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This is a doomed-to-fail provocation carried out purely for propaganda with the intent of lessening the crushing blow to morale from losing Artyomovsk.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed on Monday that

“The Defense Ministry, the FSB and the Border Service have reported to the Russian president – the supreme commander-in-chief – about a Ukrainian sabotage group’s attempt to break into the Belgorod Region.” He added that “We understand perfectly well that the goal of such subversive activities is to divert attention from the Bakhmut area and reduce the political impact of Ukraine’s loss of Artyomovsk.”

Reports suggest that the so-called “Freedom of Russian Legion” and “Russian Volunteer Corps”, both of which are regarded by Russia as Ukrainian military intelligence’s terrorist proxies, are behind this attack. It was predictable that something of the sort would soon be attempted in order to deflect from Russia’s victory over the weekend in the longest battle of its special operation thus far. The following four analyses touched upon precisely this scenario:

The last piece in particular predicted that this could soon be attempted because “Zelensky urgently needs to repair his side’s morale and show his Western patrons’ people that their $165 billion worth of taxpayer-provided military aid was used for something”, which aligns with Peskov’s assessment.

Keeping in mind the Kremlin’s official conclusion that the US was involved in this month’s failed assassination attempt against President Putin, it therefore naturally follows that it had a hand in this attack too.

It’s highly unlikely that Monday’s proxy invasion of Russia will lead to any lasting gains, hence why it should be seen as nothing more than infowar copium, or a doomed-to-fail provocation carried out purely for propaganda with the intent of lessening the crushing blow to morale from losing Artyomovsk. In fact, it might even backfire if the Kremlin finally regards this latest crossing of its “red lines” as worthy of an overwhelming response, which patriots have been pleading for ever since the Crimean Bridge bombing.

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This article was originally published on Andrew Korybko’s Newsletter.

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.

He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

Featured image is from the author

The Battle of Bakhmut: Russian Forces Take Full Control of the Province

By Lucas Leiroz de Almeida, May 23, 2023

On May 20, Moscow’s officials announced that Russian forces had taken full control of the province, with no more Ukrainian units in the region. With this, the bloodiest infantry battle since World War II ended. The case once again shows how Moscow militarily controls the conflict, leaving no doubt as to which side is winning on the battlefield.

“The US and UK are complicit with the Israeli apartheid and racist regime.” Interview with Sami, the Bedouin

By Sami the Bedouin and Steven Sahiounie, May 23, 2023

The armed conflict between the Palestinian people of the West Bank and Gaza continues against the Israeli forces who maintain the over 5 million residents under a brutal military occupation, with no human rights, and no freedom in sight.

mRNA and Breastfeeding: COVID-19 Vaccinated Mothers Who Breastfeed — Babies Have Serious Reactions Including Death

By Dr. William Makis, May 23, 2023

Pfizer’s own documents report that the rate of adverse events in babies who are breastfeeding from COVID-19 mRNA vaccinated mothers is 13% and serious adverse events occur in 2% of babies, including two baby deaths recorded in VAERS.

Ukraine Admits Murdering “Quite a Few” Russian Civilians Who Back Putin and His Invasion

By Zero Hedge, May 23, 2023

A senior Ukrainian official has admitted that his country has assassinated “quite a few” Russian civilians who support Putin and his war to assert control of the Donbas region. In interviews first reported by The Times of London, Major General Kyrylo Budanov, who heads Ukraine’s military intelligence service, also promised more attacks are to come. 

Help to Live in Peace and Freedom! Appeal to the Youth of the World

By Dr. Rudolf Hänsel, May 22, 2023

In the course of their development, young people are confronted with a variety of challenges which they usually cope with well. In order to be able to tackle life’s tasks courageously, the adolescent is dependent on being embedded in a supportive environment as a living world and in an integrating culture.

The EU Can’t Keep Its Story Straight About U.S Sanctions Against the Import of Russian Fuel

By Andrew Korybko, May 22, 2023

The EU only has two choices when it comes to India selling refined Russian fuel: it can either retain the present arrangement for the pragmatic sake of all parties’ pecuniary interests, or it can ban the import of these products for ideological reasons at the expense of the aforesaid.

CIA

The US Government Launches A.I. Tool to Detect “Russian Disinformation”

By Ben Bartee, May 22, 2023

As I covered recently at PJ Media, the technocrat with the single most punchable face in world history, Antony Blinken, announced that the Biden administration now has at its fingertips a propriety AI tool to comb the web for something called “Russian disinformation.”

Squeezed by the Shorts: Time to Ban Short Selling?

By Ellen Brown, May 22, 2023

Short sellers have made a killing in the recent banking crisis, scalping $14.3 billion from bank stock owners just in March of this year. Short sellers “borrow” stock they don’t own and immediately sell it, driving the price down. Then they buy it back at the lower price, return the stock, and pocket the difference.

Death’s Secretary Tries to Forget on Cape Cod

By Edward Curtin, May 22, 2023

We have come to Cape Cod for a few days to forget the man-made world that is too much with us. I have asked my forgettery to get to work. As my childhood friends used to say to me, “Eddy spaghetti, use you forgetty.” The adults had no idea what they meant.  Many still do not.

The Growing War Cost on Our Shoulders. Manlio Dinucci

By Manlio Dinucci, May 22, 2023

On European tours of Italy, Germany, France, and Britain, Zelensky raised billions in military aid. But this is not enough. Now he is announcing that soon a coalition of European countries will supply Kyiv with fighter bombers to be used against Russia. Among these fighters could be the Italian Tornadoes with attack capabilities, even nuclear ones, flying at very low altitudes to evade enemy radars.

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The armed conflict between the Palestinian people of the West Bank and Gaza continues against the Israeli forces who maintain the over 5 million residents under a brutal military occupation, with no human rights, and no freedom in sight.

Steven Sahiounie of MidEastDiscourse interviewed Sami, the Bedouin, a Palestinian writer and blogger. He is originally ethnically cleansed from Ashdod, in Occupied Palestine, but living as a refugee in the West Bank Occupied Palestine. As an activist for Palestine, he has been arrested several times and spent some years in the zionist jails for resisting the zionist occupation. He’s been blogging exclusively about Palestine in different sites and in his blog www.samibedouin.wordpress.com

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Steven Sahiounie (SS):   Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the targeted assassinations of three leaders of Islamic Jihad in Gaza. It appears Netanyahu did so for his own benefit, because he faces huge domestic political issues. What is your view on this situation?

Sami the Bedouin (SB):  Netanyahu didn’t invent, or start the Israeli assassination policy against the Palestinian leaders and activists; he just continued a systematic and continuous state-sponsored policy. Steering the attention away from the Israeli internal dilemma and saving Netanyahu from the masses of demonstrating Israelis could be a side and temporary result for attacking Gaza but we can’t blame only Netanyahu for that longstanding policy, or even the current wave of assassination that was decided and carried out by the Israeli cabinet, ie, the whole Israeli government, plus, there was a massive support from the whole Israeli political spectrum for the killing, although most of the victims were civilians.   

Now, to understand the Israeli systematic assassination policy you have got to know that it is an integral part of all the Israeli governments as “Israel” has been using Death Squads even before it was established, and once it was terrorist groups of Lehi, Irgun, and Stern. Most of the Zionist leaders were directly involved in this systematic policy and the assassins mostly become the top leaders of “Israel”, like Begin, Shamir, Sharon, Barak, Livni, Bennett, Shaked and the list is endless. 

This policy was started as early as 1930s when the Jewish National Fund JNF had compelled an inventory that included the topographic location of each village with detailed information including husbandry, cultivated land, number of trees, quality of fruit, average amount of land per family, number of cars, shop owners, Palestinian clans and their political affiliation, descriptions of village mosques and names of their imams, civil servants and more. The final inventory update was finished in 1947 with lists of “wanted” persons in each village targeted in 1948 for search-and-arrest operations with those seized summarily shot on the spot in cold blood. 

The assassination policy is an Israeli built-in strategy in order to weaken the Palestinian leadership within the major Zionist target of committing what is known to be a political genocide against the Palestinian people to deprive it from its able leadership to pave the way to subordinate, submissive and compromising leadership. 

SS:  There are building, and ongoing tensions in the Occupied West Bank, between the Israeli occupation forces and the Palestinian people. There have been many raids, attacks and deaths and injuries. How do you see the situation today? 

SB:  Occupation is the source of all the long standing and ongoing tension between the occupier and the revolting. Since 2019 there has been a dramatic rise in the settlers attacks against the Palestinians and their properties from uprooting olive and vine fields, to attacking sheep herders and even shooting sheep and goats, demolition of houses and building structures, to vandalizing mosques and churches, to throwing stones at the passing Palestinian cars killing and wounding innocent civilians, to the daily harassment and humiliation at the checkpoints. All these settlers’ atrocities are supported by the Israeli official policy coupled to not only the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) inability to protect its citizens, but its direct involvement with the occupier in the security coordination, which has built up a growing frustration among the Palestinian youth to protect their people personally by forming armed groups. 

Another main factor of the tension is the provocative settlers raids on the Aqsa Mosque in a well-known plan to demolish it and build the Israeli alleged temple, these raids are carried out by the most racist Zionist settlers attacking the native Jerusalemites and cursing Islam and the prophet Muhammad in a clear way to provoke the natives. 

I don’t think there is a near solution for the whole situation, but it is going to get even worse by time for different reasons; 

Israel’s in ability and unwillingness to stop the settler’s atrocities, but will keep providing protection for the extreme right racists, as the current Israeli government is far-right and racist itself.

The deep and systematic corruption in the PA which generates the masses mistrust and revolt against it which means more militant groups including from Fateh party itself to take the streets against the default PA that is cooperating with the occupier. 

There is no political horizon that could give hope, on the contrary there is expansion in the settlement and the settlers attacks. 

I expect mass revolt against the PA at a certain point like a foolish act by the PA police, or by the death of Abbas. It is hard to guess, but the possibility is around the corner.

SS:  During Ramadan, the Israeli occupation forces repeatedly attacked worshipers at the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, and entered the Mosque several times while beating men, women and children. Recently, Jewish extremists threatened to raise an Israeli flag on the Mosque. In your opinion, what is the current situation, and what should be the response? 

SB:  It is clear that there is a Jewish intention, and plan to demolish Al-Aqsa compound and build their alleged temple on its site based on their Talmudic heresies of Armageddon and salvation. We should always remember that the 1929 massacre was intrigued by Jewish demonstrations holding Israeli flags calling for the demolition of the Mosque, a week of Jewish provocative marches resulted in that massacre. This shows us that the Jewish intention to demolish the Mosque, and build their temple, is not only a slogan but a real plan among the extremist Jewish masses, and they are getting stronger and stronger to dominate the government, as it is the case now. 

Now, these extremist and provocative demonstrations are not only extremist, but mainstream, supported by the official Israeli government and police, where the Muslims are attacked, beaten and even killed inside while the Jewish extremists are given full protection and encouragement by the Israeli police accompanied by ministers in the Israeli government. All this happens while the PA is not only helpless and dumb, but in a full security cooperation with the occupying authorities. 

Once again, this blocked and deteriorating situation breeds frustration among the Palestinian youths that would leads into more armed resistance, which, at a certain point might force the armed groups in Gaza to join the struggle.  

SS:  We have all seen the UN report naming Israel as an Apartheid state. Meanwhile, the war crimes, and crimes against humanity continue being committed by Israel against the Palestinian people, and the international community takes no action. In your opinion, how can Israel’s impunity be stopped?

SB:  The racist can never admit or internalize he is racist, on the contrary, he would try to justify his racism by religious or cultural motifs as it is the case in the Israeli Zionist society. They can’t see that there are over 60 racist laws that discriminate against the native Palestinians, these laws that were approved by the Knesset itself, ie, the Israeli government, which means racism is an official paradigm. 

The Palestinian is discriminated against not only in and by the Israeli law, but in every aspect of his daily life, like building a house, traveling within or out Palestine where certain routes and roads are assigned for the less privileged Palestinians. Discrimination is not only against the Occupied Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, but it is a systematic policy even against the Israeli-Arab citizens, it is a built-in Israeli dogma that can’t be unplugged, but by de-zionizing Israel itself.

The whole west, especially the USA and Britain are complicit with the Israeli apartheid and racist regime. They provide not only protection in the UN institutions, but also a flood of political, military and financial support for Israel. 

I don’t think the privileged racist would wake up one day to say I want to stop; it only can be stopped by real pressure from outside especially from the US, as it is the main patron for the Israeli regime. Stopping the Israeli impunity can’t be while the Israeli Jews are intoxicated by power and the endless and unconditioned political and military support. Real pressure, especially sanctions (like that against Iran and Russia) might do the job. This can start by supporting the BDS movement, but not sanction it. Fighting the BDS would worsen the situation and lead Israel deep into its racist apartheid regime. 

In fact, and in reality, the Israeli Jewish society is growing more and more talmudically racist, and socially and politically an apartheid regime at its best, this could be good at the long run as all people would realize the racist nature of the Zionist colonial project from the very beginning as it has been based on ethno-religious paradigm. Racist regimes can’t change themselves from within by their privileged agents, but as it was with Nazi Germany, the Zionist-Jewish colony should and must be saved from outside power to save it from its own brutality. 

SS:  China brokered a peace deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia. How can this new, and improved relationship affect the Israeli-Palestinian cause?

SB:  The first and biggest loser by the Saudi-Iranian reconciliation is Israel, as it has been investing in Sunni-Shiite enmity for decades, but all of sudden, everything has turned upside down for the Zionist government. All the Israeli political plans over the past two decades were concentrated on breaking through the Sunni Arab governments to build a military alliance against Iran. It succeeded partially, but the latest Saudi-Iranian rapprochement has been a major slap for the whole Zionist project. This is coupled with the rising role of China in the Middle East, while the American involvement is retreating. On the other hand, we are witnessing a global power shift, gradual but steady from the West to the East at the economic and political levels. 

In the long run, the Zionist project of Israel will lose especially when it is intoxicated by power and ideological blindness, just like the Nazis in their final years. I don’t believe the two states is a viable solution any more, but the only humane and plausible solution would be a one secular state for all, where everybody is treated equally, but when and how the racist intoxicated with power, mad dog would wake up? Only external blow or pressure would do the job, at the meantime I am too pessimist and expect another Srebrenica massacre if the world, especially the Americans wouldn’t wake up before it is too late.  

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This article was originally published on Mideast Discourse.

Sami the Bedouin, a Palestinian writer and blogger.

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

Featured image is from MD

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G7 Hiroshima Summit Fails to Deliver Progress on Nuclear Disarmament

May 23rd, 2023 by International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons

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Update 20 May 2023: The G7 leaders have just issued the final communique from their summit in Hiroshima. It claims they have “taken concrete steps to strengthen disarmament and non-proliferation efforts, towards the ultimate goal of a world without nuclear weapons with undiminished security for all” but it doesn’t say what these steps are. That’s because it can’t.

What we got from the leaders’ discussion on nuclear weapons yesterday was a rehash of ideas and proposals that have failed to deliver progress over the past three decades. They did not announce anything new or concrete. They couldn’t even bring themselves to follow the G20 and TPNW member states by condemning all nuclear threats. Instead they reserved their condemnation for Russia’s and North Korea’s threats, which, while justified, fails to acknowledge how the G7’s own nuclear doctrines are based on the threat to use nuclear weapons and so contribute to the acute danger these weapons pose to everyone. 

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The G7’s detailed statement “G7 Leaders’ Hiroshima Vision on Nuclear Disarmament”, issued on May 19, falls far short of providing any meaningful outcomes for nuclear disarmament. After months of preparation and amid high expectations, the leaders are missing the moment to make the world safer from nuclear weapons, instead of confronting nuclear threats with a concrete, credible plan for nuclear disarmament – like the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons- they are barely even paying lip service to the horrors of Hiroshima, the first city attacked by nuclear weapons.

The statement recalls the unprecedented devastation and extreme and inhumane suffering experienced by the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where the atomic bombs were dropped and reconfirms the G7 leaders’ determination to realise a “world without nuclear weapons.”

Yet it fails to commit to concrete measures towards that goal and even emphasises the importance of reserving the right to use nuclear weapons. The G7 are trying to sell decades-old and insufficient initiatives as a new “vision”, when at the same time they themselves are complicit in the rising nuclear risks and promoting mass murder of civilians as a legitimate form of national security policy.

ICAN’s Executive Director Daniel Hogsta responded to the statement

“This is more than a missed opportunity. With the world facing the acute risk that nuclear weapons could be used for the first time since Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed, this is a gross failure of global leadership. Simply pointing fingers at Russia and China is insufficient. We need the G7 countries, which all either possess, host or endorse the use of nuclear weapons, to step up and engage the other nuclear powers in disarmament talks if we are to reach their professed goal of a world without nuclear weapons”

In light of Russia’s unacceptable nuclear threats, the G7 leaders failed to offer a progressive and credible response, effectively walking back earlier language by the G20 that clearly condemned all nuclear threats, with equivocations meant to give the nuclear armed states in the group some cover: “In this context, we reiterate our position that threats by Russia of nuclear weapon use, let alone any use of nuclear weapons by Russia, in the context of its aggression against Ukraine are inadmissible.” This is a step back from acknowledging that all nuclear threats are inadmissible, no matter who they come from.

The statement also refers to the importance of transparency. Again, this is something where some of the G7 states must look at the example they are setting- the UK, for example, decided in 2021 to be less transparent about their arsenal.

Failure to heed the survivors’ call

The statement fails to meaningfully acknowledge the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons, and above all, it fails to meet the hibakusha’s demands for real action to eliminate nuclear weapons. Instead of rising to meet the urgency and weight of this moment, the G7’s inaction is an insult to the hibakusha, and the memory of those who died in Hiroshima.

Earlier in the day, the G7 leaders reportedly spent less than 30 min inside the Peace Memorial Museum before placing a wreath at the cenotaph. They also met briefly with atomic bomb survivors, but this statement shows they did not actually listen to what the Hibakusha are asking for. They intend to ignore the risks and the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons and to continue to be complicit in the risks they pose.

Satoshi Tanaka, survivor of the atomic bombing and Secretary General of the Liaison Conference of Hiroshima Hibakusha Organisations said:

“This is not the genuine nuclear disarmament that Hibakusha are calling for. This is an evasion of their responsibility. Prime Minister Kishida has said that the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons is the final passage for a nuclear weapon-free world. No, it is not a final passage. It is the entry point. PM Kishida and other G7 leaders should accept the TPNW and start the real process of eliminating nuclear weapons.”

Nuclear weapons are illegal under international law.

The next opportunity for the G7 to show that they are serious about addressing the nuclear threat is to participate in the next meeting of states parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. That’s where the responsible states meet to implement a plan for global disarmament.

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Featured image: Satoshi Tanaka addresses journalists at a joint press conference with a-bomb survivors, ICAN and the Japanese NGO-network

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Babies Who Died When COVID-19 mRNA Vaccinated Mothers Were Breastfeeding (Two Cases)

CASE 1 (VAERS ID 1532154): 8 week old baby died July 17, 2021: 

36 year old mother from New Mexico wrote: “On July 17, 2021, my baby passed away. I had been breastfeeding my 6 week old baby at the time that I received the first Pfizer vaccine on June 4, 2021.

He became very sick with a high fever on June 21, about 2 weeks after I got the first Pfizer vaccine. He was treated for 2 weeks with IV antibiotics for a supposed bacterial infection, however, they never found any bacteria.

After the 14 day course of antibiotics, he was home for one week, but exhibited strange symptoms (e.g. swollen eyelid, strange rashes, vomiting). I took him back to the hospital on July 15, where he presented with what they called an atypical Kawasaki disease. He passed away shortly thereafter from clots in his severely inflamed arteries. He died on July 17, 2021.

CASE 2 (VAERS ID 1166062): 5 month old baby died March 20, 2021 

Mother received her 2nd dose of Pfizer vaccine on March 17, 2021 while at work. The next day on March 18, 2020, her 5 month old breastfed infant developed a rash and within 24 hours was inconsolable, refusing to eat and developed a fever.

Baby was brought to ER, blood analysis revealed elevated liver enzymes, was hospitalized but continued to decline and died on March 20, 2021 with diagnosis of TTP.

Babies Who Had Serious Reactions When COVID-19 mRNA Vaccinated Mothers Were Breastfeeding

There are hundreds of these cases so I will only highlight a few:

CASE 3 (VAERS ID 1415059): 3 month old baby had seizures from breastfeeding

A mother from Pennsylvania wrote: “I received 1st dose of Moderna on June 18, 2021. I fed my three month old daughter milk that I pumped from my breasts later that night and put her to bed. When transferring her to her bassinet at approximately 11:30pm, she started a seizure that lasted seven minutes. We were transported to Hospital where she suffered two more seizures in the early morning hours of June 19th. She has been a healthy baby with no health conditions prior to these events.

CASE 4 (VAERS ID 930348): Pfizer vaccinated mom’s baby had seizures for 4 days 

A 33 year old mother from New Jersey writes: “I am breastfeeding. My daughter had seizure like episodes starting on Saturday 1/2, Sunday 1/3, Monday, 1/4 and 2 times on Tuesday 1/5.”

CASE 5 (VAERS ID 1099241): A 16 month old baby got hemolytic anemia 

A mother from California had J&J vaccine on March 10, 2021. Her 16 month old baby developed jaundice the next day and was admitted for evaluation of hemolytic anemia.

CASE 6 (VAERS ID 1543319: 12 month old has swollen lymph nodes 

On Feb 1, 2021, the mother received 1st Moderna dose. The next day the nursing 12 month old infant developed fever and swollen lymph nodes in the groin.

CASE 7 (VAERS ID 1101777): 14 month old boy has body rash all over 

A 29 year old mother from New York had Moderna and writes: “I’m breastfeeding my 14 month old son. A couple of days after I received my first dose of the Moderna vaccine, he broke out in red spots all over his body. A few days later, he developed a low grade fever. It’s been one week since I was vaccinated. He does not have a fever anymore and the red spots are almost all gone.”

CASE 8 (VAERS ID 917888): 15 month old has rash and fever 

A 35 year old mother from New Mexico had one dose of Pfizer. She writes: “ I am breastfeeding my 15 month old son and he got a rash on his abdomen and face that has progressed more over past several days. He has had no fever but acts like he doesn’t feel great as he was not eating like his normal self. I don’t know if the rash is related or not but it is during the time of the vaccine.”

CASE 9 (VAERS ID 931851): 5 month old baby has severe diarrhea & vomiting, almost died

A 32 year old mother from Alaska writes: “I am currently breastfeeding my 5-month-old son. I received my first (Pfizer) vaccine on 12/28/2020 and directly breastfed within 4 hours of receiving the vaccine. Two days after my vaccine my son was at daycare and had two large diarrhea blowouts and two large emeses followed by a 1-minute episode where he was limp with entire body cyanosis and in-and-out of consciousness. He also had a maculopapular rash on his torso. EMS was called. He was observed in the emergency department for a few hours then recovered. He has continued to be well and back to baseline since the event.”

CASE 10 (VAERS ID 970309): 5 month old boy has vomiting, diarrhea, body rash and blood in urine 

A 30 year old mother from Connecticut had one Moderna jab. Two nights after her 1st Moderna dose, her 5 month old boy had violent vomiting, diarrhea, body rash, and hematuria.

CASE 11 (VAERS ID 1088716): 4 month old baby had blood in stool 

A 29 year old mother from Kentucky had 1st Pfizer dose. She writes: “I am currently breastfeeding my 4 month old son. He started pooping blood 4 hours after my 1st dose of the vaccine. His next 3 stools were blood streaked and then returned to normal.”

COVID-19 mRNA Vaccinated Mothers Who Had Reactions Related to Breastfeeding

CASE 12 (VAERS ID 976245): Significant decrease in breast milk supply 

A 28 year old mother from Oregon had 1st Pfizer dose. She had arm soreness, lip swelling and numbness next day. She developed a significant decreased in breast milk supply starting 2-3 days after Pfizer and it did not recover. She had been breastfeeding her baby completely since birth in July 2020.

CASE 13 (VAERS ID 980782): Breast milk turned green 

Mother had Pfizer vaccine. She noticed reduced breast milk production and her breast milk has turned green.

CASE 14 (VAERS ID 1022827): Blood in breast milk after 1st Pfizer dose 

A 33 year mother from New Jersey writes: “I am breastfeeding. The first pump after my Pfizer shot ( three and half hours after) 2oz of blood was pumped from the right breast”

CASE 15 (VAERS ID 1041373): Had a miscarriage 10 days after Pfizer 

A 36 year old woman from Pennsylvania who was breast feeding her previous infant born in 2019, had 1st Pfizer dose on Dec.21, 2020. She was 4 weeks pregnant and had a miscarriage 10 days after Pfizer.

CASE 16 (VAERS ID 1154934): Mom started bleeding after 1st Moderna dose 

A 37 year old woman from California writes: “The Moderna vaccine induced my menstruation. I am currently breastfeeding and had not been menstruating since becoming pregnant in January 2019. I had a baby since then and due to nursing on demand my period had not returned. Less than 24 hours after getting vaccinated I woke up to a moderate menstrual flow, bright red blood. I am still menstruating and experiencing mild cramping and bloatedness in my abdominal area. There was no prior indication this would happen before the vaccine. I had not even spotted before. My cycle has historically been very regular and I am certain the vaccine had something to do with stimulating my endocrine system and thus causing my menstruation.”

COVID-19 Vaccine mRNA Found in Breastmilk 

It is interesting to note that mRNA was found in breast milk as early as April 2021 in a paper by Low et al. (click here)

It was recently confirmed again in a paper by Hanna et al. in Sep.2022 (click here)

US Genomics Expert Kevin McKernan wrote a substack article about how mRNA ingested by the infant through breast milk, could exert clinical effects by:

  1. COVID-19 vaccine mRNA is RNase resistant due to modified N1-methyl-pseudoU, so it doesn’t break down easily;
  2. Baby’s oral mucosa can be transfected by mother’s mRNA (contained in extracellular vesicles in breast milk);
  3. Mother’s mRNA can survive the baby’s gut and digestive process.

His fascinating account of how mRNA is transported in breast milk can be found here: (click here)

“Milk is considered as more than a source of nutrition for infants and is a vector involved in the transfer of bioactive compounds and cells. Milk contains abundant quantities of extracellular vesicles (EVs) that may originate from multiple cellular sources. These nanosized vesicles have been well characterized and are known to carry a diverse cargo of proteins, nucleic acids, lipids and other biomolecules. Milk-derived EVs have been demonstrated to survive harsh and degrading conditions in gut, taken up by various cell types, cross biological barriers and reach peripheral tissues. The cargo carried by these dietary EVs has been suggested to have a role in cell growth, development, immune modulation and regulation.”

Pfizer’s Post Marketing report issued April 2021 with Adverse Event reports through Feb. 28, 2021:

Pfizer’s documents give us some interesting information on page 12 (click here)

Babies who were breastfed by COVID-19 mRNA vaccinated mothers had a 13% adverse event rate (17/133), and a 2% serious adverse event rate (3/133).

mRNA Vaccines Are Not Safe for Breastfeeding

So COVID-19 mRNA vaccination is NOT SAFE for breastfeeding mothers or babies.

This was confirmed by the UK Government on August 16 2022, when it declared that “Women who are breastfeeding should also not be vaccinated” (click here)

Alberta Health Services can be sued for medical misinformation: (click here) 

AHS advises Albertans: “There are no known risks to getting the COVID-19 vaccine while breastfeeding”.

Every pregnant Alberta woman can now sue AHS for medically misinforming them. It is time for historic class action lawsuits.

My Take… 

COVID-19 vaccine mRNA is found in breast milk. This has been known since at least April 2021.

Pfizer’s own documents report that the rate of adverse events in babies who are breastfeeding from COVID-19 mRNA vaccinated mothers is 13% and serious adverse events occur in 2% of babies, including two baby deaths recorded in VAERS.

Most common reactions babies have to mRNA in breast milk are: fever and rashes, then diarrhea, vomiting, and sometimes more serious such as hemolytic anemia, bleeding in urine or stool, and seizures.

We now have an outbreak of myocarditis (heart inflammation) cases in babies < 28 days old, with 16 cases of myocarditis in the UK, including two deaths that are not reported in VAERS (click here). These cases can be due to mRNA in breast milk or LNPs with mRNA crossing the placenta before baby is born.

Mothers report decrease in breast milk production, breast milk discoloration (turns blue or green), sudden onset irregular or heavy menstrual bleeding, breast lumps and more.

COVID-19 mRNA vaccination in breastfeeding mothers was NEVER SAFE, any Institution or expert who claimed otherwise was lying.

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

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The Worldwide Corona Crisis, Global Coup d’Etat Against Humanity

by Michel Chossudovsky

Michel Chossudovsky reviews in detail how this insidious project “destroys people’s lives”. He provides a comprehensive analysis of everything you need to know about the “pandemic” — from the medical dimensions to the economic and social repercussions, political underpinnings, and mental and psychological impacts.

“My objective as an author is to inform people worldwide and refute the official narrative which has been used as a justification to destabilize the economic and social fabric of entire countries, followed by the imposition of the “deadly” COVID-19 “vaccine”. This crisis affects humanity in its entirety: almost 8 billion people. We stand in solidarity with our fellow human beings and our children worldwide. Truth is a powerful instrument.”

ISBN: 978-0-9879389-3-0,  Year: 2022,  PDF Ebook,  Pages: 164, 15 Chapters

We encourage you to support the eBook project by making a donation through Global Research’s DonorBox “Worldwide Corona Crisis” Campaign Page.

  • Posted in English
  • Comments Off on mRNA and Breastfeeding: COVID-19 Vaccinated Mothers Who Breastfeed — Babies Have Serious Reactions Including Death

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*** 

After more than 290 days of intense fighting and tens of thousands of casualties, the Battle of Artyomovsk (called Bakhmut in Ukraine) is over.

On May 20, Moscow’s officials announced that Russian forces had taken full control of the province, with no more Ukrainian units in the region. With this, the bloodiest infantry battle since World War II ended. The case once again shows how Moscow militarily controls the conflict, leaving no doubt as to which side is winning on the battlefield.

The announcement was made around noon on the 20th, in a statement published on social media by Evgeny Prigozhin, head of the Russian private military company (PMC) Wagner Group. A few hours later, several Russian state officials confirmed the news and publicly congratulated the Wagner’s fighters for their victory on the battlefield.

As expected, Ukrainian spokespersons and Western media initially reacted by denying the news. For a few hours, Ukrainian officials claimed that Kiev’s forces were still in the city, but then the narrative changed, and officials admitted that Russian control had been achieved.

As it would become impossible to maintain the lying discourse for a long time, the Ukrainian tactic became that of admitting defeat in order to try to use a “victimist” narrative to raise more Western support.

At a press conference on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky recognized the defeat by stating that there is “nothing” in Bakhmut now, and that the city is only in Ukrainian “hearts”.

“You have to understand that there is nothing (…) For today, Bakhmut is only in our hearts. There is nothing in this place”, he told journalists, trying to use emotional techniques to move Western public opinion.

Zelensky’s words, however, sound hypocritical when the case is analyzed in depth.

Bakhmut’s fall was imminent, with several military experts claiming it was only a matter of time before it happened. The Russians were very close to victory and obviously the Western intelligence services which control the Ukrainian forces knew this, but they ignored the reality of the battlefield and chose to bet on a lying and irresponsible narrative about a “spring counteroffensive” to try to boost the international support for the regime.

As an argument to justify the “possibility” of a Ukrainian victory, the mainstream media intensively reported the existence of an alleged internal conflict in Russia between the forces of PMC Wagner and the Ministry of Defense.

The narrative was created taking advantage of speeches by Prigozhin himself, who is known for always using psychological warfare techniques, trying to appear weak and disunited in the face of the enemy. Both Ukrainian and Western intelligence certainly knew that Prigozhin’s words were a kind of “trap”, but they chose to adopt Western media discourse and ordered troops to remain in the city, rather than strategically retreating to save lives in the face of imminent defeat.

As a result, the last days of the city under Ukrainian control were marked by intense fighting with the use of heavy artillery and incendiary thermobaric weapons.

Zelensky, even having the necessary intelligence data to predict the defeat, not only did not authorize any evacuation, but he also stayed at a safe distance from the frontlines during the most difficult days of the conflict. His international tour has been lasting long, which is why he hasn’t even been in Kiev to take emergency measures or welcome and award the survivors.

The end of the battle also reveals the military expertise of the head of the Wagner Group, who successfully used psychological skills to confuse the enemy and accelerate victory. This is the first time that a PMC has won a large-scale infantry battle against a regular army. The southern command of the Russian Army helped in the last days of combat, mainly with the supply of artillery, but the protagonist of the victory was the Wagner Group, contradicting the Western discourse that the PMC would be weakened and close to collapse.

It is necessary to mention that the Ukrainian forces work together with western mercenaries and receive huge support in arms and intelligence. This makes the control that the Russians maintain over the conflict even more evident, since they were able to win an enemy so well equipped in an intense battle using practically only a PMC, without any great mobilization of its combat potential.

In fact, the victory on the 20th shows that the inconsistent and weakened side is the Western-Ukrainian one, where the intelligence services do not communicate directly with the military and induce them to maintain unsustainable positions on the battlefield, which results in the death thousands of Ukrainians.

On the part of Russia, PMC Wagner, Ministry of Defense and intelligence act visibly cohesively and obtain significant victories using few resources, betting largely on psychological warfare tactics to deceive the enemy.

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Lucas Leiroz is a journalist researcher at the Center for Geostrategic Studies, geopolitical consultant. You can follow Lucas on Twitter and Telegram.

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Turkiye Rallies Behind Erdogan

May 23rd, 2023 by M. K. Bhadrakumar

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It comes as no surprise that the United States and the European Union didn’t have the face to commend the performance of Recep Erdogan and his party in the presidential and parliamentary elections in Turkiye on Sunday. The election results do not serve the geopolitical interests of the US and its European allies. It is apparent that the entreaties and media management in the run-up fell on deaf ears. 

The western powers hoped for a weak unstable government and are instead worrying that a turbo-charged Erdogan with a commanding majority in the parliament will be presiding over a strong government and won’t be a pushover. 

Thus, pin-pricking has begun. A question mark is put on the legitimacy of Erdogan’s victory over his opposition rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu who is backed by the West. A real time report by the OSCE election observer mission’s preliminary findings have come handy, which alleged attempts to gerrymander the election results. 

The report accuses Erdogan of enjoying “unjustified advantage” and resorting to “misuse of administrative resources”; and the election commission of “lack of transparency and communication” and independence. 

In a direct attack on Erdogan, the OSCE mission report says, “The president is not explicitly subject to the same restrictions in the campaign period” and took undue advantage of incumbency… (and) blurred the line between party and State, at odds with the 1990 Copenhagen Document” (which contains specific election-related commitments.)   

The report said the election administration, law enforcement bodies, and courts did not enjoy the confidence of the opposition in resolving electoral grievances “impartially and effectively.” The secrecy of the vote was not always guaranteed; family and group voting were frequent; and unauthorised people participated in the count, “raising concerns over its integrity.” During the vote count, “several significant procedural errors were reported.”                      

The US State Department has promptly urged the Turkish authorities to conduct “the next phase of the presidential election in line with the country’s laws and in a manner that is consistent with its commitments to the OSCE as well as a NATO Ally.” 

The state department’s principal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said on Monday that the Biden Administration is “continuing to closely monitor the country’s ongoing electoral process.” He noted that “broadly we congratulate the people of Türkiye for peacefully expressing their will at the ballot box, and also congratulate the newly elected parliament.” 

Patel repeated the stated US position that “we’ll continue to work together with whatever government is chosen by the Turkish people to deepen our cooperation and our – deepen our shared priorities.” 

But he also parried that “the election process is still unfolding, as is the work of the OSCE’s election observation mission, which, as you know, released some preliminary findings… But I’m not going to predict anything additional from here.” Patel confirmed that there were US observers represented in the OSCE team. 

Taking a cue from Patel, perhaps, the EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell was upfront in a statement issued in Brussels on Tuesday. He stated, “We note the preliminary findings and conclusions of the International Election Observation Mission of the OSCE and the Council of Europe, and call on Turkish authorities to address the shortcomings identified.”

Borrell added, “The EU attaches the utmost importance to the need for transparent, inclusive and credible elections, in a level playing field.” Borrell too welcomed the elections as such, and took note of the high turnout as a clear sign of the commitment of the Turkish people to exercising their democratic right to vote.

The salience of these remarks lies in the subtle hint by both Patel and Borrell that all is not lost yet and the jury is still out as regards Erdogan’s victory. (Interestingly, Turkish Foreign Ministry has pointed out that a total of 489 international election observers watched the May 14 elections in Türkiye and it is also “reflected in the reports of these delegations that the elections were held in accordance with the standards of free democratic elections and with exemplary participation in the OSCE and the CoE geography.”)

That said, by now, it must be sinking in surely in the western calculus that Erdogan has retained his core constituency, which has not suffered erosion, and his charisma cannot be matched by Kilicdaroglu. In “systemic” terms, the Globalists cannot match Erdogan’s nationalistic plank, either. 

Erdogan is all but certain to win the runoff. The big question is about the third candidate Sinan Ogan who secured 5.2% votes in Sunday’s first round and now bows out of the race. Where will his supporters go in the runoff? No doubt, that will affect the “balance of power” in the runoff and tilt the scales decisively.  

The odds are in favour of Kilicdaroglu getting the bulk of the “anti-Erdogan” votes of Ogan, but will that be sufficient to win in the second round? It may not be. Put differently, Ogan will not be able to deliver his entire electorate to Kilicdaroglu. 

Clearly, if Erdogan can retain his voter base exceeding 49.5% it is and goes on to attract even a quarter of the votes Ogan secured, he is going to  be the victor in the runoff. The strong likelihood is that Erdogan will win. 

The fact that AKP secured a comfortable majority in the parliamentary elections — against all forecasts — also creates a new momentum. The AKP’s success goes to show that the Turkish voter seeks a stable government in Ankara when the external environment is becoming extremely dangerous for the country and the economic crisis demands attention. Whereas, the sort of rainbow coalition that Kilicdaroglu is heading used to be the bane of Turkish politics for many decades in the pre-Erdogan era, and a recipe for instability. Equally, it needs to be factored in that the groundswell of Turkish public opinion remains staunchly anti-western. 

If he wins, this will be Erdogan’s final term. And it is going to be a “legacy term.” Erdogan will no doubt aim to transform Turkiye as a regional hub in energy, food, connectivity and transit. There is going to be breakthrough in nuclear industry, defence industry,  infrastructure projects, etc. with Russian participation. 

It is entirely conceivable that in the highly polarised political atmosphere in the country, there could be protests staged by the opposition if Erdogan wins in the runoff on May 28. But that won’t pose a serious challenge to Erdogan. 

Turkey is not ripe for a colour revolution. The point is, unlike Georgia’s Eduard Shevardnadze or Ukraine’s Viktor Yanukovich, Erdogan is a grassroots politician with a solid mass base and the politics he practises is in sync with the zeitgeist in the region. 

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*** 

Advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday recommended, by a vote of 10 to 4, that the agency approve Pfizer’s respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine for pregnant women, despite questions about the vaccine’s safety.

During Thursday’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) meeting, committee members and medical experts raised concerns about premature births identified during Pfizer’s clinical trials.

The FDA is expected to issue a final decision on the vaccine in August. If approved, it would become the first RSV vaccine authorized for pregnant women.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) must “sign off” on Pfizer’s vaccine for pregnant women prior to it becoming available to the public.

According to Axios, the CDC’s immunization advisory committee is likely to discuss FDA-approved RSV vaccines during its June meeting.

Dr. Meryl Nass, an internist, biological warfare epidemiologist and member of the Children’s Health Defense (CHD) scientific advisory committee, told The Defender that while the FDA is not obliged to follow the recommendations of its advisory committees, “it almost always does so.”

The appeal of a maternal vaccine like Pfizer’s is “the way it would create neutralizing antibodies in pregnant women that can be transferred to infants in the womb,” Axios reported.

However, “there are health risks, including preterm births,” Axios added, noting that GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals’ (GSK) recently halted its trial of a similar RSV vaccine for infants. According to NBC News, the GSK vaccine “showed a higher preterm birth rate among some vaccine recipients.”

Commenting on the FDA’s recommendation of Pfizer’s RSV vaccine, Dr. Peter McCullough, a cardiologist, told The Defender:

“This product represents an unprecedented attempt to vaccinate mothers for no benefit to them and only theoretical efficacy in babies. In the trial, less than 2% of infants at any time point contracted RSV, which is easily treatable with nebulizers.

“Pregnancies should not be threatened with novel vaccines for uncommon and low-risk infantile illnesses.

“Widespread use of this reactogenic vaccine can be expected to cause fetal loss in some unfortunate women. A single case of pregnancy termination would not be worth the population being vaccinated.”

The positive recommendation from the VRBPAC comes two weeks after the FDA approved Arexvy, the first vaccine authorized for RSV. That vaccine, produced by GSK, is intended for adults 60 years of age and older.

It also comes as Pfizer is expecting an FDA decision later this month for its RSV vaccine for adults 60 and over, with the same formulation as the one for pregnant women. The VRBPAC recommended the vaccine for this age group in February.

Pfizer is also “evaluating how its shot performs in other age groups,” Axios reported.

‘A sad day for babies and mums’

According to CNBC, Pfizer’s RSV vaccine, marketed as Abrysvo, will be administered as a single dose to pregnant women in their second or third trimester.

NBC News reported that the shot would be given to pregnant women at 24 to 36 weeks gestation and that the “protective antibodies transfer to infants through the placenta.”

The FDA advisory panel found that data from Abrysvo’s clinical trial “supports the safety of the vaccine” for pregnant women, while the same panel voted unanimously “that available data supported the vaccine’s efficacy for giving the shot to women in their second or third trimesters of pregnancy.”

An FDA briefing document said safety data from Abrysvo clinical trials was “generally favorable.”

According to the trial data, Abrysvo “had an 81.7% efficacy at protecting newborns in the first three months of life against severe illness and a 69.4% efficacy through the first six months,” Axios reported.

The trial consisted of nearly 7,400 participants, according to NBC News, adding that Abrysvo “also lowered the risk of developing respiratory disease from RSV that required doctors’ visits by 51% within about six months.”

“After that, however, the vaccine didn’t appear to make a big difference,” according to the NBC News report, which also reported that “a slightly higher rate of preterm births — defined as before 37 weeks’ gestation — among people who received the vaccine (5.7%) versus those who got a placebo (4.7%)” was identified.

“The difference wasn’t statistically significant, however, so it’s unclear whether it was vaccine-related,” NBC News added. CNBC reported that both percentages were below the overall percentage for preterm births in the general population (10%).

According to CNBC, the clinical trial for Abrysvo “reported 18 peripartum fetal deaths.”

However, the FDA said these deaths were “unlikely” to be related to the shot. According to Axios, “The fetal deaths present in the vaccine group (0.3%) were not related to Pfizer’s vaccine … Similarly, 4 out of 5 infant deaths were considered unrelated to the shot, with one being possibly connected to the shot, although that remains unclear.”

Data reported by Pfizer to the CDC indicated that 14% of pregnant women who participated in Pfizer’s trial sustained an adverse event, with 4.2% sustaining a “serious” adverse event, 1.7% experiencing a “severe” adverse event and 0.5% suffering a “life-threatening” adverse event.

Similarly, the same data showed that 37.1% of infants whose mothers received the experimental Pfizer vaccine experienced adverse events within one month of birth — with 15.5% classified as “serious,” 4.5% as “severe” and 1% as “life-threatening,” while efficacy waned within months of vaccination.

According to the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), “The RSV clinical trial data also included the death of one pregnant woman, 18 stillbirths (10 in vaccinated pregnant women and eight in unvaccinated pregnant women), and 17 infant deaths (five from the vaccinated pregnancy group and 12 in unvaccinated pregnancy group).”

Attorney, journalist and podcaster Daniel Horowitz, in an article published Monday in the Conservative Review, quoted Phase 2 trial data for Abrysvo. He wrote: “Pfizer reported 3 out of 116 (2.6%) premature births in the placebo group and 6 out of 114 (5.3%) in the group that received the vaccine that was chosen as Pfizer’s final product,” adding that Pfizer “was studying preterm birth as an ‘adverse event of special interest.’”

According to NBC News, “The most common side effects of the shot reported among pregnant women were fatigue, headache, muscle pain and injection site pain.”

Nass told The Defender there were essentially three problems with the Abrysvo clinical trial data, “two of which were identified by Pfizer and the FDA.” She said:

“There were about 20% more preterm babies and low birth weight babies in the group, whose mothers had been vaccinated versus the group whose mothers had received a placebo. This was very concerning but was disregarded by most of the committee.

“It was unclear to me whether Pfizer had collected enough information on the health of the pregnant women after vaccination. It is hard to tell when you were studying, newborns and babies, whether they have had a side effect from their mothers’ vaccination. The children weren’t studied for long enough to compare their intellectual ability or other parameters.”

The third problem reflected concerns arising from the problems GSK’s candidate vaccine for pregnant women encountered, Nass said. However, “the FDA claimed the GSK clinical trial data were proprietary, and they were unable to provide them,” even though it was pointed out that these findings had been published and were in the public domain.”

“No one questioned the veracity of the data Pfizer presented, despite the fact that Pfizer repeatedly presented data on its COVID vaccine efficacy to this committee that made the vaccines appear much more efficacious than they turned out to be,” Nass said.

McCullough, writing on his Substack, also questioned the Abrysvo clinical trial data. “Pfizer has aggressively advanced RCTs [randomized controlled trials] into the pregnant population with no assurances on long term outcomes. There is no direct benefit to the mothers.”

“Furthermore, the sponsors moved the goal posts to make it easier to have a successful trial. We should demand long-term safety, high efficacy … and at least one year of durability, for such a rare and easy-to-treat condition in babies,” he added.

Calls for ‘tougher scrutiny’ of the RSV vaccine ignored

Some health experts called for “tougher scrutiny” of Abrysvo leading up to Thursday’s VRBPAC meeting, Axios reported, “after trials for GlaxoSmithKline halted trial for a similar shot over increased risks of preterm births and neonatal deaths.”

“Pfizer has not reported similar safety concerns, but some health experts told the British Medical Journal [BMJ] that they hope FDA staff will take the GlaxoSmithKline results into consideration when reviewing the vaccine,” according to Axios.

“Results have raised concerns about a possible increase in preterm births, and experts are calling for further analyses of the data and for post-approval monitoring of the vaccine, should the FDA approve it,” The BMJ analysis stated.

Horowitz said the “formulations of most of these shots are likely very similar, so red flags from one cohort of the study should inform us on the problems with the other.”

According to Nass, who live-blogged the meeting, one VRBPAC member, Dr. Henry H. Bernstein, a professor of pediatrics at Hofstra University, said during the meeting “he does not want another rotavirus vaccine repeat, in which the signal was known when licensed, but was not statistically significant.”

The rotavirus vaccine was pulled within one year because of intussusception, she said. Intussusception is a life-threatening illness that occurs when a portion of the intestine folds like a telescope, with one segment slipping inside another segment. This causes an obstruction, preventing the passage of food that is being digested through the intestine.

Dr. Paul Offit, a pediatrician at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and VRBPAC panelist, was quoted by CNBC as saying that the problems with GSK’s trial are “hanging over” Pfizer’s RSV shot for pregnant women and infants.

“If GSK truly abandons a program on a similar, almost identical vaccine, that is going to hang over [Pfizer’s] program. I think it needs to be addressed,” Offit added.

Offit separately told Reuters “I worry that if preterm births are in any way a consequence of this vaccine that would be tragic in many ways.”

Science magazine quoted FDA medical officer Dr. Yugenia Hong-Nguyen, who said the rate of premature births was “not statistically significant and lower than background incidence rates in the general population.”

Other VRBPAC members were less concerned. Dr. Daniel Feikin, a Johns Hopkins University epidemiologist and “temporary voting member”, said, “I’m not convinced that there’s a clear causal relationship between this vaccine and preterm birth,” Reuters reported.

Another VRBPAC panelist, Dr. Jay Portnoy, a pediatrics professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, said, “If the vaccine actually lives up to the data that we’ve seen today, I can guarantee that many infants and their parents will breathe easier in the coming years.”

Pfizer representatives also sought to downplay concerns with Abrysvo. According to CNBC, Dr. William Gruber, Pfizer’s senior vice president of vaccine clinical research and development, said, “Certainly in our eyes, there is no definitive evidence to suggest that there is a risk of prematurity.”

“So, the question is, do you hold hostage the potential benefits of the vaccine for something which you have no statistical significance at this point?”

Dr. Anthony Fauci also raised concerns about vaccines for respiratory illnesses, Horowitz wrote in a May 4 article. A paper co-authored by Fauci and published in January in Cell Host & Microbe stated that the challenges for RSV and flu vaccines were “many and complex” and that RSV vaccines were not good at providing immunity.

In a November 2022 episode of “RFK Jr. The Defender” podcast, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., then-chairman and chief litigation counsel for CHD (now chairman on leave), described RSV as “a vehicle for re-implementing the COVID-19 playbook all over the country and responding with vaccines.”

Nass characterized Thursday’s VRBPAC approval of Abrysvo as “a sad day for babies and mums,” adding, “Is there a reason to trust Pfizer’s data on its RSV vaccine, when we could not trust its COVID vaccines?”

“Currently, pregnant women are advised (not by me!) to get the flu, TdaP [tetanus-diphtheria-pertussis] and COVID vaccines during pregnancy. This would be a fourth pregnancy vaccine,” Nass wrote.

Nass said Thursday’s VRBPAC meeting was held with four temporary members.

“Did FDA stuff the meeting with four new temporary members in order to get the majority yes votes it wanted?” Nass asked.

Horowitz noted in his article published Monday that Pfizer vaccines have previously been approved despite concerns about their impact on pregnant women, citing trial data from the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.

Pfizer seeks to ‘offset declining revenue from its COVID-19 products’

According to Reuters, “Pfizer is counting on new medicines and vaccines to help offset declining revenue from its COVID-19 products,” noting that the market for RSV vaccines is expected to surpass $10 billion by 2030 and that Pfizer is “ready to launch” its RSV vaccines for both pregnant women and older adults “later this year.”

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said he expects increased revenue for the company in the coming years from the company’s RSV and flu shots.

On her Substack, Nass noted:

“As a consequence of the 21st Century Cures Act of 2016, all vaccines recommended by CDC for pregnant women have all manufacturer liability waived, and are placed in the national vaccine injury compensation program. This improves profitability and may result in mandates.”

Several other Big Pharma drugmakers are now clamoring to enter the potentially lucrative RSV vaccine market, after decades of failed attempts to develop a vaccine.

Moderna is developing an mRNA RSV vaccine for older adults. According to Axios, it “was found to be 83.7% effective in preventing RSV with one or two more symptoms” and “The company plans to apply for FDA approval this quarter.”

According to Horowitz, Moderna’s candidate vaccine “openly shows 200 adverse events and 10 serious ones per mild case [of RSV] avoided.”

Bavarian Nordic, known for its development of a vaccine in response to last year’s monkeypox outbreak, is also developing an RSV vaccine for adults 60 and over,” expecting to release Phase 3 clinical trial data by midyear.

AstraZeneca and Sanofi also are seeking FDA approval for a monoclonal antibody treatment for RSV that would be administered to infants and toddlers up to age 2. Sanofi says the antibody, nirsevimab, was found to be 83.2% effective in reducing RSV-related hospitalizations.

However, the NVIC reported that the effectiveness of nirsevimab “is not known beyond 150 days” and it is unclear if the drug prevents ICU stays or deaths.

In all, “Eleven RSV vaccines (including GSK’s approved shot) are being actively studied in U.S. trials,” NBC News reported. “Six are for older adults, and five are designed to protect infants or children.”

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Michael Nevradakis, Ph.D., based in Athens, Greece, is a senior reporter for The Defender and part of the rotation of hosts for CHD.TV’s “Good Morning CHD.”

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*** 

A senior Ukrainian official has admitted that his country has assassinated “quite a few” Russian civilians who support Putin and his war to assert control of the Donbas region. In interviews first reported by The Times of London, Major General Kyrylo Budanov, who heads Ukraine’s military intelligence service, also promised more attacks are to come. 

“We’ve already successfully targeted quite a few people,” said Budanov. He didn’t name any of the victims, but said “there have been well-publicized cases everyone knows about, thanks to the media coverage.”

Since the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, several prominent Russian supporters of the invasion — and many innocent bystanders — have been killed or wounded in the campaign. 

One of the most prominent such attacks happened last August, when a car bomb killed journalist Darya Dugina — in a possible attempt to kill her father, the political scientist-philosopher Aleksandr Dugin. 

Like her father, Darya was a vocal supporter of Putin and his invasion. Both she and her father were sanctioned by the United States after the war began. Given her profile, it’s possible Ukraine may have intentionally murdered her in a sinister two-for-one act of punishment.  

Most recently, novelist Zakhar Prielepin was wounded in a May 6 car-bombing, and Russian military blogger Vladen Tatarsky was killed at an April public appearance after a woman presented him a statuette with a bomb concealed inside it. Fifteen others were injured. 

For perspective, a hypothetical parallel for this campaign would be Iraq’s intelligence service blowing up Iraq-invasion cheerleaders like Bill Kristol, Jeffrey Goldberg, Ann Coulter and Max Boot in 2003. Ukraine’s targeting of civilians doesn’t merely violate vague “international norms” that Washington pretends to hold dear — they are explicitly war crimes.    

What’s more, if one accepts the definition of terrorism as “the intentional use of violence against civilians in order to obtain political aims,” Budanov has implicated Ukraine as a state sponsor of terror — one that’s received $37 billion in US military aid since the war started, and perhaps double that in other assistance. 

Budanov isn’t merely an unapologetic terrorist, he’s a boastful one. “These cases have happened and will continue,” he said. Such people will receive a well-deserved punishment, and the appropriate punishment can only be liquidation and I will implement it.”

In a separate interview with a Ukrainian YouTube channel, Budanov implied that any country could be witness to his killing of civilians who say or write the wrong things: “Outright scum will eventually be punished in any country in the world. Only elimination can be a well-deserved punishment for such actions.” 

In addition to his brazen confession — which was almost universally ignored by Western media — Budanov told the YouTube host that the “Russian army’s potential for advancing is completely depleted, but it still has a significant defensive potential.”

With Ukraine’s long-awaited and much-hyped counteroffensive still in the wings, Budanov said, “[Russia has] erected a multi-tier defense system. Still, this isn’t the same Russian army that could have been expected to conduct substantial offensive operations.”

Ambitiously and perhaps delusionally envisioning an eviction of Russia’s army from all captured Ukrainian territory, Budanov said his country should seek a 60-mile demilitarized zone inside Russia. “This should be our goal. If they are not going to attack and don’t decide they want revenge in a couple of years, this shouldn’t be an issue.”

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Joe Biden’s visit to Hiroshima in the framework of the G7 once again brings to the surface the cynical memory of an empire that 78 years ago unleashed the power of “a thousand suns” on a defenseless population.

“Vishnu is trying to convince the prince to do his duty and to impress him, he takes on his multi-armed form, and says, “Now I have become death, the destroyer of worlds… I imagine we all think that, in one way or another.” [i]

With that famous quote from the Bhagavad Gita, Julius Robert Oppenheimer was referring to the moment he saw his atomic creature detonate in the desert of New Mexico. It was July 16, 1945 and the Trinity test was the ultimate expression of imperialist rationality. The atomic bomb added to the geopolitical scenario. “We knew the world would no longer be the same…some people laughed, some people cried…most people remained silent,” Oppenheimer recalled aloud as he looked at the ground, perhaps with self-conscious shame, as if asking for forgiveness from future generations. His legacy was instant and massive death. The U.S. thus became the first nuclear power in history.

A few weeks later, on August 9, that same plutonium prototype, the Fat Man, was dropped by the US Bocks Car bomber on the city of Nagasaki in Japan. If the Hiroshima bomb, which had stunned humanity two days earlier, is the apotheosic expression of civilizational decadence, that of Nagasaki cannot find words to justify such a degree of atrocity, a horrifying horror [ii]. None of the crimes of the Japanese imperial army in China and Indochina was executed with these bombings, which twice detonated the glow of “a thousand suns” on the civilian population. The historical barbarism of Western Europe was inconceivable, but it was surpassed -by far- by the barbarism of the United States, Aimé Césaire would say with just reason [iii].

The argument that these Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) were used to avoid deaths and put an end to the war is one of the falsehoods to which US imperialism has accustomed the peoples of the South of the world. What was really at stake was geopolitical supremacy after the near end of World War II, that is, the hegemonic transition initiated by the crisis of capitalism itself. For the US, collaboration with the USSR against Japan was becoming a central problem, against which it needed to give a message of “preponderant power” [iv]. In a capitalist and colonial world, whoever wanted to crown himself king had to ride on a mountain of ruins and shadows, exercising that power.

“The historical barbarism of Western Europe was inconceivable, but it was surpassed – by far – by the barbarism of the United States.”

The gunner and photographer of the Enola Gay aircraft described the Hiroshima detonation in the following words: “I began to count the fires. One, two, three, four, five, six… fourteen, fifteen… it’s impossible. There are too many to count. Here comes the mushroom shape Captain Parsons told us about. It’s coming this way. It is like a mass of bubbling molasses. The fungus spreads (…) The city must be underneath all that. 70,000 people died in a flash, their shadows left on the asphalt. The film and photographic record is impressively large and mute”.

The whole archive on the bombs obeys to that frivolity of reason that engenders monsters, but also to a logic of international power. For the objective to be achieved, power must be shown, it must be made a spectacle.

On August 15, 1945, the defeated Japanese emperor would give the first radio address of his life: “The enemy has begun to employ a new and more cruel bomb, whose power to do harm is, in fact, incalculable, and is claiming the lives of many innocent lives. If we continue to fight, it would not only result in a final collapse and destruction of the Japanese nation, but would also lead to the total extinction of human civilization.” Thus Hirohito expressed Japan’s total surrender. It was also the first time his voice was heard in public. His desire for imperial expansion over the continent was drowning in a sea of silence and destruction that he had never imagined could befall his own nation. More than 250,000 people had died in the two bombings, while hundreds of thousands would suffer blindness, burns and cancer. “Hundreds of thousands of children, mute, telepathic,” Vinicius de Moraes would recite [v], because silence would inundate Japan for years to come.

Aerial view of the city of Hiroshima after the impact of the bomb.

When the B-29 bomber dropped the bomb on Hiroshima, the brand new San Francisco Charter – which gave birth to the UN – had been signed less than two months earlier to “defend peace and human rights in the world”. After seeing such barbarism, they decided to create the UN. With the concentration camps in the retinas of the world – unthinkable in Europe before Nazism, but known and suffered in the South for centuries – the Western powers established an international system to prevent new human catastrophes. But Japan was not the West, nor was China or Indochina, nor Africa or Asia. Neither was Our America.

Now the bombs are pointing south

Once the US was overtaken in its nuclear technology by the USSR in 1949 and by China in 1964, no direct war would be possible between the two great international power blocs. As Vijay Prashad states in his book “Washington Bullets” [vi]: “The main contradiction in the years after 1945 was not between East and West – the Cold War – but between North and South: imperialist war against decolonization”.

Once the war was over, the United States emerged as the “guarantor of freedom”, as the sole guardian of world peace, and quickly allied itself with its old enemies -Germany and Japan- to confront its old-new enemy: international communism. It is said that in the Korean War, after the defeat in the battle of Chosin, where the support of the Chinese People’s Army was central for the Korean communists, General Douglas MacArthur asked for 26 atomic weapons to be sent to attack the Chinese. This country not only had the nerve to make a new revolution, but also to support a sister nation against imperial attack. U.S. President Harry Truman flatly refused. The same president who had dropped two bombs, who had initiated the famous doctrine that bears his surname, refused on this occasion, not because of humanitarian considerations, but because he knew that other countries could now pay him back in the same coin.

Meanwhile, the peoples who had fought against the Axis now had to fight for the rights that had been agreed upon at the UN to be recognized, so that the genocides would not be repeated invisibly outside the first world. According to UNHCR [vii], in the 20 years of the Vietnam War, between 2 and 6 million Vietnamese and nearly one million American soldiers -most of them of African descent- died. Imperialist colonialism did not see the people of Vietnam as a worthy rival, as they did not even consider them as people. The Yankees left an apocalypse in their wake, but they could not ride victorious on their mountain of bones.

“The war over, the United States emerged as the ‘guarantor of freedom’ […] and quickly allied itself with its old enemies-Germany and Japan-to confront its old-new enemy: international communism.”

Their impotence in Vietnam was deployed as revenge in Africa. In that continent, the CIA and its puppet governments made the assassination of popular leaders a real sport. From the assassination of Patrice Lumumba in the Congo, to the CIA’s support and financing of UNITA [viii] and the FNLA in Angola -which delayed independence and denied a future of justice and equality to a broken country- with a war that left 800 thousand dead, 4 million refugees and some 100 thousand mutilated. Years later, they would have a new chapter on the other side of this continent, in Somalia, when, shielded by “freedom” and “humanitarian aid”, they intervened to guarantee the alleged oil reserves of this country. Hundreds of Somalis were killed and helicopters shot down [ix].

In the times following the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs, capitalism led by the United States had its moment of greatest technological deployment, economic growth and territorial expansion. Elements that would demonstrate all its power in the global south and in the internal colonies of the West itself. Because, it must be made clear, the Afro, indigenous and Latino communities would suffer within the empire similar levels of exploitation, racism and oppression as the rest of the global south. With a large part of their organizations and leaderships under persecution; with selective assassinations, such as that of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, or with hundreds of imprisonments. A situation that continues to this day. There are currently 200 people from indigenous communities in U.S. prisons; most of those imprisoned have been incarcerated for more than three decades. [x]

The terrorist wars against the East

The first intervention in the Persian Gulf against Iraq was in 1991. Oil was involved, US imperialism was beginning its solitary world reign, leaving in a few months more than 200,000 dead. But the most atrocious massacre was caused not by conventional weapons, but by the economic blockade. The conservative figures of the UN – which is not very useful in preventing wars, but which does generate valuable information about them – show that around 1.7 million Iraqi civilians died as a result of that brutal sanctions regime imposed by the U.S. Half of those victims were children.

The Iraq war – the war of the chemical weapons that never existed – began in 2003 and left at least half a million to a million dead. According to journalist Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed [xi], in the case of Iraq alone, the economic war killed 1.9 million Iraqis from 1991 to 2003. And from 2003 onwards, one million more deaths must be counted. In total, that’s about 3 million Iraqi lives. If you add the fatalities in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq the numbers are chilling. Bazz party [xii] assessments aside, what has become clear is that the US brought neither democracy, freedom nor human rights to those countries.

In Syria they did not manage to change the political regime, but in almost 10 years of war they generated 384,000 deaths, most of them civilians, as well as 5.7 million refugees and more than six million internally displaced persons due to the fighting. In Syria, which once had one of the highest standards of living in the region, the economy and infrastructure collapsed, with reconstruction costs estimated at more than 400 billion dollars. In addition to the bombings, imperialism had another secret weapon, ISIS [xiii], which applied its laboratory patriarchal fundamentalism, imported to destroy the region and especially the Kurdish community organizations.

Breaking the wave from the horizon

If we were to comb this diverse and rich space that is Our America, we would find several elements in common. However, there is one that stands out: the terror and plundering generated by the “destroyer of worlds”, by that imperialist barbarism that champions across the Rio Bravo, also located a few miles away from Cuba, that people that resists the irresistible in an island that has been blockaded for more than 60 years. According to the last report presented to the UN, in October 2019, [xiv] the accumulated damages during almost six decades of application of the blockade reach the figure of 140 billion dollars. Terrorist attacks against Cuba constitute another chapter. It is estimated that between all of them they caused at least 3,000 deaths. The terrorists always came from the north, or took refuge there, with all the privileges.

Juan Bosch had become president of the Dominican Republic after the fall of the empire’s putative son, the dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo. Since Professor Bosch’s sovereign and dignified policies did not please the US-addicted oligarchy, they staged a coup d’état in 1963, when the Dominican Revolutionary Party had not even been in government for a year. But the defenders of the popular vote and the constitution put up a fight and were about to regain power when U.S. President Lyndon Johnson, convinced of the defeat of the loyalist forces and fearing the emergence of “a second Cuba” in the Caribbean, ordered the U.S. armed forces to “restore order”.

On April 28, 1965, “Operation Power Pack” was launched, which implied the return of the Trujillo policy, which had ruled with an iron fist for 31 years. This policy was responsible for the death of more than 50,000 people. Among its “outstanding” events was the so-called “Parsley Massacre”, in which thousands of Haitians were murdered. The name was due to the fact that the perpetrators identified the people from the other side of the island by their weak pronunciation of the letter “r”. Thus, their linguistic racism made it possible to distinguish between those who would be imprisoned and those who would never breathe again.

MINUSTAH [xv] was not the first imperialist intervention in Haiti, but it serves as an example of oppression applied with a colonial-humanitarian discourse. If we overlook the butchers Papa Doc and Baby Doc [xvi] -who under the direct orders of the CIA and the approval of Ronald Reagan crushed the Haitian people- and the coup d’état of Jean Bertrand Aristide in 2004, we have more than 10,000 deaths caused by cholera, brought in by the troops of Nepal, a minor partner of the plethora of nations that intervened under the guidance of the Americans. There are no exact figures on the rapes of Haitian women, but with the imperialist, patriarchal and colonial arrogance the facts did not cease to multiply. The proof is in the girls and boys abandoned by the soldiers. A few years earlier, on an island that had also made its revolution, the Americans landed in Grenada with 7,000 troops, in the 1983 invasion that would bear the code name “Operation Urgent Fury”.

Pop and the dirty war in Central America

The 80’s were years of pop music exportation and high levels of interference in Central America. These were the years of the “contras” in Nicaragua and the massacres in El Salvador, where the local army, under orders from Washington, generated some 27 documented civilian massacres between 1979 and 1985. In total, the war in El Salvador claimed approximately 80,000 lives.

In Guatemala there is still no agreed number. The Commission for Historical Clarification estimated that the toll at the end of the war was 200,000 dead, 45,000 disappeared and close to 100,000 displaced; the majority of the Mayan Quiché people, victims of a racism that serves as a pillar of imperial policies. The atrocities committed against women do not have precise figures either. But we do know that many escaped to the mountains, or died fighting, while many continue to fight for justice and memory policies.

The second half of Guatemala’s 20th century began with hope, but United Fruit and the CIA cut it short. The coup d’état against Jacobo Árbenz in 1954 was the beginning of a long and dark saga of coups and interventions. The inhabitants of the El Chorrillo neighborhood in Panama know a lot about that. It was that popular suburban neighborhood that bore the brunt of the 1989 Marine invasion. No Panamanian government filed any complaints in international forums, and no Panamanian president even attempted to do justice for the dead. There are not even official figures. Only one president ever set foot in El Chorrillo and he was not even Panamanian. On his trip to the VII Summit of the Americas in 2015, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro stopped by to say hello and listen to the repressed voices of that historic crime that the local elite still sweeps under the rug.

From dictatorships to the “war on drugs”

In the South, the transition from civil-military dictatorships to market and “low intensity” democracies took place, with the exception of Chile, whose elite will be the example to be exhibited for the global hegemonic power. Augusto Pinochet would remain in power a decade longer than most dictators, as would Alfredo Stroessner in Paraguay. The Condor Plan that articulated the military leadership had an economic and geopolitical project behind it, which reoriented the economies of the region according to the directives of neoliberalism. If they killed, tortured and disappeared in Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, Uruguay, Brazil or Peru, it was to promote a new phase of capital, destroying on the way almost all revolutionary processes.

Colombia did not need a coup d’état because the civilians who governed did not need to imprint an anti-constitutional aspect to their regime. Colombia is a case that knew how to go against the grain, because while at the beginning of the 21st century the region was beginning to enter a new cycle of integration and popular processes, the South American country was filling up with military bases and applying Plan Colombia to wage “war on drug trafficking”, which was nothing more than the fight against the insurgencies and any possibility of social justice.

“In the South, the transition from civil-military dictatorships to market and “low intensity” democracies took place, with the exception of Chile, whose elite will be the example to be exhibited for the global hegemonic power”.

Drug trafficking was not only not eradicated, but it was strengthened and even reached the presidency with the government of Alvaro Uribe. But this war left 8 million victims, 7 million displaced and 10 thousand “false positives” between 2000 and 2015. This, without counting the assassinations and massacres by paramilitaries in rural areas of the country. The Colombian ruling classes are still proud of their “patriotic work”. The American soldiers not only took charge here to protect “their” exportable strategic resources, but also abused the children. At least 53 Colombian girls were raped by U.S. soldiers and contractors, who also recorded the abuses and sold the videos. The Marines were not prosecuted by the Colombian justice system for having committed these rapes within the territory of US military bases [xvii].

This tragedy can be compared to that of Mexico in the first decades of the 21st century. The first conclusion of the “war against drug trafficking” is that it has always been in reality a war against the people. In Mexico, the toll is 250,000 dead, 71,000 disappeared and millions of displaced people. This war came on top of a historical plundering, starting with the U.S. appropriation of half of the country, up to the new colonialism of the free trade agreements initiated in 1994.

Bainbridge was right

And the list continues to this day, it grows longer, it becomes more grim. Coups d’état and destabilization attempts are accumulating and overlapping: Honduras, Paraguay, Brazil, Bolivia. The massacres of Senkata, Sacaba, the burning of whipalas. The assassination of Berta Cáceres, of Marielle Franco. The repression in Chile, the eyes that do not see, the raped young women. It continues in the war against Venezuela and the unilateral coercive measures. In fact, the most recent action of modern piracy has been carried out by the British, who know the subject, and have kept billions in Venezuelan gold reserves.

In the middle, the American diplomat Elliott Abrams returned from the alley of the damned to continue attacking the peoples. The massacres he was responsible for in Central America were the letter of introduction that allowed him to obtain the honor of “destroyer of Venezuela”. This people was massacred many times in the past, the last one during the Caracazo. From those embers Hugo Chavez would emerge, against whom they would apply all possible methods to overthrow him.

This long process reveals the decadence of an entire civilization, which pushes millions of human beings into the abyss so that the richest 1% can live in obscene luxury. On this planet, two thousand billionaires – generally white men from the global north – possess twice as much wealth as 4.6 billion people (60% of the population). At the same time, 700 million people live in extreme or moderate poverty despite being employed [xix]. These are the naked figures of a unipolar hegemony paved with two atomic bombs, thousands of napalm bombs and hundreds of coups d’état. Bombs and propaganda, death and spectacle. Because power has to show off, like the bombs in Japan, or like the rich in Forbes magazine. It also has to be silenced, like the sun that shines and leaves a trail of shadows. It is those same shadows that have sustained the American empire; behind all those figures of devastation are millions of lives that will one day be vindicated.

On that July day in the New Mexico desert, a new era began with the Trinity test. Oppenheimer interpreted it from his dark mysticism with phrases from the Bhagavad Gita, but it was Kenneth Bainbridge, one of the designers of the first nuclear bombs, who years later was head of the Harvard Physics Department, who grasped the nature of the new imperialist stage that was approaching. After the explosion, Bainbridge turned to Oppenheimer and said, “Oppy, we’re all sons of bitches now.”

*

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Notes

[i] The Bhagavad Gita is a 2nd century BC Hindu scripture that expresses a conversation between a human being, Arjuna, and an incarnation of God Vishnu, Lord Krishna. In the book, Arjuna is troubled and depressed about having to fight against his cousins in war. The quote by Robert Oppenheimer is from 1965 and appears in the documentary The Decision to Drop the Bomb, which was broadcast on the American network NBC.

[ii] You have to write a poem/about the atomic bomb/it’s a horror/he told us/an awful horror/it’s the end is nothingness/it’s death. Taken from “Poema frustrado” by Uruguayan poet Mario Benedetti.

[iii] Cesaire, Aimé. Discourse on colonialism.

[iv] Concept attributed to the Director of Policy Planning of the United States Department of State, Paul Nitze, in 1952. “The preponderant power must be the objective of U.S. policy.”

[v] “Rosa de Hiroshima”, poem by Vinicius de Moraes. Its musical version has several interpretations.

[vi] Prashad, Vijay. Washington Bullets. Battle of ideas: Buenos Aires.

[vii] UNHCR, UN Refugee Agency.

[viii] The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA).

[ix] On this episode there is a film that shows the imperialist perspective, entitled “Black Hawk Down” from 1993.

[x] If we also consider those imprisoned in the Guantanamo concentration camp, the figure is 500 political prisoners.

[xi] The ignored victims of the wars of the West. Available at: https://www.voltairenet.org /article187311.html.

[xii] The party ruled Iraq between 1968 and 2003, first under Ahmed Hasan al-Bakr and from 1979 under Saddam Hussein. This party positioned itself as an advocate of pan-Arab nationalism, secular and militant socialism.

[xiii] Known in Spanish as the Islamic State.

[xiv] Report of Cuba on Resolution 73/8 of the United Nations General Assembly: “Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States of America against Cuba”. Disponible en: http://www.granma.cu/cuba/2019-11-08/informe-sobre-las-afectaciones-del-bloqueo-a-cuba-del-ano-2019-20-09-2019-13-09-08

[xv] The United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti, also known as MINUSTAH.

[xvi] Jean-Claude Duvalier, dictator in Haiti from 1971 until he was overthrown by a popular uprising in 1986. He succeeded his father François “Papa Doc” Duvalier as the ruler of Haiti after his death.

[xvii] As reported in the Report of the Historical Commission of the Conflict and its Victims.

[xix] See: https://www.oxfam.org/es/cinco-datos-escandalosos-sobre-la-desigualdad-extrema-global-y-como-combatirla

Featured image: The US conducted 105 nuclear tests in the Pacific, mainly in the Marshall islands, between 1946 and 1962. Image: Wikipedia

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*** 

The Grayzone has obtained video recordings of well-connected figures within Moldova’s political and business community openly testifying to rank corruption within the country’s government and economy, while outlining schemes to enrich Western investors for an appropriate fee.

The invasion of Ukraine placed the tiny country of Moldova on the immediate periphery of a conflict with global significance. Bordering Ukraine, counting hundreds of thousands of ethnic Russians as citizens, and home to the breakaway region of Transnistria, Moldova’s doggedly pro-Western government has been buffeted by crisis after crisis since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24th 2022.

President Maia Sandu of the Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) has remained steadfast as murmurings of a looming Ukrainian invasion, Russian plots to destabilize the country, and vast anti-government protests have reverberated on an almost monthly basis. Key to her endurance has been the unconditional backing of Western officials.

The sponsorship of NATO states has persisted despite industrial scale corruption at the highest levels of government. Indeed, as we shall see, foreign corruption in Moldova is actively facilitated and perpetuated with the support of Brussels and Washington, and continues apace with their full knowledge, consent, and even assistance.

The Grayzone has exclusively obtained video recordings of numerous well-connected figures within Chisinau’s political and business community openly – and gloatingly – testifying to rank malfeasance within the country’s government and economy, while outlining various schemes to enrich Western investors for an appropriate fee. It is the starkest depiction of how corruption operates in Moldova to ever emerge, gravely underlining its endemic, institutionalized nature.

In the recordings, pranksters posing as wealthy US businesspeople contacted Moldovan politician and lawyer Stanislav Pavlovschi, asking for assistance in securing a gigantic return for investing $50 million in Chisinau. The pranksters are private citizens who approached The Grayzone with the bombshell footage, and have asked to remain anonymous.

Very quickly, Pavlovschi – a former European Court of Human Rights judge and self-styled human rights defender – told them that a “good lawyer” and water-tight contracts would not be of any use to them there, as “the level of corruption is very high.” He went on to note that the country was effectively a colony of Brussels and Washington:

“Moldova now is governed by the US Ambassador… He is practically governing Moldova at this particular stage. You have hundreds of consultants for the EU…working for each and every ministry here in Moldova. So it is under very, very strict control on the part of the EU.”

When asked how this state of affairs could work given the high levels of corruption, Pavlovschi retorted that it functioned “perfectly,” “absolutely,” “brilliantly” – “everybody loves money.” 

Click here to view the video

Well-connected investor promises ‘direct access’ to government

The pranksters were duly introduced to a number of influential local figures who could assist them in getting rich quick. Among them was Oleg Ciubuc, counselor to Vladimir Bolea, head of the Moldovan parliament’s agriculture and food commission. He professed in the leaked discussions to also be an “entrepreneur” whose “main direction” was connecting “investors with project developers.”

Beyond his “school friend” Bolea, who personally writes laws and regulations covering the country’s agriculture and food policy, Ciubuc revealed that his brother Alexandru runs state telecoms firm Moldtelecom. He is also a member of the PAS, which he described as “a big family,” connected “directly” to the “government, parliament and president.” In practice, this creates a dynamic not dissimilar from traditional mafia cartels: 

“All my colleagues are telling me, ‘you are a perfect connector, to find a point A point B and connect to make money’…we are all of us connected to each other. Any question you have, I’m going to the highest person in the country responsible for that field… That’s the beautiful thing, when you have the majority in the parliament, everything is made by this majority… All the power in the country is controlled by this majority, which is the ‘family’.”

Ciubuc claimed his deal-making prowess was such that he was recommended for the post of Moldova’s state investment chief by his contacts, only for Sandu to personally reject the proposal. She supposedly reasoned that he should be working “multimillion investment funds” in the private sphere, which were “much more interesting projects than just a small agency under the government.”

“For me now is [sic] very easy to invite investors in my country because I can guarantee 100% the full political and security support,” Ciubuc swaggered. “Of course, being in that structure, we have access to all information, all the details in the country. And you need, like, you know, five minutes to find everything you need.”

Click here to view the video

The issue of state-level protection for foreign investors in Chisinau was similarly raised by investment professional Olga Melniciuc, who formerly worked as a consultant to the Moldovan state economic council. She acknowledged that many outsiders were deterred from funding projects in the country due to a lack of “predictability” – whether favorable terms secured under one government would still apply if another was elected.

Melniciuc said that “predictability and some insurance for the stability” of an investment could be guaranteed by direct negotiation with government ministers, albeit via “non-formal communications.” Investors simply needed to “make sure the main person in the government knows what they are doing,” and they have official support for their endeavors, if only behind closed doors. She described an official “vetting” process for investments that was nothing of the kind, and did not involve scrupulous background checks or due diligence.

Click here to view the video

Melniciuc went to assure the pranksters that well-established forums in Moldova, such as the American Chamber of Commerce, Association of Foreign Investors, and European Business Association were already “very actively advocating for the rights of their members,” and “have direct access to [the] Prime Minister.”

“We have a pro-European government supported by the EU [and] US government. So there is a lot of this pro-Western support,” Melniciuc said. “And we have all the needed documents and the association agreements signed. We are [EU and NATO] candidates…So all that is very good. It creates a good playground for investors.”

Melniciuc felt it was “the best time to invest,” as the war in Ukraine’s impact on Moldova, which includes 30% inflation, had created “uncertainties” in the market.

Click here to view the video

Moldovan media tycoon ‘handles’ relationships with Prime Minister

Staffers within the ranks of US-funded NGOs operating in the country were also eager to assist foreign investors to enrich themselves via dubious schemes. They included the education training organization Pro Dictactica, which is partnered with George Soros’ Open Society Foundations, the EU, the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and US Embassy in Moldova, among others.

He introduced the pranksters to a key figure in Pro Dictactica, Oxana Draguta, who enjoyed direct access to Maia Sandu. The pair worked together when Sandu was Minister of Education 2012 – 2015, and Draguta was a staffer in her ministry “responsible for coordination of foreign assistance in education.” After being elected President, Sandu “brought her team for the government,” meaning Draguta had a variety of contacts to exploit.

One method proposed to Dragutra of getting Sandu and her associates on board was by simply bribing her administration, via the funneling cash to “private entities,” which would pass these funds on to the PAS. The party’s coffers could be illicitly filled without the appearance of a direct foreign donation, providing the pranksters with astounding commercial benefits. Draguta concurred, noting her own involvement in facilitating such an arrangement could also conveniently be hidden:

“I can reach them out [sic] and ask…They are actually across the street…Actually, I am…this kind of…a member of this party but not an active member of it.”

Click here to view the video

Similarly unguarded comments were made by Cătălin Giosan, a Moldovan oligarch who in 1999 founded PRO TV, one of the country’s first, and now largest, private broadcast networks. 

Giosan made clear he could serve as the bogus business peoples’ public relations “partner.” Keenly clarifying he was “not somebody who has experience in logistics or construction or whatever, but somebody to guide you in this political environment,” he promised to help them to connect “with local politicians and decision makers,” and “handle” those relationships on their behalf.

“I do this [sic] for 23 years. We…have the main news programs in urban Moldova. That means I saw generations of politicians coming and going,” Giosan boasted. “It’s not a question if we can establish a connection with them. I’ve met the key people I think should and can be involved in this project…One is the key decision maker in the administration. So I’m talking about the people you need.”

He pledged once their discussion concluded to “think” about “how such support can be structured…the most efficient way,” and meet with local stakeholders, “to craft a plan, a solution.” He asked the pranksters to prepare a “brief” for his “partners”. In turn, he would meet with the pranksters over dinner, to discuss “the political, economical, social situation, the crisis situation, the war.”

“Then,” Giosan pledged, “I’ll make you a presentation on the decision making, political decision making processes in Moldova to understand how this where the power stays and how the decisions are made.”

Click here to view the video

It is indeed “not a question” whether Giosan could connect wealthy foreign financiers with a high-ranking government decision maker. Moldova’s aggressively pro-EU, pro-US Prime Minister Dorin Recean, who took office in February, is extremely rich by local standards. Official declarations of his assets show he owns several properties, including a lavish Romanian villa, and that he and his wife reap vast sums from their assorted business interests.

For example, Reacean is the founder of three highly profitable local companies, including US Food Network, which manages outlets of KFC in Moldova. In each case, Giosan is also a shareholder. 

Such an intimate relationship provides him with a direct and highly influential line to the heart of government, while offering some clue as to “how decisions are made” in the country. 

Moldova makes mockery of USAID anti-corruption efforts

The recordings obtained by The Grayzone are all the more shocking when considering that Moldova is enrolled in the US Agency for Aid and International Development (USAID)’s Countering Kremlin Malign Influence (CMKI) program. Under the auspices of USAID, a traditional cutout of US intelligence, countries which once comprised the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact receive vast funding and practical support to supposedly defend themselves from Russian meddling. Cracking down on corruption is one of the initiative’s foremost objectives.

This includes sponsorship of “reform-minded leaders and civil-society voices.” Maia Sandu happens to be one such “reform-minded leader,” which is why her upset victory was hailed in Western quarters as a watershed moment in Moldova’s battle against corruption. Since then, she has regularly touted high-profile legislative amendments and initiatives to tackle the issue, but critics charge they have achieved nothing, simply serving to replace one set of crooked officials with another.

One would not know that from the pronouncements of US officials, however. In December 2022, USAID chief and humanitarian interventionist guru Samantha Power met personally with Sandu to “discuss US support for the people of Moldova,” and the President’s “anti-corruption and democratic reform agenda.” An accompanying press release noted the US had provided Chisinau with $320 million over the past nine months, “to address the economic, energy, security, and humanitarian impacts of Russia’s war against Ukraine.”

This staggering sum follows almost $100 million gifted to Moldova by USAID through the CMKI program between 2017 and 2021, making it the biggest beneficiary. 

Evidently, Washington has taken a relaxed attitude toward high-level graft and bribery in Moldova. As long as Western oligarchs and businesses are profiting, and the government toes an anti-Russian line in all matters domestic and foreign, Washington seems content to look the other way. 

This dispiriting reality is apparently not lost on most Moldovans. While polls indicate Sandu remains the most popular politician in the country, 57% of citizens cannot name a single public figure they trust. Likely sensing the precarious position of their puppet in Chisinau, the EU announced in April 2023 it would deploy a “civilian mission” there to counter Russian “threats”. 

Yet, the longer the war in Ukraine grinds on, the more probable it is the government will fall – not due to external interference, but because of internal upheaval. The coterie of business figures, well-connected actors and NGO operatives to whom Stanislav Pavlovschi introduced the pranksters – and the Western oligarchs they so eagerly serve – may be wise to line their pockets in Moldova while they still can. 

*

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Kit Klarenberg is an investigative journalist exploring the role of intelligence services in shaping politics and perceptions.

Featured image is from The Grayzone

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*** 

Shout out to Sheri Johnson and the Patriots at the Seminole County GOP. They passed ban the jab resolution with 90-95% of the vote. Seminole County Florida’s Republican Party is now the fifth GOP county Party in Florida to take a stand against genocide, and declare C19 injections biological and technological weapons. The ban the jab resolution also calls on the governor and legislature to prohibit their distribution, and the attorney general of the state of Florida to confiscate the bioweapons and conduct forensic audits.

C19 injections meet the legal definition of biological weapons according to Florida law and Federal law. The governor and the attorney general have a fiduciary responsibility to protect the public from weapons of mass destruction. One of the world’s leading legal authorities on biological weapons, Dr. Francis Boyle, endorsed the ban the jab resolution in April.

Seminole county Republicans have joined Lee, Collier, Lake, and Santa Rosa County Republicans in taking a stand against genocide. The Florida Republican Assembly, which is a statewide organization of conservative patriots, has also endorsed the ban the jab resolution.

Contact your local county GOP and demand they pass the ban the jab resolution. If you are a Republican Party Executive Committee member introduce the ban the jab resolution to your executive committee.

If you are in Florida Please CALL and EMAIL Governor DeSantis and Attorney General Ashley Moody as well as your state legislature and demand they “Ban The Jab Immediately” in pursuit of saving human lives. 

The life you save may be yours, so make the call and email!

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Featured image is from NaturalNews


The Worldwide Corona Crisis, Global Coup d’Etat Against Humanity

by Michel Chossudovsky

Michel Chossudovsky reviews in detail how this insidious project “destroys people’s lives”. He provides a comprehensive analysis of everything you need to know about the “pandemic” — from the medical dimensions to the economic and social repercussions, political underpinnings, and mental and psychological impacts.

“My objective as an author is to inform people worldwide and refute the official narrative which has been used as a justification to destabilize the economic and social fabric of entire countries, followed by the imposition of the “deadly” COVID-19 “vaccine”. This crisis affects humanity in its entirety: almost 8 billion people. We stand in solidarity with our fellow human beings and our children worldwide. Truth is a powerful instrument.”

ISBN: 978-0-9879389-3-0,  Year: 2022,  PDF Ebook,  Pages: 164, 15 Chapters

Price: $11.50 Get yours for FREE! Click here to download.

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*** 

Five months ago to this day, Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky delivered what has now become an infamous address to the U.S. Congress. During his speech, Zelensky boldly declared the city of Bakhmut as his country’s “stronghold in the east,” adding, “the fight for Bakhmut will change the trajectory of our war for independence and for freedom.”

Zelensky then presented Nancy Pelosi and Kamala Harris with a flag he claimed was from soldiers in Bakhmut, which at the time was a hotly contested battle ground. He said to thunderous applause:

“Let this flag stay with you, ladies and gentlemen. This flag is a symbol of our victory in this war. We stand, we fight and we will win because we are united — Ukraine, America and the entire free world.”

Zelensky’s bold proclamation did not come to fruition. This weekend, The Wagner Group, a mercenary/penal battalion that is loyal to Moscow, took complete control of the city, and shortly thereafter, declared victory.

The corporate media once considered Bakhmut both strategically important and a “symbol of heroic resistance.” But now, with the fall of Bakhmut, the media and NATO-aligned governments are in full damage control mode, writing off this devastating battlefield loss as unimportant. Nonetheless, no matter how they spin it, Ukraine’s loss of Bakhmut is a big deal. Russia has captured a city that allows their forces to disrupt critical supply lines. It also opens up a path of attack to multiple additional Ukrainian cities.

Meanwhile, Americans continue to be looted by our own government to subsidize Kiev and supply the continually debilitating Ukrainian military. Instead of embracing a potential role as an intermediary and promoting peace talks, the Biden Administration is an antagonistic force, facilitating the constant delivery of heavy weapons and other miscellaneous supplies to an increasingly war-torn Ukraine. On Friday, the White House announced plans to deliver F-16 fighter jets to the Ukrainian military. Additionally, the Biden Administration announced an additional $375 million in weapons and supplies to Ukraine, showcasing its commitment to the war effort.

Despite Ukraine’s piling losses, the Uniparty’s anti-humans in Washington D.C. and Brussels want to continue to expand the battlefield as much as possible, “fighting” from afar down to the very last Ukrainian, if necessary. They have big plans for a “counterattack” on Russia-controlled cities, and embrace the perpetual continuation of this war to grease the skids for the enrichment of their benefactors.

Americans have been looted for well over one hundred billion dollars and the Slava Slush Fund’s biggest promoters are noticeably silent while attempting to spin Ukraine’s military defeat in Bakhmut to a Russian mercenary network. Where exactly did that $150 billion in U.S. taxpayer supplied aid end up, and when, if ever, will the people in charge consider striking a peace deal to the benefit of humanity?

*

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Featured image: Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin declares victory in Bakhmut (Source: The Dossier)

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***

Einleitung 

Junge Menschen stehen im Laufe ihrer Entwicklung vor vielfältigen Anforderungen, die sie in der Regel gut bewältigen. Um die Lebensaufgaben mutig angehen zu können, ist der Heranwachsende auf die Einbettung in eine haltgebende Umwelt als Lebenswelt und in eine einbindende Kultur angewiesen.

Halt und Orientierung erfährt er, wenn in der Familie Werthaltungen und Tugenden gelegt werden, die in den gesellschaftlichen Institutionen wie Kindergarten und Schule verstärkt und konsequent durchgesetzt werden. Zu nennen sind unter anderem: Mitmenschlichkeit, Gerechtigkeit, Wahrheit, Friedensfähigkeit, Toleranz, Gemeinschaftssinn, Konfliktfähigkeit und Kompromissbereitschaft. Damit sich diese sozialen Werthaltungen und Tugenden im Heranwachsenden festigen, ist praktische Teilnahme an sozialen Aktivitäten unerlässlich.

Ich glaube an die Jugend, an ihre Lernfähigkeit, ihre Kreativität, ihre Einfühlsamkeit, ihr Verantwortungsgefühl, ihre Einsichtsfähigkeit und ihre Bereitschaft zur Veränderung von Einstellungen und Verhaltensweisen. Meistens fehlt jungen Menschen nur etwas Besonnenheit und Ausdauer, damit sie in kleinen Schritten ihre Kompetenzen entwickeln können.

Frieden und Freiheit entsprechen der Natur des Menschen 

Seit wir Erkenntnisse über die Menschen haben, wissen wir, dass sie in Frieden und Freiheit leben wollen, ohne Krieg und Gewalt. In Frieden zu leben ist eine Natursache. Sie wollen mit ihren Kindern ein Dach über dem Kopf haben. Auch bringen sie sich nicht gerne um und lassen sich auch nicht gerne umbringen. Sie bleiben lieber am Leben. Doch der Staat zwingt sie dazu und jagt sie auf das „Feld der Ehre“. 

Die Menschen wollen auch in Freiheit leben, wo jeder Mensch entscheidet, wie er leben und mit wem er sich assoziieren will. Er möchte seine Ruhe und Sicherheit haben und nicht um die Kirchensuppe betteln müssen. 

Jeder arbeitende Mensch, ob Arbeiter oder Angestellter, möchte wissen, ob er im Alter oder wenn er erkrankt und nicht mehr arbeiten kann, dieselbe Möglichkeit hat zu leben. Er möchte seine Wohnung behalten und seine Frau soll versorgt sein, wenn er nicht mehr am Leben ist. Im Moment wird den Menschen gepredigt, dass sie fleißig sparen sollen. Doch dann kommen die „Haifische“ und fressen ihm das mühsam Ersparte weg. Das Geld wird entwertet und der „arme Teufel“ wird ausgeplündert. 

Einige reife Menschen, die einen gedeckten Tisch hatten wie Peter Kropotkin (1842-1921) oder Michael Bakunin (1814-1876) und weitere Reiche, die die Gelegenheit hatten, sich zu bilden und zu forschen, haben erahnt, dass dieses System, so wie es ist, nicht richtig ist. Das Volk wäre zu gewinnen; die Menschen solidarisieren sich gerne mit ihren Zeitgenossen und helfen sich gegenseitig, wenn man sie nicht bezwingt, ihnen keine Ängste vor den harmlosen Mitmenschen einflößt und sie leben lässt.

Auch die Heranwachsenden wollen mit ihren Eltern, Lehrern, Freunden und Schul-Kameraden in Frieden und Freundschaft leben. In Frieden und in Freiheit. Ihre persönlichen Belange, ihre Schulprobleme, die Beziehungen mit Freunden und zum anderen Geschlecht regeln sie gerne selbst und übertragen sie nicht gerne Mama, Papa oder Lehrern. 

Staat und Kirche bezwingen die Menschen 

Noch ist es aber so, dass der Staat und die Kirche, die bestens zusammenarbeiten, den Menschen ihre Auffassung über die Welt und ihre Religion aufzwingen. Sie haben alle Institutionen in der Hand – vor allem die Schulen. Dort erziehen sie die jungen Menschen zu guten Soldaten. Der junge Mann wird so erzogen, dass er marschiert, wenn die Obrigkeit ruft. 

Er soll dann in der Ukraine oder in Asien sein Vaterland verteidigen. Der Pfarrer ist mit von der Partie und segnet die Waffen, die die Gläubigen auf der anderen Seite der Grenzen erschlagen. Man macht dem jungen Menschen etwas vor – und der glaubt alles, was man ihm sagt. In dieser Geistesverfassung wird er gehalten. 

Geschichtliches Wissen und geschichtliches Denken wird ihm nicht vermittelt. Deshalb hat er kein klares Bild. Und die Eltern und Lehrer lassen sich von Kirche und Staat für diese Art von Erziehung einspannen und tragen deren Auffassungen täglich an die Heranwachsenden heran. Die gesamte Kultur ist davon geprägt.

Ein Leben in Frieden und Freiheit im russischen Mir  

Apropos geschichtliches Wissen: Wisst ihr, dass es ein Leben in Frieden und Freiheit in der Vergangenheit eine gewisse Zeit lang gegeben hat? Doch dieser Traum der Menschheit, diese Hoffnung der Proletarier der ganzen Welt ist aus Mangel an psychologischer Menschenkenntnis gescheitert. Das Prinzip der Gewalt, der Unterdrückung und Bezwingung der Menschen hat im ehemaligen Russland zur Katastrophe geführt. 

Der russische Bauer lebte im Mir, einer russischen Dorfgemeinschaft. Jeder Haushalt konnte entsprechend der Anzahl seiner erwachsenen Mitglieder einen oder mehrere Landstreifen beanspruchen. Bis zur Revolution bearbeiteten die Bauern ihre Felder aus Solidarität gemeinsam. 

Das bisschen Leben, das sie gehabt haben, verbrachten sie in Ruhe und Frieden und ohne Krieg. Wo hat die bäuerliche russische Bevölkerung jemals Richter, Gendarmen oder Spitzel gesehen? Es gab keine. Und die Türen hatten keine Schlösser, weil sie nicht zugesperrt worden sind.

Doch dann ist der Staat gekommen – der rote Staat – und hat den Bauern das wieder weggenommen und Steuern verlangt. Kommissare aus der Stadt, die nichts verstanden, sind aufs Land geschickt worden, um den Bauern zu sagen, was sie anbauen sollen. Sie haben den Staat aufrechterhalten und schließlich die Bauern und Arbeiter auf das „Feld der Ehre“ gejagt. 

In der Sozialistischen Föderativen Republik Jugoslawien war das Prinzip menschlicher als im ehemaligen Russland. Wenn der Mensch Arbeit hatte, konnte er nicht gekündigt werden. Das Prinzip der Selbstverwaltung, der Arbeiterräte, ist dort verwirklicht worden. Weil Jugoslawien nicht den russischen Weg gegangen ist, war Russland gegen Jugoslawien.

Lässt sich dieser humanistische Gedanke des Friedens und der Freiheit, der Gleichheit, Gerechtigkeit und Solidarität nicht wieder beleben? Wäre das nicht eine Möglichkeit, den Dritten Weltkrieg zu verhindern?

Was tun? 

Immer wieder denke ich an den Krieg. Der nächste Krieg wird kommen. Warum soll er nicht kommen? Er ist bis jetzt noch immer gekommen. Und wir haben noch immer geschwiegen und mitgemacht. Es sind nicht viele Stimmen, die dagegen sind. 

Wir sind nicht weit vom Dritten Weltkrieg entfernt. In dieser Situation leben wir. Es hat doch keinen Sinn, wenn wir uns etwas vormachen. Wir Menschen sind noch nicht so weit. Es gibt nur wenige Menschen, die sich Gedanken machen, sehr wenige. 

Wie schützen wir uns vor einem Weltkrieg? Was kann die Jugend tun? 

Zum Beispiel nicht losmarschieren, wenn die Obrigkeit, wenn der Staat zu den Waffen ruft! Sagt laut und deutlich „NEIN“! Die Kriege sind vor allem ein gutes Geschäft. Die Menschen sind fähig, ohne Waffen und Kriege zusammenzuleben. Jeder Krieg wird im Interesse einer kleinen Oberschicht geführt. Nur die Machtgier derer, die innerhalb der Völker als Obrigkeit fungieren, führt immer wieder zu kriegerischen Auseinandersetzungen, in denen die Völker zugunsten ihrer Herren und Ausbeuter verbluten. 

Aber nicht nur die Kriege sind ein gutes Geschäft. Alles ist Profit, wo auch immer wir hinsehen. Wieso hat die Jugend mit Drogen zu tun? Wie kommt sie dazu? Wenn das kein gutes Geschäft wäre, gäbe es keine Drogen, der Markt wäre leer. Aber darauf wird keine Rücksicht genommen. Die jungen Menschen können mit Drogen nicht mehr denken und vernünftig handeln. Sie gehen an ihnen zugrunde, gehen buchstäblich in den Tod. 

Weiterhin sollte sich die Jugend – wie alle Menschen – die Ergebnisse der psychologischen Forschung zu eigen machen. Wenn wir uns selbst und die Mitmenschen erkennen, ändert sich unsere Sichtweise auf die staatlichen Gegebenheiten, auf die gesamte Gesellschaftsordnung. Die Jugend wäre dazu in der Lage, da sich die Menschheit ganz langsam aus der Gedanken- und Gefühlswelt des Mittelalters löst. 

Da die Geschichte ein Werk der Menschen ist, muss die Veränderung der Welt aus ihnen selbst kommen. Die Menschen müssen ihre eigene Natur, ihre seelische Verfassung, ihre bewussten und halbbewussten Vorurteile sowie die eigenen Reaktionsweisen und die der Mitmenschen kennenlernen. 

Wenn wir uns in der Welt umsehen, stellen wir fest, dass alle Menschen ohne Ausnahme durch die traditionelle Erziehung nicht gesund, sondern psychisch irritiert sind. Sie sind nicht krank, sondern nur nicht richtig aufgeklärt. Man muss ihnen helfen, sich selbst zu erkennen. 

Gelingt es, das Problem Mensch in seiner ganzen Tiefe zu erfassen, werden wir lernen zu sehen, was mit uns Menschen los ist. Doch um das zu erforschen, ist viel Zeit und Geduld nötig. Alle relevanten Fragen müssen gründlich durchdacht werden. Für das Leben und die seelische Gesundheit von jedem von uns ist dies jedoch von ungeheurer Bedeutung. Die Ergebnisse der psychologischen Forschung weisen den Weg. Wir haben dann einen Kompass. 

Auch sollte die Jugend – wie wir alle – keinem anderen Menschen die Macht übergeben. Nach Auffassung des russischen Schriftstellers Graf Tolstoi (1828-1910) sind die Regierenden „häufig die schlechtesten, unbedeutendsten, grausamsten, sittenlosesten und besonders die verlogensten Menschen“ (1). 

Keinem anderen Menschen die Macht übergeben, aber auch keinem übernatürlichen Wesen, das uns als Gottheit von frühester Kindheit bis ans Ende der Tage führen und beschützen soll. Wir sind doch eingebettet in die Gemeinschaft von Artgenossen, vor denen wir keine Angst haben müssen und auf deren Solidarität wir bauen können (2). 

Nicht zuletzt sollten wir alle versuchen, die individuellen und kollektiven Vorurteile aufzugeben, die der ideologische Hintergrund vieler Menschheitskatastrophen sind. Eine friedliche, freiheitliche und gerechte Welt entsteht einzig und allein durch menschliche Entschlüsse, durch ein Denken und Handeln, das sich am Ideal der Gerechtigkeit und an humanistischen Werten orientiert. 

Heute sind es Vorurteile gegenüber Russland und China, die den nächsten Weltkrieg heraufbeschwören können – morgen sind es vielleicht Vorurteile gegenüber dem eigenen Vaterland.

*

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Dr. Rudolf Lothar Hänsel ist Schul-Rektor, Erziehungswissenschaftler und Diplom-Psychologe. Nach seinen Universitätsstudien wurde er wissenschaftlicher Lehrer in der Erwachsenenbildung. Als Pensionär arbeitete er als Psychotherapeut in eigener Praxis. In seinen Büchern und Fachartikeln fordert er eine bewusste ethisch-moralische Werteerziehung sowie eine Erziehung zu Gemeinsinn und Frieden. Für seine Verdienste um Serbien bekam er 2021 von den Universitäten Belgrad und Novi Sad den Republik-Preis „Kapitän Misa Anastasijevic“ verliehen.

Er schreibt regelmäßig für Global Research.

Noten

1. Tolstoi, L. N. (1983). Rede gegen den Krieg. Politische Flugschriften, S. 5

2. Hänsel, Rudolf (2020). Keinem die Macht übergeben! Ein psychologisches Manifest des gesunden Menschenverstands, Gornji Milanovac

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*** 

Introduction

In the course of their development, young people are confronted with a variety of challenges which they usually cope with well. In order to be able to tackle life’s tasks courageously, the adolescent is dependent on being embedded in a supportive environment as a living world and in an integrating culture.

They experience support and orientation when values and virtues are established in the family, which are reinforced and consistently enforced in social institutions such as kindergarten and school. Among others, these include: Compassion, justice, truth, peaceableness, tolerance, sense of community, ability to deal with conflict and willingness to compromise. In order for these social values and virtues to be consolidated in the adolescent, practical participation in social activities is essential.

I believe in youth, in their ability to learn, their creativity, their empathy, their sense of responsibility, their insightfulness and their willingness to change attitudes and behaviour. Most of the time, all young people lack is some prudence and perseverance so that they can develop their skills in small steps.

Peace and freedom correspond to human nature

Since we have knowledge about human beings, we know that they want to live in peace and freedom, without war and violence. Living in peace is a matter of nature. They want to have a roof over their heads with their children. They also don’t like to kill themselves and they don’t like to be killed. They prefer to stay alive. But the state forces them to do so and chases them to the “field of honour”.

People also want to live in freedom, where each person decides how he wants to live and with whom he wants to associate. He wants to have his peace and security and not have to beg for church soup.

Every working person, whether labourer or employee, wants to know if he will have the same opportunity to live in old age or if he falls ill and can no longer work. He wants to keep his home and his wife should be provided for when he is no longer alive. At the moment, people are preached to save diligently. But then the “sharks” come and eat away his hard-earned savings. The money is devalued and the “poor devil” is plundered.

Some mature people who had a laid table, like Peter Kropotkin (1842-1921) or Michael Bakunin (1814-1876) and other rich people who had the opportunity to educate themselves and do research, have guessed that this system, as it is, is not right. The people would be won over; people like to show solidarity with their contemporaries and help each other if they are not conquered, do not instil fear of harmless fellow human beings and let them live.

Adolescents also want to live in peace and friendship with their parents, teachers, friends and schoolmates. In peace and in freedom. They like to settle their personal issues, their school problems, their relationships with friends and with the opposite sex themselves and do not like to hand them over to mum, dad or teachers.

State and church conquer the people

But it is still the case that the state and the church, which work together very well, impose their view of the world and their religion on the people. They have all the institutions in their hands – especially the schools. There they educate the young people to become good soldiers. The young man is educated to march when the authorities call.

He is then supposed to defend his fatherland in Ukraine or Asia. The priest is along for the ride and blesses the weapons that slay the faithful on the other side of the borders. The young person is made to believe – and he believes everything he is told. He is kept in this frame of mind.

Historical knowledge and historical thinking are not imparted to him. That is why he does not have a clear picture. And the parents and teachers let themselves be harnessed by the church and the state for this kind of education and carry their views to the adolescents on a daily basis. The entire culture is shaped by this.

A life of peace and freedom in Russian Mir

Talking about historical knowledge: Do you know that a life of peace and freedom existed for a certain time in the past? But this dream of humanity, this hope of the proletarians of the whole world has failed for lack of psychological knowledge of human nature. The principle of violence, of oppressing and conquering people has led to disaster in the former Russia.

The Russian peasant lived in the Mir, a Russian village community. Each household could claim one or more strips of land according to the number of its adult members. Until the revolution, peasants worked their fields together out of solidarity.

What little life they had, they spent in peace and quiet and without war. Where did the peasant Russian population ever see judges, gendarmes or informers? There weren’t any. And the doors had no locks, because they were not locked.

But then the state came – the red state – and took it away from the peasants and demanded taxes. Commissioners from the city, who didn’t understand anything, were sent to the countryside to tell the peasants what to grow. They maintained the state and eventually chased the peasants and workers into the “field of honour”.

In the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia the principle was more humane than in the former Russia. If a person had work, he could not be dismissed. The principle of self-management, of workers’ councils, was realised there. Because Yugoslavia did not go the Russian way, Russia was against Yugoslavia.

Can’t this humanist idea of peace and freedom, equality, justice and solidarity be revived? Wouldn’t that be a way to prevent the Third World War?

What to do?

I keep thinking about the war. The next war will come. Why should it not come? It has still come until now. And we have still kept silent and participated. There are not many voices against it.

We are not far from the Third World War. This is the situation we live in. There’s no point in fooling ourselves. We humans are not ready yet. There are only a few people who think about it, very few.

How do we protect ourselves from a world war? What can the youth do?

For example, don’t march when the authorities, when the state calls to arms! Say “NO” loudly and clearly! Wars are above all good business. People are capable of living together without weapons and wars. Every war is fought in the interest of a small upper class. Only the greed for power of those who act as authorities within the peoples leads again and again to warlike conflicts in which the peoples bleed to death for the benefit of their masters and exploiters.

But it is not only the wars that are good business. Everything is profit wherever we look. Why is the youth involved with drugs? How does it get them into it? If it wasn’t good business, there would be no drugs, the market would be empty. But no consideration is given to that. Young people can no longer think and act rationally with drugs. They perish from them, literally go to their death.

Furthermore, young people – like all people – should adopt the results of psychological research. If we recognise ourselves and our fellow human beings, our view of state conditions, of the entire social order, changes. Young people would be in a position to do this, as humanity is very slowly detaching itself from the world of thoughts and feelings of the Middle Ages.

Since history is a work of the people, the change of the world must come from within them. People must come to know their own nature, their mental condition, their conscious and semi-conscious prejudices, as well as their own ways of reacting and those of their fellow human beings.

If we look around the world, we see that all people without exception are not healthy but psychologically irritated by traditional education. They are not sick, they are just not properly enlightened. They must be helped to recognise themselves.

If we succeed in grasping the human problem in all its depth, we will learn to see what is wrong with us human beings. But a lot of time and patience is needed to explore this. All relevant questions must be thoroughly thought through. However, this is of immense importance for the life and mental health of each of us. The results of psychological research point the way. We then have a compass.

Also, the youth – like all of us – should not hand over power to anyone else. According to the Russian writer Count Tolstoy (1828-1910), those in power are “often the worst, most insignificant, cruelest, most immoral and especially the most mendacious people” (1).

Not to hand over power to another human being, but also not to a supernatural being who, as a deity, is supposed to guide and protect us from earliest childhood to the end of days. We are, after all, embedded in the community of fellow species, of whom we need not be afraid and on whose solidarity we can build (2).

Last but not least, we should all try to abandon the individual and collective prejudices that are the ideological background of many human disasters. A peaceful, free and just world is created solely by human resolutions, by thinking and acting in accordance with the ideal of justice and humanistic values.

Today, it is prejudice against Russia and China that can bring about the next world war – tomorrow, it may be prejudice against one’s own homeland.

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Dr Rudolf Lothar Hänsel is a school rector, educational scientist and graduate psychologist. After his university studies, he became an academic teacher in adult education. As a retiree he worked as a psychotherapist in his own practice. In his books and professional articles, he calls for a conscious ethical-moral education in values as well as an education for public spirit and peace. For his services to Serbia, he was awarded the Republic Prize “Captain Misa Anastasijevic” by the Universities of Belgrade and Novi Sad in 2021.

He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

Notes

(1) Tolstoy, L. N. (1983). Speech against war. Political pamphlets, p. 5

(2) Hänsel, Rudolf (2020). Handing over power to no one! A psychological manifesto of common sense, Gornji Milanovac.

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*** 

Has the South African government unequivocally sided with Russia, as witnessed not just in February’s joint military exercises (alongside China) but also in allegedly selling weapons to Moscow late last year?

Will this relationship prevent President Cyril Ramaphosa from having Vladimir Putin arrested at the Johannesburg summit, in late August, of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, China, India, South Africa) bloc – as the International Criminal Court arrest warrant (for abuse of captured Ukrainian children) requires?

And will any of these factors threaten the single largest component of South Africa’s export trade, the African Growth and Opportunity Act duty-free imports to the United States, worth several billion dollars last year alone?

During the current fog of war, with its accompanying military profiteering racket, it is entirely predictable for South African politicians to have a go at seeding the clouds of doubt.

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana was among the most evasive, on May 14, when deflecting the furious U.S. State Department claim that South Africans loaded weaponry destined for Russia on the ship Lady R, at a Cape Town naval base in December 2022: “If it did happen as the Americans claim, it could be a conduct of people who were mischief makers.”

Who would make mischief from lethal arms dealing, and what are the broader economic implications?

The world’s leading military profiteer remains the United States.

And in spite of White House and State Department rhetoric about the “battle between democracies and autocracies,” the latter are favoured arms customers by President Joseph Biden’s administration.

As The Intercept’s Stephen Semler concluded last week after reviewing official 2022 trade data, Biden

“has helped increase the military power of a large number of authoritarian countries… The U.S. sold weapons to at least 57 percent of the world’s autocratic countries in 2022.” The likes of Saudi Arabia, Israel and Egypt top the list. In the process, reported Axios, “The U.S. accounted for 40% of total [arms] exports from 2018-2022, up from 33% in the previous five years, while Russia declined from 22% to 16%.”

Other military mischief makers include South Africa’s own arms dealers, led by the parastatal agency Denel and the Paramount Group. But Obed Bapela, the deputy head of the African National Congress foreign policy committee which has insisted on abstentions when the United Nations votes on Russia’s invasion, recently claimed on SAfm national radio, “I was with the management of Denel, I was there last week Friday. Denel has not been in production for the past three years.”

In reality, Rheinmetall-Denel Munitions (RDM) is a major joint venture in Somerset West which has been producing and selling quite a bit of deadly weaponry, including in recent weeks. While the firm denies providing Putin with ammunition (as RDM’s are apparently non-compatible with Russian guns), according to DefenceWeb there has been “an uptick in business, most likely due to the war in Ukraine. In December 2022, for example, RDM announced a NATO country order for 155 mm Assegai ammunition.”

Bragged RDM managing director Jan-Patrick Helmsen, “We’re very pleased that two customers – including a NATO member state and a non-NATO country – have again placed their trust in our globally proven Assegai indirect fire technology.” Düsseldorf-based Rheinmetall is a long-standing ally of repressive regimes; it was once Adolf Hitler’s number two arms supplier, and also had no misgivings about selling to the apartheid regime.

Today,

“RDM exports over 80% of its production, mainly to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, both of which are notorious for abuses of human rights,” anti-militarist campaigner Terry Crawford-Browne reminded in the wake of a 2018 explosion at the firm’s Cape Town plant that killed eight workers due to RDM managerial sloppiness. He continued, “To evade German arms export regulations, Rheinmetall deliberately locates much of its production in countries where the rule of law is weak.”

In addition to repressive Middle East oiligarchies, there have been prolific South African military sales to NATO countries, including seven major recent buyers including the United States, as the military-procurement parastatal Armscor concedes in last year’s annual report. Its chairman Phillip Dexter is explicitly committed to “commercialization” of arms acquisition services and while the parastatal has oversight duties with the National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC), the system is profoundly flawed.

Ironically, Dexter is among South Africa’s most openly pro-Putin political figures, having tweeted in late April, “We look forward to hosting and protecting the President of the Russian Federation. Imperialists and their joke of an ICC be damned. They must first arrest all their war criminals before we take them seriously. Even then we will defend Putin.”

Yet Armscor confirmed major South African arms sales to Germany and Britain, including materiel that may well find their way to the Russia-Ukraine battleground, on the West’s side. That would not be surprising, because in 2021, the Profiting from Misery report by the NGOs Open Secrets and Lawyers for Human Rights included a depressing list of NCACC fails, including allowing SA weapons into Yemen via Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Johannesburg-based Ivor Ichikowitz runs the Paramount Group, whose Mbombe armoured vehicles found their way into war-torn Libya via Jordan in 2019. He apparently believes in pleasing all sides engaged in war, writing last year, “Russia, long a player in Africa through its military and political support of liberation movements, and latterly through providing defence materiel and military advisers to many independent countries, embarked on a deliberate charm offensive in July in the wake of its disastrous invasion of Ukraine.”

And this year, Ichikowitz enthused further in New African, “despite the worldwide condemnation of his country’s current invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s top diplomat places priority on Russian-African ties. Last year’s $20 billion in trade between Russia and Africa would suggest as much; it is a marked 17% increase over the previous year, but still a fraction of the commitment other powers are making, and with fewer strings attached.”

Last week, Ramaphosa and Putin had a friendly call to “intensify mutually beneficial ties in various fields.” Days earlier, foreign policy spokesperson Clayton Monyela likewise applauded the “mutually beneficial and cordial relationship that exists between the United States of America and South Africa,” while at the same time expressing “utter displeasure” with U.S. Ambassador Reuben Brigety’s May 11 outburst about the Lady R’s cargo: “We are confident that weapons were loaded onto that vessel and I would bet my life on the accuracy of that assertion.”

Brigety’s assuredness reminds of U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who bet (and lost) one million Iraqi lives on a confident claim that Saddam Hussein’s prolific Weapons of Mass Destruction justified the 2003 U.S. invasion. No, Washington’s occupying troops never located those WMDs.

Likewise, the fog of war requires Godongwana to reiterate, as he did in Parliament last week, that “our policy is not to sell arms or ammunition to any party in the Russia-Ukraine conflict,” for he fears South Africa’s imminent exclusion from the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).

But if that happens, we can anticipate major Western Multinational Corporations having to dramatically cut back export-oriented production at their South African branch plants, especially of AGOA-vulnerable products: automobiles (of which the U.S. imported $1.6 billion duty free under AGOA in 2022), metals and minerals ($463 million), agricultural products ($458 million), and chemicals ($360 million).

These are South Africa’s most capital-intensive sectors, and their outputs are greatest in terms of CO2 and methane emissions, contributing to crises such as the April-May 2022 Durban Rain Bombs that killed 500, or Cyclone Freddy that felled more than 1000 Malawians a few weeks ago. Regardless of AGOA, these firms will soon attract European climate sanctions under the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism because of their extremely high embedded CO2 emissions.

Moreover, the Energy-Intensive Users Group’s 27 companies guzzle 40% of South Africa’s electricity mostly for these exports. In the process of smelting minerals, they deplete the natural resource wealth of South Africa – to the extent the net economic costs of mining outweigh benefits – and create prolific pollution.

In some cases, especially BHP Billiton’s South32 aluminium smelter in Richards Bay, the electricity price charged the Australian firm is only a small fraction of what ordinary South Africans pay. That smelter alone uses at least 5% of the national grid’s supply, but calls to redistribute the electricity to the rest of the economy – made even by Standard Bank chief executive Derek Cooper during the initial Eskom blackout crisis of 2008 and by Business Day columnist Michael Avery last year – have not been heeded given prevailing power relations.

So if Washington ends AGOA and the result is less smelting and thus more electricity available for small businesses and ordinary households, it would be an economic blessing in disguise – in the same way the grey listing of South African banks by the Financial Action Task Force in February has already had a positive impacton legislation and regulation against money-laundering.

Or in another case of combined financial-and-climate sanctions, Xi Jinping’s September 2021 divestment announcement – that Belt & Road Initiative projects could no longer include coal-fired power plants – soon reverberated into South Africa’s Musina-Makhado Special Economic Zone (and may spell its death-knell).

But obviously beneficial processes for the majority of South Africans – such as reducing output by guzzling smelters as well as other long-overdue financial and trade sanctions against, especially, extractive-industry capitalists – continue to be disguised by war-mongering mischief-makers. Especially for those located in Pretoria government headquarters and at the offices of Johannesburg and Cape Town arms manufacturers, neutrality is a convenient fiction, as they continue to sell weapons to both sides in a terrible conflict zone.

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Patrick Bond, Professor, University of the Western Cape School of Government. He is a regular contributor to Global Research. 

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*** 

World Will Be Left Behind US in AI

With the release of GPT-4 a few months ago, the US took the lead over China in AI.

The US is now moving fast not only to cement its lead, but also to significantly increase its lead in AI. Essentially, China, Russia, India, and even the EU will be left totally behind in this extremely powerful technology.

US Computing Advantage

The cost in fast computing power has turned out to be massive. Especially when you consider the future load of commercial use. In fact, AI developers will try to not upscale their models too much in order to contain the computing load. The chip embargo on China and Russia is meant to leverage the US advantage in raw computing power for AI.

US Development Speed

To expand its lead, the US is also moving fast to develop the next generation of even more powerful AI, the GPT-5 model. GPT-5 will probably be the complete breakthrough in commercial and advanced use of AI. Based on GPT-5, a long range of commercial products already in development will be released. Not only will GPT-5 have new capabilities, even more importantly, GPT-5 will be far more reliable, give more correct answers, and behaving to users the way the US state wants to. This includes of course censoring out what users are not wanted to know or even to ask. Expect GPT-5 already in 2024.

US Secrecy

A strong secretiveness is a further step to keep the US ahead in AI. No more open code. No more share of Models which China, Russia, or even India or the EU can copy or make use of. 

After the release of GPT-4, OpenAI has gotten increasingly secretive about its operations. It no longer shares research on the training dataset, architecture, hardware, training compute, and training method with the open-source community.

“If you believe, as we do, that at some point, AI — AGI — is going to be extremely, unbelievably potent, then it just does not make sense to open-source. It is a bad idea…” See this.

US Global Advantage

AI is going to revolutionize everything. Those who don’t have AI will move in snail pace in the fields of productivity, research, communication, and military.

The US is determined to get far ahead in AI and cut everybody else off.

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Karsten Riise is a Master of Science (Econ) from Copenhagen Business School and has a university degree in Spanish Culture and Languages from Copenhagen University. He is the former Senior Vice President Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Mercedes-Benz in Denmark and Sweden.

He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

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*** 

The EU only has two choices when it comes to India selling refined Russian fuel: it can either retain the present arrangement for the pragmatic sake of all parties’ pecuniary interests, or it can ban the import of these products for ideological reasons at the expense of the aforesaid.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell sparked a scandal earlier this week when he criticized India for selling refined Russian fuel to Europe, ominously warning that “we have to act.” This implied threat prompted Indian External Affairs Minister Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar to remind everyone to “Look at EU Council regulations, Russian crude is substantially transformed in the third country and not treated as Russian anymore. I would urge you to look at Council’s Regulation 833/2014.”

Borrell responded shortly after by sharing “Some Clarifications On The Circumvention Of EU Sanctions Against Russia” on the European External Action Service website. According to him, “The EU’s measures have no extraterritorial effect, meaning they only apply to European entities.” He also reaffirmed that “Once refined, these products are no longer treated as Russian but as Indian and we cannot prevent Indian refineries selling them to an EU operator, or to an intermediary.”

Nevertheless, Borrell then added that

“We in the EU don’t buy Russian oil, but we buy the diesel obtained by refining this Russian oil somewhere else. This has the effect of circumventing our sanctions and our member states should take measures to deal with this.”

He also quoted a Ukrainian official who described this arrangement as “completely legal, but completely immoral.” All that the EU’s foreign policy chief did was further muddle his side’s stance towards Russian energy sanctions.  

On the one hand, he confirmed that this pragmatic workaround doesn’t violate the bloc’s unilateral restrictions in this sphere, but on the other, he said that “we cannot close our eyes to how EU companies themselves are circumventing the sanctions by purchasing refined oil coming originally from Russia.” Despite saying twice that India can’t be blamed for this, the subtext is that these EU companies wouldn’t even have the chance to circumvent the sanctions if India wasn’t selling refined Russian fuel.

Legally speaking, the EU can’t punish India for this, but Borrell’s initial remark and subsequent clarification were obviously aimed at harming its soft power by portraying that country as “immoral”. The EU can, however, “take measures to deal with this” at home but that would require tweaking its sanctions language otherwise it wouldn’t be legal. That said, any moves in this direction would raise the costs for European consumers.

The present arrangement made India indispensable to the global energy market by helping to meet the EU’s related needs for a premium and thus keeping prices comparatively affordable. If its services were prohibited upon tweaking the EU’s sanctions language to ban the import of refined Russian fuel, then the bloc would have to compete with other customers for the finite amount of fuel from other suppliers, thus spiking costs.

Even if those selfsame other suppliers decided to increase production, which can’t be taken for granted due to the Russian-Saudi duopoly that pretty much controls OPEC+, it would still take time to have an effect on the market. It’s therefore in everyone’s pecuniary interests to keep the present arrangement intact, thus necessitating the EU prioritizing pragmatism over the faux “values” that it claims are at the center of its liberalglobalistrules-based order”.

Therein lies the dilemma though since the Western elite is split between ideological and pragmatic factions, particularly when it comes to India. This was most recently proven by the State Department’s “religious freedoms” report earlier this week that sharply criticized that country, which contrasted with Ashley J. Tellis’ article from the beginning of the month for the influential Council on Foreign Relations’ official magazine that called for not letting differences on any issue impede their strategic partnership.

The EU only has two choices when it comes to India selling refined Russian fuel: it can either retain the present arrangement for the pragmatic sake of all parties’ pecuniary interests, or it can ban the import of these products for ideological reasons at the expense of the aforesaid. The second scenario that’s presumably being debated as evidenced by the scandal that Borrell sparked and then exacerbated with his clarification could also risk harming Indian-EU relations too by depriving Delhi of additional profits.

Objectively speaking, it’s best for everyone if the EU keeps everything the way that it is, but it can’t be assumed that it’ll do so due to the powerful influence of the ideological faction within its permanent bureaucracy. For this reason, observers should keep an eye on this issue, especially since any movement in the direction of banning the import of Indian-refined Russian fuel could lead to sudden price spikes as well as potentially complicating that country’s ongoing trade talks with the bloc.

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This article was originally published on Andrew Korybko’s Newsletter.

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.

He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

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*** 

As I covered recently at PJ Media, the technocrat with the single most punchable face in world history, Antony Blinken, announced that the Biden administration now has at its fingertips a propriety AI tool to comb the web for something called “Russian disinformation.”

No word yet on when the AI to fight “US government disinformation” will be developed.

Via U.S. State Department (emphasis added):

“Russia continues to push a steady, relentless stream of disinformation about its war of aggression against Ukraine, to lie about and cover up horrific abuses it’s committed, to try to justify committing others.

In response, the State Department has developed an AI-enabled online Ukraine Content Aggregator to collect verifiable Russian disinformation and then to share that with partners around the world.  We’re promoting independent media and digital literacy.  We’re working with partners in academia to reliably detect fake text generated by Russian chatbots.”

This Orwellian development follows the release of the Durham report.

Via New York Post:

“The FBI investigation of former President Donald Trump’s alleged collusion with Russia in 2016 was “seriously flawed” and had no basis in evidence, special counsel John Durham said in a report released Monday.

Durham concluded his four-year review with a scathing indictment of official bias in the probe, which fueled Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of Trump’s theorized conspiracy with the Kremlin to win the White House.

“It is the Office’s assessment that the FBI discounted or willfully ignored material information that did not support the narrative of a collusive relationship between Trump and Russia,” Durham wrote.”

In other words, totally incompetent, corrupt adult children who have proven time and time again that they shouldn’t be in charge of a popsicle stand now get to gallivant across the web with AI technologies they don’t understand quixotically hunting for “Russian disinformation.”

What could go wrong?

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This article was originally published on Armageddon Prose.

Ben Bartee is an independent Bangkok-based American journalist with opposable thumbs. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

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*** 

Canadian military aircraft deliver Ukraine-bound military aid not only from Canada, but from allies and partners, but Canada recently found it difficult to fly its citizens home from a war zone.

Canadian citizens were caught-up in the war zone in Sudan, where two rival generals are fighting for power and control.

CTV News reported that, faced with a dangerous and desperate situation, a Canadian woman from Toronto, Azza Ahmed, her mother and an elderly aunt were left to fend for themselves in evacuating Sudan, and felt forgotten by the Canadian government in the process.

A Canadian government representative called the woman and advised her and her two aunts to go to a military airport 25 kilometers away to catch an evacuation flight.  At that time, the situation was too dangerous to even venture outside, but they were expected to fend for themselves in getting to the airport.

She recalls that Canada did not offer them any assistance with food, accommodation, transportation, or the evacuation flight home.

“(The Canadian government) basically abandoned us,” said Ahmed. She compared her experience with other nationalities evacuated, and found some countries got their citizens out of Sudan in just two or three days and paid for all their expenses.

Many are asking about Canada’s priorities, and whether the attention and expenses spent on keeping the war going in Ukraine has made Canada weaker and less prepared to care for its own citizen’s needs.

The Canadian government does not see it their duty to evacuate their citizens from danger abroad. They take the position of their ally, the US: you got yourself there, now get yourself home.

Canada follows many American viewpoints, including the supplying of weapons to the Ukrainian military. The American-Canadian-NATO priority is to keep the fighting ongoing in Ukraine, and support the fight against Russia.

Canada found it difficult to quickly evacuate its citizens in Sudan because they lacked the personnel on the ground to tackle the job. Canada relied on several Canadian planes which flew out of the capital Khartoum, but then handed off the job by relying on the US evacuation resources.

The airport at Khartoum became a front line in the battles, and pilots deemed it unsafe. Then the government switched the evacuation plan to the Port Sudan, but that was 800 kilometers away, which represented a 30-hour journey filled with risks.

A possible solution would have been a Canadian military convoy of buses which could have been rented from local transportation companies, and citizens living in the capital could have left for the port safely.

Colin Robertson, a Canadian Global Affairs Institute Fellow and former Canadian diplomat, has saidthat crisis situations require a larger diplomatic corps than presently available. He says instead of increased diplomatic personnel as Canada grows, instead it has been reduced over the last two decades.

In any evacuation situation, the diplomatic corps would be making travel and logistical plans with local, allied and Canadian resources according to Robertson.

However, a brief study of the facts reveals that the Azov Battalion was the backbone of the Ukrainian military forces and was originally proudly identifying themselves as Nazis. Many western TV commentators would scoff at the idea while commenting, “How could there be Nazis in Ukraine, when the President is Jewish?”

The Nazis in Ukraine have no problem having a Jewish President Zelensky, viewing him as useful cover to operate under. A Nazi can be described as an Ultra-Nationalist, and some will use the descriptive term of Fascist.

The Azov Battalion’s political wing is the National Corps Party, a far-right political party, which holds seats in local city councils across Ukraine.

The Canadian media portrays the Ukrainians as the good-guys and the Russians as the bad-guys. Bombing and ethnic cleansing has been carried out by Kiev for almost a decade against Russian speaking civilians, who live in areas which were formerly part of Ukraine. No information is given about the UN reported ethnic cleansing and war crimes committed in the Eastern provinces of Ukraine by the Ukrainian forces, which have been ongoing since 2014. This propaganda leads some Canadians to demand the freedom of the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion.

Need for peaceful resolution

There is an immediate need for a ceasefire in Ukraine, and diplomatic negotiations to end the conflict.  Canada does not need to be a partner to a conflict which can be resolved. Just as in the case of the Iraq war in 2003, Canada can make decisions independent of US pressure.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has put forth effort to broker peace in Ukraine with his 12-point peace plan.  Xi spoke with with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on April 26 by telephone, and assured Zelenskyy that Beijing would not add “fuel to the fire” of the war, and also met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

Li Hui, China’s special representative on Eurasian affairs, will visit Ukraine, Russia, France, Germany and Poland this week as Beijing tries its hand at peacemaker.

Celso Amorim, a former foreign minister, and top adviser to Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva met with Zelenskyy on May 10 in Kyiv, as da Silva continues his push for peace in the Ukraine war.

“Brazil is making a significant effort” to form a coalition of countries, including China and India, to negotiate a peace agreement,” says President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Continuing the war, and the resulting destruction of families and infrastructure is not the only option for the West to impose on Ukraine.

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

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Much needless fuss has been generated by President Joe Biden’s cancellation of his visit to Australia for the Quad meeting, a now regular gathering of leaders from the US, Japan, India and Australia.  He had other things on his mind: dealing with fractious debt ceiling negotiations taking place back in the United States.

Students of US history would, or should have appreciated, the two phenomena that speckle the fiscal landscape in Washington.  One is the failure of Congress to pass a budget in a timely, mature fashion.  Then comes that plague known as the federal debt ceiling.

Since 1976, 22 federal government shutdowns have taken place because of budgetary tardiness.  The results, while affecting employment and the economy, are always seen as minor relative to any failures to lift the debt ceiling.  The latter comes with paralysis, the literal shutting down of government, leaving many services undelivered, and staff furloughed and unpaid.

Raymond Scheppach, a public policy academic based at the University of Virginia, is even unsparingly hyperbolic on the consequences of hitting the ceiling.  “It could bring down the entire financial system.  This in turn could devastate the world gross domestic product and create mass unemployment.”  Such is the wisdom of having a global system so heavily concentrated in the hands of one power and its corporate auxiliaries.

Those most upset were the security propagandists in Australia, straining in their efforts to detect any smoke signals from Beijing. Would these suggest glee and delight, perhaps some gloating that Washington was neglecting the Indo-Pacific in favour of domestic squabbles?  Internal fiscal chaos might also be a sign of decline, prompting the mandarins of the Middle Kingdom to rejoice.

The sentiment was odd, even childish, typical of the abandonment complex that percolates through the Australian political establishment.  “Notice me, please, Daddy” seems to be their governing consideration, and not doing so induces a state of anxiety verging on the pathological.  James Curran identifies that “instinctive zero-sum mentality” typical of this confected “new cold war”, one that leads to tenuous conclusions: a Joe Biden “no-show was deemed a ‘win’ for China, a blow to America’s standing in Asia, a marker of US decline and a humiliating snub to [Australian Prime Minister] Anthony Albanese.”  For fans and well-wishers for a decline, if not retreat, of sprawling US global power, the only answer would be: If only.

A sprinkling of examples will suffice.  Veteran journalist-cum-academic Mark Kenny wondered if the US commitment, not merely to the forum, but to the region, might be called into question.  With a paucity of reasoning, Kenny suggested on the ABC News channel that Biden’s change of heart had been “a bit of a win for Beijing”, showing a failure on the part of the US to “counterbalance” the wicked Red-Yellow menace, which, for good measure, remains Australia’s largest trading partner.

Cameron Stewart, chief international correspondent at The Australian, abandoned all pretence to investigative reporting in expressing unalloyed frustration at Biden’s decision.  Again, the Red-Yellow menace featured prominently, and aggressively.  “It will be celebrated in Beijing because it robs Australia of a historical opportunity to send a clear message to China about the commitment of the key Indo-Pacific democracies to stand up to its military adventurism and economic coercion.”

Attitudes were not much different at the supposedly centre-left outlet, Guardian Australia.  “Chinese state media outlets won’t need to muster much creative energy to weave together some of Beijing’s preferred narratives: that the US is racked by increasingly severe domestic upheaval and is an unreliable partner, quick to leave allies high and dry.”  In a feat of flabby journalism, bloated by speculation, previous presidential cancellations for reasons related to debt ceiling and budgetary crises were omitted.  (Remember President Bill Clinton’s cancelled trip to Japan in 1995?)  Research in these subterranean depts of writing remains proudly absent.

Then came the disingenuous shift of focus to another party, one who really ought to be aggrieved by the Biden cancellation.  Conveniently, it happened to be Papua New Guinea, whose own relationship with Australia as imperial outpost, policed province, and donor recipient, has never been entirely reconciled.  The bellicose and perennially war-loving Peter Jennings, formerly executive director of the US-funded Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), sighed that, “Washington was close to signing a defence co-operation agreement with PNG that would increase US military visits, exercises, fuel storage and logistic support.”

The Australian also claimed that it would be “felt heavily in PNG, where the impoverished Marape government had spent millions preparing for the presidential visit, and was preparing to sign a wide-arranging security agreement with the US President.”  And so did PNG become the convenient surrogate for Australian fears of being ignored and shunned.

The paper also went on to describe the logistics of the planned visit, making it sound more like a carefree tourist jaunt of pop-in recreationists rather than a serious meeting of statesmen.  Biden, it was reported, was to use a US C-17 Globemaster.  He was to arrive at Sydney Airport “to deliver the President’s helicopter, Marine One.”  The helicopter would have then been used “to travel between Sydney, where the President and his 1000-plus entourage were to stay, and Canberra, where he was due to address both houses of parliament.”  Such wonderful details.

The gurgling infantilism of the reaction needlessly elevated the importance of a meeting that would have somehow mattered one way or the other.  For one thing, the Quad forum is an opportunity for chit-chat that does little to change the background of the relationships.  Between Australia and the United States, as the newly appointed Australian ambassador to Washington, Kevin Rudd, told NPR, “The relationship between the two of us is as robust and as intense as I’ve ever seen it.”

This is appropriately revealing.  Supine, unquestioning, and moving between the statuses of vassal and satellite, Canberra sees its military outsourced, governed and policed by Washington, its strategic and operational goals dictated by the Pentagon, its relevance as a Pacific outpost measured only by its utility in defending US interests.  Its role in any future war in the region alongside the United States, however foolish and bloody, is assured.  What matters, however, is that the one pushing the trigger of intervention will not be an Australian.

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

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Toxic Contagion – Funds, Food and Pharma

May 22nd, 2023 by Colin Todhunter

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In 2014, the organisation GRAIN revealed that small farms produce most of the world’s food in its report Hungry for land: small farmers feed the world with less than a quarter of all farmland. The report Small-scale Farmers and Peasants Still Feed the World (ETC Group, 2022) confirmed this.

Small farmers produce up to 80% of the food in the non-industrialised countries. However, they are currently squeezed onto less than a quarter of the world’s farmland. The period 1974-2014 saw 140 million hectares – more than all the farmland in China – being taken over for soybean, oil palm, rapeseed and sugar cane plantations.

GRAIN noted that the concentration of fertile agricultural land in fewer and fewer hands is directly related to the increasing number of people going hungry every day. While industrial farms have enormous power, influence and resources, GRAIN’s data showed that small farms almost everywhere outperform big farms in terms of productivity.

In the same year, policy think tank the Oakland Institute released a report stating that the first years of the 21 century will be remembered for a global land rush of nearly unprecedented scale. An estimated 500 million acres, an area eight times the size of Britain, were reported bought or leased across the developing world between 2000 and 2011, often at the expense of local food security and land rights.

Institutional investors, including hedge funds, private equity, pension funds and university endowments, were eager to capitalise on global farmland as a new and highly desirable asset class.

This trend was not confined to buying up agricultural land in low-income countries. Oakland Institute’s Anuradha Mittal argued that there was a new rush for US farmland. One industry leader estimated that $10 billion in institutional capital was looking for access to this land in the US.

Although investors believed that there is roughly $1.8 trillion worth of farmland across the US, of this between $300 billion and $500 billion (2014 figures) is considered to be of “institutional quality” – a combination of factors relating to size, water access, soil quality and location that determine the investment appeal of a property.

In 2014, Mittal said that if action is not taken, then a perfect storm of global and national trends could converge to permanently shift farm ownership from family businesses to institutional investors and other consolidated corporate operations.

Why this matters  

Peasant/smallholder agriculture prioritises food production for local and national markets as well as for farmers’ own families, whereas corporations take over fertile land and prioritise commodities or export crops for profit and markets far away that tend to cater for the needs of more affluent sections of the global population.

In 2013, a UN report stated that farming in rich and poor nations alike should shift from monocultures towards greater varieties of crops, reduced use of fertilisers and other inputs, increased support for small-scale farmers and more locally focused production and consumption of food. The report stated that monoculture and industrial farming methods were not providing sufficient affordable food where it is needed.

In September 2020, however, GRAIN showed an acceleration of the trend that it had warned of six years earlier: institutional investments via private equity funds being used to lease or buy up farms on the cheap and aggregate them into industrial-scale concerns. One of the firms spearheading this is the investment asset management firm BlackRock, which exists to put its funds to work to make money for its clients.

BlackRock holds shares in a number of the world’s largest food companies, including Nestlé, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Walmart, Danone and Kraft Heinz and also has significant shares in most of the top publicly traded food and agriculture firms: those which focus on providing inputs (seeds, chemicals, fertilisers) and farm equipment as well as agricultural trading companies, such as Deere, Bunge, ADM and Tyson (based on BlackRock’s own data from 2018).

Together, the world’s top five asset managers – BlackRock, Vanguard, State Street, Fidelity and Capital Group – own around 10–30% of the shares of the top firms in the agrifood sector.

The article Who is Driving the Destructive Industrial Agriculture Model? (2022) by Frederic Mousseau of the Oakland Institute showed that BlackRock and Vanguard are by far the biggest shareholders in eight of the largest pesticides and fertiliser companies: Yara, CF Industries Holdings K+S Aktiengesellschaft, Nutrien, The Mosaic Company, Corteva and Bayer.

These companies’ profits were projected to double, from US$19 billion in 2021 to $38 billion in 2022, and will continue to grow as long as the industrial agriculture production model on which they rely keeps expanding. Other major shareholders include investment firms, banks and pension funds from Europe and North America.

Through their capital injections, BlackRock et al fuel and make huge profits from a globalised food system that has been responsible for eradicating indigenous systems of production, expropriating seeds, land and knowledge, impoverishing, displacing or proletarianizing farmers and destroying rural communities and cultures. This has resulted in poor-quality food and illness, human rights abuses and ecological destruction.

Systemic compulsion  

Post-1945, the Rockefeller Chase Manhattan bank with the World Bank helped roll out what has become the prevailing modern-day agrifood system under the guise of a supposedly ‘miraculous’ corporate-controlled, chemical-intensive Green Revolution (its much-heralded but seldom challenged ‘miracles’ of increased food production are nothing of the sort; for instance, see the What the Green Revolution Did for India and New Histories of the Green Revolution).

Ever since, the IMF, the World Bank and the WTO have helped consolidate an export-oriented industrial agriculture based on Green Revolution thinking and practices. A model that uses loan conditionalities to compel nations to ‘structurally adjust’ their economies and sacrifice food self-sufficiency.

Countries are placed on commodity crop production treadmills to earn foreign currency (US dollars) to buy oil and food on the global market (benefitting global commodity traders like Cargill, which helped write the WTO trade regime – the Agreement on Agriculture), entrenching the need to increase cash crop cultivation for exports.

Today, investment financing is helping to drive and further embed this system of corporate dependency worldwide. BlackRock is ideally positioned to create the political and legislative framework to maintain this system and increase the returns from its investments in the agrifood sector.

The firm has around $10 trillion in assets under its management and has, according to William Engdahl, positioned itself to effectively control the US Federal Reserve, many Wall Street mega-banks and the Biden administration: a number of former top people at BlackRock are in key government positions, shaping economic policy.

So, it is no surprise that we are seeing an intensification of the lop-sided battle being waged against local markets, local communities and indigenous systems of production for the benefit of global private equity and big agribusiness.

For example, while ordinary Ukrainians are currently defending their land, financial institutions are supporting the consolidation of farmland by rich individuals and Western financial interests. It is similar in India (see the article The Kisans Are Right: Their Land Is at Stake) where a land market is being prepared and global investors are no doubt poised to swoop.

In both countries, debt and loan conditionalities on the back of economic crises are helping to push such policies through. For instance, there has been a 30+ year plan to restructure India’s economy and agriculture. This stems from the country’s 1991 foreign exchange crisis, which was used to impose IMF-World Bank debt-related ‘structural adjustment’ conditionalities. The Mumbai-based Research Unit for Political Economy locates agricultural ‘reforms’ within a broader process of Western imperialism’s increasing capture of the Indian economy.

Yet ‘imperialism’ is a dirty word never to be used in ‘polite’ circles. Such a notion is to be brushed aside as ideological by the corporations that benefit from it. Instead, what we constantly hear from these conglomerates is that countries are choosing to embrace their entry and proprietary inputs into the domestic market as well as ‘neoliberal reforms’ because these are essential if we are to feed a growing global population. The reality is that these firms and their investors are attempting to deliver a knockout blow to smallholder farmers and local enterprises in places like India.

But the claim that these corporations, their inputs and their model of agriculture is vital for ensuring global food security is a proven falsehood. However, in an age of censorship and doublespeak, truth has become the lie and the lie is truth. Dispossession is growth, dependency is market integration, population displacement is land mobility, serving the needs of agrifood corporations is modern agriculture and the availability of adulterated, toxic food as part of a monoculture diet is feeding the world.

And when a ‘pandemic’ was announced and those who appeared to be dying in greater numbers were the elderly and people with obesity, diabetes and cardio-vascular disease, few were willing to point the finger at the food system and its powerful corporations,  practices and products that are responsible for the increasing prevalence of these conditions (see campaigner Rosemary Mason’s numerous papers documenting this on Academia.edu). Because this is the real public health crisis that has been building for decades.

But who cares? BlackRock, Vanguard and other institutional investors? Highly debatable because if we turn to the pharmaceuticals industry, we see similar patterns of ownership involving the same players.

A December 2020 paper on ownership of the major pharmaceuticals companies, by researchers Albert Banal-Estanol, Melissa Newham and Jo Seldeslachts, found the following (reported on the website of TRT World, a Turkish news media outlet):

“Public companies are increasingly owned by a handful of large institutional investors, so we expected to see many ownership links between companies — what was more surprising was the magnitude of common ownership… We frequently find that more than 50 per cent of a company is owned by ‘common’ shareholders who also own stakes in rival pharma companies.”

The three largest shareholders of Pfizer, J&J and Merck are Vanguard, SSGA and BlackRock.

In 2019, the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations reported that pay outs to shareholders had increased by almost 400 per cent — from $30 billion in 2000 to $146 billion in 2018. Shareholders made $1.54 trillion in profits over that 18-year period.

So, for institutional investors, the link between poor food and bad health is good for profit. While investing in the food system rakes in enormous returns, you can perhaps double your gains if you invest in pharma too.

These findings predate the 2021 documentary Monopoly: An Overview of the Great Reset, which also shows that the stock of the world’s largest corporations are owned by the same institutional investors. ‘Competing’ brands, like Coke and Pepsi, are not really competitors, since their stock is owned by the same investment companies, investment funds, insurance companies and banks.

Smaller investors are owned by larger investors. Those are owned by even bigger investors. The visible top of this pyramid shows only Vanguard and Black Rock.

A 2017 Bloomberg report states that both these companies in the year 2028 together will have investments amounting to $20 trillion.

While individual corporations – like Pfizer and Monsanto/Bayer, for instance – should be (and at times have been) held to account for some of their many wrongdoings, their actions are symptomatic of a system that increasingly leads back to the boardrooms of the likes of BlackRock and Vanguard.

Prof Fabio Vighi of Cardiff University says:

“Today, capitalist power can be summed up with the names of the three biggest investment funds in the world: BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street Global Advisor. These giants, sitting at the centre of a huge galaxy of financial entities, manage a mass of value close to half the global GDP, and are major shareholders in around 90% of listed companies.”

These firms help shape and fuel the dynamics of the economic system and the globalised food regime, ably assisted by the World Bank, the IMF, the WTO and other supranational institutions. A system that leverages debt, uses coercion and employs militarism to secure continued expansion.

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


Read Colin Todhunter’s e-Book entitled

Food, Dispossession and Dependency. Resisting the New World Order

We are currently seeing an acceleration of the corporate consolidation of the entire global agri-food chain. The high-tech/big data conglomerates, including Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook and Google, have joined traditional agribusiness giants, such as Corteva, Bayer, Cargill and Syngenta, in a quest to impose their model of food and agriculture on the world.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is also involved (documented in ‘Gates to a Global Empire‘ by Navdanya International), whether through buying up huge tracts of farmland, promoting a much-heralded (but failed) ‘green revolution’ for Africa, pushing biosynthetic food and genetic engineering technologies or more generally facilitating the aims of the mega agri-food corporations.

Click here to read.

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Short sellers have made a killing in the recent banking crisis, scalping $14.3 billion from bank stock owners just in March of this year. Short sellers “borrow” stock they don’t own and immediately sell it, driving the price down. Then they buy it back at the lower price, return the stock, and pocket the difference. Bankers say the practice is threatening the stability of the banking system and are calling for a ban on short sales of bank stock. The SEC is expected to decline but is investigating whether the practice constitutes illegal market manipulation intended to deceive investors.

It is argued here that short selling is fraudulent by its very nature – it is a fraud on the legitimate stock owners – and should be banned across the board. But first a closer look at the issues and some recent developments.

Flaws in the Banking Model

The banking crisis lingers on. Zerohedge reported on May 12 that U.S. deposit outflows from banks to money market funds continue, and small bank lending is collapsing. According to a Hoover Institution report by Stanford Finance Professor Amit Seru et al., around 2,315 banks – more than half the banks in the U.S. — are sitting on assets worth less than their liabilities, due to the radical increase in interest rates over the past year. As a result, the banks are “potentially insolvent.”

In fact, as economist Murray Rothbard pointed out decades ago, all banks are technically insolvent, due to their standard business model. They “borrow short to lend long” — borrow from depositors who expect to get their money back “on demand” and use the funds to back long-term loans. If the depositors all come for their money at once, the liquidity (readily available funds) would not be there to repay them; but the model works because most people leave their money in the bank. The banks are “sound” so long as no one shouts “fire!” and drives the depositors to all run for the exits at the same time.

For decades, the reserve requirement – the funds a bank must hold in reserve to meet sudden withdrawals — was around 10% of deposits. In March 2020, due to the Covid crisis, the Fed dropped the reserve requirement to zero, where it remains today. But bankers still assume they need to keep about 10% of their deposits in reserve in order to meet transfers and withdrawals. That works in “ordinary” times; but even with 10% in reserve, a bank would fail if more than 20% of its deposits were withdrawn in a single day, and that is what happened to Silicon Valley Bank on March 9. According to written testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs on May 16 by Gregory W. Becker, Former Chief Executive Officer of Silicon Valley Bank:

By the end of the day on March 9, $42 billion in deposits were withdrawn from SVB in ten hours, or roughly $1 million every second.

As the bank run was ongoing, we were working to access additional liquidity when I was informed the morning of March 10 that the FDIC would be taking possession of SVB. That day, another roughly $100 billion in deposits were requested to be withdrawn, bringing the total actual and requested deposit outflow to roughly $142 billion, or about 80 percent of total deposits, over two days.

Four major banks have failed in the last two months – Silvergate Bank, Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and First Republic. Why those four? As explained in my last article, the first three were “crypto” banks, which have been under attack by government agencies. First Republic was not in that category, but it was considered “crypto friendly” – you could deposit funds in a cryptocurrency exchange through the bank.

What rendered First Republic insolvent, however, was a business model in which it made very cheap loans to wealthy clients for commercial real estate. The loans were made at a time when the bank itself could borrow nearly interest-free, so interest-only loans seemed reasonable. The spread between the 0.12% at which the bank borrowed and the 3% at which it was lending was essentially free money to the bank, the principal balance to be collected after a lengthy interest-only period. The model worked until interest rates shot up and the bank could no longer borrow cheaply to fund the loans.

For the depositors of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature, the FDIC came to the rescue, returning not just the insured deposits (those in accounts under the $250,000 insurance cap) but all of the deposits. This move was justified as avoiding the “systemic risk” of triggering bank runs elsewhere. For First Republic, the FDIC arranged a sale on quite favorable terms to Chase Manhattan Bank. Silvergate wound itself down voluntarily.

The FDIC rescues cost the agency an estimated $35.5 billion, taking a major chunk out of the $128.2 billion in its insurance fund; but at least, it was thought, the banking crisis was over. So it was thought, until a handful of vulnerable banks including Pacific West and Western Alliance showed similar distress, losing between 45% and 60% of their year-to-date stock value versus a 27% decline in the regional bank index.

Attacked by the Shorts

Many banks have major unrealized losses on their balance sheets, however, and they have not been subjected to runs by depositors. The runs on First Republic and Silicon Valley Bank were evidently triggered by targeted short selling of their stock. First Republic was one of the most heavily shorted U.S. bank stocks as of one week before it failed, with one-third of its outstanding shares shorted. As of March 31, it had the second largest short position of any U.S. bank, the largest being in Silvergate Bank.

After J.P. Morgan bought First Republic out of receivership, the share prices of other midsized banks dropped during most of the rest of the week. They were easy targets for short sellers. As described in an article by Matt Levin titled “When Short Sellers Bet Against Banks,” “basically, it was like shooting fish in a barrel.”

A May 8 article in American Banker observed that the KBW NASDAQ bank index fell by 7.6% over the week. But Western Alliance was down 28% and PacWest was down 43%. Concerns over apparent market manipulation prompted Rob Nichols, CEO of the  American Bankers Association, to write a letter to the SEC seeking an investigation. He said:

Since the two bank failures in March, some of our members have experienced significant short sales of their publicly traded equity securities that do not appear to reflect the issuers’ financial status or general industry conditions — indeed, short sales have followed relatively favorable earnings reports from some of the banks in question and from peer institutions.

We have also observed extensive social media engagement about the health of various banks and the sector generally that appears disconnected from the underlying financial realities. We urge the SEC to investigate this behavior.

The Consumer Bankers Association also issued a statement, urging policymakers to call out what it called “unethical behavior.” The concern is that “rock-bottom share prices could spark large deposit outflows, undermining the health of otherwise solid banks.”

Other banking experts, including Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, have called for an outright ban on short sales of bank stocks.

U.S. Bans on Short Selling Historically

Bans on short sales are not new. Napoleon not only outlawed the practice but had perpetrators imprisoned. In the first half of the 19th century, short selling was banned in the U.S. due to speculation regarding the War of 1812. The ban remained in place until the 1850s.

After the market crash of 1929, short selling was restricted again. During the four-year industry-wide bear raid initiating the Great Depression, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was reduced to 10 percent of its former value. Whenever the market decline slowed, speculators would step in to sell millions of dollars’ worth of stock they did not own but had ostensibly borrowed just for purposes of sale. Concerned about reports of bear raids by short sellers, Congress gave the newly created Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) power to regulate the practice. Today short selling is not illegal, but market manipulation – intentional conduct aimed at deceiving investors by artificially affecting stock prices – is.

When Lehman Brothers went bankrupt in September 2008, some analysts thought the investment firm’s condition was no worse than its competitors’. What brought it down was not undercapitalization but a massive bear raid on 9–11 of that year, when its stock price dropped by 41% in a single day. In 2008, the SEC took temporary emergency action to prohibit short selling in financial companies. But research by the Fed showed that the ban had little impact on stock prices, while it increased trading costs.

As posited by Matt Levine, banning short sales in a particular stock could itself trigger a run:

Depositors might deduce that the state of the banking industry is pretty bad if the government is stopping people from betting that First Republic might fail, and they would withdraw whatever is left of their deposits.

For that reason, a temporary ban on particular stocks might be counterproductive. But what about banning short sales altogether?

A Blanket Ban on Short Selling?

The SEC’s mandate includes preventing fraud in securities transactions, and shortselling is inherently fraudulent without the express consent of the stock’s true owners. It is a fraud on the owners, who bought the stock because they believed in the company and wanted to see its business thrive, not dive.

They may have checked the box that said they had read and agreed to the obscure terms in the multi-page contract involved in signing up for a brokerage account; but even if they did actually read it, they probably did not understand what they were agreeing to. As explained by securities fraud attorney Jeff Sonn:

[Y]our brokerage firm cannot lend out your stocks without your permission. However, you may have signed a customer agreement that explicitly allows your broker to lend out your securities.

This clause is often tucked deep within the customer agreement, and few investors pay much attention to it. In many cases, investors who have a margin account with their brokerage firm will be asked to sign a hypothecation agreement. This agreement generally gives the brokerage firm the right to lend shares of securities that you own.

The brokers can “rent” the stock in a margin account for a substantial fee—sometimes as much as 30% interest for a stock in short supply. But the real shareholders get none of this tidy profit, and they can be seriously harmed by the practice.

Many investors protect themselves from sudden drops in price by placing a standing “stop loss” order, which is activated if the market price falls below a certain price. Short sellers need only trigger these orders to initiate a cascade of selling. The stop loss orders act like a pre-programmed panic button, which can trigger further selling and more downward pressure on the stock price.

Some of the damage caused by short selling was blunted by the Securities Act of 1933, which imposed an “uptick” rule and forbade “naked” short selling. But both of these regulations have been circumvented today.

Short selling is sometimes justified as being necessary to keep a brake on the “irrational exuberance” that might otherwise drive popular stocks into dangerous “bubbles.” But if that were a necessary feature of functioning markets, short selling would also be happening in the markets for cars, television sets and computers, which it obviously isn’t. The reason it isn’t is that these goods can’t be “hypothecated” or duplicated on a computer screen the way stock shares can. Short selling is made possible because the brokers are not dealing with physical things but are simply moving numbers around on a computer monitor.

Short selling is market manipulation for private profit, intended to drive down targeted stock prices. It was banned early in U.S. history and a good case can be made that it should be banned again.

The Public Banking Option

While we’re waiting for federal action, there is a way that states can protect themselves from this sort of instability in the banking sector. The stellar model is North Dakota, where headlines claim “ND Financial Institutions Assert Good Health in Wake of Bank Failures Elsewhere.” North Dakota has its own “mini-Fed,” the Bank of North Dakota (BND). The bank is wholly owned by the state and is not publicly listed, so its shares cannot be shorted by speculators; and the vast majority of its deposits are state revenues, so there is no fear of a run on the bank.

Local North Dakota banks partner with the BND and can sell a portion of their loans to it if they need liquidity. The BND also guarantees many of the loans in which it takes a partnership interest. By increasing lending, the BND has increased the local money supply and stabilized the entire North Dakota economy, so there has been no decline to trigger a run on the banks.

As detailed by Stacy Mitchell, co-director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, North Dakota has six times as many locally owned financial institutions per person as the rest of the nation. These local banks and credit unions control fully 83 percent of deposits in the state — more than twice the 30 percent market share that small and mid-sized financial institutions have nationally. The state-owned BND backstops the local banks that service the economy, keeps North Dakota’s money local, augments the local money supply, and provides an additional source of revenue for the state.

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This article was first posted on ScheerPost.

Ellen Brown is an attorney, chair of the Public Banking Institute, and author of thirteen books including Web of DebtThe Public Bank Solution, and Banking on the People: Democratizing Money in the Digital Age. She also co-hosts a radio program on PRN.FM called “It’s Our Money.” Her 400+ blog articles are posted at EllenBrown.com

She is a regular contributor to Global Research.

Featured image: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission headquarters. (Source: AgnosticPreachersKid/CC BY-SA 3.0Commons)

Jeddah Meeting Unites the Arab League with Damascus

May 22nd, 2023 by Steven Sahiounie

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Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was met at the airport by Prince Badr bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz on May 18 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia ahead of the Arab League summit.

Prince Badr, who is the Deputy Emir of Makkah Province, walked with al-Assad into the reception room, where they sat and exchanged pleasantries.  This marks the first Arab League summit attended by al-Assad since 2011, when Syria was suspended after the US-NATO attack on Syria for regime change began.

On May 19, Assad was warmly embraced by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as they shook hands prior to the summit commencement. The Crown Prince was the host of the meeting, and had worked toward bringing Assad back into the brotherly league of Arab countries. After the summit, in which leaders spoke including al-Assad, the two met brieflt together.

Saudi Arabia would “not allow our region to turn into a field of conflicts”, the Crown Prince said, saying the page had been turned on “painful years of struggle”.

A consensus had been building across the Middle East for the need to engage Syria to end the conflict, and not turn a blind eye to suffering.  Leaders began to form the opinion that the Syrian conflict was an Arab problem, and should be solved by the Arab world.

The Middle East has long suffered from Western intervention and US-led regime change adventures, such as in Iraq, Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, and Syria.  The result has been catastrophic and left those countries devastated, most notably in Iraq, which has never recovered from the US invasion and occupation. Syria needs billions, and perhaps decades to recover.

The Arab League is just a meeting place to be used as networking tool bringing those with money to help Syria together, such as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).  Syria’s economy has collapsed and needs cash influx to rebuild infrastructure damaged and ruined from years of fighting against armed terrorists supported by the US and its allies.

The Obama-Biden regime change project in Syria depended on massive participation of Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Emirates.  Once the Crown Prince came into a leadership position in the Kingdom, he changed course and withdrew funding of terrorists following Radical Islam, a political ideology.

US-EU sanctions on Syria are an obstacle to helping Syria to rebuild and end the suffering of the people, including bringing home refugees from abroad. The UAE and Saudi Arabia hope to work toward lifting or easing the sanctions in order to help the Syrian people recover.

The Crown Prince is an independent leader and making decisions in the best interest of his country, which is not always aligned with US directives from the Oval Office. He has taken several steps to let Washington know that the Kingdom comes first, such as when he declined to increase oil output after US President Biden requested he pump more oil to bring down the price of gasoline for American consumers.

The current Saudi administration is at the height of its power, reminiscent of the days of King Faisal who shut off the oil supplies to the US following President Nixon’s $2.2 billion support to Israel during the October 1973 war.

King Faisal’s son, Prince Turki Al Faisal Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the former Saudi intelligence chief often is seen standing at the right hand of the Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman.  Prince Turki gave an interview in which he said the kingdom took a strict stance towards Israel decades ago, and it will not normalize ties with Israel before a solution is reached to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Saudi Arabia was once heavily influenced by the US, and this led to its involvement in the regime change attack on Syria. That influence has waned as the US has left the Middle East, instead focused on weakening Russia through the US-sponsored war in Ukraine.

With the US focused elsewhere, China stepped in as a peacemaker and brokered a deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which may end the war in Yemen, and paved the way toward inviting Syria back to the Arab League and the restoring of relations with Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Vision 2030 is a strategic framework to reduce Saudi Arabia’s dependence on oil, diversify its economy, and develop public service sectors such as health, education, infrastructure, recreation, and tourism. 

This has been the brain-child of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and to pull it off he needs peace, stability and prosperity in the region.

He also needs strong leaders in the region, and Assad has proven capable of restoring security to a war zone of international proportions, when the US, NATO, EU and US allies were supplying, funding and supporting the destruction of Syria for over a decade. President Trump finally cut the funding for the CIA program Timber Sycamore in 2017, which trained and supported the armed fighters in Syria.

Qatar and Morocco have resisted normalizing relations with Syria.  The chief reason is their alliance with the US, and their pattern of following directives written in Washington.

Qatar has tried to spin their hardline anti-Assad stance as being on the side of the Syrian people, social justice and grassroots movements, and opposed to autocratic Arab regimes. However, Qatar is governed by a Prince who is an authoritarian leader, with no elections, or democratic institutions.

Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani arrived in Jeddah, shook hands with the Crown Prince, and then left abruptly before addressing the summit. The Syrian state news agency said he shook hands with Assad before leaving.

Assad’s speech at the summit noted the “danger of expansionist Ottoman thought”, describing it as influenced by the Muslim Brotherhood.  This was in reference to President Erdogan of Turkey and his support of terrorists in Syria, and the continued Turkish occupation of Syria.

The Muslim Brotherhood is a global terrorist group, outlawed in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Syria and Egypt, but is still supported by Turkey and Qatar.

Vedant Patel, US State Department spokesperson, said that “we have a number of shared objectives” such as bringing home Austin Tice, a former US Marine who went missing in Syria in 2012. The US official position is against all peacemaking efforts by the Arab world towards Syria.

Even though the US sanctions have prevented chemotherapy drugs from entering Syria in the past, and recently have prevented the arrival of US and EU aid to the earthquake victims in Latakia and Aleppo, the US insists on keeping sanctions in place, while knowing that they will not remove the government, but will only make innocent civilians suffer.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attended the summit, and Crown Prince Mohammed restated Riyadh’s readiness to mediate in the war with Russia. Addressing the summit, Zelenskiy asked the delegates to support Ukraine’s formula for peace and thanked Riyadh for its role in mediating a prisoner release last year.

Arab Gulf states have tried to remain neutral in the Ukraine conflict despite Western pressure. Russia is a fellow OPEC+ member, which ties Putin to the oil rich Gulf monarchies.

While there may be division between Qatar and Syria now, they are united in their support of seeking the freedom of Palestine, which has been the source of conflict and extremism in the Arab world for at least 70 years. Under new leadership, new vision and new goals the Arab world might be entering a golden age.

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This article was originally published on Mideast Discourse.

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

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*** 

Italy has been turned into a belligerent country against Russia, under US-NATO command. In this climate of war all concerts of Russian musicians in Italy were cancelled. We broke this “war lockdown,” just as we had broken the one on the “pandemic.” We formed a promoting committee and organized the concert of pianist Valentina Lisitsa, that had been canceled by La Fenice Theater in Venice.

In Milan we were refused three theaters, one after another, the last one after we had signed the contract and paid. This gives the measure of the degree of democracy that exists in Italy today. Overcoming this and other obstacles, we were able to organize the concert in a TV studio and broadcast it nationwide through the Byoblu TV channel. This entailed a much higher expense. 

Valentina Lisitsa, who offered her concert completely free of charge, is not only an exceptional artist, but an exceptional person. She has put her career on the line to defend the truth about the war: the first cancellation of one of her concerts took place in Toronto in April 2015.  We invite you to watch her interview in English entitled “Valentina Lisitsa Tells Her Story”:

Click here to view the video with English subtitle.

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This article was originally published on byoblu in Italian.

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

The FBI Must be Held Accountable for Russiagate

May 22nd, 2023 by Dr. Paul Craig Roberts

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The long awaited US Justice Department “Russiagate” report by Special Counsel John Durham exonerated President Donald Trump from false charges and performed the important public service of making law and order conservatives aware that their beloved FBI is a criminal agency that created a false narrative for the purpose of discrediting President Trump and preventing him from reducing the dangerous tensions between the two main nuclear powers by normalizing relations with Russia. Trump’s intent would have taken away the Russian enemy necessary to the budgets and power of the US military/security complex. 

Durham names former Acting Director of the FBI Andrew McCabe and Peter Strzok, former Director of FBI Counterintelligence, as responsible for the plot to destroy a sitting president of the United States.  Durham’s 300 page report confirms what Trump said from the beginning that Russiagate was a FBI witch hunt completely devoid of evidence.

This has been hard on the print and TV and NPR presstitutes, who instead of actually investigating the Russiagate charges, served the FBI and the Democrats as a propaganda ministry preaching to the deceived American public the unfounded charges as if they were absolute truth handed down by God.  The American presstitute media, having failed to tell the truth about anything for the past three decades, and little before, was already on the credibility ropes, shedding viewers and readers to the extent that they are so dependent on advertisers’ revenue and under-the-table government and politicized NGO grants that they cannot afford to tell the truth.

CNN, ABC, CBS, Fox News, NPR, NY Times, Washington Post have lied so much that it is a comment on the insouciance and stupidity of the shrinking number of Americans who still rely on them.

Having made it clear that I regard Durham’s report as a public service to our country and our hopes of becoming again a free people, I now present my criticisms of Special Counsel John Durham’s report.

Durham’s report shields from responsibility for Russiagate both FBI director James B. Comey and FBI director Christopher Wray, Trump’s own amazingly stupid appointment.  Why does Durham shield these two conspirators against President Trump? As the US no longer has an investigatory media dedicated to establishing the truth, we will never know unless Durham tells us. I suspect the answer to my question is that Durham took all the risk possible for him to take by exonerating Trump and by proving that the FBI’s orchestrated “Russiagate” was a hoax.  McCabe and Strzok are not as protected by the ruling elite as Comey and Wray.

My next question is why did it take Durham so many years to establish what was crystal clear in 2017?  We knew from day one that Russiagate was a hoax. A federal judge, a member of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Count resigned.  As far a I can ascertain, US District Judge James Robertson resigned on the grounds that if the FBI can lie to a federal court  without accountability, he doesn’t want to be on the lied-to court. Even the whore media Washington Post reported his resignation.

The FISA Court tried to find out how many lies the Justice Department’s operatives were telling them, but seems to have failed: see this. Courts have no armed enforcement agents, so it is easy for the Executive Branch to ignore them.

My last question, the fundamental question, is:  Why did Durham suggest no indictments of the FBI personnel who clearly conducted treason against a sitting president of the United States, a high crime of treason punished by the death sentence?  The presstitutes–CNN, Fox News, ABC, NBS, NPR, NY Times, Washington Post–quickly closed this question by emphasizing how “embarrassed” the FBI was, in Durham’s words, by “failing to uphold their mission.”

Cleverly, the whore media has defined the FBI’s punishment not as indictment for treason, a high crime, but “embarrassment.”  The FBI’s treason is resolved as a case of FBI embarrassment. 

This is America today.  There is zero accountability of Government.  There will be no accountability unless Americans, what is left of them, succeed in a revolution against the Satanic tyrannical powers that are stealing their country from them.

*

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Paul Craig Roberts is a renowned author and academic, chairman of The Institute for Political Economy where this article was originally published. Dr. Roberts was previously associate editor and columnist for The Wall Street Journal. He was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy during the Reagan Administration. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.  

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Can Institutions Ever Remain Honest?

May 22nd, 2023 by Dr. Emanuel Garcia

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*** 

 

 

Thomas Jefferson wrote, in a letter to Edward Carrington in 1788 that “The natural progress of things is for liberty to yeild [sic], and government to gain ground.”

I have been reflecting a great deal on institutions in general, bureaucracies, governments, societies, foundations, and what not, and drawing upon my own experience as a member and occasional leader of such entities, I am moved to draw certain conclusions. These conclusions are themselves most relevant to my abiding interest in the machinations of power and the corruption that, it seems, inevitably occurs.

Many years ago I sat on the board of the American Psychiatric Association, the first Member-in-Training to have been elected to a two-year stint. During that time a petitioner presented herself to the Board, requesting reimbursement for legal fees that resulted when she initiated actions against a supervisor, another psychiatrist, who had engaged in a relationship with her. He – her supervisor – should have known, and acted, better, notwithstanding the fact that no coercion was involved.

I vividly remember that, after her presentation, Board members responded. We were sitting in a circle with a fairly large circumference, and at about the halfway point during the sequence of responses a shift occurred. Sympathy with the petitioner took a sudden turn and in the end, after the Board had heard from its lawyer about the risks of setting certain precedents, the petitioner’s request was refused. That turning tide … it occurred so quickly, so intangibly, but so very definitely in the end.

At that time as I sat, witness to the proceedings, I had the impulse to resign my position and walk out. But I didn’t.  I most certainly should have, because my action would have been a statement in support of what I knew, in my bones, was correct. I have regretted my inaction after so many years to this day. At the very least, however, it gave me a glimpse into the machinations of large structures, institutions and organizations, which, by some mysterious and almost ethereal – I was about to say ‘alchemical’ – process, end up betraying the very principles they espouse.

In retrospect, my walking out or not walking out wouldn’t have made any difference to the decided outcome of the petitioner, and I was either too immature or too cowardly to have voted with my feet – although, to my credit, I did vote, officially, in favor of the petitioner’s request.

Years later, in my role as the president of a large psychiatric group of private practitioners fighting against the inroads of managed care, I also noted the large gap between those who actively worked for the cause, and those who merely wished to reap the benefits that organization could provide. It was all too easy to feel scorn for the inactive body of members and embark on initiatives without their consent, even if these initiatives were positive and beneficial. We were a small group, however, never more than 88 in number at our peak, and those of us in positions of decision-making power did not abuse our privilege. Had we grown larger, and had the stakes been higher, I have little doubt that the temptations to dismiss the lazy multitude would have resulted in some form of corruption. You see, there is always an inner circle. Thankfully – or ruefully – enough, I got mainly grief for my years as president and I noted that as soon as members benefited from group action they felt no loyalty to stay on board. For example, when one psychiatrist, through our connections, had obtained a part-time job, he felt no need to renew his membership. Eventually our association died a quiet and natural death by disbanding without fanfare.

We are surrounded by organizations, structures, institutions, governments, parliaments, congresses, corporations and other bodies, and they, in their formidable complexity, wield tremendous power. They grow large, they amass funds, they are distant from the many minions who either vote or contribute to their being, and as a result a very definable line separates those who run such organizations from those whom they purport to represent.

When the New Zealand government locked down its entire citizenry, ostensibly to protect the health of the nation, it did so with no discussion, no debate, and by ignoring any dissenting input. When thousands gathered on the grounds of Parliament – the people’s grounds – to protest the mandates that issued from their so-called representatives, not one member heeded our requests or our pleas to hear us out. Not one member of Parliament, our body of elected representatives, deigned to step foot onto the grounds and meet and talk about our grievances, or our opinions. In the inglorious end they allowed the stormtroopers of the state to invade and attack peaceful petitioners who had the courage to believe in their rights of bodily sovereignty and political voice.

Rousseau famously declared, at the beginning of The Social Contract, that ‘Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains.” The chains he refers to are imposed by the very institutions that arise ostensibly to protect us. They grow, they grow more, and they grow every more distant, and at a certain point those within the institutions regard those whom they rule as underlings. They, in fact, enslave us and work against the beating hearts of the populace, the more to preserve their isolation and supremacy.

I am not against the principle of organization, I am not against the coherence of groups, I am not against entities that allow for cooperative strength, that marshal talents and energies on behalf of constructive enterprises.

But I believe that these groups, unless stringently checked, and unless stringently restricted in size and number, inevitably betray the principles that justified their coming into being.

At the juncture within which we find ourselves now, victims of and participants in the Corona Wars and the push to control and surveil every aspect of human behavior, we have an opportunity for renaissance. We have an opportunity to revise our conceptions of structure and to implement organizing bodies that work for, and not against, its members.

Imagine the coordinated body of cells, relatively small but cooperatively linked, that compose the human heart.

And now imagine the political counterpart, something perhaps like the Swiss cantons, that will revitalize our system of governance by eschewing the insidious pitfalls of accumulated power.

I hope I live to see that day.

*

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Dr. Garcia is a Philadelphia-born psychoanalyst and psychiatrist who emigrated to New Zealand in 2006. He has authored articles ranging from explorations of psychoanalytic technique, the psychology of creativity in music (Mahler, Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, Delius), and politics. He is also a poet, novelist and theatrical director. He retired from psychiatric practice in 2021 after working in the public sector in New Zealand. Visit his substack at https://newzealanddoc.substack.com/

He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

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Death’s Secretary Tries to Forget on Cape Cod

May 22nd, 2023 by Edward Curtin

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We have come to Cape Cod for a few days to forget the man-made world that is too much with us. I have asked my forgettery to get to work. As my childhood friends used to say to me, “Eddy spaghetti, use you forgetty.” The adults had no idea what they meant.  Many still do not.

Here slowness reigns and forgetting seems possible, even if for just a few days.  In mid-May, the beaches are deserted except for the swooping gulls, the sandpipers prancing across the sand, and a few seals eyeing you from just off-shore.  An occasional frigate bird glides past. The wind rushes through your ears, making conversation almost impossible.

But no words are needed here, for the ocean speaks its own language and the tales it tells are deep.  You can only hear them if you shut up and listen. It utters reminders of the immensity of creation and the puniness of human aspirations. The sea dismisses with a roar the pretensions to power of the Lilliputians.

One minute it glistens in the bright blue sunshine and says all is well; then suddenly, as now, the sky and sea turn very dark and foreboding, the increased wind whipping the whitecaps into a maniacal threat.  There are limits, it wails, and do not try to exceed them, for if, in your hubris, you attempt it, you will discover that when you think you’re on the top, you’ll be heading for the bottom.

As the Greeks knew so well, Nemesis awaits your response.

If you stand on the forty mile long strand of the sandy outer beach and look out to sea, you realize that no matter how well you sail through life, and how deftly you tack your boat, you are not ultimately in control.  Those who seek to control others lack the spirit of the wind, the unseen mystery through which we move.

Henry David Thoreau stood on this beach looking out to sea and wrote:

A man may stand there and put all America behind him.

I wish it were so simple.  To forget the man-made world that is too much with us isn’t easy.  Ironically, it can only be briefly forgotten, for when we come to a beautiful and wild sea shore like Cape Cod when rarely a soul is around, the contemplation of its majesty implicitly draws us to compare it to human endeavors.  I look out across the wide Atlantic and see not just its wild power but the feeble pretensions of the Atlanticist countries that think they can still control the world.  Their illusions die hard as their sand castle empire crumbles before the incoming waves.

And here on this long stretch between bay and ocean, it is hard to forget that 10,000 years before the Pilgrims came ashore, the native peoples lived here and were eventually driven from their land.  Not far from where I stand sits the Nauset Light house, named for the Nauset original free people that once lived here.  You can travel all across the United States and even if you wish to forget, there are constant reminders of the genocide of the native peoples by the European settlers.  You bow your head in shameful remembrance.

Of course, to forget, it is crucial to remember to try to forget, and in doing so you are caught in the human web of thought.

We tell ourselves, let us go then, you and I, to contemplate the sea and sky, to let go of all the world’s woes and pack up our sorrows and give them to the elements as we vacate our minds.  Then – ouch! – we are jerked back by the sight of a dead sea gull on the sand or a plaque informing you that the long stretch of outer beach you walk with the ghost of Thoreau was preserved as the Cape Cod National Seashore by President Kennedy in 1961.  You find yourself walking with many ghosts: dead writers, sailors drowned in shipwrecks, ancient dead horseshoe crabs along the strand, and an assassinated president who loved this sea and land.  You realize that nature, while beautifully majestic, is also a cruel taskmaster, but not as cruel as humans, so many of whom seem to revel in killing.

You struggle to dismiss the thoughts associated with these aperçus, yet you immediately wonder if they are auguries of past events or harbingers of something else.  You feel you have been ambushed by another reality.  You hear Billy Joel’s words from his historical song, We Didn’t Start the Fire, “JFK blown away, what else do I have to say.”

You is I, of course, and although these words are addressed to those who might read them, I am also writing for myself, and I sense my word usage was a way to distance myself from what I sometimes find hard to accept: that for some reason of character or experience or both, it is my fate to be unable to escape for long from what my perceptions suggest to me.  Wherever I have gone on that strange word “vacation,” I have been trailed by thoughts that others may consider inappropriate for the occasion.  Un-vacation thoughts.  Wherever I have traveled I have always felt like William Blake as he wandered through each chartered street of London:

In every cry of every Man,
In every Infants cry of fear,
In every voice: in every ban,
The mind-forg’d manacles I hear

Is it a blessing or curse?  I don’t know.  Such knowing is overrated.  My father, an eloquent and brilliant man with deep religious faith, used to end his letters to me with the words: quién sabe (who knows)?

There is, however, another form of knowing that is vastly underrated; it is historical, a knowledge of history that illuminates the present.  I mentioned the Nauset people who lived on Cape Cod when the Pilgrims first temporarily dropped anchor in what is now called Provincetown Harbor.  The Nauset people’s story, like those of the other native people’s across the United States, is tied to the U.S. history of empire in significant ways.

This country was conceived in the blood of all the original free peoples who lived here for eons.  They were massacred to make way for the white technologists who sent their iron horses west as they slaughtered the horse riding natives – including the Pueblo, Pawnee, Comanche and Lakota nations – and other natives who went by shanks mare.

This history is crucial knowledge, for without it one cannot grasp the demonic nature of today’s U.S. wars throughout the world.  The history has always been demonic.  Nemesis is surely watching now, for what began in the blood of others, has a tendency to blow back on those who first unleashed the fire.  Those of us alive today might not have started the fire, but if we don’t know and recognize its long-term spiritual effects, we can’t understand today’s U.S. provoked war against Russia via Ukraine or much else.

If you wish to praise the American Revolution, you should be sure to emphasize its demonic side.  The mythology of the shining city on the hill needs to be abandoned.  American exceptionalism needs to be jettisoned together with reminders of Washington and Jefferson, both rich slave holders. There are no exceptional countries.  The Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution read beautifully on paper as ideals, but those who promoted them were far from it.

Is it exceptional to massacre the native peoples and steal their land?

Is it exceptional to have built an economy on the backs of slaves kidnapped from Africa?

Is it exceptional to plunder foreign lands and make them part of your own?

Is it exceptional to wage endless foreign wars, assassinate at will, and steal the resources of other people to fuel a deranged consumer society?

Is it exceptional to grant full freedom to criminal corporations to pollute the land and water?

Is it exceptional to create endless crises and use propaganda to transfer vast sums of wealth from regular people to the super rich?

Exceptional perhaps, but only in the sense that other past empires considered themselves god-like and immune to Nemesis’s warning of retribution for such crimes?

A dark wind is blowing across the beach now.  The sand stings.  I see a storm coming, so we will leave for now and go to the nearest restaurant where we will order a dozen oysters for a buck a piece and drink some wine to enjoy our last day here.  When the dozen are gone, perhaps another dozen will taste even better.  All will be well for a small slice of time.  I will remember to forget.

I might later remember a photo of Gabriel García Márquez’s face, the look of a bon vivant who told stories to preserve the mystery of our ordinary, extraordinary lives.  The fierce journalist who exposed the mystifications that are used by the powerful to deny regular people their democratic rights.  A man who could enjoy life and oppose oppression.

If you can believe it, I will remember that he spoke of “the mission assigned to us by fate.”  And that the great English essayist John Berger says of him, when comparing his face to that of Rembrandt’s blind Homer:

There is nothing pretentious in this comparison: we, Death’s secretaries, all carry the same sense of duties, the same oblique shame (as we have survived, the best have departed) and the same obscure pride which belongs to us personally no more than the stories we tell.

Berger adds that Death’s secretaries are handed a file by Death that is filled with sheets of black paper which they can somehow read and out of which they make stories for the living.  No matter how fantastic they may seem, only one’s incredulity blocks one from entering their truths.

JFK had a secretary named Lincoln, Evelyn Lincoln, who late one night when tidying up his desk, found a slip of paper in his handwriting on the floor.  It wasn’t black.  On it was written a prayer Kennedy loved.  It was a message from Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln: “I know there is a God – and I see a storm coming.  If he has a place for me, I believe that I am ready.”

It’s worth remembering that was soon after the Bay of Pigs when Kennedy said he wanted “to splinter the CIA in a thousand pieces and scatter it to the winds,” and that he had just returned from a meeting with Nikita Khrushchev where he was shocked by Khrushchev’s apparent insouciance to an accelerating threat of nuclear war.

Death’s secretary can’t forget.

And yet those oysters.  Their taste upon the tongue!  So exquisite!  The sea’s sweetness in every swallow.

*

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This article was originally published on the author’s blog site, Behind the Curtain.

Edward Curtin is a prominent author, researcher and sociologist based in Western Massachusetts.  He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG). 

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Two UK Babies Dead From Myocarditis: Total of 16 Babies Developed “Severe Myocarditis” in Wales & England, Eight Ended Up in Intensive Care

By Dr. William Makis, May 22, 2023

This is a major international story. On Tuesday, May 16, 2023, the WHO issued an alert that there had been 15 newborns in the UK, 10 in Wales and 5 in England who were struck down with severe myocarditis (inflammation of the heart) from June 2022 to March 2023. (click here)

Japan Hosting G7 to Blast China

By Peter Koenig, May 22, 2023

China has hit back at the group of seven developed countries, expressing its strong dissatisfaction with G7 communiqué that took aim at Beijing on issues including the South China Sea.

Template for a Transformation of Human Society

By Julian Rose, May 22, 2023

There are many thousands of groups that have formed themselves around the need to stand against the globalist attack on life on earth. There are thousands more presenting alternative vision/suggestions for a better future. And there are a small number who are doing both; declaring that one must commit to stopping the worst while simultaneously nurturing into life a new template for human and ecological emancipation.

Demented Policing: Tasering the Elderly

By Dr. Binoy Kampmark, May 22, 2023

Australia is a country addictively hostile to the elderly.  Despite being a continent that speaks to immemorial origins, respect for those who age is uncommon.  In The Lucky Country, that seminal, repeatedly misunderstood text, written in frustrated, sour prose, Donald Horne observes that Australia is not a place where one should grow old.

Supreme Court Justice Gorsuch Issues Excoriating Review of COVID Lockdown Policies Including Business Closures and Vaccine Mandates and Calls Them ‘Among the Greatest Intrusions on Civil Liberties in the History of the Nation’

By Lewis Pennock, May 22, 2023

A Supreme Court justice has labeled the avalanche of covid lockdown measures imposed across America as among ‘the greatest intrusions on civil liberties in the peacetime history of this country’.

“The Treason of the Intellectuals”

By Emanuel Pastreich, May 19, 2023

That education was a privilege alright, but one that brought with it an absolute obligation to serve society, to stand up bravely for the interests of the nation, and above all for the interests of those who have not had the opportunity to learn how the system works, to study about science and technology, about foreign lands and ancient things.

“Collective Security” and the United Nations System of International Relations

By Dr. Vladislav B. Sotirović, May 19, 2023

An idea of effective collective security is the foundation of the United Nations. Fundamentally, collective security has to be a system to protect global peace and security through the common agreement and activity of all nations.

Failure of U.S. Patriot ADS and Western Combat Systems. Does Kiev Possess the Means to Win the Conflict?

By Uriel Araujo, May 19, 2023

On May 16, Ukraine claimed its air defenses intercepted six Russian Kinzhal hypersonic missiles and shot them down amid “exceptionally dense” barrage fired – supposedly thanks to the arrival of Patriots, among other Western combat systems. Kinzhals are supposed to be able to overcome all existing air defense systems, and Moscow denies its Kinzhals were intercepted.

An Interview with Satan on the Eve of His Retirement

By Dr. Emanuel Garcia, May 19, 2023

He didn’t look at all as I had expected. I traversed the quiet room and found a portly older gentleman, immaculately and rather formally dressed – a finely spun woolen Navy blue suit, slightly lighter blue tie, starched collar and cuffs. He seemed quite comfortable and turned a kindly, inviting smile towards me as I advanced.

The Feds and Their Copycats

By Judge Andrew P. Napolitano, May 19, 2023

The federal government recently revealed that at least 50 U.S. government personnel working in 10 foreign countries have had their mobile devices hacked by unknown persons who employed software known as “zero-click.” The zero-click product, called Pegasus, is manufactured by an Israeli high-tech company, called NSO Group.

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Donald Trump calls Russiagate a “hoax” but it is in fact much worse. The manufactured scandal was part of successful efforts to intimidate, to censor, and to discredit opposition to state narratives. Russiagate is used to make the case for the proxy war in Ukraine. Here in the US it plays a role in subjugating the Black liberation movement. It is the 21st century version of COINTELPRO.

“trenches of ideas are more powerful than weapons.” (Jose Marti)

“…the American public was scammed.” (Donald Trump)

Six years and millions of dollars later, the “Durham report” released on May 15th confirmed once again what a few of us had the nerve to argue before all of the reports and stories that subsequently emerged – that “Russiagate” was the most massive fraud ever perpetrated on the U.S. public by a section of the capitalist rulers and represented a maturing of a form of U.S. neofascism unique to this historical moment. 

The public may have forgotten that during the Trump Administration U.S. Attorney General Bob Barr assigned John H. Durham as special counsel to review the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation of the Trump campaign.  The Durham report, as it is being referred to in the media, corroborated many of the conclusions reached by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report in 2019. Among the findings in the Horowitz report, was evidence suggesting that the FBI made what was referred to as “basic, fundamental, and serious errors”in applying for a warrant to surveil the Trump campaign.

Durham Report Reveals the Real Threat to “Democracy” – The FBI Weaponized by Democrat Party Affiliated Elites

However, the Durham report went further suggesting that the US Justice Department and FBI “failed to uphold their mission” when they launched their initial investigation of former president Donald Trump. What the report alluded to and what is important to remind the public of, is that the “investigation” by the FBI of the Trump campaign constituted a full-blown counterintelligence campaign. Dubbed “Crossfire Hurricane,” the investigation of a presidential contender from one of the two major parties allowed to conduct national presidential campaigns without overbearing legal constraints, was truly unprecedented.

The Durham report was quite explicit: 

“Based on the review of Crossfire Hurricane and related intelligence activities, we conclude that the Department and the FBI failed to uphold their mission of strict fidelity to the law,”

In other words, the FBI operated beyond the boundaries of the law. Let’s examine what this means for the character of what is called U.S. “democracy.”

Taken together – the Mueller report that failed to uncover collusion between the Russian government and the Trump Campaign, and the Horowitz report that revealed violations of FBI protocols and which generated legal proceedings against some agents related to information used to justify launching Crossfire Hurricane, and now the Durham report – it is clear that the political and cultural phenomenon known as “Russiagate” could be legitimately characterized as a state-sponsored domestic psy-op. 

Where are the criminal prosecutions?

Democrats have already cried bias since Durham was appointed by Attorney General Bill Barr under Trump.  One of the reasons that right-wing neoliberal corporate press disappeared the investigation was that rumors were circulating that the investigation was not going to provide additional propaganda for democrats and might even prove embarrassing for democrats who continued to insist that there was a legitimate basis for the concerns of collusion between the Russian Federation and the Trump Administration. Remember, the infamous “Steele Dossier” was paid for by the Clinton campaign and played a significant role in the mythology of Russigate.

The findings of the Durham report should be the final nail in the coffin of Russiagate, but it won’t be. The New York Times is typical of much of the coverage of the Durham report. Look at the framing from the headline of their story: “In Final Report, Trump-Era Special Counsel Denounces Russia Investigation.”

They then proceed to dismiss the report.

“Mr. Durham’s 306-page report revealed little substantial new information about the inquiry, known as Crossfire Hurricane, and it failed to produce the kinds of blockbuster revelations impugning the bureau of politically motivated misconduct that former President Donald J. Trump and his allies suggested Mr. Durham would uncover.”

The Times that pretends to be a champion of democracy is not troubled by the FBI’s “confirmation bias” and a “lack of analytical rigor” that led it to penetrate the campaign of someone running for president. Here we have a state agency injecting itself into a campaign driven by what can only be seen as a partisan bias.

For the New York Times, the damning information from the Mueller to the Durham reports, that at minimum should be seen a dangerous partisan weaponization of the FBI, is no more egregious than the state-private sector collaboration that matured during the Russiagate period that has resulted in the normalization of censorship. For the Times and most of the liberal press in the U.S., an uncritical acceptance of official political/ideological lines that are handed down from the government and capitalist elites on issues ranging from the Ukrainian war to covid strategies is not a threat but a protection against “misinformation and disinformation”!

The complete abandonment of any commitment to liberal democratic rights represented by this position once again is being translated into an open assault on the democratic and human rights of political dissenters in the U.S.  The erosion of liberal democratic rights and the enhancement of the repressive capacity of the state largely constructed by neoliberalism over the last six years has made it easier once again to target the group that is always viciously targeted in moments of social and political crisis – African American radicals.

Despite the fact that the Mueller report concluded that there was no evidence of Trump campaign collusion with the Russian Federation and that Russian election interference was largely an urban myth – the FBI’s absurd charges against the African People’s Socialist Party (APSP) and its Chairman and supporters is based on the acceptance that the Russians are still involved in “malign influence” campaigns across the U.S.  The FBI claims that the APSP has committed the ideological crime of “sowing dissent” among the public by their opposition to the Biden initiated war in Ukraine.

On what became “Russiagate,” the Durham report stated that FBI agents should have engaged in an “objective and honest assessment” of the information that it was basing its decision-making processes on that justified it infiltrating the Trump campaign. “Unfortunately, it did not,” writes John Durham. But that comment suggests an objectivity that is mythological.

The FBI are political police. Their mission is to protect the capitalist state and status quo. Counterintelligence is a dirty game. If activists had not stolen documents that revealed the counterintelligence program (COINTELPRO) against the Black liberation movement and other left forces, we would have never known about it and charges of FBI illegality directed at our movement would have been met with charges that the allegations were indicative of discredited “conspiracy theories.”

The targeting of Omali Yeshitela and the organization and movement that he leads was a deliberate political act meant to accomplish two objectives: discredit and silence one of the sharpest and most consistent critic of U.S. imperial policies on the U.S. left and internationally, and to send a message to all of the forces on the left and right that opposition to the neoliberal state will not be without consequences.

One point that we are in agreement with the New York Times is that Russiagate will not die as long as it is a useful tool for intimidating the public. The lawlessness of the FBI is not really lawlessness, it is standard operating procedures when law is instrumental, a weapon of the class struggle. Sanctions, coups, assassinations are all illegal, but essentially that is of little importance to colonial/capitalist power. What matters to neoliberal capitalist power is “sowing discord” that might result in opposition to its program. When that happens, it does not matter if you are the leader of a wing of the bourgeoisie and former president with neofascist proclivities, or the leader of a Black socialist party, you will find yourself facing the full force of the capitalist ruling class and its state power.

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Ajamu Baraka is Chairman of the Coordinating Committee of the Black Alliance for Peace and an editor and contributing columnist for the Black Agenda Report. Baraka serves on the Executive Committee of the U.S. Peace Council and leadership body of the U.S. based United National Anti-War Coalition (UNAC) and the Steering Committee of the Black is Back Coalition.

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The Circus of the West. “The Unreality Bubble”

May 22nd, 2023 by Karsten Riise

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The fall of Bakhmut right on Zelensky’s visit to G7 in Japan is a complete humiliation of the West. All NATO is run down. But for all their defeats, US and Western deceptions rave on.

Deceptions of US Media

Just pretend that Bakhmut didn’t fall or that it doesn’t matter.

Just pretend that US Patriot systems cannot be destroyed. US media excel in misleading their audience.

Russia’s destruction of the Patriot air defense, if true, is a catastrophe for the US. Izvestia today 21 May 2023 described in detail how Russia did it, and in a convincing way. But the US denies that as well.

Pretend also that China will do the US’ bidding relative to Russia. That’s absurd, so the US pretends it anyway.

US media are brazen. Not only do they censor the fact that Ukraine lost Bakhmut – they even make a fake story about Ukraine making advances in “Bakhmut suburbs“. What “suburbs”? Ukraine took a bit of empty farmland north and south of Bakhmut some days ago, and that advance has even been checked. Deliberately, US media misguide their readers.

US media excel in deception.

US Has No Legitimacy

Long ago, I started to see state-directed falsehoods disseminated in Western media. It has only become worse. And these falsehoods are then taken as “truths” by politicians, analysts, etc.

What is the advantage of the West? What puts the West in a “better” position than, say, Russia?

The West, its politicians, media, even public live in an unreality-bubble. Strange that precisely the countries which claim to have the only “free” and “trustworthy” media are so active in disinformation and deception that they have put even themselves out of connection with reality.

The non-West is not Fooled

Just heard from Africa this morning. They know precisely what is going on, and where the World is heading. Africa sees the fall of Western hegemony. Africa also sees through the West’s lies about “helping” Africa, and how the US is right now deliberately creating African suffering by sabotaging the electrical supply of nuclear power plants in South Africa. Don’t expect too much friendliness from Africa towards the West when Western power fades.

G7 has become a circus. Travelling around to Hiroshima and other towns with its public performance. But it’s just for entertainment. As Western power unravels, many in the rest of the World will find it even more entertaining.

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Karsten Riise is a Master of Science (Econ) from Copenhagen Business School and has a university degree in Spanish Culture and Languages from Copenhagen University. He is the former Senior Vice President Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Mercedes-Benz in Denmark and Sweden.

He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

Featured image is from the author

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On European tours of Italy, Germany, France, and Britain, Zelensky raised billions in military aid. But this is not enough. Now he is announcing that soon a coalition of European countries will supply Kyiv with fighter bombers to be used against Russia. Among these fighters could be the Italian Tornadoes with attack capabilities, even nuclear ones, flying at very low altitudes to evade enemy radars. Italy is now a belligerent country: a major NATO “rapid reaction” exercise has just taken place in Sardinia with the participation of over 2,000 soldiers from Germany, Belgium, Holland, Norway, and Latvia. Italy, as the host nation, also provided logistical support. This war exercise, however, did not take place under Italian command but under US command. 

All of this leads to growing military spending. Europe’s spending grew in 2022 by 13% compared to the previous year, recording the strongest increase for 30 years now. Italy’s annual military spending rose in 2022 to more than €30 billion, or an average of more than €80 million a day. According to the obligation assumed with NATO, Italy must bring its military spending to an average of over 100 million euros a day. This growing drain on public money to finance the war exacerbates the situation of the vast majority of the population. The cost of living grew by more than 8% in one year, mainly due to the increase in energy prices caused by the NATO-EU strategy to block Russian energy supplies to European Union countries

An even more serious crisis is on the horizon, it is caused by the US federal debt which has doubled in ten years, rising to over 31 trillion dollars. Faced with the risk of default, ie insolvency, Washington is discussing raising the “debt ceiling“. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warns: “A default would trigger a global recession, and risk undermining US global economic leadership and raising doubts about our ability to defend national security interests.” What they fear most in Washington is the de-dollarization of the world economy to the extent that the Chinese yuan and other currencies are used in international trade.

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This article was originally published on byoblu in Italian.

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

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Japan Hosting G7 to Blast China

May 22nd, 2023 by Peter Koenig

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Background

China has hit back at the group of seven developed countries, expressing its strong dissatisfaction with G7 communiqué that took aim at Beijing on issues including the South China Sea.

A spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry said the G-7’s approach has no international credibility whatsoever, it insists on manipulating China-related issues. The spokesman added that the G7 trumpets that it wants to move towards a peaceful, stable, and prosperous world, but in fact, it is hindering world peace, undermining regional stability and inhibiting the development of other countries. Earlier, G7 countries issued a statement, accusing China of coercion. They said they were gravely concerned about territorial disputes in the South China Sea. 

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PressTV: What is your take on this?

Peter Koenig: First, the world must know that the G7 is only a group of power-thirsty western countries, considering themselves the cream of the crop – but listen well – they have absolutely no legitimacy in the world.

They are not even an established NGO. Yet, they want to dictate the world along with other similar such non-institutions, like the G20 and the World Economic Forum (WEF), what the rest of the universe must do, whom they must listen to – and who calls the shots.

At least China and Russia, and ever more countries of the east, and increasingly also the west, and / or Global South, are resisting this One Polar World Order, or what they call “rules-based order”.

It says exactly what it is, its rules made by those self-imposed rulers, not based on any international laws, without any international legitimacy. None whatsoever.

Now, it is no coincidence that this G7 meeting is hosted by Japan – and in Hiroshima, the city of utter devastation by a US nuclear device in August 1945, just days before Japan’s official rendition. The G7 want to increase their intimidation on China by talking from an eastern neighbor, almost 80 years ago destroyed by the US, now totally sold to the corrupted west. 

What many people do not know, is that recently Washington promised Japan – if they take a firm anti-China and pro-western stance in questions of the South China Sea, foremost Taiwan, but also on North Korea – they would be rewarded by Washington – with nuclear protection.

Can you imagine, how far the world – the western world – has gone? Blackmail, corruption – no end. And where there is a corruptor, there must be a corruptee – otherwise the deal does not work.

No ethics left – no chance for peace with such pretexts and values of aggression, just pure domination.

Attesting to aggression is the NATO presence at the G7 meeting in Japan. Their attendance has a significant role.

Japan has already called on NATO to open an office in Japan – that would be the first in Asia.

Times are long gone when NATO was the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the post WWII “protective umbrella” – what they pretended to be — it has long become the west’s deadliest war machine, stretching its tentacles around the globe as it feels fit – all funded by the US and its vassal European allies. Looks like the next tentacle-stop is Japan. 

In 1991, when the Soviet Union came to an end, NATO membership was 12, the founding members of the defense / war treaty organization. Today, May 2023, membership has grown to 31 with all new members being in Europe and ever-more encircling Russia.

And this despite the promise by the US government of George H. W. Bush (father Bush), not one inch to the east [of Berlin] – one of the worst infractions on peace since the end of WWII.

Western money is deviated by NATO members for war and killing, money that could be used at home productively, for poverty alleviation, economic development, job creation. Poverty in the west is rampant oscillating between 25% and 30% of the population. But do not expect the mainstream to speak about it.

That is why NATO is now also in Japan — trying to make a menacing impression on China.

To those who know that sheer power and demonstrated hegemony will NEVER win – not with the most formidable financial backing – against humanity, against the human strive to live together in Peace and to cooperate – this Japan G7 event should be a signal, from which looking forward may become a good lesson for the people of the world. It is not a question of if, but a question of when, the western system implodes.

Sad is, that on the way there many people may be killed, injured, and driven into misery, by non-warranted, nonsensical wars and conflicts, all in a futile attempt to keep western hegemony alive.

It is nothing but propaganda to the rest of the ignorant planet’s inhabitants, who have not yet realized that G7 is no legitimate entity, nor G20, nor the WEF, nor the Bilderbergers – which are, as we speak, meeting in a secretive location near Lisbon, Portugal – they are all make-believe talking sessions of the rich and powerful – to intimidate the world.

But they have ZERO legitimacy.

What really counts is what we see developing in the East – through the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), through Chinas Belt and Road Initiative, through the BRICS – it is an ever-growing attempt at peaceful cooperation around the world, at establishing diplomatic relations and common projects – at building, rather than demolishing.

PressTV: What do you believe Washington wants to achieve with this G7 event in Japan?

Are they not aware of what is really going on? – Besides, Washington and by extension NATO, are already so much overburdened with wars and conflicts around the world, that they could hardly afford another conflict, one with China, of all countries. 

PK: From my perspective, this “intimidation maneuver” is pure propaganda. Talking about Taiwan, the key issue played out by Washington and its western puppet allies, the US and most EU governments know that there is no chance in the world that the US / NATO could start a new conflict with China. 

Not only is China’s army at least at par with the western monsters, but China would not be alone. Her closest ally, Russia, would be immediately on China’s side. And that unperturbed by the war they fight on the Ukraine front.

Also, ties between Taiwan and mainland China have been growing ever stronger over the past years, with the CCP being strongly invested in Taiwan and vice-versa. Executives on both ends of corporate and financial business, travel back and forth between the political and economic power centers of mainland China, Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and others – and Taipei.

There is a natural interaction, that has been growing ever more solid over the past years. It is also just a question of time, when Taiwan will be naturally integrated into mainland China – peacefully, if the west does not interfere. And the west does not have the means to interfere, although they keep pretending, they do.

Let us look at reality, if we glance at the world today, there are at least 7 active wars waging throughout the globe, most if not all, initiated by the US / NATO war machine, plus numerous conflicts around the planet. In summary, the West destroys, kills, and abolishes economies, livelihoods, for the sake of its full spectrum dominance – One World Order. 

But their capacity is limited. The US military budget may be the world’s largest, but it is blown out of proportion, because the known corruption of the US military industrial complex, the US war machine may be overpriced by as much as a factor of 10.

Waging wars on 7 fronts and supplying hundreds of billions of dollars-worth of arms to Ukraine – and through it to the black-market – the west has hardly enough firepower left to start a new conflict.

While the West aggresses and destroys, the East is constructing, building new relations, linking countries together with refreshed diplomacy – see Iran – Saudi Arabia, with hopefully an end to the horrendous 8-year long Saudi / US / UK war against Yemen.

The Chinese diplomacy initiative is seeking to improve the balance of power- working towards a peaceful multi-polar world.

Multi-polar is the solution for a world in a better equilibrium.

There is no way around it if we want Peace – and that is what the East wants – while the west literally lives off wars, off conflicts.

The US economy would collapse, if tomorrow were Peace.

It is the war machine that is the backbone of the western world’s economy.

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

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

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Sources

Major NEWS out of UK 

This is a major international story. On Tuesday, May 16, 2023, the WHO issued an alert that there had been 15 newborns in the UK, 10 in Wales and 5 in England who were struck down with severe myocarditis (inflammation of the heart) from June 2022 to March 2023. (click here)

The cases occurred from June 2022 with a peak in November 2022 involving babies under 28 days old.

Out of the affected babies, one has died. Eight were treated in intensive care, where they were intubated, put on a ventilator and received circulatory support.

“Health chiefs were spooked by the ‘unusual’ spike in cases over such a short space of time, prompting a thorough investigation.”

According to Zerohedge: “in the same hospital (covering the South Wales region) over the previous six years, “only one other similar case has been identified.

Official explanation

The UKHSA said it was “investigating the situation in England”.

PCR testing of nine of the children confirmed they had coxsackie B3 or B4 — types of enterovirus.

Dr. Christopher Williams, consultant epidemiologist for Public Health Wales, said: ‘Enterovirus is a common infection of childhood, causing a range of infections.

It only affects the heart on very rare occasions. This cluster is unusual due to the number of cases reported in a relatively short time frame.

“Investigations are now ongoing in collaboration with the pediatric team in the children’s hospital of Wales to understand the reasons why and to investigate any further cases that may be reported in the coming weeks and months.”

Another baby died of myocarditis, not part of the 15 UK newborns 

Another baby who is not included with the 15 newborns affected, also died of myocarditis. Joann Edwards from Mountain Ash in South Wales gave birth to Elijah on Feb.25, 2022 but within a few days of being at home, he became lethargic, developed jaundice and was taken to the hospital when he was a week old because he stopped feeding.

The baby was diagnosed with sepsis, myocarditis and died within days of hospitalization (click here)

Mrs. Edwards said her family has been ignored and was ‘gobsmacked’ after hearing about other cases as they were ‘led to believe that we were a one-off’.

Cwm Taf Morgannwg Health Board is now probing Elijah’s death.

What is going on?… 

16 UK infants with myocarditis, 2 died, 8 in Intensive Care.

This is an extremely important story.

I don’t buy the official explanation. It’s very suspect. Of these 16 cases, 9 were allegedly diagnosed by PCR tests and all tested positive for enterovirus.

The problem is, we know that PCR tests were notorious for producing over 95% false positive results during the COVID-19 pandemic which were used to drive fear.

In reality, anyone can over-cycle these PCR tests to produce false positives for any virus, and you have the perfect cover-up.

And if the World Health Organization is involved, the probability of fraud and cover-up approaches 100%.

COVID-19 mRNA vaccinated mothers… 

My first question is: were the 16 mothers COVID-19 mRNA vaccinated?

Given how aggressively COVID-19 mRNA vaccines were pushed on pregnant women, it is highly probable that they were. For the sake of argument, let’s assume they were.

My second question is: Can the mother’s COVID-19 vaccination cause myocarditis injury in her newborn infant and if so, how?

The short answer is: YES.

COVID-19 mRNA Vaccines are crossing the Placenta…

COVID-19 mRNA vaccines, including Pfizer and Moderna, are delivered in the form of mRNA packaged in lipid nanoparticles or LNPs.

These LNPs CAN AND DO cross the placenta and here are the studies proving it:

  1. Dec.2015 – Nanoparticles can cross mouse placenta & cause injury (click here)
  2. Nov.2020 – Translocation of (ultra)fine particles and nanoparticles across the placenta: a systematic review on the evidence of in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo studies (click here)
  3. Dec.2022 – Lipid Nanoparticle composition drives mRNA delivery to the placenta (click here)
  4. Feb.2023 – Ionizable Lipid nanoparticles for in vivo mRNA delivery to the placenta during pregnancy (click here)

Bottom line: COVID-19 mRNA vaccinated mothers deliver COVID-19 mRNA vaccine LNPs across the placenta to their unborn child.

Once LNPs enter the fetus, they have negative clinical impact on it. A study by Young et al. showed that some pregnant mice lost their fetuses when they were given LNPs (click here)

This was exposed recently by well known whistleblower Jikkyleaks and has been dubbed #Placentagate.

Jikky says: “This could be one of the biggest scandals in medicine” (click here)

My Take… 

COVID-19 mRNA vaccinated mothers deliver LNPs with mRNA to their unborn children through the placenta. This was never studied by Pfizer or Moderna.

Once the LNPs are in the fetus, they distribute freely throughout, including into the baby’s heart where spike protein expression causes inflammation (myocarditis)

Furthermore, mRNA was also recently detected in breast milk, in the paper by Hanna et al. (click here)

US Genomics Expert Kevin McKernan wrote a substack article about how mRNA ingested by the infant through breast milk, could exert a clinical effect by:

  1. COVID-19 vaccine mRNA is RNase resistant due to modified N1-methyl-pseudoU, so it doesn’t break down easily;
  2. Baby’s oral mucosa can be transfected by mother’s mRNA;
  3. mother’s mRNA can survive the baby’s gut and digestive process.

Look at this fascinating explanation: (click here)

“(Breast) Milk is considered as more than a source of nutrition for infants and is a vector involved in the transfer of bioactive compounds and cells.

Milk contains abundant quantities of extracellular vesicles (EVs) that may originate from multiple cellular sources. These nano-sized vesicles have been well characterized and are known to carry a diverse cargo of proteins, nucleic acids, lipids and other biomolecules.

Milk-derived EVs have been demonstrated to survive harsh and degrading conditions in gut, taken up by various cell types, cross biological barriers and reach peripheral tissues. (click here)

Translation: COVID-19 mRNA vaccinated mothers can transfer mRNA to their infants through breast milk (in extracellular vesicles), the mRNA can survive the baby’s digestive process, and the mRNA can then exert a serious clinical impact, including well known adverse events such as myocarditis.

Summary…

I have a reasonable suspicion that maternal COVID-19 mRNA vaccination may be causing myocarditis in babies. In this cluster of 16 UK babies that developed “severe myocarditis”, 8 ended up in the ICU and 2 died. Notice that all 16 babies were 28 days old or younger, which seems particularly odd.

Any possible link between maternal COVID-19 mRNA vaccination and these 16 infant myocarditis cases including 2 deaths, should be investigated but this will probably never happen. A cover-up (with the help of the WHO) may already be well underway and it will all be swept under the rug to protect Pfizer & Moderna.

But this story is important because it raises a KEY question:

Can COVID-19 mRNA vaccinated mothers give mRNA to their babies and injure them? YES, both through the placenta in utero, and through breast feeding via breast milk.

In both situations, the COVID-19 vaccine mRNA can exert a serious clinical impact on the infant, which includes all well known mRNA adverse events such as MYOCARDITIS.

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

Featured image is from Children’s Health Defense


The Worldwide Corona Crisis, Global Coup d’Etat Against Humanity

by Michel Chossudovsky

Michel Chossudovsky reviews in detail how this insidious project “destroys people’s lives”. He provides a comprehensive analysis of everything you need to know about the “pandemic” — from the medical dimensions to the economic and social repercussions, political underpinnings, and mental and psychological impacts.

“My objective as an author is to inform people worldwide and refute the official narrative which has been used as a justification to destabilize the economic and social fabric of entire countries, followed by the imposition of the “deadly” COVID-19 “vaccine”. This crisis affects humanity in its entirety: almost 8 billion people. We stand in solidarity with our fellow human beings and our children worldwide. Truth is a powerful instrument.”

ISBN: 978-0-9879389-3-0,  Year: 2022,  PDF Ebook,  Pages: 164, 15 Chapters

We encourage you to support the eBook project by making a donation through Global Research’s DonorBox “Worldwide Corona Crisis” Campaign Page.

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Article by the late Robert Parry. His legacy live.

First published on July 14, 2023

As the Ukrainian army squares off against ultra-right and neo-Nazi militias in the west and violence against ethnic Russians continues in the east, the obvious folly of the Obama administration’s Ukraine policy has come into focus even for many who tried to ignore the facts, or what you might call “the mess that Victoria Nuland made.”

Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs “Toria” Nuland was the “mastermind” behind the Feb. 22, 2014 “regime change” in Ukraine, plotting the overthrow of the democratically elected government of President Viktor Yanukovych while convincing the ever-gullible U.S. mainstream media that the coup wasn’t really a coup but a victory for “democracy.”

To sell this latest neocon-driven “regime change” to the American people, the ugliness of the coup-makers had to be systematically airbrushed, particularly the key role of neo-Nazis and other ultra-nationalists from the Right Sektor. For the U.S.-organized propaganda campaign to work, the coup-makers had to wear white hats, not brown shirts.

So, for nearly a year and a half, the West’s mainstream media, especially The New York Times and The Washington Post, twisted their reporting into all kinds of contortions to avoid telling their readers that the new regime in Kiev was permeated by and dependent on neo-Nazi fighters and Ukrainian ultra-nationalists who wanted a pure-blood Ukraine, without ethnic Russians.

Any mention of that sordid reality was deemed “Russian propaganda” and anyone who spoke this inconvenient truth was a “stooge of Moscow.” It wasn’t until July 7 that the Times admitted the importance of the neo-Nazis and other ultra-nationalists in waging war against ethnic Russian rebels in the east. The Times also reported that these far-right forces had been joined by Islamic militants. Some of those jihadists have been called “brothers” of the hyper-brutal Islamic State.

Though the Times sought to spin this remarkable military alliance – neo-Nazi militias and Islamic jihadists – as a positive, the reality had to be jarring for readers who had bought into the Western propaganda about noble “pro-democracy” forces resisting evil “Russian aggression.”

Perhaps the Times sensed that it could no longer keep the lid on the troubling truth in Ukraine. For weeks, the Right Sektor militias and the neo-Nazi Azov battalion have been warning the civilian government in Kiev that they might turn on it and create a new order more to their liking.

Clashes in the West

Then, on Saturday, violent clashes broke out in the western Ukrainian town of Mukachevo, allegedly over the control of cigarette-smuggling routes. Right Sektor paramilitaries sprayed police officers with bullets from a belt-fed machinegun, and police – backed by Ukrainian government troops – returned fire. Several deaths and multiple injuries were reported.

Tensions escalated on Monday with President Petro Poroshenko ordering national security forces to disarm “armed cells” of political movements. Meanwhile, the Right Sektor dispatched reinforcements to the area while other militiamen converged on the capital of Kiev.

While President Poroshenko and Right Sektor leader Dmitry Yarosh may succeed in tamping down this latest flare-up of hostilities, they may be only postponing the inevitable: a conflict between the U.S.-backed authorities in Kiev and the neo-Nazis and other right-wing fighters who spearheaded last year’s coup and have been at the front lines of the fighting against ethnic Russian rebels in the east.

The Ukrainian right-wing extremists feel they have carried the heaviest burden in the war against the ethnic Russians and resent the politicians living in the relative safety and comfort of Kiev. In March, Poroshenko also fired thuggish oligarch Igor Kolomoisky as governor of the southeastern province of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. Kolomoisky had been the primary benefactor of the Right Sektor militias.

So, as has become apparent across Europe and even in Washington, the Ukraine crisis is spinning out of control, making the State Department’s preferred narrative of the conflict – that it’s all Russian President Vladimir Putin’s fault – harder and harder to sell.

How Ukraine is supposed to pull itself out of what looks like a death spiral – a possible two-front war in the east and the west along with a crashing economy – is hard to comprehend. The European Union, confronting budgetary crises over Greece and other EU members, has little money or patience for Ukraine, its neo-Nazis and its socio-political chaos.

America’s neocons at The Washington Post and elsewhere still rant about the need for the Obama administration to sink more billions upon billions of dollars into post-coup Ukraine because it “shares our values.” But that argument, too, is collapsing as Americans see the heart of a racist nationalism beating inside Ukraine’s new order.

Another Neocon ‘Regime Change’

Much of what has happened, of course, was predictable and indeed was predicted, but neocon Nuland couldn’t resist the temptation to pull off a “regime change” that she could call her own.

Her husband (and arch-neocon) Robert Kagan had co-founded the Project for the New American Century in 1998 around a demand for “regime change” in Iraq, a project that was accomplished in 2003 with President George W. Bush’s invasion.

As with Nuland in Ukraine, Kagan and his fellow neocons thought they could engineer an easy invasion of Iraq, oust Saddam Hussein and install some hand-picked client – in Iraq, Ahmed Chalabi was to be “the guy.” But they failed to take into account the harsh realities of Iraq, such as the fissures between Sunnis and Shiites, exposed by the U.S.-led invasion and occupation.

In Ukraine, Nuland and her neocon and liberal-interventionist friends saw the chance to poke Putin in the eye by encouraging violent protests to overthrow Russia-friendly President Yanukovych and put in place a new regime hostile to Moscow.

Carl Gershman, the neocon president of the U.S.-taxpayer-funded National Endowment for Democracy, explained the plan in a Post op-ed on Sept. 26, 2013. Gershman called Ukraine “the biggest prize” and an important interim step toward toppling Putin, who “may find himself on the losing end not just in the near abroad but within Russia itself.”

For her part, Nuland passed out cookies to anti-Yanukovych demonstrators at the Maidan square, reminded Ukrainian business leaders that the U.S. had invested $5 billion in their “European aspirations,” declared “f**k the EU” for its less aggressive approach, and discussed with U.S. Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt who the new leaders of Ukraine should be. “Yats is the guy,” she said, referring to Arseniy Yatsenyuk.

Nuland saw her big chance on Feb. 20, 2014, when a mysterious sniper – apparently firing from a building controlled by the Right Sektor – shot and killed both police and protesters, escalating the crisis. On Feb. 21, in a desperate bid to avert more violence, Yanukovych agreed to a European-guaranteed plan in which he accepted reduced powers and called for early elections so he could be voted out of office.

But that wasn’t enough for the anti-Yanukovych forces who – led by Right Sektor and neo-Nazi militias – overran government buildings on Feb. 22, forcing Yanukovych and many of his officials to flee for their lives. With armed thugs patrolling the corridors of power, the final path to “regime change” was clear.

Instead of trying to salvage the Feb. 21 agreement, Nuland and European officials arranged for an unconstitutional procedure to strip Yanukovych of the presidency and declared the new regime “legitimate.” Nuland’s “guy” – Yatsenyuk – became prime minister.

While Nuland and her neocon cohorts celebrated, their “regime change” prompted an obvious reaction from Putin, who recognized the strategic threat that this hostile new regime posed to the historic Russian naval base at Sevastopol in Crimea. On Feb. 23, he began to take steps to protect those Russian interests.

Ethnic Hatreds

What the coup also did was revive long pent-up antagonisms between the ethnic Ukrainians in the west, including elements that had supported Adolf Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union during World War Two, and ethnic Russians in the south and east who feared the anti-Russian sentiments emanating from Kiev.

First, in Crimea and then in the so-called Donbas region, these ethnic Russians, who had been Yanukovych’s political base, resisted what they viewed as the illegitimate overthrow of their elected president. Both areas held referenda seeking separation from Ukraine, a move that Russia accepted in Crimea but resisted with the Donbas.

However, when the Kiev regime announced an “anti-terrorism operation” against the Donbas and dispatched neo-Nazi and other extremist militias to be the tip of the spear, Moscow began quietly assisting the embattled ethnic Russian rebels, a move that Nuland, the Obama administration and the mainstream news media called “Russian aggression.”

Amid the Western hysteria over Russia’s supposedly “imperial designs” and the thorough demonizing of Putin, President Barack Obama essentially authorized a new Cold War against Russia, reflected now in new U.S. strategic planning that could cost the U.S. taxpayers trillions of dollars and risk a possible nuclear confrontation.

Yet, despite the extraordinary costs and dangers, Nuland failed to appreciate the practical on-the-ground realities, much as her husband and other neocons did in Iraq. While Nuland got her hand-picked client Yatsenyuk installed and he did oversee a U.S.-demanded “neo-liberal” economic plan – slashing pensions, heating assistance and other social programs – the chaos that her “regime change” unleashed transformed Ukraine into a financial black hole.

With few prospects for a clear-cut victory over the ethnic Russian resistance in the east – and with the neo-Nazi/Islamist militias increasingly restless over the stalemate – the chances to restore any meaningful sense of order in the country appear remote. Unemployment is soaring and the government is essentially bankrupt.

The last best hope for some stability may have been the Minsk-2 agreement in February 2015, calling for a federalized system to give the Donbas more autonomy, but Nuland’s Prime Minister Yatsenyuk sabotaged the deal in March by inserting a poison pill that essentially demanded that the ethnic Russian rebels first surrender.

Now, the Ukraine chaos threatens to spiral even further out of control with the neo-Nazis and other right-wing militias – supplied with a bounty weapons to kill ethnic Russians in the east – turning on the political leadership in Kiev.

In other words, the neocons have struck again, dreaming up a “regime change” scheme that ignored practical realities, such as ethnic and religious fissures. Then, as the blood flowed and the suffering worsened, the neocons just sought out someone else to blame.

Thus, it seems unlikely that Nuland, regarded by some in Washington as the new “star” in U.S. foreign policy, will be fired for her dangerous incompetence, just as most neocons who authored the Iraq disaster remain “respected” experts employed by major think tanks, given prized space on op-ed pages, and consulted at the highest levels of the U.S. government.

[For more on these topics, see Consortiumnews.com’s “Obama’s True Foreign Policy Weakness” and “A Family Business of Perpetual War.”]

Investigative reporter Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories for The Associated Press and Newsweek in the 1980s. You can buy his latest book, America’s Stolen Narrative, either in print here or as an e-book (from Amazon and barnesandnoble.com). You also can order Robert Parry’s trilogy on the Bush Family and its connections to various right-wing operatives for only $34. The trilogy includes America’s Stolen Narrative. For details on this offer, click here.

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Template for a Transformation of Human Society

May 22nd, 2023 by Julian Rose

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*** 

There are many thousands of groups that have formed themselves around the need to stand against the globalist attack on life on earth. There are thousands more presenting alternative vision/suggestions for a better future. And there are a small number who are doing both; declaring that one must commit to stopping the worst while simultaneously nurturing into life a new template for human and ecological emancipation.

It is the latter action which I subscribe to, because it strikes me that we have no choice other than to fight-off the most immediate threats to our fundamental life values; yet equally have no choice other than to recognise the obvious shortcomings of the day to day way of life that constitutes the accepted norm of most post industrial societies today.

Given this state of affairs, one finds oneself committed to taking a deeper look into both the causal factors behind the degradation of human values and what will form the key ingredients of a new society. That which emerges out of the darkness and leads the way beyond repetitions of the divisive trends destroying humanity’s integrity.

Quite recently I came across the term ‘Truth Movement’ and discovered that it stands for a broadly connected body of individuals all having a similar goal: the defeat of the globalists. This seemed to hark back to the term ‘truthers’ as applied to those ready to expose the 9/11 fraud.

What, I asked myself, would this ‘Truth Movement’ do if it were to actually succeed in fulfilling its ambition? 

What would ensure that such a movement did not implode once faced by the responsibility for building a future purged of the ‘rotten apple’ factors that so often bring-down otherwise promising movements and visions? 

By ‘rotten apple’ factor, I mean the tendency for jealousy, excessive ego, lack of importance given to trust, power complexes, political ambition and – I would add – the group psychology of demanding ‘consensus’ in decision making, thereby pulling down individual aspirations and ending-up with abdication to the lowest common denominator as the only way ‘to keep the peace’. 

Within socio-economic structures which largely reject the notion of ‘leadership by the wise’, a palpable void opens-up when important/controversial decisions have to be taken which require more than a superficial five sense appraisal of the way forward. 

When our Truth Movement is confronted by the need to decide the composition of ‘the new template for the new society’ it is to usher into reality, many different convictions are likely to be put forward. 

For example: an end to racial discrimination; the common ownership of land; the dissolution of the banking industry and widespread redistribution of wealth; no more ‘government’; the rise of ‘rule by the people’; free green energy for all; organic food and farming being adopted as the prime means of food production. 

So as to bring the dilemma presented by this situation to life in a ‘real time’ way, I’m going to paint my envisioned picture of how events might unfold. 

As ideas pour in, a committee is established to find a pragmatic way to turn these ideals into political reality. A reality which reflects the broad banner heading ‘Truth Movement’, whose idealistic rhetoric has finally garnered enough support to overcome the long dominant globalist control system. 

On this committee are the leading proponents of the various ideals deemed most essential for laying the foundation of the promised New Society.

However, the daunting task of turning this pool of individual potential into a unified body of pragmatic ground-breakers,  leads to the realisation that some critically important ingredients have been neglected. Internal frictions start to come to the surface causing fractures in the once seeming unity. 

Disagreements eventually come to a head and in a highly revealing and heated exchange, it emerges that the deeper significance of the word ‘truth’ has never been explored or even debated. Never understood as primarily a spiritual value, an inner commitment to the evolution of higher values, not just to outer changes in the functioning of society. 

In an attempt to prevent the situation deteriorating into chaos, a respected analyst is brought to the table to put a few fundamental questions to the committee leaders: 

How aligned are you in your personal lives with what you call upon others to do in order to solve the crisis in values you see around you? 

How truthful are you to yourselves and to others, if you don’t consider it important to lead by example – but nevertheless expect others to live the changes you claim must be brought-about? 

How committed are you to raising your own levels of consciousness? To gaining a higher level of awareness concerning your own ambitions and shortcomings? 

Are you actually committed to ‘a path of truth’ in your own lives? To following disciplines that quieten the ego and develop your relationship with the deeper spiritual values that are, in practice, the only real expression of truth? 

How determined are you not to be a hypocrite? To avoid turning-out like the very politicians you so readily condemn? 

As leaders of ‘the truth movement’ can you honestly say that you are committed to uphold the highest standards of responsibility, integrity and trust in your dealings with others? 

What specific qualities are necessary in order to lead your supporters wisely, honestly and effectively? 

Faced by this penetrating examination, the room became strangely quiet. 

Being asked to address an inner commitment to truth, as opposed to its relatively surface oriented outer manifestation, has led to the need for a traumatic reappraisal of ‘the order of values’. And has called for a new level of consciousness to be put at the very top of the agenda of what is most essential for the building of the new society. 

I tell this tale so as to highlight the task which stands in front of all of us, as ‘activists’ and campaigners for a better world. For should the neo-liberal control system collapse or even be finally defeated, we will find ourselves at the forefront of a global situation in which the great majority are subjected to an uncharted sense of insecurity and loss of direction. 

A life of slavery to task masters carries with it a kind of insurance policy of not having to deal with – or be responsible to – the wider world or one’s own inner quest for liberation. 

Suddenly, or relatively suddenly, being placed in a position where the expectation of the majority is for those most vocal in exposing the wrong – to now step forward and establish ‘the right’- presents a formidable challenge.

At the centre of this challenge is a burning question which we should all be addressing now rather than waiting until the hour of need is thrust upon us. 

The question centres around a very fundamental precept: is the decision making process – essential to establishing the new desired template – to be based on ‘leadership by the wise’ or by ‘group consensus’? 

By a ‘committee of the wise and the good’ or by a continuation of ‘democratic representative governance’ and quasi-consensus decision making? 

To put it a little more bluntly: a benign, wise dictatorship or an elected common denominator form of governance which has no base in wisdom or vision and which is very easily exploited by the power hungry? 

Within the constitution of the British Isles and many other countries, there exists something called Natural Law/Common Law, which goes back a long way. 

It states that there is only one indomitable law and that is the law of God. God’s law. A form of decree based upon universal truth and justice, founded upon the supreme wisdom of our Creator. 

In a world overcome by rank injustice, the complete absence of truth, and no sign of wisdom, Common/Natural Law shines out as the light at the end of a very dark tunnel. 

The emergence of an earthly law that reflects universal law can only be brought forward by a committee of the wise and true. Indeed, God’s laws can be described as emanating from ‘the Supreme Benign Dictator.’ 

At the most basic level, they are reflected in the laws of nature and the predilection for an ever expanding biodiversity of plant, animal and insect life.

At the human level, they represent the (age old) quest for truth, love and full emancipation of the soul of man. Even when individuals do not consciously know it,  this is what all are longing for – and now is the time to go public about it.

We have passed the point of no return for ‘democracy’ or anything resembling it, so we may choose to call what will really open our minds and hearts: a ‘Veritocracy’.

Veritocracy from ‘veritas’ the Latin for truth. ‘Way of Truth’.

Going face to face with a cult regime based on darkness and division, demands a steadfast commitment to the opposite. Truth, as the unrestrained manifestation of the call of our souls.

This is the one force that will disintegrate the forces of darkness and disempower the globalist control system, once and for all. 

It is the one force that can unite all of humanity and provide the dynamic foundation for true leadership and true trusteeship of the planet. 

Let us commit now. Let us be properly prepared to lead the world beyond ruination and into rebirth.

*

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Julian Rose is an early pioneer of UK organic farming, a writer and international activist. He is President of the International Coalition to Protect the Polish Countryside and author of four books, of which ‘Overcoming the Robotic Mind’ is the most recent. See www.julianrose.info

He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

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The West’s support of Neo-Nazism in Ukraine should come as no surprise. Historically, powerful U.S. financial interests not only supported Nazi Germany as well as Bandera Nazism in Ukraine. In some regards the totalitarian practice of Neo-nazism is akin to the doctrine of the Neocons as formulated in the Project of the New American Century (PNAC). 

And Serbia, Beware, you are the only country in Europe which has courageously stood up against US pressures.

This and much more is revealed in this interview with Prof. Michel Chossudovsky, economist, professor emeritus at the University of Ottawa and editor of the renowned anti-globalist Global Research website.

***

Dragan Vujicic: How do you view the war between Ukraine and Russia? 

Prof Michel Chossudovsky: The war in Ukraine ended before it began. The Russians literally destroyed their Air Force and Navy at the very outset in February-March 2022.

Also Russia has strategic control over a large part of the Black Sea and total control of the Sea of Azov. Turkey which is a NATO heavyweight is an unspoken ally of Russia. Turkey controls the southern flank of the Black Sea. 

Anyone who has a minimal understanding of military strategies, knows that you cannot wage a conventional ground war without a Navy and an Airforce.

Now, after these recent Pentagon “leaks”, there is ample evidence that Ukraine is running out of ammunition and that they do not have (even with US-NATO support) the military capabilities to confront the Russians.

Hopefully there will be a cease-fire to save lives. I think that the war could end in a month or so and negotiations might begin. But there are obstacles to reaching this objective. There is a crisis in bona fide diplomacy. The Biden administration refuses to enter into dialogue with Russia with a view to reaching a cease-fire and peace negotiations. 

In fact, the biggest problem is that politicians in America believe in their own propaganda. They think they can defeat Russia by using  nuclear weapons. Nukes have been re-categorized. Tactical so-called low yield mini-nukes have been slated for use in the conventional war theater. If nukes are used that would lead us into a WW III scenario. 

I have researched the history of nuclear weapons, starting with the Manhattan Project (the creation of the American atomic bomb). Many people simply do not know that the Manhattan Project in the immediate wake of Hiroshima, Nagasaki in August 1945 was intended to wage a nuclear war against the USSR, at a time when the Soviet Union and the U.S. were allies. 

DV: Are you talking about plans for nuclear war after 1945?

PMC: What I am referring to is the U.S Blueprint of September 15, 1945 according to which the US War Department planned to drop more than 200 atomic bombs on 66 cities of the Soviet Union. This is not mentioned in the history books. See:

http://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/1945-Atomic-Bomb-Production.pdf 


See also

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

By Prof Michel Chossudovsky, April 29, 2023


Soviet Cities to be targeted with Atomic Bombs

Map of 66 Soviet Urban Strategic Areas to be Bombed with 206 atomic Bombs (Declassified September 1945)

.

Moreover, what is also forgotten in our history books is that in January 1918, a multi-national force consisting of troops from the UK, US, Canada and Japan invaded the Soviet Union with 200,000 soldiers, supposedly to “calm down the revolutionaries”, but in fact it was an illegal invasion.

This happened exactly two months after the October Revolution, on January 12, 1918, and it lasted until the early 1920s.

US Occupation Troops in Vladivostock 1918

DV: What are the nuclear capabilities of the U.S’s main rivals today? 

PMC: Russia and China are on par with the U.S. with regard to nuclear capabilities. The U.S. has a 1.3 trillion dollar project assigned solely to nuclear weapons, which constitutes Big Money for the US-NATO defense contractors. We are at a dangerous crossroads. Western politicians believe that they can win a nuclear war. 

DV: With the war in Ukraine, Nazism has reemerged, now they call it neo-Nazism?

PMC: The U.S. financial establishment have supported the Nazis since the outset of the Third Reich. Wall Street, The Federal Reserve  and the Bank of England supported Adolf Hitler’s election campaign  for Chancellor in the wake of the Weimar Republic. They had business interests in Nazi Germany. There were powerful US economic interests behind the Third Reich including Prescott Bush, the grandfather of George W. Bush. 

Moreover, it is common knowledge that you do not go to war if you do not have Oil and Hitler started Operation Barbarossa on June 22, 1941, a military operation for which he needed a huge amount of fuel. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil  of  New Jersey (today’s Exxon) supplied Hitler’s troops until 1945. Without the sale of U.S. oil to Nazi Germany, Operation Barbarossa would not have taken place. 

Before Harry Truman became president in 1945, when he was senator he stated his position as follows:

 “If we see that Germany is winning the war, we ought to help Russia; and if Russia is winning, we ought to help Germany”

DV: Today the world is moving towards de-dollarization and the Multipolar world is born. 

PMC: I think many analysts and journalists do not understand what de-dollarization means. The dollar as a currency is not the main issue. What is at stake is the macroeconomic apparatus of dollarised countries and their relationship with Wall Street and the Washington consensus.

The Federal Reserve, Wall Street  et al,  generate dollar denominated debts, which then enables them to enforce Neoliberal economic policies Worldwide.  

The central banks of dollarized Third World countries are invariably defunct, controlled by Wall Street, the IMF and the World Bank.

De-dollarization requires “Exit” from the institutions which sustain the (dollar denominated) Debt Crisis. These institutions include the IMF and the WB (which control the central banks of the Global South), not to mention the regional development banks and the World Trade Organization (WTO).

As far as the BRICS member states are concerned, India, South Africa and Brazil are heavily dollarized, ie. in the stranglehold of IMF conditionalities. They are not sovereign nation-states. What is required is for sovereign countries to have their own central bank which does not depend on external creditors. 

DV: Is Russia considered the bearer of the current de-dollarization?

PMC: Their post-Cold War financial and banking institutions are in many regards still aligned with the West. Let us recall that the neoliberal agenda was imposed on Russia under the proxy Boris Yeltsin government in the early 1990s.

I should also mention the fate of Russia’s gold and dollar deposits in Western banks. They are significant for the Russian government. When Russia’s “Special Military Operation” began in February 2022, about 200 billion dollars of Russia’s Central Bank reserves deposited in Western banks were frozen. And that does not include the billions of dollars of assets of Russia’s “oligarchs” deposited in the Western banking system. Why did they not attempt to withdraw those funds? 

DV: Is Russia, from a military standpoint better organized than the USA and NATO.

PMC: The US and European companies which produce weapons for US-NATO, (i.e. the military industrial complex) are entirely in private hands. In practice, the wars waged by US-NATO are privatized, they serve private corporate interests under the label of “national security”. 

The “owners of war” are primarily interested in profit and more profit, from the proceeds of weapons sales, rather than the performance of the advanced weapons systems which they sell to US-NATO.  

Militarily, Russia is ahead of US-NATO in many regards, specifically with regard to its air defense system (S-400) which is superior to the U.S. Patriot (ADS). 

DV: There are many stupid and dangerous things in that war? 

PMC: Yes, let’s point to the actions of the so-called International Criminal Court (ICC), which accused President Putin of the war crime of forcibly transferring Ukrainian children to Russia. This is  obvious nonsense. The  ICC did not blame Russia for aggression against a neighboring country, but for removing children from war-torn areas in Donbass, ultimately to save the lives of those children. It’s idiocy and the ICC is totally corrupt.  

DV: When talking about the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, what is the relevance of the Davos WEP agenda?

PMC: Russia’s relations with the World Economic Forum are contradictory. Eight months before the February 2022 “Special Military Operation”, Russia participated in a scenario with the WEF on procedures and actions in the event of a major cyber attack.

The “Davos players” are routinely in contact with Russia’s financial establishment. In turn Russia’s financial and banking interests including Russia’s Central Bank have retained their connections with the Washington Consensus as well as with the IMF and the World Bank. 

Putin is aware that there are intruders in Russia’s financial system.

DV: What to do when the UN is absolutely blocked? 

PMC: It must be known that the UN was at the outset a project which was very much influenced by powerful banking interests including the Rockefellers. I should say that the UN system at the outset of the post war era had international legitimacy and acceptance as an instrument of peace. I have worked for a number of UN agencies as a consultant. 

Now the UN is de facto privatized and coopted, partner of the WEF, serving the interests of the financial elites. I would characterize them as “sold out”. They have betrayed the United Nations.

As outlined by the late Padre Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann (who was President of the UN General Assembly in 2008-2009), the UN system needs to be completely restructured with a view to restoring the true spirit of internationalism.

Padre Miguel was my mentor. In this regard, I have worked in Asia, China, Latin America… and I realize just how people from all walks of life in different continents share the same values. Everyone should live in justice and with justice.

DV: How do you view Serbia’s international position?

PMC: Exceptional. Serbia has not caved in to the pressures of Washington, i.e. sanctions on Russia. 

DV: Serbia is still being pressured to give up Kosovo and Metohija?

PMC: Based on my experience and from the documents on the international status of Kosovo. I do not think it is possible to negotiate the possibility of Kosovo and Metohija gaining the status of a sovereign nation state.  Kosovo and Metohija belong to Serbia under international law. It is true that there is a US military base there but that is another topic for discussion. 

DV: What is another reason why the Republic of Kosovo must not be internationally recognized? 

PMC: The leader of the KLA, Hashim Thaci in 1998-99 was wanted by Interpol, for crimes committed in the 1990s. He was used by US-NATO to create a mafia state.

Hashim Thaci and Madeleine  Albright, (1998)

It’s ironic that Thaci is now being held in prison and tried for crimes against humanity committed in the late 1990s. Why didn’t they arrest him in 1999, when they knew everything?

G-7, el barco de los necios

May 22nd, 2023 by Fabrizio Casari

 

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Global Research Editor’s Note 

The cat is out of the bag. The successive covid lockdowns imposed on humanity, on 8 billion people Worldwide in more than 190 countries, starting on March 11, 2020 is now acknowledged in a historic report by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch. See London’s Daily Mail Report below. 

The Independent media including Global Research have incessantly reported upon the Covid-19 Lockdown and the subsequent imposition of the mRNA vaccine from the very outset in January 2020.

Global Research has published several thousand articles on the corona crisis, including testimonies and analysis. We have been in contact with the victims of this diabolical agenda in different regions of the World.

From the outset our reports have been the object of persistent smears by the mainstream media as well as censorship.

GR articles have been excluded from the search engines and social media platforms for telling the truth.

To access more than 6000 Global Research articles on the covid crisis (excluded from Google), consult Global Research’s internal search. Click here.

Today our thoughts are more than ever with the victims of this criminal undertaking directed Worldwide, against humanity.

Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research, 2023

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For a detailed and comprehensive analysis, download my book (15 chapters) entitled the Worldwide Corona Crisis free of charge (released in August 2022) see details at foot of article.

 

*** 

A Supreme Court justice has labeled the avalanche of covid lockdown measures imposed across America as among ‘the greatest intrusions on civil liberties in the peacetime history of this country’.

Justice Neil Gorsuch delivered an excoriating review of the restrictions enforced at both a state and federal level by executive officials.

In a statement written as part of a Supreme Court case about Title 42, Gorsuch said emergency decrees were issued during the pandemic ‘on a breathtaking scale’.

Many businesses were forced to close across as officials tried to stop the spread of covid - but the extreme measures amounted to some of the 'greatest intrusions on civil liberties' in US history, a Supreme Court justice has said. Pictured: A closed business in New York City

Many businesses were forced to close across as officials tried to stop the spread of covid – but the extreme measures amounted to some of the ‘greatest intrusions on civil liberties’ in US history, a Supreme Court justice has said. Pictured: A closed business in New York City (Copyright Education Images/Universal Image)

‘Governors and local leaders imposed lockdown orders forcing people to remain in their homes. They shuttered businesses and schools, public and private,’ he wrote.

‘They closed churches even as they allowed casinos and other favored businesses to carry on. They threatened violators not just with civil penalties but with criminal sanctions too.’

The justice, who was nominated to the Supreme Court by Donald Trump in 2017, gave examples of how authorities ‘surveilled church parking lots, recorded license plates, and issued notices warning that attendance at even outdoor services satisfying all state social-distancing and hygiene requirements could amount to criminal conduct’.

Justice Gorsuch also referred to vaccine mandates and threats of dismissal for workers who refused the jab

Copyright AFP via Getty Images

He explained how ‘federal executive officials entered the act too’ through vaccine mandates which included threats of dismissal for employees and service members who refused.

‘Along the way, it seems federal officials may have pressured social-media companies to suppress information about pandemic policies with which they disagreed,’ Gorsuch added.

‘Along the way, it seems federal officials may have pressured social-media companies to suppress information about pandemic policies with which they disagreed,’ Gorsuch added.

Emergency decree were issued ‘at a furious pace’ while Congress and state legislatures ‘too often fell silent’.

The statement was filed as the Supreme Court dismissed a case brought by Republican states which sought to maintain the Title 42 public health policy which allowed the US to turn away asylum seekers during the pandemic.

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

*

 

The Worldwide Corona Crisis, Global Coup d’État Against Humanity

Destroying Civil Society, Engineered Economic Depression

By Michel Chossudovsky

ISBN: 978-0-9879389-3-0, Year: 2022, Product Type: PDF File, Pages: 164 (15 Chapters)

Translations in several languages are envisaged. The book is available in print form in Japanese. 仕組まれたコロナ危機:「世界の初期化」を目論む者たち

As a means to reaching out to millions of people worldwide whose lives have been affected by the corona crisis, we have decided in the course of the next few weeks to distribute the eBook for FREE.

***

Price: $11.50. FREE COPY Click here to download.

 

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Demented Policing: Tasering the Elderly

May 22nd, 2023 by Dr. Binoy Kampmark

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Australia is a country addictively hostile to the elderly.  Despite being a continent that speaks to immemorial origins, respect for those who age is uncommon.  In The Lucky Country, that seminal, repeatedly misunderstood text, written in frustrated, sour prose, Donald Horne observes that Australia is not a place where one should grow old.

And so, it follows: the rampant, habitual abuse of the elderly, seen as the gnats and brats of family and human refuse, the lack of community protections, the human rights abuses, all exposed vividly by the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety.

No Royal Commission could possibly deal with all the social and structural issues that afflict the treatment of the elderly.  A central feature of the nuclear family remains its obsessive selfishness: the savaging of the older member is seen as not only natural but logical.  Those no longer functioning in mind, bowel and being, are rushed off to the retirement village or nursing home once the age meter ticks over.  Family members are assured that their discarded elders will be happy in their new prison, and the conspiracy between what is loosely called the “aged care sector”, one racked by the most insidious of abuses, and the medical profession, is complete.  All there is to do is wait out the time for the inevitable passing, and hopefully the old bats will have some spare cash left behind after the nursing home steals the bulk of the estate.

Before passing, the elderly individual will face the risks created by their environment, helped along by unhelpful carers, rapacious providers, and money-counting administrators.  To this can now be added another risk: the prospect of being tasered by the police.

The last line deserves a place in a species of ageist dystopian literature with a social Darwinian slant, a sort of Mad Max for the Aged.  But it is precisely what took place on May 17.  Clare Nowland, a great-grandmother suffering dementia, found herself in a critical condition after being tasered by a senior constable of the New South Wales Police.  The incident took place at Yallambee Lodge in the small town of Cooma, roughly 100 kilometres south of Canberra.

The Taser has a lengthy, rather nasty history of misuse.  Comprising two barbed darts shot in Probe Mode, the recipient faces the release of 50,000 volts of electrical current lasting over 5 seconds.  When used in its Drive-Stun Mode, the weapon is placed directly against the victim’s skin, causing terrific pain, sometimes burns.  The casualty list attributed to the Taser is a growingly ghoulish one.  In February 2012, Amnesty International reported that the US death toll attributable to the weapon since 2001 had risen to 500.

The Australian-based Police Accountability Project notes the significant risks that arise from Tasers “when used on vulnerable groups or in particular ways.”  By giving police such devices, the likelihood of their use, “rather than negotiation, containment, retreat and de-escalation” increases.

Peter Cotter, NSW Police Force Assistant Commissioner, tried to justify the actions of the officer in question.  “At the time [Nowland] was tasered she was approaching the police.”  Was it at breakneck speed?  No.  “It is fair to say at a slow pace.”  This dementia-suffering terror was also using a walking frame, bound to strike fear in any law enforcement figure.  “But she had a knife,” insisted Cotter, miraculously elevating the level of risk.  “I can’t take it any further as to what was going through anyone’s mind when he used the Taser.”

Other details were offered.  Two officers, after being called to the address at 4.15 a.m., found Nowland with “a steak knife with a serrated edge that she had obtained from the kitchen area of the nursing home a couple of hours earlier.”  Negotiations followed – as if Nowland’s state warranted a lengthy conference with paramedics and the police.  She duly “approached the doorway where the police were at that stage, and the officer, the one officer, discharged the Taser.”  Nowland fell to the floor.  Hit her head.  Lost consciousness.  “The injury that she suffered as a result of hitting her head on the floor has rendered her bedridden at the moment,” stated Cotter.

The result of this incident means that Nowland, despite her critical state, is facing a round-robin, rotational vigil mounted by her own family: eight children and an enormous brood of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  Whether this improves her safety, or health, remains to be seen.

A local community advocate, Andrew Thaler, holds little hope for her recovery.  “I don’t think there’s going to be a recovery.  Tasers take out bulls and fully grown men. She’s a slip of a woman.”

A number of conversations have been generated by the incident, mostly avoiding the reality of Tasers.  There is much chat about dementia and the need for better understanding. “It is not just about memory,” says one touted expert on the ABC news network.  “We need people to understand that our brains are slowing down.”  And not just dementia sufferers.

It would be useful if such an understanding would extend to the police.  But these recruits are not exactly renowned for their intelligence, emotional or otherwise.  Cotter is adamant that the video and audio coverage of the incident, captured by the body cameras of the two police, would not be released.  It was “confronting” and “not in the public interest” which, in Australian institutional terms, tends to mean that disclosure should take place.

While the US National Rifle Association has little logical to say about gun violence, namely in insisting that more guns, not fewer, is the answer, one repurposed bit of advice may be useful.  Give the elderly, doomed to their carceral fate in nursing homes, Tasers.

*

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

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The Worldwide Network of US Military Bases (2001-2005)

May 21st, 2023 by Prof. Jules Dufour

Global Research Editor’s Note

This important analysis and review of US military might by award winning Canadian geographer Professor Jules Dufour,  was first published by Global Research in 2007.  Jules Dufour passed away after a long illness in August 2017. His legacy will live. 

US military presence around the World has expanded dramatically in the course of the last five years.  This study is largely based on data for the period 2001-2005.

*      *      *

The Worldwide control of humanity’s economic, social and political activities is under the helm of US corporate and military power. Underlying this process are various schemes of direct and indirect military intervention. These US sponsored strategies ultimately consist in a process of global subordination.

Where is the Threat?

The 2000 Global Report published in 1980 had outlined “the State of the World” by focusing on so-called  “level of threats” which might negatively influence or undermine US interests.

Twenty years later, US strategists, in an attempt to justify their military interventions in different parts of the World, have conceptualized the greatest fraud in US history, namely “the Global War on Terrorism” (GWOT). The latter, using a fabricated pretext  constitutes a global war against all those who oppose US hegemony. A modern form of slavery, instrumented through militarization and the “free market” has unfolded.

Major elements of the conquest and world domination strategy by the US refer to:

1) the control of the world economy and its financial markets,

2) the taking over of all natural resources (primary resources and nonrenewable sources of energy). The latter constitute the cornerstone of US power through the activities of its multinational corporations.

Geopolitical Outreach: Network of Military Bases

The US has established its control over 191 governments which are members of the United Nations. The conquest, occupation and/or otherwise supervision of these various regions of the World is supported by an integrated network of military bases and installations which covers the entire Planet (Continents, Oceans and Outer Space). All this pertains to the workings of  an extensive Empire, the exact dimensions of which are not always easy to ascertain.

Known and documented from information in the public domaine including Annual Reports of the US Congress, we have a fairly good understanding of the strucuture of US military expenditure, the network of US military bases and  the shape of this US military-strategic configuration in different regions of the World.

The objective of this article is to build a summary profile of the World network of military bases, which are under the jurisdiction and/or control  of the US. The spatial distribution of these military bases will be examined together with an analysis of the multibillion dollar annual cost of their activities.

In a second section of this article, Worldwide popular resistance movements directed against US military bases and their various projects will be outlined. In a further article we plan to analyze the military networks of other major nuclear superpowers including  the United Kingdom, France and Russia.

I. The Military Bases

Military bases are conceived for training purposes, preparation and stockage of military equipment, used by national armies throughout the World. They are not very well known in view of the fact that they are not open to the public at large. Even though they take on different shapes, according to the military function for which they were established; they can broadly be classified under four main categories :

a) Air Force Bases (see photos 1 and 2);

b) Army or Land Bases;

c) Navy Bases and

d) Communication and Spy Bases.

Photo 1. Air Base of Diego Garcia located in the Indian Ocean

Reference : http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Diego_Garcia_%28satellite%29.jpg

Photo 2. Diego Garcia. An Aerial View of two B-52 and six Kc-a135

 

Reference : http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/images/diego-garcia-ims7.jpg

II. More than 1000 US Bases and/or Military Installations

The main sources of information on these military installations (e.g. C. Johnson, the NATO Watch Committee, the International Network for the Abolition of Foreign Military Bases) reveal that the US operates and/or controls between 700 and 800 military bases Worldwide.

In this regard, Hugh d’Andrade and Bob Wing’s 2002 Map 1 entitled “U.S. Military Troops and Bases around the World, The Cost of ‘Permanent War'”, confirms the presence of US military personnel in 156 countries.

The US Military has bases in 63 countries. Brand new military bases have been built since September 11, 2001 in seven countries.

In total, there are 255,065 US military personnel deployed Worldwide.

These facilities include a total of 845,441 different buildings and equipments. The underlying land surface is of the order of 30 million acres. According to Gelman, who examined 2005 official Pentagon data, the US is thought to own a total of 737 bases in foreign lands. Adding to the bases inside U.S. territory, the total land area occupied by US military bases domestically within the US and internationally is of the order of 2,202,735 hectares, which makes the Pentagon one of the largest landowners worldwide (Gelman, J., 2007).

Map 1. U.S. Military Troops and Bases around the World. The Cost of «Permanent War» and Some Comparative Data

Source: http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?id=884

Map 2. The American Military Bases Around the World (2001-2003)

Source : http://www.globalpolicy.org/empire/intervention/index.htm

Source : http://www.nobases.org

Map 3 US Military Bases Click here to see Map 3

The Map of the World Network “No Bases” (Map 3) reveals the following:

Based on a selective examination of military bases in North America, Latin America, Western Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Japan, several of these military bases are being used for intelligence purposes. New selected sites are Spy Bases and Satellite-related Spy Bases.

The Surface of the Earth is Structured as a Wide Battlefield



These military bases and installations of various kinds are distributed according to a Command structure divided up into five spatial units and four unified Combatant Commands (Map 4). Each unit is under the Command of a General.

The Earth surface  is being conceived as a wide battlefield which can be patrolled or steadfastly supervised from the Bases.

Map 4. The World and Territories Under the Responsibility of a Combatant Command or Under a Command Structure

Source : http://www.defense.gov/home/features/2009/0109_unifiedcommand

Territories under a Command are: the Northern Command (NORTHCOM) (Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado), the Pacific Command (Honolulu, Hawaii), the Southern Command (Miami, Florida – Map 5), The Central Command (CENTCOM) (MacDill Air Force Base, Florida), the European Command (Stuttgart-Vaihingen, Germany), the Joint Forces Command (Norfolk, Virginia), the Special Operations Command (MacDill Air Force Base, Florida), the Transportation Command (Scott Air Force Base, Illinois) and the Strategic Command (STRATCOM) (Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska).

Map 5. The Southern Command

Source : http://www.visionesalternativas.com/militarizacion/mapas/mapabases.htm

NATO Military Bases

The Atlantic Alliance (NATO) has its own Network of military bases, thirty in total. The latter are primarily located in Western Europe:

Whiteman, U.S.A., Fairford,
Lakenheath and Mildenhall in United Kingdom,
Eindhoven in Netherlands,
Brüggen, Geilenkirchen, Landsberg, Ramstein, Spangdahlem, Rhein-Main in Germany,
Istres and Avord in France.
Morón de la Frontera and Rota in Spain,
Brescia, Vicenza, Piacenza, Aviano, Istrana, Trapani, Ancora, Pratica di Mare, Amendola, Sigonella, Gioia dell Colle, Grazzanise and Brindisi in Italy,
Tirana in Albania,
Incirlik in Turkey,
Eskan Village in Soudi Arabia and
Ali al Salem in Koweit (http://www.terra.es/actualidad/articulo/html/act52501.htm )

III. The Global Deployment of US Military Personnel

There are 6000  military bases and/ or military warehouses located in the U.S. (See Wikipedia, February 2007).

Total Military Personnel is of the order of  1,4 million of which 1,168,195 are in the U.S and US overseas territories.

Taking figures from the same source, there are 325,000 US military personnel in foreign countries:

800 in Africa,
97,000 in Asia (excluding the Middle East and Central Asia),
40,258 in South Korea,
40,045 in Japan,
491 at the Diego Garcia Base in the Indian Ocean,
100 in the Philippines, 196 in Singapore,
113 in Thailand,
200 in Australia,
and 16,601 Afloat.

In Europe, there are 116,000 US military personnel including 75,603 who are stationed in Germany.

In Central Asia about 1,000 are stationed at the Ganci (Manas) Air Base in Kyrgyzstan and 38 are located at Kritsanisi, in Georgia, with a mission to train Georgian soldiers.

In the Middle East (excludng the Iraq war theater) there are 6,000 US military personnel, 3,432 of whom are in Qatar and 1,496 in Bahrain.

In the Western Hemisphere, excluding the U.S. and US territories, there are 700 military personnel in Guantanamo, 413 in Honduras and 147 in Canada.

Map 3 provides information regarding military personnel on duty, based on a regional categorization (broad regions of the world). The total number of military personnel at home in the U.S. and/or in US Territories is 1,139,034. There are 1,825 in Europe 114, 660, 682 in Subsaharian Africa, 4, 274 in the Middle East and Southern Asia, 143 in the Ex-USSR, and 89,846 in the Pacific.

IV. The Operational Cost of the Worldwide Military Network

US defense spending (excluding the costs of the Iraq war) have increased from 404 in 2001 to 626 billion dollars in 2007 according to data from the Washington based Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. US defense spending is expected to reach 640 billion dollars in 2008.

(Figure 1 and http://www.armscontrolcenter.org/archives/002244.php ).

These 2006 expenses correspond to 3.7% of the US GDP and $935.64 per capita   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_of-the_United_States).

Figure 1. U.S. Military Expenditures since 1998

At 2007 prices, 1998 military spending was $364.35bn. 2008’s is approximately $643.9bn

Source : http://www.globalissues.org/Geopolitics/ArmsTrade/Spending.asp

According to Fig 1, the 396 billion dollars military budget proposed in 2003 has in fact reached 417.4 billion dollars, a 73% increase compared to 2000 (289 billion dollars). This outlay for 2003 was more than half of the total of the US discretionary budget.

Since 2003, these military expenditures have to be added to those of the Iraq war and occupation The latter reached in March 2007, according to the National Priorities Project, a cumulative total of 413 billion dollars.

(http://www.janes.com/defence/news/jdi/jdi050504_1_n.shtml),

(http://nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=182 ).

Estimates of the Defense Department budget needs, made public in 2006 in the DoD Green Book for FY 2007 are of the order of  440 billion dollars.
(http://www.dod.mil/comptroller/defbudget/fy2007/index.html )

Military and other staff required numbered 1,332,300. But those figures do not include the money required for the “Global World on Terrorism” (GWOT). In other words, these figures largely pertain to the regular Defense budget.

A Goldstein of the Washington Post, within the framework of an article on the aspects of the National 2007 budget titled «2007 Budget Favors Defense», wrote about this topic:

“Overall, the budget for the 2007 fiscal year would further reshape the government in the way the administration has been striving to during the past half-decade: building up military capacity and defenses against terrorist threats on U.S. soil, while restraining expenditures for many domestic areas, from education programs to train service”

(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/04/AR2006020401179.html ).

V. US Military Bases to Protect Strategic Energy Resources

In the wake of 9/11, Washington initiated its “Global War on Terrorism” (GWOT), first in Afghanistan and then in Iraq. Other countries, which were not faithfully obeying Washington’s directives including Iran, North Korea, Syria and Venezuela have been earmarked for possible US military intervention.

Washington keeps a close eye on countries opposed to US corporate control over their resources. Washington also targets countries where there are popular resistance movements directed against US interests, particularly in South America. In this context, President Bush made a quick tour to Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico «to promote democracy and trade» but also with a view to ultimately curbing and restraining popular dissent to the US interests in the region. .

(http://www.voanews.com/spanish/2007-03-08-voa1.cfm)

The same broad approach is being applied in Central Asia. According to Iraklis Tsavdaridis, Secretary of the World Peace Council (WPC):

“The establishment of U.S. military bases should not of course be seen simply in terms of direct military ends. They are always used to promote the economic and political objectives of U.S. capitalism. For example, U.S. corporations and the U.S. government have been eager for some time to build a secure corridor for US.-controlled oil and natural gas pipelines from the Caspian Sea in Central Asia through Afghanistan and Pakistan to the Arabian Sea. This region -has more than 6 percent of the world’s proven oil reserves and almost 40 percent of its gas reserves. The war in Afghanistan and the creation of U.S. military Bases in Central Asia are viewed as a key opportunity to make such pipelines a reality.”

(http://stopusa.be/campaigns/texte.php?section=FABN&langue=3&id=24157 ).

The US. are at War in Afghanistan and Iraq. They pursue these military operations until they reach their objective which they call “VICTORY”. According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deployment_of-the_U.S.-Military), American troops fighting in these countries number 190,000.  The “Enduring Freedom” Operation in Iraq alone has almost 200,000 military personnel, including 26,000 from other countries participating to the US sponsored “Mission”. About 20,000 more could join other contingents in the next few months. In Afghanistan, a total of 25,000 soldiers participate to the operation (Map 6 and Map 7).

Map  6.  Petroleum and International Theatre of War in the Middle East and Central Asia

Source : Eric Waddell, The Battle for Oil, Global Research, 2003

Map 7. American Bases Located in Central Asia

Source : http://www.heartland.it/

Map 8. Oil Fields in Latin America

Source : http://www.visionesalternativas.com/militarizacion/mapas/mapahegem.htm

VI. Military Bases Used for the Control of Strategic Renewable Resources

US Military Bases in foreign countries, are mainly located in Western Europe: 26 of them are in Germany, 8, in Great Britain, and 8 in Italy. There are nine military installations in Japan (Wikepedia).

In the last few years, in the context of the GWOT, the US haa built 14 new bases in and around the Persian Gulf.

It is also involved in construction and/or or reinforcement of 20 bases (106 structured units as a whole) in Iraq, with costs  of the order of 1.1 billion dollars in that country alone (Varea, 2007) and the use of about ten bases in Central Asia.

The US has also undertaken continued negotiations with several countries to install, buy, enlarge or rent an addional number of military bases. The latter pertain inter alia to installations in Morocco, Algeria, Mali, Ghana, Brazil and Australia (See Nicholson, B., 2007), Poland, Czech Republic (Traynor, I., 2007), Ouzbekistan, Tadjikistan, Kirghizstan, Italy (Jucca, L., 2007) and France.

Washington has signed an agreement to build a military base in Djibouti (Manfredi, E., 2007). All these initiatives are a part of an overall plan to install a series of military bases geographically located in a West-East corridor extending from Colombia in South America, to North Africa, the Near East, Central Asia and as far as the Philippines (Johnson, C., 2004). The US bases in South American are related to the control and access to the extensive natural biological , mineral and water resources resources of the Amazon Basin. (Delgado Jara, D., 2006 and Maps 9 and 10).

Map 9. The Biological Wealth of Latin America

Source : http://www.visionesalternativas.com/militarizacion/mapas/mapahegem.htm

Map 10. Freshwater Resources in Latin America

Source : http://www.visionesalternativas.com/militarizacion/mapas/mapahegem.htm

VII. Resistance Movements

The network of US military bases is strategic, located in prcximity of traditional strategic resources including nonrenewable sources of energy. This military presence has brought about political opposition and resistance from progressive movements and antiwar activists.

Demonstrations directed against US military presence has developed in Spain, Ecuador, Italy, Paraguay, Uzbekistan, Bulgaria and in many other countries. Moreover, other long-termer resistance movements directed against US military presence have continued in South Korea, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Philippines, Cuba, Europe, Japan and other locations.

The Worldwide resistance to US foreign military bases has grown during the last few years. We are dealing with an International Network for the Abolition of US Military Bases.

Such networks’ objective is to broadly pursue disarmament, demilitarization processes Worldwide as well as dismantle US military bases in foreign countries.

The NO BASES Network organizes educational campaigns to sensitize public opinion.  It also works to rehabilitate abandoned military sites, as in the case of Western Europe.

These campaigns, until 2004, had a local and national impact.

The network is now in a position to reach people Worldwide. The network itself underscores that “much can be gained from greater and deeper linkages among local and national campaigns and movements across the globe. Local groups around the world can learn and benefit from sharing information, experiences, and strategies with each other”

(http://www.no-bases.org/index.php?mod=network&bloque=1&idioma=en )

“The realisation that one is not alone in the struggle against foreign bases is profoundly empowering and motivating. Globally coordinated actions and campaigns can highlight the reach and scale of the resistance to foreign military presence around the world. With the trend of rising miniaturization and resort to the use of force around the world, there is now an urgent and compelling need to establish and strengthen an international network of campaigners, organisations, and movements working with a special and strategic focus on foreign military presence and ultimately, working towards a lasting and just system of peace»

(http://www.no-bases.org/index.php?mod=network&bloque=1&idioma=en )

The Afghanistan and Iraq wars have, in this regard, created a favourable momentum, which has contributed to the reinforcement of the movement to close down US military bases in foreign countries:

“At the time of an International anti-war meeting held in Jakarta in May 2003, a few weeks after the start of the Iraq invasion, a global anti-military Bases campaign has been proposed as an action to priorize among global anti-war, justice and solidarity movements»  (http://www.no-bases.org/index.php?mod=network&bloque=1&idioma=en).

Since then, the campaign has acquired greater recognition. E-mail lists have been compiled ([email protected]  and [email protected] ) that permit the diffusion of the movement members experiences and information and discussion exchanges. That list now groups 300 people and organizations from 48 countries. A Web site permits also to adequately inform all Network members. Many rubrics provide highly valuable information on ongoing activities around the World.

http://www.no-bases.org/index.php?mod=network&bloque=1&idioma=en

In addition, the Network is more and more active and participates in different activities. At the World Social Forums it organized various conferences and colloquia. It was present at the European Social Forum held in Paris in 2003 and in London in 2004 as well as at the the America’s Social Forum in Ecuador in 2004, and at the Mediterranean Social Forum in Spain in 2005.

One of the major gatherings, which was held in Mumbai, India, in 2004, was within the framework of the World Social Forum. More than 125 participants from 34 countries defined the foundations of a coordinated global campaign.

Action priorities were identified, such as the determination of a global day of action aiming at underscoring major issues stemming from the existence of US military bases. The Network also held four discussion sessions at the Porto Alegre Social Forum in 2005. One of those pertained to the financing of the Network’s activities.

It is important to recall that the Network belongs to the Global Peace Movement. Justice and Peace organizations have  become more sensitized on what was at stake regarding US military bases.

Map 11. Social and Resistence Movements in Latin America

Source : http://www.visionesalternativas.com/militarizacion/mapas/mapahegem.htm

The Quito and Manta International Conference, Ecuador, March 2007

A Network World Conference for the Abolition of Foreign Military Bases was held at Quito and at Manta, Ecuador, from March 5 to 9 2007

(http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:SmEvQwFUeiAJ:www.abolishbases.org/pdf/CalltoEcuadorFlyer-Francais.pdf+R%C3%A9seau+mondial+des+bases+militaires&hl=fr&gl=ca&ct=clnk&cd=3&lr=lang_fr ).

The objective of the Conference was to underscore the political, social, environmental and economic impacts of US military bases, to make known the principles of the various Anti-Bases movements and to formally build the Network, its strategies, structure and Action Plans. The main objectives of the Conference were the following:

–           Analyze the role of Foreign Military Bases and other features of military presence associated to the global dominance strategy and their impacts upon population and environment;

–           Share experiences and reinforce the built solidarity resulting from the resistance battles against Foreign military Bases around the World;

–           Reach a consensus on objectives mechanisms, on action plans, on coordination, on communication and on decision making of a Global Network for the abolition of all Foreign military Bases and of all other expressions of military presence; and

–            Establish global action plans to fight and reinforce the resistance of local people and ensure that these actions are being coordinated at the international level.

Conclusion

This article has focussed on the Worldwide development of US military power.

The US tends to view the Earth surface as a vast territory to conquer, occupy and exploit. The fact that the US Military splits the World up into geographic command units vividly illustrates this underlying geopolitical reality.

Humanity is being controlled  and enslaved by this Network of US military bases. .

The ongoing re-deployment of US troops and military bases has to be analyzed in a thorough manner if we wish to understand the nature of US interventionism  in different regions of the World.

This militarization process is characterized by armed aggression and warfare, as well as interventions called “cooperation agreements”. The latter reaffirmed America’s economic design design in the areas of trade and investment practices. Economic development is ensured through the miniaturization or the control of governments and organizations. Vast resources are thereby expended and wasted in order to allow such control to be effective, particularly  in regions which have a strategic potential in terms of wealth and resources and which are being used to consolidate the Empire’s structures and functions.

The setting up of the International Network for the Abolition of Foreign Military Bases turns out to be an extraordinary means to oppose the miniaturization process of the Planet. Such Network is indispensable and its growth depends on a commitment of all the People of the World. It will be extremely difficult to mobilize them, but the ties built up by the Network among its constituent resistance movements are a positive element, which is ultmately conducive to more cohesive and coordinated battle at the World level.

The Final Declaration of the Second International Conference against Foreign Military Bases which was held in Havana in November 2005 and was endorsed by delegates from 22 countries identifies most of the major issues, which confront mankind. This Declaration constitutes a major peace initative. It establishes  international solidarity in the process of  disarmament. .

(http://www.csotan.org/textes/texte.php?type=divers&art_id=267 ).

 References

COMITÉ DE SURVEILLANCE OTAN. 2005. Las bases militares : un aspecto de la estrategia global de la OTAN. Intervencion del Comité Surveillance Otan en la Conferencia Internacional realizada en La Habana 7-11.11.2005. 9 pages.

DELGADO JARA, Diego. 2006. Bases de Manta, Plan Colombia y dominio de la Amazonia. Militarizacion de la Hegemonia de EE. UU. En América latina. 17 pages.

EQUIPO DE COMUNICACIÓN CONFERENCIA NO BASES. 2007. La gente del mundo no quiere bases militares extranjeras.   

GELMAN, J. 2007. Terratenientes. Rebelion. 26 de Febrero de 2007,  http://www.rebelion.org/noticia.php?id-47353

Ghana to host US Military Base? February 26, 2006. 

JOHNSON, C.,  America’s Empire of Bases. January 2004.

JOHNSON, C.  America’s Empire of Bases. Janvier 2004 .

JOHNSON, C. 2005. The Sorrows of Empire. Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic. Henry Holt, April 2005, Paperback. 389 pages.

JOHNSON, C., 2007.. 737 U.S. Military Bases = Global Empire.  February 19, 2007

JUCCA, L., 2007. Italians protest over U.S. base expansion. Sat Feb 17, 2007.

MANFREDI, E. 2007. Djibouti : Hôtel Corne d’Afrique, grande base américaine. Le GRAND SOIR.info. Édition du 23 mars 2007.

NEW INTERNATIONALIST. 2004. The Bases of Resistance, December 2004, Issue 374.

NICHOLSON, B. 2007. Secret New Us Spy base to Get Green Light. February 15, 2 007. 

TRAYNOR, I. 2007. US EXPANDS, Builds New Military Bases in Europe.  The Guardian, anuary 22, 2007.

TSAVDARIDIS, I., 2005. Military Bases around the world and in Europe – the role of the USA and NATO. Novembre 2005. Stop USA / STOP United States of Agression. 

VAREA, C., Las bases Militares de EEUU en Iraq. 4 mai 2006. Nodo50.

Web Sites  

An Internet Guide to United States Military Bases Around the World :

http://www.libsci.sc.edu/bob/class/clis734/webguides/milbase.htm

APPEL A UN RASSEMBLEMENT INTERNATIONAL en Mars 2007, Équateur, Pour  l’abolition de toutes les bases militaires

Bases y Ejercicios Militares de EE.UU. El Comando Sur.

BUILDING A GLOBAL ANTI-MILITARY BASES MOVEMENT
 

Campana. Un mundo sin bases militares . Asemblea de Organizaciones y Movimientos contra la guerra, la OTAN y el Neoliberalismo (Madrid), Nodo50.

Challenges to the US Empire, http://www.globalpolicy.org/empire/challenges/challengesindex.htm.

Washington veut installer une base militaire en Algérie. Le Quotidien d’Oran, 20 juillet 2003. 

Empire? http://www.globalpolicy.org/empire/index.htm

International Conference against Foreign Military Bases. Final Declaration.

[Fsmed-general] for all that are against foreign military bases:
http://www.grups.pangea.org/pipermail/fsmed-general/Week-of-Mon-20060206/001002.html

FUENTES DE AGUA EN AMÉRICA LATINA :
http://www.visionesalternativas.com/militarizacion/mapas/mapahegem.htm

Abdulhafeth Khrisat, Impérialisme américain et politique militaire, ,  Université Mu’tah 

Interview with Chalmers Johnson, Part 1. An Empire of More Than 725 Military Bases.

Liste des bases militaires américaines dans le monde.

Major Military Bases World-Wide,
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/sites.htm

Military Bases Around The World, http://www.fsmitha.com/com/bases.htm

Military Bases around the world and in Europe – the role of the USA and NATO , Iraklis Tsavdaridis, Secretary of the World Peace Council (WPC) 8th November 2005, From the Greek Committee for International Detente and Peace (EEDYE), Presented on November 8, 2005 at the International Conference on Foreign Military Bases in Havana/Cuba organized by MOVPAZ :

http://stopusa.be/campaigns/texte.php?section=FABN&langue=3&id=24157  

Military of the United States : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_armed_forces

MOVIMIENTOS SOCIALES DE RESISTENCIA EN AMÉRICA LATINA 

No a la instalacion de una base de la OTAN en Zaragoza :
http://www.ecologistasenaccion.org/article.php3?id_article=6261

OTAN – Le grand jeu des bases militaires en terre européenne :

http://www.mondialisation.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=DIN20060509&articleId=2414

Protestas contra bases militares de EEUU en Espana :
http://spanish.peopledaily.com.cn/spanish/200104/02/sp20010402_46341.html

RIQUEZA DE LA BIODIVERSIDAD EN AMÉRICA LATINA

US Military Troops and Bases Around the World :
http://www.globalpolicy.org/empire/intervention/2003/0710imperialmap.htm

U.S. Military Troops and Bases Around the World /united for peace & justice:
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?id=884

US Military Expansion and Intervention :
http://www.globalpolicy.org/empire/intervention/index.htm

YACIMIENTOS PETROLEROS EN AMÉRICA LATINA :
http://www.visionesalternativas.com/militarizacion/mapas/mapapetrol.htm

Jules Dufour is President of the United Nations Association of Canada (UNA-C) – Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean branch and Research Associate at the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG).  He is Emeritus Professor of Geography at the University of  Quebec, Chicoutimi.

In 2007, Professor Jules Dufour became Chevalier de l’Ordre national du Québec, a distinction conferred by the Quebec government, for his contributions to World peace and human rights,  his numerous scholarly writings and the work he accomplished in the context of national and international commissions on issues pertaining to regional development, human rights and the protection of the environment.

Translated from the French, first published on Global Research’s French language website: www.mondialisation.ca

Article in French, 10 avril 2007.

Ucrania: La guerra de los relatos

May 20th, 2023 by Sergio Rodríguez Gelfenstein

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First published on March 27, 2023

May 6, 2023: Coronation of “Green King Charles”

***

In one of the more shocking hypocrisies of this year so far, Charles III, King of England – considered to be a strong supporter of organic farming and environmental causes – has given his Royal Assent to a biotechnology ‘innovation’ which will provide an open book for UK firms to alter the genome of animals and plants, so as to create novel engineered species and biotech ‘foods’.

In taking this step Charles has committed an open act of betrayal of all bona fide farmers, and particularly of organic farmers.

The Genetic Technology Precision Breeding Act 2023 was given the royal go ahead on 23rd March, 2023.[1]

This piece of legislation will, for the time being, be unique to the UK, as such animal and plant biotech deformations are not allowed in the EU and many other countries.

A secondary deception relates to the marketing of such novel recombinant DNA experiments.

The UK government has stated that no separate definition will be given to gene technology engineered products, therefore no special labelling will be required. 

click below to access pdf file of the Parliamentary document

The dark irony of the King of England launching unlabelled biotech foods, animals and plants on citizens of his own country, is difficult to trump.

Charles is already in conflict with the constitution of his country by standing shoulder to shoulder with Klaus Schwab in promoting the World Economic Forum’s ‘Great Reset’. One of the main objectives of which is to render nation states obsolete and to centralise all power within the control of a small despotic elite, whose stated intention is to make all private property illegal and to re-engineer human beings into Transhuman cyborgs.

May 6, 2023 Coronation of King Charles

On May 6, 2023, at his coronation in London, Charles will be officially crowned monarch of the United Kingdom and its Commonwealth (colonies). A large empire.

As the centre piece of the coronation ceremony, Charles will swear ‘The Coronation Oath’, essentially pledging his allegiance to the people of Great Britain and to protecting the sovereignty of the country and its traditions.

If Charles does not break his relationship with the World Economic Forum before this point, he will be performing an act of treason. The implications of this are profound.

As yet, the British people have not woken-up to their fate. But should the truth emerge of this singularly blatant hypocrisy, the future of the British monarchy will be dark indeed.

The UK is officially recognised as a ‘constitutional monarchy’. With an unrevoked Common Law constitution stretching back to the Magna Carta of 1215, the true political power lies with the people and not with parliament.  Something which has been largely hidden from public knowledge.

If there is to be a future king or queen, the country needs that person to exercise his/her rite to stand-up against the continual parliamentary usurpation of the people’s power.

The people need a monarch with some guts, some wisdom and a genuine respect for truth.  Someone who will use his time-honoured constitutional powers to block anti-life legislation like The Genetic Technology Precision Breeding Act 2023; thus setting a proper precedent for Great Britain’s ‘first among equals’ to act like a real King.

*

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Julian Rose is an early pioneer of UK organic farming, a writer and international activist. He is co-founder of The Hardwick Alliance for Real Ecology https://hardwickalliance.org/  and President of the International Coalition to Protect the Polish Countryside. Julian is a strong defender of pro ecological and traditional small farmers and successfully led ‘The Campaign to Save Real Milk’ against two UK government’s attempts to ban it.  To find out more and to learn about his books, visit www.julianrose.info

He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

Note

[1] Please see this link for official UK government act.  For short version scroll down to c.6, 2023 Chapter 6 https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/6/pdfs/ukpga_20230006_en.pdf

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First published on April 24, 2023

***

On April 19, 2023, Robert Kennedy Jr. announced his candidacy for Democratic nomination for President of the United States.  Kennedy said after taking the stage.

“My mission over the next 18 months of this campaign, and throughout my presidency, will be to end the corrupt merger of state and corporate power that is threatening now to impose a new kind of corporate feudalism on our country.”

To begin to understand this Covid Trojan Horse, Kennedy’s speech in Berlin, on August 29, 2020 to over one million people becomes a critical starting point.

“ I must say one more thing … they have not done a very good job about protecting public health but they have done a very good job of using the quarantine to bring 5G into all of our communities and beginning the process of a digital currency which is the beginning of slavery …“ ” The pandemic is a crisis of convenience for the elites who are dictating these policies.”

Robert Kennedy Jr.  gave an important clue to the world in Berlin, linking the unprecedented rollout of 5G with the so called Covid Pandemic agenda.

The pretext of a pandemic has enabled a technology (5G) with no safety studies to be put into place around the world.  5G along with the nanotechnology now being discovered within the vaxx bioweapon becomes the foundational step for a transhuman agenda.

Bill Gate’s (Microsoft) Patent WO 060606 that was issued in March of 2020 delineates the madness of what Kennedy alluded to when he talked about,  “the corrupt merger of state and corporate power that is threatening now to impose a new kind of corporate feudalism on our country”.

It is difficult to say when this transhuman agenda to control humanity began in earnest.

The beginning of  mind control experiments through programs such as MK Ultra  that took place in the United States and Canada from the 1940s to the 1960s could indeed be a starting point. MK Ultra and other programs led to the use of what has been termed synthetic telepathy – using technology to monitor the thoughts of individuals, as well as, transmit messaging to the minds of its victims.  For a select group of people who have reported hearing voices, they were unwitting test subjects.

The technological advancements as revealed by Dennis M Bushnell of NASA and all the nefarious agendas that were moved forward after 9/11 beginning with the Patriot Act to strip away the rights and liberties of We The People will be my starting point.

In July of 2001, a very important document was presented by Dennis M Bushnell of NASA.

“Future Strategic Issues/Future Warfare [Circa 2025]”

Bushnell coined the term: “The IT/BIO/NANO ERA”

Dennis M. Bushnell, “Future Strategic Issues/Future Warfare [Circa 2025]” (sic), NASA Langley Research Center (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), July 2001, 113 pp.; PDF, 1400357 bytes, MD5: c833f3fbc55d07fe891f5f4df5fb2f57. The aforesaid PDF was found on the US Department of Defense’s Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) website, as archived by the following Internet Archive URL.

Remember, July of 2001 was only two months ahead of 9/11

On September 10, 2001, then U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld disclosed that his department was unable to account for roughly $2.3 trillion worth of transactions.

On September 11, 2001 not only did the two World Trade Towers come down but there was a third building: WTC Building 7. At one point over 50% of Americans did not know there was a third building that came down on 9/11.

In March of 2005, I was at Ground Zero in New York City to pay my respect to the lives lost in 9/11. I used this occasion to ask those Americans around me who were also paying respect, to point me to the location of building seven. Not one person I asked was aware of a third building going down on 9/11.

In 2002, just a year later, a document from the US National Science Foundation and Department of Commerce on “Convergent Technologies” spoke of convergent evolutions in “nanotechnology, biotechnology and information technology”.

Klaus Schwab has envisioned, “a fusion of our physical, our biological and our digital identities.”

Perhaps the RAND Corporation summed it up best when it talked about, “the internet of bodies”.

It has been estimated that Black Technology (Black Technology comes from research from private sources and unregistered government sources that is off the books) is 5 to 10 times greater than the technology that finds its way to libraries.  According to Catherine Austin Fitts and others – that $2.3 trillions missing alluded to by Donald Rumsfeld on September 10, 2001 is now somewhere between $20 to $50 trillion dollars.

The amount of money that has been spent in “a fusion of our physical, our biological and our digital identities” probably is greater proportionately than the amount of money spent on the Manhattan Project that helped to create the first atomic bomb.

The current parallel with the Manhattan Project is the brilliant compartmentalization of all aspects of the Covid Trojan Agenda.

There are so many dedicated individuals who are trying to piece together this compartmentalization. Be it the alleged virus that came from a lab in Wuhan, there is no virus because it has never been isolated to the arguments around the Terrain Theory versus the Germ Theory and more. The confusion caused by this compartmentalization has been effective.

At the heart of this compartmentalization is that nanotechnology and other advanced technologies are years ahead of the present level of knowledge of current ‘experts’ in all things covid.  It is reminiscent of the indigenous looking out to sea and not being able to actually see a sailing ship because it was not part of their reality or understanding.

Divide and conquer has always been the modus operandi of those who conspire against humanity.

One of the most informative and honest interviews that I have recently viewed that may help you to begin to piece this deception together is with Ana Maria Mihalcea, MD, PhD interviewing Dr. David Hughes, PhD.

This interview will also help to validate the remarkable insights of Robert Kennedy Jr. when he linked 5G with the Covid Pandemic in Berlin, in August of 2020.

People at the deepest levels know there is something very wrong but have had great difficulty pinpointing cause and effect.  Those pulling the levers of power have been shielded up until now but their invincibility is now giving way.

The criminal charge laid by Pascal Najadi of Switzerland against the Swiss President, Alain Berset as well as, the first Litigation against Pfizer Inc. NY by Ana McCarthy and Pascal Najadi in the New York State Supreme Court is a case in point.

Having someone like Robert Kennedy Jr. who is willing and brave enough to speak of the various so called Covid Vaccines in terms of Bioweapons and crimes against humanity and is running for candidacy for Democratic nomination for President of the United States has just become a game changer.

The Covid Trojan Horse has tried to keep us away from the evil that is behind a transhuman agenda. An agenda that wants to reduce world population by any means and control our minds and souls. “A fusion of our physical, our biological and our digital identities”, as stated by Klaus Schwab.

This is the time for revelation and acceleration of our collective response to the darkness that has been foisted on humanity.

Darkness always gives way to light and the God Spark that is within each of us can never be extinguished. 

*

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Howard Bertram was born in Toronto, Canada and a graduate of the University of Guelph. Currently a Tribunal Judge on the Natural and Common Law Tribunal For Health And Justice. Also active with a number of groups, including Ontario for Safe Technology, as well as research.

Howard has been described as a true renaissance man who has worked on Parliament Hill, Inventor, Publisher, Representative of an International Insurance Company, Founder of the former MUTECH – Music Technologies Inc. & True North Press, Federal Candidate in the newly formed Canadian Action Party and ran in the 1997 Election with the Hon. Paul Hellyer, and served on his local hospital board serving as Chairman of the Hospital Board in his last two years on the board.

Most importantly Howard drew his own line in the sand during this Covid Plandemic and is committed to do all he can to bring light to the darkness that humanity is presently going through.

Featured image is from 21st Century Wire

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Nel tour europeo in Italia, Germania, Francia e Gran Bretagna,  Zelensky ha raccolto altri miliardi di euro e sterline in aiuti militari. Ciò però non basta.  Ora annuncia che presto una coalizione di paesi europei fornirà a Kiev cacciabombardieri da usare contro la Russia. Tra questi potrebbero esserci Tornado italiani con capacità di attacco, anche nucleare, volando a bassissima quota per evadere i radar nemici.

L’Italia è ormai paese belligerante: in Sardegna si è appena svolta  una grande esercitazione NATO di “reazione rapida”  con la partecipazione di oltre 2 mila soldati di Germania, Belgio, Olanda, Norvegia e Lettonia. L’Italia, in veste di nazione ospitante, ha fornito anche il supporto logistico. Questa esercitazione di guerra, però, non si è svolta sotto comando italiano ma sotto comando statunitense.

Tutto questo comporta una crescente spesa militare.  Quella dell’Europa  è cresciuta nel 2022 del 13% rispetto all’anno precedente,  registrando il più forte aumento da 30 anni a questa parte. La spesa militare annua dell’Italia è salita nel 2022 a oltre 30 miliardi di euro, ossia a una media di oltre 80 milioni di euro al giorno. Secondo l’obbligo assunto con la NATO, l’Italia deve portare la propria spesa militare a una media di oltre 100 milioni di euro al giorno.

Questo crescente salasso di denaro pubblico per finanziare la guerra aggrava la situazione della stragrande maggioranza della popolazione. Il costo della vita è cresciuto in un anno di oltre l’8%, soprattutto a causa dell’aumento dei prezzi energetici provocato dalla strategia NATO-UE di bloccare le forniture energetiche russe ai paesi dell’Unione Europea.

All’orizzonte si prospetta una crisi ancora più grave, provocata dal debito federale degli Stati Uniti che è raddoppiato in dieci anni, salendo a oltre 31 mila miliardi di dollari. Di fronte al rischio di default, ossia di insolvenza, a Washington si discute sull’innalzamento del “tetto del debito”. La stessa segretaria al Tesoro Janet Yellen avverte:  “Un default scatenerebbe una recessione globale, rischierebbe di minare la leadership economica globale degli Stati Uniti e di sollevare dubbi sulla nostra capacità di difendere gli interessi della sicurezza nazionale”. Ciò che a Washington temono di più è la dedollarizzazione dell’economia mondiale nella misura in cui vengono usate negli scambi internazionali lo yuan cinese e altre monete.

Manlio Dinucci

VIDEO :

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First published on April 8, 2022

***

Abstract

The decades following World War II witnessed massive investments in large dams and water reservoirs. The number of large dams increased globally from 5,000 dams in 1950 to around 50,000 in 2017, and irrigated areas doubled from 140 million hectares to 280 million hectares.

The development of public irrigation and hydropower energy, and their associated dams, was central to Cold War geopolitics and national state policies. Throughout the Cold War, water became more involved in both building up and demolishing regimes, supporting, and undermining political legitimacy, and empowering and disempowering social groups.

Today, over 263 international watercourses generate about 60% of global freshwater flow, cross the territories of 145 countries, and are home to around 40% of the world’s population. Conflicts over shared river waters cannot be interpreted without understanding the political power relations and the significance of upstream-downstream positioning of the competing or conflicting states.

For thousands of years being Mesopotamia (the land between two rivers), today’s Iraq faces water scarcity and desertification due to the continued reduction of the Tigris and Euphrates water flow into Iraqi territory. This is largely due to upstream developments on their headwaters in Turkey and Iran, and the steepening effects of climate change. In 2018, the UN Environment Program warned that Iraq was losing around 25,000 hectares of arable land.

The construction and operation of about 100 large dams and reservoirs on the Tigris and Euphrates headwaters in both Turkey and Iran in less than four decades, has drastically impaired the flow of the two rivers and caused severe land and environmental degradation including the desiccation of wetlands in Iraq.

In this article, the Tigris and Euphrates rivers mean annual flow rate records from the Ministry of Water Resources in Iraq (1960-2018) have been analyzed in correlation with dates of upstream dams filling and operation of tens of large dams in Turkey.

Conclusions indicate significant correlation that caused serious impacts including the desiccation of about 65% of the marshland’s areas in southern Iraq since the seventies to date, with continues degradation of valuable agriculture land into desertification, and other related environmental and socioeconomical aspects.

Introduction

About 96.3% of water on earth is saline. Freshwater including ice caps, lakes, rivers, groundwater, soil moisture, and atmosphere vapors covers only 2.7% of the Earth’s surface. River’s freshwater is only 0.0002 of total water on earth [1]. Rivers are important natural corridors for the flows of energy, matter, and species, and are often key elements in the regulation and maintenance of landscape biodiversity [2]. With time and population explosion and drought, fresh water becomes a critical asset to meet food, water demands, development, and national security of nations.

The decades following World War II witnessed massive investments in large dams and water reservoirs. The number of large dams increased globally from 5000 in 1950 to around 50 000 in 2017. Irrigated areas also doubled from 140 million ha. to 280 million hectares. The development of public irrigation and hydro energy and associated dams was central to Cold War geopolitics as well as to wider national state policies. [3].

As a strategic asset, water is no longer linked only to environmental issues and food security issue’s but also plays a critical role in regional security arrangements. States view water as a means for political leverage and as a source of power.

There are over 263 international watercourses generating about 60% of global freshwater flow which cover almost half the earth’s land surface. They cross the territories of 145 countries and are home to around 40% of the world’s population.[4]

Shared rivers between two or more riparian states poses different levels of disputes over river water shares. Conflicts over shared rivers waters cannot be interpreted without understanding the power relations and the significance of upstream-downstream positioning of the competing or conflicting states [ 5]. In arid and semi-arid regions like the Middle East water represents a source of state power, and water scarcity is highly impacting development and national security [5].

Today Iraq faces water scarcity and desertification after continuous reduction of Tigris and Euphrates water inflows due to upstream damming of their headwaters in Turkey, Iran.

Water shortages are further aggravated by the steepening effects of climate change. The UN Environment Program reported in 2018 that Iraq is  losing around 25,000 hectares of arable land annually.[6].

The construction and operation of more than 100 large dams, reservoirs, and hydroelectric power plant (HEPP) in less than four decades on Tigris and Euphrates headwaters in Turkey, Iran, has impaired the flow of the two rivers and caused sever land and environmental degradation in Iraq.

Since the 1970s, Turkey has pursued an ambitious Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP), or “Guneydogu Anadolu Projesi” (Turkish). The project involves the construction of 90 dams, and 60 hydro-electrical power stations [7 ], water diversion tunnels, and irrigation infrastructure on Tigris and Euphrates headwaters, with storage capacity exceeding 114 BCM. Full implementation of (GAP) facilities will harness nearly 70-80 percent of the Euphrates River water flow into Iraq and Syria [8].

Throughout the Cold War, water has become more involved in both building and demolishing regimes, supporting, and undermining political legitimacy, and empowering and disempowering social groups [9].

This paper presents an overview of how Cold War politics after World War II evolved to create tensions and potential conflicting situations between riparian countries within the Tigris and Euphrates basins.

As a NATO active member, Turkey received political, financial, and technical support to accelerate the construction of GAP mega dams without negotiating protocols with downstream riparian countries or conducting comprehensive environmental impact assessments to define the effects of these dams on them, as required by international water laws [10].

Tigris and Euphrates rivers mean annual flow rate (MAFR) records from the ministry of water resources in Iraq (MoWRI), Appendix A, table I, [14] [16], have been analyzed in correlation with dates of upstream dams filling and operation in Turkey and Iran, to identify the real impacts of these developments on the acceleration of the desiccation of the marshlands southern Iraq through the nineties to date.

With partial implementation of the GAP project, Iraq is already going through significant water scarcity, desertification [6], and the desiccation of about 65% of major areas of the marshlands after the diminishing of flood waves, major water recharge of these wetlands [11].  It’s been predicted that both Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Iraq might diminish by the year of 2040’s [12].

Water resources status of Iraq

Before the 1970s the flow of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Iraq were considered semi-natural [8]]. Both rivers are international rivers shared mainly by four countries (Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran). Most headwaters of both rivers are in Turkey and Iran’s highlands. Tables 1 and 2 pertain to the major hydrological parameters of both Tigris and Euphrates drainage basins.

Since about 79% of water resources of the two rivers in Iraq originate mainly from Turkey and Iran’s highlands [8], a significant decline in total annual inflow of Euphrates in Iraq started in the mid-1970s, right after the construction and the operation of the Keban dam in Turkey and Tabqa dam in Syria.

Table 1: Main Hydrological parameters of Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Iraq.

Figure 1: Tigris and Euphrates River basins across riparian states [15].

Early 1980s to the present the total annual water inflow of both Tigris and Euphrates in Iraq have been going through continuous decline (figure 2), due mainly to the construction of the Southeast Anatolia Project, and other water developments in Iran, Syria, and Iraq.

The first stage of GAP project includes the building of 22 mega and large dams and 19 hydropower plants with storage capacity of (>114 BCM) on the Euphrates and Tigris (Table 3), which exceeds the natural annual flow volume of the two rivers [8].

Figure 2: Decline of mean annual flow of both Tigris and Euphrates water last five decades. Source of data MoWRI in references [14][16].

Another important source of surface water in Iraq is Shatt al Arab River. This river forms from the confluence of the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers near the city of Qurna in southern Iraq, figure 3 . Downstream of Qurna city to the Arabian Gulf, the length of the river is 192 Km [17]. The area draining to the Shatt al Arab river is shared between Iran and Iraq. In addition to the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers, the Karkheh and the Karun tributaries originate from the Zagros highlands in Iran contribute water to Shatt al Arab main channel in Iraq [8].

Mean annual inflow of Shatt Al Arab during (1947-1960) from Tigris and Euphrates was about 23 BCM in Maqal (Makal) district close to Basra city center (figure 3 )[18], increases to about 37.5 BCM further south after Karun tributary discharges about 14.4 BCM of its water into the river [18].

Last two decades, the contribution of Tigris, Euphrates, and Karun rivers inflow into Shatt Al Arab have been gradually declining. The flow rate of the river dropped to historical level of 45 CMS (Cubic Meter Per Second) reported in (2011), compared to 919 cms in (1977-1978) [19]. Shatt Al Arab annual flow rate decline is also related to the construction of large dams and reservoirs upstream in Turkey and Iran on both Tigris and Euphrates headwaters [8] figure 4.

Figure 3: Shatt Al Arab River through Basra city [17]

Figure 4: Shatt Al-Arab mean annual flow rate at Makal district in Basra.[18]

Iran on other hand constructed 37 dams on Tigris tributaries, Karun, and Karkha rivers originating from the Zagros and Touros highlands in Iran since the seventies [20] [21].

Syria also constructed three large dams on Euphrates since mid-seventies [8]. Iraq built 5 large dams at same period [8] , in addition to the construction of 17 dams last decade on Tigris tributaries within Kurdistan Region of Iraq ( KRI) last decade, with 24 more dams under construction currently [22 ]. Mean annual water inflow of both Tigris and Euphrates in Iraq during the sixties was around 83 BCM, figure 2. In four decades, mean water inflow dropped to 47 BCM. With climate changes, and full implementation of GAP project, further reduction is expected to the depletion of both rivers in Iraq around 2040’s according to (UN-IAU Interagency information and analysis unit) (Report, 2010 [12].

The Southeastern Anatolia Development Project

The Southeastern Anatolia Development (GAP) is part of a more comprehensive project intends to build 1,783 dams and hydro-electric power plants (HEPP) in Turkey by 2023 in addition to over 2,000 existing ones, which will affect millions of people [23] inside Turkey, and more than 30 million people downstream in Syria and Iraq.

The following section is a general historical review of the politics accelerated the development of the GAP project last four decades, starting from the construction of Keban dam, first mega dam constructed on Euphrates River headwaters in Turkey.

1. Keban dam

In 1962 the Turkish parliament allocated funds for a feasibility study for the construction of a dam at Keban city on the headwaters of the Euphrates River. That same year, a contract was signed with EBASCO Services Inc., an American engineering firm founded by the General Electric Company in 1905 [24].

The project Feasibility report released in October 1963.” EBASCO recommended the construction of the dam at Keban in a 350-page “economic feasibility” report. The project technical document supposed to come with technical details about the proposed design and the cost of the dam, but, the report was more as a political document [24]. It was an analysis of the whole Turkish economy and society. It offered a technocratic vision for the country’s future rather than the project region only. The study was produced as a prospectus for international capital, it was less about the development of Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia and more about the social and economic development of Turkey’s largest cities in the west [24].

In 1965, Turkey began construction of the Keban dam. Ankara obtained funding for the dam from the United States and several West European countries led by West Germany and the contracted consortium of West European companies to complete the dam.

The total aid for the project totaled some $135 million US Dollars [24]. Keban and Al-Tabqa dam in Syria were both completed and started filling the reservoirs (1973-1974) [25]. Filling the (31 BCM) storage capacity reservoirs of Keban and Tabqa dam reservoir (11.6BCM) during (1973,1974, 1975) caused significant decline of (MAFR) of Euphrates river in Iraq to (15.31, 9.02, 9.42 BCM)( MoWRI in Table I, Appendix A). Comparing these records to Euphrates average annual flow rate (1930-1970) of 30 BCM (Appendix A, Table I) before the construction of Keban and Tabqa dams. This decline caused serious damages to downstream riparian countries (Syria and Iraq) at the time, but the damages in Iraq were more severe.

Permanent Impacts of operating Keban dam is about 25% reduction of the annual inflow rate of the Euphrates in Iraq [26]. This reduction and control of the river flow ended most of the spring season flood waves [8].

Amidist most critical conflicts of the Cold War, right after filling of Keban dam, with the world’s oil crises early seventies of last century, the nationalization of Iraqi oil in 1973 [27], EBASCO report recommendation for Turkey’s economic development , and total political, technical, and financial support of the NATO countries during the construction of  Keban dam,  all opened the door widely for Turkey to further extend the development of Southeastern Anatolia region through  what today called the Southeastern Anatolia project (GAP).

2. Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP) was launched in 1977 and introduced by Turkey’s State hydraulic works (DSİ) through bringing together various programs on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, creating a regional project that covers nine provinces of an area about 74,000 km² [28]. The completed project aims to have built a total of 90 dams and 60 hydroelectric power plants, generating 27 billion kilowatt hours of electricity and irrigate 1.7 million hectares of surface area to grow cash crops and promote agro-industries such as food processing for export [28].

Phase one of the Southeastern Anatolia project include the construction of twenty-two large and mega dams, nineteen hydraulic power plants, and huge water conversion tunnels, figure 5 shows the locations of main GAP dams [29]. Without environmental impact assessment, planning, design, and construction of the project were singly decided by Turkey without negotiations with other downstream riparian states (Syria and Iraq) [10] as required by 1997 United Nations Convention on the Law of Non-navigational Uses of International Watercourses, and other related water laws [30].

Turkey’s stand on this issue is based on the principle of the Harmon Doctrine, whereby the upstream riparian country owns the water and controls its distribution, [31]. The problem with the Harmon Doctrine, “not only do the vast number of water treaties bear witness against this Doctrine, but all the international and federal judicial tribunals that have experience with international water problems have rejected it; all the learned associations, institutes, and other bodies which have studied these problems have rejected it in their statements of principles”, [32, page 142].

The International water law (IWL) as a process dismantled absolute sovereignty theories Including: Absolute territorial sovereignty theory; Absolute territorial integrity theory. As McCarthy, 1996, stated “The Harmon Doctrine … buried, not praised”)[32].

The three foundation pillars of IWL:

  • The equitable and reasonable utilization principle;
  • The no-harm rule; and
  • The principle of co-operation [32 ].

Hence the GAP project stands against all these principals in every single step of its planning, design, construction, and operation.

While the decision to build a dam is often seen as a sovereign decision, the decision of external agencies to support a dam depends on whether the proposed project complies with that agency’s policies and guidelines”. Such policies, argues by the world commission on dams (WCD), “should incorporate aspects of notification to riparian States, the desirability of ‘consent’ or ‘no objection’ from riparian States and independent expert assessment of social, ecological, and heritage and cultural impacts on downstream riparian states[10].

Figure 5: Major GAP constructed dams and their distribution along Tigris and Euphrates headwater in Turkey [29].

The world commission on dams (WCD) Policy Principle 7.5, Strategic Priority 7, states: “Where a government agency plans or facilitates the construction of a dam on a shared river in contravention of the principle of good faith negotiations between riparian’s’.  [10].

The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund refused to fund any part of the GAP after funding the construction of the Karakaya Dam (1983-1988) due to concerns over social and environmental impacts, as well as protests from governments in Iraq and Syria [10].

During the eighties, Initial Goals of GAP projects were mainly limited to developing irrigation and industrial zones. In 1989, Turkish state officially established the Southeast Anatolia Regional Development Administration.

The law governing the Administration demonstrated how the Turkish government saw this project as involving more than simply economic development. The GAP scheme engaged the entire landscape of Southeast Anatolia, including political, social, cultural, and environmental spheres.

Law decree 388 (1989) defined the Administration’s duties. GAP Regional Development Administration published the goals of the project as: 1. generation of hydroelectric power; 2. development of regional agriculture through irrigation. 3. development of a regional agro-industrial base; and 4. formulation of a mid- to long-term solution to Kurdish ethnic separatism [24] [ stahle page 228].

To Europe and America, the GAP mega dams project was not about safeguarding foreign policy interests, such as containment of the Soviet Union and the extension of communist ideology in the middle east only, rather, the dams were a key component in producing a particular economic order, and opening overseas markets to exports, maintaining a specific technical and industrial base in the donor country (like Turkey) [24].

In a report titled “THE EUPHRATES TRIANGLE, Security Implications of the Southeastern Anatolia Project” of the U.S. National Defense University ,1999 [31], statements clearly defined the U.S.-NATO stance on the construction of GAP project, such us;

“A secure and stable Turkey is in the U.S. national interest. Turkey is the southern bastion of NATO, and it borders on three states that may pose a threat  to the United States–Iraq, Syria, and Iran.”

Also, that;

“the NATO southern flank, with Turkey in particular, still faced severe regional instability. For this reason, SACEUR designated southeastern Turkey as one of several areas within Allied Command Europe that would continue to receive priority military planning efforts.”

In the recommendation section of the same report:

” U.S. policy in the region has been to maintain close ties to Turkey, shaping the environment with international assistance, arms control, nonproliferation initiatives, and isolation of rogue states that support terrorism or violate international law.”

These states were previously identified in the same article as( Syria, Iraq, and Iran) [31].

Water in such context should not be considered as a source of conflict only, but as a mean that can be used during the conflict. Turkey have been using water to serve political aims, causing significant threat to riparian countries and the population’s human security [9] (Laura Meijer).

To the US and NATO powers, supporting the construction of GAP projects politically and financially with their negative impacts on Turkey’s downstream riparian countries (Syria, Iraq,) was more of goal and political strategy to isolate and end their social regimes. Even if that support means the destruction of river’s basins ecological, cultural, and socioeconomical systems.

As Kibaroglu, 2014 stated;

“While the Cold War deepened the tensions over water, Turkey joined NATO whilst Syria and Iraq kept close ties with the USSR” [33]. Other political issues are related to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), and the territorial dispute between Turkey and Syria over the Hatay province which was a major source of tension between the two countries until 2005.” [34].

Reconstruction of the project never stopped, with no environmental or social impact assessments at local or regional levels [10].

Environmental Impact assessments are an international requirement for such strategic projects. They are usually conducted to define the impacts of the (dams in this case) on the whole river basin including hydrological, geomorphological, ecological, connected wetlands, and socioeconomic status of all cities   downstream in riparian countries and the suggested alternatives to eliminate these impacts.

To earn back international funds after the controversial (Ataturk) dam had been built and start filling the reservoir in 1990, the Turkish government further developed the project into a new international interest called “sustainable human development”.

The original design was expanded to include schools, roads, health care centers, housing, women’s projects, and tourism. This way the project earned back the international funding including the World Bank, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), United Nations Development (UNDP) ,table 3 shows the countries and organizations financially supported GAP project.

Table 3: Foreign Countries and organizations financially supported the GAP projects till 2002 [35 ][36].

Entities of the United Nations  supported and funded parts the project, table 3, knowing that sustainability of a river basin including human development is determined by whether the river system can support the long-term ecological and socioeconomic functions of the river basin as a whole [37], and not only part of the basin within the Turkish territories.

No detailed technical reports from these organizations or Turkey exploring the impacts of GAP mega dams on whole rivers basin including ecological and socioeconomic impacts on downstream riparian countries before constructing them [10].

UNEP and other UN organizations dealt with what they called (drying marshlands issue for security reasons) in southern Iraq with many studies during the 1990s. Most of these studies were local, not regional to cover the impacts of constructing all these dams and hydropower stations on the whole Tigris and Euphrates basins including wetlands.

Other related research conclusions built on processing enhanced Landsat and other remote sensing images without enough ground truth data and rate of flow records.

The GAP project created international conflicts regarding water sharing and escalated tensions among Turkey, Syria and Iraq as the three riparian states of the Euphrates and Tigris basins.

Turkey has for a long time rejected the notion of sharing rivers in an equitable and fair manner as stipulated by international law. It was one out of three countries voting against the 1997 UN Convention on the Law of the Non-navigational Uses of International Watercourses which establishes the principles of equitable and reasonable utilization, of not doing harm, of cooperation between riparian countries, and of notification and consultation [38].

According to international law experts, these principles form part of the customary law also binding those countries that have not ratified the relevant conventions. The obligation to inform and consult with riparian countries at an early stage and to conclude an agreement before a project is realized is also part of the World Bank Safeguard Policies [23].

Impacts of GAP Projects on the Desiccation of Wetland in Southern Iraq

[Desiccation is defined as the “Removal of Moisture”]

Marshlands are mainly located in southern Iraq and are directly connected to the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, figure 6 [39]. They are in Nasiriya, Basra, Diwaniya, and Umara governorates.

Before the intensive construction of dams on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers headwaters in Turkey highlands early seventies of last century, area of the marshes (Ahwar) was highly variable annually and seasonally, ranged from (8000-20000 Km²) [40]. In summer (June-October) and dry years, the area become only 25% of the area in flood season (3500 Km²) [41] due to decline of the two rivers MAFR and high evaporation rate. Many marshes in the area are seasonal and disappear in summer. Others are permeant like the following:

The Euphrates river Marshes: including Al Hammar permanent largest marsh with many other small seasonal marshes. In flooding season, they were all look connected, and are recharged mainly from Euphrates River and flowing water from central marsh westward in dry season. Al Hammar marsh area range between (1250-2500) Km² [40]. The American company T.A.M.S.(Tippet-Abbott-McCarthy, Stratton) estimated area of Al Hammar in 1954 about (1250) Km² [40].

The central marshlands: located between Tigris and Euphrates rivers including Abi Zarak and Chibayeesh marshes. Extending from Shaikh Saad city in Missan to Qurna in Basra, with an area of 4000 Km² in flood season to less than 1920 Km² in dry season, recharged from west Tigris and east Euphrates distributaries [41].

Hawaiza marsh extends from Iranian to Iraqi territories. Area of Hawaiza inside Iraq is about (2500-3000 Km²) in flooding time, to about (950 Km²) in summer, and (650 Km²) in dry years[19]. Inside Iran  the extension of Hawaiza is called (Hoor Alazim) , with an area of (  1250  Km²) in flood season [42 ]. Major recharge of Huwaiza in Iran was from Karkha river until 1998, before operating Karkha2 dam with an annual flow of 3.2BCM [42 ]. From Iraqi side recharge of Hawaiza is from Tigris River distributaries during flood seasons [40].

1. Impacts of GAP Development on the Desiccation of Marshlands in Iraq:

Streams and rivers are hydrologically connected to downstream water features like wetlands and floodplains via channels that convey surface and subsurface water either year-round in perennial flow or seasonally [43]. Water structures like dams on any river affect the frequency, duration, magnitude, timing, and rate of change of connections between headwater streams, and downstream water.

They cause fragmentation of longitudinal connections between headwater streams and downstream waters, including the deltaic wetlands. The impacts of changing streamflow are numerous, including altered flow regime, stream geomorphology, habitat, and ecology [43]. Wetlands in southern Iraq have been subjected to serious stresses after the building of tens of dams on both Tigris and Euphrates within three decades. These dams altered their hydrological, ecological, geomorphological, socioeconomical, and environmental systems due to the elimination of seasonal flood waves major water recharge of the marshlands, and the significant decline of Tigris and Euphrates mean annual flow rate (MAFR). This alteration was more profound after the construction and operation of the GAPS dams in Turkey since the seventies of last century to date [44].

  Figure 6: Marshlands and diversion canals in southern Iraq, modified after (Abdullah, A. 2016)[39].

One of the important impacts of this flow impairments is the desiccation of marshlands in southern Iraq [26]. Acceleration of this desiccation occurred during the nineties, when Turkey filled and operated 22 dams and hydroelectrical power stations on Tigris and Euphrates rivers headwaters in one decade only, (Appendix B, table II) [45].

As a result the MAFR of both rivers dropped drastically (Appendix A), figure 2.  At that time, Iraq was under the economic sanctions, facing severe shortages of food and necessary chemicals for water purification plants, Iraq considered Turkey’s action (being a NATO member) as an assault to deprive Iraqi population access to fresh water for domestic and agriculture uses [10]. Such an action would raise the already high economic sanctions human casualties to a genocide level [46]. As a result, mid-nineties the Iraqi government constructed four freshwater diversion canals through the marshlands to supply potable water for Nasiriya and Basra cities population. These canals caused further dissection of the marshlands as will be explained later in this article.

In the next section the Tigris and Euphrates rivers mean annual flow rate (MAFR) records from the ministry of water resources in Iraq (MoWRI), Appendix A, table I, [14] [16], have been analyzed in correlation with dates of upstream dams filling and operation in Turkey and Iran, to figure out the real impacts of upstream developments on the acceleration of the desiccation of the marshlands through the nineties to date.

2. Desiccation of Hammar and Central Marshlands during the nineties of last century: Early seventies to 2002, Turkey constructed, and operated 32 dams and hydroelectrical power stations on Tigris and Euphrates headwaters with total storage capacity of (99.520 BCM) [45]. Twenty-two of these developments including Ataturk mega dam, with collective storage capacity of (56.969BCM) started filling and operating during the nineties of last century, Appendix B [45]. Thirteen of them with storage capacity (51.664 BCM) were filled and operated on Euphrates River, the other 9 with storage capacity of (4.55BCM) were on Tigris River, Appendix B, table II.

Hammar and Central marshlands are mainly connected and recharge from the Euphrates River and some of Tigris distributaries in case of central marshes [40] . To maintain an area of about 7000 Km² as before the construction of GAP projects, about (14-15 BCM) of water inflow is needed annually to recharge them from Euphrates River in Nasiriya city, the entrance to these marshes [11] [41] [47]. This amount historically was available from seasonal (March-May) flood waves of the river [47], figure 7.

These flood waves disappeared after controlling river flow by the dams on headwaters [11].  The relatively high flow water release from dams on headwaters in Turkey shifted from spring to summer season (June – September) to meet peak electricity demands [11]. Highest evaporation rate in Iraq is during summer [41].

Figure 7: Elimination of spring high flow (flood waves) of Euphrates River in Nasiriya City the entrance to Marshlands. (Flow records from ref. 11).

Mean Annual Flow of Euphrates measured in Husaiba station on Syrian/Iraqi borders before building the dams (1930-1973) is about 30 BCM [14]. During the filling and operating of Ataturk dam (1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994), and six other smaller dams on Euphrates, Appendix B, table II. The reservoir level of Ataturk dam reached 535m a.s.l in March 1994 [48]. Mean annual flow of Euphrates River at Husaiba city on the Syrian/Iraqi borders during these years were (8.9, 12.4, 12.15, 12.37, and 15.29 BCM) [MoWRI), Appendix A, table I [14], figure 8.

It is well documented that until the seventies, the Euphrates river was losing about 50% of its mean annual flow rate or about (14-15) BCM of between Heet city close to Syrian/ Iraqi borders to Nasiriya city (Entrance to Marshlands) [40], mainly to meet domestic and agricultural demands for all cities along Euphrates river banks [11].

The Euphrates annual flow rate less than 15 BCM on Iraq/Syrian borders means that there is not enough water to recharge the Hammar and Central Marshlands in southern Iraq for five years (1990-1994), figure 8.

The situation further deteriorated with an annual evaporation rate of 2895 mm/year in Nasiriya [49], which means annual water losses of about (8.26 BCM) from both marshlands water surfaces.

Figure 8: Euphrates River mean annual flow rate in Iraq (1990-2003), showing periods of no recharge to Hammar and Central marshlands during the nineties (Water records, Appendix A)  

Estimations of changes of Hammar and Central marshlands areas through the period (1973-2018) are shown in Figure 9 .

Data of the graph are taken from remote sensing interpretations in published articles and reports listed in table 4. From the graph we notice that from 1973-1990, Hammar and Central marshlands lost about 2000 Km² of its area, after the construction and operation of (Keban, 1973; Karakaya, 1986; Hancagiz, 1988; Hecihider,1989) on the Euphrates headwaters in Turkey (table); Qadisya dam in Iraq, 1986; Tabqa dam,1973 and Baath dam,1988 in Syria[8][45].

From table II, Appendix B, between 1998- 2002, other seven GAP dams and hydro electrical power stations on Euphrates River headwaters were filled and operated (Kahta, Camgazi, Gayt, Ozluc, Karkamis, and Berecik)[45 ] , with operating Tishreen dam in Syria 1999, figure 8. Euphrates MAFR measured on Iraqi/Syrian borders during the years of (1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002) were (27.9, 18.61. 17.23, 9.59, 10.67 BCM) consecutively (Appendix A, table I). For the reason mentioned previously, throughout this period and from figure 9, Hammar and Central marshlands lost an extra 600 Km² from its area and  ends up to about  750 Km² in 2002 [26].Mid-nineties the Iraqi government constructed and operated four freshwater diversion canals (al EZZ, Taj al Marek, Wafaa al Qaed, and Um al Marek canals) within the marshlands area. Most of these canals started operating from 1994-1998 [55]. The construction of these fresh water diversion canals caused further 1300 Km² reduction of the area of Hammar and Central marshlands, figure 9, as explained in the next section.

Figure 9: Desiccation of Hammar and Central marshes due to continues decline of Euphrates and Tigris annual flow rate after the construction and operation of GAP dams.

3. Desiccation of Hawaiza marsh: this marsh is located east of Amara city southern Iraq on Tigris River. It extends from Iranian territories (called Howr Al-Zim) to Iraqi territories [42].  During the seventies extension of this marsh in Iraq was about (2435Km²) in flood seasons [Nomas, 19 ] and about 950 Km² in summer and 650 Km² in dry years [Nomas, 19], in Iran its area was about (641-1250 Km² ), figure 3 , but both parts are one hydrological and ecological unit [40].

Until 1998 the Karkha river was the major source of water that recharged the Hawaiza marsh from the Iranian side. From the Iraqi side the marsh is recharged by Tigris distributaries Kahala, Musharah, and Majaria canals mainly during floods time [21].

Hawaiza marsh was also affected by the construction and operation of 9 dams and hydroelectrical power stations with total storage capacity of (6.383 BCM)  on Tigris river headwaters in Turkey during the nineties, Appendix B, table II.  Five of them were filled and operated from (1997-2000) [45 ].  Iraq filled and operated the Udhaim dam (1.5 BCM) in 1999[9]. Iran filled and operated two dams, one of them is the Karkha2 dam in 1998, with storage capacity (5.6 BCM) [56].

Tigris river MAFR measured in Kut city (180 Km) south of Baghdad, during the period of (1998, 1999, 2000, 2001), were ( 39.85, 18.88, 18.85, 21.13 BCM) Appendix A, table I. Historical mean annual flow rate of Tigris in Kut city from records of the Ministry of Water Resources in Iraq for the period (1933-1973) is about (49.20 BCM) Appendix A. During the seventies, more than 10 BCM out of the 49 BCM was recharging Hawaiza and central marshes during flood season [57].

Karkha2 dam in Iran was constructed during (1992-1998) on Karkha river, a tributary of Tigris River originates from west Iranian highlands and ends up in Hawaiza marsh in Iran ( Al Azim marsh), figure. The dam reservoir capacity is 5.9 BCM [42].

Starting from 1998-2000, filling then operating the dam from Karkha river cut off an annual recharge to Al Azim /Hawaiza marsh [42]. Mohsen Saeedi et al, in a published an article [42 ] wrote; “Hoor-Al-Azim/Al-Havizeh reached its minimum surface area at year 2000 and lost ~84% of its area following the exploitation of Karkheh dam in 1998”.  He proceeded that “ by disturbing the water inflow to the Hoor-Al-Azim, Karkheh dam exploitation is  the  main  parameter  which caused surface  area  reduction in  Al-Azim/Al-Havizeh wetland[58 ]”.

From 2000 to 2014 a sign of revival is observable over the wetland area so that its area augmented to 1714 km2, but still the total loss of wetland is ~55% from 1973 to 2017[42]. Hawaiza marsh lost about 2000 Km² from its area within Iraqi territories mainly due to dams filling and operations all during the nineties.

4. Impacts of constructing freshwater diversion canals southern Iraq (1994 -1998) on further desiccation of marshlands

After the military operations of Gulf war 1, 1991, with the intended destruction of the public services and the civil infrastructure by American coalition including electricity, water supply and wastewater treatment plants, Irrigation and drainage pumping stations, bridges, food storages [59] [60].

Economic Sanctions imposed on Iraq prevented repairing all the destroyed infrastructure specifically those required spare parts like pumps and chemical reagents, including electricity installations, water purification and sewage treatment plants, and water networks [59]. Harvard Study Team in their visit to Iraq observed that; “people collecting water from broken pipes surrounded by pools of murky water or even directly from drainage ditches”[60]. Loss of electricity had also caused Baghdad’s two sewage treatment plants to stop working and spilling raw sewage into the Tigris River. In neighborhoods in both Basra and Baghdad, whole streets were blocked by pools of foul-smelling water [60] [Starving Iraq].

Without public potable water supply, people had to use raw water directly from rivers for a while. About (50000) mostly under five children died in 1991 only [60]. The impacts of economic sanctions were severe specifically among population in south of Iraq [60]. Because of lack of clean water, food, and medicine, WHO supported data indicated that “Mortality in under-fives had risen 600% between 1990 -94, while there has been a 500% rise in low-birth-weight infants, and a doubling of the infant mortality rate of Baghdad over the same period”. Former UN official Denis Halliday resigned his job in Iraq because he considered sanctions against Iraq amount to ‘genocide’ [46].

During this period only about 40% of Euphrates River MAFR entered the Iraqi territories because of the filling and operation of Ataturk and eleven other dams in Turkey, Appendix B, table II. The release of sewage water discharges to the river caused further deterioration of water quality.  Large areas of marshlands connected to Euphrates River were desiccated due to decline in MAFR with serious deterioration of their water quality, figure 10. In 1994, Al-Imara and Jawad from Marin science Centre in Basra University published a paper presents the results of Physio-chemical properties of water sampling program conducted in December of 1991 [61] (during the filling of Ataturk dam [62].  The sampling program were conducted before the construction of any freshwater conversion canals through the marshlands by the Iraqi state companies, and covered water courses from Qurna to Arabian Gulf [61]. Measured salinity of Euphrates water samples at Qurna before confluence with Tigris River and after flowing through marshlands was (5280) part per million (ppm). According to WHO water quality standards, this salinity value is not suitable for human use [63], also not acceptable for agriculture, animal, or industrial uses. Salinity values from Tigris- Swaib canal (after exiting Huwaiza marsh) was 5020 ppm; Hartha, 6200 ppm; Garmat Ali, 6500 ppm; Basra, 6370 ppm [61 ]. Al these and other water parameters values give clear indication of what southern Iraqi cities were going through with the continues deterioration of surface water quality to meet population water demands through the economic sanctions.

Figure 10: Correlation of filling and operating GAP project dams on decline of Euphrates River MAFR and the dissection of marshlands southern Iraq. [ 45].

To prevent further casualties because of the inability to purify and supply clean water, four artificial water diversion canals were constructed by Iraqi state companies and operated from (1994-1998) [55]. The canals were designed to prevent mixing of what remained of Tigris and Euphrates fresh water with polluted and saline marshlands water, and to convert some of Tigris flood water to Euphrates River south Basra city to supply potable and irrigation water to highly populated villages and cities of Nasiriya, Shatra, and Basra. These projects are:

  1. Al- Ezz river: Recommended by American’s consultants (Tippets Abbott McCarthy Stratton),1958 [64].  This artificial canal was constructed mid-1993 and operation started 1994-1995 [65]. Its an open channel designed to transfer fresh water from Beterra’a and Great Majar distributaries of Tigris river south western Omara city to Euphrates river main channel south of Qurna city with mean flow rate of 256 cms [65] ,figure 3 . Main function of the project was to prevents mixing of Tigris distributaries fresh water with saline water of the central marshlands, and to transfer more fresh water to Euphrates River south of Nasiriya city to meet water demands of tens of populated Basra villages after four years of drastic decline.
  2. Wafaa Al Qaed Canal: after the American occupation of Iraq in 2003, the under occupation assigned government changed the name of this canal to (al Bada’a Canal), figure 5. An Italian company designed this canal during the eighties [66], and the construction were executed by state Iraqi companies and took three years during economic sanctions. The canal operated in 1997 [64]. The length of this open channel is 238.5 Km, built to transfer (21 cms) fresh water from Tigris (Gharaf) distributary to Nasiriya and south of Basra cities [66].

This canal is still supplying fresh water to the cities of Nasiriya, Shatra, and Basra till this day. Practically it is the only source of fresh water currently in Basra after the shutdown of ten water purification plants on Shatt Al Arab waterway due to sea water intrusion last decade [67].

After all criticism and accusations of the American’s propaganda during the economic sanctions that these canals are constructed to dry up the marshlands for security reasons, the occupation assigned Iraqi government after 2003 had to keep these canals to supply fresh water to about 2.5 million of Basra and Nasiriya population [67][68]. For Eighteen years the authorities couldn’t solve the problem of supplying potable water to villages of Nasiriya and Basra residents other than this canal. In 2018, about 118000 of Basra residents were hospitalized from drinking polluted water supplied from Shatt Al Arab water purification plants [68].  The minister of water resources in July 16, 2020 [69] announced that PM council approved turning al Bada’a (Wafaa Al Qaed) open canal into more efficient closed conduit canal for water supply! One should ask; Why keep this canal if it was constructed to dry up the marshlands???

  1. Taj Al Marek Canal (Saad Canal): is an open channel constructed in 1993 and start operating in 1994 after closing Musandeck Weir which converts water to central marshlands [ 70]. Located east of Tigris River, about 5 Km away from Omara city. The canal length is (36.5 Km), transfer 400 cms of Tigris flood water to Sanaf marsh which is connected to Huwaiza marsh [70]. From south Hawaiza marsh water flows to Shatt Al Arab through two small canals (Swaib and Kasara) [40].
  2. Um Al Marek Canal: constructed in 1994, west of Euphrates 10 Km from Nasiriya city [70]. The canal is 108 Km length, built to transfer what remained of Euphrates fresh water to supply potable and irrigation water to all villages along the way to Rumaila city east of Basra [70].

It’s worth mentioning that all these diversion canals except the Ezz canal, are still operating currently because there are no other alternatives to supply fresh water for tens of populated villages of Basra, Omara, and Nasiriya cities.

The construction and operation of these four canals also caused further desiccation of about 1300 Km³ of central marshlands between 1994-1998, table 5, figure 9.

From previous data we conclude that about 4200 Km² of the marshlands southern Iraq desiccated due to the decline of the mean annual flow of Euphrates and Tigris after the construction and operation of more than 31 of GAP dams and HEPP from 1973-2002. The construction of four freshwater diversion canals through the marshlands in Iraq caused further desiccation of about 1300 Km² during the nineties of last century. Also, the filling operating of Karkha dam in Iran caused the desiccation of about (1500 Km²) of Hawaiza marshland between 1998-2001. Total desiccated marshland areas by end of Nineties were (7000 Km²) out of original area 8350 [ 16] Km². Remaining of the marshland area was (1350 Km²). After 2003, elimination of Ezz canal passing through central marshlands recovered only about 1000 Km².  Studying all scenarios of recovery and flooding last two decades, still the current area of the marshlands is only (2500 -3000 Km²), figure 11 , simply because there is no enough water to revive them.

Figure 11: Recovered marshlands areas from 2009-2018.

5. Construction of the Third River in Iraq: The Main Outfall Drain (MOD) is considered one of the largest water development projects in Iraq. Its an open channel extends 565 Km between Tigris and Euphrates rivers from north of Baghdad to Shatt Al Basra canal west of Basra city [FAO 2008[47]. From Shatt Al Basra canal, through Khour al Zubair estuary the MOD water final destiny is discharged to the Arabian Gulf (figure 5 ).  The MOD main functions is to collect drainage water from irrigated agricultural lands between Tigris and Euphrates Rivers to minimize water logging and soil salinity, and to protect water quality of the two rivers through receiving polluted agriculture and municipalities waste water effluents of all cities along the project (Baghdad, Al Anbar, Wasit, Diwaniya, Hella, Karbala, Najaf, Nasiriya, and Basra) [71] .It’s also designed to act as a barrier against the expansion of sand dunes towards cities and irrigated land. Southern part of the project designed to serve as a navigation waterway for inland transportation to the Arabian Gulf [71] Figure (5). Kolars, 1994 wrote about MOD “This Impressive canal is intended to remove excess drainage water from area between twin rivers into the Gulf near FAO peninsula after transferring it by siphon across the Euphrates River near Nasiriya” [72].

History of Great Outfall Drain project

After Gulf war 1 in 1991, and during the economic sanctions, the American media, researchers, and UN organizations waged an aggressive campaign against Iraq after the special rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights in Iraq, addressed the U.N. secretary general to charge Iraq of violating the rights of people in southern Iraq, whom the U. S. called Violation of Marsh Arabs rights by building the third river [73]. In an article published in EIR, 1992, Marcia Merry in November 20.1992[73]  criticized the UN special rapporteur charges document about the MOD and wrote: “ In this document, no mention was made of the major hydrological problem aggravating the Iraqi marshlands, namely that Turkey has been holding back a large volume of the flow of the Euphrates River, by operation of the Keban and Karakaya dams, and the filling of the huge reservoir behind the new Ataturk Dam.”[73].

It was clear later that this whole campaign, like others related to false claims of WMD and nuclear activities of Iraq, all associated with the American administration decision to invade and occupy Iraq in 2003.

The MOD project was suggested and designed by American and British consulting firms since the fifties of last century [73]. Most stages of the project were executed by other foreign companies over four decades before the economic sanctions, and that it has nothing to do with intentional desiccation of marshlands or the force migration of Marsh Arabs!

Historical review of planning and construction (MOD) in Iraq [73] [74] [75] [76]:

1913: British engineer William Wilcox studied problems of Mesopotamia water resources under Ottoman Empire rules and suggested the construction of whole drainage network discharge its water into a main drain 160 Km length discharge its water close to Dalmaj Marsh [73].

1952 & 1958: The American consultants Tippet Appet McCarthy proposed solutions for problems of soil salination, and water logging related to irrigation and proposed drainage network corresponding to Tigris and Euphrates irrigation network, including a main drain collecting excessive irrigation water starts from Balad northern of Baghdad to Nasiriyah (the path of the current MOD), and discharge the drainage water in the marshlands [74].

1963: United Kingdom consultants (Sir M. McDonald and Associates) approved the construction of the (MOD) to collect drainage discharges from agriculture land between Tigris and Euphrates starts from Mussaaib main drain to west Shatra, then further south the main drain discharges drainage water into Hammar marsh [74].

1965: Main contracting company from Holland built 60 Km drain from Shatra city to Hammar marsh.

1970: decision was made by Iraqi government to extend the (MOD) to the Arabian Gulf.

1971: establishment of the (Construction of Third river state organization).

1973-1977: The construction of first stage of (MOD) from great Mussaaib drainage network to Shatra Drain, 156 Km length, 60 m width, under the consultation and machinery supplies of (USSR Sulkhozprom Exports) [73]

1977-1981: Construction of the second stage of the MOD by (USSR Sulkhozprom Exports).

1980-1982: Contract with USSR Sulkhozprom Company to restudy middle part of (MOD). This part is 187Km from north Dalmaj lake to Nasiriya to use it for navigation.

1981-1983: contract with Holland Nedeco consulting to study north part of MOD [75].

1982-1986: contract with German companies Philip Holtzman and Polonsky to construct middle part of MOD from north Dalmaj lake to Shat al Basra canal [74].

1984: Contract with Brazilian company Mandis Josior   to construct southern part MOD infra structures (main pumping station and related buildings, the Siphon under Euphrates River to prevent mixing MOD water with Euphrates water, emergency spillway, new Euphrates cross section above the Syphon, railroad, six car bridges and navigation spaces. The company couldn’t finish the projects on time and left in 1990 with the start of economic sanctions on Iraq.

1987: Contract with Yugoslavian Arco project to construct the navigation Lock on Shatt al Basra. The project stopped in 1990.

25/ 5/1992: Iraqi national campaign to finish connecting the MOD by state construction companies during economic sanction [74]. Even though most literature state that 1992 is the construction of MOD project were done [47], the actual date was end of 1993[74][76]. The construction of the siphon with the pumping station near Nasiriyah City caused about one and half year delay in operating the project. This siphon is designed to isolate MOD drainage water from Euphrates River with pumping station. Because of economic sanctions, Iraq couldn’t import these pumps [71]. Design modifications was necessary to allow gravitational flow through MOD intersection with Euphrates River to bypasses maximum discharge of (80-110 cms) instead of the designed discharge of 220 cms [71].

7/12/1993: Construction were done, and the project started partially operating [74] [76] about early 1994. That’s why FAO stated that MOD carried about 17 million ton of salts to the Arabic Gulf in 1995[47] and not in 1993.

After the American occupation of Iraq in 2003, with the new assigned government, the whole attitude towards the MOD have changed. In 2008, Noori al Maliki, the under-occupation PM of Iraq gave short speech during the inauguration of MOD siphon pumping station at Nasiriyah city emphasized that “MOD project represents an inflection point in building the new Iraq!!”, and that “Iraqis efforts from all parties, NGO’s, tribes, and armed forces all worked together to accomplish this murical!!” [77].

The same MOD was a criminal act committed by Iraqi government during the Nineties [78 ], turned into a miracle development after regime change under the American occupation of Iraq. Since 2010, MOD water have been used to save Hammar marshland from drying [73].

Final Remarks

 From the data presented in this article and related references we conclude that:

  • The (GAP) is a water-based development on the headwaters of the two international rivers  Tigris and Euphrates in Turkey shared by four riparian states. The project was planned and partially constructed through the cold war period without consultation or negotiation with downstream riparian countries sharing the same river basin. American and NATO countries financially and technically supported the project even though it goes against major environmental and international water laws principles.
  • With its mega-dams, the project design serves Turkey’s local and regional political interests including the formulation of a mid- to long-term solution to Kurdish ethnic separatism, and as part of NATOs ‘interest to destabilizing downstream riparian’s regimes (Iraq and Sirya)) through controlling their water, food security, and the socioeconomic development. Since early seventies more than 40 dams and HEEP stations have been constructed and the planed target number is close to 90 dams and 60 HEEP.  currently the project is drawing up to about 60% of natural flow of Euphrates in Iraq, and 50% of the natural flow of the Tigris River [ESCWA 2013, page 79 [8]. Full operation of the project expect to withdraw about 80% of Euphrates and 60 of Tigris.
  • In planning and constructing the GAP- mega dams, Turkey have not taken into consideration the fact that the wetlands in southern Iraq are an integrated feature of the whole basins, as much as any other wetland withing the Turkish territories. Hydrological, ecological, and geomorphological preservation of wetlands connected to Tigris and Euphrates rivers (as required by RAMSAR protocol Turkey signed in 1994 [23] is the responsibility of all riparian countries sharing the two rivers’ basins. Harnessing about two third of the two rivers water inflow into Iraqi territories reduced total area of the marshes by same proportion of water inflow reduction.
  • The whole situation concerning the desiccated marshlands in southern Iraq during the nineties presented to the whole world with most misleading and data manipulation by the American and western media and researchers. In facts same countries helped planning, financially and technically supported the construction of the GAP mega dams responsible of desiccation of about 65% of southern Iraq marshlands areas since the seventies till now. The campaign was part of the political agenda related to the preparations of invading and the occupation of Iraq.
  • In the western media campaign, the area of the marshlands during the nineties were considered (10000-20000 Km²) to exaggerate (the crime that have been committed) against this natural feature by Iraq [78]. In the report submitted by Iraqi government after occupation to include these marshlands as a site under the UNESCO, with help of the IUCN, 2015, total area of marshlands is considered only (5260 Km²)[54 ]. This way when the media write that more than 50% of the marshlands were recovered after Iraq’s occupation [78], in reality recovered marshland area last eighteen year is not more than 30-35% of the early seventies area, which was (8300 Km²) [16], table 6 and figure 11. The situation is expected to get worse after the full implementation of the whole GAP projects [26].
  • The high interest in the marshlands issue in Iraq during the economic sanctions is not strictly related to persevering these natural water bodies, knowing that in the Mississippi River coastlands delta in USA, large areas of wetlands have been destroyed because of oil and gas exploration and production with land use changes [79]. More than 25% of the 3.8 million hectare coastland wetlands have and still being lost last few decades [79]. Major interest in the Marshlands in southern Iraq is also related to the fact that most of Iraq’s huge oil reservoirs and reserves are under these lands, figure 12  [80]. In fact many environmental groups in Iraq published many news reports warned that foreign oil companies are drying large areas of the marshlands in 2015, and polluting its fresh water in the oil exploration and production operations [81 ] [82 ] [83] , yet we didn’t notice same outrage by western governments and media.

Figure 12: Oil reservoirs under marshlands southern Iraq [78].

  • Concerning the migrating  of Marsh Arabs issue [73], It is interesting to know that those (Marshlands Arabs) kept migrating since the eighties to date due to war operations and the continuous decline of marshlands water areas, depth, and quality [84] [85].The International Organization on Migration (IOM) in 2019 published a report with numbers of families migrated from marshlands in Nasiriya, Umara, and Basra [84]. The report cleared out that as of January 2019, 100 locations were identified as facing water scarcity, 58 locations in Missan Governorate, 22 in Muthanna, 11 in Basra and 9 in Thi-Qar. And that 5,347 families were displaced from the four governorates of Missan, Muthanna, Thi-Qar and Basra [85].  Figures of the report show that most of these migration locations are within Marshland areas and villages, figure. These migration waves never stopped specially through the nineties (when Turkey filled and operated 13 dams and HEPP of GAP project in one decade, including Ataturk mega dam). This migration continued after 2003, according to published reports of their suffering from lack of services and increase of marshes water salinity to more than (6000- 10000) ppm [87]. Water salinity more than 5000 ppm kills their animals (buffalos or Jamose), major source of their living [86]. After 2003, the Americans and UN organizations switched the cause of migrations from force migration by Iraqi government into (migration from drought related water scarcity).
  • Serious environmental impacts have resulted from impairment of downstream natural flow of Tigris and Euphrates rivers by GAP projects including the increase of losing about 250 Km² of Iraq’s fertile land annually to desertification [87], that means about 750000 Hectare of good agriculture land have already been lost to desertification last three decades. In addition to other serious ecological and socioeconomic impacts.
  • Iraq is facing higher frequency of dust and sandstorms from 24 day/year in (1950-1990) to 200-220 day/year in (2008-2009) [87].
  • The destruction of thousands of years old date palm forests along Tigris and Euphrates floodplains with major reduction of the numbers of date palm trees from about 32 million during the sixties to only 13.9 million in 2011 [88].  Main reason is the recession of the Mesopotamian floodplain area associated with the decline of the two rivers main annual water flow  in Iraq, and the elimination of seasonal flood waves by dams controlled flow. These seasonal flood waves used to wash the soil from accumulated salts and recharge floodplains shallow ground water aquifers necessary to maintain dates growth in certain time span.
  • The amount of surface water share available per person annually in Iraq fell from (1540) to (870.8) m³/year [16] in only less than one decade, figure 13.

Figure 13: Decline of surface water share/ person /year from (2009- 2018)[16]

*

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Prof Souad N. Al-Azzawi, award-winning Iraqi engineer and environmentalist, distinguished scholar, (former) professor of environmental engineering at the University of Baghdad.

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

Notes

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[59] WHO/EHA/96.1, 1996. The Health Conditions of The Population in Iraq Since the Gulf Crises. Impact on the environment because of increased agricultural activities. https://apps.who.int/disasters/repo/5249.html

[60] James Rubin, 1999. Starving Iraq: one humanitarian disaster we can stop. US Department of State spokesman, daily press briefing, December 1, 1997. Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.  March 1999. http://www.casi.org.uk/briefing/pamp_ed1.html.

[61] Al-Imara F.J.M. and Jawad A. M., 1994. Physico-Chemical Parameters of Southern Iraq Water, Northwest Arabian Gulf. Marina Mesopotanica, Vol.9 (1): Pages 1-12. Basra Marin Center. Basra, Iraq. Page 4.

[62] Kliot, N., Water Resources and Conflict in the Middle East, London: Routledge, 1994, p. 118

[63] WHO, 2011. Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality FOURTH EDITION. World Health Organization. ISBN 978 92 4 154815 1.

[64] Tippet-Abbett-Mccarthy, Stratton Engineering, Inc. 1958. Summary of Definite Project Reports for Basrah Vicinity.Irrigation and Drainage Projects. Ministry of Development, Development Board. Government of Iraq. Baghdad. PII.I-II-7, III-I-III-2and Plate I.

[65] Nomas H. B. and Ramadan B. Y., 1998. Evaluation of Ezz River in Preserving and Develop Water Resource in southern Iraq. Journal of Education College. Mustansiriya University. Number 1. Baghdad. Iraq.

[66] Nomas H. B. and Hashim A. A. 2021. The Al Bada Canal water project: Its Construction Aspects and importance for Drinking water Supply projects of Basra Province. Journal of Education college, Wasit University. Vol. 1. No.44. Aug.2021. Pp. (205-235). In Arabic. https://doi.org/10.31185/eduj.Vol1.Iss44.2288. https://eduj.uowasit.edu.iq/index.php/eduj/article/view/2288.

[67] Almukhtar S., Hamdan A.N.A., and Scholz M. 2020. Assessment of the Effluents of Basra City Main Water Treatment Plants for Drinking and Irrigation Purposes. Water, 12 (12) , e3334. doi:10.3390/w12123334. file:///C:/Users/souad/Downloads/water-12-03334-v2%20(5).pdf.

[68] Al-Rubaie A., Mason M., and Mehdi Z. 2021. Failing Flows: Water Management in Southern Iraq. LSE Middle East Centre Paper Series | 52. July 2021. Middle East Centre. http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/110973/.

[69] Minister of Water Resources Received the Approval of PM Counsel to Convert Bada Canal from Open Canal to Closed one. Water Resources Ministry Website, July 20, 2020. In Arabic. https://mowr.gov.iq/2020/07/22/%D9%88%D8%B2%D9%8A%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%8A%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%AD%D8%B5%D9%84-%D9%85%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%81%D9%82%D8%A9-%D9%85%D8%ACز

[70] Nomas H. B., 2005.  The potential water supply for the Rehabilitation in the Southern marshes of Iraq. Marina Mesopotamica, 20(1): 105-126. University of Basra, Basra, Iraq. In Arabic.

[71] AL- MALLAH, I. A. 2014. Assessment of the Environmental, Hydrological and Hydrogeological changes of the Main Drain, Iraq. PhD Thesis. College of Science. University of Basra. Basra, Iraq. 280 pages.

[72] Biswas, A.K. edit. 2014. Middle East from Euphrates-Tigris to Nile. Water Resources Management Series. OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, 1994. Page 84.

[73] Merry, M. (1992), ‘Iraq builds Third River Project despite no-fly zone’, EIR, 19:46, November, http://www.oalib.com/references/14621588.

[74] Al-Jabari M.H. and Al-Nofel B. F. (2001).  Saddam River (The Miracle River). General Cultural Affairs House, Baghdad, Iraq.156 pages (In Arabic).

[75] NEDCO. 1983. Tigris Euphrates Main Outfall Drain Project (North of Hor Dalmaj). Netherland Engineering Consultants Final Report, submitted to Ministry of Irrigation. Republic of Iraq.

[76] AL-Amar H. A. S. 2017.  A Study the Concentration of Heavy Metals in Water of the Al-Massab Al-Aam Channel (Middle Sector) in Iraq. International Journal of Chem Tech Research. Vol.10 No.2, pp 594-603, 2017. ISSN: 0974-4290, ISSN(Online):2455-9555. Page 595.

[77] Prim Minister Inaugurates the MOD pumping Station in Nasiriya. Press release, from the Cabinet Media Office. Monday Dec.1st. 2008. http://cabinet.iq/ArticleShow.aspx?ID=737.

[78] Dellapenna J. W., 2007. Ecocide and genocide in the Iraqi Marshlands. WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 104, © 2007 WIT Press. www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line). doi:10.2495/RM07038.

[79] Koa J.Y. and Daya J. W. 2004. Impacts of Oil  and Gas Activities on Coastal Wetland Loss in The Mississippi Delta. Ocean & Coastal Management 47 (2004) 597–623. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/237565471_IMPACTS_OF_OIL_AND_GAS_ACTIVITIES_ON_COASTAL_WETLAND_LOSS_IN_THE_MISSISSIPPI_DELTA.

[80] Fanak/ Water, 2017. Marshlands in Twenty’s Century. May 30, 2017. In Arabic. Online. https://water.fanack.com/ar/specials/iraqi-marshes/marshes-20th-century.

[81] Majed Al-Brekan, 2012. “Oil Projects Drying the Marshlands”. Al Hurrah News. May 17. 2012. [In Arabic]. Online. https://www.alhurra.com/iraq/2012/05/17/%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%A4%D9%88%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B4%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%B9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%86%D9%81%D8%B7%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A3%D8%AF%D8%AA-%D8%AA%D8%AC%D9%81%D9%8A%D9%81-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D9%87%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%B1.

[82] Al MADA PAPER, 2015. Jasim Al Asadi: Deduction of Areas from Marshlands for Oil Explorations. Online, Dec. 17. 2015. 12:01:00. AM. https://almadapaper.net/view.php?cat=141113. [ In Arabic].

[83] Alsamaraie, 2014: Scientific Study Warns from Further Environmental Pollution in Basra Marshlands Because of Oil Projects. [In Arabic]. Online.

دراسة علمية تحذر من تفاقم التلوث البيئي في أهوار البصرة نتيجة المشاريع النفطية | محليات (alsumaria.tv)

[84] IOM, 2019. Water Quantity and Water Quality in Center and South Iraq: A PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT IN THE CONTEXT OF DISPLACEMENT RISK I. International Migration Organization.

[85] UN-IOM, 2019. ASSESSING WATER SHORTAGE-INDUCED DISPLACEMENT IN MISSAN, MUTHANNA, THI-QAR AND BASRA. International Migration Organization.

[86] Hussain al Amel, 2021. Environmental Organization Suggests Solutions for Increase of Marshlands Water Salinity. Al MADA Paper. Online, Aug. 03, 2021, 11:35:32. Thee Qar. Iraq.. https://almadapaper.net/view.php?cat=243559.

[87] Ministry of Environment , 2016. State of Environment in Iraq. Report 282 pages. Page 4. Republic of Iraq.https://moen.gov.iq/Portals/0/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%82%D8%B9%20%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%A6%D9%8A/%D8%AD%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A9%20%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%A6%D8%A9%20%D9%81%D9%8A%20%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%82%20%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%A7%D9%85%202016.pdf.

[88] Al Ogaidy K. H. 2011. Towards Better Future for Dates and Palms in Iraq. www.iraqi-datepalms.net.

Featured image: Painting by Abdul-Qadir al-Rassam depicting a scene in Southern Iraq


Appendices

Appendix A: Table I

Appendix B: Table II [45]

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Former Kosovo President Hashim Thaçi is currently on trial at The Hague for war crimes. Bill Clinton and Joe Biden supported him and enabled him to commit his crimes, while committing horrific ones of their own in Kosovo. So why aren’t they on trial too?

In June 2019, Bill Clinton and his former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright visited Pristina, Kosovo, where Kosovo’s President Hashim Thaçi awarded Clinton Kosovo’s Order of Freedom for his role in ordering the bombing of Yugoslavia.

Thaçi said that Clinton had stopped the alleged genocide by the Serbs, and that “the story of Kosovo is a story of joint success. You are our hero.”

Clinton responded that he would “always be proud of the fact that I happened to be the president of the United States when you needed someone to stand up and say no more ethnic cleansing, no more people running out of their homes, no more killing innocent civilians, there’s got to be another way.”

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton embraces Kosovo’s President Hashim Thaçi after being given an award in Pristina in June 2019. [Source: balkaninsight.com]

Four years later, Thaçi is no longer in power but a defendant at The Hague in the Netherlands at a special tribunal funded by the European Union. He stands accused of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity when he was a senior member of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), including torturing and then ordering the execution of fellow Kosovo Albanians accused of being traitors and collaborators.

Kosovo’s George Washington or Al Capone

When he was Vice President, Joe Biden, a staunch supporter of the bombing of Kosovo as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, hailed Thaçi as “the George Washington of Kosovo.”

A few months after Biden made those remarks, a Council of Europe report accused Thaçi and KLA operatives of human organ trafficking.

The report alleged that Thaçi’s inner circle “took captives across the border into Albania after the war where a number of Serbs are said to have been murdered for their kidneys, which were sold on the black market.”

When “transplant surgeons” were “ready to operate, the [Serbian] captives were brought out of the safe house individually, summarily executed by a KLA gunman, and their corpses [were] transported swiftly to the operating clinic.”

Leaked Western intelligence reports identified Thaçi and the KLA also as having exerted violent control over the regional heroin trade and said that Thaçi held a connection to a mafia cartel, which moved drugs from Turkey to Western Europe through the “Balkans Route.”[1]

A young Thaçi, in civilian clothes, with members of the KLA during a press conference in 1999. The man sitting next to Thaçi (on the left) is Fatmir Limaj, the International Criminal Court indicted Limaj for crimes against humanity, illegal detention, torture and murder of Serbs and Albanians in the Lapusnik camp (1998). He was captured on February 18, 2003, in Slovenia and extradited to stand trial in The Hague. On the right is a wanted poster for Thaçi, who’s nomme de guerre was “snake,” dating from 1997. [Source: diario.octubre.com]

Thus, Thaçi seems more like Al Capone than George Washington.

Phony Freedom Fighters

The Kosovo War was billed in the U.S. as a great humanitarian intervention, and was supported by liberal luminaries of the time like Todd Gitlin, Susan Sontag, Bernie Sanders, Paul Wellstone, Maxine Waters, Christopher Hitchens and Michael Walzer.[2]

The official pretext was to protect the Kosovo-Albanian minority in Kosovo from Serb ethnic cleansing and the depredations of Serbian leader Slobodan Milošević, who was falsely accused of committing genocide.

Curiously, the Clinton administration had shown little interest in the Kosovar Albanians’ plight when they excluded their delegates from the 1995 Dayton negotiations, avoiding discussion of the Kosovo problem at a time when they might have been able to help advance a political solution to the crisis there.

An underlying goal of the war was to separate Kosovo from Serbia—which Washington wanted to isolate—and establish a Greater Albania under U.S., NATO and Turkish influence—along with a giant U.S. military base at Camp Bondsteel, while legitimizing NATO after the end of the Cold War.

A person in military uniform standing in front of a sign Description automatically generated with low confidence

Source: arcticcompass.blogspot.com

During World War II, it was the Kosovar Albanians who had collaborated with the Nazis while the Serbs were persecuted by them.[3]

The Serbs considered Kosovo something like Jerusalem for Israelis because it was the site of the famous 1389 Battle of Kosovo against Turkey and because it is the birthplace of the Serbian Orthodox Church and many of the great Serbian monuments and monasteries are located there.

A confidential report by NATO’s North Atlantic Council stated that the KLA was “the main initiator of violence” in Kosovo and “launched what appears to be a deliberate campaign of provocation,” which led to the outbreak of hostilities with Yugoslav government forces.[4]

A British member of parliament compared the KLA to the “Nicaraguan Contras and other groups armed by the CIA.” The KLA and Contras were both financed in part from the drug trade and committed repeated terrorist acts.

Clinton’s special envoy to the Balkans, Robert Gelbard, branded the KLA as a terrorist organization mere months before the war.[5] Their crimes included gunning down Serb children, organized rapes, and blowing up Serb monasteries.

James Bissett, Canadian ambassador to Yugoslavia for much of the 1990s, noted that the CIA and British Special Air Service (SAS) trained the KLA to “foment an armed rebellion in Kosovo,” with KLA terrorists sent into Kosovo to assassinate Serb mayors, ambush Serb policemen and do everything to incite murder and chaos” and, in turn, provoke a NATO intervention.[6]

During the 78-day U.S.-NATO bombing targeting Serb positions from March 24 to June 9, 1999, the KLA provided crucial intelligence using satellite phone and other communications equipment provided to it covertly by the CIA.[7]

Forty eighty schools and 33 hospitals were struck in the the former Yugoslavia and Kosovo along with at least fourteen historic monasteries, and between 500 and two thousand civilians were killed.

With KLA assistance, American warplanes bombed Zastava automobile plant, a Serb government TV station, and the Chinese Embassy in the part that housed intelligence operatives, killing four, likely in an effort to intimidate the Chinese from using their veto over the UN Security Council (The official U.S. explanation was that it was using an “old map” of the city).[8]

Wreckage from U.S.-NATO bombing in Kosovo in the spring of 1999. [Source: theconversation.com]

Spanish Captain Martin de la Hoz, who lodged protests with NATO chiefs over the selection of non-military targets, concluded that the U.S. and NATO were “destroying the country.” They were “bombing it with novel weapons, toxic nerve gases, surface mines dropped with parachute bombs containing uranium, black napalm, sterilization chemicals, sprayings to poison the crops, and weapons of which even we still do not know anything.”[9]

A BLU-97 cleared from Jasic, Kosovo by HALO Trust.

One of 35,000 cluster bombs dropped by U.S.-NATO fighter jets over Kosovo. The bombing was supposedly undertaken for humanitarian purposes but empowered criminal mafia elements like Thaçi, who is now on trial for crimes against humanity. [Source: halotrust.org]

These constituted clear war crimes for which Clinton and others in his administration should be prosecuted, along with Joe Biden who helped secure U.S. Senate support for the war—like he did with Iraq.

*

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Jeremy Kuzmarov is Managing Editor of CovertAction Magazine. He is the author of four books on U.S. foreign policy, including Obama’s Unending Wars (Clarity Press, 2019) and The Russians Are Coming, Again, with John Marciano (Monthly Review Press, 2018). He can be reached at: [email protected].

Notes

  1. Paul Lewis, “Report identifies Hashim Thaci as ‘big fish’ in organized crime,” The Guardian, January 24, 2011, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jan/24/hashim-thaci-kosovo-organised-crime; Jerry Seper, “KLA Finances Fight with Heroin Sales: Terror Group is Linked to Crime Network,” The Washington Times, May 3, 1999; F. William Engdahl, Manifest Destiny: Democracy as Cognitive Dissonance (Mine Books, 2018), 111, 112. Thaçi ’s top deputy, Xhavit Haliti, was allegedly a big figure in the Albanian mafia involved in gambling, prostitution and drug smuggling. Prince Dobrosh, the boss of the Kosovo-Albanian narco-mafia provided weapons to the KLA that were bought from heroin proceeds. “Rugova Meets with Albanian Narco-Boss in Prague,” https://balkania.tripod.com/resources/terrorism/kla-drugs.html#a25 

  2. See David Gibbs, First Do No Harm: Humanitarian Intervention and the Destruction of Yugoslavia (Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press, 2009), 2; Paul Gigot, “How Doves Learned To Love the B-2 Bomber,” The Wall Street Journal, March 26, 1999, A22. 
  3. Sheldon Drobny, “Kosovo’s Nazi Past: Historical Perspective,” The Huffington Post, May 25, 2011, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/kosovos-nazi-past-histori_b_87845, Drobny quotes from Carl Savich’s essay on Kosovo’s Nazi past which asserts that, during World War II and the Holocaust, Kosovar Albanians killed 10,000 Kosovo Serbs and expelled 100,000, taking over their lands and houses. Kosovo Serb women were raped. Kosovo Serb Orthodox priests were arrested, tortured, and murdered. Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries were attacked and destroyed. Serbian monuments, cemeteries, and gravestones were desecrated and demolished. In addition, Kosovar Albanian Nazi SS troops participated in the round-up of Kosovo Jews who were later killed at Bergen-Belsen. 
  4. A. B. Abrams, Atrocity Fabrication and Its Consequences: How Fake News Shapes World Order (Atlanta: Clarity Press, 2023), 226. 
  5. Philip Shenon, “U.S. Says It Might Consider Attacking Serbs,” The New York Times, March 13, 1998; Abrams, Atrocity Fabrication and Its Consequences
  6. Abrams, Atrocity Fabrication and Its Consequences, 226. 
  7. Mark Curtis, “Blair’s Former Allies on Trial for War Crimes,” Consortium News, April 14, 2023, https://consortiumnews.com/2023/04/14/blairs-former-allies-on-trial-for-war-crimes/ 
  8. Gibbs, First Do No Harm, 197-98; Robert Fisk, “Serbs murdered by the hundred since ‘liberation,’” The Independent, November 24, 1999; Peter Dale Scott, The War Conspiracy: JFK, 9/11, and the Deep Politics of War (New York: Skyhorse, 2013), 148; Diana Johnstone, Queen of Chaos: The Misadventures of Hillary Clinton (Petrolia, CA: CounterPunch Books, 2015), 64. One Serb woman in the village of Lacarak died from a U.S. air strike when splinters from a shell struck her while she stood in the yard of her house. 
  9. Michael Parenti, To Kill a Nation: The Attack on Yugoslavia (New York: Verso, 2000), 122, 123. The U.S.-NATO dropped an estimated 35,000 cluster bombs which shed bomblets the size of a soda can and depleted uranium, which left tens of thousands of radioactive waste that poisoned the air, waters and soil of the entire region. John Catalinotto and Sara Flounders, eds., Hidden Agenda: U.S./NATO Takeover of Yugoslavia(New York: International Action Center, 2002), 135-48. More than 10,000 unexploded bomblets were scattered around the landscape when the bombing ended. The terrible environmental costs of the war were compounded by the bombing of chemical plants, petroleum and natural gas refining, processing and storage facilities and fertilizer plants which resulted in the release of toxic, radioactive and other dangerous substances into the atmosphere, soil, ground water, and food chain. 

Featured image: Bill Clinton and Hashim Thaçi embrace. [Source: zlocininadsrbima.com]

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First published on May 11, 2023

*** 

‘Multiple obvious toxicities were deliberately built into [the alleged vaccines’] designs, with the result that there would be high expectations of blood clots, autoimmune attacks and cytokine storms all over the body, depending on where it went in a given individual,’ Dr. Michael Yeadon told LifeSiteNews.

Dr. Michael Yeadon, who formerly served as Pfizer’s vice president and chief scientist for allergy and respiratory, explained how he knew the COVID virus, with its subsequent “vaccine” campaign, was a “supranational operation” designed “to injure people, to maim and kill deliberately.”

Yeadon, who spent 32 years working mostly for large pharmaceutical companies, spoke to a reporter from Children’s Health Defense in March while attending a Truth be Told Rally in London.

Reviewing how he came to understand the COVID “pandemic” was something other than what it appeared to be, the pharmacology expert recalled that “when I started noticing former colleagues of mine, including Patrick Vallance, saying things on the television I knew weren’t true — and I knew he knew weren’t true — that’s when the penny dropped for me, probably [in] February 2020.”

“I remember saying to my wife, ‘this is not what they’re saying it is. Something’s going on,’” Yeadon explained.

“And when I saw not only my country locking down, but dozens of countries locking down at the same time … that was proof, and is still proof, of a supranational operation,” he said.

“There’s no way that could have happened at the local level, at the country level. Therefore, it must have occurred at a level above. Whether it was the WHO or the World Economic Forum, or other, I don’t know,” but the orchestrated response demonstrates a planned event as opposed to one determined by the chance of the virus developing, Yeadon said.

These governments “all did the same stupid, ineffective, known-not-to-work things at the same time, none of which were in their countries’ pandemic preparedness plans, because I’ve read them all,” the toxicology expert assured.

Further, he said that he is perfectly confident he will not be sued by Vallance or others for publicly accusing them of lying, because they know they would lose in a court of law. “And so, they won’t sue me. What they do is smear me and censor me.”

Now, “the injuries to people from these so-called vaccines” is “something much worse than an alleged virus,” Yeadon affirmed. Furthermore, “I wish I could say that it was accidental, but it wasn’t accidental.”

On December 1, 2020, Yeadon with Dr. Wolfgang Wodarg of Germany petitioned the European Medicines Agency for the immediate suspension of all COVID-19 vaccine studies in Europe due to significant safety concerns, including the foreseeable possibility that many people could “develop allergic, potentially fatal reactions to the vaccination.”

Yeadon’s warnings went unheeded. And though having been vilified, he has been, unfortunately for all, vindicated.

Continuing the interview, the British scientist reviewed, “I spent 32 years in rational drug design. I know, and I knew, and wrote it, before any of the [injections] had Emergency Use Authorization [EUA], that they were dangerous.”

“And I’m afraid I’m convinced, and would say, with my hand on the Bible in front of a court, a judge, that these injections have been made to injure people, to maim and kill deliberately.”

Later in the full interview, he explained why the mRNA biological injections cause an array of different adverse events in different people.

“When you inject this into a person and it spreads around their body and gets absorbed into a cell, that message gets converted into a protein,” he said. “And when your body makes a foreign protein — I am guaranteeing this as an immunologist — your body will say ‘that’s non-self’ and will attack whoever is producing it until the cell is dead. And I think that’s the cause of a lot — not all — of the adverse reactions to these so-called vaccines.”

Therefore, these substances “will cause autoimmune destruction of wherever that material goes. If it goes in your heart, myocarditis or heart attack. If it goes in your pregnant uterus, miscarriage, if it goes into your nervous system, a hell of a variety of neurological problems. That’s the common problem that underlies many of the vaccine injuries, some of which are so bad that people have died, as I thought they probably would,” said Yeadon, who has a degree in toxicology as well.

Furthermore, he recalled that when part of the heart muscle dies due to the trauma of a heart attack or myocarditis, “that piece of heart muscle dies and does not recover. So, you end up with a compromised heart. That’s why it’s so awful when we hear about myocarditis in young men. They are not going to regrow their heart. They will have a compromised heart for the rest of their lives.”

In a separate correspondence with LifeSiteNews, Yeadon summarized, “[t]he alleged vaccines were designed to injure, maim and kill. Multiple obvious toxicities were deliberately built into their designs, with the result that there would be high expectations of blood clots, autoimmune attacks and cytokine storms all over the body, depending on where it went in a given individual.”

“Finally, the mRNA agents were formulated in lipid nanoparticles, which was known from 2012 to cause accumulation in certain viscera, notably ovaries. Negative impacts on fertility were also virtually assured.”

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Featured image is from LSN


The Worldwide Corona Crisis, Global Coup d’Etat Against Humanity

by Michel Chossudovsky

Michel Chossudovsky reviews in detail how this insidious project “destroys people’s lives”. He provides a comprehensive analysis of everything you need to know about the “pandemic” — from the medical dimensions to the economic and social repercussions, political underpinnings, and mental and psychological impacts.

“My objective as an author is to inform people worldwide and refute the official narrative which has been used as a justification to destabilize the economic and social fabric of entire countries, followed by the imposition of the “deadly” COVID-19 “vaccine”. This crisis affects humanity in its entirety: almost 8 billion people. We stand in solidarity with our fellow human beings and our children worldwide. Truth is a powerful instrument.”

ISBN: 978-0-9879389-3-0,  Year: 2022,  PDF Ebook,  Pages: 164, 15 Chapters

Price: $11.50 Get yours for FREE! Click here to download.

We encourage you to support the eBook project by making a donation through Global Research’s DonorBox “Worldwide Corona Crisis” Campaign Page

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*** 

DeAnna is joined by Dr. William Makis, who discusses the latest round of bioweapon casualties.

Bus drivers driving busloads of children collapsing behind the wheel and dying suddenly, pilots, weightlifters and bodybuilders dying as young as 18 years old, children coming down with turbo cancers, leukemias and dying within days or even hours of diagnosis, turbo brain cancers, and more.

Click here to view the video

Previous interviews with Deanna Lorraine:

Feb.23, 2023 – Rare cancers exploding all over the world 

Sep.22, 2022 – Injuries from the COVID-19 vaccine: blood clots and more

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


The Worldwide Corona Crisis, Global Coup d’Etat Against Humanity

by Michel Chossudovsky

Michel Chossudovsky reviews in detail how this insidious project “destroys people’s lives”. He provides a comprehensive analysis of everything you need to know about the “pandemic” — from the medical dimensions to the economic and social repercussions, political underpinnings, and mental and psychological impacts.

“My objective as an author is to inform people worldwide and refute the official narrative which has been used as a justification to destabilize the economic and social fabric of entire countries, followed by the imposition of the “deadly” COVID-19 “vaccine”. This crisis affects humanity in its entirety: almost 8 billion people. We stand in solidarity with our fellow human beings and our children worldwide. Truth is a powerful instrument.”

ISBN: 978-0-9879389-3-0,  Year: 2022,  PDF Ebook,  Pages: 164, 15 Chapters

We encourage you to support the eBook project by making a donation through Global Research’s DonorBox “Worldwide Corona Crisis” Campaign Page.

  • Posted in English, NO READ MORE LINK
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China y Estados Unidos: Una nueva guerra fría

May 20th, 2023 by Ernesto López

The Numbers BlackRock Won’t Crunch

May 19th, 2023 by Teddy Ogborn

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*** 

As the planet’s biggest investor, with $9 trillion in assets under management and an army of tech-savvy analysts trained on the scent of easy money, numbers are BlackRock’s bread and butter. A giant with such an enormous appetite should find room for all kinds of facts and figures – but this one’s a bit of a picky eater.

The BlackRock Annual General Meeting is on May 24th, and resolutions submitted by shareholders will be going to a vote. The board advocates for or against those resolutions in a statement released last month. One resolution they unanimously recommend shareholders vote against is Item 7 – the ‘Impact Report for Climate-Related Human Risks of iShares U.S. Aerospace and Defense Exchange-Traded Fund’ resolution, submitted by CODEPINK.

The resolution simply calls on BlackRock to research and publish the climate impacts of this industry-wide investment offering (ticker code ITA). Among the dozens of companies represented in ITA are Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Boeing – companies that profit directly from mass killings. Lockheed Martin developed the bombs Saudi Arabia used on a Yemeni school bus full of children in 2018, and Raytheon is the contractor behind the expansion of the US’ nuclear arsenal.

But the significant climate impact of these companies often goes unmentioned. By providing ballistic missiles and aerospace tech to the Pentagon, these companies fuel the latter’s carbon emissions – making the U.S. military the planet’s largest institutional emitter of greenhouse gasses, and thus a leading cause of our present climate crisis. This is one of many reasons that BlackRock’s continued acknowledgement of the severity of the climate crisis is at serious odds with the investment platforms it sells.

If BlackRock’s CEO and chairman Larry Fink has a catchphrase, it’s “we are a fiduciary to our clients.” In the guise of displaying the firm’s humble loyalty to investors, this line is usually delivered with an exculpatory tenor: “Sure we call the shots, but it’s our investors who pull the trigger.” For a corporation that is second only to the US and China in terms of the financial power it wields, this is an extremely convenient way to pass the buck. But Fink’s M.O. is to publicly play both roles – on one hand a duty-bound servant, on the other, a super-powerful arbiter of global financial affairs.

For years, activists have worked to expose the problem with these incongruencies, and it’s paid off. In his 2020 letter to investors, Fink underscored the reality of the climate crisis, stating plainly that “climate risk is investment risk” in order to highlight the trillions of dollars in damage and lost revenue that will stem from fossil-fueled disasters. After coming under intense fire for the firm’s continued investment in the dirtiest fossil fuel sector, Fink pledged to cut thermal coal from some of its offerings. Climate activists got a glimmer of hope. Could this signal the beginning of the end for climate-killing investments?

But since 2020, BlackRock has shown that Fink was full of hot air. The firm included gaping loopholes in the new coal rules, rendering them moot. The total of those thermal coal investments now hovers around $110 billion, and BlackRock is the planet’s second-biggest funder of fossil fuels. Climate-conscious language has evaporated from Fink’s annual letters and public statements. But that performative display of climate goodwill in 2020 exposed the truth: BlackRock is capable of partially decarbonizing the global economy. It’s not a question of ability, as it tends to claim, but one of will. Its board’s statement against CODEPINK’S resolution is a case study in the firm’s duck-and-weave approach when faced with this fact.

In short, the board argues that ITA’s information page already provides all the “sustainability characteristics” an investor could possibly want to see. The board points out that the “implied temperature rise,” or ITR, associated with the operation of the companies is clearly displayed. What the board leaves out speaks volumes: the ITR is listed as “>3.0° C.” In other words: the sector is slated to exceed emissions levels that are consistent with global warming of 3 degrees Celsius. This is a stunning figure for several reasons.

A temperature rise above 3 degrees Celsius won’t produce “more-April-beach-days” weather. Three degrees means melted ice caps, the death of the Amazon rainforest, mass migration of climate refugees, global food shortages – that “>3.0° C” means the end of life as we know it. The board kindly informs us that ITR shows whether the index is “progressing toward the temperature goal of the Paris Agreement.” But the Paris goal is 1.5 degrees Celsius, and you’d never know that from reading the board’s statement.

A popular ethics thought experiment goes like this: You are presented with a button. If you press it, a random person will be killed; but you’ll be a million dollars richer. Do you press it? In obscuring the effects of a greater-than-3-degrees future, BlackRock omits the catch. The question BlackRock poses to its clients is: “Would you press a button for a million dollars?” The response is predictable and perilous.

Further, the board’s statement says that the ITR metric is provided by “third party” research  – that third party in this case is Morgan Stanley, another notoriously major player in the financial sector. Morgan Stanley also provides an ESG (or Environmental, Social, and Governance) score for the fund. It assigns ratings from “AAA” – “leaders” in ESG – to “CCC” – “laggards.” In a move that would be laughable were it not so troubling, Morgan Stanley recognizes that ITA will help to produce an apocalyptic level of warming of at least 3 degrees – yet gives ITA the triple-A score, a blue ribbon for ethical investment.

Setting aside a much-needed investigation of Morgan Stanley’s methodology, it is abundantly clear that investors are being seriously misled by the presentation of ITA as “sustainable.” BlackRock, per its opposition statement to CODEPINK’s resolution, believes it has no obligation to remedy the issue. For a company that prides itself on providing accurate numbers to clients so they can make informed investment decisions, it is shocking how intent BlackRock is to underplay the climate impacts of ITA.

Few people would choose to sit idle in a house that is burning – but statistically few people, I’d wager, truly understand their home is burning. It remains to be seen whether I’m right across the board – whether erstwhile investors in ITA (nukes and all) would reallocate their money if they knew what a “greater than 3” world will look like.That isn’t my decision to make, but neither is it BlackRock’s.

BlackRock’s clients deserve to know the climate impact of ITA. This isn’t just a reasonable request, one that is well within BlackRock’s wheelhouse and purview – it’s a moral obligation to investors.

*

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Teddy Ogborn is an activist and organizer based in New York City with a BA in Comparative Literature from Haverford College. He has several years of experience in documentary storytelling, strategic organizing, and direct action, particularly with climate actions in New York and New Jersey. Teddy is CODEPINK’s War Is Not Green (WING) Coordinator where they focus on the intersection of militarism and climate change.

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*** 

Rainelle, WV – 43 year old Lieutenant Charles “Smitty” Smith died unexpectedly on February 1, 2023, cause of death not released (click here) 

Plantation, FL – 53 year old Sergeant Kevin Forsberg died unexpectedly on Jan. 27, 2023 (click here) 

New York, NY – 38 year old Detective Sammy Lee was diagnosed with liver cancer in July 2022 and died 6 months later on Jan. 17, 2023 (Turbo cancer?) (click here)

West Carson, CA – 52 hear old Detective Steven Lim suffered medical emergency while driving home and died shortly after on Jan. 15, 2023 (click here)

North Ridgeville, OH – 53 year old Officer Raymond Francel died unexpectedly at his home on Jan. 11, 2023 (click here) 

Klawock, AK – 60 yo Chief Terry Stonecipher died unexpectedly at his home on Jan. 9, 2023, he was found unresponsive at 2:57am and could not be saved (click here)

Longview, TX – 30 year old Officer and US Marine Larry Solomon died on Jan. 7, 2023 after a brief battle with angiosarcoma (Turbo cancer?)(click here) 

Lewisville, TX – 52 year old Assistant Chief Jay Powell died in early morning hours of Jan. 6, 2023 after suffering a cardiac event (click here) 

Brockton, MA – 42 year old Officer Christopher Davis was found unresponsive in his home at 9:45pm and died unexpectedly on Dec. 31, 2022 (click here)

Brockton, MA – 48 year old Officer and US Navy veteran Sean “Bez” Besarick died unexpectedly on Dec. 29, 2022 (click here)

Boston, MA – 25 year old Transportation Officer John Santos died of a brain aneurysm on Dec. 28, 2022 (click here)

Arapahoe County, CO – 51 year old Deputy Kraig Conger died after suffering a heart attack at work on Dec. 28, 2022 (click here)

Charlotte, NC – 52 year old Officer Dean Lauber died of a medical emergency at his home while off duty on Dec. 20, 2022 (click here)

My Take…

These deaths are happening in all professions that were subjected to COVID-19 vaccine mandates in 2021 and 2022.

There are again some very interesting cases here, with medical situations commonly seen in people who were COVID-19 vaccinated and suffered vaccine injuries:

  • Cardiac arrest in early morning hours (usually myocarditis)
  • found unresponsive (dead) at home
  • heart attack at work
  • medical emergency while driving
  • brain aneurysms (damaged blood vessels)
  • two turbo cancers (liver cancer, angiosarcoma – cancer of blood vessels)

We see similar types of causes of deaths in young COVID-19 vaccine mandated doctors, nurses, paramedics, firefighters, pilots, etc.

*

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


The Worldwide Corona Crisis, Global Coup d’Etat Against Humanity

by Michel Chossudovsky

Michel Chossudovsky reviews in detail how this insidious project “destroys people’s lives”. He provides a comprehensive analysis of everything you need to know about the “pandemic” — from the medical dimensions to the economic and social repercussions, political underpinnings, and mental and psychological impacts.

“My objective as an author is to inform people worldwide and refute the official narrative which has been used as a justification to destabilize the economic and social fabric of entire countries, followed by the imposition of the “deadly” COVID-19 “vaccine”. This crisis affects humanity in its entirety: almost 8 billion people. We stand in solidarity with our fellow human beings and our children worldwide. Truth is a powerful instrument.”

ISBN: 978-0-9879389-3-0,  Year: 2022,  PDF Ebook,  Pages: 164, 15 Chapters

We encourage you to support the eBook project by making a donation through Global Research’s DonorBox “Worldwide Corona Crisis” Campaign Page.

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a

***

“I speak as the granddaughter of a woman who lost nine siblings to the Holocaust. We have an obligation to speak out against murder in our own communities.” Naomi Wolf [1]

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” Martin Luther King (cited as favorite quote by Magda Havas) [2][3]

LISTEN TO THE SHOW


Click to download the audio (MP3 format)

A smoking gun?

Reams of data are coming out of Pfizer’s internal documents, released under court orders from a Texas judge. The judge ruled that the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for the data guiding the decision by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to approve the approval of the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine “is of paramount public importance.” [4]

The documents were released at a rate of 55,000 pages per month. One of the individuals rolling up her sleeves and digging into the numbers alongside a team of reportedly hundreds of doctors, scientists, oncologists, medical fraud investigators and other experts was Naomi Wolf. The facts she revealed, based on Pfizer’s own documents showed shocking statistics, including 1223 fatalities during a three month period, half of the adverse events, which included fatalities, occurred within 48 hours of the injection, and the vaccine was killing adults, babies and fetuses with adverse events ranging from 3 to 1 to 8 to 1. [5]

Pfizer had documented these and other hazards by February 2021 and rather than inform the public, they urged people, including pregnant mothers, with intensive campaigns to get the jab. [6]

Wolf has spoken up on this subject. In numerous articles online, and in the media interviews. [7]

But earlier this month, on May 9, the UK media regulator Ofcom found the broadcaster GB News of an interview between Naomi Wolf and host Mark Steyn on October 4 2022 in breach of Broadcast rules. Ofcom said the interview guest was relaying views that would be potentially harmful to the public. Ofcom received 422 complaints about the show’s comments being “dangerous” and including “misinformation” that was “unopposed” by Steyn. [8]

Is a journalist citing information from a FOIA requested release of information and bringing it to the attention of the public an example of “dangerous” information harmful to the public being aired?

Another interesting twist to the COVID “pandemic” is the interesting case of 5G installations around the globe that were happening at the same time as the virus was allegedly spreading around the globe.

A number of studies, for instance here, here, and here, document illnesses attributable to radio frequency radiation. This is not necessarily to say that the virus wasn’t hazardous. However, the two dynamics can act in a synergistic way to complicate the lives for those subjected to both in intense ways.

On this week’s episode of the Global Research News Hour we talk to Naomi Wolf about her research into Pfizer’s internal files and about the immense act of what she calls censorship recently directed toward her and Mark Steyn by Ofcom, and the UK government actually linked to it. We also speak with Magda Havas, an emerita professor from Trent University and specialist in environmental toxicology who has spoken of the harms associated with radio frequency radiation for years. She discusses the links between COVID-19 and the rise of 5G in our communities and across the planet. Finally, we speak briefly to Dr. Brent Roussin, the Chief Provincial Public Health Officer in Manitoba about how he defends his own decisions related to COVID-19 in the face of many critics present on this program.

Dr. Naomi Wolf is a former political consultant and Co-Founder of the DailyClout, a platform that empowers democracy-building. She is the author of the best-selling The Beauty Myth, which launched her reputation as a leading voice within Third Wave feminism, and she authored the 2007 book The End Of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot.

Professor Magda Havas is Professor Emerita at Trent University and a specialist on Environmental Toxicology. Dr. Havas has been an advisor to several public interest groups and educational groups concerned with the health of the environment. She is currently science advisor on EMF-related issues to several non-profit organizations.

Dr. Brent Roussin was the Chief Provincial Public Health Officer throughout the pandemic in Manitoba.

(Global Research News Hour Episode 392)

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

Other stations airing the show:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Notes:

  1. https://www.globalresearch.ca/uk-media-regulator-ofcom-goes-after-me-mark-steyn-telling-truth/5818861
  2. https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2017/jan/06/dan-patrick/half-true-dan-patrick-martin-luther-king-saying-li/
  3. https://rumble.com/v2kcqe6-5g-and-covid-symptoms-dr.-magda-havas-saskatoon-day-3-national-citizens-inq.html
  4. https://www.fdanews.com/articles/206113-federal-judge-tells-fda-it-must-make-public-55000-pages-a-month-of-pfizer-vaccine-data
  5. https://www.globalresearch.ca/uk-media-regulator-ofcom-goes-after-me-mark-steyn-telling-truth/5818861
  6. ibid;
  7. https://www.globalresearch.ca/author/naomi-wolf
  8. https://www.globalresearch.ca/uk-media-regulator-ofcom-goes-after-me-mark-steyn-telling-truth/5818861

“The Treason of the Intellectuals”

May 19th, 2023 by Emanuel Pastreich

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*** 

I wanted to share the third thoughtful letter that I received from Michael Buergermeister in Vienna.

I appreciate his effort to identify the process by which oligarchic families have meddled in education and altered the nature of science.

In the case of the Rockefellers, I remember back in 1988 a friend of mine, and extremely talented scientist, was admitted to Rockefeller University for the MA program—before she went on to MIT. At the time I was deeply impressed by the environment, but later on I came to understand what the Rockefellers actually did to medicine and the manner in which they created a whole new class of experts dependent on certain forms of medicine, and an approach to healing that was heavy on the use of plastics and petroleum.

I have had the chance to watch Adam Curtis’s book “The Century of the Self” and I write about, and think about the manner in which we are constantly manipulated. Our concepts of family, love, honor, success and meaningful are forced on us from the cradle on by multinational corporations.

I this respect, I would like to refer to my article entitled: 

“The Treason of the Intellectuals”

The opportunity that I had to study at Yale College as an undergraduate and later at Harvard University for my Ph.D., the chance I had to wander among the gothic buildings, to imbibe confidence and purpose, and to learn to think, learn how things work, from distinguished scholars, was a point of stubborn pride for me when I started my career as a professor, but that legacy had devolved into a nightmare, into a travesty.

I watched up close how the thoughtful and insightful men and women who were my classmates at Yale and Harvard, who were my colleagues as a professor, responded to the horrific institutional decay of the United States over the past two decades. Sadly, although I remember fondly the moments of deep insight and kind exchanges of those good old days, I observed how they, as intellectuals, as lawyers, doctors, engineers, executives, professors and government officials, how they betrayed their fellow citizens and buried the wisdom they had obtained at those temples of learning deep in the excrement of fraud and hypocrisy.

You see, they forgot that the entire point of that elite education they had received. It was not supposed to be something you boasted about, or that you possessed like a yacht or a racehorse, a special key that got you into the club. No! That sort of thinking is the outgrowth of deep moral decay.

That education was a privilege alright, but one that brought with it an absolute obligation to serve society, to stand up bravely for the interests of the nation, and above all for the interests of those who have not had the opportunity to learn how the system works, to study about science and technology, about foreign lands and ancient things.

That is right, you were given special tools that few had access to. They were given to you so that you could use them, use them to help society, especially in times of need, in times of crisis.

And yes, that moment of crisis inevitably came. The 2000 election came, a moment when the entire federal government was taken over by multinational corporations and a handful of the wealthy. I looked around and my colleagues and friends acted as if nothing had happened. They took the fictions of the New York Times as their gospel and clung ever tighter to their privileges.

Then came the collapse of the twin towers, the last card in the Tarot deck, a modern miracle that belongs the Book of Revelations. In other words, a massive fraud that any high school student who has taken a semester of physics could see through.

And yet again, my colleagues from Yale and Harvard were silent; in many cases, they appeared at think tank seminars, on television, to promote this blatant fiction, and to use it as a justification for endless foreign wars, for the transfer of wealth to the billionaires.

It was, sadly, nothing other than the treason of the intellectuals.

I know that the billionaires were ultimately behind this, using their pawns and pets, but if the intellectuals, the upstanding members of society who have the specialized knowledge, the ability to write effectively, and the confidence to use those skills, if they had not sided with the establishment, if they had asked the most basic questions, the drive for war into Afghanistan, into Iraq, into Syria, and into another dozen nations, ending at the doorsteps of Russia and China, that downwards spiral could never have started.

And then there I was again, in January of 2020, right there in Washington DC, watching in amazement as the utterly contrived and unconvincing COVID-19 pandemic was rolled out for mass consumption. I knew that my colleagues were smart enough to see through that circus from the start, but almost without exception, they bought into the farce with enthusiasm, with pride and glee.

Some of them with medical expertise lent their credentials to this sinister operation.

I am an extremely limited man and I cannot claim any remarkable achievements, but I can say that it was obvious to me that the 2000 election, the 9.11 attacks, and the drive for war with Afghanistan and Iraq were a fraud and I spoke openly, and unambiguously, about these crimes at that moment.

I felt that it was my obligation as an educated American. It was, in a sense, the entire purpose of the education I had received.

My efforts, my dismissal from my job, and how I was forced out of the country, remain taboo topics for my colleagues from Yale and Harvard. Mentioning what was done to me, and to others like me, for opposing the COVID-19 fraud is also a no-no in the best of circles.

Let me say, dear colleagues, that I was also at fault. I did not do enough, especially to engage working people, and I overestimated my own capacity to effect change. I was limited by the subtle arrogance of the Ivy League I had imbibed and it took me two decades to relearn.

That is my confession, my apology, and my pledge to do better.

Now, dear colleagues, it is your turn. Admit to yourself, and to those around you, that you were wrong, that you betrayed the trust placed in you by society, by those around you who did not receive such illustrious educations, when you played stupid in the face of the 2000 elections, the 9.11 incident, the drive for world war starting in Afghanistan, and finally the operation COVID-19 pandemic.

We can be forgiving of your mistakes, but only if you are ready to ask for forgiveness.

We are waiting now, for your answers, for your pledges, and for your actions. We hope you will make proper use of the educations that you have received at this moment of national crisis.

*

No doubt Michael will notice the reference to Julien Benda’s classic “The Treason of the Intellectuals” of 1927. I do not entirely agree with that book, or even the translation of “cleric” as “intellectual.” Nevertheless, like Émile Zola’s “J’Accuse” which he published in the newspaper L’Aurore on 13 January 1898 condemning President Félix Faure for his role in the Dreyfus affair, Benda also shows a certain French flair.

I find the “J’Accuse” approach rather appealing.

It is fascinating, even amusing, that Michael continues to rub my face in the “climate change” controversy.

He states,

“That you still haven’t found time to research the “climate change” issue with any degree of thoroughness, for example, annoys me intensely!”

But Michael is not alone in this approach.

Any number of the conspiracy realm have expressed great irritation that although I call out COVID 19 fraud, I still believe there are viruses and that the concept is helpful, although I think the landing on the moon was a PR stunt, I do not believe the Earth is flat and although I openly call the 9.11 operation as a false flag attack, I do not believe the Heartland Institute propaganda fed to us about climate change. The fact that Al Gore and Greta tell us things that are false, and that multinational corporations want to use global warming as an excuse for global fascistic rule, does not make it false. I have read through various “scientists” making claims that climate truth is a fraud. They do not hold up to serious evaluation.

*

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This article was originally published on Fear No Evil.

Emanuel Pastreich served as the president of the Asia Institute, a think tank with offices in Washington DC, Seoul, Tokyo and Hanoi. Pastreich also serves as director general of the Institute for Future Urban Environments. Pastreich declared his candidacy for president of the United States as an independent in February, 2020. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

Featured image is from The Last American Vagabond

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*** 

An idea of effective collective security is the foundation of the United Nations. Fundamentally, collective security has to be a system to protect global peace and security through the common agreement and activity of all nations. Therefore, the focal idea of the concept of collective security is to institutionalize a permanent arrangement of the balance of power in which the whole international community has to agree to oppose any armed aggression by any member state. The very theoretical logic of the concept of collective security is double:

1) No state can stand up to all of the other member states of the system together; and

2) The military aggression will be consequently permanently deterred.

However, in practice, it became impossible to apply this logic to the post-WWII nuclear Great Powers, especially to those two of them called Superpowers. Furthermore, five Great Powers with a permanent veto right in the UN SC have been self-protected likewise their regional clients (for instance, Israel).

Nevertheless, there are urgently and necessary conditions for collective security:

  1. All member states must accept the status quo sufficiently in order to renounce the use of force for any purpose other than for the very purpose of defense of their own borders and territory.
  2. All member states have to reach an agreement about a clear legal definition of the act of aggression in order to avoid a particular self-individual explanation of aggression so that practical paralysis can be avoided if the case of aggression happens.
  3. All member states, but particularly the Great Powers, have to be willing to commit their own armed forces and funds to prevent aggression even in the case if it is remote from or opposed to, their immediate national interests. However, another solution is to establish, pay for, and find means of controlling, an international armed force to deal with the prevention of the act of aggression.
  4. All member states have to prevent actively any breaches of sanctions that might assist the declared outlaw.

As it is known, attempts by the League of Nations to effectively implement the concept of collective security failed because of the inability to meet all of these conditions.

The UN SC is a mechanism for collective security. On one hand, its operation in 1991 against Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait (its former historical territory separated from Iraq by the Brits at the very turn of the 20th century) is usually seen by Westerners as a good instance of successful implementation of the concept of collective security. However, on the other hand, NATO’s military intervention against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1999 without permission from the UN SC can be understood as a good example of classic military aggression against a sovereign state.

The UN’s Charter model of both democracy and global politics recognizes that the world community consists of sovereign states, connected through a dense network of different relations. The model defends single persons and groups who are regarded as legitimate actors in IR.

Peace and peaceful collective cohabitation are the ultimate political goals of the model which can be achieved by worldwide democracy.

The UN immediately after its creation in 1945 recognized that certain peoples are oppressed by colonial powers, or racist regimes of foreign occupants and, therefore, they are assigned rights of recognition and a determinate role in articulating their future and interests.

Consequently, a new type of war started in Africa and Asia – the Identity war. That is a war in which the quest for cultural regeneration, expressed by the demand that a people’s collective identity is publicly and politically recognized, became a primary cause for conflict. Nevertheless, the UN placed restrictions on the resort to force, including the unwarranted use of economic force or sanctions.

The creation of new rules, procedures, and institutions was designed to aid law-making and law enforcement in international affairs with the final security purpose to avoid conflicts and especially wars. There was the adoption of legal principles delimiting the form and scope of the conduct of all members of the international community which provided a set of guidelines for the structuring of international rules and behavior.

It was as well as expressed fundamental concern for the rights of individuals, and the creation of a corpus of international rules seeking to constrain states to observe certain standards in the treatment of all citizens. The preservation of peace, the advancement of human rights, and the establishment of greater social justice became proclaimed as collective priorities. Public affairs now included the whole of the international community.

With respect to certain values such as peace and the prohibition of genocide, international rules within the umbrella of the UN’s Charter and law now provide, in principle, for the personal responsibility of state’s officials and authority in general and the attribution of criminal acts to states including different types of war crimes.

The UN recognized the systematic inequalities among peoples and states accepting the concept of the “common heritage of mankind” (UNESCO). Nevertheless, it would be quite misleading to conclude that the era of the UN Charter model simply displaced the Westphalian logic of both IR and international governance. I would claim that the essential reason for such a standpoint is that the UN Charter framework represents, in many respects, an extension of the former pre-WWII interstate system of IR.

The UN was designed partly to overcome weaknesses in the former League of Nations, but as well as to accommodate the international power structure as it was understood in 1945. Nevertheless, the UN Charter system of IR including dealing with war and warfare and taking into consideration the practice of the veto rights in the UN SC is, in fact, and unfortunately, democratically wrapped and dressed the old Westphalian Order in IR.

As a matter of fact, the division of the globe into powerful nation-states, with distinctive sets of geopolitical interests, is built into the UN Charter conception in 1945. As a result, the UN is virtually immobilized as an autonomous actor on many pressing issues. Manifestation of this is the special veto power accorded to the five permanent members of the UN SC (the UK, the USA, the USSR/Russia, France, and China).

This privileged political status added authority and legitimacy to the position of each of the major Great Powers. The five veto power states are, therefore, protected against censure and sanctions in the event of unilateral military action in the form of their veto. They have the right to unilateral strategic state initiatives if they were necessary for self-defense.

The UN’s submission to the agendas of the most powerful states is reinforced by its dependence on finance provided by its member states. In sum, the UN’s Charter model of IR, despite its good intentions, failed effectively to generate a new principle of organization in the international order – a principle which might break fundamentally with the logic of the Westphalian Order and generate new democratic mechanisms of political coordination. However, the UN’s Charter system is distinctively innovative and influential in a number of respects. It has provided, nevertheless, an international forum in which all states are in certain respect equal. Such a forum is of particular value to third-world countries and to those seeking a basis for consensus solutions to international problems for the sake to avoid military conflicts.

Finally, it has not to be forgotten that the UN’s Charter has provided a general framework for decolonization, and for the pursuit of the reform of international economic institutions. It provided also a vision of the new world order and IR based upon a meeting of governments and of supranational presence in world affairs championing human rights and trying to prevent military actions across the globe.

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Dr. Vladislav B. Sotirović is a former university professor in Vilnius, Lithuania. He is a Research Fellow at the Center for Geostrategic Studies. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

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*** 

UK News: Tens of thousands more Brits are dying – experts not sure why (click here).

Let’s look at the excess death numbers that the mainstream UK media admit to in this interesting article:

“May to Dec 2022″ there were 32,441 excess deaths in England and Wales.

That’s 4,055 deaths per month or 48,661 annually.

“In December 2022 the number of excess deaths was 5,900

That’s an estimated 70,800 annualized heading into 2023, if the rate stays stable.

Population of England (57.06 mil) and Wales (3.21 mil): combined 60.27 million

That works out to about 1 in 1000 people in England and Wales dying as “excess deaths” in 2022.

All the highly COVID-19 vaccinated countries were seeing excess mortality in 2022 on the order of about 1 in 1000 population:

Excess deaths are accelerating into 2023:

From 48,000 excess deaths in 2022 to 71,000 excess deaths heading into 2023, that is the kind of excess death acceleration that the mainstream media in the UK are admitting is happening, even if they refuse to provide an explanation.

Anecdotally, I am seeing this acceleration in the “died suddenly” incidents in young people, whether it’s sudden deaths in doctors, nurses, police officers, school bus drivers or pilots. These are the excess deaths, young healthy people who were COVID-19 vaccinated and are now coming down with cardiac arrests, strokes, pulmonary embolism, brain bleeds, aneurysms, seizures, sepsis, turbo cancers, and other conditions that predispose them to a sudden or unexpected death.

USA Excess Deaths in ages 0 – 24:

Here is another data analysis by Twitter user Ethical Skeptic, showing that excess deaths in young people ages 0 to 24 are accelerating into early 2023 in an unprecedented manner (13 sigma event, which means 13 standard deviations from the mean).

Look at the last 6 months, we are in unprecedented territory.

My Take…

In the early months of 2023, there is evidence that excess deaths are accelerating, compared to 2022.

In 2022, all highly COVID-19 vaccinated countries had excess deaths of approximately 1 in 1000 population but this is increasing in 2023 towards 1 in 500.

This acceleration in excess deaths is evident in the incidents of sudden death and in the obituaries, but the broader population may not realize this is happening, especially if these tragic events haven’t impacted their family directly.

Since only 13% of Canadians have had a booster shot in the past 6 months, I believe we are now starting to see the long term effects of COVID-19 mRNA vaccination in young people, and these long term effects are translating into an ever increasing rate of death.

These long term effects were never studied by either Pfizer or Moderna. In their clinical trials, they studied healthy young people for a few months. That’s it.

It is crucial, now more than ever, to demand investigations and proper autopsies to be done. What are the mechanisms of sudden death 1 or 1.5 years after your last COVID-19 mRNA vaccine? We don’t know, but we better find out soon.

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

Featured image is from Dr. Trozzi


The Worldwide Corona Crisis, Global Coup d’Etat Against Humanity

by Michel Chossudovsky

Michel Chossudovsky reviews in detail how this insidious project “destroys people’s lives”. He provides a comprehensive analysis of everything you need to know about the “pandemic” — from the medical dimensions to the economic and social repercussions, political underpinnings, and mental and psychological impacts.

“My objective as an author is to inform people worldwide and refute the official narrative which has been used as a justification to destabilize the economic and social fabric of entire countries, followed by the imposition of the “deadly” COVID-19 “vaccine”. This crisis affects humanity in its entirety: almost 8 billion people. We stand in solidarity with our fellow human beings and our children worldwide. Truth is a powerful instrument.”

ISBN: 978-0-9879389-3-0,  Year: 2022,  PDF Ebook,  Pages: 164, 15 Chapters

We encourage you to support the eBook project by making a donation through Global Research’s DonorBox “Worldwide Corona Crisis” Campaign Page.

  • Posted in English
  • Comments Off on Excess Deaths in the UK: 10,000 More Brits Are Dying. Experts Not Sure Why.

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*** 

Sergei Korotkikh acquired anti-tank launchers from Britain, despite being accused of beheading a migrant when he led a neo-Nazi group in Russia. UK-supplied weapons have reached a range of far-right forces in Ukraine, our investigation finds.

A neo-Nazi accused of murdering immigrants has filmed himself in possession of five anti-tank rockets that Britain supplied to Ukraine, an investigation by Declassified UK has found.

Sergei Korotkikh can be seen with UK-made missile launchers in three videos posted to his Telegram channel. Campaign Against Arms Trade said the discovery is “very troubling”.

It adds to evidence that some weapons sent by Britain to Ukraine have ended up in the hands of extremist forces. Declassified recently uncovered another case where a jihadist convicted of torture had received UK missiles.

The revelations do not justify Vladimir Putin’s claim that his illegal invasion is ‘de-Nazifying’ Ukraine. The Kremlin has neo-Nazis among its own troops, and Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky is Jewish.

But while Russian forces have rightly received significant scrutiny in the UK media, there has been scant coverage of who exactly in Ukraine is receiving Britain’s multi-billion pound arms package. 

On Monday, Rishi Sunak pledged hundreds more missiles and armed drones in a meeting with Zelensky at Chequers. 

National Socialist Society

Declassified has been investigating Sergei Korotkikh, who is originally from Belarus. Around 20 years ago, he founded a Russian neo-Nazi group – the National Socialist Society.

It spread fear in Moscow by targeting darker-skinned guest workers from the Caucasus and central Asia.

The group was banned and its members convicted of dozens of racist murders.

Korotkikh is alleged to have killed two migrants in 2007, beheading one of the victims – Shamil Odamanov – on camera beneath a swastika flag.

He denies the allegations, which featured in the multi-award winning documentary Credit for Murder by Israeli director Vlady Antonevicz.

Korotkikh was even reported to have links to Russian intelligence and police, who may have recruited him as an agent shortly after the killings. 

He would not be charged with murder until 2021, by which time he had long since left the country.

Defending Ukraine

Korotkikh’s murky past in Russia did not stop him being welcomed to Ukraine. He moved there in 2014 when the country was split over its relationship with Moscow.

He joined the Azov battalion, a neo-Nazi militia founded by Ukrainian far-right activist Andriy Biletsky to fight against pro-Russian separatists in the Donbas.

Biletsky reportedly once said he wanted to “lead the white races of the world in a final crusade…against Semite-led Untermenschen [subhumans].”

Korotkikh quickly acquired Ukrainian citizenship in a ceremony conducted by the then president, Petro Poroshenko. Meanwhile the Azov battalion was integrated into Ukraine’s National Guard.

When Russia launched its full scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the majority of Azov’s serving soldiers were surrounded at their stronghold in Mariupol.

Azov veterans in other cities rapidly formed new units, including elite sections within a Territorial Defence Force (TDF) in the capital Kyiv, which Korotkikh joined. TDFs allowed reservists and volunteers to resist Russia in paramilitary-style groups, nominally under the control of Ukraine’s military.

‘Incomparable male pleasure’

On the day the invasion began, Korotkikh said he had enough small arms, but “would like to get something anti-tank, and something heavy. And preferably a couple of dozen MANPADS [portable surface-to-air missile launchers]. So that their helicopters do not want to fly here.”

Anticipating the outbreak of war, British ministers had hurriedly sent Ukraine thousands of NLAWs, a sophisticated anti-tank weapon. They cost around £20,000 each and can even target aircraft.

Korotkikh initially had trouble finding them. He complained: “I have been running around the city since 9am in an attempt to get weapons, but they didn’t arrive anywhere…There are none of the much vaunted British anti-tank systems at all. I can’t find a trace of them. They are not here.”

But within two weeks of the invasion, some of these missiles were in his arsenal. On 6 March 2022, Korotkikh posted a video of him travelling inside a van with two NLAWs at his feet. 

Korotkikh gives a talk with NLAWs stored behind him. (Photo: Botsman_ua / Telegram)

He wrote: “We have so many weapons that we are literally littered with shells and rockets. There is, of course, a special buzz when you literally ride the NLAW.” On camera, he described having NLAWs as “incomparable male pleasure”.

A few hours later, he posted a scene from the movie Hot Fuzz, where police find a farm shed full of weapons. He commented: “In every house in Ukraine after the war” with a grinning emoji.

Korotkikh appears to have used a Kyiv sports club as his arms depot, posting a videothe next day with two NLAWs propped up against the wall behind him. By the end of March, footage shows he had at least five NLAWs stored in a gym.

‘Play football with your heads’

Throughout this time, he posted gruesome and racist messages on Telegram. In one, he shared a photo of a severed head in a crate, writing: “The Ukrainians, unlike the Russian command, are trying to return Putin’s soldiers to their families. It is not always possible to return the whole thing, but, nevertheless…” 

In another video addressed to Chechen troops deployed by Putin to invade Ukraine, he said: “We will play football with your heads when we cut them off.” 

Korotkikh describes how he will treat Chechen invaders, in language reminiscent of the 2007 execution (inset) of which he is accused. (Photos: Telegram / Wikimedia)

Other posts show Korotkikh criticising Russia for allegedly using Arab mercenaries from Syria and “black cannon fodder from the Central African Republic”, saying: “Kyivan Rus against the Asian Horde. The masks have been dropped. This only makes it easier for real white Europeans to fight.”

The posts confirm that his hatred of Russian minorities has persisted, viewing the war in Ukraine as a battle for white supremacy. In other photos on his Telegram channel, which has 55,000 subscribers, he can be seen wearing a Black Sun symbol – originally from Nazi Germany – on his body armour.

‘Not good enough’

The NLAWs in Korotkikh’s arsenal can be traced back to those supplied by Britain. A reference number, 1H2/Y31/S/12/GB/5126, is visible on the box of one launcher.

It matches codes printed on other crates that Ukrainian media said were deliveredby the UK in February 2022.

The only other country known to have supplied NLAWs to Ukraine by March 2022 was Luxembourg, which sent 100 – a tiny fraction of the 5,000 shipped from Britain. 

NLAWS were designed by Swedish company Saab and assembled by Thales in Belfast.

Partially obscured writing on Korotkikh’s NLAW boxes are from a reference code that reads: GM NLAW K170A2 SAAB BOFORS DYNAMICS AB 1 225 613.

A Saab spokesperson said: “There is extensive export legislation in both Sweden and the UK which govern our activities and which we adhere to. We are not providing further comment on individual matters”.

Linda Åkerström, from the Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society, which monitors arms firms like Saab, commented: “Even if you fully support exporting arms to Ukraine in light of the brutal Russian attack, there is also the need to acknowledge the risks involved. Arms ending up in the hands of criminals is one of them. The risk that arms will flow out of Ukraine to other armed conflicts or into criminal activities once that war stops is real and must be addressed.”

Dr Sam Perlo-Freeman, a researcher at Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), told Declassified: “The potential for western arms supplied to Ukraine to fall into the wrong hands – whether far-right pro-Ukrainian forces, criminal gangs, or diverted to conflicts in other countries, has been a major concern from the beginning. 

“This very troubling case shows that the UK government is not doing enough to guard against this. While the EU and US have taken some measures to monitor what happens to arms to Ukraine, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has refused even to confirm or deny if it has any such measures or plans. This is not good enough. 

“The UK government must set out clearly what it is doing to prevent diversion of weapons supplied to Ukraine, which will likely become a far greater problem for Ukraine and the rest of Europe when this horrific war eventually ends.”

Thales and the UK MoD were asked to comment.

Azov grows

Despite Putin claiming to ‘de-Nazify’ Ukraine, Azov-affiliated units have spread since his illegal invasion. 

Azov veterans quickly formed an important combat unit in Kharkiv, known as Kraken. It was the first force in the besieged city to receive NLAWs, with one of its leaders, Konstantin Nemichev, seen learning how to use the weapon.

Korotkikh stressed the movement’s importance, commenting: “We all came from our beloved Azov. I am especially pleased to say this now. Yes, I am one of the founders of Azov. And our brotherhood is now the backbone of defence in Kharkiv, the Dnieper, Sumy and other cities. And of course, in our ‘kingdom’ Mariupol. Proud of the Azov Brotherhood! #our_war.”

The post from 1 March 2022 was accompanied by a photo of Korotkikh holding an Azov flag with another man, who had a sniper rifle. 

He wrote: “Meet Shark! An interesting type, for four years he was the commander of the Azov battalion. Resigned a month and a half ago. And here he is again the commander of the special forces group …(you will find out the name of the group after)”. 

Korotkikh did not name the new squad, but it looks like the Azov unit that helped defend the cities of Kyiv and Irpin. His subordinates entered Bucha soon after the retreat of Russian troops who had massacred civilians. 

The unit from Kyiv began to call itself an Azov Special Operations Force before being reformed this year as the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade, which is fighting on the frontline in Bakhmut. 

The Brigade describes itself as “formed on the same principles as the legendary ‘Azov’ and the entire Azov movement.” Last week the original founder of Azov, Andriy Biletsky, claimed to be in command of the Brigade’s tactical units and took credit for a high-profile breakthrough of Russian lines in Bakhmut. 

All of the commanders featured on the Brigade’s website are either veterans of the Azov movement or other far-right Ukrainian groups like Right Sector and Centuria. 

The Brigade said it is actively recruiting “stormtroopers” to become a “universal death machine”. Its soldiers often appear armed with British weaponry, and the Brigade’s banner image on Facebook shows one of their soldiers aiming an NLAW.

‘Rigorous risk assessments’

British defence minister James Heappey has previously admitted to MPs “it is highly likely that members of the Azov battalion have had access to UK supplied anti-tank weapons,” but he claimed “rigorous risk assessments” and “appropriate mitigation measures” had been undertaken.

Heappey partly justified British arms reaching Azov militants by saying: “Since being made a part of the Ukrainian National Guard in 2014, the battalion has made some efforts to de-politicise. All founding members left the battalion and formed a political party.” 

Biletsky was elected to parliament in 2014 but lost his seat at Ukraine’s last election in 2019. Far-right parties only scraped 2% of the vote in that poll.

But Biletsky’s recent claims to be commanding Azov-affiliated armed units in Bakhmut indicates that Azov founders are still heavily involved in Ukraine’s military – and remain an important power bloc in the war torn country. 

That, coupled with figures like Korotkikh having access to British arms, could give UK police and MI5 cause for concern about potential blowback.

Before the war, the Azov movement was a magnet for far-right activists across Europe, including some from the banned British neo-Nazi group National Action. One of its organisers, Mark Jones, visited the Azov battalion’s headquarters in 2017. 

Jones was later jailed in Britain under the Terrorism Act. Police found a photo of him giving a Hitler salute in the execution room of Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany.

Others have suggested Azov members are just cosplaying Nazism. Mark Ayres, a British army veteran and convicted thief, joined the Kyiv Azov unit “by accident” after the invasion. 

He told Sky: “They’re not the monsters and psychos that I would envisage neo-Nazis to be – I mean they’re not all like that. A lot of them are decent guys, just with stupid views.

“I say [sic] to my mate: ‘I don’t understand how you can say you’re a neo-Nazi when you’re a f*****g decent bloke, with decent morals.’ 

“And he’s like: ‘Well, I’m not really…’.  It’s just like they’re playing at it. They’re caught up in wanting to belong to something that catches them in. It’s so stupid.”

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Phil Miller is Declassified UK’s chief reporter. He is the author of Keenie Meenie: The British Mercenaries Who Got Away With War Crimes. Follow him on Twitter at @pmillerinfo

Featured image: Sergei Korotkikh inspects an arms cache. (Photo: Botsman_ua / Telegram)

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*** 

On May 16, Ukraine claimed its air defenses intercepted six Russian Kinzhal hypersonic missiles and shot them down amid “exceptionally dense” barrage fired – supposedly thanks to the arrival of Patriots, among other Western combat systems. Kinzhals are supposed to be able to overcome all existing air defense systems, and Moscow denies its Kinzhals were intercepted.

Kiev also claims to have shot down 29 of 30 Russian rockets on May 18, an obviously inflated number. However, a Ukrainian infrastructure facility in Khmelnytskyi has been hit by a missile, with no casualties reported. The barrage came as a response to Kiev’s advancements in Bakhmut. Ukrainian forces are reportedly preparing to launch a counteroffensive. Ukraine’s defense systems, however, should not be overestimated.

While Western powers are finally coming to realize that Kiev simply does not possess the necessary means to win the ongoing conflict, much is being written about Western air defenses supposedly being key for Western victory in its proxy war in Eastern Europe against Moscow. Despite Ukrainian denials, American officials have confirmed US-made Patriot was indeed damaged by Russian strikes. According to the Russian defense ministry, on 16 May Kinzhal destroyed a Patriot missile defense system (five launchers and a multifunctional radar). This is one of the most advanced US air defense systems. Albeit trying to minimize the damage, US authorities speaking to Reuters on the condition of anonymity said that they would have a better understanding of the situation “in the coming days” and that “information could change”.

In the past days, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been busy touring different European countries and so far he has been promised billions of dollars in military equipment by allies such as the United Kingdom (UK) and France. How much different can those make?

The hard truth is that Kiev remains unable to create a single control system or an interface for the various Western air defense systems and their different components, as these possess a large range of functional features and thus are poorly integrated into the already existing systems. This means that they would operate ineffectively if included in a single circuit. NATO’s anti-aircraft systems can fully control one defined sector of airspace at a time, but cannot intercept operational-tactical missiles that move along an aeroballistic trajectory, such as the Russian hypersonic Kinzhais. For Ukraine, it would therefore be necessary to construct a whole new system, which is no simple task during a confrontation – not to mention doing so quickly enough.

Moreover, according to defense and IR journalist S. Tiwari of the EurAsian Times, the Patriot, IRIS-T and NASAMS systems cannot protect Ukrainian troops from guided bombs, such as the ones massively used by Russian forces. Ukrainian Lieutenant Colonel Denis Smazhny, an aerial defense specialist, in turn has confirmed the low effectiveness of the US-sent NASAMS and IRIS-T complexes (supplied by Germany) to face Russian ballistic missiles such as the Iskanders and Kinzhals. The Russian weapons, unlike cruise missiles, are capable of rising to very high altitudes to fall almost vertically onto the target at great speeds. Thus, targeting them in flight is very difficult. How can one make them fall when they are in fact “already falling”?

Thus, in Colonel Smazhny’s words, “Western air defense systems will not be able to protect us.” Even with the Western systems, quickly creating an integrated and effective system for airspace defense is a challenge for Ukraine, to say the least. This is why Kiev has been eyeing an Israeli system called Iron Dome, which could suit its needs better. However, military and technical issues are often entangled with political and diplomatic matters.

During a US Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces session (about missile-defense matters), last week, American Senator Angus King asked why Iron Dome had not been deployed in the Eastern European nation. The answer is quite simple: the main producer of such systems is Israel and thus it would have to grant Washington permission to send it to any other country, such as Ukraine. Despite several requests, this has not happened.

Tel Aviv sees Russia as a regional great power with which it must engage in a number of issues in the Middle East. For one thing, Moscow and Tel Aviv currently have a working relationship in the Levant, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself has stated he has no reason to damage bilateral relations. Moreover, even if Israeli approval were to happen, which remains unlikely, this would still not necessarily make a great difference other than a symbolic one: Russian weapons are indeed more sophisticated than the Palestinian rockets the Iron Dome routinely shoots down. To have a huge impact, Ukraine would need dozens of Iron Domes, which do not currently exist.

Besides these military issues, Ukraine is struggling with a domestic political crisis amid several corruption scandals. This week, for instance, the chair of its Supreme Court, chief justice Vsevolod Knyazev was removed from his post over bribery accusations amounting to $2.7 million. In addition, former US President Donald Trump stated last week he will not commit to backing Kiev, should he win the Republican presidential nomination and the upcoming elections. Despite the legal controversies, Trump remains a clear Republican favorite, while Republican senators are increasingly opposing advancing aid for Ukraine and some, like Senator JD Vance, are calling for investigating a possible Democrat money laundering scheme in Ukraine

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Uriel Araujo is a researcher with a focus on international and ethnic conflicts.

Featured image is from InfoBrics