees, some two or three times over – were made homeless.
  • Attacks on Gaza’s electricity infrastructure caused an estimated $10 million in damage, according to the Israeli advocacy group Gisha.
  • 268 private businesses were destroyed, and another 432 damaged, at an estimated cost of more than $139 million, according to an assessment by the Private Sector Coordination Council, a Palestinian economic group. A separate report found that 324 factories and workshops were damaged during the war.
  • According to the UN Relief Works Agency (UNRWA), which provides services to Palestinian refugees, the offensive damaged almost 20,000 meters (approx. 12 miles) of water pipes, four water reservoirs, 11 wells, and sewage networks and pumping stations. Israeli shelling also damaged 107 UNRWA installations.
  • Eighteen schools, including 8 kindergartens, were destroyed, and at least 262 others damaged. Numerous Palestinian government buildings, including police stations, the headquarters of the Palestinian Legislative Council, and part of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ compound, were also destroyed.

Ten years later, a report in The Guardian reviewing the context of the military operation surmised:

On 27 December 2008, Israel launched Operation Cast Lead, pounding the densely populated strip from the air, sea and land for 22 days. It was not a war or even “asymmetric warfare” but a one-sided massacre. Israel had 13 dead; the Gazans had 1,417 dead, including 313 children, and more than 5,500 wounded. According to one estimate 83% of the casualties were civilians. Israel claimed to be acting in self-defence, protecting its civilians against Hamas rocket attacks. The evidence, however, points to a deliberate and punitive war of aggression. Israel had a diplomatic alternative, but it chose to ignore it and to resort to brute military force.

For its part, the Jewish Virtual Library states of developments leading up to the military operation:

Hamas seized power from the Palestinian Authority (PA) in what amounted to a coup in June 2007. This allowed them to confiscate armored vehicles and weapons given to the PA by Israel, the United States and other countries. In addition, the group manufactured its own mortars and rockets while smuggling in from Egypt more sophisticated rockets provided by Iran.

Between 2005 and 2007, Palestinian terrorist groups in Gaza fired about 2,000 rockets into Israel, killing four Israeli civilians and injuring 75 others. The bombardment continued in the first half of 2008.

On June 19, 2008, Egypt brokered a six-month pause in hostilities that required Hamas to end rocket and mortar attacks on Israel. Hamas was also expected to halt its military buildup in Gaza and release an Israeli soldier it was holding hostage. In exchange, Israel agreed to ease the blockade of Gaza and to halt military raids into Gaza. As part of the deal Egypt promised to stop the smuggling of arms and weapons from its territory into Gaza.

Throughout the fall, Israel and Hamas accused each other of violating the Egyptian-mediated truce. Rocket fire from Gaza never stopped entirely and weapons smuggling continued. Hamas insisted Israel never allowed the expected amount of goods to flow into Gaza and of conducting raids that killed Hamas fighters.

Despite discussions by both sides aimed at extending the cease-fire, violence continued. On December 24, an Israeli airstrike targeted terrorists who had fired mortars at Israel. Hamas subsequently fired a barrage of rockets and mortars into Israel and warned it would put thousands of Israelis “under fire.”

The next day, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned Hamas to stop attacking Israel, but the terrorists responded with another salvo of rockets.

At 11:30 a.m. on December 27, 2008, Israel launched Operation Cast Lead. It began with a wave of airstrikes in which F-16 fighter jets and AH-64 Apache attack helicopters simultaneously struck 100 targets within a span of 220 seconds. Thirty minutes later, a second wave of 64 jets and helicopters struck an additional 60 targets. The air strikes hit Hamas headquarters, government offices and 24 police stations.

Israeli Air and Naval Forces struck Hamas terrorist cell headquarters throughout the Gaza Strip including a Hamas training base and outposts as well as Hamas government complexes. They also attacked rocket launchers and Grad missile stockpiles. Houses of senior Hamas and Jihad terrorists were targeted along with dozens of tunnels that have been used to pass weaponry into Gaza.

Hamas was caught by surprise. The Israeli government had leaked information to the Israeli press suggesting an attack was not imminent. Many Hamas terrorists had come out of hiding; consequently, approximately 140 members of the group were killed the first day, including Tawfik Jaber, head of Hamas’ police force. The Israeli attack was the deadliest one-day death toll in 60 years of conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians, a day that was called the “Massacre of Black Saturday” by Palestinians in Gaza. Hamas responded with a rocket barrage on southern Israel.

The Palestinian economy is still languishing under the Israeli/ Egyptian blockade and the Palestinian territories continue to be rocked by intermittent intensification of the permanent condition of ‘low-intensity’ conflict, the most recent escalation in military attacks against the enclave lasting for about two weeks in August during which hundreds of explosives-laden and incendiary balloons were released toward Israel and Israel conducted nightly bombing raids on the besieged Palestinian enclave.

A ceasefire was announced at the end of the month pursuant to which Hamas promised to attempt to prevent any more fire kites or incendiary balloons from being released and Israel promised to let some essential goods into Gaza including fuel for Gaza’s sole power plant which has often only been operating for a few hours a day due to chronic fuel shortages.

Whether coincidental or not, the announcement of the ceasefire coincided with the first official Israel/ US delegation to the UAE to discuss details of the ‘normalization’ of relations. On the same day, Israel sent military bulldozers into Gazan territory to clear land and build earthen barricades along the border.

The Israel-Palestine Conflict, Annexation And Normalization

Normalization for the people of Gaza: less Israeli airstrikes, more Israeli bulldozers?

CAPTION Normalization for the people of Gaza: less Israeli airstrikes, more Israeli bulldozers?

A recent analysis of the fishing sector by Palestine Chronicle provides a Palestinian perspective on the impact the Israeli blockade and military attacks have had on the Palestinian economy and people.

Gaza’s fishermen are true heroes. Against numerous odds, they brave the sea every day to ensure the survival of their families.

In this scenario, the Israeli navy represents modern-day pirates opening fire at these Palestinian men – and, in some cases, women – sinking their boats sometimes and driving them back to the shore. In Gaza, this has been the routine for almost 13 years.

As soon as Israel declared the complete closure of Gaza’s fishing zone it prevented thousands of fishermen from providing for their families, thus destroying yet another sector in Gaza’s decimated economy.

The Israeli military justified its action as a retaliatory measure against Palestinian protesters who have reportedly launched incendiary balloons into Israel in recent days. The Israeli decision, therefore, may seem rational according to the poor standards of mainstream journalism. A slight probe into the subject, however, reveals another dimension to the story.

Palestinian protesters have, in fact, released incendiary balloons into Israel which, reportedly, cause fires in some agricultural areas adjacent to occupied Gaza. However, the act itself has been a desperate cry for attention.

Gaza is almost completely out of fuel. The Strip’s only power generator was officially shut down on August 18. The Karem Abu Salem Crossing, which allows barely limited supplies to reach Gaza through Israel, has also been closed by an Israeli military order.  The sea, Gaza’s last resort, has, recently, turned into a one-sided war between the Israeli navy and Gaza’s shrinking population of fishermen. All of this has inflicted severe damage to a region that has already endured tremendous suffering.

Gaza’s once healthy fishing sector has been almost obliterated as a result of the Israeli siege. In 2000, for example, the Gaza fishing industry had over 10,000 registered fishermen. Gradually, the number has dwindled to 3,700, although many of them are fishermen by name only – as they can no longer access the sea, repair their damaged boats or afford new ones.

Those who remain committed to the profession do so because it is, literally, their last means of survival – if they do not fish, their families do not eat…

When the Oslo Accord was signed between the Israeli government and the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1993, Palestinians were told that one of the many fruits of peace would be the expansion of Gaza’s fishing zone – up to 20 nautical miles (approximately 37 km), precisely.

Like the rest of Oslo’s broken promises, the fishing agreement was never honoured, either. Instead, up to 2006, the Israeli military allowed Gazans to fish within a zone that never exceeded 12 nautical miles.  In 2007, when Israel imposed its ongoing siege on Gaza, the fishing zone was reduced even further, first to six nautical miles and, eventually, to three.

Following each Israeli war or violent conflagration in Gaza, the fishing zone is shut down completely. It is reopened after each truce, accompanied by more empty promises that the fishing zone will be expanded several nautical miles in order to improve the livelihood of the fishermen.

Israel’s annexation plan and the push for normalization of diplomatic relations

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been pushing for the formal of annexation of all Palestinian territories occupied by illegal Israeli settlements, as well as the Golan Heights captured from Syria in the 1967 war. Illegal Israeli settlements have expanded rapidly over the years, occupying some of the most fertile areas that remained to the Palestinians and cutting off their access to most water sources. The Israel-Palestine Conflict, Annexation And Normalization

The Israel-Palestine Conflict, Annexation And Normalization

In addition, Netanyahu intends to annex most of the Jordan Valley as well, which would cut off the Palestinians in the West Bank from Jordan completely and leave them as isolated and vulnerable to Israeli punitive attacks as the Gaza strip has been since Egypt sealed off its border. While the Trump administration seems willing to recognize all of the blatant land grabs carried out by Israel over time irrespective of the circumstances and the rights of the Palestinians, the latter being recognized emphatically by a unanimous UN Security Council resolution just before Trump assumed the presidency which also condemned all illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian Territories, the Trump administration has hesitated to give an official endorsement of the plan to annex the Jordan Valley.

The Israel-Palestine Conflict, Annexation And Normalization

The agreement between the UAE and Israel to normalize relations takes on immense significance in this context. It is an attempt by the Israeli government to nullify and extinguish the rights of the Palestinians once and for all, and get as much international recognition as possible of the status quo.

US National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien said on Sunday 30 August that more Arab and Muslim countries were likely to follow Abu Dhabi’s move.

“We believe that other Arab and Muslim countries will soon follow the United Arab Emirates’ lead and normalise relations with Israel,” he told reporters after talks at Netanyahu’s residence.

He did not name the states, but Israeli officials have publicly mentioned Oman, Bahrain and Sudan. Recent news reports have suggested Morocco may also be considering a similar agreement with Israel in exchange for military and economic aid, citing a long history of semi-covert relations and joint activities.

However, Moroccan Prime Minister Saad Eddine el-Othmani said last week, “We refuse any normalisation with the Zionist entity because this emboldens it to go further in breaching the rights of the Palestinian people”. LINK

In the aftermath of the announcement of the normalization of relations between Israel and the UAE, the leaders of Iraq, Jordan and Egypt met in Jordan and made a belated attempt to restore the Arab Peace Initiative on the international geopolitical agenda. At a trilateral meeting in mid-August, the leaders of the three countries reiterated their determination to forge a new regional Arab strategic partnership and become a proactive participant in geopolitical developments in the region.

Meeting for the third time in a year, Jordan’s King Abdullah, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi agreed to deepen cooperation on a wide range of topics and sectors including regional security, health, education, trade and food security.

The three leaders, whose countries account for about a third of the total Arab population, called for the Arab Peace Initiative for the Palestine-Israel conflict to be reactivated, stating that the only viable resolution would be in accordance with relevant UN resolutions and “in a manner that fulfils all the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.”

The three countries also emphasized the need to “stop Israeli steps to annex Palestinian lands and any measures to undermine prospects to achieve a just peace or seek to alter the historical and legal status quo in Jerusalem”. LINK

However, given the notorious inability of the Arab countries and political factions to maintain a united front and remain committed to the pursuit of strategic objectives in the long term in recent times, the onus is clearly on the leadership of the respective countries to demonstrate that the meeting was not just a ‘photo op’ and opportunity to posture on the international stage.

Late last month, the Saudis also denied media speculation that they were inclining towards normalizing relations with Israel. Prince Faisal bin Farhan said the Kingdom remains committed to peace with Israel “as a strategic option basis on the Arab Peace Initiative”, in the Saudis’ first official comment since the United Arab Emirates agreed to normalize relations with Israel.

“The Kingdom considers any Israeli unilateral measures to annex Palestinian land as undermining the two-state solution,” the Saudi Minister said in an event in Berlin, in comments reported on Saudi’s foreign affairs ministry Twitter page…

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal Bin Farhan affirmed his country’s commitment to the Arab Peace Plan in comments following a meeting with his German counterpart Heiko Maas in Berlin.

Prince Faisal added that Israel’s unilateral actions concerning colonies are thwarting chances for peace.

“Saudi Arabia considers Israel’s unilateral policies of annexation and building of settlements as an illegitimate (way forward) and (as) detrimental to the two-state solution,” the Saudi foreign ministry quoted Prince Faisal as saying.

Presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said that “abiding by the Arab Peace Initiative (API) is the real test for Arab states’ positions on Jerusalem and a test for the seriousness of the Arab joint action.”

Azzam el-Ahmad, a member of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah central committee, welcomed on Thursday the Saudi position on peace with Israel on the basis of the longstanding Arab Peace Initiative.

“The Saudi position is important because it adheres to Arab consensus, the Arab Peace Initiative, and plays a central role in the region,” Ahmad said.

First adopted by the Arab League in 2002, the Arab Peace Initiative calls for full diplomatic ties between Israel and the entire Arab and Muslim world in exchange for a “full Israeli withdrawal from all the Arab territories occupied since June 1967,” the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, and a “just” and “agreed upon” solution to the right of return of Palestinian refugees based on UN Resolution 194. LINK

The Arab Peace Initiative: a complete copy of the text is available here.

After the Arab Peace Initiative (API) was first adopted by the 22 member states of the Arab League in 2002, it was subsequently endorsed by the 57 member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

At a meeting in April 2013 hosted by Secretary of State John Kerry, a delegation representing the Arab League further displayed Arab states’ interest in peace when they scaled back the API’s demands upon Israel by accepting a two-state solution with mutually agreed upon land swaps.

Endorsing land swaps was a meaningful step taken by the Arab League as it is a concept that allows a two-state outcome to remain realistic.

While the API has been unable to gain traction or support among the world’s ‘major’ powers, until the UAE-Israel ‘normalization’ deal most proposals on how to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process took the API as a framework or key reference in negotiating a solution.

The significance of the API is that it was the first collective Arab effort that was unanimously agreed to by all Arab states.

Acknowledging the magnitude of such a proposal, former President Shimon Peres summarized it best in late 2008 when he described the API as the reversal of the “3 No’s” at the Arab League’s Khartoum summit in 1967.

API Obligations Towards Israel:

  1. Withdraw from all disputed territories to return Israel’s borders to the June 4, 1967 lines including the Golan Heights and addition of southern Lebanon.
  2. Reach a just solution to the Palestinian refugee problem as prescribed by UN Resolution 194.
  3. Accept the establishment of a Palestinian state composed of the West Bank and Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem as its capital.

API Obligations Towards Arab States:

  1. Deem the Arab-Israeli conflict finalized and commit to peaceful relations with Israel guaranteeing security to all regional states.
  2. Establish normal diplomatic relations with Israel. LINK

Former IDF Intelligence Director Amos Yadlin has reaffirmed the Israeli intention to neutralize the Arab Peace Initiative, asserting in late August that it is no longer relevant now that Israel and the United Arab Emirates are set to normalize ties.

“The Arab Peace Initiative principle of having the veto on normalization between Israel and the Arabs, this is gone,” Yadlin told The Jerusalem Press Club during a virtual meeting on the US-brokered deal.

He spoke of what he claimed was the demise of the Arab Peace Initiative, which for 18 years has been one of the cornerstones of Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking. The initiative was an attempt by the Arab states to reach a two-state solution based on the pre-1967 lines. It is referenced in most international documents.

The announcement of the deal between the UAE and Israel marks the first break from the Arab Peace Initiative since its inception, upending almost entirely the principles of peace making between Israel and the Palestinians. Israel’s 1979 agreement with Egypt and its 1994 accord with Jordan, were signed prior to that 2002 Initiative.

Yadlin, who is currently the Executive Director of Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies, speculated that Bahrain could be the next Arab country to make a deal with Israel, because its ‘covert’ relations with Israel were similar to those of the UAE.

He also noted that last summer Bahrain hosted a summit that related to the economic portion of the US President Donald Trump’s plan.

“But they [Bahrain] will look over their shoulder to see what the Saudis are saying,” Yadlin said. He imagined that the Saudis had given the UAE its silent consent to a deal with Israel, but that didn’t mean it would immediately. The “Saudis will not hurry to join [a deal with Israel]… They will be very cautious,” Yadlin said.

The other countries who might join are Sudan and Morocco, Yadlin said. These countries will look to see what price the UAE might have to pay for a deal with Israel, he added. LINK

The United Arab Emirates appears somewhat disconcerted by the regional reactions to its normalization deal with Israel, claiming that it remains committed to the establishment of a Palestinian state and to the terms of the Arab Peace Initiative. The claim was made by a senior official who spoke with The Times of Israel, in rare on-the-record remarks to Israeli media.

Hend al-Otaiba, the director of strategic communications at the UAE’s Foreign Ministry, was commenting hours after the UAE’s agreement to normalize relations with Israel was announced, and shortly after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he still intended to extend Israeli sovereignty to parts of the West Bank.

Asked for clarification of the UAE’s position on the Arab Peace Initiative, a spokesperson subsequently replied: “A two-state solution is at the heart of the Arab Peace Initiative. In the absence of a freeze on annexation, a two-state solution will quickly cease to be a possibility.”

Mohammad Issa Abu Shehab, UAE ambassador to the EU, told Emirates TV the step was most important for its success in “freezing all Israeli plans for Palestinian land.”

However, a senior Israeli official said Netanyahu’s annexation plan was only “temporarily suspended” to allow for the signing of the agreement with the Emirates.

Netanyahu himself later insisted during a press conference that annexation remained on the table, though he acknowledged that Trump had asked that the move be put on “temporary hold” for now.

“I said I would extend sovereignty in Judea and Samaria. There is no change in my plan to extend our sovereignty in Judea and Samaria with full coordination with the United States,” he said. “I am committed to that, and it hasn’t changed… I will never compromise on our rights in our land.” LINK

The US representatives accompanying the first Israeli delegation to the UAE made clear that Israeli annexation of Palestinian land is an intrinsic part of the normalization deal. Speaking with the embedded journalists on the flight to the UAE, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner addressed the Trump peace plan and its allowing for Israel to extend its sovereignty to parts of Judea and Samaria.

Annexation was included in the plan because it was clear that “in the context of any agreement, Israel wasn’t going to give up that territory,” and the US “had to make sure Israel’s security was protected.”

He claimed that recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and potentially recognizing Israeli sovereignty in the West Bank would “take those provocative issues off the table.” LINK

The statements confirm that all affirmations claiming otherwise are merely spin, made as part of the campaign to promote the bilateral deal and convince other Arab and Muslim leaders to normalize relations with Israel.

In spite of earlier comments by the UAE and a joint statement by the three countries that indicated the annexation plan would be ‘suspended’, senior UAE official Omar Ghobash has admitted his government did not “have any guarantees as such” that Israel would not annex occupied Palestinian territory in the future.

Palestinian reactions to the normalization deal

In comments about the ‘deal of the century’ being pushed by the Trump administration The Guardian noted that many younger Palestinians are disenchanted with the legacy of Oslo and angry that Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, still serves in effect as a ‘security subcontractor’ for Israel in the West Bank. Abbas did respond to the plan by threatening to suspend security coordination with Israel, but he has threatened that countless times before. LINK

Palestinian reactions to the Israel-UAE were emphatic.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh slammed the flight as “very painful” and “a clear and a blatant violation of the Arab position towards the Arab-Israeli conflict”.

“We had hoped to see an Emirati plane landing in a liberated Jerusalem, but we live in a difficult Arab era,” he said.

Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassen said the UAE-Israel deal went against the position of the Emirati people, and was “in Zionist interests only … fuelling disagreements in the region”.

In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s executive committee, said Kushner and his team were “scrambling to convince as many Arab and Muslim leaders as possible” to give Trump an election boost.

“They will be a prop at the backdrop of a meaningless spectacle for a ridiculous agreement that will not bring peace to the region,” she said.

Conclusion

As the Israel-Palestine conflict moves into a new phase, some of the battle lines are clearly drawn, others remain obscured by the fast pace of developments after so many years of stalemate and stagnation.

While the Axis of Resistance has grown and strengthened considerably over the last decade, the same could be said of the forces of annexation and normalization, albeit that most of the normalization has occurred in covert and semi-covert meetings and joint activities that cannot be officially acknowledged as yet.

The brutal fact remains that the Palestinians are isolated and living in conditions of extreme deprivation, and none of the latest geopolitical developments gives them cause to think that there will be any change in the foreseeable future.

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Owners of Oil Tankers Seized by the US File Lawsuits

September 7th, 2020 by Ken Hanly

The US unilaterally imposes its own sanctions universally as much as it can becoming the self-appointed global policeman. Many countries obey because of the financial and military power of the US.

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US must prove oil is from Iran and going to Venezuela

The US seized the cargo of four tankers that the US claimed were carrying oil from Iran to Venezuela violating US sanctions. The sanctions do not apply to either Iran or Venezuela. The US simply uses its global power to force other countries to obey the sanctions or face punishment by the US. However, even given that the US may often have the power to enforce its will it still must show where the oil in the tankers came from and where it was bound. Otherwise, the US actions will still face problems as it now does after seizing four tankers.

The US has already sold the oil to another UAE company and allowed it to be shipped to Trinidad. The companies filing the suit claim it was still their oil. At the time of the seizure, Iran’s ambassador to Venezuela, Hojad Soltani called US President Trump a terrorist and denied that the tankers were Iranian saying In a tweet: “The ships are not Iranian, and neither the owner nor its flag has anything to do with Iran.” The owners said the ships were bound for Trinidad and had been sold to UAE-base CIti Energy FZC and were to be sold to customers in Peru and Colombia. The owners were to be paid only on delivery of the cargoes to Trinidad.

Three companies file lawsuits

The owners of the four tankers include UAE-based Mobin International, Sohar based in Oman, and UK-based Oman Fuel. The three companies claim ownership of the tankers and claim the claim the cargo was never for Iran or bound for Venezuela as the US claims. They add that the US claims and actions have harmed their businesses. The lawsuit is substantial with four ships and $40 million in cargo at stake.

The US position

The US claims that the fuel was being shipped by the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) that it has designated a foreign terrorist organization and that the fuel was being shipped to Venezuela. The US says this is the largest ever seizure of fuel shipments from Iran.

The legal basis for the seizure is explained in a recent article: “On July 2, 2020, the United States filed a complaint seeking to forfeit all petroleum-product cargo aboard four foreign-flagged oil tankers, including the M/T Bella with international maritime organization (IMO) number 9208124, the M/T Bering with IMO number 9149225, the M/T Pandi with IMO number 9105073, and the M/T Luna with IMO number 9208100 (all pictured below). A seizure order for the cargo from all four vessels was issued by U.S. District Court Judge Jeb Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.” Note that this is an order by a US court. It is not explained how such an order is consistent with international law.

US sanctions should apply only to US companies trying to carry on trade not to Venezuela and Iran which are sovereign countries who should be able to carry on legitimate trade with one another without interference by a third country. It is surely not illegal for one sovereign nations to sell fuel to another. The US is apparently a global government which can apply its own laws globally.

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Wars by hot and other means are all about Washington’s main strategy to advance its imperium — seeking dominance over other nations, their resources and populations by brute force if other methods don’t achieve its objectives.

From inception, the US has been addicted to war, glorifying it deceptively in the name of peace.

In 1982, founder of the Pentagon’s nuclear navy Admiral Hyman Rickover explained the risks to Congress in the age of super-weapons able to end life on earth if used in enough numbers, saying the following:

“The lesson of history is when a war starts every nation will ultimately use whatever weapons it has available” to win, adding:

“I think the human race is going to wreck itself, and it is important that we get control of this horrible force and try to eliminate it.”

Rickover regretted his role in what became a nuclear arms race.

“I would sink…all” US nuclear powered ships, he said. “I am not proud of the part I played in” their development.

“That’s why I am such a great exponent of stopping this whole nonsense of war.”

Bertrand Russell noted the risk, saying:

“Shall we put an end to the human race, or shall mankind renounce war.” It’s the only way to live in peace. The alternative risks annihilation.

World powers have a choice. End wars or sooner or later they’ll end us.

Russia is a prime US target. In 1961, hardline US Air Force chief of staff General Curtis LeMay believed nuclear war with Soviet Russia was inevitable and winnable — at the time, calling for preemptive war on the country with overwhelming force.

Joint Chiefs chairman Lyman Lemnitzer at the time urged a surprise nuclear attack on the Soviet Union during a National Security Council meeting.

Expressing disgust, Jack Kennedy walked out of the session, telling then-Secretary of State Dean Rusk:

“And we call ourselves the human race.”

JFK’s Defense Secretary Robert McNamara rejected what LeMay and Lemnitzer called for.

Their recklessly dangerous ideas never went away. In an age when super-weapons can end life on earth in days if detonated in enough numbers, the risk of mass annihilation is real.

Weeks earlier, Russia’s Defense Ministry accused US-led NATO of conducting “provocative” military drills near its borders — what goes on with disturbing regularity. See below.

In June, Russian Colonel-General Sergey Rudskoy, head of its General Staff sent NATO a letter that called for scaling down military exercises by both countries.

With US-led NATO drills in the Barents Sea at the time, he accused the Pentagon of simulating strikes on Russian territory and intercepting its retaliatory ICBMs.

According to Rudskoy, provocative Barents Sea drills at the time were the first of their kind by US-dominated NATO since Soviet Russia’s 1991 dissolution.

He also criticized increasing numbers of flights by Pentagon nuclear-capable strategic bombers near Russia’s borders — at times forcing its military to scramble warplanes and put air defense forces on high alert.

Since the Obama regime’s 2014 coup d’etat in Ukraine, replacing democratic government with neo-Nazi infested fascist tyranny on Russia’s border, bilateral relations  sank to a post-Cold War low.

Moscow considers the deployment of US-led NATO forces near its borders a destabilizing threat to its national security.

Rudskoy said “(t)he US and its allies are continuing to destroy Europe’s security system under the guise of a perceived ‘Russian aggression’ ” that doesn’t exist.

The US refused Moscow’s offer for dialogue to reduce tensions and the risk of conflict by accident or design.

On Sunday, Rudskoy again highlighted the threat of provocative US-led NATO actions near Russia’s borders, including increased surveillance and aerial operations to test its air defenses.

In August, provocative US/NATO aerial maneuvers increased about 30% over the comparable 2019 period, he explained, including simulated missile strikes on Russian targets.

Shoigu called what’s going on “alarming,” notably because several incidents occurred close to Russia’s borders.

Last week, Russia scrambled warplanes to intercept three US nuclear-capable B-52 bombers over Ukraine and the Black Sea near Crimea, a statement saying:

“Violations of the state border of the Russian Federation by American aircraft were prevented.”

Two weeks earlier, a similar incident occurred in international airspace over the Black Sea.

Days earlier, Moscow slammed the US for holding live-fire exercises in Estonia near its border.

A statement by its Washington embassy said the following:

“Russia has repeatedly proposed to the United States and its allies to limit training activities and to divert the exercise zones from the Russia-NATO contact line,” adding:

“Why do this demonstrative saber-rattling? What signals do the NATO members want to send us?”

“Who is actually escalating tensions in Europe? And this is all happening in the context of (a made-in-the-USA) aggravated political situation in” Belarus.

“(H)ow would the Americans react” if Russia conducted similar provocative exercises near its borders?

According to NATO, the following US-led military exercises are ongoing or soon to begin in Europe (and near Iranian waters the Mediterranean):

Operation Dynamic Move II 20 — ongoing through September 10 in waters near Italy, explaining:

“To exercise naval mine warfare (NMW) tactics and procedures, the Allied Worldwide Navigational System (AWNIS), and Naval Cooperation on and Guidance for Shipping (NCAGS) procedures in order to enhance participant’s ability to conduct littoral and amphibious operations.”

Operation Steadfast Pyramid 20 — begun in Latvia on Sunday will continue through September 11, NATO explaining:

“An Exercise Study focused on further developing the abilities of commanders and senior staff to plan and conduct operations through the application of operational art in decision making based on the ACO Comprehensive Operations Planning Directive (COPD) and utilizing a complex, contemporary scenario.”

Operation KFOR III 20 will be held from September 8 – 16 in Herzegovina, explaining:

“Conducted to familiarize future Key Leaders of HQ KFOR with their new tasks, the overall situation in KFOR AOR (Area of Responsibility), and to prepare a smooth transition without loss of continuity.”

Operation Ramstein Guard 9 20 is scheduled for Romania from September 13 – 17, explaining:

“The NATO Electronic Warfare Force Integration Program is a means to exercise the NATO designated regional elements of NATO’s Integrated Air and Missile Defence System conducted through the CAOCs (Combined Air Operation Center) while also including some national systems and assets.”

“It is designed to train Air Command Ramstein and subordinate units on the reporting/coordination requirements while exposing them to a wide variety of EW (electronic warfare) tactics and techniques in a controlled environment.”

Operation Steadfast Pinnacle 20 is scheduled for Latvia from September 13 – 18, explaining:

“An Exercise Study focused on further developing the abilities of commanders and senior staff to plan and conduct operations through the application of operational art in decision making based on the ACO (Allied Command Operations) Comprehensive Operations Planning Directive (COPD) and utilizing a complex, contemporary scenario.”

Operation Ramstein Guard 10 20 is scheduled for Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania from September 20 – 24, NATO explaining:

“The NATO Electronic Warfare Force Integration Program is a means to exercise the NATO designated regional elements of NATO’s Integrated Air and Missile Defence System conducted through the CAOCs (Combined Air Operation Center) while also including some national systems and assets. It is designed to train Air Command Ramstein and subordinate units on the reporting/coordination requirements while exposing them to a wide variety of EW (electronic warfare) tactics and techniques in a controlled environment.”

Exercises like the above go on at all times near the borders of Russia, China, Iran, and other nations on the US target list for regime change.

From now through yearend 2020 near the borders of Russia and Iran alone, other US-led NATO military exercises will be held in Turkey, France, the UK, Kosovo, the Mediterranean Sea, Spain, Lithuania, Estonia, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, Bosnia Herzegovina, Serbia, Poland and Norway.

Instead of prioritizing world peace, stability, and cooperative relations with the world community of nations, US-dominated NATO is preparing for greater wars than already ongoing in multiple theaters by its forces.

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Award-winning author Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at [email protected]. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG)

His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

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Beirut Explosion: The Missing Lebanese Link

September 7th, 2020 by Mayssoun Sukarieh

In the immediate aftermath of the Beirut port blast last month, we have seen concerted efforts by principal political actors in Lebanon to diffuse and deflect responsibility. 

Different parties have accused one another of corruption in relation to the mishandling of the ammonium nitrate shipment at the port. The prime minister (who has now resigned) denied previous knowledge of the situation. The president’s son-in-law, Gebran Bassil – who has strong connections with the head of the customs department, Badri Daher – quickly sought to focus attention on those outside of Lebanon involved in the initial shipping of the chemicals.

A month after the blast, around 25 people have been arrested or placed under investigation, including the head of the customs department and his predecessor, as well as officers and employees in the port authority and, lately, the three workers who were called to do the maintenance in warehouse 12.

The investigation is clearly limited to the port and, up until now, none of the ministers of work and travel, or the prime ministers or presidents who were fully aware of the presence of explosive materials, have been called for interrogation, let alone arrested.

More questions

One month into the investigation, there are more questions than answers.

On Tuesday, the judge overseeing the investigation questioned four security officials who were based at the port and issued arrest warrants for them, the state-run National News Agency said.

The four are an army intelligence brigadier general, a major with the State Security agency and two majors with the General Security Directorate.

A Lebanese official told Reuters last month that the initial investigations indicated that years of inaction and negligence over the storage of highly explosive material caused the explosion.

In a Guardian article published earlier last month, Professor Laleh Khalili argued that one should look beyond the Lebanese state and society to the world of international shipping in order to understand where the core responsibility for this disaster lies.

The article is very informative on how the world of international shipping works, but the analysis offers little on the specific case of Lebanon – and, in fact, risks misplacing responsibilities.

While understanding global capitalism is always helpful in sharpening our analyses of phenomena shaped by this system, sometimes – as in this case – such analysis can end up diffusing responsibility and make it harder for people in specific localities to act.

In her article, Khalili argues that

“while attention and anger has focused on the incompetence and dysfunction of the Lebanese government and authorities, the roots of the catastrophe run far deeper and wider – to a network of maritime capital and legal chicanery that is designed to protect businesses at any cost”.

This directly shifts attention away from Lebanon to a world of shipping that is global in scope. The only place that Lebanon figures into this analysis is through its incompetence and dysfunction, with the “incompetence” of Lebanese authorities repeatedly emphasised.

Enforcing laws

It is not actually clear that this argument about a lawless world of international shipping fully holds. In the case of Beirut, port authorities successfully enforced the law through impounding the ship in question, and Lebanese courts successfully secured the release of the sailors caught in the middle of the conflict within a year of the case beginning.

The lawlessness of international shipping seems to be relevant mostly outside of Lebanon, with the ease of the shipowner declaring bankruptcy, abandoning the ship and avoiding responsibility.

One underlying assumption in Khalili’s article is that the ship carrying ammonium nitrate from Georgia to Mozambique had no strong ties to Lebanon, besides making a brief stop in Beirut. This might or might not be true, and there are many questions that must be asked and investigated before we accept this assumption.

Was the ship really going to Mozambique? Lebanese authorities claim they contacted the government of Mozambique several times, and the latter declared it had no information about the ship. When the ammonium nitrate was unloaded in Beirut, port authorities in Mozambique denied any knowledge of the ship.

What role did the Russian businessman, Igor Grechushkin, who is regarded as the ship’s de facto owner, play? He bought the ship in the same year and made its only trip from Georgia to Turkey, and then to Beirut. Who are the creditors who hired the law firm Baroudi and Associates and filed legal claims against the vessel, which were responsible for keeping the ammonium nitrate in the port of Beirut?

Who orders this amount of a valuable product and then does not seek to claim it back? Do any of these actors have substantive links with groups in Lebanon, or is the fact that this played out in Beirut purely incidental, with the population of Beirut suffering collateral damage from a system that, as Khalili suggests, is principally global in nature and not directly linked to the internal political conflicts of Lebanon?

Political control of the port

A further set of questions must be asked about the political control over the Port of Beirut, and the relationship of local political agendas and actions to the 4 August disaster.

In Khalili’s article, the only Lebanese actors named are Lebanese port authorities and the judge who ordered the release of the ship’s crew. But if we are to understand how the world of international shipping plays out in Lebanon, our analysis cannot stop at the port of Beirut.

Legally, we know that the Lebanese transport ministry, as well as port management, play a direct role in decisions around the port. We also know that informally, other groups also play a strong role. There is a presence of the Lebanese army and, lately, state security.

Hezbollah denies having anything to do with the port.

“We do not manage the port, we do not control it … we do not interfere with it, we do not know what was going on inside it or what is there,” the movement’s secretary general, Hassan Nasrallah, said in a televised address.

Yet, at least four of the customs regional directorate of Beirut are related to the party and the Amal Movement headed by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.

Other port officials belonged to former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s Future Movement and President Michael Aoun’s party, the Free Patriotic Movement.

The investigation should have looked into the roles, interests and agendas of the various actors within Lebanon regarding the ship. Is there any evidence that any of them took advantage of the international world of global shipping, as described by Khalili, in pursuit of their own local, national and regional interests?

We know that port authorities sent more than five letters to the Judge of Urgent Matters, ministers and political leaders to request the removal of the ammonium nitrate. Why was nothing done? Was it just about incompetence?

Perhaps. But it is also entirely possible that other agendas were involved. We know that port authorities had the legal right to sell the ammonium nitrate. If it was a question of profit, then why not sell the stored ammonium nitrate for millions of dollars? Is this just local incompetence in the context of global lawlessness?

Diverting blame

Finally, there is the question of the ammonium nitrate itself: if the ship had been carrying a cargo of ladies’ gloves or children’s bath toys, then all of the workings of the world of international shipping would presumably never have had the same significance as they did in this case.

It is notable that in Khalili’s article, which ties the responsibility for the disaster to the world of international shipping, the discussion of ammonium nitrate is linked with the world of global terrorism: the 1993 London bombing and the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. It was also used in the IRA’s Manchester bombing of 1996 and many other places.

Is it certain that the ammonium nitrate arrived in Beirut purely accidentally and remained there purely through local incompetence and international shipping lawlessness? Or was political agency involved? At this point, we don’t know, but the question needs to be asked and carefully investigated.

Were any Lebanese groups involved in the initial shipping of the ammonium nitrate? Or were any groups acting on their own interests around ammonium nitrate once they became aware of its presence in the Port of Beirut?

As the investigation proceeds slowly, we might never know what exactly happened on 4 August at the port.

And while we do need to consider the role played by the international shipping regime in this disaster, it must be in combination with a close and careful consideration of how this global system interacted with actors in Lebanon itself.

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Dr Mayssoun Sukarieh is a senior lecturer in Middle Eastern Studies at King’s College London (KCL).

Featured image: A damaged car and building are seen after a fire at a warehouse with explosives at the Port of Beirut led to massive blasts in Lebanon, 14 August 2020 [Enes Canli/Anadolu Agency]

Serbian President Vucic just discredited his own over-hyped “balancing” act between Russia and the West over the weekend after he de-facto recognized the NATO-occupied Province of Kosovo & Metohija under the cover of “economic normalization” and then committed to moving his country’s embassy in “Israel” to Jerusalem, both of which are extremely pro-US policies that exposed his “balancing” act as the empty slogan that it’s always been.

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Serbia’s “Balancing” Act

A lot has been written by many Alt-Media commentators in the past about Serbia’s so-called “balancing” act between Russia and the West under the leadership of President Vucic, which supposedly makes the best of the very difficult situation that Belgrade has found itself in since the turn of the century. The gist is that Serbia will maintain equally strategic relations between both of them, refusing to take a side in their growing rivalry since doing so would either ruin its economy if the West imposes sanctions against it in response to too Russian-friendly of a foreign policy while its Russophile population would seethe with potentially uncontrollable rage if Serbia followed the West’s lead in promulgating policies intended to provoke Moscow. There’s admittedly some truth to that interpretation since the landlocked country is mostly surrounded by NATO members nowadays and has no significant non-energy economic cooperation with Russia, though its people still sincerely love Russia for historical and cultural reasons, to say nothing of the positive example that it set in international affairs by occasionally standing up to the West in very dramatic ways (Abkhazia/South Ossetia, Crimea, Syria, etc.). Nevertheless, after what happened this weekend in Washington, it’s no longer possible to seriously talk about Serbia’s “balancing” act in any meaningful sense of the word.

Kosovo & “Israel”

Vucic de-facto recognized the NATO-occupied Province of Kosovo & Metohija under the cover of “economic normalization” and then committed to moving his country’s embassy in “Israel” to Jerusalem, both of which are extremely pro-US policies that exposed his “balancing” act as the empty slogan that it’s always been. For the earlier mentioned geopolitical and economic reasons related to NATO encirclement and an economy that’s much more closely connected to the EU than to Russia, the West exercises significant influence over Serbia, especially its current leadership which aspires to join the EU. This doesn’t mean that it was inevitable that the country would undertake these drastic foreign policy decisions since a more “moderate” (as in, less Europhile and more genuinely “balanced”) government could have simply maintained the status quo in both respects, but Vucic wants his defining legacy to be the so-called “peaceful political resolution” of Kosovo’s unilateral NATO-backed secession and Serbia’s eventual entrance into the EU. The former, he believes, will directly lead to the latter considering the bloc’s prerequisite for membership, which is of course a debatable outcome since there’s no guarantee that selling out the cradle of his civilization will lead to any tangible benefits. Still, that doesn’t explain why he wants to move Serbia’s Embassy in “Israel” to Jerusalem.

That dimension of this weekend’s dual decisions must be seen from the perspective of Vucic’s insincere belief in “balancing”. Once again, Serbia’s foreign policy options are limited, but that doesn’t predestine it to subserviate itself to the US at the expense of its dignity. If Vucic truly believed in “balancing” like he’s worked very hard in trying to convince his people is the case (albeit in vain), then he wouldn’t have unnecessarily done such a thing just for the purpose of giving Trump something that he can spin as a foreign policy victory ahead of this November’s elections. Unlike Serbia’s “economic normalization” with Kosovo which promises to be profitable for those who cash in on it, no such tangible benefit is expected for moving the Serbian Embassy to Jerusalem. That move was solely done as a sign of fealty to Trump, who still rules the West’s most powerful country, and should therefore be seen as the voluntary discrediting of Vucic’s over-hyped “balancing” act. With that single move, he’s starting to come clean with what his intentions have always been this entire time, namely that he’s a pro-Western politician who unconvincingly tried to disguise his geopolitical pivot with the empty slogan of “balancing” in order to assuage the concerns of his Russophile electorate. That’s not to say that Serbs are “anti-Western” in the cartoonish way that this term is oftentimes depicted, but just that they’re extremely sensitive to sacrificing their sovereignty to the West after the 1999 NATO War on Yugoslavia.

One-Party Rule Has Its Perks

The confidence with which Vucic pulled off his “balancing” mask and showed his true face by de-facto recognizing Kosovo at the same time as deciding to move the Serbian Embassy in “Israel” to Jerusalem is entirely the result of his country practically becoming a one-party state after this summer’s parliamentary elections. He can point to that as his so-called “mandate” for “making tough decisions” in the “national interest”, even though no such decisions had to be made in the first place. There’s no longer any real reason for him to continue talking about “balancing” since that rhetoric is impossible to believe after he proverbially kissed Trump’s ring over the weekend, especially with respect to his embassy decision. His “perception managers” (surrogates in the Mainstream and Alternative Media) might not even try to hide it anymore either because of how counterproductive it would be to so openly lie to the people that Vucic is anything other than a vehemently pro-Western politician. That doesn’t, however, mean that he’s “anti-Russian” though since Serbia still receives important arms and energy supplies from the Eurasian Great Power, which isn’t expected to change despite him coming clean with his geopolitical intentions. It might disappoint some Serbian Russophiles that Moscow will still embrace him, but if they feel that way, then they don’t really understand Russia.

The Reality Of Russia’s Regional Strategy In The Balkans

It’s “politically incorrect” for most Russian-friendly folks anywhere in the world to openly acknowledge, but Russia isn’t “anti-Western” in the sense that they’ve imagined it to be. It’s true that the country has dramatically stood up to the West on several occasions (Abkhazia/South Ossetia, Crimea, Syria) and explicitly supports the emerging Multipolar World Order, but it’s also extremely pragmatic, so much so that the author has previously argued that Moscow actually supports Vucic’s position on Kosovo and not just because he’s the internationally recognized head of state who they regard (whether rightly or wrongly) as “responsible” for “resolving” that issue. Simply put, Russia has its own geopolitical interests in that outcome which clash with what its supporters generally expect of it due to the country’s rhetoric on that topic. The author explained this at length in a series of articles that the reader should at least skim through if they have the time in order to obtain a deeper understanding of the complex strategic calculations at play:

Long story short, Russia recognizes the very real limits to its influence in the Balkans, hence why it’s “passively facilitating” the West’s geopolitical plans there (in pursuit of its hope that doing so would advance its dreams of a “New Detente”) by providing Vucic with the “balancing” cover that he needs in order to sell these outcomes to his people. Russia was never fooled by Vucic’s “balancing” act but went along with it since he’s protected Russia’s business interests in that centrally positioned Balkan country. In fact, Moscow might even regard him as the “model” European politician since he’s unquestionably pro-Western yet still pragmatically retains certain economic ties with Russia, particularly some of its biggest state-connected businesses involved in the arms and energy industries. As much as it may pain Serbian Russophiles to read what the author is about to write, Russia probably wishes that there were more leaders like Vucic in Europe who don’t let their pro-Western ideological zeal get in the way of their business interests with Russia like Montenegro’s Djukanovic did.

Concluding Thoughts

Vucic has never really “balanced” between the West and Russia since he was always moving towards the former while disguising his true intentions with friendly rhetoric towards the latter. Moscow went along with this charade by providing the necessary soft power support for his ruse in order for there to be at least one Europhile in Central & Eastern Europe who nevertheless understands the pragmatic importance of maintaining business ties with Russia. They seem to hope that he’ll serve as an example for other leaders to follow seeing as how he’s proven that it’s indeed possible to move closer to the West without ruining relations with Russia like Montenegro’s Djukanovic did. To be clear, however, this isn’t “balancing” since the Western vector of Serbia’s foreign policy under Vucic’s leadership is decisively pro-Western and isn’t counterbalanced in any meaningful way by his country’s cooperation with some of Russia’s biggest businesses. After all, not only did he de-facto recognize Kosovo over the weekend via the cover of “economic normalization”, but he even went as far as proverbially kissing Trump’s ring by committing to move the Serbian Embassy in “Israel” to Jerusalem. Vucic basically discredited his own over-hyped “balancing” act, but he did so since it no longer serves its purpose after he recently established one-party rule and thus sees no need to keep playing rhetorical games.

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This article was originally published on OneWorld.

Andrew Korybko is an American Moscow-based political analyst specializing in the relationship between the US strategy in Afro-Eurasia, China’s One Belt One Road global vision of New Silk Road connectivity, and Hybrid Warfare. He is a frequent contributor to Global Research.

Featured image is from OneWorld

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Let’s imagine a foreign dissident was being held in London’s Belmarsh Prison charged with supposed espionage offences by the Chinese authorities.

And that his real offence was revealing crimes committed by the Chinese Communist Party – including publishing video footage of atrocities carried out by Chinese troops.

To put it another way, that his real offence was committing the crime of journalism.

Let us further suppose the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture said this dissident showed “all the symptoms typical for prolonged exposure to psychological torture” and that the Chinese were putting pressure on the UK authorities to extradite this individual where he could face up to 175 years in prison.

The outrage from the British press would be deafening.

There would be calls for protests outside the prison, solemn leaders in the broadsheet newspapers, debates on primetime news programmes, alongside a rush of questions in parliament.

The situation I have outlined above is nearly identical to the current plight of Julian Assange.

There is one crucial difference. It is the US trying to extradite the co-founder of Wikileaks.

Yet there has been scarcely a word in the mainstream British media in his defence.

The fact that the US is an ally of Britain is perhaps one reason why. That should make no difference as far as the British media is concerned.

Indeed, Assange’s extradition hearing at the Old Bailey next week marks a profound moment for British journalists. Assange faces 18 charges under the US Espionage Act, which carry a potential sentence of 175 years – put away for the rest of his life.

But his case represents an attack on journalism and democratic accountability. If Britain capitulates to Trump’s America, the right to publish leaked material in the public interest could suffer a devastating blow.

The British authorities have it within their power to refuse this extradition. Indeed, more than 160 legal experts wrote to the UK government last month, claiming they are obliged by international law to refuse the US request.

These lawyers are joined by human rights campaigners and health professionals, who have been shocked by Assange’s treatment in British custody and fear his rights will be further violated if he is sent to the US.

The National Union of Journalists supports Assange. General Secretary Michelle Stanistreet has warned that the charges pose a threat that could “criminalise the critical work of investigative sources”.

And yet there has hardly been a sound from the British press.

There are many reasons for this relative silence, but before addressing them, the gravity of the situation at hand must be highlighted in the clearest of terms.

Assange is accused by the US of conspiring with whistleblower Chelsea Manning to hack a Pentagon computer. The US indictment says Assange agreed to attempt to crack a password (an attempt which was unsuccessful). Crucially, the indictment also charges Assange with actions that are no different to the standard practices of journalism.

For example, the indictment alleges that “Assange and Manning took measures to conceal Manning as the source of the disclosure of classified records”, as any professional journalist would.

It claims that “Assange encouraged Manning” to provide the information. Again, this is how a journalist would act.

Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, made the situation clear:

“It is dangerous to suggest that these actions are somehow criminal rather than steps routinely taken by investigative journalists who communicate with confidential sources to receive classified information of public importance.”

To criminalise the protection of sources will stop whistleblowers coming forward and will put journalists and publishers at risk.

We need look no further than Manning’s own leaks to realise what a loss this would be. It was Manning who provided the so-called Iraq and Afghanistan war logs published by Wikileaks in 2010 and revealed the atrocity of US helicopter gunmen laughing as they shot at and killed unarmed civilians in Iraq.

Fifteen individuals were killed in the attack, including a Reuters photographer and his assistant. The US military refused to discipline the perpetrators of this grotesque crime. This was a story of momentous importance.

There is another, perhaps even more pressing issue that emerges in the use of the Espionage Act to charge Assange.

As Alan Rusbridger, former editor of the Guardian and one of Assange’s few defenders in the British media, told Press Gazette last month:

“It’s quite a disturbing thing that we should send somebody to another country for supposedly breaking their laws on secrecy. If journalists are not concerned by that, then I think they should be.”

I couldn’t agree more. The US is asserting the right to prosecute a non-US citizen, not living in the US, not publishing in the US, under US laws that deny the right to a public interest defence.

It’s not difficult to imagine how this precedent could be abused by authoritarian foreign powers. Imagine Saudi Arabia prosecuting a journalist in London for revealing details of the Jamal Khashoggi murder. Or China citing their Official Secrets Act to charge a publisher responsible for disseminating footage of the horrific treatment of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang.

The press would be up in arms and I cannot believe the UK would extradite the individuals concerned. So why the lack of support for Assange?

For one thing, the Assange saga is protracted and complex. He was sentenced to 50 weeks by British courts last year for breaching the Bail Act after he was dragged from Ecuador’s London embassy. He had taken refuge there in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden over sexual assault allegations.

This rightly led to questions surrounding Assange’s character. Assange denies the allegations and insists he was happy to be questioned in London.

The Swedish authorities discontinued their investigation into Assange without him ever being charged. Assange’s lawyers argue that fleeing to the embassy was an act of desperation to avoid being passed to the United States.

Another contributing factor to Assange’s pariah status is that he is not judged to be a journalist by a large part of the industry. Reference is often made to Wikileaks’ decision to publish huge amounts of unedited documents, which the US has claimed put the lives of sources at risk. I don’t deny that makes me uneasy – and that he has ethical questions to answer.

But it is also true that his case could have a devastating, chilling effect on journalism and the UK government has the ability to prevent this happening. Future generations will never forgive the current generation of journalists unless we raise our game and fight to stop the extradition of Julian Assange.

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The “Stalinist” Trial of Julian Assange

September 7th, 2020 by John Pilger

Having reported the long, epic ordeal of Julian Assange, John Pilger gave this address outside the Central Criminal Court in London on September 7 as the WikiLeaks Editor’s extradition hearing entered its final stage. 

When I first met Julian Assange more than ten years ago, I asked him why he had started WikiLeaks. He replied:

“Transparency and accountability are moral issues that must be the essence of public life and journalism.”

I had never heard a publisher or an editor invoke morality in this way. Assange believes that journalists are the agents of people, not power: that we, the people, have a right to know about the darkest secrets of those who claim to act in our name.

If the powerful lie to us, we have the right to know. If they say one thing in private and the opposite in public, we have the right to know. If they conspire against us, as Bush and Blair did over Iraq, then pretend to be democrats, we have the right to know.

It is this morality of purpose that so threatens the collusion of powers that want to plunge much of the world into war and wants to bury Julian alive in Trumps fascist America.

In 2008, a top secret US State Department report described in detail how the United States would combat this new moral threat. A secretly-directed personal smear campaign against Julian Assange would lead to “exposure [and] criminal prosecution”.

The aim was to silence and criminalise WikiLeaks and its founder. Page after page revealed a coming war on a single human being and on the very principle of freedom of speech and freedom of thought, and democracy.

The imperial shock troops would be those who called themselves journalists: the big hitters of the so-called mainstream, especially the “liberals” who mark and patrol the perimeters of dissent.

And that is what happened. I have been a reporter for more than 50 years and I have never known a smear campaign like it: the fabricated character assassination of a man who refused to join the club: who believed journalism was a service to the public, never to those above.

Assange shamed his persecutors. He produced scoop after scoop. He exposed the fraudulence of wars promoted by the media and the homicidal nature of America’s wars, the corruption of dictators, the evils of Guantanamo.

He forced us in the West to look in the mirror. He exposed the official truth-tellers in the media as collaborators: those I would call Vichy journalists. None of these imposters believed Assange when he warned that his life was in danger: that the “sex scandal” in Sweden was a set up and an American hellhole was the ultimate destination. And he was right, and repeatedly right.

The extradition hearing in London this week is the final act of an Anglo-American campaign to bury Julian Assange. It is not due process. It is due revenge. The American indictment is clearly rigged, a demonstrable sham. So far, the hearings have been reminiscent of their Stalinist equivalents during the Cold War.

Today, the land that gave us Magna Carta, Great Britain, is distinguished by the abandonment of its own sovereignty in allowing a malign foreign power to manipulate justice and by the vicious psychological torture of Julian – a form of torture, as Nils Melzer, the UN expert has pointed out, that was refined by the Nazis because it was most effective in breaking its victims.  

Every time I have visited Assange in Belmarsh prison, I have seen the effects of this torture. When I last saw him, he had lost more than 10 kilos in weight; his arms had no muscle. Incredibly, his wicked sense of humor was intact.

As for Assange’s homeland, Australia has displayed only a cringeing cowardice as its government has secretly conspired against its own citizen who ought to be celebrated as a national hero. Not for nothing did George W. Bush anoint the Australian prime minister his “deputy sheriff”.

It is said that whatever happens to Julian Assange in the next three weeks will diminish if not destroy freedom of the press in the West. But which press? The Guardian? The BBC, The New York Times, the Jeff Bezos Washington Post?

No, the journalists in these organisations can breathe freely. The Judases on the Guardian who flirted with Julian, exploited his landmark work, made their pile then betrayed him, have nothing to fear. They are safe because they are needed.

Freedom of the press now rests with the honourable few: the exceptions, the dissidents on the internet who belong to no club, who are neither rich nor laden with Pulitzers, but produce fine, disobedient, moral journalism – those like Julian Assange.

Meanwhile, it is our responsibility to stand by a true journalist whose sheer courage ought to be inspiration to all of us who still believe that freedom is possible. I salute him.

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For months, Sweden was the punching bag of the world’s media and politicians.

For foregoing a lockdown, Sweden was declared a “cautionary tale” by The New York Times.

“Sweden is paying heavily for its decision not to lockdown,” President Trump tweeted.

“They are leading us to catastrophe,” said The Guardian in March, quoting a virus immunology researcher.

Experts and media around the world all seemed to agree, with a few notable exceptions, that lockdowns were the sound approach to the COVID-19 pandemic.

There’s been much less talk about Sweden of late. The reason, it would seem, is that Sweden’s strategy appears to have tamed the virus. While countries around the world are experiencing a resurgence of COVID-19 outbreaks, Sweden’s COVID-19 deaths have slowed to a crawl.

As a result, many nations are catching up to Sweden in per capita deaths, and some are passing it. Italy recently popped back ahead of Sweden. Chile passed the Swedes next. Then came Brazil, which surpassed Sweden in per capita deaths on Wednesday.

Finally, on Thursday, the United States joined the group. The United States currently has 578 COVID-19 deaths per million compared to Sweden’s 577 per million, according to the global statistics web site Worldometers.

More nations are likely to follow in the weeks and months ahead.

Meanwhile, the man behind Sweden’s herd immunity strategy, Johan Giesecke, just got by promoted by the World Health Organization.

The Lockdown Lesson

State-enforced lockdowns have ravaged economies and humans alike. Stay-at-home orders caused a massive decline in economic output and caused serious disruptions to the global supply chain. Tens of millions of jobs were lost, millions of businesses were shuttered, and extreme global poverty increased for the first time in more than two decades. Meanwhile, countries witnessed surges in drug overdoses, suicide, domestic violence, and depression.

For months, media, policy experts, and politicians claimed that these unintended consequences were necessary collateral damage in the war against COVID-19 (when they acknowledged them at all).

“Scientists say lockdowns have likely prevented hundreds of millions of infections around the world,” CNN reported in June. “A modeling study published in the scientific journal Nature last month estimated that by early April, shutdown policies saved 285 million people in China from getting infected, 49 million in Italy and 60 million in the US.”

Professor Solomon Hsiang, the director of the Global Policy Laboratory at Berkeley, called lockdowns one of the greatest endeavors ever taken by humans.

“I don’t think any human endeavor has ever saved so many lives in such a short period of time,” said Hsiang. “There have been huge personal costs to staying home and canceling events, but the data show that each day made a profound difference.”

Recently published research appears to blow a hole in this thesis.

In a new Wall Street Journal article titled “The Failed Lockdown Experiment,” Donald L. Luskin, the chief investment officer of TrendMacro, a global investment strategy consulting firm, says data show lockdowns are actually correlated with a greater spread of the virus.

“TrendMacro, my analytics firm, tallied the cumulative number of reported cases of Covid-19 in each state and the District of Columbia as a percentage of population, based on data from state and local health departments aggregated by the Covid Tracking Project. We then compared that with the timing and intensity of the lockdown in each jurisdiction. That is measured not by the mandates put in place by government officials, but rather by observing what people in each jurisdiction actually did, along with their baseline behavior before the lockdowns. This is captured in highly detailed anonymized cellphone tracking data provided by Google and others and tabulated by the University of Maryland’s Transportation Institute into a “Social Distancing Index.”

Measuring from the start of the year to each state’s point of maximum lockdown—which range from April 5 to April 18—it turns out that lockdowns correlated with a greater spread of the virus. States with longer, stricter lockdowns also had larger Covid outbreaks. The five places with the harshest lockdowns—the District of Columbia, New York, Michigan, New Jersey and Massachusetts—had the heaviest caseloads.

It could be that strict lockdowns were imposed as a response to already severe outbreaks. But the surprising negative correlation, while statistically weak, persists even when excluding states with the heaviest caseloads. And it makes no difference if the analysis includes other potential explanatory factors such as population density, age, ethnicity, prevalence of nursing homes, general health or temperature. The only factor that seems to make a demonstrable difference is the intensity of mass-transit use.”

The efficacy of lockdowns (or the lack thereof) will likely be a subject of debate for years.

What’s clear is that COVID-19 is not as deadly as researchers originally thought and nations and states that did not lockdown did not see an explosion of deaths and cases (though they suffered far less economic destruction).

The fact that Sweden did not lockdown and now has fewer deaths per capita than the US, which did experience economic lockdowns in most of the country, doesn’t prove that lockdowns don’t work. Just like the fact that Sweden had more deaths than Scandanavian neighbors like Finland and Norway doesn’t prove that lockdowns saved lives.

It’s simply more evidence that the correlation between lockdowns and COVID-19 deaths is extremely weak. And to the extent a correlation exists, it’s actually negative.

Indeed, if you subtract three lockdown states from the US totals—New Jersey, New York, and Massachusetts, which account for 31 percent of all COVID-19 deaths in the US—the United States’s numbers suddenly plummet to 399 per million, below Bolivia and slightly above Columbia.

The year 2020 will go down in history as a historic calamity. But this was not because COVID-19 struck (deadly respiratory viruses have existed as long as humans have), but because central planners erroneously believed the best way to protect humanity from an invisible respiratory virus was to order healthy people to remain in their homes under almost all conditions, in many cases under threat of fine or imprisonment.

Planners made the fatal mistake of ignoring F.A. Hayek’s famous advice, delivered in his 1974 Nobel Prize-winning speech, to act humbly with their awesome power.

“The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design,” Hayek later wrote in The Fatal Conceit. “To the naive mind that can conceive of order only as the product of deliberate arrangement, it may seem absurd that in complex conditions order, and adaptation to the unknown, can be achieved more effectively by decentralizing decisions and that a division of authority will actually extend the possibility of overall order. Yet that decentralization actually leads to more information being taken into account.”

The results of lockdowns have indeed been fatal. But it’s not too late to learn the truth of Hayek’s important lesson.

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Jonathan Miltimore is the Managing Editor of FEE.org. His writing/reporting has been the subject of articles in TIME magazine, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, Forbes, Fox News, and the Star Tribune.

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The husband of the chief magistrate overseeing Julian Assange’s extradition case was closely associated with a lobby group publicly criticising the WikiLeaks founder around the time his wife was ruling against Assange, it can be revealed.

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Westminster chief magistrate Lady Emma Arbuthnot made two key legal rulings against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in February 2018, which ensured he would not be able to take up his asylum in Ecuador.

Around this time, her husband, Lord James Arbuthnot, a former Conservative defence minister with links to the British military and intelligence establishment, was working closely with the neo-conservative Henry Jackson Society (HJS), a pressure group with a strongly anti-Assange agenda. Lord Arbuthnot has hosted and chaired events for the HJS at the House of Lords and long sat on its “political council”.

The HJS has called Assange “bonkers and paranoid” and described the asylum given to him by the government of Ecuador as “the last seedy bolthole to which Mr Assange thinks he can run”.

Priti Patel, the current UK home secretary who will sign off Assange’s US extradition if ordered by the court, has also been closely involved with the HJS, including receiving financial benefits from the group.

On 6 February 2018, Lady Arbuthnot dismissed the request by Assange’s lawyers to have his arrest warrant for skipping bail withdrawn, after the Swedish investigation into sexual assault allegations was dropped.

If this request had been granted, Assange may have been able to negotiate safe passage to Ecuador to prevent his persecution by the US government.

A week later, in a second ruling, Lady Arbuthnot said: “I accept that Mr Assange had expressed fears of being returned to the United States from a very early stage in the Swedish extradition proceedings but… I do not find that Mr Assange’s fears were reasonable.”

Lady Arbuthnot also rejected the findings of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, commenting: “I do not find that Mr Assange’s stay in the Embassy is inappropriate, unjust, unpredictable, unreasonable, unnecessary or disproportionate.” She added: “I give little weight to the views of the Working Group.”

Lady and Lord Arbuthnot attend the Queen’s garden party at Buckingham Palace in May 2017. Anonymisation by Declassified. (Photo: Instagram)

‘Political council’

At the time of Lady Arbuthnot’s rulings, as well as before and since, Lord Arbuthnot has been closely associated with the HJS. According to the HJS’s archived web pages, Lord Arbuthnot has sat on the organisation’s “political council” for several years.

The earliest page impression Declassified could access, from June 2013, confirms his position on the council. The last page impression available, from December 2016, shows he was still a member—one of four Conservative peers on the council.

The HJS and Lord Arbuthnot did not respond to Declassified’s questions regarding whether he was still on the council—or what membership involves. Arbuthnot has, however, continued to partake in HJS events and is seen as a spokesperson for the organisation.

In July 2016, Lord Arbuthnot chaired a HJS event at the House of Lords and in July 2017 provided a quote for the HJS to mark the release of its report on Chinese investment in the UK.

Then, in November 2017, at the time Arbuthnot’s wife had begun preparing the Assange case, the HJS released a report calling for an increase in the UK military budget for which Lord Arbuthnot provided a supportive quote.

On 2 April 2019, days before Assange was seized from the Ecuadorian embassy, the HJS launched a report on the Indo-Pacific at the House of Lords “by kind invitation of the Rt Hon. the Lord Arbuthnot of Erdom [sic]”.

Neither the HJS nor Lord Arbuthnot responded to Declassified’s questions about whether the political council had been consulted on the HJS’s position on Julian Assange or WikiLeaks. The HJS has been exposed in WikiLeaks releases.

The HJS is closely aligned with the neo-conservative movement in the US and has access to the highest levels of the American government and its intelligence community.

During his visit to the UK in July, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke at a roundtable hosted by the HJS with whom the Washington Post described as “hawkish” members of the Conservative Party. UK Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, who also met with Pompeo, was previously on the HJS’s political council.

As director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in April 2017, Pompeo had launched a blistering attack on WikiLeaks calling the media organisation a “hostile intelligence service” that makes “common cause with dictators”. Pompeo did not provide evidence but added a threat: “To give them the space to crush us with misappropriated secrets is a perversion of what our great Constitution stands for. It ends now.”

One of the HJS’s “international patrons” is James Woolsey, the director of the CIA from 1993-95, while one signatory to its “Statement of Principles” – which promote Western military power – is Richard Dearlove, the former head of MI6.

HJS and Assange

HJS staff have been repeatedly critical of Assange and WikiLeaks in the British media since 2011 when its then associate director, Douglas Murray, engaged in a combative debate with Assange.

The following year, the HJS posted a video of Murray stating on Al-Jazeera English: “There is not a witch-hunt of WikiLeaks. An organisation illegally obtained, or stole as we used to call it, a whole set of government documents and published them with consequences which are still not fully understood.”

Murray continued: “I think Mr Assange has been bonkers and paranoid for years, it’s part of his alleged political makeup, and indeed I would allege that of many of his supporters.”

Murray added that Assange’s mindset was “almost messianic in its delusional belief that it can override every single norm of international law, every single norm of criminal law, and of national law”. He concluded: “Ecuador is not a Mecca of freedom of speech, it isn’t the world capital of decency, it’s the last seedy bolthole to which Mr Assange thinks he can run”.

Over the following years, the HJS and its staff continued to be among the most active civil society voices for impugning the motives and reputation of Assange, in contrast to most human rights and media organisations which argue that extraditing the WikiLeaks publisher to the US would be a grave blow to press freedom.

In October 2016, the HJS released a statement to the media, which claimed: “Mr Assange has a long track record of stealing and distributing information, peddling conspiracy theories, and casting aspersions on the moral standing of western democratic governments. He has done this whilst supporting, and being supported by, autocratic regimes.”

No evidence was supplied to support the assertions. At the time, Lord Arbuthnot sat on the group’s political council.

Providing a quote for the statement, Douglas Murray, who remained as the HJS’s associate director until 2018, was described as “an early critic of Mr Assange’s views, challenging him directly on his anti-Semitism, conspiracy theories, and the assistance his work has provided to those seeking to undermine Western security”. No evidence was supplied for these claims.

Later in the same month, after Ecuador cut Assange’s internet connection inside its embassy, Davis Lewin, a “political analyst” at the HJS, told US-government funded outlet Voice of America: “I do hope that this is the precursor to them coming to their senses and finally forcing this man to face justice in the way that he should.”

Murray then wrote a column for The Times in January 2017 titled: “No, Mr Trump, you were right the first time — Assange is a wrong ’un”.

HJS personnel—including spokesperson Sam Armstrong, chief of staff Ellie Green, and research fellow Paul Stott—have all made anti-Assange interventions in the British media.

In April 2019, after Julian Assange was seized from the embassy by British police, HJS director Alan Mendoza was put up as the counterweight against Assange’s lawyer on BBC’s flagship Newsnight programme. Posted to the HJS Youtube channel, Mendoza told the national broadcaster: “Journalists are not allowed to break the law in obtaining their materials.” He added: “I think it’s quite clear Mr Assange has spent many years evading justice, hiding in a room in Knightsbridge… Isn’t it time he actually answered questions in a court of law?”

Lady Arbuthnot’s rulings were also scathing about Assange’s perceived personal failings. She noted in her 2018 judgment: “He [Assange] appears to consider himself above the normal rules of law and wants justice only if it goes in his favour.” The judgment added: “Mr Assange has restricted his own freedom for a number of years. Defendants… come to court to face the consequences of their own choices. He should have the courage to do so too.”

Priti Patel

Home secretary Priti Patel, who would sign off the US extradition if ordered by the court, sat alongside Lord Arbuthnot on the HJS’s political council from 2013 to 2016. For some of this time, she was in government, having become treasury minister in July 2014.

In July 2013, the HJS paid £2,500 for Patel to fly to Washington DC to be a delegate at a forum organised by Israel lobby group AIPAC, as well as a HJS-organised “programme” in the US Congress. Six months later, in December 2013, Patel hosted a breakfast in the UK parliament for the HJS.

Soon after becoming an MP in 2010, Patel was appointed a parliamentary officer of another powerful right-wing lobby group, Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI), while Lord Arbuthnot was acting as its parliamentary chairman. CFI has been described by Channel 4 as “beyond doubt the most well-connected and probably the best funded of all Westminster lobbying groups”.

US Attorney General William Barr, left, and UK Home Secretary Priti Patel, right, sign the Cloud Act at a ceremony at the British Ambassador’s residence in Washington, DC, US, 3 October 2019. (Photo: US Department of Justice)

In October 2019, as home secretary, Patel visited Washington DC to meet William Barr, the US Attorney General who is now in charge of the Assange case as head of the Department of Justice. Together they signed the Cloud Act which makes it easier for American and British law enforcement agencies to demand electronic data on targets as they undertake investigations.

In July, Assange’s defence team raised the concern in court that Barr may be using Assange’s extradition case in the UK for political ends.

Declassified has previously revealed that Sajid Javid, who as home secretary in 2019 certified the initial US extradition request for Assange, attended six secretive meetings organised by a US institute which has published calls for Assange to be assassinated or taken down.

Conflicts of interest

Declassified recently revealed that the HJS, which does not disclose its funders, had been given £80,000 by the UK Home Office to produce a report on UK connections to Islamist terrorism. The HJS was alsorevealed by the Sunday Times in 2017 to be receiving £10,000 a month from the Japanese embassy in London “to wage a propaganda campaign against China” in the British media.

The latest revelations come as the British judiciary gave its first formal statement to Declassifiedconcerning allegations of conflicts of interests on the part of Lady Arbuthnot. In an email to Declassifiedfor this article, they claimed “there has been no bias demonstrated by the chief magistrate” in the Assange case.

However, Declassified has repeatedly revealed that Lady Arbuthnot’s position is mired in conflicts of interests involving her husband and son. Declassified previously revealed that Lady Arbuthnot personally received financial benefits from secretive “partner” organisations of the UK Foreign Office, which in 2018 called Assange a “miserable little worm”.

As far as is known, Lady Arbuthnot has never declared any conflicts of interest in the case and has never formally recused herself. It has been reported that Arbuthnot stepped aside from directly hearing the case because of a “perception of bias”, but it was not elucidated what this related to. This refusal means Assange’s defence team cannot revisit her previous rulings.

A Freedom of Information request sent by Declassified to the UK Ministry of Justice (MOJ) in August asking what this “perception of bias” pertained to — and whether Lady Arbuthnot had played a role in appointing the junior judge now ruling in the case — was rejected.

The MOJ said the information could not be disclosed because the request was “asking for an explanation” rather than “recorded information”. It further told Declassified it “does not hold any information” on what date the decision was made for Lady Arbuthnot to step aside from the case. The same questions put to Westminster Magistrates Court also went unanswered.

Declassified previously revealed that the MOJ has blocked the release of basic information about the current presiding judge in the case, Vanessa Baraitser, in what appears to be an irregular application of the Freedom of Information Act. Baraitser, who was likely chosen by Lady Arbuthnot, has a 96% extradition record, according to publicly available information.

The Henry Jackson Society, Priti Patel, Lord Arbuthnot, and Lady Arbuthnot, all did not respond to requests for comment.

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Matt Kennard is head of investigations, and Mark Curtis is editor, at Declassified UK, an outlet covering Britain’s role in the world. 

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Trump Regime to Blacklist China’s Top Chipmaker?

September 7th, 2020 by Stephen Lendman

Pompeo reinvented China beyond where other US Chinaphobes have ever gone before.

Falsely calling its ruling authorities Washington’s greatest foreign threat, he recited a litany of fake news about the country days earlier.

Spending a small fraction on its military compared to the US, he falsely claimed Beijing “is building out its military” menacingly (sic).

He ignored China’s cooperative relations with other countries, confrontation with none — polar opposite how the US operates worldwide.

Beijing “infiltrated the US in ways that Russia has not (sic),” he roared.

It “destroyed tens of thousands of jobs all across the heartland of America (sic).”

No one in Beijing forced US companies to offshore jobs to China and other low-wage countries.

No one in Washington offered tax or other incentives for companies to maintain operations domestically or imposed penalties for moving them abroad.

The misnamed “Wuhan virus” was made in a US biolab, exported to China and other countries.

Pompeo and other US hardliners consistently blame other countries for crimes and other wrongdoing by Washington — victimized nations notably blamed for US crimes against them.

According to Reuters on Saturday, the Trump regime may add China’s top chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) to the US Entity List, adding:

The blacklisting move “would force US suppliers to seek a difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to the company.

The Pentagon urged other US agencies to target SMIC this way, Reuters saying it’s unclear if State, Commerce, and Energy departments support the move.

The company is China’s top chipmaker, but it’s “second-tier to rival Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the industry’s market leader,” said Reuters.

Blacklisting Chinese firms adversely affect US high-tech suppliers.

Reuters said the Pentagon didn’t explain why it wants SMIC blacklisted, adding that the Trump regime focuses on firms that supply China’s military.

In the case of Huawei and its affiliate companies, blacklisting the them is all about wanting US telecom and communications companies to have a competitive advantage.

According to an SMIC spokesperson, the company doesn’t understand why it may be blacklisted in the US, indicating that it broke no laws and isn’t tied to China’s military, adding:

Company officials are “open to sincere and transparent communication with US government agencies in hope of resolving potential misunderstandings.”

According to telecom analyst Ma Jihua, the move against SMIC if comes will aim to stop the firm from supplying chips to Huawei, adding:

“(I)t’s impossible for SMIC to cut supplies to Huawei, and US action against SMIC will come sooner or later” — part of US war on China by other means that keeps escalating dangerously.

Ma indicated that if SMIC is blacklisted by the US, it can still buy raw materials for making chips from Japan and South Korea — unless Washington pressures them to cease supplying the company.

What’s going on increases the urgency for China and its enterprises to become self-sufficient by reducing and eliminating the need to rely on foreign suppliers in the US and other countries it can pressure to cut off supplies.

According to analysts following SMIC, blacklisting the company by the US will adversely affect China’s efforts to develop its integrated circuit and software industries.

Semiconductor research firm Isaiah Capital & Research head Eric Tseng said adding SMIC to the US Entity List “could disrupt (its) supply chain, affecting its production in CMOS sensors, smartphone fingerprints products, and power management integrated circuits-related products.”

SMIC and Huahong are the only Chinese firms able to produce chips by the most advanced technology in the country.

Shanghai-based Intralink consultancy’s Stewart Randall said blacklisting Chinese firms by the US means that any enterprises in the country able to compete with US companies worldwide may be threatened the same way.

“China has no choice but to try somehow to develop all equipment (domestically and) have a closed system.”

In August, Pompeo called for what he called a “clean network to safeguard America’s assets (by forming an) “end-to-end communication path that does not use any transmission, control, computing, or storage equipment from untrusted IT vendors, such as Huawei and ZTE.”

Given what’s going on, China and its enterprises need to free themselves from dependency on US suppliers by becoming self-sufficient.

Whether Republicans or Dems control things, the trend in Washington to isolate China and cut off its enterprises from the US market continues to escalate.

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Award-winning author Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at [email protected]. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG)

His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

US-Russia Tensions Flare Up on Multiple Fronts

September 7th, 2020 by M. K. Bhadrakumar

Amidst the escalating tensions with China, the United States should have kept the troubled relationship with Russia on an even keel. But the opposite is happening. For the first time since the presidential election in Belarus on August 9, Washington has openly sided with the protests in Minsk and dared Russia to intervene. 

Berlin has simultaneously announced that the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned by Novichok nerve agent. Curiously, Germans went public with the explosive information without even notifying Moscow first. Presumably, the US was in the loop, given Navalny’s standing in Russian politics. 

Most certainly, Washington and Berlin have moved in tandem over Belarus and Navalny respectively. A major confrontation is brewing. The warning over Belarus came at the level of the US Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun who conveyed a harsh message to the Kremlin via the cold war era megaphone Radio Liberty:  

“The last four years has been very challenging for U.S.-Russian relations, but it is possible that it could be worse. And one of the things that would limit the ability of any president, regardless of the outcome of [the U.S. presidential election in November], in developing a more cooperative relationship with Russia, in any sphere, would be direct Russian intervention in Belarus.”

Within hours, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stepped in “demanding an immediate end” to the Belarus government’s moves to curb the protests and warning of “significant targeted sanctions” in consultation with Washington’s transatlantic partners.

This is a direct challenge to President Vladimir Putin who had stated last week that Russia is obliged to intervene in Belarus under the Russia-Belarus Unity Pact of 1998 and the Collective Security Treaty. (See my blog Anatomy of coup attempt in Belarus, August 30, 2020) 

The US intention is to put Russia on the dock with the simultaneous diplomatic offensives on two fronts. The Russian ambassador to Germany was summoned to the foreign ministry in Berlin a few hours ago; meanwhile, the protests in Minsk are enjoying a fresh lease of life. 

The Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov today condemned the “attempts made by several foreign states” to fuel the protests in Minsk and noted “a rise in NATO activity near Belarusian borders.” The Russian and Belarusian intelligence agencies are in touch. 

The Belarus foreign minister Vladimir Makei visited Moscow today for talks with Lavrov. The chiefs of the General Staffs of Russia and Belarus discussed on the phone today “the state and the prospects of bilateral military cooperation and also the pace of preparations for the Slavic Brotherhood joint drills.” A visit by Belarus President Alexander Lukashenka to Moscow is expected shortly. 

While the Navalny affair is more of the stuff of propaganda to smear Russia’s reputation in the western opinion, Moscow will focus on the Belarus situation. Putin underscored last week that amongst the former Soviet republics, Belarus “perhaps is the closest, both in terms of ethnic proximity, the language, the culture, the spiritual as well as other aspects. We have dozens or probably hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of direct family ties with Belarus and close industrial cooperation.” 

Lavrov didn’t mince words when he hit back today,

“Moscow will provide an adequate and firm response based on facts to those who are trying to derail the situation in Belarus…(and) to turn the republic away from Russia and undermine the foundations of the Union State.”  

What is Washington’s game plan? Indeed, it suits President Trump’s campaign if his administration is seen as hanging tough on Russia. In substantive terms, Washington probably chose to go on the offensive considering that Russian intelligence has zeroed in on the CIA blueprint to stage a colour revolution in Belarus. 

In fact, there has been a dizzying array of standoffs involving Russia in the most recent days. The US and Russian military clashed six days ago when a vehicle forming part of a Russian convoy in north-eastern Syria rammed an American armoured vehicle injuring 4 US soldiers, prompting Biden to taunt Trump, “Did you hear the president say a single word? Did he lift one finger? Never before has an American president played such a subservient role to a Russian leader.”

On August 31, the US military announced that over the next 10 days it will be conducting live-fire exercises just 70 miles from Russian border. On August 28, the US flew six nuclear-capable B-52 bombers over 30 NATO countries in a major show of force. Two of them flew over the Black Sea and were intercepted by two Russian fighter jets, which crossed within 100 feet of the nose of one of the bombers, reportedly disrupting its ability to maintain its bearing.

On August 27, the Russian guided missile submarine Omsk surfaced off the coast of Alaska and participated in live-fire exercises in the Bering Sea. Also on August 27, NORAD sent two F-22 jets to intercept three groups of Russian military maritime patrol aircraft off the Alaskan coast.

With growing signs of Russia digging in, the Plan B over Belarus is surfacing. Both Belarus and Navalny are noble causes that come handy for Washington to rally Europe and re-establish its transatlantic leadership, which has been in tatters lately with the EU, France, Germany and UK joining Russia and China to block the Trump administration’s attempt to impose “snapback” sanctions against Iran. 

Above all, Washington feels frustrated that its clumsy attempts to create daylight between Russia and China have floundered. China has voiced support for Lukashenka; the Sino-Russian juggernaut is puncturing holes from all sides in Trump’s maximum pressure strategy against Iran, 

In a feature article entitled China, Russia Deepen Their Ties Amid Pandemic, Conflict with the West, Radio Liberty recently listed several new Russia-China economic projects in the pipeline to boost the relations further. 

These include one of the world’s largest polymer plants that Russia is building in Amur, near the Chinese border costing $11 billion in collaboration with China’s giant Sinopec Group; commencement of natural gas supply to China through the 2,900-kilometer Power Of Siberia pipeline; plan to start work on a second pipeline, Power Of Siberia 2; plans to more than triple Russian gas deliveries to China; new scientific cooperation testing vaccines for COVID-19; concerted “de-dollarisation” plan aimed at limiting the use of dollar in bilateral transactions and so on. 

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Featured image: Russian Su-27 Flanker jets crossing within 100 feet of the nose of a nuclear-capable US B-52 bomber in Black Sea, August 28, 2020

An Iranian report has warned against “undeclared aims” in the UAE-Israel normalisation agreement, which could include the establishment of an Israeli military base in the United Arab Emirates in order to help it gain a foothold in the Gulf and be closer to Iran.

Although not declared in the 13 August agreement, the report inJadeh Iran said that this aim was “clear in the geopolitical sense.”

The report also argued that the agreement is not, as it claims, for peace in Israel-Palestine, as relations between Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv have been conducted in secret for years.

“Abu Dhabi fired neither a shot nor a threat” against Israel since its inception, the piece added.

The report claimed that the agreement’s top priority is to attack Iran, and logically it could “lead to the establishment of Israeli military and security bases facing Iran.”

This poses a serious risk to Iranian security as most of its important oil fields, ports and nuclear reactors have been built on the Gulf coast.

The piece claimed that Israel’s interest in the normalisation agreement stemmed from the UAE’s geographic proximity to Iran, “which puts an Israeli eye, and perhaps even a hand as well, a few kilometers away from strategic Iranian installations.”

For many years, Israel and the Gulf states have been cooperating in security and other matters, in part to counter Iranian aggression, seen as a threat to both the Gulf kingdoms and the Jewish state.

Several days after the normalisation agreement was announced, reports surfaced of a historic US arms sale to the UAE, including F-35 jets, including F-35 fighter jets, Reaper drones and EA-18G Growler jets – electronic warfare planes that can conduct stealth attacks by jamming enemy air defences.

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Russia – Nord Stream 2 vs. Poisoning of Alexei Navalny

September 7th, 2020 by Peter Koenig

Wednesday, 2 September – all German TV channels – mainstream media were focused unilaterally on the alleged Novichok poisoning of Russian opposition critique, Alexei Navalny. This “breaking-news” poison discovery was made in Germany two weeks after he has been flown from Tomsk in Siberia to Moscow, when he fell ill on the plane and the airliner had to return to Tomsk for an emergency landing.

Navalny was hospitalized in Tomsk, put in an artificial coma and closely observed. His family wanted him immediately to be flown out of Russia to Berlin, Germany, to get western attention and western treatment. So, the story goes. At first the medical staff at Tomsk hospital said that Navalny’s health was not stable enough for a transport of this kind. A few days later they gave the green light for flying him to Germany. Berlin sent a hospital plane – at German taxpayer’s cost – to fly the “poisoned” political patient to Berlin, where during the last 14 days he has been in an artificial coma in Berlin’s University Hospital “Charité”. At least that’s what the government reports.

After 11 days, finally “scientists” – supposedly military toxicologists, have discovered that Navalny was poisoned with military grade nerve gas Novichok.

Military grade! – It reminds vividly of the other bizarre Novichok case – Sergei and Yulia Skripal, father and daughter, who were found on March 12, 2018 on a park bench in Salisbury, Britain, unconscious. The location was about 12 km down the road from the British top-secret P-4 security military lab Porton Down in Wiltshire, one of the few labs in the world that still are capable to produce Novichok. The immediate reaction of Britain and the world was then, like today: Putin did it! Sergei Skripal was a Russian double agent, who was released from Russia more than a decade earlier and lived peacefully in England.

What interest would Mr. Putin have to poison him? However, the UK and Big Brother Washington had all the interest in the world to invent yet another reason to bash and slander Russia and President Putin. The same as today with Alexei Navalny.

Isn’t it strange that the Skripals as well as Navalny survived? And that after having been poisoned with what military experts claim to be the deadliest nerve agent ever? Although nobody has seen the Skripals after they were hospitalized 2 years ago, it seems they are still alive. Were they perhaps given US-British shelter under the guise of the so-called US-witness protection program – a full new identity, hiding in plain view?

The immediate question was then and is today, why would Mr. Putin poison his adversaries? That would be the most unwise thing to do. Everybody knows much too well that Mr. Putin is the world’s foremost perceptive, incisive and diplomatic statesman. Alexei Navalny wasn’t even a serious contender. His popularity was less than 5%. Compare this with Mr. Putin’s close to 80% approval rating by the Russian population. Navalny is known as a rightwing activist and troublemaker. Anybody who suggests such an absurdity, that the Kremlin would poison Navalny, is outright crazy.

If there would have been a plot to get rid of Navalny – why would he be poisoned with the deadliest nerve gas there is – and, as he survives, being allowed to be flown out to the west- literally into the belly of the beast? That would be even more nonsensical.

Yet the mainstream media keep hammering it down without mercy, without even allowing for the slightest doubt – down into the brains of the suspected brainwashed Germans and world populations. But the German population is the least brainwashed of all Europe. In fact, Germans are the most awaken of the globe’s wester populace. It clearly shows when they resist their government’s (and the 193 nations governments’ around the world) covid tyranny with a peaceful Berlin protest of 1 August of 1.3 million people in the streets and a similar one on 29 August.

Nevertheless, Madame Merkel’s reaction was so ferocious on September 2 on TV and with the media, as well as talking to leaders from around the world on how to react to this latest Russian atrocity and how to punish and sanction President Putin, that even conservative politicians and some mainstream journalist started wondering – what’s going on?

It’s a debateless accusation of Russia. There is no shred of evidence and there are no alternatives being considered. The simplest and most immediate question one ought to ask in such circumstances is “cui bono” – who benefits? – But no. The answer to this question would clearly show that President Putin and Russia do not benefit from this alleged poisoning at all. So, who does?

The evolving situation is so absurd that not a single word coming out of the German Government can be believed. It all sounds like a flagrant lie; like an evil act of smearing Russia without a reason, and that exactly at the time when Europe, led by Germany was about to improve relations with Russia. The gas pipeline Nord Stream 2 is a vivid testimony for closer relations between Germany, and by association Europe – with Russia – or is it?

One of Joseph Goebbels (Hitler’s propaganda Minister) famous sayings was, when a lie is repeated enough it becomes the truth.

Peculiarly enough, and without any transit-thought, the German rightwing, the CDU-party in particular, came immediately forward with recommending – no, demanding – an immediate halt of the Nord Stream 2 project – canceling the contract with Russia. The “biggest punishment” for Putin. “It will hurt Russia deep in their already miserable down-trodden economy”, were some comments. Those were angry anti-Russian voices. Another lie. The Russian economy is doing well, very well, as compared to most western economies, despite covid.

What do Russian health and toxicology authorities say, especially those who treated Mr. Navalny in the hospital of Tomsk?

RT reports, according to Alexander Sabaev, the chief toxicologist who cared for him in Siberia, if Alexey Navalny’s condition were caused by a substance from the ‘Novichok’ group, the people accompanying him should also be suffering from the fallout. Instead, Dr. Sabaev believes that Navalny’s condition was caused by an “internal trigger mechanism.” Novichok is an organophosphorus compound, and, due to its high toxicity, it is not possible to poison just one person. He explained, “As a rule, other accompanying people will also be affected.”

Doctors in the Tomsk Emergency Hospital, where activist Navalny lay in a coma for almost two days, found no traces of toxic substances in his kidneys, liver, or lungs, Alexander Sabaev, leading the investigation, concluded that Navalny was not poisoned.

So – why was Dr. Alexander Sabaev not interviewed on German TV – or by the western mainstream media?

Neither were members of other German parties interviewed, for example Die Linke (the Left), or the SPD – the Social Democratic Party. None. None of the medical doctors or “scientists” who were treating Alexei Navalny at Charité, and who allegedly discovered the deadly poison (but not deadly enough) in Navalny’s body, were interviewed.

Nor was the former Chancellor, Gerhard Schröder (Ms. Merkel’s predecessor, 1998-2005) interviewed about his opinion. Schroeder, a member of the SPD, is one of the master minds of Nord Stream 2 and is currently the chairman of the board of Nord Stream AG and of Rosneft. Would he think that Mr. Putin was as foolish as to kill this German-Russia unifying project by poisoning a right-wing activist, a non-adversary?

Of course not.

Therefore, who benefits?

The United States has for years been objecting vividly and voraciously against this pipeline. Trump: “Why should we pay for NATO to defend Germany, when Germany buys gas from Russia and makes herself dependent on Russia?” – He added, “We offer Germany and Europe all the gas and energy they need.” Yes, the US is offering “fracking gas” at much higher cost than the Russian gas. There are countries in Europe whose Constitution would not allow buying fracking gas, due to the environmentally damaging fracking process.

Is it possible that this was another one of those brilliant acts of the CIA or other US intelligence agencies? – Or a combination of CIA and the German Bundesnachrichtendienst (German Federal Intelligence Service) – or an EU-NATO trick? By now it’s no longer a secret that NATO runs Brussels, or at least calls the shots on issues of US interests concerning the European Union or its member states.

Is it possible that Angela Merkel was chosen by the deep-deep state to combat President Putin and Russia? This time by bashing and smearing them with lies – lies as gross as poisoning an opposition activist? To kill the pipeline? What will it be next time?

Today, the first time, official Germany through Mr. Heiko Maas, Foreign Minister, has questioned and threatened the Nord Stream 2 German-Russian joint venture – “if Moscow does not collaborate.” Mr. Haas knows very well, there is nothing to collaborate, as Russia was not involved. It is the same argument, if Moscow does not collaborate (in the case of the Skripals) that was used by Theresa May, then British PM, to punish Russia with further sanctions.

Indeed, all is possible in today’s world, where the Washington empire is faltering by the day and the Powers that Be are desperate that their international fraud base – the US-dollar – may be disappearing. Because, not only are Nord Stream 1 and 2 delivering Russian gas to Germany and Europe, but the gas is traded in euros and rubles and not in US-dollars.

Think about it. Killing (or – so far – poisoning) a Russian opposition leader to demolish the German-Russian Nord Stream 2 project? – This is certainly a crime within the realm and “competence” of the US Government and its western allies.

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This article was originally published on New Eastern Outlook.

Peter Koenig is an economist and geopolitical analyst. He is also a water resources and environmental specialist. He worked for over 30 years with the World Bank and the World Health Organization around the world in the fields of environment and water. He lectures at universities in the US, Europe and South America. He writes regularly for Global Research; ICH; New Eastern Outlook (NEO); RT; Countercurrents, Sputnik; PressTV; The 21st Century; Greanville Post; Defend Democracy Press; The Saker Blog, the and other internet sites. He is the author of Implosion – An Economic Thriller about War, Environmental Destruction and Corporate Greed – fiction based on facts and on 30 years of World Bank experience around the globe. He is also a co-author of The World Order and Revolution! – Essays from the Resistance. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization.

Featured image is from Land Destroyer Report

Vaccine Nationalism, Big Promises and Warped Speed

September 7th, 2020 by Dr. Binoy Kampmark

From sneering dismissiveness of the coronavirus as nothing more than a common cold to a grand promise to find a vaccine, President Donald Trump is all promises. “We remain on track to deliver a vaccine before the end of the year and maybe even before November 1st,” he told a White House news conference on September 4.  “We think we can probably have it sometime during the month of October.” 

Operation Warp Speed, he tried convincing the press corps, was doing what it was required to do.  He had spoken to the head of Pfizer – “great guy”.  He was expecting “the results of its trial very, very shortly – next month – but very shortly.”  To Pfizer’s efforts could be added those of Johnson & Johnson (“also doing very well”) and Moderna.  “We have some really great companies.  They’re all doing very well.”

Even within go-it-alone USA, mistrust reigns on when a working vaccine will be ready.  An election is in the offing, and any proximity to the date of November in terms of miraculous discoveries will be seen as smelly.  Democratic Vice Presidential hopeful Kamala Harris, beating the electoral drum, sees some votes in telling citizenry of the republic that Trump cannot be trusted about anything to do with the vaccine.  He will put the toes of public officials against the fire; he will marginalise and sack critics.  “If past is prologue,” she told CNN’s State of the Union, “they will not, they’ll be muzzled, they’ll be sidelined.” 

There is also much to suggest that no country, or corporation, should be entirely trusted in this endeavour.  The process of finding a vaccine is so intermingled with promises of a speedy discoveries and rapid manufacture, it has left even the most ardent vaccinators worried. The scientists have been told to work miracles in the laboratory; pharmaceutical giants are being told to be generous, yet continue to sign agreements with governments that will enable them to charge handsomely when the time comes.  As Adam Kamradt-Scott, a student of global health security relevantly notes, such “commercial-in-confidence agreements are usually signed in secret, often with different prices being charged to different governments depending on whether they are the first customer or 30th and their ability to pay.”

The number of candidate vaccines is growing: some 160 at the moment, 31 or so having entered human clinical trials.  Negotiating barriers are being treated as minor obstacles to be danced around with lithe finesse.  The urgency is such that even Russian President Vladimir Putin has spoken of one of his daughters taking “part in the experiment” of the Sputnik V vaccine.

The World Health Organization has been attempting to quash any ideas of needless haste, stressing the values of thoroughness and safety.  Chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan is trying to be resolute in that regard.  “No vaccine is going to be mass-deployed until regulators are confident, governments are confident, and the WHO is confident it has met the minimum standards of safety.”  All vaccine candidates would, she claims, have to “go through the Phase III trials.”

The Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, is also preaching against the temptations of vaccine nationalism.  “Vaccine nationalism will prolong the pandemic.”  He has urged countries to join the COVAX global vaccine allocation plan, and announced on Friday that 78 high-income states had put their names to a collective now numbering 170.  Run by the WHO and the Gavi vaccine alliance, the object is the equitable distribution of vaccination shots, when the time comes. 

There is much trumpeting about the merits of COVAX, much of it from the collective itself.  The Gavi vaccine alliance CEO, Seth Berkley, is calling the collaboration unique, the 170 countries comprising 70 percent of the globe’s population.  It “has the world’s largest and most diverse portfolio of COVID-19 vaccines, and as such represents the world’s best hope of bringing the acute phase of this pandemic to a swift end.”  Joining the group will mean that “both self-financing countries and funded countries will gain access to this portfolio of vaccines, as and when they prove to be both safe and effective.” 

There are a few efforts seeking to limit the sharper effects of vaccine nationalism, though they are by no means assured of success.  The Open COVID Pledge, comprising a number “of scientists, lawyers, entrepreneurs and individuals working to promote the removal of obstacles involving intellectual property in the fight against COVID-19” is one such enterprise.  Creative Commons has been given the task of steering the pledge through such difficult waters.  “We believe this initiative,” claims the OCP, “will have a profound impact beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.”  Good to be optimistic in such matters.

The COVAX effort has not done away with the problems of vaccine bilateralism, which remain pressing.  Paul Hudson, CEO of Sanofi, sees the US “right to the largest pre-order” of the first vaccine as manifest destiny.  Adar Poonawalla, chief executive of the Serum Institute of India, which by volume is the largest maker of vaccines, is also clear that “the vaccine, at least initially, would have to go to our countrymen before it goes abroad.”  Countries who have the cash and the means are looking out for their own. 

The outcome, as things, stand, promises to be traditional in geopolitics and health.  Old divisions and inequalities will be reasserted with marked savagery.  The rich and affluent will get first dibs and first jabs; the impoverished will have to wait their turn. And the virus will continue to do its work.

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Dr. Binoy Kampmark was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge.  He lectures at RMIT University, Melbourne. He is a frequent contributor to Global Research and Asia-Pacific Research. Email: [email protected]

Featured image is from New Eastern Outlook

Imagine going to a doctor suspecting you may have a serious illness and being told that there are 2 tests available. With the first test, a swab, they do not know, should you record a positive result, whether or not you have the disease. With the second test, a blood test, they know for certain that the test is of no value in detecting the disease.

Would a patient find that situation satisfactory? Obviously not.

Yet that is exactly what the Australian government is admitting is the situation with its coronavirus testing. It is on the Therapeutics Goods Administration web site for “health professionals”:

The extent to which a positive PCR result correlates with the infectious state of an individual is still being determined.”

And:

There is limited evidence available to assess the accuracy and clinical utility of available COVID-19 tests.”

[We also have a screenshot, just in case they take the info down – ed.]

In other words, what are risibly described as the health ‘authorities’ do not know whether, if a person tests positive, they are infected or not. The TGA also admits that the ‘reliability of the evidence’ is uncertain because of the ‘limited evidence base’.

They know their PCR tests are dodgy and the serology tests are useless, so they are hiding it in plain sight in the hope that no-one picks up on it.

Yet testing positive is what is being called a ‘case’ (a word that usually applies people who are obviously sick) and the rise in so-called ‘cases’ is being used as the rationale for abusive and absurd lockdowns in Melbourne (where this writer lives).

Worse, most of the population has believed the propaganda and is more than willing to turn on any fellow citizens who have a different view, demonising them as ‘so selfish’ and cheering when they are subjected to fines of tens of thousands of dollars.

Meanwhile, the number of serious and critical patients (which should be the real definition of a ‘case’) has not risen above 70 in Australia since the pandemic scare started – in a population of 24 million. The per capita deaths are about 26 per million over a six month period, a fraction of the toll in other countries.

Worse, the same dodgy practices about causes of death have been followed in Australia as happened elsewhere. The chief health officer in Victoria admitted that they were not testing for the virus, just assuming that if there were flu-like symptom it must be COVID-19. Deaths by flu in Australia, it should be added, are running unusually low.

The blood tests are even worse. The Doherty Institute has tested about half a dozen of the serological (blood) tests and concluded in each case:

Overall, our findings continue to support recent position statements by the Public Health Laboratory Network (PHLN) and the Royal College of Pathologists Australasia (RCPA) that serological assays have limited, if any, role in the diagnosis of acute COVID-19 infection.”

This conclusion has been replicated elsewhere. Beaumont Health in Michigan ran a longitudinal study, starting in mid-April, which was supposed to look at the rates of infection in health workers exposed to the virus. It was based on large scale serological testing.

So what did the study’s conclusion (which was not easy to locate):

Higher quality clinical studies assessing the diagnostic accuracy of serological tests for covid-19 are urgently needed. Currently, available evidence does not support the continued use of existing point-of-care serological tests.”

Same result: the blood tests are useless. You have to wonder why. The first explanation that comes to mind is that they don’t have the information they need about the virus to reliably test for its existence.

The Doherty Institute in its test of a Chinese PCR kit used an artificially created virus. Why are they creating it artificially?

There are some serious questions to be answered here but the Australian so-called journalists are, with some exceptions, not of a mind to ask any of them. They are too busy generating traffic by scaring people. So they mindlessly parrot the politicians’ and health advisor’s reasons for turning Victoria into a medical police state.

In Melbourne there are lockdowns between 8 pm and 5 am, people being sent to jail for not wearing masks, police patrolling public places to ensure the health officer’s dictates are being followed, violently if necessary, and other outrages.

The premier, Daniel Andrews wants to extend the state of emergency for another 12 months so he can hand all decisions over to the Chief Health Officer and claim he is doing the right thing.

Both the politicians and the mainstream media quack endlessly about ‘evidence-based policy’ and ‘following the science’. That is a lie.

They are relying on tests that, by the government’s own admission, are not reliable. This is not conflicting views amongst ‘experts’. This is the government itself. It is an extraordinary scandal and if there was a functioning media, the government would be exposed for gross incompetence and political aggression.

Victorian citizens who try to organise peaceful protests are being arrested in their homes and charged with ‘incitement’, whatever that means. The police have descended into total hypocrisy.

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David James has been a business and finance journalist, editor, and satirical columnist for over 30 years. He has PhD in English Literature and his web site is bardbitesback.com

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This really should be one of the biggest public health scandals of the decade, but instead it’s given little attention – mainly because of the high-profile nature of the people and organisations involved.

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The United Nations has been forced to admit that a major international vaccine initiative is actually causing a deadly outbreak of the very disease it was supposed to wipe-out.

While international organisations like the World Health Organization (WHO) will regularly boast about ‘eradicating polio’ with vaccines—the opposite seems to be the case, with vaccines causing the deaths of scores of young people living in Africa.

Health officials have now admitted that their plan to stop ‘wild’ polio is backfiring, as scores children are being paralyzed by a deadly strain of the pathogen derived from a live vaccine – causing a virulent wave of polio to spread.

This latest pharma-induced pandemic started out in the African countries of Chad and Sudan, with the culprit identified as vaccine-derived polio virus type 2.

Officials now fear this new dangerous strain could soon ‘jump continents,’ causing further deadly outbreaks around the world.

Shocking as it sounds, this Big Pharma debacle is not new. After spending some $16 billion over 30 years to eradicate polio, international health bodies have ‘accidentally’ reintroduced the disease to in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and also Iran, as the central Asia region was hit by a virulent strain of polio spawned by the a pharmaceutical vaccine. Also, in 2019, the government of Ethiopia ordered the destruction of 57,000 vials of type 2 oral polio vaccine (mOPV2) following a similar outbreak of vaccine-induced polio.

The same incident has happened in India as well.

It’s important to note that the oral polio vaccine is being pushed by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), a consortium which is supported and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

All of this should be cause for concern, especially with western governments and transnational pharmaceutical giants all rushing to roll-out their new Gates-funded experimental coronavirus vaccine for the global population.

Currently, the first experimental COVID-19 vaccine is being tested on the African populationthrough GAVI Vaccine Alliance, another organization funded by the Gates Foundation. A large round of human trials is taking place in South Africa, run by the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg—another Gates-funded institution.

This latest revelation from Africa should prompt journalists and health advocates to ask harder questions about the efficacy and safety of the much-hype COVID ‘miracle’ vaccine.

AP News reports…

LONDON (AP) — The World Health Organization says a new polio outbreak in Sudan is linked to an ongoing vaccine-sparked epidemic in Chad — a week after the U.N. health agency declared the African continent free of the wild polio virus.

In a statement this week, WHO said two children in Sudan — one from South Darfur state and the other from Gedarif state, close to the border with Ethiopia and Eritrea — were paralyzed in March and April. Both had been recently vaccinated against polio. WHO said initial outbreak investigations show the cases are linked to an ongoing vaccine-derived outbreak in Chad that was first detected last year and is now spreading in Chad and Cameroon.

“There is local circulation in Sudan and continued sharing of transmission with Chad,” the U.N. agency said, adding that genetic sequencing confirmed numerous introductions of the virus into Sudan from Chad.

WHO said it had found 11 additional vaccine-derived polio cases in Sudan and that the virus had also been identified in environmental samples. There are typically many more unreported cases for every confirmed polio patient. The highly infectious disease can spread quickly in contaminated water and most often strikes children under 5.

In rare instances, the live polio virus in the oral vaccine can mutate into a form capable of sparking new outbreaks.

Last week, WHO and partners declared that the African continent was free of the wild polio virus, calling it “an incredible and emotional day.”

On Monday, WHO warned that the risk of further spread of the vaccine-derived polio across central Africa and the Horn of Africa was “high,” noting the large-scale population movements in the region.

More than a dozen African countries are currently battling outbreaks of polio caused by the virus, including Angola, Congo, Nigeria and Zambia.

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, many of the large-scale vaccination campaigns needed to stamp out polio have been disrupted across Africa and elsewhere, leaving millions of children vulnerable to infection.

In April, WHO and its partners reluctantly recommended a temporary halt to mass polio immunization campaigns, recognizing the move could lead to a resurgence of the disease. In May, they reported that 46 campaigns to vaccinate children against polio had been suspended in 38 countries, mostly in Africa, because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Some of the campaigns have recently been re-started, but health workers need to vaccinate more than 90% of children in their efforts to eradicate the paralytic disease.

Health officials had initially aimed to wipe out polio by 2000, a deadline repeatedly pushed back and missed. Wild polio remains endemic in Afghanistan and Pakistan; both countries also are struggling to contain outbreaks of vaccine-derived polio.

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The report, set to be filed in federal court this week, confirms reporting from ProPublica and The Texas Tribune that found portions of the wall were in danger of overturning if not fixed due to extensive erosion just months after it was built.

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It’s not a matter of if a privately built border fence along the shores of the Rio Grande will fail, it’s a matter of when, according to a new engineering report on the troubled project.

The report is one of two new studies set to be filed in federal court this week that found numerous deficiencies in the 3-mile border fence, built this year by North Dakota-based Fisher Sand and Gravel. The reports confirm earlier reporting from ProPublica and The Texas Tribune, which found that segments of the structure were in danger of overturning due to extensive erosion if not fixed and properly maintained. Fisher dismissed the concerns as normal post-construction issues.

Donations that paid for part of the border fence are at the heart of an indictment against members of the We Build the Wall nonprofit, which raised more than $25 million to help President Donald Trump build a border wall.

Former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon, We Build the Wall founder Brian Kolfage and two others connected to the organization are accused of siphoning donor money to pay off personal debt and fund lavish lifestyles. All four, who face up to 20 years in prison on each of the two counts they face, have pleaded not guilty, and Bannon has called the charges a plot to stop border wall construction.

We Build the Wall, whose executive board is made up of influential immigration hard-liners like Bannon, Kris Kobach and Tom Tancredo, contributed $1.5 million of the cost of the $42 million private border fence project south of Mission, Texas.

Last year, the nonprofit also hired Fisher to build a half-mile fence segment in Sunland Park, New Mexico, outside El Paso.

Company president Tommy Fisher, a frequent guest on Fox News, had called the Rio Grande fence the “Lamborghini” of border walls and bragged that his company’s methods could help Trump reach his Election Day goal of about 500 new miles of barriers along the southern border.

Instead, one engineer who reviewed the two reports on behalf of ProPublica and The Texas Tribune likened Fisher’s fence to a used Toyota Yaris.

“It seems like they are cutting corners everywhere,” said Alex Mayer, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Texas at El Paso. “It’s not a Lamborghini, it’s a $500 used car.”

Since Fisher’s companies embarked on construction of the Rio Grande fence, the Trump administration has awarded about $2 billion in federal contracts to the firms to build segments of the border wall in other locations.

Fisher agreed to the inspection as part of ongoing lawsuits against Fisher Sand and Gravel filed last year by the National Butterfly Center and the International Boundary and Water Commission. They unsuccessfully sought to convince a federal judge to stop the construction of the project until the potential impacts of the wall on the Rio Grande could be determined.

Mark Tompkins, an environmental engineer hired by the wildlife refuge, noted in his report that widespread erosion and scouring occurred after heavy rain events such as Hurricane Hanna in July, but that the fence has yet to experience a flood of the Rio Grande.

“Fisher Industries’ private bollard fence will fail during extreme high flow events,” concluded Tompkins, who specializes in river management.

Fisher Industries has installed a 10-foot-wide road made with rocks to help address erosion issues while allowing access by Border Patrol agents. (Courtesy of Fisher Industries)

“When extreme flow events, laden with sediment and debris, completely undermine the foundation of the fence and create a flow path under the fence or cause a segment of the fence to topple into the river, unpredictable and damaging hydraulics will occur,” he added in an affidavit to be filed in court.

Experts have said the fence will face a never-ending battle with erosion given its proximity to the water and the sandy, silty material of the banks. In the Rio Grande Valley, the federal government usually builds sections of the wall miles inland on top of existing levees, partly due to erosion concerns.

A second report, based on a geotechnical and structural inspection by the Millennium Engineers Group of Pharr, Texas, also hired by the National Butterfly Center, found that the fence was stable for now, but that it faces a host of issues. They include soil erosion on the river side — in some areas gaps up to three feet wide and waist deep, concrete cracking, construction flaws and what the firm concluded was likely substandard construction material below the fence’s foundation.

The Millennium engineers called for a clay covering to protect the embankment from erosion, as well as closely monitoring the project.

Its conclusion: “The geography at the wall’s construction location in comparison to the river bend is not at a favorable location for long-term performance.”

According to a copy of an operation and maintenance plan, Fisher Sand and Gravel plans quarterly inspections of the fence as well as extra checkups after large storms. The company had also said it would plant grasses that better hold in place the sandy riverbank and add a layer of rocks to lessen erosion. New soil will also be “treated and seeded” to help fill ground cover.

Tompkins called the maintenance plan “completely inadequate” and a “haphazard and unprofessional approach to long-term maintenance.”

Tommy Fisher said Tuesday that he couldn’t comment on the reports because he hadn’t reviewed them. But he added that his company has fixed all of the erosion, in part by adding a 10-foot-wide road made out of rocks for the Border Patrol to drive over that his crew considered big enough so it wouldn’t be as easily displaced. He estimates it will cost up to $150,000.

“Bottom line, if you want border security on the border you have to think outside the box,” he said. “I feel very comfortable with what we’ve done.”

In July, Fisher appeared on a podcast hosted by Bannon, who called Fisher “kind of a mentor” who “taught me really about how you actually have to build a wall.”

Asked about the engineering concerns, which Bannon said were part of a “hit piece,” Fisher called them “absolutely nonsense.”

“I would invite any of these engineers that so-called said this was gonna fall over, I’ll meet ‘em there next week. … If you don’t know what you’re talking about, you probably shouldn’t start talking,” he said. “It’s working unbelievably well. There’s a little erosion maintenance we have to maintain.”

But to experts, Fisher’s planned fixes are inadequate.

“To me, it’s almost like putting a Band-Aid on a gaping wound,” said Adriana E. Martinez, a Southern Illinois University Edwardsville professor and geomorphologist who reviewed the reports on behalf of ProPublica and The Texas Tribune.

Officials with the International Boundary Commission have said that they too have found “significant erosion,” but spokeswoman Sally Spener said she couldn’t elaborate on that or on mitigation plans due to pending litigation. The binational body regulates building in the floodplain between the U.S. and Mexico because structures can worsen flooding and alter the course of the river, potentially violating international water treaties.

The Mexican section of the commission has said it worries the wall could obstruct the river’s flow or be knocked down by the force of the water, according to Spener.

Trump tried to distance himself from the private fence after the ProPublica/Tribune stories, saying that he had never agreed with it and that it had been done to make him look bad. He again distanced himself from the project and We Build the Wall after the charges against Bannon and the others.

“When I read about it, I didn’t like it,” he said. “It was showboating and maybe looking for funds. But you’ll have to see what happens.”

Last November, We Build the Wall representatives met with Customs and Border Protection officials about donating the group’s first border wall project — a half-mile fence in Sunland Park, New Mexico, just outside El Paso. According to a memo obtained by The Nation, CBP called it an “overall positive meet and greet.”

But the federal agency identified several areas of concern with the Sunland Park project, including the possibility that it would require an environmental assessment, but also the fact that Fisher Industries had inflated the speed with which it could complete the project.

“Their performance on this small project shows that some claims may have been inflated due to lack of experience with this type of work,” the memo states.

Fisher has said he wants to donate the Rio Grande fence to the federal government as well, although it’s unclear whether the government will take it. The fence likely will come with a hefty tax bill if not donated, after Hidalgo County recently appraised the land’s value at more than $20 million, which Fisher said his company will fight.

The next court hearing regarding the pending federal lawsuits is scheduled for Sept. 10.

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Jeremy Schwartz is an investigative reporter for the ProPublica-Texas Tribune Investigative Initiative.

Perla Trevizo is a reporter for the ProPublica-Texas Tribune Investigative Initiative.

Featured image: The 3-mile border fence along the shore of the Rio Grande will fail during extreme flooding, according to an engineering report that is set to be filed in federal court this week. (Brenda Bazán for The Texas Tribune)

The Struggle for Belarus on Russia’s Geopolitical Doorstep

September 6th, 2020 by Stephen Lendman

Protests in Belarus since longtime President Lukashenko was legitimately reelected on August 9 were made in the USA.

Despite his authoritarian rule, most Belarusians support him over an unacceptable alternative — transformation of the country into a neo-Nazi US vassal state like neighboring Ukraine. 

Vladimir Zelensky’s landslide May 2019 triumph over US-installed puppet Petro Poroshenko was heralded at the time as a new dawn for the nation, a return to democratic rule.

Instead, US controlled fascist tyranny grips the country and its long-suffering people.

In its latest human rights report on Ukraine (published in March 2020), even the State Department admitted that significant human rights abuses under Zelensky are no different from his predecessor, including the following:

  • Unlawful arbitrary killings,
  • Torture and other abuse of detainees by law enforcement personnel,
  • Harsh life-threatening conditions in prisons and detention centers,
  • Arbitrary arrests and detentions,
  • Substantial problems with the independence of the judiciary,
  • Restrictions on freedom of expression, the press, and internet, including violence against journalists, censorship, and blocking of websites,
  • Refoulement (forced return of refugees and asylum seekers), a breach of international law,
  • Widespread government corruption,
  • Crimes involving violence or threat of violence against persons with disabilities, ethnic minorities, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) persons.

The State Department noted that the ruling Kiev regime “failed to take adequate steps to prosecute or punish most officials who committed abuses, resulting in a climate of impunity,” adding:

“Human rights groups and the United Nations noted significant deficiencies in investigations into alleged human rights abuses committed by government security forces.”

Left unexplained was that all of above followed the Obama regime’s 2014 coup in the country, ousting democratic governance for US-controlled fascist tyranny.

This is what bipartisan hardliners in Washington have in mind for Belarus that would make its people yearn for the good old days under Lukashenko’s authoritarian rule.

According to new Ukraine-based Razumkov Center polling data on the country, around half the population lost confidence in Zelensky because his regime operates like his widely despised predecessor.

Controlled by his imperial master in Washington, he’s manipulated to do its bidding — including continuation of endless conflict in Donbass and hostility toward neighboring Russia.

In June, a Razumkov Center poll indicated that only about one-fourth of Ukrainians would vote for Zelensky again — because he failed to fulfill pre-election promises.

Last week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with Trump regime Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun.

According to Russia’s Valdai International Discussion Club’s Foundation chairman Andrei Bystritsky, Lavrov “dr(ew) certain boundaries” on Belarus, saying:

“Let us not cross this (red line). This is the border.”

“We are setting a perimeter for the development of the situation in Belarus.”

“(T)his was the main goal of (talks) between Lavrov and Biegun” for Moscow, said Bystritsky, adding:

“(I)f the United States has a certain view on Belarusian democracy, some ideas about this, great, but let us not interfere with what is called the political process in Belarus.”

“It is impossible to fully protect it against external influences, but certain boundaries can be drawn.”

“This is the goal of yesterday’s speech by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov after a meeting with his Belarusian counterpart Vladimir Makei – to determine the boundaries that nobody should overstep in order not to worsen the situation.”

Events in Belarus over the past month are all about Washington’s aim for another imperial trophy on Russia’s border — what Moscow wants prevented.

Last week, US envoy to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) James Gilmore called for Lukashenko to step down, saying:

“(W)e have…to persuade (him) that he cannot be the president of a country under these circumstances (sic).”

“He thinks that a fraudulent election (sic) followed by brutal suppression of the people is good enough (sic).”

Lukashenko was legitimately reelected on August 9 by an unnecessarily inflated margin.

After a few days of harsh crackdowns against (made-in-the-USA) protests, Belarusian security forces have largely acted with restraint.

Last week, Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko told his Russian counterpart Mikhail Mishustin that foreign elements are trying weaken Moscow/Minsk relations, adding:

After failing politically, “some (foreign) forces are trying to shatter the (Belarusian) economy.”

“But we are used to external challenges, particularly as we feel the support of our ally, Russia.”

Moscow wants Belarus’ sovereignty and territorial integrity preserved and protected.

Days earlier, Vladimir Putin said “(w)e believe (what’s going on in the country is) first and foremost, an internal matter for Belarusian society and the people of Belarus.”

In responding to the situation, Moscow is acting with restraint according to international law — polar opposite Washington’s aim for regime change, breaching the UN Charter.

As Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) member states, Russia and Belarus are obligated to help each other, including militarily, if threatened by foreign aggression.

Putin hopes things in Belarus can be resolved “peacefully,” intending not to send Russian security forces to the country unless conditions spiral “completely out of control.”

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Award-winning author Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at [email protected]. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG)

His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

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Six US Air Force B-52 bombers arrived at RAF Fairford on Saturday. Official sources describe it as ‘a long planned training mission’, carrying out theatre and flight training across Europe and Africa. But local news site GloucestershireLive describes it as a ‘surprise deployment’.

Yesterday the much respected expert Hans Kristensen from the Federation of American Scientists posted a picture of all six bombers on twitter, describing it as ‘a pointed message to Russia’. He went on to note the ‘interesting timing of deployment’, given what’s happening in Belarus, observing that these exercises normally take place over Poland and the Baltic states – Belarus’s neighbours.

Such a mobilisation raises serious concerns, not least because some B-52s are nuclear capable. To bring these into an already tense mix seems ill-advised to say the least but this appears to be what is happening: Kristensen points out that two of the B-52s in the image are nuclear-capable.

General Jeff Harrigian, U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Air Forces Africa commander, describes the deployment thus:

“B-52s are back at RAF Fairford, and will be operating across the theater in what will be a very active deployment. Our ability to quickly respond and assure allies and partners rests upon the fact that we are able to deploy our B-52s at a moment’s notice.”

Maybe he is just talking about training exercises, but that actually sounds rather menacing.

Let’s not forget the active bombing role that B-52s flying from RAF Fairford have played in the relatively recent past: during the first Gulf War in early 1991 – at the time Cruisewatchers saw bombs being wheeled across the road from the bomb store; in March 1999 they were used in the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia; and in the Iraq war in 2003, there were 100 plus bombing sorties.

Reports from friends in Nukewatch also indicate that B-1 and B-2 stealth bombers exercise at Fairford while news reports show the recent US deployment of three B-2 stealth bombers, also capable of carrying nuclear weapons, on the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia – an ‘overseas territory’ of the United Kingdom. The focus here is clearly China not Russia. Indeed the B-2s arrived on the island – which also hosts 6 B-52 bombers – at the same time as the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier arrived in the South China Sea.

Whatever is going on is exceptionally dangerous. The build up of offensive military capacity – particularly nuclear capable bombers – in two areas of high political tension is potentially disastrous. These may well be understood as aggressive measures towards two countries that Trump has identified, in no uncertain terms, as strategic competitors against which he is prepared to wage war and win.

Once again Britain is being sucked into US military activities, with the potential for either deployment – from Fairford or Diego Garcia – to become part of a military attack. Serious questions must urgently be asked of government: Have they sanctioned these actions? Are US nuclear-armed sorties taking place from Fairford? And have the British people agreed to be drawn into more US wars?

Whatever the question, nuclear bombers are not the answer.

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Kate Hudson has been General Secretary of CND since September 2010. Prior to this she served as the organisation’s Chair from 2003. She is a leading anti-nuclear and anti-war campaigner nationally and internationally.

Featured image is by Airman 1st Class Victor J. CaputoUS Air Force/Public Domain

We Are Living in a Plastic World

September 6th, 2020 by Dr. David Suzuki

Almost every product and material we refer to as “plastic” is made from fossil fuels. Most of it hasn’t been around for long — a little over 70 years for the most common products. North American grocery stores didn’t start offering plastic bags until the late 1970s.

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Over that short time, plastics have become ubiquitous. A Center for International Environmental Law report says global plastic production exploded 200-fold between 1950 and 2015 — from two million to 380 million tonnes. Plastic is everywhere, from the ocean depths to mountaintops, from Antarctica to the Arctic — even in our own bodies.

As the report points out, almost every piece of plastic begins as a fossil fuel. This creates greenhouse gas emissions throughout its life cycle, from extraction and transport to refining and manufacturing to managing waste and impacts. The report projects these emissions could reach 1.34 gigatons per year by 2030 — “equivalent to the emissions released by more than 295 new 500-megawatt coal-fired power plants.”

There are good reasons for plastic’s popularity. It’s lightweight, durable, inexpensive, easily shaped and can be used to safely store many materials, from water to chemicals. That it’s long-lasting is part of the problem.

Plastics don’t decompose like organic substances. Instead, they break down into smaller and smaller pieces, much of which ends up in oceans, where it is consumed by marine life and birds. These “microplastics” work their way through the food web and eventually to humans.

There’s still much to learn about microplastic’s health effects, but exposure in animals has been linked to liver and cell damage, infertility, inflammation, cancer and starvation. The 50,000 plastic particles that each of us breathes and eats every year and the microplastic pollution falling on some cities undoubtedly have an impact, especially as many of the chemicals in plastics are known to cause a range of health problems.

A recent study also shows the ocean plastics problem is worse than thought — although with tonnes of plastic debris and particles swirling in massive ocean gyres, it’s hard to imagine it could be. The study, from the U.K.’s National Oceanography Centre, found the Atlantic has 10 times more plastic than had been estimated. Researchers previously calculated the amount entering the Atlantic between 1950 and 2015 to be from 17 million to 47 million tonnes. New measurements show it’s closer to 200 million.

Another report, from the World Economic Forum, Ellen MacArthur Foundation and McKinsey and Company, estimated the oceans could hold more plastic by weight than fish by 2050 if trends continue. Because most plastic doesn’t get recycled, researchers also estimated that 95 per cent of plastic packaging value — worth $80 to $120 billion annually — is lost.

It also found that by 2050, the entire plastics industry will consume 20 per cent of total oil production, and 15 per cent of the world’s annual carbon budget.

The study, “The New Plastics Economy,” outlines steps whereby circular economy principles could resolve many issues around plastics in the environment. These require eliminating all problematic and unnecessary plastic items, innovating to ensure the plastics are reusable, recyclable or compostable, and circulating all plastic items to keep them in the economy and out of the environment.

And while individual efforts are helpful, they don’t go far enough. As Carroll Muffett, lead author of the CIEL report, argues, we can’t “recycle our way out of the plastics crisis.” Instead, we must stop producing fossil fuels and unnecessary disposable plastic items. Reducing use is key, but shifting to plant-based plastics and other products is also crucial.

As we’ve written before, the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed flaws in our outdated economic systems, but it’s also provided an opportunity to pause and figure out how to build back better. Our constant rush to exploit resources, burn fossil fuels and create disposable plastic products for the sake of short-term profits is putting all life and health at risk.

We should have started phasing out fossil fuels and their byproducts decades ago when we realized they were creating massive amounts of air, water and land pollution and heating the planet to temperatures that put our health and survival at risk. The longer we delay, the more difficult change becomes. It’s time for new ideas. It’s time for a just, green recovery.

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Featured image is by KasH via Pexels

On 23 July, the vast majority of the Left Group (GUE/NGL) in the European Parliament approved, together with the social democratic (S&D), Green and rightist (EPP, Renew) parties, a resolution which opposes the ‘European deal’ of 21 July, in which the Council of the European heads of state and government reached an agreement on a European recovery plan and the multi-annual budget.

There is indeed much to be said against this deal, which was a compromise to meet the concerns of the ‘frugal’ member states, led by the Netherlands, which explain the problems of southern states like Italy and Spain as the consequence of their ‘irresponsible’ budgetary policy. The deal implied the reduction of a number of items of the recovery plan and the EU budget, including health and climate. That is a valid reason for opposition, also from the left. But the resolution of the European Parliament requests not only the restoration of the original amounts of money for socially responsible causes, but also for absolutely indefensible ones. The two most reprehensible items are the European Defence Fund and the Integrated Border Management Fund.

The Defence Fund is a surreptitious way of channelling European money to the military industry under the guise of ‘industrial policy’. The 21 July deal grants ‘only’ 7 billion for this fund. The military-industrial lobby is of course disappointed, because initially 13 billion € was foreseen. We cannot accept that left and progressive parties support a request for more money for the militarization of Europe.

And there is the ‘Integrated Border Management Fund’. By endorsing the Parliament resolution, the left-wing group calls for the strengthening of Frontex, the EU’s increasingly militarised approach to migration and asylum policy, responsible for thousands of drowning people in the Mediterranean, for outsourcing border surveillance to dictatorial regimes. This policy that has already been condemned by several humanitarian organisations, and can in no way be supported by progressive forces.

It should also be remarked that the resolution is silent on the conditions which, according to the European deal of 21 July, will be attached to the allocation of grants and loans from the Recovery Fund to the Member States. By supporting the resolution, one keeps quiet about this ‘money in exchange for neoliberal reforms’ horse trade.

We conclude that the resolution fundamentally contradicts progressive views in general, and the programmes of left-wing parties in the EU in particular. By approving it, the already severely weakened left in Europe makes itself superfluous.

The signatories of this call  urge the left fraction in the European Parliament and its member parties to seriously reconsider their strategic options. We also  appeal to the progressive forces in the social democratic, green and other parties  to resist the militarization of Europe and an increasingly inhuman and antisocial policy.

Signatories

Signed as an organisation:

Agir pour la Paix (Belgium), Belgische Coalitie stop uranium wapens, Bruxelles Panthères, Comité Surveillance OTAN, (Belgium), Communist Party of Finland, International Coordinating Committee of “No to war – no to NATO”, Leuvense Vredesbeweging (Belgium), Links Ecologisch Forum (LEF, Belgium), Mouvement Citoyen Palestine (Belgium), Socialist Democracy (Ireland), Stop Wapenhandel(Netherlands); Vredesactie (Belgium), Vrede vzw (Belgium)

Individual signatories:

Dirk Adriaensens, Brussells Tribunal (Belgium); Tassos Anastassiadis, member TPT, journalist (Greece); Karel Arnaut, antropologist, KU Leuven (Belgium); Jean Batou, solidaritéS/Ensemble à Gauche, member Geneva  Parliament (Switzerland); Reiner Braun,Kampagne Stopp Air Base Ramstein (Germany); Ingeborg Breines, former president International Peace Bureau  (Norway); Bob Brown, All-African People’s Revolutionary Party  (USA); Marijke Colle,  ecofeminist, member SAP (Belgium); Filip De Bodt, Climaxi (Belgium); Ludo De Brabander, Vrede (Belgium); Lieven De Cauter, Philosopher, RITCS, School of Arts, &  Department of Architecture KULeuven;  Herman De Ley, Em. Professor, Ghent University (Belgium); Klaus Dräger, former policy advisor of the GUE/NGL on employment & social affairs (Germany); Yannis Felekis, member TPT, immigrant support activist (Greece); Pierre Galand, former senator Parti Socialiste (Belgium); Eloi Glorieux, former member Flemish Parliament, peace and ecological activist; Kees Hudig, editor Globalinfo.nl (Netherlands); Anton Jäger,  University of Cambridge/Université Libre de Bruxelles; Ulla Jelpke, member of German Parliament (DIE LINKE); Dimitris Konstantakopoulos, editor defenddemocracy.press, former member of the Secretariat of SYRIZA (Greece); Stathis Kouvélakis; Costas Lapavitsas, Prof. of Economics, SOAS (London), former member of the Greek Parliament; Tamara Lorincz, PhD candidate, Wilfrid Laurier University, (Canada); Herman Michiel, editor Ander Europa (Belgium); Anne Morelli, honorary professor ULB (Belgium); Karl-Heinz Peil, Friedens- und Zukunftswerkstatt (Frankfurt, Germany); Lucien Perpette, member Fourth International (Slovenia); Stefanie Prezioso, member Swiss Parliament; Matthias Reichl, press speaker, Center for Encounter and active Non-Violence (Austria); Nordine Saïdi, decolonial activist (Belgium); Catherine Samary, Alter-European economist (France); Ingeborg Schellmann, member Attac (Germany); Rae Street, activist against NATO (UK); Daniel Tanuro, ecosocialist, author, member Gauche Anticapitaliste (Belgium); Eric Toussaint, spokesperson CADTM International; José Van Leeuwen, Docp/BDS, Netherlands, Willy Verbeek, president Beweging.net Herent (Belgium); Andy Vermaut, climate and peace initiative Pimpampoentje, president PostVersa (Belgium); Marie-Dominique Vernhes, in the name of 12 members of the working group ‘Europa’ of Attac Germany; Asbjørn Wahl, author and trade union adviser (Norway); Prof. David Webb, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (UK); Andreas Wehr, Marx-Engels-Zentrum Berlin; Thomas Weyts, member SAP (Belgium); Thodoris Zeis, member TPT, lawyer, refugees and immigrant support (Greece); Bob Zomerplaag, Enschede voor Vrede (Netherlands).

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Pandemic Reflexes: Lockdowns and Arrests in Victoria, Australia

September 6th, 2020 by Dr. Binoy Kampmark

Ugly.  Rough.  The police of the Australian state of Victoria muscling their way in.  The father and children watching.  It had all arisen because the pregnant mother in question had engaged in conduct defined as incitement.  In a post on her Facebook page, Zoe Buhler had urged Victorians to protest the coronavirus lockdown rules over the weekend.  She encouraged the practising of social distancing measures to avoid arrest and the wearing of masks, subject to medical exceptions.  “Here in Ballarat we can be a voice for those in Stage 4 lockdowns [in metropolitan Melbourne].  We can be seen and heard and hopefully make a difference.”   

Social media sniffers in the state police picked up the scent and repaired to her Ballarat home in Miners Rest.  Buhler promised to take down the post.  “I didn’t realise I was doing anything wrong. I’m happy to delete the post.  This is ridiculous.”  She noted the presence of her children; the fact that she was due for an ultrasound appointment in an hour.  She inquired about clarification about the term “incitement”, a word she genuinely did not comprehend.

Subsequently, she claimed the police had shown some basic courtesy. “Sorry about my bimbo moment,” she stated on reflection.  But she refused to resile from her view that the conduct had been “too heavy handed, especially [to arrest me] in front of my children and to walk into my house like that.”  She remains ignorant about the meaning of incitement. 

The Buhler arrest was coarse, incautious, suggesting a tone-deafness prevalent in law enforcement.  It was unusual in ploughing common furrows across the political divide.  The Australian was assuredly predictable in its denunciation, having never quite taken the virus that seriously (deaths we shall have, but managed responsibly), though it was hard to disagree with associate editor Caroline Overington’s plea.  “You can accept lockdown and support saving lives but you should still oppose cuffing anyone – much less a pregnant woman.”

Janet Albrechtsen took matters into another register with her school girl claim of fascism, a term she had no inclination to define.  Albrechtsen has never been troubled by forensic details, but she was correct to assume that Buhler will not necessarily be seen as hero or martyr.  Protesters are approved or repudiated depending on the flavour of the moment, and the ducking stools would be out. “Maybe she’s into crystals?  Maybe she’s an anti-vaxxer?”  She certainly did not share views “common with rich hippies in Byron Bay.”

The legal fraternity were more than a touch unsettled. The Victorian Bar was deeply unimpressed by a police operation that seemed, not merely rough in execution but untutored, and said so in its media release on September 3.  “We recognise,” its president, Wendy Harris QC explained, “the importance of compliance with the law, but enforcement of those laws needs to be proportionate and consistent.”  Arresting Buhler and handcuffing her in her home in front of her partner and children “appeared disproportionate to the threat she presented.”  Case law in Victoria – Slaveski v Victoria and Perkins v County Court of Victoria – had held “that a police officer is not entitled to use handcuffs on a person merely because an arrest is made.”

Another thing also niggled the Victorian Bar Association.  “Consistency in the enforcement of the law is also critical; without it, confidence in the rule of law is undermined.”  This was a less than subtle swipe at mixed responses from the police: the enforcement measures taken against Buhler were “apparently at odds with other reported and more measured responses by authorities to organisers and protesters of similar protesters planned or carried out in contravention of public health directives.”

Greg Barns, National Criminal Justice spokesman of the Australian Lawyers Alliance, was similarly shaken. Writing in The Age, he was baffled by the views of Assistant Commissioner Luke Cornelius, who claimed that the police had been “polite” and “professional”.  Police were good enough to assist Buhler to contact the hospital to make another appointment for the ultrasound.  Hardly the point, fumes Barns.  “They should not have arrested her in the first place.” The result of such muscular policing has been to gift Buhler the PR campaign and ensure “greater sympathy for those who are wanting to launch protests against the Premier [Daniel Andrews] and his government’s draconian laws.”

The mild mannered Rosalind Croucher, president of the Australian Human Rights Commission, also took to the debate, “dismayed” by the Buhler arrest. “In times of crisis, such as this pandemic, our rights are as important than ever.”  Temporary measures to limit rights and freedoms to control the spread of infection might have been necessary but “must always be proportionate to the risk – and managed appropriately.”

Buhler’s case is one of several arrests conducted this week, some of which would have caused fewer twangs of sympathy or outrage.  James Bartolo decided to mix reality television with pandemic law enforcement, filming his own arrest and posting it to Facebook.  Unlike Buhler, Bartolo is your traditional figure of practiced conspiracy, claiming to have better insight into the world of manipulated wickedness than most. Through The Conscious Truth Network, he chest-thumpingly advertises his credentials as “truth seeker, freedom fighter, utopian advocate”. 

This fine former specimen of the Australian army and addled body builder is convinced that COVID-19 is but a Trojan horse, the fiendish, fictional product of a “treasonous and corrupt network of filth” intent on enslaving us.  A truculent Bartolo, in his three-minute long video, is seen arguing that the police was unlawfully trespassing on his property.  “You don’t have authorisation to be on the property.”  But the paperwork was in order; the police duly made their way in, arresting the 27-year-old for alleged incitement, possession of prohibited weapons and two counts of resisting them.  An advertising stunt had been successfully executed. 

These displays have caught the Victorian Police flatfooted.  It was always bound to resonate with some politicians.  On September 4, David Limbrick of the Victorian Legislative Council and member of the Liberal Democrats wrote an open letter to Victorians expressing his shock and disappointment with the state government’s response, claiming that those authoritarians who had forced Victorians to wear masks “and their enablers have been unmasked.”  While not explicitly pointing out specific acts of the Victorian police, the theme of his note was clear enough.  “The intrusion into our lives gets more personal and more extreme every day.  The Government has given the police free reign [sic], so no wonder their behaviour just gets more outrageous.”

Limbrick has also encouraged protests, but suggests forms that do not breach the regulations.  “It’s simple – bring your pots and pans, beep your horns at 8pm, and let your neighbourhood know that we don’t have to suffer in silence.”  An even sounder suggestion is advanced by Barns.  Make better laws, avoid sloppy drafting which leaves “enormous discretion in the hands of the police” and “educate and try to reduce tension and stress in the community.”  As for Buhler’s case, they could have made things simple and civil: take her up on the offer to remove the Facebook post, explain why it was in breach, and be on their way.  A sensible thought for an insensible time.

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Dr. Binoy Kampmark was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge.  He lectures at RMIT University, Melbourne. He is a frequent contributor to Global Research and Asia-Pacific Research. Email: [email protected]

Featured image: A woman walks her dogs in Fitzroy Gardens park as police and defence force officers patrol in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia [David Crosling/EPA]

A Columbia Journalism Review expose reveals that, to control global journalism, Bill Gates has steered over $250 million to the BBC, NPR, NBC, Al Jazeera, ProPublica, National Journal, The Guardian, the New York Times, Univision, Medium, the Financial Times, The Atlantic, the Texas Tribune, Gannett, Washington Monthly, Le Monde, Center for Investigative Reporting, Pulitzer Center, National Press Foundation, International Center for Journalists, and a host of other groups. To conceal his influence, Gates also funneled unknown sums via subgrants for contracts to other press outlets.

His press bribes have paid off. During the pandemic, bought and brain-dead news outlets have treated Bill Gates as a public health expert—despite his lack of medical training or regulatory experience.

Gates also funds an army of independent fact checkers including the Poynter Institute and Gannett —which use their fact-checking platforms to “silence detractors” and to “debunk” as “false conspiracy theories” and “misinformation,” charges that Gates has championed and invested in biometric chips, vaccine identification systems, satellite surveillance, and COVID vaccines.

Gates’s media gifts, says CJR author Tim Schwab, mean that “critical reporting about the Gates Foundation is rare.” The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation declined multiple interview requests from CJR and refused to disclose how much money it has funneled to journalists.

In 2007, the LA Times published one of the only critical investigations on the Gates Foundation, exposing Gates’s holdings in companies that hurt people his foundation claims to help, like industries linked to child labor. Lead reporter Charles Piller, says, “They were unwilling to answer questions and pretty much refused to respond in any sort of way…”

The investigation showed how Gates’s global health funding has steered the world’s aid agenda toward Gates’ personal goals (vaccines and GMO crops) and away from issues such as emergency preparedness to respond to disease outbreaks, like the Ebola crisis.

“They’ve dodged our questions and sought to undermine our coverage,” says freelance journalist Alex Park after investigating the Gates Foundation’s polio vaccine efforts.

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The southern part of Greater Idlib remains the main point of instability in Syria. The military situation, which had temporarily stabilized after the end of the Turkish attack on the Syrian Army codenamed “Operation Spring Shield”, is once again deteriorating. And this time it seems that even the Turkish leadership, who have made extensive efforts to defend the so-called ‘moderate opposition’, incidentally consisting mostly of al-Qaeda terrorists, from the bloody Assad regime, is forced to admit this.

On March 5, Turkey and Russia signed a de-escalation deal that put an end to the open military confrontation in Idlib between the Syrian Army and the Turkish Army and formally created a demilitarized zone along the M4 highway between the towns of Saraqib and Jisr al-Shughur.

Under the deal, heavy weapons and radical militant formations had to be withdrawn from the demilitarized zone, Russia and Turkey launched joint patrols along the M4 and the highway was to be reopened for civilian traffic. The south part of the M4 highway was formally the zone of Russian responsibility, whereas the north part was the Turkish one. As of early September however, the majority of the points of this deal have not been implemented. Radicals, members of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and other al-Qaeda-linked  groups such as the Turkistan Islamic Party and Houras al-Din still remain deployed in the supposed demilitarized zone. No heavy weapons were withdrawn and the M4 highway has not been reopened. Artillery duels and firefights regularly erupt on the contact line between the Syrian Army and militants protected by Turkey. Joint Russian-Turkish patrols regularly become targets of attacks by Turkey’s own proxies.

On September 1, Russia and Turkey even started a series of drills simulating the repelling of attacks on joint patrols on the M4, including the neutralization of subversive groups, the evacuation of damaged equipment and the provision of medical help to injured personnel.

Clearly, this does not look like a successful implementation of the March 5 deal. At the core of the issues are the contradictions existing between Turkey and the Iranian-Syrian-Russian alliance. Ankara is not interested in neutralizing the Idlib terrorists because they are the core of its influence in northwestern Syria. Without these groups, even the current Turkish military contingent deployed in Idlib would not be enough to keep the territories they have seized under control. Expansion into northern and northwestern Syria are open goals of President Erdogan and his Neo-Ottoman project. The neutralization of terrorists, the political settlement of the conflict and the stabilization of Syria promoted by the other side of this deal goes contrary to Turkish tactical interests.

In these conditions, it does not look like joint drills along the M4 will be enough to deal with the situation. Further to these, the sides could agree on several long- and mid-term steps that would allow for progress in the demilitarization and de-escalation processes to be achieved. These could include the following elements:

  • To assign two officers, one Turkish and one Russian, to their own zone of responsibility  where they would be jointly responsible for the implementation of the March 5 agreement on the ground. This should remove potential barriers and bureaucratic hurdles in their communication.
  • To avoid potential duplication or clashing in the actions of the sides during the implementation of the demilitarized agreement, each side should identify one authorized officer to make decisions and be responsible for the implementation of the deal on the ground.
  • To form a joint military, diplomatic and information group to work on the development of a joint Russian-Turkish position regarding the situation in the M4 zone, to release official comments on developments, including attacks and other incidents and to develop ways to implement the deal.

In a 3 month perspective these steps might offer a chance of avoiding a new round of escalation, at least partly stabilizing the situation on the M4 highway and improving Russian-Turkish coordination in the area. If the situation develops in a positive direction and further, the mid-term goal would be the start of coordinated pin-point operations against irreconcilable armed groups, including those involved in terrorist or organized criminal activity, on both sides of the contact line. The neutralization of these groups would open the way for a potential diplomatic settlement of the situation. The format of this settlement would depend on the regional and global situation at the moment of the implementation of this scenario, and, in any case, would involve the creation of a political group representing Turkish interests in Idlib.

At the same time, the inability of Turkey and Russia to implement the March 5 deal in the long run would inevitably lead to a new round of military confrontation in Idlib. This scenario potentially includes Turkish attempts to push back the Syrian Army further and to annex northwestern Syria under the pretext of the alleged inability of the Assad government to guarantee stability and security in the region. However, this kind of Turkish action could easily backfire. In February-March 2020, the Turkish Armed Forces already failed to deliver a devastating blow to the Syrian Army. A new open military confrontation with Syria may cost even more and lead to even more dire results. Given the growing Russian-Iranian military cooperation and the developing conflict with Egypt and France, Turkey would immediately find itself caught between two stools. Therefore, at best, Turkey would be able to keep the current status quo in southern Idlib or its forces might even be forced to retreat, especially in the event of  direct Iranian involvement in the battle.

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US-NATO continue building “momentum” behind Navalny incident – hope to end Nord Stream 2 pipeline before facts emerge, the pipeline is completed, and as all other options have so-far failed.  

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Alexei Navalny is the ideal opposition figure for any incumbent government – he is ineffective, unpopular, and transparently compromised by malign foreign interests.

According to a poll carried out by the Lavada Center – a polling organization funded by the US government itself  via the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) – a mere 9% of all Russians look favorably on him and his work, with most Russians unaware of who he even is.

Germany was the one place the US and NATO needed Navalny to be the most – and in a condition of poor health the US and NATO needed him to be in. 

His continued existence and his monopoly over Russia’s equally unpopular opposition ensures that an effective opposition never takes root in grounds choked by his presence.

For Moscow – Navalny’s continued existence is not only not a threat, he occupies space where a real threat might otherwise emerge.

For the United States and its NATO partners who have dumped millions of dollars and political capital into Navalny’s dead-end opposition in Russia – Navalny’s continued existence is an underperforming investment at best.

“Coincidentally” just as the German-Russian Nord Stream 2 pipeline nears completion – a pipeline project that will expand Russia’s hydrocarbon exports, increase revenue, and provide cheap energy to Europe in a business deal that would also help draw Europe and Russia closer diplomatically – Navalny was “poisoned.”

He wasn’t just “poisoned.” He was allegedly poisoned with nerve agents called “Novichoks” alleged to be available only in Russia. Navalny was rushed by a shadowy NGO with opaque funding called “Cinema for Peace” to Germany – of all places.

Delivered right to the heart of what is surely one of Russia’s most important economic and diplomatic projects at the moment – it is the perfect excuse for the US and NATO to pressure Germany to abandon Nord Stream 2 – an objective Washington has struggled and failed to achieve for years.

The US and NATO wasted no time accusing Russia even with no evidence presented that Russia was responsible – not to mention lacking any conceivable motive for the alleged “assassination” attempt of such an unpopular opposition figure at such a crucial time for Russia, its economy, and its ties with Western Europe and Germany in particular.

German state media, Deutsche Welle (DW), in an article titled, “Navalny, Novichok and Nord Stream 2 — Germany stuck between a rock and a pipeline,” indirectly lays out not only the real motive behind Navalny’s alleged poisoning, but the most likely culprit as well.

The article admits just how close to completion Nord Stream 2 is, noting (emphasis added):

Many are looking to Germany, whose Nord Stream 2 pipeline is a prominent example of selective cooperation with Russia despite concerns about the country’s approach to human rights both domestically and internationally.

The Nord Stream 2 project, which is more than 90% complete, aims to double Russia’s supply of direct natural gas to Germany. Running under the Baltic Sea, the pipeline bypasses Eastern European states, sending gas from Russia’s Narva Bay to Lubmin, a coastal town adjacent to Merkel’s constituency in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.

It’s noted that the pipeline bypasses Eastern Europe where the US has repeatedly toppled governments and installed client regimes hostile to Russia – complicating Russia’s delivery of hydrocarbons to Western Europe – Ukraine being a recent example.

The DW article then admits:

Critics do not view Nord Stream 2 as purely a business affair, instead calling it a major win for Russia’s image and standing at the international level. The Navalny poisoning, which draws strong parallels to the 2018 Novichok attack on a former Russian double agent that the United Kingdom has accused the Kremlin of orchestrating, further complicates Germany’s efforts to keep politics out of Nord Stream 2.

“After the poisoning of Navalny we need a strong European answer, which Putin understands: The EU should jointly decide to stop Nord Stream 2,” tweeted Norbert Röttgen, an outspoken Russia critic in Merkel’s conservative party. 

His voice carries particular weight, as Röttgen chairs the Bundestag’s Foreign Affairs Committee and he is currently running for the party’s leadership.

It doesn’t take an expert in geopolitics to have understood that an attempt on Navalny’s life would have provided a mountain of political ammunition for the US and NATO in its ongoing attempts to sabotage Nord Stream 2 and prevent “a win for Russia’s image and standing at the international level.”

This is the most compelling reason why the Kremlin would not have ordered it – especially so close to completing Nord Stream 2.

It must also be remembered that Navalny was flown directly to Germany after the alleged attack.

Germany was the one place the US and NATO needed Navalny to be the most – and in a condition of poor health the US and NATO needed him to be in. With Nord Stream 2 over 90% complete – there is little time left to threaten, coerce, and pressure Germany to otherwise abandon the project.

The alleged presence of “Novichok” nerve agents – had the attack been the work of the Kremlin – would have been a smoking gun and a virtual calling card left – all but guaranteeing immense pressure from across the West and in particular – pressure placed on Germany to cancel the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

The DW article covers what the US has already done to pressure Germany, noting (emphasis added):

 The Trump administration wants to sell Germany its own gas, which critics say is more expensive than gas from Russia. Sanctions have bipartisan support in Washington, and the US has already imposed them against companies laying pipe in the Baltic Sea, prompting the Swiss-Dutch company Allseas to pull out of the project in 2019. More sanctions are awaiting the US president’s signature.

Then DW quoted Sarah Pagung – a specialist on German-Russian relations for the German Council on Foreign Relations. The article would note her saying (emphasis added):

“We can’t rule [the canceling of Nord Stream 2] out as an option, but it’s unlikely,” Pagung told DW, although she said Germany could use the Navalny poisoning as an “opportunity” to shift its position on the pipeline without appearing to be caving to US pressure. 

DW all but spells out the true motive of Navalny’s alleged poisoning and his “serendipitous” delivery to Germany for treatment – to serve as a catalyst for the cancellation of Nord Stream 2.

Since Moscow has absolutely nothing to gain from this – it is the least likely suspect.

Since it not only fits into the US and NATO’s openly declared agenda of coercing Germany into cancelling the Nord Stream 2 project, it also fits a pattern of staged attacks and fabricated claims used by the US and NATO to advance their collective foreign policy – they are the most likely suspects.

Consider the much worse and absolutely verified crimes against humanity the US and NATO are guilty of – with the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the 2011-onward military interventions in Libya and Syria as just two examples. Poisoning Navalny – a failed investment as a living, breathing opposition figure and turning him into a martyr – is a relatively small act of false-flag violence to create a difficult impasse for the German government regarding Nord Stream 2.

The fact that the US and NATO are rushing to conclusions without evidence – as they’ve done many times before when pushing now verified lies – only further incriminates both as the most likey suspects in Navalny’s poisoning.

For Navalny himself – his fate – if he was actually poisoned – is tragic. The very people he worked for and whose agenda he served seem to find him more useful dying than healthy in terms of advancing Western foreign policy against Russia.

There are too many “coincidences” surrounding this incident:

  • The attack itself at such a sensitive time for Russia, its economy, and its ties with Germany in particular;
  • The fact that Navalny was flown by a shadowy NGO to Germany itself;
  • The fact that the US has been openly trying to sabotage the German-Russian Nord Stream 2 pipeline all along and;
  • The fact that the “attack” was allegedly carried out in such a clumsy, ineffective, and incriminating way specifically to implicate Russia.
For a US and NATO who have sold the world entire wars based on “evidence” and “accusations” of everything from nonexistent “weapons of mass destruction” in Iraq to lies about viagra-fuelled rape squads in Libya – one more lie about an unpopular Russian opposition figure poisoned in Russia, picked up by a dubious NGO, and placed down right in the middle of German-Russian relations and the Nord Stream 2 pipeline the US and NATO are desperate to stop – fits a disturbing but all-too-predictable pattern.

The question is why are people still falling for it? Will Germany fall for it, or at the very least, cave – costing itself economic opportunities in exchange for a deeper and more costly role in US-NATO aggression against Russia? Only time will tell.

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This article was originally published on Land Destroyer Report.

Tony Cartalucci is a frequent contributor to Global Research.

All images in this article are from LDR

The World Bank’s Poverty Illusion

Ever tried living on $1.90 a day? That is the World Bank’s “International Poverty Line (IPL).” If your income is at or below that figure, you are living in “extreme poverty.” In fact, it’s a political benchmark, low enough that the Bank can claim global poverty has been reduced significantly. Which also means that if you’re making two or three times that amount per day, you’re supposed to be overcoming poverty.

From a critical and human-interest perspective, the IPL is nonsense. Anyone living on $1.90 a day—the World Bank for many years used $1 a day to define extreme poverty—cannot possibly live a meaningful life no matter how defined. A figure even double or triple $1.90 cannot possibly address inadequate nutrition, schooling, and health care, for example. By setting the figure so low, the Bank, other international lending agencies, and governments can pretend that citizens making the Bank’s next levels of income, $3.20 and $5.50, are poor but still better off than their poorest cousins. In short, the figure evades responsibility to act on behalf of the billions of people living in extreme poverty, including those in rich nations.

Fortunately, we have an impeccable source for calling out the World Bank’s claim: Philip Alston, who recently left his post as the UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights. In his final report to the UN in early July, Alston said:

Even before COVID-19, we squandered a decade in the fight against poverty, with misplaced triumphalism blocking the very reforms that could have prevented the worst impacts of the pandemic. COVID-19 is projected to push hundreds of millions into unemployment and poverty, while increasing the number at risk of acute hunger by more than 250 million. But the international community’s abysmal record on tackling poverty, inequality and disregard for human life far precede this pandemic. Over the past decade, the UN, world leaders and pundits have promoted a self-congratulatory message of impending victory over poverty, but almost all of these accounts rely on the World Bank’s international poverty line, which is utterly unfit for the purpose of tracking such progress.1

The reality about global poverty, which the World Bank would prefer that we forget, is that extreme poverty has hardly improved at all in recent decades. “Even before the pandemic,” Alston says, “3.4 billion people, nearly half the world, lived on less than $5.50 a day. That number has barely declined since 1990.” Alston called the Bank’s $1.90 poverty line, which it uses to claim that over 1.1 million people were lifted out of extreme poverty between 1990 and 2015, “scandalously unambitious.” “The best evidence shows it doesn’t even cover the cost of food or housing in many countries,” he said. “The poverty decline it purports to show is due largely to rising incomes in a single country, China. And it obscures poverty among women and those often excluded from official surveys in many countries, such as migrant workers and refugees.”

The COVID Connection

In the spring 2020, the World Bank estimated that 40 million to 60 million people will fall into extreme poverty (under $1.90/day) in 2020, compared to 2019. Again, the Bank used the same flawed measurement, which means we have to add in (by the Bank’s account) anywhere from 70 to 180 million more people in the $5.50 a day category.2 These dire conclusions are consistent with trade trends. Two analysts write in Foreign Affairs that it will probably take several years for the global economy as a whole to recover from the contraction brought on by the pandemic. They cite a massive decline in exports (2020 will be “the worst year for globalization since the early 1930s”), very high unemployment, and an especially harmful impact on low-income people, who lack the education, job security, and health to survive without government support that will not be available in struggling economies. In the less well off countries, there are no stimulus payments because they are going to be even more debt-ridden than ever.3 So far, it seems that only China has avoided this prediction on export decline.

Just as Alston charged, women will bear a particularly heavy burden because of COVID-19. An Oxfam report notes:

Although the virus appears to be killing men at a higher rate than women, cutting down on child and elderly care and public health systems traps women at home, a home that is not always safe: girls who are forced to stay home from school are at increased risk of sexual violence and early pregnancy women will suffer more in other ways. Some 70% of the world’s health workers – the most exposed to the virus – are women. Women workers are most likely to have precarious jobs without labour protections. In the poorest countries, 92% of women workers are employed informally. Women also provide 75% of unpaid care, a burden that is expanding exponentially in the face of stay-at-home orders. The problem will also be compounded if this pandemic were to be followed by austerity, as with the 2008 financial crisis. Reports are already showing that domestic violence has doubled in provinces in China where restrictions have been imposed– and this pattern is being repeated all over the world.4

Enter the Climate Crisis

The process of scientific discovery seems unable to keep pace with the crisis before us. As the world scientific community warned in November 2019: “we declare, with more than 11,000 scientist signatories from around the world, clearly and unequivocally that planet Earth is facing a climate emergency.”:

Despite 40 years of global climate negotiations, with few exceptions, we have generally conducted business as usual and have largely failed to address [the climate crisis]. The climate crisis has arrived and is accelerating faster than most scientists expected. . . . It is more severe than anticipated, threatening natural ecosystems and the fate of humanity. . . . Especially worrisome are potential irreversible climate tipping points and nature’s reinforcing feedbacks (atmospheric, marine, and terrestrial) that could lead to a catastrophic “hothouse Earth,” well beyond the control of humans. . . . These climate chain reactions could cause significant disruptions to ecosystems, society, and economies, potentially making large areas of Earth uninhabitable.5

As environmental security worsens, so does human security. The reason is simple: the intersection of worsening climate conditions and the pandemic. Flood, drought, and other calamities compound the vulnerability of populations already hit by the virus, especially the poor, the elderly, the unemployed, ethnic minorities, and health care workers.6 Governments are put under intense pressure in terms of emergency preparedness, public health facilities, long-term unemployment, and internal security.

Food security is likely to be especially hard hit by the combination of climate change and COVID-19. Arif Husain, chief economist for the World Food Program, writes that “the pandemic could drive 130 million more people [beyond the tens of millions already facing ‘acute hunger’] into that state by December. More than a quarter of a billion people are likely to be acutely hungry in 2020.”7 People working in the informal economy and export industries; people dependent on remittances from relatives working abroad; people in the fossil fuel sector—these are among the groups whose access to food will be deeply affected by COVID-19. And if they also happen to live in conflict zones, or areas hard hit by climate change, they face insecurity that goes well beyond food.8 

The East Asia Picture

In general, the East Asia region’s economic development, measured by human development indicators, was improving somewhat before COVID-19. I chose nine countries at various levels of economic development to represent the region (see Table 1). Most of the nine improved their human development index (HDI) ranking between 2009 and 2019—for example, Thailand, from 87 to 77; China from 92 to 85; and Malaysia from 66 to 61.9 (Australia and Japan slipped, while Vietnam and Philippines hardly changed.) Poverty, reflected in the rich-poor gap, remained a serious problem, however, despite the overall fairly low Gini coefficient.10 The income share of the richest 10 percent of populations was much greater than the poorest 40 percent (Table 1, columns 2, 3 and 4), with the gap rising in four countries and falling in five.11

COVID-19 has severely impacted East Asia as it has every other region. The East Asia and Pacific region (fifteen countries and territories, including six added to those in Table 1) has had its share of infections and deaths, though as a proportion of world totals (as of mid-August 2020), the numbers are very low: about 2.6 percent of cases and 2 percent of deaths.12 But infection and death tolls do not display the links between a health crisis and poverty. For East Asia and the Pacific, the World Bank estimates that COVID-19 will have a devastating effect on regional economic growth and therefore on poverty rates. The last five years of gains will all be erased, it says. Specifically, the Bank reports that whereas before the pandemic 35 million people in East Asia and the Pacific would have escaped poverty (at $5.50), now some 25 million additional people will fall into poverty, plus another 11 million if economies continue to go downhill.13Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand are all predicted to experience major economic contractions before recovering in 2021.14

In East Asia specifically, average life expectancy and schooling were improving before the pandemic. As the last column in Table 1 shows, every country experienced growth in the HDI between 2010 and 2018, with China leading the way and the emerging middle-income countries such as Indonesia and Thailand also improving significantly. Even so, we are all aware that average figures may obscure as much as they reveal. Improvements in human development typically are not evenly distributed in any society because political elites allocate resources to favored groups and locales, which are expected to return the favor in loyalty to officials. When the next Human Development Report is published, we can expect that income gaps will widen and other human development indicators for all countries in the region (with the possible exception of China) will reflect the pandemic’s impact on everything from public health and childhood education to overseas remittances and small businesses. It is already clear that food and income poverty in particular have worsened. A World Vision survey in 2020 of nine Asian countries, for example, found that “currently the most serious effects [of the pandemic] are increased food insecurity and poverty for vulnerable children and their families impacted by the pandemic. As families are struggling to cope with loss of income and livelihoods, meeting basic household needs is a growing challenge.” The survey found that over 60 percent of households—an estimated 85 million—in those countries were in deep trouble finding food, work, and income.15

Winners and Losers

A major omission from the World Bank’s assessment is indicators of who benefits from poverty.

The fortunes of the richest 1 percent and 10 percent never fall, nor do the tax havens that enable multinational corporations to hide a large percentage of their profits disappear. Again, Philip Alston, in his final report: “Instead, multinational companies and investors draw guaranteed profits from public coffers [such as through tax havens], while poor communities are neglected and underserved. It’s time for a new approach to poverty eradication that tackles inequality, embraces redistribution, and takes tax justice seriously. Poverty is a political choice and it will be with us until its elimination is reconceived as a matter of social justice.”

Alston’s parting shots resonate with critical scholarship on globalization. For example, a recent study done for the Asian Development Bank affirmed Alston’s conclusions on rising poverty even before COVID-19. The three authors found that although income in Asia generally was rising, its potential benefits were being undermined by growing inequality in income distribution; that globalization was mainly benefiting people with skills, education, and regional resource advantages; and that inequality was adversely affecting economic growth, mainly by limiting productivity and consumption among low-income households, and by increasing the likelihood of social unrest.16 Clearly, these trends were, and are, the result of political decisions.

We in the United States understand the politics of poverty very well. Robert Reich, the former labor secretary who often writes on inequality in America, says: “Over the last four decades, the median wage has barely budged. But the incomes of the richest 0.1% have soared by more than 300% and the incomes of the top 0.001% (the 2,300 richest Americans), by more than 600%. The net worth of the wealthiest 0.1% of Americans almost equals that of the bottom 90% combined. This grotesque imbalance is undermining American democracy.”17

It does not take much imagination to come up with solutions to the current wave of poverty. Oxfam, for example, advocates direct cash grants to the poor, debt relief, subsidies to small businesses, and taxes on both private and corporate wealth. Similarly, the Asian Development Bank study urges government targeting of poor populations and poor districts within countries for educational, health, and work opportunities. But if “poverty is a political choice,” as Alston says, redistributing wealth and providing the ingredients of human security will require nothing short of a political revolution. Quick fixes and “reforms” cannot correct the “grotesque imbalance” that is truly global in scope.

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Mel Gurtov is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Portland State University and Senior Editor of Asian Perspective. His latest book is America in Retreat: Foreign Policy Under Donald Trump (Rowman & Littlefield). You can find out more about him in his blog, “In the Human Interest.

Notes

See the full report.

World Bank, “Macro Poverty Outlook,” n.d.

Carmen Reinhart and Vincent Reinhart, “The Pandemic Depression,” Foreign Affairs, September-October 2020.

See this report.

See this report.

C.A. Phillips, A. Caldas, R. Cleetus et al., “Compound Climate Risks in the COVID-19 Pandemic,” Nature Climate Change (2020).

Arif Husain, “After the Pandemic, a Global Hunger Crisis,” New York Times, June 12, 2020.

Netherlands Institute of International Relations, “World Climate and Security Report 2020,” February 13, 2020.

United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Report 2009; United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Report 2019.

10 Economists seems to consider that the worst cases of inequality as measured by the Gini coefficient are Brazil (53.3 between 2010 and 2017) and South Africa (63.0). In that case, none of the nine East Asian countries examined here comes close, with the range from Malaysia (41.0) to South Korea (31.6). Human Development Report 2019, Table 3.

11 Only in Thailand did the income share of the richest 1 percent exceed that of the poorest 40 percent. However, no figures were reported for the Philippines, Indonesia, and Vietnam. Human Development Report 2019, Table 3.

12 Compiled from the New York Times coronavirus data set. The additional countries and territories are Singapore, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Cambodia, Taiwan, and Myanmar.

13 World Bank, “East Asia and the Pacific in the Time of COVID-19.”

14 World Bank, “Global Economic Prospects,” June 2020.

15 Ellie Wong, Carolyn Kabore, and Angeline Manzara, “Out of Time,” Devpolicy, July 10, 2020.

16 Bihong Huang, Peter J. Morgan, and Naoyuki Yoshino, eds., Demystifying Rising Inequality in Asia(Tokyo: Asian Development Bank Institute, 2019, pp. 1-5.

17 Robert Reich, “State of Disunion: Democrats Must Not Give In to Trump’s Hateful Speech,” The Guardian, February 4, 2019.

Featured image is from OneWorld

As so many of us ask when we commemorate an anniversary of decades: where have all the years gone? Have we done all we can? Have we been of true service? Did we do right?

We also may wonder on these occasions what might the future hold. Will our dreams – our Moroccan dreams – come true? Will every village and neighborhood come together, with every young person, every elderly, every woman and man from all circumstances and be part of designing and deciding the future course of their community? And will the High Atlas Foundation (HAF) be of the best service it could as the Moroccan people create the change they seek?

It is the 20th year anniversary of the High Atlas Foundation and its mission in Morocco–an organization born from the service of Peace Corps Volunteers and dedicated Moroccan friends.

With every entity that endures across time, there seems to be a miraculous component–that through unpredictable events, there remains continuity. The mission of HAF is as fixed as the universal principle upon which it is based: the people – those who are impacted by development decisions and actions – are the drivers of lasting change. We are dedicated to the premise that sustainability is manifested by and for local communities. This means that HAF commits to: inclusivity and empowerment so that people are confident as they make decisions that reflect what they need; projects that are the priorities of the people and that cut across the different sectors of life; and partnerships–because the wider and deeper the commitment, the greater the likelihood of implementation and endurance.

After some millions of growing trees later, thousands of families drinking clean water, thousands of people experiencing capacity-building so that they manifest change around them, we have also learned abiding lessons. Ripples of good intentions and of people’s projects over time create outcomes that, when observed, help us to realize there is an incalculable amount of impact out there. Impact is experienced by children and grandchildren and will be experienced by generations to come. Development, like planting a tree, is an endeavor that naturally seems to cross into faith.

Sustainability is an operational concept involving the consideration of a multiplicity of factors that require consideration in the planning of development–economic, cultural, technological, financial, environmental, geographic, historical, and gender-based factors. However, sustainability may very well be, after all, the ongoing generation of good effects that are so widespread and so deep in the heart and so across time that they belong to no one but to the people who feel the bounty, power, and ability in the moments of their lives.

As President of the Board of Directors for the Foundation’s first 10 years and President of its operations throughout its second decade, and as the one who carried the idea of what became HAF for some years prior to when it was founded in 2000, I am more grateful than I can say for the marvel of people to whom we owe everlasting gratitude. Since there are too many to mention here, and I cannot do justice by mentioning just a few, I will express my gratitude to one person who has made Morocco a potential sustainable development bastion on earth, making the participatory work of HAF and others potentially fully scalable throughout the nation. That person is His Majesty King Mohammed the VI.

The Moroccan Frameworks that guide the people’s development are replete with the highest principles of people’s driven change and their empowerment. They together form a synergistic powerful pathway forward for lasting development and, yes, prosperity. They are thoughtful, creative, and strategic in their formulation that one finds it seriously challenging to improve upon their design. The existential challenge before the people of Morocco is the fulfillment of the integrated Frameworks that promote sustainable local development.

The opportunity to create bottom-up community development movements that federate and transform public-civil-private sector relationships with sustainable prosperity in the wake, is real and Moroccan. And it is up to its people and agencies to fulfill. I, for one, appreciate the grand, continental, and totally meaningful opportunity – and commit HAF to its life of service to this Moroccan cause, and as a precedent for the world.

To 20 years, to 100 more, and to all we are able to do throughout,

Dr. Yossef Ben-Meir – President of the High Atlas Foundation in Marrakech, Morocco

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The case of the alleged assassination attempt of the Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny has generated much controversy and discussions worldwide. In Germany, where Navalny is currently, the political controversy surrounding the case is taking on particularly large proportions. The Nord Stream 2 pipeline construction project is clearly not related to the Navalny case, but according to Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Soder, the incident brought new circumstances that make Nord Stream 2 something “negative”.

Soder, is a member of the Christian Social Union and part of the conservative-centrist alliance that appointed Angela Merkel to the post of federal chancellor. He believes that the case has had a negative impact on Russia and that Nord Stream 2 would be surrounded by such controversies. Although Soder’s prestige has given him a greater voice, this has become a common discourse among some German and European politicians in general.

The opposition Greens party has made a strong call in Parliament for Nord Stream 2 to be stopped immediately. For this party, it is unacceptable to continue any international cooperation project with Russia due to the suspicion of an attempt on Navalny’s life.

“The apparent attempted murder by the mafia-like structures of the Kremlin can no longer just give us cause for concern, it must have real consequences”, Green parliamentary group leader Katrin Goering-Eckardt said.

In fact, the Greens have long opposed the construction of the gas pipeline due to ideological agendas and national projects that are irreconcilable with the German government and with the political and congressional wings favorable to Russian cooperation. However, with the Navalny case, these opponents achieved a “humanitarian justification” for their anti-Russian and pro-Western discourses.

Even the renowned parliamentarian and government ally Norbert Roettgen commented on the case condemning the normality of the agreement for the construction of the gas pipeline:

“diplomatic rituals are no longer enough (…) After the poisoning, we need a strong European answer, which Putin understands (…) The EU should jointly decide to stop Nord Stream 2”, said the German politician on a social network.

For his part, Bundestag’s vice-president Wolfgang Kubicki, stated that the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline should not be questioned at the current stage of the investigation of the alleged poisoning of Navalny, also claiming to be skeptical on the possibility of making any changes to the project. “I’m skeptical that we should question a project of this magnitude at this stage”, he told Deutschlandfunk radio.

Similarly, the position of German Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel was reasonable. She recently commented that the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline should be completed soon and that it should not be linked to the Navalny case, thus removing opposition speech and maintaining firm cooperation between Russians and Germans as a major opinion.

The construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline has divided German politics in recent years. Designed to diversify Russian gas supply routes to Europe, escaping the Ukrainian and Polish routes, the agreement aims to increase energy security in the region. However, works for the construction of the gas pipeline were suspended in December last year, after Washington threatened to impose various commercial and tariff sanctions on the Swiss company Allseas, which carried out the construction’s works. Since then, international pressure has only grown. In addition to the pressure against the project made by US, Ukraine and Poland, the governments of Lithuania and Latvia have also threatened to break economic ties with Germany.

On September 2, German government spokesman Steffen Seibert reported that toxicological tests carried out by a German Armed Forces laboratory revealed that Russian opponent Alexei Navalny, who is currently receiving treatment at Berlin’s Charité Universitätsmedizin University Hospital, was poisoned with a Novichok substance. The big problem is that the discovery of the poisoning was the reason for the start of a great information war, where the Russian government was accused, without any evidence, of planning the murder of an opposing politician. To date, there is no evidence to link the government or government agencies to the alleged attack on Navalny’s life. The mere fact that he is a political opponent does not mean that his assassination attempt is necessarily for political reasons. The spread of rumors, fake news and lies about the case is immense and an imaginary has already been created in the West that the attack was in fact committed by members of the Russian government, even though no investigation has been carried out.

The intention behind the disinformation is clear: to undermine Russia on the geopolitical scenario. Nord Stream 2 is showing this. The objective is to disseminate as much as possible any type of information that damages Russia’s image, simply to favor countries whose interests clash with those of Moscow.

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Lucas Leiroz is a research fellow in international law at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

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“We have no money to fight hydro so we’ve got to fight back with words and with words we can fight back. By telling the truth about what really is happening in these communities.”

– Gerald McKay, Fisher Grand Rapids, MB

 Wa Ni Ska Tan in Cree means  ‘Wake Up’ or more precisely To “Rise up’ representing a movement of First Nations and Indigenous Communities

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In Manitoba, residents in the southern community of Winnipeg have benefitted from effort to harness the raw power of those Northern flowing rivers. The surging torrents of water have plowed through dams releasing countless watts of electricity for a growing populace. Lights, motors, machines and, of course, computers depend on these outlets to thrive. Dam power as the champion of ‘clean’ energy is typically recommended as one of the chief replacers of the insidious fossil fuel depots. [2]

One slight problem: the land and people situated at the other end of the hydro-power train are enduring a wide diversity of suffering and developments that have degraded communities. Flooding caused in the wake of the dams damage burial grounds, trapping trails and medicinal tracts on which Indigenous people have endured for hundreds and even thousand of years. Once upset, this complex mix of social, environmental and cultural cohesion starts to unravel adversely impacting generations to come. [3]

Enter Wa Ni Ska Tan. This group is a mix of researchers in academic institutions and community members in these affected communities who forged alliance based on respect for hydro-impacted communities, the high level research the impacts have had on nature and on Indigenous communities, and as a force for social and environmental change. [4]

The group has had annual gatherings at various locales in Manitoba. The last annual gathering took place at the University of Winnipeg from November 8 to November 10, 2019. That event included visitors not only from Manitoba First Nations, but from similar communities across Canada as well as regions around the world, including Latin America and South Asia. [5]

This episode of the Global Research News Hour hopes to delve into some of the dynamics of hydro development, not only from the direct experience of the people on the front lines, but from the role of major investors and corporations profiting in ways not spelled out in popular messaging.

In our first component, Karleen Keeper, Leslie Dysart, and Dr. Ramona Neckoway provide a preview of life in the communities of Tataskwyak Cree Nation, South Indian Lake, and Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation respectively.

In our next installment, Senator Mary Jane McCallum, one of the keynotes, expands on her beliefs of hydro-impacts aligning with other colonial initiatives such as residential schools to essentially erase the identity of Indigenous people.

Then we get perspectives from two Latin American countries:  Isabel Cristina Zuleta Lopez from Colombia and Elisa Estronioli from Brazil about the impacts of hydro-power in their communities.

Finally, we get a more in depth conversation with keynote speaker Dr. Deepa Joshi about the forces operating even on the scientific level to corrupt a process of research and activist capacity initiatives springing from water-energy policy, sanitation, irrigation and other policies.

Karleen Keeper is a youth coming from Tataskwyak Cree Nation.

Leslie Dysart is from the Community Association of South Indian Lake. He also sits on the Executive Community and on the Research Steering Committee of Wa Ni Ska Tan.

Ramona Neckoway, PhD is a Professor from the University College of the North, and comes from the community of Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation. She also sits on the Executive Community and on the Research Steering Committee of Wa Ni Ska Tan.

Senator Mary Jane McCallum is a citizen of the Barren Lands First Nation in Brochet, Manitoba. She went to Guy Hill Residential School in The Pas, and then trained as a dental assistant, dental nursing, dental therapy and ultimately Doctor of Dental Medicine. She worked as a Regional Dental Officer from 1996-2000. She has spoken to vast communities about the residential school experience. She was appointed to the Senate of Canada in 2017.

Elisa Estronioli is an activist representing Brazilian Movement of Communities Affected by Dams.

Isabel Cristina Zuleta Lopez is an activist representing the Colombian collective Movimento Rios Vivos.

Deepa Joshi, PhD is a Senior Research Fellow at Coventry University. She is a feminist political ecologist whose work analyses shifts in environmental policies and how these restructure contextually complex intersections of gender, poverty, class, ethnicity and identity. She leads several bilateral projects in South and South East Asia and Africa and she currently coordinates two longitudinal projects on the themes of environmental justice and climate change in the Eastern Himalayas and in the Eastern Gangetic Plains (India, Bangladesh and Nepal).

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

Notes:

  1.  http://hydroimpacted.ca/1-community-stories/
  2. Richard Heinberg (2003), pg. 149, 150, ‘The Party’s Over: Oil, Water, and the Fate of Modern Industrial Societies’, New Society Publishers
  3. http://hydroimpacted.ca/more-information/
  4. http://hydroimpacted.ca/wa-ni-ska-tan-2/
  5. http://hydroimpacted.ca/2019-conference-new-page-draft/

Índia implode a própria Nova Rota da Seda

September 5th, 2020 by Pepe Escobar

Houve época em que a Índia vendia orgulhosamente a noção de que estabelecia uma Nova Rota da Seda só dela – a qual, partindo do Golfo de Omã para a intersecção da Ásia Central e do Sul, permitiria acesso de Irã, Afeganistão e Ásia Central ao Mar da Arábia – competindo com a Iniciativa Cinturão e Estrada (ICE) da China.

Hoje, é como se a Índia se autoesfaqueasse pelas costas.

Teerã e Nova Delhi assinaram acordo em 2016 para construir ferrovia de 628 quilômetros, do estratégico porto iraniano de Chabahar até a cidade de Zahedan, no interior, muito perto da fronteira afegã, com uma extensão crucial para Zaranj, no Afeganistão, e adiante.

Estavam envolvidas nas negociações as companhias Iranian Railways e Indian Railway Constructions Ltd. Mas nada aconteceu, devido à morosidade indiana. Assim, Teerã resolveu construir a ferrovia, fosse como fosse, com $400 milhões de dólares de seus próprios fundos e conclusão marcada para março de 2022.

Previa-se que a ferrovia viesse a ser o principal corredor de transporte ligado a substanciais investimentos indianos em Chabahar, seu porto de entrada para o Golfo de Omã, como Nova Rota da Seda alternativa, para o Afeganistão e Ásia Central.

A modernização de infraestrutura das ferrovias e estradas a partir do Afeganistão para seus vizinhos Tajiquistão e Uzbequistão seria o próximo passo.

Toda a operação estava inscrita num acordo trilateral Índia-Irã-Afeganistão assinado em 2016 em Teerã pelo Primeiro Ministro Narendra Modi, o Presidente iraniano Hassan Rouhani e o então Presidente afegão Ashraf Ghani.

As desculpas não oficiais de Nova Delhi giram em torno do medo de que o projeto fosse atacado pelos EUA, com sanções. Nova Delhi conseguiu que o governo Trump suspendesse as sanções contra Chabahar e contra a ferrovia até Zahedan. O problema foi convencer uma gama de investidores parceiros, todos aterrorizados pelo risco de sofrerem sanções.

A verdade é que toda a saga tem mais a ver com o pensamento desejante de Modi, que conta com receber tratamento preferencial, nos termos da estratégia do governo Trump para o Indo-Pacífico, que se baseia de fato num Quad (“Quarteto”)  EUA, Índia, Austrália e Japão,  estrutura destinada a conter a China. Esta é a causa de Nova Delhi ter decidido cortar as importações de petróleo do Irã.

Assim, para todos os efeitos práticos, a Índia jogou o Irã debaixo do ônibus. Não é de admirar que o Irã tenha resolvido avançar por conta própria, especialmente agora que está escorado pelo “Plano Abrangente de Parceria Estratégica entre a República Islâmica do Irã e a República Popular da China” (ing. Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between I.R. Iran, P.R. China), acordo de $400 bilhões de dólares e duração de 25 anos, e que sela a parceria estratégica entre China e Irã.

Neste caso, podem ficar sob o controle chinês duas “pérolas” estratégicas no Oceano Índico, a apenas 80 quilômetros de distância uma da outra: Gwadar, no Paquistão, entroncamento chave do Corredor Econômico China-Paquistão (ing. China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, CPEC) de $60 bilhões de dólares; e Chabahar.

Até agora, Teerã nega que o porto de Chabahar venha a ser arrendado a Pequim. Mas há possibilidade real, além dos investimentos chineses numa refinaria de petróleo perto de Chabahar, e, mesmo, no longo prazo, no próprio porto, de uma ligação operacional entre Gwadar e Chabahar. Essa ligação seria complementada pelos chineses que operariam o porto de Bandar-e-Jask, no Golfo de Omã, 350 quilômetros a oeste de Chabahar e muito perto do hiperestratégico Estreito de Ormuz.

Corredores são sempre atraentes

Nem alguma divindade indiana em surto de ressaca conseguiria imaginar “estratégia” mais contraproducente para os interesses indianos, caso Nova Delhi realmente recue da decisão de cooperar com Teerã.

Consideremos o essencial: Teerã e Pequim estarão trabalhando no que, de fato, é expansão massiva do Corredor Econômico China Paquistão, com Chabahar conectado a Gwadar e a seguir à Ásia Central e ao Mar Cáspio, pelas ferrovias iranianas. Estará também ligado à Turquia e ao Mediterrâneo Oriental, via Iraque e Síria, diretamente até a União Europeia.

Esta progressão capaz de mudar o jogo acontecerá no coração de todo o processo de integração da Eurásia – unindo China, Paquistão, Irã, Turquia e, claro, a Rússia, que já está ligada ao Irã pelo Corredor de Transporte Internacional Norte-Sul (ing. International North-South Transport Corridor).

Por enquanto, dadas as reverberações potentes em múltiplas áreas – melhoramento da infraestrutura energética, reformas de portos e refinarias, construção de um corredor de conectividade, investimentos na indústria manufatureira e suprimento pesado de petróleo e gás (questão de segurança nacional para a China) – não há dúvidas de que o acordo Irã-China está mesmo, no momento, sendo minimizado por ambos os lados.

Legenda: Vista aérea do porto iraniano de Chabahar que pode mudar de patrocinador: da Índia para a China.

As razões são autoevidentes – evitar que a ira da administração Trump suba a níveis ainda mais incandescentes, dado que ambos os atores são considerados pelos EUA como “ameaças existenciais”. Mesmo assim, Mahmoud Vezi, chefe de gabinete do Presidente Rouhani, garante que o acordo final Irã-China será assinado em março de 2021.

Enquanto isso, o Corredor Econômico China-Paquistão vai de vento em popa. O que Chabahar supostamente faria para a Índia, já está a pleno vapor em Gwadar. O trânsito comercial para o Afeganistão começou há dias, com cargas a granel vindas dos Emirados Árabes Unidos. Gwadar já começou a estabelecer-se como entroncamento chave no trânsito para o Afeganistão, muito adiante de Chabahar.

O fator estratégico é essencial para Cabul. O país depende de rotas por terra a partir do Paquistão – e algumas podem ser muito inseguras – assim como de Karachi e Porto Qasim. Especialmente para o sul do Afeganistão, a ligação por terra desde Gwadar, cruzando o Baluquistão é muito mais curta e segura.

O fator estratégico é ainda mais vital para Pequim. Para a China, Chabahar não seria prioridade, porque o acesso para o Afeganistão é mais fácil via Tadjiquistão, por exemplo.

Mas a história muda completamente, quando se trata de Gwadar – que se vai convertendo, lenta, mas firmemente, no principal entroncamento da Rota da Seda Marítima, conectando a China e o Mar da Arábia, o Oriente Médio e a África. Islamabad já está recolhendo recursos robustos, em impostos e taxas de passagem.

Resumindo, é jogo de ganha-ganha, mas sempre considerando que desafios e protestos a partir do Baluquistão não vão simplesmente desaparecer, e exigem de Pequim e Islamabad gestão muito cuidadosa.

Para a Índia, o caso de Chabahar-Zahedan não é o único retrocesso recente. O Ministro de Relações Exteriores indiano admitiu recentemente que o Irã desenvolverá “sozinho” o enorme campo de gás Farzad-B no Golfo Pérsico; e que a Índia pode vir a juntar-se à República Islâmica “de forma apropriada em estágio posterior”. O mesmo tipo de “estágio posterior” aplicado por Nova Delhi para Chabahar-Zahedan.

Os direitos de produção e exploração de Farzad-B já foram garantidos há anos para a empresa estatal indiana ONGC Videsh Limitada. Mas aí, mais uma vez, nada acontece, por efeito do proverbial fantasma das sanções.

Vale lembrar que essas sanções já estavam ativadas no governo de Barack Obama. Mesmo assim, naquela época Índia e Irã pelo menos comerciavam bens por petróleo. Projetava-se que Farzad-B voltaria a operar depois da assinatura do JCPOA (chamado “Acordo do Irã”) em 2015. Mas então as sanções de Trump, outra vez, tudo congelaram.

Não é preciso ser mestre e doutor em Ciência Política para saber quem pode acabar por tomar Farzad-B: a China, especialmente depois que, ano que vem, for assinado o acordo de parceria para os próximos 25 anos.

Contra seus próprios interesses energéticos e geoestratégicos, a Índia na realidade ficou reduzida ao status de mero refém da administração Trump. O objetivo verdadeiro dessa política de dividir para reinar aplicada contra Irã e Índia é impedir que os dois países comerciem usando as respectivas moedas, deixando o EUA-dólar fora do processo, especialmente nos negócios de energia.

O grande quadro, no entanto, sempre tem a ver com o avanço da Nova Rota da Seda através da Eurásia. Com evidências crescentes de integração cada vez mais forte entre China, Irã e Paquistão, o que se vê claramente é que a Índia só permanece integrada com as próprias inconsistências.

Pepe Escobar

Artigo original em inglês : 

India Implodes Its Own New Silk Road

Asia Times, 2 de Setembro de 2020

Traduzido ao português, com permissão do autor. Tradução por Roberto Pires Silveira

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For years now Western media and governments have maintained an almost ceaseless barrage against China over what they claim are networks of “internment camps” built and used in China’s western Xinjiang region to persecute the Uyghur ethnic minority.

These claims are a mix of half-truths, truths taken out of context, and outright fabrications and lies.

Yet the biggest lie of all is a lie of omission – hyping, exaggerating, and even fabricating stories about China’s abuse of Uyghurs – while downplaying or entirely omitting the very real terrorist problem China faces in Xinjiang.

The BBC in a 2020 article, “China Uighurs: Detained for beards, veils and internet browsing,” would claim (emphasis added):

Predominantly Muslim, the Uighurs are closer in appearance, language and culture to the peoples of Central Asia than to China’s majority ethnicity, the Han Chinese.

In recent decades the influx of millions of Han settlers into Xinjiang has led to rising ethnic tensions and a growing sense of economic exclusion among Uighurs.

Those grievances have sometimes found expression in sporadic outbreaks of violence, fuelling a cycle of increasingly harsh security responses from Beijing.

It is for this reason that the Uighurs have become the target – along with Xinjiang’s other Muslim minorities, like the Kazakhs and Kyrgyz – of the campaign of internment.

The term “sometimes found expression in sporadic outbreaks of violence” is a deliberate and spectacular understatement with the BBC itself having previously documented the grisly terrorism extremists in Xinjiang have carried out.

Xinjiang is the Epicenter of Bloody Terrorism Protected by Western Media Silence 

The BBC’s 2014 article, “Why is there tension between China and the Uighurs?,” reported that (emphasis added):

In June 2012, six Uighurs reportedly tried to hijack a plane from Hotan to Urumqi before they were overpowered by passengers and crew. 

There was bloodshed in April 2013 and in June that year, 27 people died in Shanshan county after police opened fire on what state media described as a mob armed with knives attacking local government buildings

At least 31 people were killed and more than 90 suffered injuries in May 2014 when two cars crashed through an Urumqi market and explosives were tossed into the crowd. China called it a “violent terrorist incident”. 

It followed a bomb and knife attack at Urumqi’s south railway station in April, which killed three and injured 79 others. 

In July, authorities said a knife-wielding gang attacked a police station and government offices in Yarkant, leaving 96 dead. The imam of China’s largest mosque, Jume Tahir, was stabbed to death days later. 

In September about 50 died in blasts in Luntai county outside police stations, a market and a shop. Details of both incidents are unclear and activists have contested some accounts of incidents in state media.

Some violence has also spilled out of Xinjiang. A March stabbing spree in Kunming in Yunnan province that killed 29 people was blamed on Xinjiang separatists, as was an October 2013 incident where a car ploughed into a crowd and burst into flames in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.

These are hardly “sporadic outbreaks of violence” but rather a concerted campaign of terrorism. It is terrorism that has plagued Xinjiang and wider China for years.

Also rarely mentioned or linked to China’s policies in Xinjiang is how many thousands of Uyghur extremists have travelled abroad fighting in Western proxy wars in places like Syria and who will eventually attempt to return to China.

US State Department-funded and directed Voice of America (VOA) in its article, “Analysts: Uighur Jihadis in Syria Could Pose Threat,” would admit (emphasis added):

Analysts are warning that the jihadi group Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) in northwestern Syria could pose a danger to Syria’s volatile Idlib province, where efforts continue to keep a fragile Turkey-Russia-brokered cease-fire between Syrian regime forces and the various rebel groups. 

The TIP declared an Islamic emirate in Idlib in late November and has largely remained off the radar of authorities and the media thanks to its low profile. Founded in 2008 in the northwestern Chinese region of Xinjiang, the TIP has been one of the major extremist groups in Syria since the outbreak of the civil war in the country in 2011. 

The TIP is primarily made up of Uighur Muslims from China, but in recent years it also has included other jihadi fighters within its ranks.

The TIP has claimed responsibility for the 2011 Kashgar attacks in Xinjiang killing 23 people.

Reuters would note in its article, “China envoy says no accurate figure on Uighurs fighting in Syria,” that (emphasis added):

The Syrian ambassador to China told Reuters last year that up to 5,000 Uighurs are fighting in various militant groups in Syria.

Terrorism within China and a small army of terrorists honing their skills with US cash and weapons in a proxy war against Syria eventually to return to Chinese territory is certainly justification enough for China to take serious measures against extremism in Xinjiang.

But by now downplaying or omitting the terrorist threat in Xinjiang, the BBC and the rest of the Western media are attempting to decouple current Chinese policy in Xinjiang from the very real and extensive terrorism that prompted it.

Washington’s Role in Supporting Xinjiang Extremism 

Worse still is that China’s terrorism problem in Xinjiang is the direct result of US funding and support.

Not only did the US arm and train militants in Syria Uyghur extremists are fighting alongside, separatist groups like the World Uyghur Congress (WUC) who openly seek Xinjiang “independence” have literal offices in Washington DC and are funded by the US National Endowment for Democracy (NED).

In fact, the US NED’s grant money to subversion in China is divided into several regions with their own dedicated pages on the NED website. Xinjiang is is listed by NED as “Xinjiang/East Turkestan” – East Turkestan being the fictional country extremists seek to create.

Much of the extremism in Xinjiang is also linked to extensive support from US ally Saudi Arabia and NATO member Turkey.

While the US funds political subversion and Turkey aids Uyghur extremists fighting in Syrian territory, US ally Saudi Arabia funnels money and resources into Xinjiang itself to radicalize Muslim communities with Riyadh’s politically-motivated and extremist Salafism.

The LA Times in a 2016 article titled, “In China, rise of Salafism fosters suspicion and division among Muslims,” would reveal:

Salafism is an ultra-conservative school of thought within Sunni Islam, espousing a way of life and prayer that harks back to the 6th century, when Muhammad was alive. Islamic State militants are Salafi, many Saudi Arabian clerics are Salafi, and so are many Chinese Muslims living in Linxia. They pray at their own mosques and wear Saudi-style kaffiyehs.

The article also noted (emphasis added):

Experts say that in recent years, Chinese authorities have put Salafis under constant surveillance, closed several Salafi religious schools and detained a prominent Salafi cleric. A once close-knit relationship between Chinese Salafis and Saudi patrons has grown thorny and complex.

And that:

…Saudi preachers and organizations began traveling to China. Some of them bore gifts: training programs for clerics, Korans for distribution, funding for new “Islamic institutes” and mosques.

This invasive radicalism transplanted into Xinjiang by the US and its Saudi allies has translated directly into real violence – a fact repeatedly omitted or buried in today’s coverage of Xinjiang and left out of US and European condemnations of China for its policies there.

The US and Europe has waged a 20 year “war on terror,” invading entire nations under false pretexts, killing hundreds of thousands, displacing tens of millions, carrying out systematic torture, and building a global-spanning surveillance network – all while more covertly arming and funding real terrorism in places like Libya, Syria, and even in China’s Xinjiang.

All of this has been done with the help of a complicit Western media bending truths or entirely fabricating lies – but also by omitting truth.

It should then come as no surprise that US and European media has chosen to lie about China’s current policies to deal with what is clearly a real and dangerous terrorism problem in Xinjiang.

But the world can choose not to believe these lies.

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Tony Cartalucci is a Bangkok-based geopolitical researcher and writer, especially for the online magazine New Eastern Outlook” where this article was originally published. He is a frequent contributor to Global Research.

Featured image is from NEO

Was Alexey Navalny Incident an Anti-Russia False Flag?

September 5th, 2020 by Stephen Lendman

Was Putin critic Alexey Navalny’s illness aboard a flight to Moscow a naturally occurring metabolic disorder as diagnosed by Russian doctors or something more sinister?

If the latter, was the incident manufactured to blame Russia for what no motive or evidence indicates it had anything to do with.

What happened to Navalny is reminiscent of the elaborate March 2018 father and daughter Sergey and Yulia novichok nerve agent poisoning hoax — an anti-Russia false flag.

Whatever caused their reported illness wasn’t from a reported military-grade nerve agent — the most toxic of known chemical substances, exposure causing death in minutes.

The same holds for Navalny. If poisoned by a novichok nerve agent before boarding a flight to Moscow, he’d have died in the airport terminal.

Others he came in contact with would have been contaminated, becoming seriously ill and perishing.

None of the above happened, and after two weeks since falling ill, Navalny is hospitalized at Berlin’s Charite hospital in a medically induced coma — alive, not dead.

When taken to Omsk for treatment, 44 hours of heroic efforts by Russian doctors saved his life.

In response to Germany saying that toxicologists in the country identified novichok traces in Navalny’s system, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the following:

“Instead of a thorough investigation and scrupulous joint work with the aim of obtaining authentic results, our partners prefer to make more public statements without presenting any facts,” adding:

“All this is another (Russophobic) information campaign.”

“What is most important and sad…is that our partners openly neglect — today it was demonstrated very clearly — the available mechanisms of legal interaction for obtaining genuine results.”

“The German government turned the microphone on and said what it said.”

“As far as we understand, the target audience of (Wednesday’s) statements were the European Union and NATO.”

“The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons was mentioned for some reason as well.”

“All this was done instead of what should have been done first thing — a reply to the query from the Russian Prosecutor-General’s Office.”

Last Thursday, Germany’s Justice Ministry received a request from Russia for legal assistance in getting to the bottom of what happened to Navalny.

Earlier this week, Moscow’s prosecutor general’s office asked German doctors to share their clinical findings on Navalny with their Russian counterparts.

In Omsk, they found no traces of poison or other toxins in his blood or urine, saying his illness was caused by abnormally low glucose in his blood because of a metabolic imbalance.

Putin critic Navalny is a minor irritant with scant public support.

Nothing remotely suggests that Russia would want him eliminated or otherwise harmed. No plausible motive exists.

If what happened to Navalny wasn’t natural, anti-Russia elements most likely were involved — a false flag similar to what harmed the Skripals in March 2018.

A the time, not a shred of evidence suggested Russian involvement, the same highly likely true about Navalny.

US-led Russophobes have everything to gain from his illness if determined to be from foul play, Moscow the loser under this scenario.

Based on findings by Russian doctors, his illness appears natural, but anti-Russia foul play can’t be ruled out until a thorough joint investigation is undertaken by Russian and German experts.

Until completed and findings made public, conclusions drawn by German sources are premature.

They’re highly suspicious for claiming that Navalny was poisoned by a novichok nerve agent that would have killed him — and others he came in contact with — in minutes if exposed to the toxin.

A Final Comment

Belarusian President Lukashenko claimed his government intercepted a phone call between Berlin and Warsaw, showing that Angela Merkel’s claim that Navalny was poisoned by a novichok nerve agent, what she called “attempted murder,” was false.

According to Sputnik News, “Telegram channel Pul Pervogo (aired) a video (of) Lukashenko” sharing the above information with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin during a meeting in Minsk, the Belarusian president saying the following:

“I have to tell you that yesterday or the day before yesterday before Merkel made a statement (saying) they wanted to silence Navalny, we intercepted a conversation.”

“As far as we understand, it’s Warsaw talking with Berlin — two persons on the line.”

“Our radar intelligence intercepted it…There was no poisoning of Navalny.”

“The specialists prepared facts and maybe statements (prepared) for Merkel…”

“They did it to make sure that Putin would not interfere in Belarusian affairs.”

Lukashenko added that his government will send the intercepted recording to Russia’s Federal Security Service for further analysis.

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Award-winning author Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at [email protected]. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG)

His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

JB reports in:

I just got home from back surgery where I spent 4 days in the hospital to start the recovery process. I was able to have some really good conversations with the nurses that were caring for me.

First off, the hospital was empty (in Alaska).

I asked one nurse if I could ask a few questions that I just needed answers for.

First, ‘Do masks do anything to stop a virus?” She looked at me shocked, then said “no, they don’t do anything, the N95 does stop a percentage of a virus when you wear one, but overall they don’t do a thing”.

So I asked why are there so many mandates then? We are we being bombarded with wearing a mask to save grandma?

At this time another nurse said,

“Well, when this all started we were pressured to report everyone who was admitted into the hospital as a covid case. We were also told that we were to report every death as a covid death, and to do our best to get people on a ventilator, even though we knew that it seemed to actually make things worse for the patient.”

Bottom line, most of them refused, and several were fired.

I asked what they suggested was the best way to fight the virus, and was told, the same things you would do to fight the flu.

It was pretty intense, and they were very upset when they started talking about it. Upset as in mad.

I didn’t wear a mask while I was there and was only asked one time if I would put one on when a certain nurse was coming to that section of the hospital to generally check on patients. So, I did, as it seemed important to the people I was working with. No sense in getting them in trouble. When that person left, I took it back off.

There was more conversation, including their thoughts on schools requiring masks, kids committing suicide “in one month more than we’ve had in a year”.

They had strong opinions on lockdowns when “the very thing we need to fight a virus is fresh air and the vitamin D we get from sunlight.”

One fun thing, when I was being wheeled through the hospital, the nurse stopped a few times to introduce me to other nurses working there, and she would simply say, “Hey so and so, I want you to meet Joshua, he thinks like we do”.

So there is a resistance in some of these hospitals!

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