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A recent US military visit to the illegal Jewish settlement in occupied Hebron shows that the Biden administration is accepting the one-Jewish-state reality. The tour’s host was settler Noam Arnon – who has called Jewish terrorists “heroes”.

Why did US officers visit the illegal, fortified Israeli settlement in the Palestinian city of Hebron earlier this month? I want the Biden administration to answer this question.

Like many who have Palestinian friends or who follow events in Israel/Palestine, I was dismayed to learn of the visit three weeks ago by U.S. Army officers to the militarized compound in the heart of the West Bank city. The U.S. personnel chose to bypass a major Palestinian city completely and visit the Israeli settlers instead.

The military’s recognition of the settlers emboldens violent Israeli extremists and undermines the Biden administration’s ability to mediate between Israel and Palestine.

Even worse, the U.S. officers were in Hebron at the invitation of long-time Israeli, settler leader Noam Arnon, “the spokesman of the Jewish community in Hebron”.

Noam Arnon is a mid-level leader in the successful Israeli project to create a one-state reality– One Jewish State stretching from the Mediterranean coast across the entire Palestinian West Bank to the Jordan River.

The resonance of the U.S. military visit to Hebron extends far beyond Hebron and is emblematic of the one-state reality that is Israel/Palestine– and the American political acceptance of apartheid at the highest levels.

And the Israeli government is taking similar steps. Israeli President Herzog visited the Jewish settlement of Hebron in December to celebrate Hanukkah. The relative lack of public outcry at this visit reflects the established reality of One Jewish State combining the State of Israel and the Palestinian occupied territories. But it’s the U.S. that makes the One Jewish State possible through outsized financial aid, massive military assistance and unique diplomatic protection on the world stage. We should expect our country to be better than this.

Let’s step back to look at some history to appreciate the significance of this historic recognition by the US military of the Israeli settlement in the heart of Hebron.

“A US MILITARY ATTACHÉ AND AN AMERICAN SECURITY COORDINATOR” ACCOMPANIED BY U.S. SOLDIER AND ISRAELI MILITARY PERSONNEL, TOUR THE IBRAHIMI MOSQUE/TOMB OF THE PATRIARCHS IN OCCUPIED HEBRON WITH SETTLER LEADER NOAM ARNON. PHOTO POSTED BY HEBRON FUND, JANUARY 18, 2022.

It has taken half a century to kill the two state solution and the possibility of a Palestinian state living in peace alongside Israel. This One Jewish State reality was accomplished in two phases. Phase one: build a network of Israeli cities and outposts on occupied Palestinian land.

But the settlements alone were not enough to end the dream of an independent Palestinian state. The Israeli colonists could have been required to leave or accept life under a Palestinian government.

Phase Two was an even bolder move: to link these Israeli militarized outposts to each other, breaking up the Palestinian territories into isolated cantons and then connecting this Jewish settler network back to Israel to establish de facto Israeli sovereignty across all the occupied Palestinian territories.

Both colonization and annexation of occupied territories are prohibited under international law. These Jewish-only Israeli colonies have long been considered illegal by the international community, including the United States.

Colonizing occupied territories is illegal under Israeli law too, So how could this plan get off the ground?

A legal fiction had to be engineered outside of Israeli law but under Israeli control. Enter the quasi-governmental “Jewish Agency”, the so-called representative body of the world’s (Zionist) Jews, whose offices are located in Jerusalem under the control of the Israeli government. The illegal colonization of the West Bank by Israel was launched in the name of the world’s Jews. This makes the West Bank settlements the particular responsibility of world’s Jews (known in Israeli and Zionist parlance by the ideologically laden misnomer “the Diaspora.”)

Who was the driving force behind the settlement project? This was the community I grew up in: Orthodox Jews who believe the State of Israel was a Divinely-instituted vessel of the Messianic age, long foretold.

Who else would have been willing to leave the relative comfort of Israel to start families in harsh, pioneer conditions in hostile, Palestinian territory? There is no gold to be found under the rocks of the Holy Land, but there is high octane religious fervor buried in these biblical hills. The Israeli colonization of the West Bank was spearheaded with revolutionary zeal, by idealistic, nationalistic young Jewish Orthodox men.

During my high school years, my Orthodox high school was a card-carrying member of this settler movement. At schoolwide gatherings, hundreds of us teenage boys belted out anthems of love for the Land of Israel – by which we meant, the West Bank and Gaza. We trothed our youthful pledge to build Jewish settlements “everywhere”. We looked up to the young men just a few years older than us who would slip out in the middle of the night to engage in the illicit activity of building these new settlements. When we sang our hymns of love to the West Bank, we riffed off the politically correct “occupied territories”, roaring “….and the LIBERATED territories!” Our generation’s mission was “to return” to the Holy Land east of the Green Line.

I was vague on what my role exactly was beyond enthusiastically supporting this effort. But I knew from my peers and teachers that colonizing and annexing the West Bank was respectable and commendable.

How did the messianic, nationalist, religious young settlers take control of government policy? How did they win the confidence of the grown ups, the sober, secularist, Israeli generals and politicians, Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres and their cohort?

This is a classic Zionist story: working off the emotional appeal of centuries-old traditions to fashion an entirely different modern, secular, nationalistic ideology of colonization and exploitation.

This chapter begins not in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem, but in Hebron. Jerusalem has been the most sacred Jewish place on earth for thousands of years. But just 17 miles south along the hilltop range is an even more venerable Jewish touchstone: Hebron, King David’s first capital. Hebron runs deeper in the Jewish mind than Jerusalem.

While Jerusalem is never once mentioned explicitly in the Torah (Pentateuch), stories about Hebron abound, including an unusual reference to its great antiquity. Early in the Pentateuch’s first book, the Book of Genesis, Hebron is the site of the first land purchase recorded in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) and Jewish tradition, when Abraham purchases a burial plot there for his wife Sarah.

Jews have sustained a religious connection to Hebron continuously ever since. A small, Jewish community lived in Hebron until 1929. Judaism’s only extant building from antiquity is right there holding up the Ibrahimi Mosque/ the Cave of the Machpelah, Sarah’s burial place. This monumental stone enclosure was built over 2,000 years ago by King Herod. The is the same King Herod who built Judaism’s most famous religious site and synagogue, the massive Western Wall in Jerusalem. Alongside Jerusalem, Hebron is revered by Jews as one of the Land of Israel’s Four Sacred Cities.

The Cave of the Machpelah became the family burial site for the Jewish patriarchs and matriarchs, Sarah and Abraham’s family. According to tradition, in due course, Isaac and Rebecca and then Jacob and Leah were buried there too. Other, lesser, biblical figures later joined them. And so, Hebron was always a site of Jewish pilgrimage to the graves of the patriarchs and matriarchs.

As a rabbi and as a teacher of rabbinical students I regularly encounter the figures of Abraham and the other patriarchs and matriarchs in text, in the stories of the Torah and Midrash (ancient Rabbinic commentary). They live in my imagination as paragons and teachers. Many Jews are still drawn to Cave of the Machpelah to pray at their shrine. These Jews experience a unique bond with the Divine in the presence of the patriarchs’ and matriarchs’ earthly remains.

I confess, I am not drawn to shrines housing the earthly remains of religious or secular icons. Partly, like many other modern Jews, I recoil from the sanctification of land and human relics but also I am deterred by the divisiveness of this particular shrine. After all, the Jewish side of the Cave of Machpelah/Ibrahimi Mosque is an armed settler outpost; and the Muslim mosque reminds me of how much work there is to do before this can be a place of peace. The tension between occupier and occupied is palpable here. This is not the place where I can enter into my own prayerful ideas of Abraham.

And frankly, I feel even more inconsequential in this place. The task is daunting. I am more prayerful about the Jewish matriarchs and patriarchs back home in the United States than at this shrine in Hebron.

But for many Jews today, as in centuries past, The Cave of the Machpelah/the Ibrahimi Mosque continues to be a sacred place with a powerful spiritual presence. Their expectation to have access to pray there is appropriate and should be honored by all.

Indeed, Israel has long guaranteed that Jews will have access to prayer at the Cave of Machpelah/the Ibrahimi Mosque.

This is the point where Noam Arnon and his cohort of settlers make their big lie. Noam Arnon promotes the Jewish outpost on the grounds that the settlers guarantee Jewish access to the shrine and are rebuilding the old Jewish community. This was the community that fled the city in 1929 in the wake of an Arab pogrom that claimed the lives of 57 Jews, some 15% of the small Jewish community.

Neither of these arguments are remotely true. The Israeli authorities guarantee Jewish access to the shrine, and Arnon does not speak for the heirs of the 1929 Jewish community. For instance, Dr. Yona Rochlin, whose father Moshe Hasson owned property in pre-1929 Hebron slammed Arnon (Hebrew):

“This is infuriating. I am beside myself with anger. My family holds the titles to several properties that the Hebron settlement wants to build on. [Prime Minister Naftali] Bennett and the settlers [claim to] speak in our name when they say they are righting a historic injustice and are reclaiming “their” real estate! What an arrogant, blatant lie! I am incensed at the settlers’ claim that the entire Jewish community in Hebron was wiped out and therefore they have taken over these properties.”

Arnon also fails to acknowledge the many acts of human solidarity by Hebron’s Muslim Palestinians who gave sanctuary to their Jewish neighbors in the 1929 riots, even at mortal risk to their own families.

Arnon, in fact, has a much bigger and more bellicose agenda than rebuilding old Jewish communities. The 20th century left behind any number of abandoned Jewish communities. Between the destruction of European Jewish civilization by Nazi Germany and their allies in the Holocaust and the subsequent Zionist-led dissolution of the millennia-old Arab Jewish world, it’s just a matter of putting a pin anywhere on the map. But Arnon only cares about Hebron and the West Bank.

That the colonization of the West Bank began in Hebron over fifty years ago and Noam Arnon is based today in Hebron is no accident. The settlers started out in Hebron less than a year after the 1967/Six Day War when Israel occupied the West Bank precisely because of its significance as home to a major Jewish religious shrine. They leveraged the religious claim of access to a house of worship into a secular, colonialist claim to land rights. They replaced the Jewish prayer book with the gun and the talit prayer shawl with the battle gear of the Israeli soldier. The claim to the land continues to be expressed and enforced solely under the authority of the gun, the ubiquitous badge of the settlers and their uniformed protectors, a privilege denied the occupied people of Palestine.

This is the host who welcomed US army officers to Hebron three weeks ago.

As I wrote in my own report from Hebron lately, Arnon’s colony has shut down the heart of its Old City. Many Hebronites have fled the area under the constant menace of settler violence. Others live in terror of heavily-armed, racist Jewish thugs who routinely harass Palestinians in Hebron. It’s always an unfair fight: the settlers are armed, the Palestinians are not. And as a backup, the Israeli army can be counted on to side with their fellow Israelis, the settlers, not the occupied Palestinians. In 11th grade some 39 years ago, several of my more extreme classmates disappeared for a few days. When they came back they told us of their exploits. They had gone to Hebron. The Israeli army had forced out the Palestinian residents and guarded the perimeter. My classmates were part of a larger group that entered the vacant Palestinian homes and wrecked them. One classmate told us nonchalantly how he had tipped over a large TV crashing it to the ground.

Hebron epitomizes the entire ongoing crisis that is Israel and Palestine. A savvy, well-funded, heavily-armed group of Israeli Jews has leveraged a traditional religious claim into a secular, colonialist presence dominating and disrupting life in the heart of the city.

In this view, the Palestinian indigenous people can stay so long as they are neither seen nor heard. The temporary-turned-permanent shutdown of Hebron’s Old City near the Ibrahimi Mosque is intentional. The ugly walls of the Israeli settlement backing into the market and disrupting its flow place a giant’s footprint inside the Arab market. The massive concrete walls and watchtowers separating Palestinians from Jews and the signs in Hebrew warning Israelis to stay away all make the hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Hebronites invisible to Israelis and other Jews.

Arnon may have a beard and yarmulke and proclaim to be an observant Jew, but his occupier’s game has nothing to do with Judaism. It’s colonialism with all the brute force of any occupying force. He and his cohort rule by the gun.

Despite living in one of the most dangerous Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territories and his vociferous support of violent felons, Arnon has received accolades and holds public positions within the Israeli establishment for his work in Hebron. In Israel, Noam Arnon, and by extension all he stands for, is respectable.

A crowning moment in legitimizing the Hebron Israeli colony came when the U.S. army accepted that invitation. That Palestinians were not included in the visit confirms the reality: Noam Arnon and his settler cohort are not interested in peaceful coexistence but in military domination of the occupied Palestinians.

In Judaism, Joshua’s military conquest of most of the Land of Israel, as recorded in the eponymous book of the Tanakh, carries less legitimacy than Abraham’s purchase of the burial plot in Hebron. The ancient story of Abraham’s purchase in the Torah’s Book of Genesis is cited continuously across millennia of Jewish tradition in various contexts: Arnon’s supersessionist colonialism deceptively upends that legitimacy by employing Joshua-like violence under the guise of peaceful, Abraham-like commerce.

Any military occupation, colonization or forced annexation can only be maintained against the will of the people through the constant application of violence. Jewish violence on the West Bank is so ubiquitous that it has been reduced to white noise.

However, inevitably the dull rumble of a volcano presages a spectacular eruption into something so violent that it commands the public’s attention.

The first time I remember the violence surfacing was in high school. One day, in April 1984 the news broke that a Jewish terrorist network had been exposed on the West Bank. We were shocked. The “Jewish Underground” had been murdering and maiming Palestinians public figures and other citizens for the previous five years. The “Jewish Underground” targeted Palestinian mayors. Bombs were placed in their cars, killing or maiming these democratically elected Palestinians leaders. One had both legs amputated. The general population was terrorized too. A girls’ school was intended to the be the site of a shooting massacre. This grim story is recorded in dispassionate detail in the court cases of the Israeli Jewish perpetrators and conspirators.

Some of the attackers were convicted and, predictably, given very short prison terms, if at all. And when they were released from jail, it was Noam Arnon, who was at the prison gates leading the singing and dancing, welcoming his comrades, the convicted murderers. He went on record saying: “They are heroes because they decided to sacrifice themselves, their future, their families, for the security of Jews.”

Then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon dedicated many years of his career to building brand new Jewish-only towns straddling both sides of the Green Line. These new borderline settlements obliterated the old border between Israel and the West Bank under suburban Jewish-only streets and playgrounds. Jewish-only roads were extended from Israel into the West Bank. Jewish-only settlements bypassed the Palestinian electric grid and were hooked up to the Israeli national grid. Other major Israeli state-funded infrastructure went into creating today’s reality of a single Jewish state for Israelis living between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River.

Hebron was the first Jewish settlement in the One Jewish State’s first phase of illegally colonizing the occupied territories. Hebron continues to be at the forefront of this second phase, that of annexation, normalizing the inherently abnormal. One Jewish State from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River. What to do with the non-Jews in the occupied territories? They are tucked out of sight behind 20-foot walls and Israeli military watchtowers. The Israeli gun holds them back and holds them down.

All, so that Noam Arnon and his messianic, nationalistic, racist cohort can indulge in his violent all-Jewish fantasy starting at a religious shrine in the heart of the ancient Palestinian city of Hebron and emanating out across the occupied territories.

This is the reality US armed officers blessed with their visit earlier this month. This was a moment we might have expected from President Trump, not from President Biden.

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Rabbi Michael Davis is an independent Rabbi in suburban Chicago.

Featured image: U.S. ARMY PERSONNEL MEETING WITH HEBRON JEWISH SETTLERS, INCLUDING NOAM ARNON, SECOND FROM LEFT, AND RABBI YISHAI FLEISHER (R) OUTSIDE IBRAHIMI MOSQUE. “A U.S. MILITARY ATTACHE AND SECURITY COORDINATOR” WERE ACCOMPANIED BY ISRAELI FORCES, ACCORDING TO HEBRON FUND, WHICH POSTED THE PHOTO, JANUARY 18, 2022.

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The report: “Human Augmentation – The Dawn of a New Paradigm. A strategic implications project” was published jointly by the UK Ministry of Defense, and German Federal Ministry of Defense in 2021. Reading this document is frankly chilling as the the idea of using human augmentation for warfare is considered a fait accompli by the authors. That planning for human augmentation must start now.

We can assume that although this report is coming from the UK Ministry of Defense, and German Federal Ministry of Defense, parallel efforts are being made by most large governments around the world.

To begin this report highlights the important and benefits of human augmentation. From the report:

Human augmentation will become increasingly relevant, partly because it can directly enhance human capability and behavior and partly because it is the binding agent between people and machines. Future wars will be won, not by those with the most advanced technology, but by those who can most effectively integrate the unique capabilities of both people and machines. The importance of human-machine teaming is widely acknowledged but it has been viewed from a techno-centric perspective. Human augmentation is the missing part of this puzzle.

Of course, one of the first questions that must be asked when reading this report is what is human augmentation. An image from the report lists the technologies. The back of the report details these technologies in great detail:

The document goes on to write that the role of ethics and public perception in the use of human augmentation are not the deciding factors in developing human augmentation. The general consensus of the report is that human augmentation is critical for national security for the future development of warfare. It will be the military industrial complex (national interests) the ultimately decides what is developed.

Feasibility assessment

We cannot wait for the ethics of human augmentation to be decided for us, we
must be part of the conversation now. The ethical implications are significant but not insurmountable; early and regular engagement will be essential to remain at the forefront of this field. Ethical perspectives on human augmentation will change and this could happen quickly. There may be a moral obligation to augment people, particularly in cases where it promotes well-being or protects us from novel threats. It could be argued that treatments involving novel vaccination processes and gene and cell therapies are examples of human augmentation already in the pipeline.

The need to use human augmentation may ultimately be dictated by national interest.

Countries may need to develop and use human augmentation or risk surrendering influence, prosperity and security to those who will. National regulations dictating the pace and scope of scientific research reflect societal views, particularly in democracies that are more sensitive to public opinion. The future of human augmentation should not, however, be decided by ethicists or public opinion, although both will be important voices; rather, governments will need to develop a clear policy position that maximises the use of human augmentation in support of prosperity, safety and security, without undermining our values.

The report goes on:

Human augmentation is our first insight of what lies beyond today’s Information
Age – the coming of the Biotech age. The Biotech age will see focus on the human grow. No longer will it be adequate to regard people merely as the means to operate
the machine. The interdisciplinary nature of human augmentation will render our current Industrial Age model of Defense ineffective. Defense must consider how it reorganizes to meet a future that will demand a human-centric approach to warfare where the person is armed with the capabilities to integrate fully into a single platform.

Differences in national, cultural and legal approaches will lead to an uneven uptake
of human augmentation within international alliances. This will further complicate interoperability, integration and deconfliction. Overcoming these challenges will demand closer cooperation between allies. Alliances must therefore start work now to understand how and where to prepare for the use of human augmentation.

In reading this report, it is important to understand how military complexes around the world view the human augmentation model for warfare.

Human augmentation may lead to fundamentally new concepts of warfare. In the next 30 years, increasing use of autonomous and unmanned systems – from the tactical to strategic level – could significantly increase the combat effect that an individual can bring to bear, but to realize this potential the interfaces between people and machines will need to be significantly enhanced. Human augmentation will play an important part in enabling this interface and, if done effectively, it will significantly alter our force structure, equipment program and doctrine. It is important to realize that the more human augmentation is embedded into Defense planning and practice, the more likely it is to become a target itself for an adversary; thus, counter-human augmentation measures need to be considered in parallel with the adoption of human augmentation.

Human augmentation will play a key role in reducing the risk of cognitive overload as warfare becomes faster, more complex and more congested. Bioinformatics are likely to play a key role in identifying commanders and staff with the right cognitive and adaptive potential for command and control roles. Brain interfaces linked to machine learning algorithms have the potential to rapidly accelerate the speed and quality of decision-making.

Today’s rehabilitation tools: tomorrow’s enhancements – physical and mental rehabilitation may, in the near term, prove to be the front line of human augmentation in Defense. Advanced prosthetics to rehabilitate wounded personnel represent the cutting edge of robotics and the latest neurostimulation devices and pharmaceuticals have been used to treat post-traumatic stress disorder. Further development of these treatments will not only help to rehabilitate injured personnel, but they could also pave the way for future enhancements.

The report make the point that warfare models must conceptualize human beings as a platform “technology,” one that comprises physical, psychological and social performance. This is summarized in the following image:

Now read the caption from the report written below image at the top of the page, it states,

“six million years of evolution to where we are today and now we have the tools in our hands to decide how our continued evolution should be shaped.”

It is important to understand that the development of human augmentation being presented goes beyond warfare, it suggests that humans will now control our own evolution via genetic engineering.

The arrogance and hubris in this point of view is enormous. That in one or two generations, the military industrial complex will pivot to controlling human evolution via genetic engineering and human augmentation is not only naive, ethically corrupt but fundamentally dangerous.

Another image from the report:

The report goes on to discusses the advantages of genetic engineering:

Another aspect of the report delves into personal information and the need to supersede such issues:

The key to developing effective human augmentation is an improved understanding of how both the body and technology work and how they work together. This will require access to, and analysis of, personal data: whether it is psychophysiological variables, collection of personal reference data, analysis of medical markers, or supervision of training routines. Only if these building blocks are put in place, will there be enough understanding to ensure that human augmentations can be made precisely and with certainty that the desired effect will be achieved. Only when (or if) this happens will the science of human augmentation arrive.

To end, this 110 page report is detailed and complex. It documents the ways humans can be augmented in great detail. I ask all of you to please read this report. Absorb this information and get ready for the coming battle.

We need to work to control and regulate the development of human augmentation now, before it truly is a fait accompli.

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Note from the author: The above Images and quotes from the report entitled “Human Augmentation – The Dawn of a New Paradigm” are being used for educational purposes under Section 107 of the Copyright Act

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When John Brown was led from his cell to be hanged by the neck until dead on December 2, 1859, he passed a scrap of folded paper to his guard.

John Brown had been convicted of treason by the state of Virginia, the first such conviction in American history, in a show trial. Treason referred to how Brown organized a group of armed citizens who raided the federal armory at Harper Ferry, Virginia, with the intention of starting a mass uprising against the institution of slavery, and, by extension, the entire political economic system that defined the United States.

The hand-written note asserted that the guilt was not his, but that rather guilt permeated the entire nation, corrupted by the filthy institution of slavery.

The note read,

 “I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood.”

His words were prescient in a sense that few understood. His contemporaries, and future historians, bent over backwards to describe him as a mad man, and to dismiss his raid as a folly.

Now that we see before our eyes the employment of COVID-19 lockdowns, masks, quarantine camps, vaccine mandates and other institutions that are intended to reduce all, but a handful of the rich—the planter class of our age, to slavery, we must ask ourselves exactly what did John Brown do and why was the reaction of the establishment to him so severe?

For those who are absolute pacifists, pass over John Brown. The rest of you, listen closely.

John Brown had been fighting against slavery since 1848 and his activities in Kansas included explicit violence in opposition to the institution of slavery.

He spent two years preparing for the uprising that would start and end at Harpers Ferry. His invitation to action was turned down by most everyone, including leading anti-slavery figures like Frederick Douglass, who considered it too dangerous and too provocative.

That raid, that decision resolve the issue of slavery by force—no matter how small the numbers of people in the group, made Brown an extremist because he undermined the progressive cause of ending slavery through negotiation and compromise.

But John Brown’s logic was impeccable and his contemporaries had to ignore what he wrote in order to dismiss him. Frederick Douglass himself would come to agree with Brown’s position.

The true nature of slavery, just like the true nature of lockdowns, masks and vaccines, had been intentionally suppressed by progressive politicians and intellectuals who wanted to debate heatedly the policy process, but not the nature of slavery.

Slavery, according to Brown, was not a mistaken policy, not a “peculiar institution” distinctive to the South, not a matter of state’s rights, or property rights, and not an issue that could be worked out through comprise. No, John Brown made it clear in his writings that slavery, like vaccines, was a war against the people and that the people must respond to this assault in kind, as they would respond to a war.

His actions were attacked by Democrat and Republican alike, but he galvanized the nation when he revealed a hidden horrid truth by charging madly into the horns of common sense.

Frances Ellen Watkins, a freed slave and abolitionist, sent a letter to John Brown in prison reading,

“Dear friend: Although the hands of slavery throw a barrier between you and me, and it may not be my privilege to see you in the prison house, Virginia has no bolts or bars through which I dread to send you my sympathy. In the name of the young girl sold from the warm clasp of a mother’s arms to the clutches of a libertine or profligate- in the name of the slave mother, her heart rocked to and fro by the agony of her mournful separations — I thank you that you have been brave enough to reach out your hands to the crushed and blighted of my race.

Your martyr grave will be a sacred altar upon which men will record their vows of undying hatred to that system which tramples on man and bids defiance to God.”

Brown did what the other anti-slavery forces, the Robert Malones and the Naomi Kleins of that era, were afraid to do. He insisted that words alone, protests alone, would not work. It was a war and dedicated organizations of men ready to die for the cause were the only means of resistance.

Brown drafted in 1858 a “Declaration of Liberty” that extended the “Declaration of Independence” to its full logical conclusion of freedom for all Americans.

The Declaration of Liberty rewrote the Declaration of Independence to cover all races, men and women, without exception.

“That when any form of Government, becomes destructive to these ends, It is the right of the People, to alter, Amend, or Remodel it, Laying its foundation on Such Principles, & organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect the safety, & happiness” of the Human Race, To secure equal rights, privileges, & justice to all; Irrespective of Sex; or Nation; To Secure Fraternal Kindness to all Friends of Equal Moral privileges, to all who honestly abandon their Despotic oppressive rule.”

He and his followers also drafted a Provisional Constitution for the United States that laid down the logical, ethical and legal justifications for the raid at Harpers Ferry.

He explained that the cancer of slavery had rendered the United States so corrupt, and its policies so distant from the word and the spirit of the Constitution, that it lacked legitimacy. This new constitution presented a blue print for the rule by law, and his actions were entirely and just from the point of view of the position articulated.

We watch today the horrific final stages of the decay of civilization and the rule of law in the United States, a decay that has allowed COVID-19 to fester and to blossom. COVID-19 has taken the place of slavery as the weapon, a weapon that cowardly intellectuals cannot name, that is deployed in the war on citizens.

COVID-19 regulations, cooked up in secret by consulting firms funded by the rich, are fed through a shadowy network to the pathetic politicians who rubber stamp them and then appear on television to justify them.

This COVID-19 regime, has entirely replaced the constitution in same sense that the radical expansion of slavery in the 1850s gutted constitutional guarantees and opened the door for transformation of all working-class Americans into slaves.

Brown’s provisional constitution identified the true nature of slavery as “none other than a most barbarous, unprovoked, and unjustifiable war of one portion of its citizens upon another portion.”

The war against the people today, the campaign to make us into slaves, is made possible by denial and by the embrace of falsehood, by the treason of the intellectuals who value their status more than the pursuit of truth.

The false, limited-hangout, critics of COVID-19 suggest that posting something witty in social media sources like Facebook, Twitter, etc. is an act of defiance. But these sources, as well as Wikipedia and YouTube, are not even public platforms, but rather controlled by multinational corporations whose ultimate purpose is to allow you, and to encourage you, to complain to your friends, but to take no actions that could lead to fundamental institutional, financial or ideological change

We must not enter the dead-end tunnel of moral outrage for the like-minded aimed not at painful change through sacrifice, but rather at self-importance.

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As Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk put it, we observe today,

“Egotism hidden under the mask of humanity and nobility in mind; cowardice passing itself off as fortitude; sophistry deceiving the sensible and wise.”

John Brown may not be the appropriate model for us at this historical juncture, but his decision to act, rather than to debate, speaks volumes.

As the billionaires use supercomputers and complex algorithms to induce mass psychosis, fear and passivity, narcissistic obsessions with image, sex and food, as the first steps are taken to create a permanent slave class at home and abroad, we must see the actions of John Brown, or of Spartacus (who led the slave revolt in Rome of the 1^st century A.D.), with new eyes.

It may be far worse this time.

While the trashy media continues to suggest that the COVID pandemic will be over in a few months, we need to consider the other possibility.

Plato wrote “Only the dead have seen the end of war.”

Perhaps the proper revision should be,

“Only the dead have seen the end of this pandemic.”

Once you put it that way, the solution becomes crystal clear.

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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 licensed under Public Domain

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***

A covert US task force came close to decimating a major area in Syria by bombing a dam that the Pentagon had put on a “no-strike list,” a new report claims.

In 2017, the American unit bombed the Tabqa dam on the Euphrates in eastern Syria, upstream of Raqqa, where Daesh fighters were occupying the control towers.

When the attack was originally reported, the US and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces claimed that limited munitions were used to seize the location, with the head of the anti-Daesh coalition describing rumors that it was bombed as “crazy reporting.”

But new analysis by the New York Times, which has uncovered and reviewed a slurry of bombing incidents from the war against Daesh, claimed that three 2,000-lb bombs were deployed.

The attack risked tens of thousands of lives, destroying the dam’s machinery and requiring emergency intervention to prevent the reservoir from flooding. The dam was only saved due to a “bunker-buster” bomb failing to explode.

On March 26, 2017, as the SDF closed in on Raqqa, the US launched the strike with support from its Kurdish allies on the ground, with whom it had established a close relationship for calling in high-powered attacks.

The SDF called for a B-52 — the long-range strategic bomber that has been in continual service since the 1950s — as the fighting party was being blocked from advancing by Daesh fighters further ahead up the reservoir.

Spotting the Islamists in fortified positions in the control towers, a bombing run was requested.

But the unit ignored this advice, using an emergency protocol that allowed it to call in airstrikes beyond the ordinary chain of command during sudden life-threatening moments, such as the battle with Daesh at the reservoir.

However, crew logs from the B-52 flight that undertook the bombing run said it had been required for “terrain denial,” with no reference to lives being at risk from Daesh fighters.

The bombing run was devastating. Fifty feet of water quickly rose as the machinery was bust, with dams on the Euphrates in Turkey further upstream rushing to slow the flow.

A one-day ceasefire was called to allow a group of 16 engineers from all sides of the conflict to lift the floodgates and prevent further damage.

Three of those engineers were killed after they had successfully used a crane to lift the gates, bombed by a drone while driving home.

The dam strike reportedly shocked US Air Force personnel and military planners. Scott Murray, a retired USAF colonel, was quoted by the NYT as saying: “Using a 2,000 lb bomb against a restricted target like a dam is extremely difficult and should have never been done on the fly. Worst case, those munitions could have absolutely caused the dam to fail.”

The Pentagon defended the strike, saying it had targeted the dam’s control towers, not its structure.

“Analysis had confirmed that strikes on the towers attached to the dam were not considered likely to cause structural damage to the Tabqa dam itself,” said Bill Urban, a US Central Command spokesman, adding that the dam had not collapsed. “That analysis has proved accurate.”

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Featured image is from Britannica

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***

Daily Covid infections worldwide since the epidemic began:

Just imagine how bad things would be if we DIDN’T have vaccines.

Lol. (Sob.)

*

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***

Check out this article:

The article calls out Mercola, Berenson, Malone, me, and anonymous writer Eugyppius as the most followed “vaccine-sceptic writers.”

Just to be perfectly clear, I’ve offered to debate CCDH in the past, but they were not interested.

When you don’t have the facts on your side, the only thing you can do is decline all debates and call for censorship.

Here are my offers to debate Imran Ahmed and Chelsea Clinton. You can click these and see if they reply. My advice: don’t hold your breath on that one.

Nice article in the Guardian on Substack writers. I was wondering if you'd like to debate all of us in a recorded Zoom call? You can have all your "fact checkers" on the call. Or are you afraid?

— Steve Kirsch (@stkirsch) January 29, 2022

Would you like to debate all of us Chelsea? I'm game and I think I can get the others as well.

— Steve Kirsch (@stkirsch) January 29, 2022

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***

So what are Americans to believe about the rising tensions over Ukraine? The United States and Russia both claim their escalations are defensive, responding to threats and escalations by the other side, but the resulting spiral of escalation can only make war more likely. Ukrainian President Zelensky is warning that “panic” by U.S. and Western leaders is already causing economic destabilization in Ukraine.     

U.S. allies do not all support the current U.S. policy. Germany is wisely refusing to funnel more weapons into Ukraine, in keeping with its long-standing policy of not sending weapons into conflict zones. Ralf Stegner, a senior Member of Parliament for Germany’s ruling Social Democrats, told the BBC on January 25th that the Minsk-Normandy process agreed to by France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine in 2015 is still the right framework for ending the civil war.

“The Minsk Agreement hasn’t been applied by both sides,” Stegner explained, “and it just doesn’t make any sense to think that forcing up the military possibilities would make it better. Rather, I think it’s the hour of diplomacy.”

By contrast, most American politicians and corporate media have fallen in line with a one-sided narrative that paints Russia as the aggressor in Ukraine, and support sending more and more weapons to Ukrainian government forces. After decades of U.S. military disasters based on such one-sided narratives, Americans should know better by now. But what is it that our leaders and the corporate media are not telling us this time?

The most critical events that have been airbrushed out of the West’s political narrative are the violation of agreements Western leaders made at the end of the Cold War not to expand NATO into Eastern Europe, and the U.S.-backed coup in Ukraine in February 2014.

Western mainstream media accounts date the crisis in Ukraine back to Russia’s 2014 reintegration of Crimea, and the decision by ethnic Russians in Eastern Ukraine to secede from Ukraine as the Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics.

But these were not unprovoked actions. They were responses to the U.S.-backed coup, in which an armed mob led by the neo-Nazi Right Sector militia stormed the Ukrainian parliament, forcing the elected President Yanukovich and members of his party to flee for their lives. After the events of January 6, 2021, in Washington, that should now be easier for Americans to understand.

Protesters throwing bricks at riot police, using tire smoke for cover from sniper fire, Kyiv, 18 February 2014 (Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0)

The remaining members of parliament voted to form a new government, subverting the political transition and plans for a new election that Yanukovich had publicly agreed to the day before, after meetings with the foreign ministers of France, Germany and Poland.

The U.S. role in managing the coup was exposed by a leaked 2014 audio recording of Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and U.S. Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt working on their plans, which included sidelining the European Union (“Fuck the EU,” as Nuland put it) and shoehorning in U.S. protege Arseniy Yatsenyuk (“Yats”) as Prime Minister.

At the end of the call, Ambassador Pyatt told Nuland, “…we want to try to get somebody with an international personality to come out here and help to midwife this thing.”

Nuland replied (verbatim),

“So on that piece Geoff, when I wrote the note, [Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake] Sullivan’s come back to me VFR [very quickly?], saying you need [Vice President] Biden and I said probably tomorrow for an atta-boy and to get the deets [details?] to stick. So Biden’s willing.”

It has never been explained why two senior State Department officials who were plotting a regime change in Ukraine looked to Vice President Biden to “midwife this thing,” instead of to their own boss, Secretary of State John Kerry.

Now that the crisis over Ukraine has blown up with a vengeance during Biden’s first year as president, such unanswered questions about his role in the 2014 coup have become more urgent and troubling. And why did President Biden appoint Nuland to the # 4 position at the State Department, despite (or was it because of?) her critical role in triggering the disintegration of Ukraine and an eight-year-long civil war that has so far killed at least 14,000 people?

Both of Nuland’s hand-picked puppets in Ukraine, Prime Minister Yatsenyuk and President Poroshenko, were soon mired in corruption scandals. Yatsenyuk was forced to resign after two years and Poroshenko was outed in a tax evasion scandal revealed in the Panama Papers. Post-coup, war-torn Ukraine remains the poorest country in Europe, and one of the most corrupt.

The Ukrainian military had little enthusiasm for a civil war against its own people in Eastern Ukraine, so the post-coup government formed new “National Guard” units to assault the separatist People’s Republics. The infamous Azov Battalion drew its first recruits from the Right Sector militia and openly displays neo-Nazi symbols, yet it has kept receiving U.S. arms and training, even after Congress explicitly cut off its U.S. funding in the FY2018 Defense Appropriation bill.

In 2015, the Minsk and Normandy negotiations led to a ceasefire and the withdrawal of heavy weapons from a buffer zone around the separatist-held areas. Ukraine agreed to grant greater autonomy to Donetsk, Luhansk and other ethnically Russian areas of Ukraine, but it has failed to follow through on that.

A federal system, with some powers devolved to individual provinces or regions, could help to resolve the all-or-nothing power struggle between Ukrainian nationalists and Ukraine’s traditional ties to Russia that has dogged its politics since independence in 1991.

But the U.S. and NATO’s interest in Ukraine is not really about resolving its regional differences, but about something else altogether. The U.S. coup was calculated to put Russia in an impossible position. If Russia did nothing, post-coup Ukraine would sooner or later join NATO, as NATO members already agreed to in principle in 2008. NATO forces would advance right up to Russia’s border and Russia’s important naval base at Sevastopol in the Crimea would fall under NATO control.

On the other hand, if Russia had responded to the coup by invading Ukraine, there would have been no turning back from a disastrous new Cold War with the West. To Washington’s frustration, Russia found a middle path out of this dilemma, by accepting the result of Crimea’s referendum to rejoin Russia, but only giving covert support to the separatists in the East.

In 2021, with Nuland once again installed in a corner office at the State Department, the Biden administration quickly cooked up a plan to put Russia in a new pickle. The United States had already given Ukraine $2 billion in military aid since 2014, and Biden has added another $650 million to that, along with deployments of U.S. and NATO military trainers.

Ukraine has still not implemented the constitutional changes called for in the Minsk agreements, and the unconditional military support the United States and NATO have provided has encouraged Ukraine’s leaders to effectively abandon the Minsk-Normandy process and simply reassert sovereignty over all of Ukraine’s territory, including Crimea.

In practice, Ukraine could only recover those territories by a major escalation of the civil war, and that was exactly what Ukraine and its NATO backers appeared to be preparing for in March 2021. But that prompted Russia to begin moving troops and conducting military exercises, within its own territory (including Crimea), but close enough to Ukraine to deter a new offensive by Ukrainian government forces.

In October, Ukraine launched new attacks in Donbass. Russia, which still had about 100,000 troops stationed near Ukraine, responded with new troop movements and military exercises. U.S. officials launched an information warfare campaign to frame Russia’s troop movements as an unprovoked threat to invade Ukraine, concealing their own role in fueling the threatened Ukrainian escalation that Russia is responding to. U.S. propaganda has gone so far as to preemptively dismiss any actual new Ukrainian assault in the East as a Russian false-flag operation.

Underlying all these tensions is NATO’s expansion through Eastern Europe to the borders of Russia, in violation of commitments Western officials made at the end of the Cold War. The U.S. and NATO’s refusal to acknowledge that they have violated those commitments or to negotiate a diplomatic resolution with the Russians is a central factor in the breakdown of U.S.-Russian relations.

While U.S. officials and corporate media are scaring the pants off Americans and Europeans with tales of an impending Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian officials are warning that U.S.-Russian relations are close to the breaking point. If the United States and NATO are not prepared to negotiate new disarmament treaties, remove U.S. missiles from countries bordering Russia and dial back NATO expansion, Russian officials say they will have no option but to respond with “appropriate military-technical reciprocal measures.”

This expression may not refer to an invasion of Ukraine, as most Western commentators have assumed, but to a broader strategy that could include actions that hit much closer to home for Western leaders.

For example, Russia could place short-range nuclear missiles in Kaliningrad (between Lithuania and Poland), within range of European capitals; it could establish military bases in Iran, Cuba, Venezuela and other friendly countries; and it could deploy submarines armed with hypersonic nuclear missiles to the Western Atlantic, from where they could destroy Washington, D.C. in a matter of minutes.

It has long been a common refrain among American activists to point to the 800 or so U.S. military bases all over the world and ask, “How would Americans like it if Russia or China built military bases in Mexico or Cuba?” Well, we may be about to find out.

Hypersonic nuclear missiles off the U.S. East Coast would put the United States in a similar position to that in which NATO has placed the Russians. China could adopt a similar strategy in the Pacific to respond to U.S. military bases and deployments around its coast.

So the revived Cold War that U.S. officials and corporate media hacks have been mindlessly cheering on could very quickly turn into one in which the United States would find itself just as encircled and endangered as its enemies.

Will the prospect of such a 21st Century Cuban Missile Crisis be enough to bring America’s irresponsible leaders to their senses and back to the negotiating table, to start unwinding the suicidal mess they have blundered into? We certainly hope so.

*

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

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

They are regular contributors to Global Research.

Featured image: U.S. allies in Ukraine, with NATO, Azov Battalion and neo-Nazi flags. Photo by russia-insider.com

All Global Research articles can be read in 51 languages by activating the “Translate Website” drop down menu on the top banner of our home page (Desktop version).

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***

It seems we may have reached the moment when it is time to say goodbye. It has been fun, educational and sometimes cathartic – for me at least. I hope you got something from our time together too.

I am not going anywhere, of course. Not for now at least. I love to write. For as long as I feasibly can, I will continue to rail against injustice, call out corporate power and its abuses, and demand a fairer and more open society.

But I have to be realistic. I have to recognise that a growing number of you will not be joining me here on this page for much longer. And it feels rude after so much time together not to bid you a fond farewell before it is too late. I will miss you.

Many of you may have assumed it wouldn’t end this way. You probably imagined that I would get banned by Facebook or Twitter. You would be able to rally round, send in complaints worded in the strongest possible terms, and lobby for my reinstatement. Maybe even sign a petition.

But it isn’t going to end like that. There will be no bang. I have been too careful for that to be my fate. I have avoided rude and crude words. I have steered clear of insults (apologies if my responses have sometimes been a little caustic). I have not defamed anyone. I have avoided “fake news” – except to critique it. I have not peddled “conspiracy theories”, unless quoting the British Medical Journal on Covid now counts as misinformation (yes, I know for a few of you it does).

But none of that has helped. My blog posts once attracted tens of thousands of shares. Then, as the algorithms tightened, it became thousands. Now, as they throttle me further, shares can often be counted in the hundreds. “Going viral” is a distant memory.

No, I won’t be banned. I will fade incrementally, like a small star in the night sky – one among millions – gradually eclipsed as its neighbouring suns grow ever bigger and brighter. I will disappear from view so slowly you won’t even notice.

Which is why I am saying my goodbyes now while I can still reach you, my most obstinate followers.

But this isn’t really about one small light being snuffed out. This isn’t just about our relationship coming to an end. Something bigger, and more disturbing, is taking place.

Journalists like me are part of an experiment – in a new, more democratised media landscape. We have developed new reader-funded models so that we can break free of the media corporations, which until now ensured billionaires and the state controlled the flow of information in one direction only: to speak down to us.

Watch the video here.

The corporate media needs corporate advertising to survive – or the owners’ deep pockets. They don’t need you, except as a captive audience. You’re both their prisoner and their product.

But the lifeblood of a reader-funded journalist, as the name suggests, are readers. The more of you we attract, the better chance there is that we can generate donations and income and make the model sustainable. Our Achilles’ heel is our dependence on social media to find you, to keep reaching you, to offer you an alternative from the corporate media.

If Facebook (sorry, the Meta universe) and Twitter stop independent writers from growing their readerships by manipulating the algorithms, by ghosting and shadow-banning us, and by all the other trickery we do not yet understand, then new voices cannot grow their funding base and break free of corporate control.

And equally, for those like me who are already established and have significant numbers of readers, these tech giants can whittle them away one by one. Ostensibly, I have many tens of thousands of followers, but for several years now I have been reaching fewer and fewer of you. I am starved of connection. The danger, already only too obvious, is that my readership, and funding model, will slowly start to shrivel and die.

Joe Rogan, Russell Brand and a handful of titans of the new media age are so big they can probably weather it out. But the rest of us will not be so lucky.

Readers will lose sight of us, as our light slowly fades, and then we will be gone completely. Vanished.

I have lost count of the followers who – because, god knows, an algorithm slipped up? – tell me they have received a social media post many months after they last saw one from me. In the cacophony of media noise, they had not noticed that I had unexpectedly gone quiet until that reminder arrived or else they assumed I had given up writing.

Which is why, if you want to keep seeing posts from me and writers like me, if this is not soon to be a final goodbye, if you think it important to read non-corporate analysis and commentary, then you need to act. You should be bookmarking your favourite writers and visiting their sites regularly – not just when you are prompted to by Mark Zuckerberg.

You need to be an active consumer of news – not a passive one, as you were raised to be when the choice was between three TV channels and a dozen print newspapers.

You need to search out and maintain those connections before they are gone entirely and the window has closed. Because those voices you prize now will wither and decay like autumn leaves if they have no audience. Even when you finally remember to go search for them, if you leave it too long you may find they are no longer there to be discovered. You will have missed the chance to say goodbye.

So let us say it now, while we still can: Farewell.

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Writing is a solitary activity, and it can be easy to imagine that what was obvious inside your head will be clear to others when that idea takes its place in the material world. But a proportion of early readers of this post have mistaken it for an actual goodbye, rather than as a cautionary tale of what has been happening and what is still to come. So let me reassure you: I am going to continue writing and you can continue reading me, so long as either Twitter and Facebook direct you to me or you make the effort to find me.

Here’s hoping that my goodbye will prove unnecessary.

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This essay first appeared on Jonathan Cook’s blog.

Jonathan Cook won the Martha Gellhorn Special Prize for Journalism. His books include “Israel and the Clash of Civilisations: Iraq, Iran and the Plan to Remake the Middle East” (Pluto Press) and “Disappearing Palestine: Israel’s Experiments in Human Despair” (Zed Books). His website is www.jonathan-cook.net.

He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

All Global Research articles can be read in 51 languages by activating the “Translate Website” drop down menu on the top banner of our home page (Desktop version).

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***

The media wants Canada to give more weapons, military trainers and other support to Ukrainians seeking conflict with Russia.

“Canada faces criticism for ‘soft’ response to Ukraine amid Russia threat”, noted The Canadian Press on Tuesday while a Globe and Mail article was headlined “Trudeau’s dithering on Ukraine should fool no one”. After Trudeau announced an expansion of Canada’s military mission in the Ukraine on Wednesday, reporters questioned why more arms weren’t being sent and Global published “Canada will not send Ukraine weapons but boost cyber support, training mission.”

The media’s claim that the Liberals are “soft” on Russia conflicts with the facts, which even US establishment outlets recognize. On Tuesday Foreign Policy published “Why Britain, Canada Are So Forward-Leaning on Ukraine”. The story noted that Ottawa has “taken a more hawkish approach against Russia in the crisis compared to other NATO allies.”

While the current crisis has many facets to it — some of which I detail in “Maybe the story is more complex than Russia bad, Canada good” — one starting point was the right-wing nationalist EuroMaidan movement that overthrew president Viktor Yanukovych, who was oscillating between the European Union and Russia. The US/Canadian-backed coup in 2014 divided the Ukraine politically, geographically and linguistically (Russian is the mother tongue of 30% of Ukrainians and as much as 75% of those in eastern cities). The largely Russian-speaking east protested the ouster of Yanukovych who was from the region. The Donbass region in the east broke from Kyiv’s control in a war that has left over 10,000 dead.

In response to the conflict in the east and Moscow seizing the predominately Russian Crimea, the US, Canada and Britain have spent lavishly building up the Ukrainian military. Through Operation UNIFIER 200 Canadian troops have been working with Ukrainian soldiers on military engineering, explosive-device disposal, sniper training, etc. since 2015. In March 2017 the Liberals expanded UNIFIER’s mandate, easing restrictions that required the Canadians to stay in the western half of Ukraine, away from the fighting in the east. On Tuesday Foreign Policy reported that Canada’s training mission “has also become more expansive in geographical terms than the U.S. effort, which has long been centered in western Ukraine. Canadian units can go to places like Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, and Odessa that are mostly untouched by other NATO militaries. The ability to send forces to study Ukraine’s modernizing military has allowed Canadian troops to expand their training from low-level tactical drills to the education courses given to Ukrainian troops.” On Wednesday the Trudeau government announced an expansion of UNIFIER and further loosening of restrictions on Canadian military trainers.

Canadian officials have openly stated that Operation UNIFIER is directed at Russia. During a 2017 parliamentary debate about UNIFIER defence minister Harjit Sajjan said, “through Operation UNIFIER, we sent a clear signal of deterrence to Russia.” Another aim of Operation UNIFIER is to help “modernize the Ukrainian Armed Forces”, noted Sajjan, so the country could join NATO. To support Ukraine’s possible accession to the alliance, Canada has supported the NATO-Ukraine Joint Working Group on Defence Reform and Canada shared the role of NATO Contact Point Embassy in Kyiv.

The Liberals also equipped the Ukrainian military, donating tens of millions of dollars’ worth of helmets, vehicles, clothing and bulletproof vests. In December 2017 the Liberals added Ukraine to Canada’s Automatic Firearms Country Control List, which allowed companies to export weapons to that country with little restriction. In 2019, Winnipeg based PGW Defence Technologies delivered $1 million worth of heavy caliber sniper rifles to the Ukrainian military. Through a memorandum of understanding Ottawa signed with Kyiv a Canadian company, supported by the crown-owned Canadian Commercial Corporation, is helping build up Ukrainian ammunition production.

To strength military ties the two countries signed a Defence Cooperation Agreement in April 2017. Three months earlier the Liberals appointed former Assistant Deputy Minister at National Defence, Jill Sinclair, to Ukraine’s Defence Reform Advisory Board. “This representative provides strategic advice on defence reform to Ukraine’s Minister of Defence and senior officials”, noted Global Affairs.

In July 2018 International Development Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau was the first G7 minister to travel to the line of contact between the warring factions in the East of Ukraine. Two years earlier Trudeau traveled to Kyiv to sign a free-trade agreement. During the visit the Prime Minister said Canadian troops were preparing Ukrainian soldiers to “liberate” its “territory”. At that time Ukrainian troops were actively fighting secessionist forces in the east of the country.

The Liberals effectively deny the legitimate grievances of the predominantly Russian-speaking population in eastern Ukraine who revolted against the ultra-nationalist government in Kyiv that took power after the Canadian backed overthrow of Yanukovych. In response to a March 2017 question about whether Canada saw the conflict in eastern Ukraine as a separatist movement or Russian aggression Sinclair told a Ukrainian press outlet, “I think Canada has been clear since the outset of Russian aggression against Ukraine that it’s Russian aggression against Ukraine, in Crimea and in the East.”

For her part, former foreign minister Freeland framed the conflict in eastern Ukraine as a global battle between good and evil. In November 2019 she declared that Ukraine was at the “forefront of the struggle between democracy and authoritarianism” and that “modern Ukraine is the country where the struggle is ongoing and the future of the rules-based international order and genuine democracy in the world will be determined.”

Ottawa’s words and actions have emboldened far-right militarists responsible for hundreds of deaths in Eastern Ukraine. Far right militia members were part of the force fighting Russian-aligned groups in eastern Ukraine and Canadians troops have trained a force that includes the best-organized neo-Nazis in the world. In June 2018 Canada’s military attaché in Kiev, Colonel Brian Irwin, met privately with officers from the Azov battalion, who used the Nazi “Wolfsangel” symbol and praised officials who helped slaughter Jews and Poles during World War II. According to Azov, Canadian military officials concluded the briefing by expressing “their hopes for further fruitful cooperation.” A September report from an Institute at George Washington University revealed that the far-right Centuria boasted about being trained by Canadian troops in the Ukraine. The report detailed Centuria members making Nazi salutes, praising SS units and promoting white supremacy.

Canada has also funded, equipped and trained the neo-Nazi infiltrated National Police of Ukraine, which was founded after Yanukovych was overthrown. The post Maiden Ukrainian government included a number of neo-Nazis. During his 2016 trip to Ukraine Trudeau was photographed with Andriy Parubiy, Ukrainian Parliament speaker, who had a background with the far right and was accused of praising Hitler.

As part of its alignment with Ukraine against Russia the Liberals have refused to back a number of UN resolutions opposed to glorifying Nazism, neo-Nazism and racial discrimination. On November 19, 2015, they voted against a UN General assembly resolution critical of the aforementioned subject supported by 126 states. The US, Palau and Ukraine were the only other countries to vote against the resolution titled “Combating glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism and other practices that contribute to fuelling contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.” In subsequent years the Liberals have abstained on a similar resolution.

To a large extent Ottawa and Washington have used the Ukraine as a proxy to weaken Russia. Despite the fact the Cold War ended decades ago, the Russian bogeyman remains an effective tool that supporters of the US Empire are eager to employ.

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Featured image is from Yves Engler

All Global Research articles can be read in 51 languages by activating the “Translate Website” drop down menu on the top banner of our home page (Desktop version).

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Global Research Editor’s Note

Rick Rozoff’s article on CBC Coverage:

“While the CBC just ran a feature with the head of an “anti-hate” group warning that the Canadian capital will be “festooned with swastikas“.

Indelibly, CBC’s report is intent on smearing Canada’s Freedom Convoy mass movement from coast to coast.

What the CBC report fails to mention is Canada’s role in training Ukraine’s National Guard which is integrated by Neo-Nazis.

It is worth noting that in November 2021, the Ottawa Citizen published a carefully documented report on Canada’s role in training Neo-Nazi National Guard operatives in Ukraine at tax payers expense. According to the Ottawa Citizen:

“The Canadians met with and were briefed by leaders from the Azov Battalion in June 2018. The officers and diplomats did not object to the meeting and instead allowed themselves to be photographed with battalion officials despite previous warnings that the unit saw itself as pro-Nazi. The Azov Battalion then used those photos for its online propaganda, pointing out the Canadian delegation expressed “hopes for further fruitful co-operation.”

Click screenshot below to access the full article 

What the Freedom Convoy represents is a mass movement of Canadians committed to democratic values.

The objective is to restore fundamental rights as well as confront the Covid-19 mandates of the government in Canada, which is in blatant violation of the Nuremberg Code. Accusing Canada’s Freedom Convoy of “Nazi inclinations” is not only “fake news”, it is an act of propaganda as defined by Nuremberg.

Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research, January 31,  2021

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CBC Coverage of Canada’s Freedom Convoy: Fighting Imaginary Nazis at Home, Training Real Ones Abroad

by Rick Rozoff

January 31, 2022

***

The same Trudeau who staged a shoddy publicity stunt by reporting that he and his family had to be evacuated to a “secret location” because of protests in Ottawa miles from his residence.

Anyone who’s watched live streams of those protests knows that not only were they peaceful, they were joyous and festive, with the young crowd dancing much of the day and into the evening.

No property damage, no police officers attacked or harassed, no trash on the streets.

But CBC just ran a feature with the head of an “anti-hate” group warning that the Canadian capital will be “festooned with swastikas” though CBC couldn’t find one to share with its viewers (while an abundance of Maple Leaf and occasional Quebec flags were evident in the background footage), and the protests were “the worst display of Nazi and racist propaganda that I have seen in this country.”

When Canada’s state media lie this blatantly about what happens in their own capital, how can they be trusted in reporting on what’s happening in Eastern Europe?

Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand denounced protesters accused of climbing on the the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Ottawa as “beyond reprehensible.” She’s now in Ukraine where the Canadian military has trained over 30,000 troops to fight alongside the Azov Battalion and other extremist nationalists not averse to flying the swastika. Really flying the swastika. Far-right extremists in Ukrainian military bragged about Canadian training.

The Canadian defense ministry and military are more concerned about their citizens raising Canadian and Quebec flags on the national war memorial than Canadian troops arming and training the likes of the Neo Nazi Azov Battalion.

Amply documented the Ukraine National Guard under the auspices of the Ministry of the Interior is integrated by Neo-Nazis.

A Latvia report entitled Latvia hopes Canada will bolster military mission amid tensions with Russia thanks Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for his nation leading the NATO battle group in the country and being the largest trainer of Ukrainian government troops of any nation:

Latvia is crossing its fingers that it is up next after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced this week that Canada is extending and expanding its military mission in Ukraine in response to concerns about Russia.

In an interview, Latvian Ambassador to Canada Kārlis Eihenbaums said his country’s citizens are grateful for the 600 Canadian soldiers currently deployed to the Baltic state to defend against the threat of Russian attack.

The Canadians form the backbone and lead a 1,000-strong NATO battle group that includes soldiers from nine other alliance countries….

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This article was originally published on Anti-Bellum.

Rick Rozoff, renowned author and geopolitical analyst, actively involved in opposing war, militarism and interventionism for over fifty years. He manages the Anti-Bellum and For peace, against war website.

He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG).

Featured image: Canada’s Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly meeting with Canadian combat troops in Latvia last November. Photo: CBC.

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Press Stunned as Ukraine President Zelensky Points Finger at West

By Nury Vittachi, January 31, 2022

In a stunning and unexpected outburst this week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that his country’s current problems came from the west rather than the east. The fears of a looming war were built on news stories that Russia had troops on the border it shares with the country—but this was not unusual, and there had been a similar assembly of soldiers a year ago, he said.

Burkina Faso Military Coup Reflects Wave of Insecurity in West Africa

By Abayomi Azikiwe, January 31, 2022

There has been yet another military coup in West Africa following the events of Mali and Guinea during 2020-2021. This time lower-ranking army officers staged a mutiny in Burkina Faso over the weekend of January 22-23 leaving millions domestically and throughout the region wondering who was actually in control of the landlocked agricultural country formerly colonized by France.

“Micro Blood Clots” Explain Covid-19 Vaccine Impacts

By Joel S. Hirschhorn, January 31, 2022

An intriguing aspect of the pandemic getting little attention is the formation of microscopic blood clots throughout bodies.  These are not easily found through conventional medical scanning and imaging technologies.

FDA Asks the Court to Delay First 55,000 Page Production Until May and Pfizer Moves to Intervene in the Lawsuit

By Aaron Siri, January 31, 2022

Pfizer is coming in as a third party.  But Pfizer assures the Court it is here to help expedite production of the documents.  Sure it is!  Where was Pfizer before the Court ordered the 55,000 pages per month?  Right, doing what it normally does: letting the government work on its behalf – like the way the government mandates, promotes, and defends Pfizer’s product.

Klaus Schwab’s WEF “School for Covid Dictators”, a Plan for the “Great Reset”

By Michael Lord, January 31, 2022

The WEF is best-known to the public for the annual conferences it holds in Davos, Switzerland each January that aim to bring together political and business leaders from around the world to discuss the problems of the day. Today, it is one of the most important networks in the world for the globalist power elite, being funded by approximately a thousand multinational corporations.

The “Killer Vaccine” Worldwide. 7.9 Billion People

By Prof Michel Chossudovsky, January 30, 2022

Let us be under no illusions, it’s not only “experimental”, it’s a Big Pharma “killer vaccine” which modifies the human genome. The evidence of mortality and morbidity resulting from vaccine inoculation both present (official data) and future (e.g. undetected microscopic blood clots) is overwhelming.

50 Years of Crimes against Humanity: From Bloody Sunday in Derry, Northern Ireland to Croatia, Kosovo and Iraq

By Prof Michel Chossudovsky, January 30, 2022

Today, we commemorate the 50th Anniversary of Bloody Sunday. It happened 50 years ago on January 30, 1972. Thirteen people were shot dead when soldiers opened fire on civil rights demonstrators in Derry on 30 January 1972.

Video: From Cold War to 9/11 to Ukraine: Historian Daniele Ganser Examines NATO’s History of Illegal Activities

By Dr. Daniele Ganser and Kristina Borjesson, January 30, 2022

Historian Prof. Daniele Ganser details how US-controlled NATO, now the world’s largest military alliance, was formed during the Cold War as a collective defense organization for retaliating against a possible Soviet attack on Western Europe that never materialized. During that time, under CIA and MI6 leadership, NATO had formed an illegal network of secret guerilla armies in Europe known as Gladio.

U.S. Government Pays Big Money for Bad News About Cuba

By W.T. Whitney Jr., January 29, 2022

he cruder U.S. methods for destroying Cuba’s revolutionary government—military attacks, bombings of hotels and a fully-loaded airplane, violent attacks on officials, biological warfare—did not work. Nor has economic blockade, which of course continues. A more subtle approach also exists. Like the blockade, its purpose is to cause despair and then dissent.

Video: Justin Trudeau on Bribing the Media, On the Need To “Override the Fundamental Rights of A Minority”

By Global Research, January 29, 2022

The issue is not what Trudeau is saying but what he is doing as a duly elected Prime Minister of Canada’s parliamentary democracy. The decisions which he has already taken against Canadians including the lockdowns, the imposition of the vaccine passport, labour rights, the suspension of the right to travel both within Canada and abroad, etc etc constitute blatant violations of fundamental rights.

Putting Trudeau On Notice, Our Governments are No Longer Legitimate: Throwing Off the Tyranny of Canada’s Mandatory Vaccines

By Prof. Anthony J. Hall, January 29, 2022

To make up for the impossibility of serious debate among our brain-maimed parliamentarians, Trudeau appointed the so-called “unvaccinated” as the official opposition.

Russia calls on U.S. to withdraw nuclear weapons from Europe, cease joint nuclear drills with non-nuclear allies

By Rick Rozoff, January 29, 2022

This is a serious issue, perhaps the most serious of issues in Europe, but coming as it does immediately on the heels of Russia’s prior list of demands being resolutely rejected by the U.S. and NATO yesterday, the prospects of Washington and Brussels positively responding to this one either don’t appear good.

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To:

Keith Grellner, R.S., Chair
Dr. Thomas Pendergrass, Vice Chair
Elisabeth L. Crawford, Mukilteo Council Woman
Temple Lentz, M.S., Clark County Council Woman
Vazaskia Crockrell, M.B.A candidate
Fran Bessermin, B.A.
Bob Lutz, MD, MPH
Umair Shah, M.D., M.P.H. and designee of Secretary Shah, Tao Sheng Kwan-Gett, M.D., M.P.H.

From: Xavier A. Figueroa, Ph.D.

Members of the Washington State Board of Health, Department of Health and the Office of the Secretary of Health,

I write to you today on the issue of COVID19 inoculations, mask mandates, and the use of lockdowns.  You are all officers on the board of health for Washington State and two of you are elected officials in council member positions.  Four of you have advanced medical and scientific training.  All of you are failing in your designated duty to protect the health and safety of the citizens of Washington State and in upholding the rule of law.

The recent denial of ICWA’s petitions on January 12^th, 2022, that was meant to remind the Board of Health (BoH) that federal and state laws are required to be upheld, was summarily dismissed on the grounds that, to quote Dr. Pendergrass, “I do not want to be in the setting where I am preventing some future event from occurring.”  It is concerning that members of the board agreed and voted to allow future boards to potentially violate state, federal and international law.  As the board should be aware, all the COVID19 inoculations are still under E.U.A. and the provisions under 21 CFR section 360bbb3(a) are still in effect.  It is impossible to provide informed consent if you do not have the necessary data (the totality of scientific evidence) to provide to physicians and recipients of medical products, as the clinical trial are ongoing.

A concerning aspect of the BoH’s position on the COVID19 inoculations for children and the technical advisory group (TAG) convening is that the TAG should never have been formed in the first place.  The BoH holds that the TAG was convened to review all the data on the COVID19 inoculations, but that cannot be possible.  SARs-CoV-2, for our younger population, does not demonstrate a significant morbidity or mortality risk compared to pneumonia and influenza (P&I; Figure 1). The current totality of scientific evidence already demonstrates a far greater threat to the health and safety to our children from these experimental therapies (Pfizer/BioNTech, ModeRNA and Janssen) than the SARs-CoV-2 virus ever did (Figure 2).  What is apparent is the bias displayed by the Washington State DoH in presenting data to the BoH and overreliance on the Western States Scientific Safety Review Workgroup.  This does not relieve the BoH of its responsibility to demand a complete review of the existing data. If the Washington State BoH was solely reliant on the Western States Scientific Safety Review Workgroup recommendations, the BoH has left gaping holes in its review of the totality of scientific, epidemiological, safety and medical data that it needed to analyze.

I am sure that I do not need to remind the BoH that all PCR/NAAT and antigen tests are in the market under an emergency use authorization (E.U.A.).   They are not cleared to diagnose or even have a guarantee of being accurate or reliable.  Medical and technical publications on the reliability of the PCR/NAAT tests show a wide range of false positivity (See this; BMJ 2020;369:m1808 doi: 10.1136/bmj.m1808; see this), as well as the need of verifying the ability to culture virus in order to guarantee that PCR tests have a modicum of reliability at Ct values above 30 cycle times (see this).  The indicated articles are just a sampling of what has been published questioning the reliability and accuracy of these tests.

The reliability of the 6 month results from the Pfizer clinical trial as an indicator of the outcomes of the general population have been questioned (see this) and the post-authorization (note: this is not a post-marketing surveillance report) review by Pfizer itself shows a higher than expected morbidity and mortality (5.3.6 CUMULATIVE ANALYSIS OF POST-AUTHORIZATION ADVERSE EVENT REPORTS OF PF-07302048 (BNT162B2) RECEIVED THROUGH 28-FEB-2021; see this): 1,223 deaths out of 42,086 patients (a 2.9% risk of death).  This is unprecedented and concerning that the BoH has not addressed or acknowledged the Pfizer report and event.  I am unaware that the Western States Scientific Safety Review Workgroup has even commented or reviewed this information.

The totality of evidence in the United States of America is indicating that there is a tightly linked correlation between COVID19 administration and reports to the VAERS system (Figure 2).  Until coroners and local pathologist begin the critical autopsy work on these patients, we have to rely on these systems to make health policy choices. So far, the roll out of the COVID19 inoculations are indicating a higher rate of AEs, SAEs (stroke and myocarditis) and death than historical averages for all recent vaccine reports (Figure 3).  Even comparing all VAERS deaths from 1990 up to 2021, the totality of deaths is orders of magnitude higher than the closest comparable year (2018-2019) and exceeds six-sigma deviations (Figure 4).  I have not seen a single statement by the BoH and the Western States Scientific Safety Review Workgroup comment or review any of the data presented here in this letter.

The reports submitted to VAERS are supported by over 1022 peer-reviewed medical article (see references) that align with the list of expected side effects that were disclosed at the FDA Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee – 10/22/2020; (see this).  The potential side effects are listed:

1. Guillain-Barré syndrome
2. Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis
3. Transverse myelitis
4. Encephalitis/encephalomyelitis/meningoencephalitis/meningitis/encepholapathy
5. Convulsions/seizures
6. Stroke
7. Narcolepsy and cataplexy
8. Anaphylaxis
9. Acute myocardial infraction
10. Myocarditis/pericarditis
11. Autoimmune disease
12. Death
13. Pregnancy and birth outcomes
14. Other acute demyelinating diseases
15. Thrombocytopenia
16. Disseminated intravascular coagulation
17. Venous thromboembolism
18. Arthritis and arthralgia/joint pain
19. Kawasaki disease
20. Multisystem Inflammatory Disease in Children
21. Vaccine enhanced disease

The table above highlights the most common reported post-vaccine associated side effects that are in the attached list of Articles/Reports. [[1]NOTE: the table does not reflect total reported adverse events in these categories. See more below.] The articles were collated and prepared by the Save us Now network (see this), but I was able to confirm that all are peer-reviewed articles or related to the post-vaccine effects or programs/policy to reduce vaccine hesitancy.

This should be more than sufficient to cause a moment of pause by the members of the BoH and to re-assess the appropriateness of continuing with the current path.

As part of my writing to you, I have a few questions that I would like answered by Secretary Shah, his designee or the members of the DoH and the BoH.

1. When the COVID19 vaccination program began in Washington State, were any members of the Secretary of Health’s office, the Washington State DoH or the BoH provided with the list of potential side effects that were presented to the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee? Did the Western States Scientific Safety Review Workgroup review the data available or the known and unlisted components of the COVID19 inoculations?

2. If a potential list of side effects was not provided, what steps (if any) did the Secretary of Health’s office, the Washington State DoH or the BoH take to acquire a list of potential side effects and the ingredients in the injections? Was there a request sent to the Western States Scientific Safety Review Workgroup to provide you with such information?

3. What steps (if any) did the Secretary of Health’s office, the Washington State DoH or the BoH take to ensure that physicians, clinicians, nurses, pharmacists, and other health care professionals could provide informed consent to individuals receiving these COVID19 inoculations?

4. Where there any discussions or meetings held by the Secretary of Health’s office, the Washington State DoH or the BoH to establish a stopping condition for the COVID19 inoculation program?

5. Where there any attempts or recommendations by any members of the Secretary of Health’s office, the Washington State DoH or the BoH to request or review deaths ore serious adverse events that may have been linked to any of the COVID19 inoculations in Washington State?

6. Have any members of the Secretary of Health’s office, the Washington State DoH or the BoH attempted to collect or review autopsy or pathology data on adults or children reported to have died following or be suspected of dying from one of the COVID19 inoculations?

7. The Western States Scientific Safety Review Workgroup announced on May12, September 24, October 22, November 19 of 2021 and January 5, 2022 that they had reviewed the data from the Pfizer, ModeRNA and Janssen clinical trial and were continuing to recommend COVID19 inoculations from Pfizer, ModeRNA and Janssen, as well as the boosters. Has the Western States Scientific Safety Review Workgroup commented on or analyzed the Pfizer CUMULATIVE ANALYSIS OF POST-AUTHORIZATION ADVERSE EVENT REPORTS OF PF-07302048 (BNT162B2) RECEIVED THROUGH 28-FEB-2021? Has the Secretary of Health’s office, the Washington State DoH or the BoH reviewed the same?

I am sure that I will have more questions as time and information from public and private sources become available.  I look forward to receiving your information and learning more about the process and decision making used by the various offices and departments.  I hope that this dialogue will help to support the health and safety for all Washingtonians.

Very Respectfully,

Xavier A. Figueroa, Ph.D.

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Notes

[1] The current total federal VAERS numbers matching the adverse events listed in the above table can be found using Medalerts.org. For example, a search of the term “myocarditis” and “COVID19 vaccine” found 10,959 mentions. These numbers do not include reports to the CDC’s V-Safe App.

Click here for a list of articles and reports pertaining to COVID-19.

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In a stunning and unexpected outburst this week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that his country’s current problems came from the west rather than the east.

The fears of a looming war were built on news stories that Russia had troops on the border it shares with the country—but this was not unusual, and there had been a similar assembly of soldiers a year ago, he said.

The truth was that threat level had not changed, he told a press conference this week.

Furthermore, the real threat to Ukraine was not Russia, but the “destabilisation of the situation inside the country” he told journalists.

The cause of the panic was the press itself, Zelensky said.

Correspondents at the event were discomfited. The event was “a slightly surreal encounter” said the BBC’s Sarah Rainsford.

The Ukrainian leader went on to slam the US, British and other Western diplomats who were fleeing the country, as if the much-described war was actually real.

He denied that Ukraine was a sinking ship, but even if they saw it that way, “diplomats are like captains. They should be the last to leave a sinking ship.”

What’s Really Happening?

The Western powers appear to be repeating their Taiwan strategy in the Ukraine.

• Step one is to travel to someone’s territory and alter the status quo until the neighbors react.
• Step two is to angrily accuse the neighbors of being aggressive and expansionist—even though they literally haven’t left their own territory (unlike the accusers).
• Step three is to work with the press to mislead the world about which side is destabilizing the situation, and thus justify military expansion.

Ultimately, the aim is to push NATO borders eastwards, justify increased spending on the military, and attempt to further unite the world against communities which the West feels need to be “contained”.

It’s Working

The plan is working. Russia is being universally painted as the aggressor, and military activity from the west is rising. The UK government is sending weapons and troops to Ukraine, and calling on other NATO members to “unite”. The US says it has 8,500 troops ready to go.

On the media front, the message is virtually identical in every outlet: Russia is suddenly being threatening, so the good guys are being forced to respond. US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said the US was committed to helping Ukraine “defend itself”.

The BBC rolled out politician Tobias Ellwood to explain that all the problems are Russia’s fault. (The same man is used by the media as a source of negative comments on China.) The BBC newsroom always “forgets” to mention Ellwood’s background. He served as part of the 77th Brigade, a British army propaganda unit focused on psychological warfare, media operations, and “special influence methods”.

How differently viewers would see the news if they knew the full story: “We are the media, and we are about to showcase the views of a person trained in spreading disinformation via the media.”

Just as the carefully balanced relationship between Taiwan and mainland China has been in place for years, with alternating periods of calm and tension, the same has been true in Ukraine. Russia has regularly placed troops on its border with Ukraine, and vice versa.

As Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, the military tensions were a long-term fact of life between the two countries, and the threat level had not changed, despite every Western media outlet saying that it had.

But the underlying issue is this: NATO promised not to expand eastwards. It has done so repeatedly. It is never called out for this.

Yet those exact promises are well documented in history books – in the west as well as the east, as all students of recent European history know. Let’s look at them below.

In 1989 and 1990, Europe went through a massive political earthquake, with the fall of the Berlin Wall and numerous related events. The Western powers and the Soviet Union held a series of meetings to reassure the other that they would not take advantage of the shake-up for purposes of aggressive expansionism.

The Russian side, represented by Mikhail Gorbachev, had to play it straight. The country had large numbers of other urgent issues on its plate, so his argument was simple: Moscow would not move westward – as long as the west would not move eastward. Let the countries in between be.

Gorbachev (seated, middle) talking with West German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher (left) and Helmut Kohl (right) in Russia, July 15, 1990. Photo: Bundesbildstelle / Presseund Informationsamt der Bundesregierung.

The Famous Inch

The buzzphrase that emerged from those discussions was just three words long: “Not one inch.” It came, originally, from the mouth of the US Secretary of State James Baker, on February 9, 1990. NATO, he told Gorbachev, would move “not one inch eastward”.

NATO should rule out an “expansion of its territory towards the east, i.e. moving it closer to the Soviet borders”, the US Embassy in Bonn declared.

America’s national security archive, housed at George Washington University, sums up the meeting thus:

Not once, but three times, Baker tried out the “not one inch eastward” formula with Gorbachev in the February 9, 1990, meeting. He agreed with Gorbachev’s statement in response to the assurances that “NATO expansion is unacceptable.” Baker assured Gorbachev that “neither the President nor I intend to extract any unilateral advantages from the processes that are taking place,” and that the Americans understood that “not only for the Soviet Union but for other European countries as well it is important to have guarantees that if the United States keeps its presence in Germany within the framework of NATO, not an inch of NATO’s present military jurisdiction will spread in an eastern direction.

The following day, the West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl made a similar promise to Gorbachev: “We believe that NATO should not expand the sphere of its activity.”

Douglas Hurd, the British Foreign Secretary, declared his country would be party to the same promise. In June of that year, his boss Margaret Thatcher, the UK’s “Iron Lady” Prime Minister, made the same pledge to Moscow: “We must find ways to give the Soviet Union confidence that its security would be assured.”

Fast forward to the present day: NATO has spent years declaring itself a “defensive” rather than “expansionist” force, while its actions show itself doing precisely the opposite, year after year.

This diagram published this week by the BBC shows just some of the eastward expansion of NATO since that time.

BBC diagram showed the partial expansion of NATO over recent decades

The “not one inch” promised has been disregarded, with Western diplomats saying that it was never intended to be lasting, and was never put down on paper, anyway.

Coming back to the present day, what is Russia asking for?

• It is calling on NATO to halt its program of building missile bases in countries bordering or close to Russia’s territory.
• It is asking NATO to withdraw troops in Poland, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia.
• It is urging NATO to make it clear that Ukraine is not being groomed to join, thus further damaging the 1990 agreement.

Like China, Russia will be painted as the aggressor whatever it does. The western powers will be portrayed as the defenders, whatever they do. But while the press is taking a sharply pro-western angle, academics and the public have a much wider range of views.

“You asserted that ‘NATO is a defensive alliance’. It is not perceived that way in Russia,” wrote Robert Morley, a former staff member of the US National Security Council in a letter to the Economist published today. “Our decision to expand into areas previously dominated by the Soviet Union reinforced the perception that NATO is aggressively pursuing policies detrimental to Russia’s political and security interests.”

Russia’s response “is relatively moderate when compared with the American reaction to Moscow’s effort to establish a military presence in Cuba during the 1960s,” he added.

But while there is little hope that the mainstream media will ever lose its pro-NATO bias, the growth of independent media around the world gives hope that a more diverse, more inclusive set of voices will eventually be heard.

In the meantime, the Western hawks are once more banging the drums of war, but the East, so far, has always shown more patience than expected.

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There has been yet another military coup in West Africa following the events of Mali and Guinea during 2020-2021.

This time lower-ranking army officers staged a mutiny in Burkina Faso over the weekend of January 22-23 leaving millions domestically and throughout the region wondering who was actually in control of the landlocked agricultural country formerly colonized by France.

During the afternoon on January 24, several soldiers appeared on national television saying they had taken control of the government removing President Roche Marc Christian Kabore who was elected during a transitional process in 2015. The deposed president was reportedly being held at a military camp where one of the mutinies occurred.

Other officials including the president of the National Assembly, Allasane Bala Sakande, was also taken into custody by the coup makers. The military officers declared in their television statement announcing the takeover, that the parliament and the Constitution had been suspended while announcing the formation of a Patriotic Movement for Safeguarding and Restoration which would govern the country indefinitely.

Sakande was the leader of the ruling People’s Movement for Progress (MPP) and had been considered as a possible successor to Kabore. The headquarters of the MPP was vandalized and partially burned by supporters of the coup.

Due to the rapidly deteriorating security situation in Burkina Faso, discontent with President Kabore and the military leadership has mounted over the last several years. The attacks by insurgents have spread throughout several West African countries including Nigeria, Cameroun, Niger, Chad and Mali.

Most recently in November, 53 members of the security forces were killed in an ambush carried out by rebels claiming to be allied with al-Qaeda and the so-called Islamic State. Residents of the capital of Ouagadougou were appalled that the military was incapable of defending itself from such armed attacks in rural areas.

Since the seizure of power by the military junta, there have been demonstrations in the capital celebrating the putsch. Similar to developments in Guinea and Mali, widespread unease over the economic and security situations in the Sahel and other geo-political regions have created disillusionment with politicians.

The leader of the coup appears to be Lt. Col. Paul-Henri Damiba, a graduate of the Military College in Paris. In addition, Damiba has participated in numerous training exercises with the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) which have grown in size and influence in West Africa in recent years.

Between 2010 and 2020, Damiba was involved in the Pentagon-coordinated Flintlock Joint Combined Exchange Training exercises. In 2013, Damiba studied in the U.S. State Department sponsored African Contingency Operations Training and Assistance course. In 2013 and 2014, Damiba attended the Military Intelligence Basic Officer Course for Africa. In 2018 and 2019, he trained in Burkina Faso with a U.S. Defense Department Civil Military Support Element.

The ostensible purpose of these numerous Pentagon training operations is to provide assistance to governments in Africa related to the enhancement of their internal security structures. However, with the advent of AFRICOM beginning in 2008 and the escalation of military officers being trained by the Defense Department both on the continent and in the U.S., the actual security situation in Africa has declined precipitously.

In Mali and Guinea as well, the officers involved in military coups had close ties with the various Pentagon and State Department projects. Even though the rationale for taking power in Mali and now Burkina Faso was that the civilian governments had failed to protect people from the jihadists, yet since the 2012 coup in Mali, the successive military and civilian administrations have not been able to defeat the insurgencies.

Regional and World Leaders Respond to the Coup

A delegation from the regional Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) visited Burkina Faso on January 29. Quite similar to the ECOWAS response to events in Mali and Guinea, the regional body has suspended the membership of Burkina Faso and is imposing economic sanctions.

France has also condemned the coup amid rising anti-Paris sentiments throughout the Sahel where the presence of the former colonial power’s military forces has drawn the ire of a broad spectrum of Africans. In the aftermath of the January 24 coup in Burkina Faso, people demonstrating in support of the coup waved Russian flags and called for Moscow to intervene to assist in defending the country against the jihadist rebels.

A report published on the coup by Al Jazeera noted that:

“Ghanaian President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the current ECOWAS chairman, called the recent spate of coups in West Africa ‘a direct violation of our democratic tenets’. The rest of the world is looking up to us to be firm on this matter,’ he said…. Nicolas Haque reporting from Ouagadougou said, ‘The heads of the military in the region will be meeting with the new strongman of this country, Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Tamiba on Saturday (Jan. 30) to try to apply pressure on him.’… ‘There were words from Niger’s foreign minister. He said: ‘We do not understand that military leaders – after having failed in the field of war – take political power and call on mercenaries to defend the integrity of their territory,’ Haque said. ‘He’s referring to Russian fighters from the Wagner group that are active in neighboring Mali and the Central African Republic.”

Revolutionary Leader of Burkina Faso Was Overthrown in 1987

Much of the turmoil which has gripped this West African country can be traced back decades to the violent removal of the government of Capt. Thomas Sankara who ruled the country from 1983 to 1987. Sankara was overthrown in a coup led by his former close comrade Blaise Compraore, who betrayed the revolution, assassinating Sankara obviously at the behest of neighboring Ivory Coast and France.

Although Capt. Sankara emerged from the ranks of the military in 1983, in the years leading up to his seizure of power, he had studied Marxism and world revolution providing the lower-ranking officer with a perspective aimed at building self-reliance and Pan-African solidarity. During his tenure in office which lasted only four years, substantial reforms were undertaken to develop national industries, universal education and literacy, the greater empowerment of workers, women and youth as well as efforts aimed at building an alliance of African states to refuse payment on the usurious debt owed to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and other western-based financial institutions.

Image on the right is from the author

Sankara’s influence was spreading at the time of the coup against his leadership. France was bitterly opposed to his ideological orientation and political work and therefore undoubtedly played a pivotal role in his removal from office and liquidation. The circumstances surrounding his assassination were concealed by the succeeding regime of Blaise Compaore, which remained in office for 27 long years.

Compaore brought Burkina Faso solidly back into the fold of French neo-colonialism and world imperialism. Nonetheless, a scheme to extend his tenure in office during 2014, sparked a nationwide rebellion leading to Compaore fleeing the country to Ivory Coast. A subsequent trial involving 14 defendants, including Compaore, accused of involvement in the coup against Sankara in 1987, is still underway in Ouagadougou. The recent coup against Kabore could very well place a damper if not halt the proceedings.

Ousted President Kabore was elected in multi-party elections during 2015. An attempted coup by loyalists to Compaore failed to halt the transitional process. However, the Kabore administration has been increasingly viewed as weak and inefficient. Yet the spread of several jihadist groups since 2015 illustrates the security vacuum inside the country.

These groups are heavily fractured and have conflicting loyalties to foreign-based organizations operating throughout North and West Africa. Despite the presence of U.S. and French forces in the Sahel and other areas of West Africa under the guise of fighting terrorism, the al-Qaeda and ISIS-linked formations such as Ansar Dine, Boko Haram, Islam State of West Africa, Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen, al-Mourabitoun, Ansar-ul-Islam lil-Ichad wal Jihad, among others continue to operate terrorizing local populations.

These insurgency groups often exploit the internal ethnic and sectoral divisions among the people of Burkina Faso along with the poverty and underdevelopment resulting from the legacies of colonialism and neo-colonialism. Many of these jihadist tendencies in Africa and West Asia have been supported by the imperialist countries and their allies in efforts aimed at undermining and removing governments which have resisted many of the policies mandated by the western capitalist states.

In Libya during 2011, a counter-revolution against the government of Col. Muammar Gaddafi was coordinated by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the State Department, the Pentagon and NATO. Numerous NATO countries and their allies armed the jihadist ground forces while an eight-month aerial bombing campaign killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions.

Since 2011, the instability which was initiated during the war against Libya has spread throughout the Sahel region impacting Mali and other countries. Both Republican and Democratic administrations have pursued a similar policy of imperialist hegemony through economic exploitation and militarism.

The U.S. nor France has the willingness to provide genuine assistance to the African people in their contemporary struggles for economic development and territorial sovereignty. The mass sentiment against Paris and Washington is well-founded. What is needed is revolutionary organization which can bring together the people of the region in a program aimed at continental unity and socialist reconstruction.

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Abayomi Azikiwe is the editor of the Pan-African News Wire. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

Featured image: Burkina Faso coup supporters waving national and Russian flags (Source: Abayomi Azikiwe)

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The massacre of innocent Catholic civilians on Bloody Sunday in Derry 50 years ago became a turning point with tragic consequences for Northern Ireland communities and British soldiers alike, writes RICHARD RUDKIN

“WHAT happened on Bloody Sunday was both unjustified and unjustifiable. It was wrong — what happened should never, ever have happened.”

These words formed part of David Cameron’s speech in Parliament in June 2010, when as British prime minister, he apologised for the murder of innocent civilians by the British army on Bloody Sunday.

It had been a long hard slog by the relatives of the victims, but finally, 12 years after it began, the Saville inquiry published its findings that placed blame for the killings squarely with the British army.

Shockingly, Saville concluded that many of the former British soldiers lied, stating: “Many of these soldiers have knowingly put forward false accounts to seek to justify their firing.”

While Cameron as prime minister rightly apologised for the actions of the British soldiers, what neither he nor any British prime minister since has done is accepted responsibility for the role that agencies of the British government played for the escalation of violence on both the island of Ireland and in Britain.

I say this because if the British government is serious about finding a way forward for all those who suffered during the Troubles, as it claims to be, a good start would be to acknowledge the failings of these agencies, before, and most certainly following the events in Derry on January 30 1972.

The clearest admission of the impact Bloody Sunday had on the Troubles came from the prime minister at the time, Edward Heath, when he told the Saville inquiry: “The tragic deaths in Londonderry on January 30 1972 outraged the Catholic community, increased support for the IRA and destroyed the prospect of a political initiative.”

A fact confirmed by former president of Sinn Fein, Gerry Adams, who wrote in him memoirs following the events of Bloody Sunday: “Money, guns and recruits flooded into the IRA.”

Further confirmation came from a Catholic priest who was present when the shooting began.

Derry priest Fr Edward Daly will be remembered by those who watched events unfold on TV, waving a white bloodstained handkerchief in the air, as he walked with civilians carrying the dying body of John Duddy.

Years later Daly wrote: “People who were there on the day … saw what happened and were enraged by it and just wanted to seek some kind of revenge for it” and went on to say: “Young people I visited in prison told me quite explicitly that they would never have become involved in the IRA but for what they witnessed and heard of happening on Bloody Sunday.”

Three different people, two politicians with opposite opinions of the Troubles along with a man of peace, all saying the same thing.

The killings and the lies that were subsequently told by the British army to justify the killings were a major factor in the escalation of the Troubles.

It’s worth remembering that before Bloody Sunday, many members of the Catholic community had remained indifferent to the British army on the streets.

At that time, there was no instant access to news, therefore the Ministry of Defence (MoD) was able to spin the “facts” surrounding shootings or bombings to the media in its favour with little fear of being challenged.

If the British army claimed it had shot an IRA gunman after coming under fire, then it was accepted and regurgitated as fact by the media.

A good example of media spin by the MoD occurred following the deaths of 11 people, in a 36-hour window, in the Ballymurphy area of West Belfast in August 1971, which left 57 children bereaved of a parent. The MoD claimed the victims had been shot after the British soldiers first came under fire.

Similar to the families of Bloody Sunday, it took decades of campaigning before they cleared the names of their loved ones.

Finally, in May 2021, coroner Mrs Justice Keegan, who presided over the inquest into the deaths, concluded: “What is very clear is that all of the deceased in the series of inquests were entirely innocent of all wrongdoing on the day in question.”

Unlike Ballymurphy, the events on Bloody Sunday were caught on camera and beamed around the world. So too was the British army officer who told the waiting press that the paratroopers came under fire and responded.

When asked how many weapons had been recovered, he replied none at present. Just like Ballymurphy, no weapons were ever recovered, because no weapons ever existed.

With the opportunity to correct the appalling events in Ballymurphy ignored by the military commanders, the same parachute regiment was sent into Derry where, as we know, they went on to kill and injure more innocent victims.

Today, because we are fully aware of the facts surrounding the deaths of unarmed innocent civilians, should we be surprised that many people decided to support the IRA?

We don’t have to condone their decision, but we should be able to understand why they made that choice. But this is only part of the problem.

Up and down the country, young soldiers (like yours truly) who had watched the events of Bloody Sunday on TV, believed what occurred in Derry was a gun battle between the IRA and British soldiers.

This belief was reinforced by those trusted with training them, warning them when serving in the North of Ireland to never trust members of the Catholic community.

This warning was reinforced with horror stories that turned out to be completely untrue, such as the story of the British soldier Paul Carter.

In September 1971 Private Paul Carter was shot dead by the IRA on the Falls Road. Carter’s relatives were told that members of the local community had tried to run off with his body and steal his weapon.

However, in 2012, the Northern Ireland Historical Enquiries Team discovered nothing could be further from the truth. Far from trying to steal his body, local men ran to his aid and carried the soldier to the Royal Victoria Hospital. At no time did anyone attempt to steal his weapon.

With military personnel adding to the cocktail of violence with suspicion, fear and hatred of the Catholic communities with stories like the one described, together with the killing of innocent civilians by British soldiers, is it any wonder that 1972 turned out to be the bloodiest year of the Troubles with just under 480 deaths, of which 130 were British soldiers?

Those who say the victims of Bloody Sunday were in the wrong place at the wrong time, couldn’t be more mistaken.

Patrick Doherty, Gerald Donaghey, John Duddy, Hugh Gilmore, Michael Kelly, Michael McDaid, Kevin McElhinney, Bernard McGuigan, Gerard McKinney, William McKinney, William Nash, James Wray, John Young, along with all those injured both physically and mentally on that day, were exactly in the right place at the right time and doing what they believed to be the right thing by supporting the march for civil rights.

No. It was those who pulled the trigger that did the wrong thing, at the wrong time, in a place, arguably they had no right to be.

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Richard Rudkin is a former British soldier who served in Northern Ireland.

Featured image: A silent crowd form a cordon 10 or more deep, lining both sides of the 250 yards of road leading from St Mary’s Church, Creggan Hill to the cemetery, to watch the funeral procession of the 13 who died on ‘Bloody Sunday’, February 1972

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The European Commission’s denial of access to text messages between Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla amounts to ‘maladministration’, the EU Ombudsman found.

The text messages were sent while the EU was securing COVID-19 vaccine contracts, but the Commission claimed they had not “identified” them when asked by a journalist. The New York Times first reported their existence in April 2021.

This resulted in a complaint to Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly, who made her verdict clear on Friday (28 January), stressing that the European Commission must “do a more extensive search for the relevant messages.”

“The narrow way in which this public access request was treated meant that no attempt was made to identify if any text messages existed. This falls short of reasonable expectations of transparency and administrative standards in the Commission,” O’Reilly said in a press statement.

Her report found that the search carried out by the Commission was limited to an internal record of documents where such texts would not be stored. Furthermore, it was revealed that the president’s personal office had not been asked about the messages.

She concluded that this amounted to a case of maladministration and fell far short of transparency levels expected under EU law.

Von der Leyen’s cabinet was initially asked to dig out documents fulfilling the Commission’s internal criteria for recording. According to these internal criteria, text messages are not required to be recorded along with other means of communication.

However, this was not enough to satisfy O’Reilly, who urged the Commission to change its practice.

“Not all text messages need to be recorded, but text messages clearly do fall under the EU transparency law, and so relevant text messages should be recorded,” O’Reilly pointed out, adding that it is “not credible to claim otherwise”.

The deadline for the Commission’s response to the Ombudsman is 26 April.

Many questions left unanswered

The chief Commission spokesperson, Eric Mamer, said the Commission would respond to the European Ombudsman “within the deadlines set”.

“Until such time, when we have provided our response, we will not make further comments on this topic,” he said.

Meanwhile, Commission spokesperson Johannes Bahrke added assurances that the EU executive would “investigate the issue of possible updates of our policy for providing access to documents,” adding that methods of communication are “changing across the board”.

While the Commission’s spokespeople declined further comment on the case, they reiterated that the negotiations on the vaccine contracts had happened in a formal format, in the presence of EU member states and Commission representatives.

Unclear guidelines

In November 2021, Dutch MEP Sophie in ’t Velt sent a parliamentary question to the Commission asking them to clarify the situation. The answer to her question was signed off by Commission Vice-President Věra Jourová, who is, amongst other things, responsible for work on values and transparency, including leading talks on a transparency register.

In the response, Jourová made it clear that two of the Commission’s criteria for registration were information relating “to the policies, activities or decisions falling within the institution’s sphere of responsibility” and information considered “important and not short-lived”.

The conclusion to her answer was that “due to their short-lived and ephemeral nature, text and instant messages are not meant to contain important information relating to policies, activities and decisions of the Commission.”

in ’t Velt said she was glad to see the Ombudsman’s criticisms of the Commission but nevertheless remained concerned.

“It does not often happen that you read such hard words from the EU Ombudsman,” she pointed out, adding that it “does not take a team of lawyers to assess the Commission’s reasoning for what it is: deeply flawed”.

“What worries me even more, though, is the muted response from the European Parliament. In any member state, such contempt for democratic accountability from the executive would cause an uproar,” in ’t Velt stressed in a written comment to EURACTIV.

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Featured image: The European Ombudsman, Emily O’Reilly, delivers a speech in the European Parliament. [ EPA-EFE/JULIEN WARNAND]

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Saad Hariri, three-time Prime Minister from 2009 to 2021, announced his retirement from political life and has returned to his new home in Abu Dhabi. His announcement from Beirut on January 24 was followed by one of the worst snowstorms in recent history in Lebanon and Syria.

Hariri’s announcement sent a cold chill through many who had supported him and his Future Party, as the country faces a parliamentary election in May.  He explained that he had failed at his goal of making life better for the Lebanese people.  In October 2019 violent street protests broke out demonstrating against the wealthy political elites who were seen as corrupt and the cause of the worst economic melt-down of any county in the last 150 years, according to the World Bank.

Most analysts point to Hariri’s working relationship with Hezbollah which caused an end to his political career, with the US and Saudi Arabia pulling the plug.

Saad Hariri, like his father Rafik Hariri who died in 2015, was Prime Minister but was unable to form a government in 2021, and he left Lebanon to take up residence in the UAE.

The current de-facto leader of Saudi Arabia, Muhammed bin Salman (MBS), held Saad Hariri in 2017 against his will in a shake-down and caused Hariri to announce his resignation while in captivity.  MBS was furious that Hariri had managed to work with Hezbollah in the political arena, even though his party was opposed to the group. It took French President Emmanuel Macron personally to gain the release of Hariri, where he returned to Beirut and rescinded his resignation.

Saad Hariri’s older brother, Bahaa Hariri, maybe the wild card in the political game in Lebanon.  The charismatic businessman, with a personal fortune estimated by Forbes at $2 billion, is rumored to be supported by both Turkey and Saudi Arabia, and Bahaa Hariri takes a harder line against Hezbollah than his brother.

Bahaa Hariri has formed a political advocacy group, “Sawa li Lubnan” (Together for Lebanon), which intends to support candidates for the May elections, especially reformists. On Thursday Bahaa Hariri’s media office announced the appointment of Safi Kalou as his political representative in Lebanon.

Bahaa Hariri, the eldest son of Rafik Hariri, has developed a unique style of citizen activism in Lebanon in response to the Lebanese crisis.

He has taken a tough stance on Hezbollah, which will be enticing to the US and KSA.  His current campaign is raising billboards across Beirut, and has 10 offices in Lebanon, with a supporting TV campaign as well.  The platform is secular, appealing to all Lebanese, and has a modern reform base ideology, which emphasizes national unity in the face of corruption reforms.

One political party leader has emerged and is a very old face on the scene. Samir Geagea, the leader of the Lebanese Forces (LF) since 1986.   The LF is a political party that began as an armed militia, with no connection to the national Lebanese Army.

Geagea, although representing a Christian sect, is the agent of Saudi Arabia in Lebanon, while his bitter rival is President Michel Aoun and his Free Patriotic Movement, who are the country’s largest representatives of Christians.

Druze leader Walid Jumblatt said after the Hariri announcement, that he felt Hezbollah would gain from the situation, and he complained that Arab states were abandoning Lebanon.  Jumblatt and Hariri had in the past formed a US-backed alliance called ‘March 14’.  Jumblatt pointed to the past ties with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Emirates which used to spend billions on Lebanon but had cut ties because of Hezbollah.  Jumblatt admitted that it is impossible to disarm Hezbollah.

Hezbollah, headed by Hassan Nasrallah, is a Lebanese resistance group that is supported by Iran and Syria.  Israel is occupying Shebaa Farms, an area in the South of Lebanon, along with the Golan Heights in Syria, and Palestine.  Despite multiple UN resolutions demanding Israel return to the 1967 borders, Israel instead steals even more land on the Occupied West Bank through illegal settlements.

Hezbollah was formed in 1982 in response to the brutal military occupation of the South of Lebanon for 18 years, ending in 2000.  Unsurprisingly, the residents of the South of Lebanon are the community that most support Hezbollah.  Those communities of Christians and Shiites were imprisoned, tortured, maimed, and killed by the Israeli occupation.  Lebanese history has made the residents say it was Hezbollah’s resistance that caused Israel to leave. In 2018, Hezbollah won a parliamentary majority.

Lebanon is a sectarian governed country, owing to the Saudi-negotiated Taif accord of 1989, next to the only secular country in the Middle East, Syria.  The residents of Syria have an ideology rooted in resistance to the occupation of Palestinian, Lebanese, and Syrian land.  This same spirit of resistance allowed the Syrian people, and their Army, to resist almost 11 years of US-NATO attack on Syria for ‘regime change’.  Syria and Lebanon have shared this resistance ideology, but there are divisions among the Lebanese population, with a sizeable portion who do not support Hezbollah but would rather the national Army of Lebanon by the only bearers of weapons in defense of the country and the borders.  However, the Lebanese Army is very weak and needs an influx of funding to bring the army up to being capable of defending the nation.  Saudi Arabia had pledged $4 billion but refused to deliver the funds.

The leading secular party in Lebanon is also the oldest.  The Syrian Social National Party (SSNP) was founded in 1932.  Experts point to the sectarianism in Lebanon as the source of division that permeated during the civil war from 1975 to 1990.

“The Great Denial” is the title of a report on Lebanon issued last week by The World Bank, which accuses sectarian dynasties and warlords of creating the economic collapse which has plunged the residents into poverty and driven many to a mass migration abroad.

Lebanon on Thursday registered 9,199 new COVID-19 infections, the highest number of daily cases since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Health Ministry reported. The total number of infections reached 891,982, while the death toll from the virus went up by 16 to 9,544.

Snow, poverty, pandemic, and political instability are bringing suffering to the Lebanese people.  Will Spring be the beginning of a bright future for Lebanon?

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This article was originally published on Mideast Discourse.

Steven Sahiounie is a two-time award-winning journalist.

Featured image is from MD

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An intriguing aspect of the pandemic getting little attention is the formation of microscopic blood clots throughout bodies.  These are not easily found through conventional medical scanning and imaging technologies.

Know this: They result from COVID spike proteins that screw up fine blood vessels causing micro blood clots.  The spike protein molecules from COVID infection are the same as what happens when COVID vaccines pump huge numbers of them into your body.  So, vaccines create the same blood problem as COVID itself.

This article uses micro blood clots to explain three important pandemic problems:

1.  Vaccine adverse health impacts, including deaths

2.  A broad array of COVID infection illnesses and deaths

3.  Millions of people with “long” COVID and diverse health problems.

THIS IS A DIFFICULT ARTICLE TO READ; IT PRESENTS CONSIDERABLE MEDICAL DETAILS.  IF YOU SEEK UNDERSTANDING, THEN IT IS WORTH YOUR TIME.  THE MICRO BLOOD CLOT PROBLEM IS NOW IMPACTING, OR IN THE FUTURE WILL IMPACT MILLIONS OF PEOPLE.

Micro blood clot problems

What can these micro blood clots cause?  That is the key question.  There is nothing but bad news that very few people are aware of.  Understand this: You do not want micro blood clots throughout your body.  Finding proof that you have them is difficult.

Blood clots that occur in the tiniest blood vessels are referred to as microvascular thromboses. The clinical symptoms depend on the organs that are most strongly affected.

Here is the main point: Many patients can experience micro blood clotting that isn’t visible to the naked eye or normal scans, but produce bad impacts.

When pumped to the lungs they may be diagnosed as pulmonary embolisms.  If they reach the brain, they can cause a stroke or confusion.  If they lodge in the heart, they can cause a heart attack.  If they lodge in the smaller blood vessels that provide oxygen to the hands or feet, they can cause those limbs to go numb and require amputation.  Clots in other organs, such as the liver or the kidneys, could cause those organs to fail.

The diagnosis from the clotting depends largely on where the clots end up lodging, which explains why people who take spike protein “vaccine” shots experience such a wide array of injuries and deaths.  Over one million injuries now reported in VAERS CDC data base, with estimates of hundreds of thousands of deaths so far in the USA alone.

The eminent Dr. Peter McCollough, a truly great medical expert, has addressed micro clots.  Early in the pandemic he noted that “the Spike Protein itself caused Coagulation or Blood Clotting.

And a unique type of Coagulation.  It caused the Red Blood Cells to stick together.  At the same time the Platelets stick together.  So, this is a very different type of Blood Clotting that we would see with major Blood Clots in the Arteries and Veins.  For instance, Blood Clots involved in Stroke and Heart Attack.  Blood Clots involved in major Blood Vessels in the Legs.  This was a different type of Clotting and in fact the Italians courageously did some Autopsies and found Micro Blood Clots in the Lungs.  And so, we understood in the end, the reason why the Lungs fail is not because the virus is there.  It is because Micro Blood Clots are there.  When People can’t breathe, the problem is micro-blood clotting in the lungs.  The spicule on the ball of the virus itself damages blood vessels that causes blood clotting.”

Probably most people who have late stage COVID and die have severe lung problems and micro clots are a likely cause.

Now you get to the key and mostly ignored point.  COVID vaccines can insert spike proteins just like the ones created by COVID infection.  Should we expect health problems from COVID vaccines just like ones from COVID infection?  Yes!

Canadian doctor blew the whistle about micro clots from vaccines

Months ago in July 2021 a brave and smart Canadian doctor, Charles Hoffe, went public with his findings on COVID vaccinated patients.  Using the d-dimer test of blood he found that 62% of hundreds of his vaccinated patients had high numbers indicating the presence of micro blood clots.  A d-dimer test measures the amount of degraded fibrin in the blood.

He did more than just release that finding.  He said that the use of mRNA vaccines would “kill most people through heart failure.”

Note that in April 2021 Dr. Hoffe wrote an open letter to the Provincial Health Officer for British Columbia trying to get the Canadian government to recognize the bad vaccine impacts related to micro blood clots.  He was not successful in stopping use of the COVID vaccines.

Trying to get media attention, the doctor worked to warn the public and the medical community that the vast majority of people who are getting injected with the genetic experimental vaccines will die within a few short years from heart failure.

He explained that he observed in his patients who took an mRNA (messenger RNA) “vaccine” from either Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna that their capillaries were now plugging up, which he says will eventually lead to a serious cardiovascular event.

In plain language he said that the mRNA shots are programmed to turn a person’s body into a spike protein “factory,” and that over time these mass-produced spike proteins cause progressive blood clotting.

He said what other medical experts have expressed, namely that only 25 percent of the ‘vaccine’ injected into a person’s arm actually stays in your arm.  The other 75 percent is collected by your lymphatic system and literally fed into your circulation so these little packages of messenger RNA invade your body.  And in a single dose of Moderna ‘vaccine’ there are literally 40 trillion mRNA molecules.

Dr. Hoffe said that while these packages were designed by Big Pharma to be absorbed directly into people’s cells, the only place they can actually be absorbed is around the blood vessels and into capillary networks, which are the tiniest blood vessels where blood flow is slow and where genes are released.

“Your body then gets to work reading and then manufacturing trillions and trillions of these spike proteins,” he said.  “Each gene can produce many, many spike proteins. The body then recognizes these are foreign bodies so it makes antibodies against it so you are then protected against COVID.  That’s the idea.”  Now we know that this theory does not assure destruction of the virus or transmission of it, nor effective immunity.

Here is what you need to understand: Though the claim has long been that these spike proteins act as a deterrent to viral infection after being injected into a person’s body, the reality is that they actually become part of the cell wall of a person’s vascular endothelium or linings of the blood vessels.

The result is not good.  Your blood vessels are supposed to be smooth so that your blood flows smoothly.  After spike proteins invade your body the small blood vessels have these little spikey bits sticking out which impede blood flow and can cause clots.  And if you get a lot of clots, then your blood platelet count can greatly decrease, and this can lead to bleeding problems.

Dr. Hoffe says it is an inevitability that the vaccine injected will develop blood clots because as the vaccine-inserted spike proteins embed themselves within blood vessels and capillaries, blood platelets circulate around trying to fix the problem by creating increasingly more clots.

“So, when the platelet comes through the capillary it suddenly hits all these COVID spikes and it becomes absolutely inevitable that blood clots will form to block that vessel,” he writes.  Therefore, these spike proteins can predictably cause blood clots.  They are in your blood vessels (if mRNA ‘vaccinated’) so it is guaranteed.”

What must be remembered is that these blood clots are different than the “rare” ones spoken about by physicians that show up on CT scans and MRIs or even ultrasound images.  These are microscopic and do not show up on tests, as they can only be detected using a blood test known as d-dimer.  And nearly all doctors do not routinely use this test.

Dr. Hoffe performed d-dimer tests on his mRNA “vaccinated” patients, which led him to the discovery that at least 62 percent of them have these microscopic blood clots.  Why some people do not get the clots is not entirely clear.

“The most alarming part of this is that there are some parts of the body like the brain, spinal cord, heart and lungs which cannot [regenerate],” he said. “When those tissues are damaged by blood clots, they are permanently damaged.”  That is the deadly issue for understanding why there are huge numbers of vaccinated people who have suffered death or a broad array of serious health impacts from COVID vaccines.

Micro clots in COVID patients

While there has been very limited medical research on micro clots from vaccines, there has been much more on micro clots in COVID patients.  Here are some findings from a key study in August 2021 with the title “Study identifies micro clots as cause of death in some severely ill COVID-19 patients.”

Loma Linda University Health researchers found that severely ill COVID-19 patients likely die as the result of micro clots formed in the lungs that spread to cause deadly damage to organs throughout the body. This finding differed from the current view that the COVID-19 virus travels to the body’s organs and damages blood vessel lining in those organs.

According to this research, once the clotting process begins, the body is no longer fighting against the virus but mostly against the clotting process instead.

“This could change our approach to fighting this disease because we may have been looking in the wrong place,” saids Brian Bull, MD, a pathologist, former dean of the Loma Linda University School of Medicine, and the study’s first author. “We have been looking for a treatment against a viral disease, but we should now also look for therapy for a viral disease that has transformed into a clotting disorder.”

In another study, “A macrophage attack culminating in microthromboses characterizes COVID 19 pneumonia,” published in the Journal of Immunity, Inflammation and Disease, proposes an explanation for why COVID-19 patients die from a vast array of conditions such as strokes, heart attacks, kidney failure, or failure of several organs at the same time.

“We face the problem of not yet understanding the physiological disorders well enough to explain how a viral disease like COVID-19 kills people in such a diverse and difficult-to-predict fashion.” Dr. Bull said.

Bull and co-author Karen Hay contend that showers of tiny clots form and block micro-blood vessels in the bodies of many severely ill COVID-19 patients.  Though invisible to the naked eye, the micro clots can damage and kill tiny portions of whichever organ tissue — brain, heart, liver, kidney, lung, etc. — the blocked blood vessels feed.

“Clotting in really sick COVID-19 patients is not something trivial and unimportant — it may well be fundamental to what is going on” said Dr. Bull.

But how do these micro clots form and travel throughout the body?  Bull provides a broad overview of this disease process:

When the body senses a COVID-19 infection, large white blood cells called monocytes respond and gather in the air sacs of the lungs.

Over the course of a few days, the monocytes transform into macrophages — the “demolition and cleanout crew” for infected and damaged tissue in the body.  The macrophages attack the virus-laden cells that line the inside of the air sacs.  Unfortunately, macrophages may also chew right through the virus-laden air sac lining to the blood vessels that surround each air sac.  This is the place in the body where the blood picks up oxygen when we breathe.  If the macrophages puncture these blood vessels the air sac will fill up with blood.

A protein produced by the macrophages on their surfaces causes the blood to clot.  When a clot forms an enzyme, thrombin, interacts with a protein in the blood known as fibrinogen to produce fibrin strands or fibrils.  When these fibrin strands accumulate, they become a clot.  These fibrils can be still soluble if they remain short enough (about 25 molecules or less).  Anything longer than that becomes insoluble and will appear as tiny clots.

Short chains of fibrin, still soluble, can travel in the blood supply to all of the body’s organs. As long as the fibrin chains remain short, this will cause no problems, but if more thrombin is coming from clots in the lungs, then more fibrin is continually being fed into the blood.  This makes the chains of fibrin grow longer; they grow too long to remain in solution and showers of micro clots will form.

These micro clots will block the tiny blood vessels that nourish the tissue making up each of the body’s organs, making the organs less able to perform their necessary function.  The organs (heart, kidney, brain, etc.) with little patches of dead and dying tissue throughout will, sooner or later, fail.

Indeed, when Bull and Hay monitored three COVID-19 patients hospitalized in an intensive care unit for tell-tale clotting biomarkers — the still soluble fibrin chains — they found that in a matter of four days, all of the fibrinogen in the patients’ bodies had transformed into soluble fibrin chains at levels five times higher than normal.  Body organs were severely damaged in all three patients.  Two of them died in the hospital, and the third survived but suffered severe brain damage.

Although Bull and Hay found blood clotting was taking place by tracking the bio-markers and performing clotting tests, no visible clots were detected in any of the three patients.  The likeliest explanation, Bull states, is that those clots were present but were too small to be seen.

“Here in this study we have three patients in which clearly a massive clotting disorder occurred over a very short period,” Bull said.

Bull said in a year and a half of searching for therapeutic modalities, the medical community has not come up with any anti-viral medications that have had a significant beneficial effect on COVID-19. Yet, heparin, an anti-clotting drug, not an anti-viral medication, has proven highly beneficial and is now being given to virtually all hospitalized, severely ill COVID-19 patients.

[This author has also researched the use of ivermectin for late state COVID and concluded that it can work because of its anti-inflammatory property.]

“Clotting in really sick COVID-19 patients is not something trivial and unimportant — it may well be fundamental to what is going on,” Bull said.

The point of giving all these details is to show that what spike proteins cause in ill COVID patients can also be what is happening in many vaccinated people.  Just as Dr. Hoffe had predicted.  And why a few million people worldwide have had adverse health impacts from vaccines, including probably a few hundred thousand deaths.

Long covid has clot cause

Now we come to the third area of medical research that has also found micro clots as the likely cause of that is being called “long” COVID; which refers to people who seem to have successfully recovered from COVID but live with serious health problems that only seem to be related to their previous COVID infection.  Sadly, some doctors have said these persistent health problems are psychological in nature.

Here some new research is summarized that finds the cause of persistent health problems are micro blood clots.

In October 2021 the material in this article was originally published in the journal Cardiovascular Diabetology in August 2021.

“Inflammatory micro clots in blood of individuals suffering from Long COVID.”  The research was done at Stellenbosch University in South Africa.  Researchers found an overload of various inflammatory molecules, ‘trapped’ inside insoluble microscopic blood clots (micro clots), in the blood of individuals suffering from lingering symptoms experienced by individuals with long COVID.

This important finding was made by Prof. Resia Pretorius, a researcher in the Department of Physiological Science at Stellenbosch University.  She started looking at micro clots and their molecular content in blood samples from individuals with long COVID.  The findings have since been peer-reviewed and published in the journal

“We found high levels of various inflammatory molecules trapped in micro clots present in the blood of individuals with Long COVID.  Some of the trapped molecules contain clotting proteins such as fibrinogen, as well as alpha(2)-antiplasmin,” Prof. Pretorius explained.

Alpha(2)-antiplasmin is a molecule that prevents the breakdown of blood clots, while fibrinogen is the main clotting protein.  Under normal conditions the body’s plasmin-antiplasmin system maintains a fine balance between blood clotting (the process by which blood thickens and coagulate to prevent blood loss after an injury) and fibrinolysis (the process of breaking down the fibrin in the coagulated blood to prevent blood clots from forming).

With high levels of alpha(2)-antiplasmin in the blood of COVID-19 patients and individuals suffering from long COVID, the body’s ability to break down the clots are significantly inhibited.

The insolubility of the micro clots became apparent through specific analysis of blood plasma samples from individuals with acute COVID and long COVID; they continued to deposit insoluble pellets in collection devices.

This is the first research group to have reported on finding micro clots in the blood samples from individuals with long COVID, using fluorescence microscopy and proteomics analysis, thereby solving yet another puzzle associated with the disease.

“Of particular interest is the simultaneous presence of persistent anomalous micro clots and a pathological fibrinolytic system,” they write in the research paper.  “This implies that the plasmin and antiplasmin balance may be central to pathologies in Long COVID, and provides further evidence that COVID-19, and now Long COVID, have significant cardiovascular and clotting pathologies.”

In other words, this research connects with what has been found in COVID patients with micro blood clots.

To date they have collected blood from one hundred long COVID individuals who participated in the long COVID registry which launched in May 2021, as well as from 30 healthy individuals.

The Guardian article

This research was seen as a very important development in a January 2022 article in The Guardian with the heading “Could microclots help explain the mystery of long Covid?”  It was written by Resia Pretorius, one of the senior South African researchers.  “My lab has found significant microclot formation in long Covid patients.  Unfortunately, these are missed in routine blood tests.”

Screenshot from The Guardian

Here are more excerpts from this article that was aimed at informing the world about the importance of micro clots.

“One of the biggest failures during the Covid-19 pandemic is our slow response in diagnosing and treating long Covid.  As many as 100 million people worldwide already suffer from long Covid.  That staggering number will eventually be much higher, if we take into account that diagnoses are still inadequate, and that we still do not know what the impact of Omicron and future variants will be.”

“Patients with long Covid complain of numerous symptoms, the main ones being recurring fatigue and brain fog, muscle weakness, being out of breath and having low oxygen levels, sleep difficulties and anxiety or depression.  Some patients are so sick that they cannot work or even walk a few steps.  There is possibly also an elevated risk of stroke and heart attacks.  One of the biggest sources of concern is that even mild and sometimes asymptomatic initial Covid-19 infection may lead to debilitating, long-term disability.”  [That last sentence is especially important.]

“Since early 2020, we and other researchers have pointed out that acute Covid-19 is not only a lung disease, but actually significantly affects the vascular (blood flow) and coagulation (blood clotting) systems.”

“In blood from patients with long Covid, persistent microclots are resistant to the body’s own fibrinolytic processes.  We found high levels of various inflammatory molecules trapped in the persistent microclots, including clotting proteins like plasminogen, fibrinogen and Von Willebrand factor (VWF), and also Alpha-2 antiplasmin (a molecule that prevents the breakdown of microclots).”

“The presence of persistent microclots and hyperactivated platelets (also involved in clotting) perpetuates coagulation and vascular pathology, resulting in cells not getting enough oxygen in the tissues to sustain bodily functions (known as cellular hypoxia).  Widespread hypoxia may be central to the numerous reported debilitating symptoms.”

And here is what long COVID victims need to know: “So why can long Covid patients not go to their nearest clinic or health care practitioner to find treatment options?  Currently there are no general pathology tests readily available to diagnose these patients.  Desperately ill patients are told that their pathology test results are within normal/healthy ranges. Many are then told that their symptoms are possibly psychological and they should try meditation or exercise.  The main reason the traditional lab tests do not pick up any of the inflammatory molecules is that they are trapped inside the fibrinolytic-resistant microclots (visible under a fluorescence or bright-field microscope, as our research has shown). When the molecular content of the soluble part of the plasma is measured, the inflammatory molecules, including auto-antibodies, are simply missed.”

Remember that Dr. Hoffe used the d-dimer test to confirm the presence of micro blood clots, and this test can be ordered by your physician.  Also, many pro-ivermectin articles invoke not merely the anti-viral property that works to address initial COVID infection, but also its anti-inflammatory property more important after the initial viral replication phase.

Autopsy findings

There is also a fairly large medical literature with findings of micro blood clots from autopsies.  Here is just one example published in 2020 by Dr. Amy Rapkiewicz, the chairman of the department of pathology at NYU Langone Medical Center,

Describing the work in a news story was this: “The clotting was not only in the large vessels but also in the smaller vessels.  And this was dramatic, because though we might have expected it in the lungs, we found it in almost every organ that we looked at in our autopsy study,” the researcher said.

This too was noted in another news story: “We knew that clinical people were finding clots in these [COVID] patients,” she said. “So although I knew that that was going to be there, I didn’t expect it at the microscopic level to the degree that I saw it.”  Her autopsy study found blood clots in small vessels of the patients’ lungs, hearts, kidneys and livers.

In another news story this was noted in 2020 about research at Harvard University: “Researchers also noted that patients with the novel coronavirus suffered many microscopic blood clots.  In a stark difference with lungs infected with the flu, the micro-clots were nine times as present in areas of the lungs that allow the passage of oxygen into the patient’s bloodstream while carbon dioxide is emitted.”

This is from the published medical study: “Histologic analysis of pulmonary vessels in patients with Covid-19 showed widespread thrombosis with microangiopathy.  Alveolar capillary microthrombi were 9 times as prevalent in patients with Covid-19 as in patients with influenza.  In lungs from patients with Covid-19, the amount of new vessel growth — predominantly through a mechanism of intussusceptive angiogenesis — was 2.7 times as high as that in the lungs from patients with influenza.”  In other words, micro blood clots were uniquely associated with COVID infection.

This is the title of a May 2020 medical article: “Pathophysiology of SARS-CoV-2: Targeting of endothelial cells renders a complex disease with thrombotic microangiopathy and aberrant immune response. The Mount Sinai COVID-19 autopsy experience.”  Here is the summary of the findings; note the word micro:

“Autopsies were performed at the Mount Sinai Hospital on 67 COVID-19 positive patients and data from the clinical records were obtained from the Mount Sinai Data Warehouse.  The experimental design included a comprehensive microscopic examination carried out by a team of expert pathologists, along with transmission electron microscopy, immunohistochemistry,”

“We report a comprehensive autopsy series of 67 COVID-19 positive patients revealing that this disease, so far conceptualized as a primarily respiratory viral illness, also causes endothelial dysfunction, a hypercoagulable state [an increased tendency to develop blood clots], and an imbalance of both the innate and adaptive immune responses.  Novel findings reported here include an endothelial phenotype of ACE2 in selected organs, which correlates with clotting abnormalities and thrombotic microangiopathy, addressing the prominent coagulopathy and neuropsychiatric symptoms.  Another original observation is that of macrophage activation syndrome, with hemophagocytosis and a hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis-like disorder, underlying the microangiopathy [disorder involving small blood vessels]and excessive cytokine release.”  In other words, this study also found evidence of micro clots in COVID victims.

Lastly, is the work of Dr. Sucharit Bhakdi.  He has noted: “immune and blood-related categories of risks from vaccines: (1) Clotting from the direct action of spike protein in the bloodstream; (2) Further clotting from the immune system attacking spike-producing endothelial cells.”  This too was said: “The RNA injected into your body are going to enter the cells that line blood vessels.  He points to spiny spike protein that these cells will generate and protrude outwards to attract blood platelets and form micro-clots.  Days after vaccination, white blood cells known as lymphocytes as well as antibodies will begin to mount an attack against these cells.  If you dare to repeat this (get the second jab), “God help you” warns Dr Bhakdi.”  He warned about the blood clot side-effects months before the roll-out of the mRNA vaccines.

Conclusions

Micro blood clots are linked to spike proteins coming from COVID infection OR vaccines that introduce them into the body or cause the body to produce them.

Micro blood clots seem to be the likely cause of many millions of health impacts and deaths from COVID infection as well as from COVID vaccines, and even many millions of long COVID victims suffering diverse health problems with no apparent medical solution.

Have you heard any government or public health official speak of micro blood clots?  Probably not.  But not because they are insignificant.  Now, you probably know more than them.  Now you realize that there has been a scandal of enormous proportions.  Suppressing so much negative information about spike protein induced micro blood clots.

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This article was originally published on Pandemic Blunder.

Dr. Joel S. Hirschhorn, author of Pandemic Blunder and many articles on the pandemic, worked on health issues for decades.  As a full professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, he directed a medical research program between the colleges of engineering and medicine.  As a senior official at the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment and the National Governors Association, he directed major studies on health-related subjects; he testified at over 50 U.S. Senate and House hearings and authored hundreds of articles and op-ed articles in major newspapers.  He has served as an executive volunteer at a major hospital for more than 10 years.  He is a member of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons and America’s Frontline Doctors and has been a long-time contributor to the sites of Kettle Moraine.

He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

Featured image is from Science Photo Library/Alamy

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The National Post has provided a different perspective to that of most of the mainstream media which have depicted the non-vaccinated as “extremists”.  

According to Justin Trudeau, unvaccinated truck drivers “may pose a risk of transmitting COVID-19 to the general public”.  What nonsense.

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The National Post spoke to truck drivers and supporters as they were driving to Ottawa for this weekend’s “Freedom Convoy 2022” to protest vaccine mandates. Here is what they told us about their jobs, their frustrations with government measures during the pandemic, and the rule that could kill their livelihoods.

Slawek Pietraszek

Image on the right: Slawek Pietraszek is a 43-year-old trucker on his way to Ottawa in the convoy. Credit: Rachel Parent/National Post

Slawek Pietraszek was born in Poland. After moving here in 1991, he spent the rest of his childhood in Brampton, Ont., where he still resides with his wife and four children. The 43-year-old trucker travelled approximately 30 kilometres to participate in a convoy launch in Vaughan, Ont., that will ultimately lead him to Ottawa, where he plans to stay as long as he needs to until a resolution can be reached. Pietraszek, who did not want to disclose his vaccination status, says he is motivated by his family and the birth of his fourth child this week. He hopes to leave a better future to them and that governments will agree to repeal all vaccine mandates. “My fourth child was born this past Saturday; I’ve decided I need to do this for my family,” he said. — Rachel Parent, National Post

Corey Bayne

Image below: Corey Bayne a truck driver at the Vaughan convoy takeoff to show his support. Credit: Rachel Parent/National Post

Growing up in Newfoundland, much of Corey Bayne’s family background and upbringing was surrounded by trucking. At age 18, he moved to Ontario, where he got his trucking licence and became a driver by age 19. The 44-year-old now lives in Georgetown, Ont., where he travelled from to attend the Vaughan convoy launch. While he can’t make it to Ottawa because he is working, he took a day off to show support and solidarity with the truckers that will be making the trip. “It’s exciting that everyone is getting together as one group,” he said. Bayne got vaccinated to keep his job, but says he understands and supports the opposition to the mandates. He hopes all vaccine mandates will be repealed. — Rachel Parent, National Post

Dave Ridell

Image on the right: Dave Ridell and his wife before leaving for Ottawa with the convoy. Credit: Rachel Parent/National Post

As a third-generation farmer in Alliston, Ont., Dave Ridell has been transporting his grains through trucking for the last 30 to 40 years. He travelled approximately 60 kms to participate in the convoy launch in Vaughan, and will be going all the way to Ottawa. The 59-year-old is concerned that government overreach has gotten out of hand, and that politicians need to be held more accountable for what they are doing and the impact vaccine mandates are having on people. He also said that truckers, being frontline workers, were once considered heroes along with health-care workers and other industries, but the mandate on truckers pushes aside many who worked through the harder moments. Ridell, who didn’t want to disclose his vaccination status, hopes that the convoy to Ottawa will lead to all vaccine mandates being lifted. “The amount of people who are unemployed because it’s their personal choice whether they want to be vaccinated or not, it’s not fair, just totally unfair,” he said. — Rachel Parent, National Post

James Smockum

Image below: James Smockum (right) a truck driver for the film industry at the convoy takeoff event in Vaughan. Credit: Rachel Parent/National Post

Growing up on a farm, James Smockum drove trucks from a young age, and as soon as he turned 19, he got his trucking licence. He knew he wanted to become a truck driver after watching Smoky and the Bandit. “I watched it 1,000 times growing up, pretty well from the first time I watched that, I figured that’s what I want to do when I got older,” he said. He was a trucker on the road for most of his life and now primarily does transport for the film industry. The 42-year-old said that while his job hasn’t been impacted yet, there are sets that are starting to mandate vaccination and he has fewer options. He’s planning to go up to Ottawa on the weekend to be a part of the events there. “My hope for this is that people see that there’s this many people against what’s going on,” he said. “Most people see the mainstream narrative that everyone is vaccinated and anyone who’s not vaccinated is a horrible person, which is not the truth at all.” — Rachel Parent, National Post

Claudia Winterhalter

Image on the right: Claudia Winterhalter, a truck driver on her way to Ottawa as part of the convoy. Credit: Rachel Parent/National Post

Claudia Winterhalter lived in West Germany when the country was divided, and says she saw the impact of totalitarianism on East Germany. Growing up, she watched her dad work as a bus driver and wanted to follow in his footsteps. To qualify for driving a bus, you first have to drive a truck in Germany, she said, so she began her career in trucking in 1996. After she married a Canadian truck driver, she continued her career in Canada. The 54-year-old from Orangeville, Ont., has not been vaccinated, but is not against the vaccine. Most of her family and children have gotten it. She believes it is a personal choice. She says much of what is happening reminds her of what she grew up witnessing, with food shortages, political unrest and government overreach. She said even if the convoy doesn’t achieve its goal to reverse all mandates, she hopes they can reinforce that they are all taxpayers and deserve the same freedoms. “I find it’s sad that people are losing their jobs because they have to get vaccinated,” she said. “This is not what Canada is all about, it’s your choice.” — Rachel Parent, National Post

Click here to read the full article.

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As explained in prior posts, in a lawsuit seeking all of the documents the FDA relied upon to license Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, a federal judge shot down the FDA’s requested rate of 500 pages per month and instead ordered the FDA to produce at the rate of 55,000 pages per month starting on March 1. 

Since the government has trillions of dollars of our money, it is putting it to good use by fighting to assure that the public has the least amount of transparency possible.  To that end, it has now asked the Court to make the public wait until May for it to start producing 55,000 pages per month and, even then, claims it may not be able to meet this rate.

The FDA’s excuse?  As explained in the brief opposing the FDA’s request, the FDA’s defense effectively amounts to claiming that the 11 document reviewers it has already assigned and the 17 additional reviewers being onboarded are only capable of reading at the speed of preschoolers.

Meanwhile…

As the FDA tries to obtain months of delay, guess who just showed upon in the lawsuit?  Yep, Pfizer.  And it is represented by a global chair and team from a law firm with thousands of lawyers.  Pfizer’s legal bill will likely be multiple times what it would cost the FDA to simply hire a private document review company to review, redact, and produce the documents at issue.  Within weeks, if not days.

Pfizer is coming in as a third party.  But Pfizer assures the Court it is here to help expedite production of the documents.  Sure it is!  Where was Pfizer before the Court ordered the 55,000 pages per month?  Right, doing what it normally does: letting the government work on its behalf – like the way the government mandates, promotes, and defends Pfizer’s product.

But the government did not please Pfizer this time and so here it comes, likely looking for a second bite at the apple.  Of course the FDA consented to Pfizer appearing.  You can read the response my firm filed to Pfizer’s motion, as well as all of the other relevant recent filings in the link provided below.

Let me end by noting that all of this insanity is simply in response to an attempt to obtain some basic transparency.  This should again bring into sharp focus why the government should never coerce or mandate anyone to get an unwanted medical product or procedure.  Just look at this circus – the government mandates Pfizer’s product, gives it immunity for any safety or efficacy issues, promotes its product using taxpayer money, gives Pfizer over $17 billion and then uses taxpayers’ money to fight to avoid providing even the most basic level of transparency to the public.

The introduction from the brief opposing the FDA’s request is below and you can find copies of all the relevant court filings (FDA Motion to Modify Scheduling Order, January 18, 2022 / Plaintiff Opposition to Motion to Modify, January 24, 2022 / Pfizer Motion to Intervene, January 21, 2022 / FDA Response to Pfizer Motion, January 25, 2022 / Plaintiff Response to Pfizer Motion, January 25, 2022) here:

Introduction to Opposition to FDA’s Motion

It is understandable that the FDA does not want independent scientists to review the documents it relied upon to license Pfizer’s vaccine given that it is not as effective as the FDA originally claimed, does not prevent transmission, does not prevent against certain emerging variants, can cause serious heart inflammation in younger individuals, and has numerous other undisputed safety issues.[1]  However, the FDA’s potential embarrassment over its decision to license this product must take a back seat to the transparency demanded by FOIA and the urgent need and interests of the American people to review that licensure data.  The Court already recognized this unprecedented urgent need in its January 6th order directing the FDA to produce 55,000 pages per month.

The FDA now insists it must delay its first 55,000-page production until May 1, 2022 – four months after the Court entered its order.  However, the FDA’s own papers seeking this delay make plain it can produce at a rate of 55,000 pages per month in February and March.  The FDA affirms it has already “allocated the equivalent of nearly 11 full-time staff to this project” and that “a review speed of 50 documents per hour was within the normal range for document review in a complex matter” in private practice; and here the 50 document per hour rate would be faster since there is only a need to review for personally identifying information (“PII”) for most pages.  Hence, if the FDA’s 11 full-time reviewers work only 7.5 hours per day and review 50 pages (not documents) per hour, the FDA could review over 88,000 pages per month in February and March.  That is more than sufficient to produce the 55,000 pages per month currently ordered for these two months.

Instead of complying with this Court’s reasoned order, the FDA claims these 11 reviewers can only review a total of 10,000 pages per month.  What the FDA does not say, and what basic math shows, is that a rate of 10,000 pages a month for 11 full-time reviewers amounts to only 5 pages per hour!  This rate is made even more absurd because most of the pages the FDA will be reviewing during this period are repetitive data files that only require second level review to redact minimal amounts of PII that Pfizer may have left in the documents.  FDA’s reality defying claim and contemptuous approach to its production obligations should not be countenanced.  (Infra § I.)

It is also apparent that the instant demand is just the start of a campaign to delay the production ordered by the Court.  In this first salvo, the FDA is not really asking the Court.  It is instead expressly telling the Court it does not intend to produce more than 10,000 pages per month for February and March, and despite claiming it is making “unprecedented” efforts, the FDA repeatedly tells the Court: “It is not possible to guarantee that FDA will be able to fully comply” with the 55,000-page production rate thereafter.  (Dkt. No. 38 at APPX004, APPX008.)  Americans must follow the law and the FDA, a multi-billion-dollar agency, should similarly be given no safe harbor from complying with the orders of this Court.  (Infra § II.)

The FDA should also be held to what it attests.  The FDA, with over 18,000 employees and an over $3 billion discretionary budget, repeatedly assures the Court that it is taking steps to “marshal every possible resource available to it,” “acting with maximal urgency to assemble every possible resource available to it” and “putting every available resource at its disposal into its efforts to achieve compliance.”  (Dkt. No. 37 at 10, 3, 10.)  The FDA also attests that over the coming weeks, it will have 28.5 full-time people reviewing the documents.  Working 7.5 hours per day for 20 business days per month, 28.5 people reviewing 50 pages per hour can review a total of approximately 213,750 pages per month.  Putting aside that most of this production can be reviewed far faster than the rate of 50 pages per hour, Plaintiff asks that the FDA be held to its representations and be directed to produce at the rate of 180,000 pages per month starting in April.  (Infra § III.)

The Court is, other than Congress, the only check on the FDA.  In a free country, transparency is paramount, and the FDA has chosen to thwart transparency and the requirements of FOIA by anemically understaffing the office it maintains to respond to FOIA requests.  It is akin to the boy that kills his parents and asks for sympathy for being an orphan.  Decrying that this Court is now making it comply with the law – by actually producing documents in a timely manner – is ridiculous.  It is also incredible for the FDA to claim that compliance here would harm its health policy objectives.  Even if the FDA really does need to spend $4 to $5 million which, as shown below, is an absurd overestimate, that is an inconsequential amount of its overall $3.41 billion discretionary budget.  Moreover, the issues with the Pfizer vaccine – including waning immunity, variants evading immunity, the failure to prevent transmission, myocarditis, and pericarditis – show that the FDA’s priority should be to address this product before rushing off to engage in other activities.  (Infra § IV.)

For these reasons, as explained below, the Court should refuse to reduce the rate of production in February and March and should increase the rate of production for April and thereafter to 180,000 pages per month consistent with the FDA employing 28.5 full-time reviewers in the coming weeks to conduct the review and the fact that most of the pages need only be reviewed for PII.

…you can read the rest of the brief here

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Notes

[1] Reflecting the issues with this product, the FDA failed to send a representative to a federal court hearing in this matter on December 14th because of the “FDA’s protocols” regarding COVID-19. Meaning, despite the FDA’s claim the vaccine is “effective,” the FDA is apparently still scared to send a representative to the hearing.  Its actions speak volumes and cast serious doubt on its words.

Featured image is from Children’s Health Defense

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This article was originally published in June 2021.

Covid 19 was and is a pseudopandemic. It was the gross exaggeration of the threat posed by a low mortality respiratory illness, comparable to influenza. The pseudopandemic was a psychological operation (psy-op) designed to terrorise the public. The objective was to accustom the people to a draconian system of government oppression by familiarising them with the mechanisms of a biosecurity state.

The pseudopandemic was based upon an influenza like illness which, regardless of its origin, was not and is not a disease which can legitimately be considered the cause of a “pandemic.” The only way it could ever be described as such was by the removal of any reference to mortality from the World Health Organisation’s definition.

COVID 19 is a disease which has a mortality age distribution profile indistinguishable from standard mortality. Unlike influenza, which disproportionately impacts the young, in terms of threat to life, COVID 19 was and is a wholly unremarkable illness. Were it not for political theatrics and mainstream media propaganda, which began in China, no one, outside of the medical profession and COVID 19 sufferers, would have remarked on this disease.

The illusion of overwhelmed health services was created by massively reducing their capacity and staffing levels while simultaneously reorienting healthcare to treat everyone who presented with a respiratory illness as viral plague carriers. In reality the pseudopandemic saw unusually low levels of hospital bed occupancy. However, due to the additional policies and procedures heaped upon them, healthcare services were thrown  into disarray.

This was combined with the use of tests, incapable of diagnosing anything, as proof of a COVID 19 “case.” This enabled governments around the world to make absurd claims about the threat level. They relied upon fake science and junk data throughout. As symptomatic illness and resultant disease mortality was relatively low, they asserted that people without any signs of illness (the asymptomatic) were spreading the contagion.

This was abject nonsense. There was no evidence that the asymptomatic infected anyone. Those at risk of severe illness were the small minority of people who already had serious comorbidities, often due to their age.

The mass house arrests (lockdowns) and other measures, such as wearing face masks, were then used to increase the infection risk, to reduce broad levels of population immunity and give the false impression of an extraordinary public health threat. The removal of health care for every other disease, including cancer and ischaemic heart disease, coupled with the health costs of increasing deprivation and immunosuppressant policies, were then exploited to bolster the illusion of a pandemic.

This does not mean that COVID 19 didn’t kill people but those who died of the disease were a small percentage of the total numbers claimed. COVID 19 had no discernible impact upon all cause mortality. The increase above one of the lowest ever 5 year mortality averages was mainly caused by the withdrawal of health services, as increasing numbers of people died in their own homes or in overburdened care settings, without receiving normal medical attention. Despite these efforts, mortality in 2020 was still only the 9th highest in the first two decades of the 21st century and one of the lowest age standardised mortality rates in the last 50 years.

COVID 19 presented virtually no risk to those of working age an none at all to the young. There was no evidence that children were either at or presented any risk. The school closures were part of the pseudopandemic psy-op. They gave the misleading impression of an emergency and provided fraudulent justification for vaccinating children.

The pseudopandemic was planned to lead to the complete transformation of our culture and society. It has irrevocably changed our relationship with governments, has caused catastrophic economic disruption, shutdown global trade and saw millions become reliant on government subsidies. The pseudopandemic was the opening salvo in a global coup d’état.

The new pseudopandemic biosecurity apparatus is designed to control our behaviour as we are forced through a global transformation. Those behind the pseudopandemic intend to change the International Monetary and Financial System (IMFS) and establish global governance in the shape of technocracy. Technocracy is a neofeudal, totalitarian system based upon communitarian principles.

We will be offered the illusion of participatory democracy through our required participation and belief in “civil society.” Civil society will be a “stakeholder” in the Technocracy. However, civil society will only be allowed to pursue polices set at the global level.

Applied psychology was used throughout the pseudopandemic to fix our “choice environment.” We were conditioned to believe that following the rules was the responsible and moral choice. In reality our behaviour was being deliberately altered to ensure our compliance with the diktats of the biosecurity state, preparing society for the transition to technocracy.

The new global IMFS is built upon carbon trading and a $120 trillion carbon bond market is currently under construction. Assets are being defined in terms of their Stakeholder Capitalism Metrics which rate investments depending upon their environmental, social and governance (ESG) score. These metrics have been established by the World Economic Forum working in partnership with the central banks, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and other stakeholder capitalists, such as the investment firm BlackRock.

The global system of central banks, headed by the BIS, are “going direct” by directly funding government policy. They have linked monetary policy to fiscal policy which means ultimate control of all government spending by the BIS. The Financial Services Board of the BIS regulates ESG’s and determines the value of sustainable financial assets.

In this way, the global technocracy will facilitate the continuation of crony capitalism, as only the right stakeholders will receive the approved ESG rating. Those who don’t will not be able to raise the investment capital they need and will be forced out of business.

“Going direct” began before the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared a global pandemic. All of the economic and financial responses to the pseudopandemic, such as furlough and business support packages, were agreed as part of the “going direct” plan in August 2019.

The so called economic stimulus of Quantitative Easing (QE) is a fraud. It is based upon the unbridled monetisation of debt on an unprecedented scale. Going direct means that the toxic junk assets of the financial institutions have been taken on to the balance sheets of the central banks. Thus creating unimaginable levels of public debt that can never, and will never, be repaid.

The QE money, created out of absolutely nothing, has been pumped into the financial markets for the continued enrichment of the right stakeholders. The vast expansion of the money supply will shortly lead to hyperinflation. The mass unemployment that will occur as a result of the austerity, caused both by the staggering levels of debt and our transition to a new IMFS, will create stagflation.

The new net zero carbon economy will mean permanent austerity for the majority. The Technate will provide a universal basic income (UBI), or some variation of the concept, to be paid in Central Bank Digital Currency (CDBC). This will mean that no one will have their own money, other than the chosen stakeholders, as all transactions will be monitored and controlled by the central banks.

Those who oppose the neofeudal authority of the corporate, stakeholder Technate and refuse to comply with the imposition of biosecurity obligations will have their CBDC restricted or switched off. The pseudopandemic has established the framework of the biosecurity state that will control all our lives. The vaccine passports are the gateway to full biometric identity for every citizen in the new normal Technate.

We will be required to show our biometric ID on demand. Access to goods and services will be monitored and restricted as desired by the Technate. UBI and CBDC combined with biometric ID will ensure our compliance. The central planners of the Technate will oversee the AI controlled system which will automatically limit the freedoms of those who defy the rules decreed by the stakeholder capitalists.

Money, as we currently understand it, is no longer required by those behind the pseudopandemic. The net zero carbon economy enables them to seize control of the “global commons.” This means that they will have dominion over all of the Earth’s natural resources. All land, the oceans, the atmosphere and even space is being converted into assets via Stakeholder Capitalism Metrics.

Not only will we have no money of our own, we will be unable to access the resources we need to survive without permission from the Technate. While this system of technocracy has been planned for more than a century, it was the financial collapse in 2008 that led the pseudopandemic planners to increase the pace of transformation. The monetisation of debt had long been the source of their authority but this IMFS was unsustainable. As all money was debt, its eventual collapse was inevitable. It passed the point of no return in 2008.

With their going direct plan in place, the stage was set for the pseudopandemic. SARS-CoV-2 provided the perfect opportunity and the core conspirators behind the pseudopandemic had trained extensively in readiness for the operation. We were then barraged by a mainstream media propaganda campaign and military’s information warfare units were deployed to control our “choice environment.”

Scientific and medical doubts were censored as the suspension of normal democratic processes was exploited to introduce the biosecurity state. Laws were passed to allow government to commit any crime it wished in pursuit of stakeholder capitalist sustainable development goals. Laws to end the right of protest and censor free speech are moving unopposed through the legislature as national governments, who are no more than stakeholder partners within the new normal technocracy, prepare us for the coming Technate.

For the core conspirators of the pseudopandemic this is the realisation of their long held dream of global governance. They are steeped in the mythology of eugenics and population control. Once they have total control of the global commons they will no longer need us as consumers and are intent upon significant population reduction.

As insane as this all sounds the evidence, explored in pseudopandemic, is overwhelming. We are facing global neofeudalism unless we act now. Herein lies our hope.

The core conspirators have no real power. It is an illusion that they are desperate to maintain. They invest billions in propaganda, hybrid warfare and security systems because they are terrified that we will realise what they are doing. Their plan can only succeed if we believe their lies and comply with their orders. If we don’t there is nothing they can do about it.

We can reset the world.

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Iain is an author, journalist, blogger and video maker (contributing to 21st CenturyWire, UKColumn, the OffGuardian and other leading news sites).

Featured image is from In This Together

First published by Global Research on March 6, 2019

The toxic clown Boris Johnson has told the Daily Telegraph that “it feels sickening” that charges might be brought against some of the paratroopers who killed or wounded 28 unarmed people in Derry on Bloody Sunday in 1972. He’s become very delicate all of a sudden.

Johnson has had the stomach for every bit of blood-boltered savagery inflicted on innocent people by the British ruling class down the years. But make any of those involved face the possibility of justice? That’s “sickening.”

In fact, some of the soldiers likely to stand in the dock might reasonably feel sickened themselves that they are being made to carry the can while those who gave them their orders or provided political cover are allowed to slouch off scot-free.

Of course, this wasn’t Johnson’s point. He objects to anyone involved in the Bloody Sunday killings being charged with anything at all: in his eyes, there’s nothing criminal about shooting civil rights marchers. So the “hounding” of the soldiers cannot be based on considerations of justice and law but must be “political.”

In a sense, he’s right. The killings were political. The long campaign to have the killers brought to book was political. The selection of soldiers to be charged was political.

The fact that there will be no generals in the dock is political.

The political motive on the day was to smash “Free Derry.” Military and intelligence documents from the period released by the Saville Tribunal show that the most senior commanders in the North were seething with outrage that “hooligans” had taken over part of the town and shut out the forces of law and order. The great unwashed, the hoi polloi, had taken over.

This was the source of the establishment’s rage which they sent the soldiers in to unleash on the people. It had at least as much to do with class as with any consideration of nationality or communal identity.

In 2012, two years after publication of the report, the PSNI launched a criminal investigation into the Derry events. They didn’t do this out of any pristine belief in due process, but because it had become clear by then that the issue of prosecuting the perpetrators was not going to go away.

The PSNI passed the file to the Public Prosecution Service in 2014. It’s taken a further five years for the authorities to decide on the next step.

The obvious reason both for the delay and for the eventual decision to prosecute is that the evidence was overwhelming. Nobody could read the transcripts of the hearings before Saville and come to any conclusion other than that the paras had done what Derry civilians said they had done. The top brass and their political associates eventually came to the conclusion that the evidence was too glaring to be kept in the dark.

It would have been positively perverse for the PPS to have arrived at any other conclusion. For all the raging controversy it has provoked for almost half a century, the Bloody Sunday case is pretty straight-forward: hundreds of people witnessed men with guns killing people without guns in broad daylight. In essence, that’s it.

The fact that it has taken so long to have this acknowledged is a measure of the depth of the establishment’s reluctance to allow daylight to fall on the facts when the facts don’t suit them.

That they have backed off a bit and sanctioned prosecutions represents a huge victory for the families who decided to keep right on to the end of the road when they were being urged on all sides to call a halt.

In the immediate aftermath of publication of the Report in June 2010, Nationalist parties in Derry were telling the relatives that, “This is as good as it gets,” that there was no point pressing on, that Saville’s would have to be the last word. Sinn Féin was instrumental in having the annual Bloody Sunday March abandoned.

The handful of women who refused to accept this and who resolved to march on were, naturally, denounced as “dissidents.”

If everyone involved had followed the Nationalist leaders, there’d be no pending prosecutions for Boris Johnson to blather about. Like so many other Irish atrocities, the awkward truth would have been swept under the carpet.

We owe it to the few who refused to back off that we may now be closer than ever to the truth.

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Mass formation involves the formation of a hypnotic state around a shared consensus

Those under its spell obsessively focus on a failure of the normal world or a particular event or person, who becomes the focus of the attention and can effectively control the masses

Mass formation can occur in a society with feelings of social isolation and free-floating anxiety among a large number of people; it leads to totalitarian thinking and, eventually, to totalitarian states

After Dr. Robert Malone mentioned mass formation on an episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, the term went viral

The technocrats quickly took action, manipulating search results and populating Google with propaganda to discredit Malone and the mass formation psychosis theory

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At the end of 2021, the term “mass formation psychosis” had a value of 0 on Google Trends, meaning there’s not enough data for the term to even make it on the charts. Then, on December 31, Dr. Robert Malone, the inventor of the mRNA and DNA vaccine core platform technology,¹ mentioned it on an episode of The Joe Rogan Experience viewed by more than 50 million people.²

The term, which provides a coherent explanation of why so many people have fallen victim to the unbelievable lies and propaganda of the mainstream COVID-19 narrative, went viral. On January 2, 2022, mass formation psychosis reached a value of 100 on Google Trends,³ which means it had reached peak popularity.

Google Manipulates Reality Around ‘Mass Formation Psychosis’

The technocrats quickly took action, adding a rarely seen warning that popped up for those searching the suddenly popular phrase in the early days of 2022. It read, “It looks like these results are changing quickly. If this topic is new, it can sometimes take time for results to be added by reliable sources.”⁴

In reality, the topic is not new. Mattias Desmet, professor of clinical psychology at the University of Ghent in Belgium, who has 126 publications to his name,⁵ has been studying it for many years, and the phenomenon actually dates back over a hundred years. One of the earliest works on the subject, according to Malone, is an 1841 book titled, “Extraordinary Popular Delusions and The Madness of Crowds,” which details “the irrational behaviors of crowds.”⁶

You won’t find any of this — at least not easily — if you search on Google for “mass formation psychosis” today, however, as it’s all been effectively buried by Big Tech. What you will find is the results of an orchestrated and carefully vetted links to sites that help control the mainstream narrative around the topic. This not only serves to twist the meaning of the term but also to discredit Malone, a classic Orwellian Doublespeak move.

The top search results include headlines like “An anti-vaxx scientist said ‘mass formation psychosis’ caused people to follow COVID-19 measures. Psychologists say there’s no such thing,” (Business Insider⁷) and “Fact Check-No evidence of pandemic ‘mass formation psychosis’, say experts speaking to Reuters” (Reuters⁸). Rogan’s interview with Malone was also taken down by YouTube.

Outrageously, one of the “expert fact checkers” used by the AP to discredit Malone and mass formation psychosis is Jay Van Bavel, a New York University assistant professor of psychology and neural science who not only stated he had never heard of the phrase and could not find it in peer-reviewed literature, but also has encouraged the use of “behavioral science” to “nudge” and “motivate” people to obey the official COVID-19 narrative.⁹ On January 10, Malone wrote:¹⁰

“[T]here has been an amazingly coordinated effort to shoot the messenger and actively character assassinate (or “defenstrate”) me as a surrogate while avoiding any reference to the highly credentialed academic Professor Dr. Mattias Desmet who actually developed the theory and has documented the extensive evidence in an upcoming academic book.

… In this coordinated propaganda and censorship response, we can clearly see the hands of the BBC-led Trusted News Initiative, the Scientific Technological Elite, the transnational investment funds and their World Economic Forum allies which control Pfizer and most of Big Pharma, Legacy Media and Big Tech (and many national governments) acting in real time to suppress a growing awareness by the general public of having been actively manipulated using crowd psychology tools to generate clinically significant fear and anxiety of COVID-19 (otherwise known as “Coronaphobia”) to advance their agendas on a global scale.”

What Is Mass Formation Psychosis?

In the video above, you can see Thomas Patrick Carrigan interview Malone, Desmet and board-certified internist and cardiologist Dr. Peter McCullough about mass formation psychosis. Don’t be confused by the term mass, it is just psychological speak for crowd. Crowd formation is the same as mass formation.

Formation is the sudden cohesion of the group (the crowd) around a shared consensus. Desmet says he prefers the term mass formation — not mass formation psychosis — because he doesn’t want to use a diagnostic term and the word “psychosis” has a stigma and medical meaning attached to it. Either way, both terms have the same meaning, which involves the formation of a hypnotic state.

Desmet’s upcoming book, “The Psychology of Totalitarianism,” explains that mass formation has grown over the last 200 years. On a grand scale, mass formation leads to totalitarian thinking and, eventually, to totalitarian states. He details the four conditions needed to achieve mass formation on a large scale, which include cognitive dissonance and psychological pain — factors that often leave people desperate for change and a way to escape:¹¹

1. Feelings of social isolation and being alone among a large number of people
2. Feelings that your life is pointless and meaningless
3. High levels of free-floating anxiety
4. High levels of free-floating frustration and aggression

According to an abridged excerpt from Desmet’s book:¹²

“If under these conditions a narrative is distributed through the mass media which indicates an object of anxiety and provides a strategy to deal with this object of anxiety, then all the free floating anxiety might be associated to this object and a huge willingness might be observed to participate in the strategy to deal with the object of anxiety.

At the same time, the field of attention gets narrower until it only contains the part of reality that is indicated by the narrative and people lose their capacity to take into account the other aspects of reality (what makes them often utterly irrational).”

The More Absurd It Gets, the More Successful It Will Be

People want to remove their feelings of social isolation and anxiety. Toward that end, mass formation involves obsessive focusing on a failure of the normal world or a particular event or person, who becomes the focus of the attention — and the more absurd the narrative becomes, the better. Desmet says in the video above:¹³

“The narrative that leads to the mass formation typically becomes more and more absurd, and the strange thing is that people don’t seem to notice this … The reason why people buy into the narrative is not, in the first place, because the narrative is correct or scientific or accurate.

The reason why people buy into the narrative is because it creates this new social bond. That’s why typically during mass formation, the people who don’t want to conform to the masses, who don’t go along with the narrative, are typically [accused of] lacking citizenship and solidarity.”

Desmet says that the more absurd the narrative and its surrounding measures become, the more successful they will be for a certain part of the population, usually about 30%, because the measures function as rituals, through which an individual shows that they are less important than the collective masses:¹⁴

“A ritual is a kind of behavior that is without pragmatic meaning or sense, which is a symbolic kind of behavior through which an individual shows that it belongs to a collective and that it wants to sacrifice something of itself, which is important, in favor of the collective.”

Another irony is that the higher the level of education, the more susceptible people usually are to mass formation, Desmet says. “The people who try to get advanced degrees are usually people who think that social status is very important. And that could be the reason they are inclined to conform with the mainstream narrative.”¹⁵ It may also explain why so many physicians and academics have bought into the propaganda, ignoring science in favor of the collective narrative.

Fanaticism Allows for Lies, Manipulation

Those who are under the spell of mass formation psychosis are so convinced that their narrative will save the world that they feel justified in using manipulative tactics and lies to protect it, Desmet explains, exemplifying Plato’s noble lie — the notion that, in the case of high-status individuals or designated public leaders, it’s acceptable to lie if the lie is made in the interest of the common good. According to Desmet:¹⁶

“Once you understand the nature of mass formation, you also understand what you can do about it. But that doesn’t mean that it is easy to do something about it. The process of mass formation is a kind of hypnosis. Most scholars agree that it is very hard to wake people up from such a state of mass formation. Mass formation is a phenomenon that’s provoked by a voice.

It’s the voice of a leader, the voice that is distributed time and time again through the mass media, that keeps people in the grasp of mass formation, and the leader himself is also grasped in this process of mass formation … both the hypnotist and the hypnotized are into the process.”

Who’s the leader today? “The experts. The authority and the technocrats you could say,” Desmet says. The way out involves having the courage to speak the truth, even though doing so is typically extremely dangerous.

The ancient Greeks had a word for this — parrhesia, which is having the courage to speak the truth in spite of danger. But as Desmet explains, while those who try to reveal knowledge that is in conflict with the narrative put themselves at risk, if no one speaks the truth, society cannot continue to function.

Four Steps to End Mass Formation Psychosis

The first step to ending mass formation, which is also the most important, is speaking out against the official narrative if things seem off to you. “If you want to make the mass formation less deep, then it is quintessential that there are people who continue to speak out and [are a] dissonant voice in society, because this will disrupt the process of mass formation,” says Desmet.¹⁷

The second step involves connecting with other people in the real world who have a similar viewpoint as you or a feeling that something is wrong. Forming small networks in your community will help you break the mass formation cycle. It’s important, however that when you speak to people about the truth that you don’t try to take them back to the “old normal,” because, remember, this is what drove them to mass formation in the first place. According to Desmet:¹⁸

“If we try to convince people or bring a different narrative, [it’s important] that we do not try to convince people to go back to the old normal, because the old normal, that’s what people tried to escape through the process of mass formation. It was exactly because the old normal was unbearable that people were sensitive to the process of mass formation.

What we should try to construct together is a new normal, which is not a technocratic or transhumanist new normal. We should show people that there are other options. There are other options to escape the old normal.”

In short, Desmet recommends the following four steps to break free from mass formation psychosis and enact favorable change one social circle at a time:

1. Continue to speak out
2. Seek to connect with others of like mind
3. Construct a narrative together of a new normal — not to be confused with the “new normal” the transhumanist, technocratic movements are trying to advance — showing people that there are other options to escape the old normal
4. Always stick to the principles of nonviolent resistance

The last step is an important one, because if you use aggression of any form, even in the way you speak, it will only be used as justification by the masses that they were right to oppose you. Nonviolent resistant is the most efficient strategy as you try to resist and defy the mass formation psychosis around you.

How to Reverse Mass Formation Psychosis

While I deeply appreciate Desmet’s and Malone’s description of how the cabal has been able to fool most of the population, this is the best description of how they pulled all the brainwashing and the solution of how to avoid it right out of the matrix.

We all have the capacity to generate reality with our minds and this is what the cabal has hijacked so effectively. Why? Because never in the history of mankind have the tools existed to pull it off. First radio and then TV spread the message, but then social media leveraged the effectiveness of the brainwashing exponentially.

I would recommend watching this video a few times and sharing it with your friends, as it will help them understand — how we can repair the damage. We need to free our mind from their hijacking and use it for constructive purposes — not destructive ones.

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Notes

¹ Trial Site News May 30, 2021

^2, 4 Church Militant January 11, 2022

³ Google Trends, mass formation psychosis

⁵ University of Ghent, Professor Mattias Desmet, Academic Bibliography

^{6, 10, 11, 12} Who Is Robert Malone January 10, 2022

⁷ Business Insider January 9, 2022

⁸ Reuters January 7, 2022

⁹ The Post Millennial January 10, 2022

¹³ Rumble January 4, 2022, 25:47

¹⁴ Rumble January 4, 2022, 27:26

¹⁵ Rumble January 4, 2022, 43:58

¹⁶ Rumble January 4, 2022, 50:00

^17, 18 Rumble January 4, 2022, 52:00

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As of January 28, the war in Yemen continues to intensify with both the Saudi-led coalition and the Houthis (Ansar Allah) escalating their military operations.

On January 24, the Houthis attacked several targets in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with ballistic missiles and suicide drones as a part of a new large-scale operation, codenamed “Operation Yemen’s Hurricane 2”.

The Houthis targeted military positions in the southern Saudi provinces of Najran, Jizan and ‘Asir with a number of Samad-1 and Qasef-2K suicide drones as well as several unidentified ballistic missiles.

At the same time, the Houthis targeted the Al Dhafra Air Base and other military positions near the UAE capital, Abu Dhabi, with a number of Zulfiqar ballistic missiles. Several military positions located near the city of Dubai were also targeted with a number of Samad-3 suicide drones.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE and the US, who maintains a large presence at the Al Dhafra Air Base, claimed that the Houthi large-scale attack was foiled.

In response to the attack, the Saudi-led coalition escalated its airstrikes on Yemen. Coalition warplanes carried out more than 100 airstrikes on the Houthi-held capital, Sanaa, the central provinces of Ma’rib and al-Bayda, and the southwestern province of Taiz between January 24 and 27.

Furthermore, the UAE-backed Giants Brigades and other proxies of the Saudi-led coalition resumed their ground operations in Ma’rib. On January 25, they managed to capture the district center of Harib from the Houthis.

After withdrawing from Harib district center, the Houthis blew up Aqabat Mal’a, a mountainous route that links Harib with the district of al-Jubah, in order to hinder the advance of the Giants Brigades and their allies.

On January 26, the Houthis struck back by targeting a large gathering of Saudi-led coalition proxies in the 3rd Military District in Ma’rib with a ballistic missile.

Brig. Gen. Yahya Sari, a spokesman for the Yemeni group, said that dozens of Saudi-backed militants were supposedly killed or wounded as a result of the strike.

However, pro-Saudi news sources claimed that the strike killed five civilians and wounded at least 23 others. These claims are yet to be verified.

The missile strike didn’t deter the Giants Brigades and other coalition proxies, who continue to advance in Ma’rib as of January 27. Their next target will likely be the district of al-Jubah.

The Houthis will not likely limit their actions to defensive operations. The group may escalate its drone and missile attacks. Foreign investments and key attractions in the UAE, including Expo Dubai and the Burj Khalifa, have already been threatened by the group’s media wing.

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Historian Prof. Daniele Ganser details how US-controlled NATO, now the world’s largest military alliance, was formed during the Cold War as a collective defense organization for retaliating against a possible Soviet attack on Western Europe that never materialized. During that time, under CIA and MI6 leadership, NATO had formed an illegal network of secret guerilla armies in Europe known as Gladio.

Instead of dissolving NATO after the Soviet Union collapsed, the US has continued using NATO as an offensive military force, extending its military power and illegally attacking countries that have never attacked NATO members such as Serbia, Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Now, the US is using NATO to threaten Russia over the Ukraine.

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This article was originally published on The Whistleblower Newsroom.

First published July 2021

Author’s Note

In October 2010, I was invited to the home of Fidel Castro in the outskirts of Havana to discuss US foreign
policy, the dangers of nuclear war, the global economic crisis and the unfolding New World Order.

These meetings which extended over several days resulted in a wide-ranging and fruitful conversation which was published by Global Research and Cuba Debate.

I should mention that Fidel Castro was an avid reader of Global Research. His writings were also featured on our website. 

While Fidel fully understood the insidious role of  NGO’s and philanthropic foundations in supporting Washington’s covert meddling operations inside Cuba, he expressed hope that there would be a turn-around with Obama, for whom he had high regard.

When we started our discussions on a Tuesday afternoon, Fidel had already read from cover the cover Bob Woodward’s book entitled Obama’s Wars, which had been released a few days earlier in Washington (expedited to Havana in the diplomatic pouch). 

Five years later in October 2015, I returned to Cuba on the invitation of the Centro de Investigaciones de Politica Internacional (CIPI), a research centre and think tank affiliated to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

There was a sense of optimism at the height of Obama’s second term. The theme of the conference was to analyze the process of geopolitical transition opened up by the resumption of diplomatic relations between Cuba and the US.

During that visit, I met up with several friends and colleagues (academics, members of parliament) who were acutely aware of Washington’s undercover role of political cooptation. They expressed their concern (October 2015) that a so-called Golpe Blando, namely “Soft Coup” was in the making.

Unilateral sanctions were never abandoned. In 2019, Donald Trump instated Title III of the 1996 Helms Burton Act, which unleashed the most severe economic sanctions against Cuba since the blockade was first introduced in 1962.

Upon Biden’s accession to the White House, the blockade was nonetheless maintained despite the vote of the UN General Assembly (184 in favour 3 against) demanding an end to the 60-years U.S. economic blockade on Cuba.

The Covid-19 Crisis

But there is another important issue which has largely been overlooked. The covid-19 narrative as well as its various policies (including the vaccine) have become an integral part of US foreign policy under the Biden administration.

The Covid-crisis has obvious geopolitical implications. It constitutes a means to destabilize countries which do not conform to the diktats of  global capitalism. Throughout Latin America it is the source of economic and social chaos. It is also a means to destabilize progressive governments throughout the continent including Venezuela, Cuba and Mexico.

In this regard, the March 2020 Covid-19 lockdown ordered by the upper echelons of the financial establishment has literally destroyed the Cuban economy, specifically the tourist industry which is the country’s main source of foreign exchange.

The lockdown as well the Covid-19 vaccine are presented to public opinion as a means to protecting peoples lives. That’s an outright lie. 

The so-called covid-19 lockdown on March 11, 2020 leading to the simultaneous “closure” of 190 national economies was a deliberate act of economic, social and political sabotage.

With regard to Cuba, the Covid-19 crisis has wrecked havoc. It is all encompassing. It extends beyond the US sanctions regime which the Cuban government has effectively handled for the last 59 years.

The Covid-19 lockdown has weakened the country’s institutions, it has created social divisions, it has impoverished Cuba’s population.  It has also created conditions for a US inspired “color revolution”.

Yet at the same time the legitimacy of the Covid-19 narrative, which emanates from Washington and Wall Street, has been  accepted and endorsed by the Cuban people and their government.

Unfortunately, despite the fraud and scientific falsehoods which are amply documented, the Covid-19 narrative has also been endorsed by “progressives” throughout Latin America. This in turn has led to misleading statements by the Left on the causes of the protest movement in Cuba. The underlying focus is solely on the blockade as the cause of food shortages, poverty and unemployment. The devastating social and economic impacts of the covid lockdown which is undermining the achievements of the Cuban Revolution are casually ignored.

Michel Chossudovsky, Bastille Day, July 14, 2021

***

In the light of recent developments including the eruption of protest movements, Global Research is reposting my article published in November 2016.

…

To the People of Cuba: Is Washington Preparing a “Soft Coup”? The Co-optation of Cuban Intellectuals

by Michel Chossudovsky

The article was originally published in November 2016.

Also available in Spanish

To the People of Cuba,

The Cuban Revolution constitutes a fundamental landmark in the history of humanity, which challenges the legitimacy of global capitalism. In all major regions of the World, the Cuban revolution has been a source of inspiration in the relentless struggle against neo-colonial domination and US imperialism.

The World is at a critical crossroads. At this juncture of our history, most “real” progressive movements towards socialism have been destroyed and defeated through US-NATO led wars, military interventions, destabilization campaigns, regime change, coups d’etat, “soft coups”.

Progressive movements as well as “The Left” in Western Europe and the U.S. have largely been coopted, often financed by elite corporate foundations. 

The socialist project in Cuba nonetheless prevails despite the US economic blockade, CIA intelligence ops and dirty politics.

While the legacy of Fidel Castro lives, let us be under no illusions, Washington’s intent not only consists in destroying the Cuban Revolution, it also seeks to erase the history of socialism.

Washington’s Diabolical Design

There are indications that a “regime change” in Cuba is currently contemplated by Washington policy makers.  The Trump administration has been categorical in this regard. The repercussions will be felt throughout Latin America.

During the election campaign “he committed himself to reversing Obama’s Presidential Policy Directive titled “United States-Cuba Normalization,”(a 12-page directive—referred to officially as “PPD-43”). (The Nation, October 2017). No subsequent statement following Trump’s inauguration has as yet been forthcoming.

Of significance is Trump’s appointment of Dr. Judy Shelton to head the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a think tank and funding agency geared towards regime change. As a former Vice-President of the NED, Shelton was  “directly involved in lending legitimacy to US-backed subversion in Cuba as part of a decades-long attempt to overthrow the government in Havana and expand US hegemony over the Caribbean.”

Whatever US- Cuba “normalization” is contemplated by the Trump Administration, it would be geared towards the restoration of capitalism through acts of sedition, infiltration, etc. combined with the imposition of neoliberal economic reforms, including the IMF’s “strong economic medicine”. The fundamental question is how Cuba and the Cuban people will, in the current context, respond to these ongoing threats.

How does Washington plan to carry out this plan. Fundamentally through:

1) Measures which contribute to destabilizing the Cuban economy and its monetary system.

2) Procedures which are conducive to the eventual integration of the Cuban economy into the nexus of the IMF-World Bank-WTO, including the imposition of policy conditionalities  geared towards dismantling Cuba’s social programs, its rationing of essential consumer goods, etc.

3) To reach their objectives, Washington and its European allies have over the years devised various covert mechanisms of infiltration and cooptation with a view to influencing government policy makers, managers of public sector enterprises as well as intellectuals. In this regard Washington has also relied on its European partners which have established bilateral relations with Cuba.

Fidel Castro Ruz and Michel Chossudovsky, October 2010

This article will largely concentrate on the activities of right wing European foundations involved in funding Cuban think tanks and research centers.

The objective is the cooptation of researchers, scholars and intellectuals. The purpose is to build a “new normal”  which will pave the way towards the insertion of Cuban socialism into the logic of World capitalism. While retaining the socialist narrative, this process is ultimately intended to undermine the Cuban revolution, opening the door to economic deregulation, foreign investment and privatization. The “acceptance” by Cuban intellectuals of this “new normal” is essential to reaching the goal of capitalist restoration.

Background: US Interventionism

In recent years, the modalities of US interventionism have changed dramatically:  The thrust of U.S. foreign policy largely consists in destabilizing sovereign countries through a process of “regime change” (color revolution). The latter consists in  destabilizing the national economy, manipulating national elections, co-opting leftist intellectuals, bribing politicians, financing opposition parties, engineering violence and protest movements.

In Latin America, pro-US military dictatorships have largely been replaced by pro-US  (fake) “democracies”. In turn, neoliberal economic reforms under the guidance of the IMF-World Bank have served to impoverish the population, thereby creating conditions which favor protest as well as social and political strife.

The rigging of elections in Latin America is coupled with engineered protests and the co-optation of Left intellectuals funded both by US and European foundations and NGOs, with links to US intelligence.

The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) created in 1983 alongside a number of other US based foundations has taken the lead. The NED’s mandate is to promote democracy and human rights in developing countries.

The NED is an unofficial arm of the CIA. According to former NED president Carl Gershman:

“It would be terrible for democratic groups around the world to be seen as subsidized by the C.I.A. … We have not had the capability of doing this, and that’s why the endowment was created.”

In the words of the NED’s first president Alan Weinstein: ” A lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA” (Washington Post, September 22, 1991).

The NED Project in Cuba. Entry through the “Back Door”

While the NED is banned in Cuba, it nonetheless finances indirectly –through partner foundations and proxy NGOs based in Florida —  a large number of so-called “democracy projects”.  Many of these partner (US based) organizations –including the Cuban Democratic Directorate (Directorio), the Instituto Cubano por la Libertad de Expresion y Prensa,  the Observatorio Cubano de Derechos Humanos– have links to US intelligence. Historically, the NED has functioned through partners in the European Union which have formal bilateral links with Cuba.

With regard to Germany, the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (linked to the Social Democratic Party), the Hans Böll Stiftung (Green Party) and the Hanns Seidel Stiftung (linked to the right wing Bavarian Christian Democratic Party (CSU)) have agreements with Cuba.

America’s Proxy: The Hanns Seidel Foundation, Instrument of the Right Wing CSU Party of Bavaria

In this essay I will focus primarily on the role of the Hanns Seidel Foundation, with specific reference to its role in Cuba and Venezuela.

The Hanns Seidel Stiftung (HSS), via the right wing Bavaria CSU, has a direct relationship to the government of Angela Merkel, who, in many regards is considered a US proxy  Historically, the activities of the HSS have been supportive of right wing political interventionism.

Many of HSS’ activities in developing countries as well as in Eastern Europe are carried out in partnership with US foundations including the NED and, the Open Society Foundation. HSS also has links with various think tanks including Chatham House (Royal Institute of International Affairs) and the American Enterprise Institute. It hosts speaking events as well as training programs in collaboration with NATO, the EU and the German government.

The Hanns Seidel Stiftung (NSS) has intervened in many countries, often in liaison with the NED and the US State Department. In the early 1990s it was involved in the so-called “Orange Revolution” in Ukraine, which resulted in mass poverty and the destabilization of the Ukrainian economy.

More recently, Hanns Seidel (HSS) has maintained links with the current Kiev regime, largely with a view to confronting Moscow and destabilizing Donbass.

HSS through its Washington office has routine consultations with the US government, Congress, think tanks, including major partner foundations.

HSS is also in liaison with US based foundations including the NED, the Ford Foundation, the Open Society Foundation.

HSS continues to maintain close ties to the Kiev regime which is integrated by two Neo-Nazi parties. The CSU and the HSS have informal ties to German intelligence, the Bundes Nachrichtendienst (BND).

One of the main activities of the Hanns Seidel Foundation has been the co-optation of Leftist intellectuals and scholars. This has been carried out by financing key policy-oriented think tanks and research institutes.

Hanns Seidel in Venezuela

Of significance, the Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSS) was actively involved in financing the opposition candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski in Venezuela in the 2012 elections. Its activities extended far beyond its endorsement of  Capriles’ candidacy. In its quarterly report, the HSS openly acknowledges its dislike of the Bolivarian process.  In this regard, the HSS was involved in organizing a number of anti-government conferences, largely with a view to upholding free market capitalism (neoliberalism) and smearing the Chavez government.  The HSS was also used to create links with right wing parties including Copei and Primera Justicia.

It is worth noting that more than forty years ago, the CDU and CSU parties (to which the Hanns Seidel foundation is affiliated) were involved in providing financial support to the protagonists of the military coup against president Salvador Allende. And in the wake of the coup, they provided economic aid to  the military government of Augusto Pinochet.

HSS is still involved in Venezuela, financing a number of projects. Their unspoken objective is the destabilization of the Bolivarian government.

Hanns Seidel representing the CSU of Bavaria is also involved in the politics of several Latin American countries including Ecuador, Colombia, Argentina and Bolivia. In Ecuador the CSU through Hanns Seidel is cooperating with the Corporación Autogobierno y Democracia, Fundación Acción y Desarrollo Comunitario (ACDECOM) and various other organizations.

The Hanns Seidel Foundation in Cuba

Now let me turn my attention to Cuba, focussing on a specific activity of the Hanns Seidel Foundation in which I was personally involved.

In October 2015, I was invited to participate in an international venue of the Centro de Investigaciones de Politica Internacional (CIPI), a research centre and think tank affiliated to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The theme of the conference was to analyze the process of geopolitical transition opened up by the resumption of diplomatic relations between Cuba and the US.

Transicion geopolitica del poder global: entre la cooperacion y el conflicto

The event was funded by the Hanns Seidel Stiftung. Scholars were invited from Western Europe, Latin America, Africa, the US and Canada.

A few weeks following my acceptance to participate in the venue addressed to CIPI, I received a message from the Hanns Seidel Stiftung informing me that the event was supported by them and that the HSS would be funding all my expenses including an honorarium. The message stated that they would be in contact with me regarding issues pertaining to a contract. They also requested that I submit a so-called “propuesta de servicios” (offer of services).

I was fully aware of the track record of the HSS, specifically on how they had intervened in the Venezuelan 2012 presidential elections in support of Capriles Radonski, with a view to ultimately undermining Hugo Chavez.

I was shocked by the fact that CIPI had requested funding from HSS. The intent of HSS (acting on behalf of Bavaria’s CSU, a right wing party) in liaison with its partner organizations in Washington was to undermine socialism in Cuba. It also consisted in  co-opting Cuban scholars and intellectuals in anticipation of a broad process of political change.

I responded to the HSS invitation indicating both to them and to the CIPI organizers that I would be funding my travel and accommodation expenses and did not see the need to receive funding from the HSS. This decision created confusion in the processing of my participation in the conference.

The October 2015 Conference

What happened: some very good contributions by prominent Cuban and Latin American scholars and scientists on a variety of important topics. But there were several black holes in the program no doubt related to the fact that the HSS linked to Bavaria’s CSU was funding the venue and had imposed its conditions.

1. A key session of the conference was on Venezuela, focussing on the future of the Bolivarian government and its historical relationship to Cuba.

Not a single participant from Venezuela had been invited to the Conference, thereby foreclosing a dialogue and discussion between Cuban and Venezuelan intellectuals.

All the presentations on Venezuela were by Cuban scholars.

No doubt the HSS had blocked the invitation of progressive Venezuelan intellectuals aligned with the Bolivarian revolution.  The topic of the conference (i.e. transition and normalization with the US) is of crucial significance to both Cuba and Venezuela.

It should be understood that in the present context, the future of Cuban socialism [2016] largely hinges upon maintaining and building Cuba-Venezuela relations within the context of the Bolivarian revolution. The HSS was intent upon denying a political dialogue and debate between Cuban and Venezuelan intellectuals. The objective of the HSS was to undermine and weaken the longstanding relationship between Cuba and the Bolivarian government of Venezuela. Ironically, nobody among the Cuban organizers and participants was aware of Hanns Seidel’s dirty politics in Venezuela.

In contrast, the session on Mexico included four distinguished scholars from Mexico. There was a large delegation of Mexicans as well as from other Latin American countries.  Not a single Venezuelan was invited.

2. A session on US Foreign Policy included Israeli academic Yossi Mekelberg associated with Chatham House, Royal Institute of International Affairs (UK), an arch-reactionary British think tank, with links to the Washington based Council on Foreign Relations.

The presentation by the Israeli academic provided a biased interpretation of what was happening in Syria and Palestine.  The US led terrorist insurgency in Syria was  casually described as a “civil war”, Palestinians were tagged as terrorists,  and President Bashar al Assad was accused of killing his own people, much in the same way as the US-UK corporate media.

According to Mekelberg, quoted by Newsweek, the ISIS “emulates” the Palestinians:

http://europe.newsweek.com/netanyahu-ramming-atttacks-isis-palestinians-inspired-541097?rm=eu

The Cuban scholars who were participating in this event did not take the trouble to react or express their disdain.

The question is why would such an individual (affiliated to Chatham House, supportive of the Zionist regime in Tel Aviv) be invited to socialist Cuba by a research centre associated with Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs?  

Cuba has historically expressed solidarity with Palestine as well as with the struggle of the people of Syria and Iraq, who are currently the object of acts of military aggression by US-NATO.

Why did they not invite a committed socialist scholar from Palestine to debate US foreign policy? Was it a condition set by the Right Wing CSU of Bavaria via the Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSS)?

3. Another session focussed on Ukraine. Among the participants was the President of the Vienna based International Institute for Peace Prof. Hannes Swoboda, who is a (former) member of the European Parliament. Swoboda outlined his support for US-NATO in Eastern Europe directed against Russia as well as his endorsement of Ukraine’s Maidan Kiev regime (which is integrated by two Neo-Nazi parties). No reaction by the Cuban intellectuals participating in this venue was forthcoming.

Lest we forget, the Cuban government has expressed its solidarity with the people of Donbass and Crimea. In turn, the people of Donbass acknowledged their solidarity with Cuba and the teachings of Fidel Castro (see below). But this was not an issue of debate at the CIPI Conference.

In the words of Fidel Castro:

Cuba, which has always stood in solidarity with the Ukrainian people, and in the difficult days of the Chernobyl tragedy provided medical care to the many children affected by the accident’s harmful radiation, and is always willing to continue doing so, cannot refrain from expressing our repudiation of the action of the anti-Russian, anti-Ukrainian and pro-imperialist [Kiev] government. (July 14, 2014)

Hannes Swoboda invited to Cuba by CIPI  (to quote Fidel Castro) was “anti-Russian, anti-Ukrainian and pro-imperialist”.  As MEP, he initiated (together with several other MEPs) the anti-Russian pro-NATO procedure at the European parliament, calling for support of the illegitimate Kiev regime, integrated by two Neo-Nazi parties. (see below)

Concluding Remarks, The Legacy of Fidel Castro

It is my sincere hope that what I have presented in this article will be the object of debate and discussion in Cuba.

The Cuban government is committed to protecting the achievements of the Cuban revolution. In the current context, this is no easy task. As  outlined in the Introduction, Washington is intent not only upon destroying the Cuban Revolution, it also seeks to erase the history of socialism.

The intent of Western foundations –operating directly or indirectly on behalf of Washington– is to trigger divisions within Cuban society, through infiltration and  co-optation, the ultimate objective of which is the restoration of capitalism. 

These mechanisms of co-optation are also facilitated by the dual currency system in Cuba, which has allowed Hanns Seidel and other European foundations to make payments to Cuban think tanks and research institutes in convertible currency (CUC).

Increased “dollarization” of retail consumer prices (expressed in CUC) is conducive to impoverishment and social inequalities.

Cubans are well aware of this evolving crisis: people who earn income in CUC convertible pesos have acquired purchasing power. In contrast, those whose earnings are largely in nonconvertible Cuban pesos are excluded from the CUC consumer economy.

Washington’s broader intent is to implement measures which contribute to destabilizing the Cuban economy and its monetary system, namely to reintegrate Cuba into a dollarized World economy.

Procedures are also envisaged by Washington to eventually reintegrate the Cuban economy into the nexus of the IMF-World Bank-WTO, including the imposition of policy conditionalities  geared towards dismantling Cuba’s social programs, its rationing of essential consumer goods, etc.

It is essential to block these initiatives. Debate and discussion on the mechanics of “capitalist normalization” are crucial, both within Cuba and internationally.

A revolutionary narrative per se will not sustain Fidel’s legacy, unless it is backed by concrete actions and carefully designed policies.

The mechanics of capitalist restoration and the various modes of political interference and social engineering must be forcefully addressed.

The battle against war and neoliberalism prevails. 

For the outright criminalization of America’s imperial wars,

For a World of Social Justice with a true “responsibility to protect” our fellow human beings,

Long Live Fidel Castro Ruz

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The cruder U.S. methods for destroying Cuba’s revolutionary government—military attacks, bombings of hotels and a fully-loaded airplane, violent attacks on officials, biological warfare—did not work. Nor has economic blockade, which of course continues. A more subtle approach also exists. Like the blockade, its purpose is to cause despair and then dissent.

U.S. officials pay for the collection of bad news about Cuba’s revolutionary government and for its dissemination within Cuba and to news outlets abroad. U.S. paymasters provide money to agents for delivery to opponents of Cuba’s government, real or imagined, in Cuba and elsewhere. The recipients find or devise information unfavorable to Cuba’s image and spread it. Cubans’ well-founded complaints about shortages, bureaucracy, low wages, and living with the pandemic become news items.

The groups transferring the money from the United States to disgruntled elements in Cuba and elsewhere are key to the entire operation. One recalls the “bagman” who in certain U.S. cities deliver pay-offs from point to point within a criminal network. These groups transferring money—as authorized by the Helms Burton law of 1996—are bagmen for imperialism.

An odor of criminality is sensed. To interfere with Cuba’s conduct of its own affairs violates norms of international law relating to national sovereignty. And it turns out that, as of 2011, “Accusations of fraud, reckless distribution of funds, and diversion of monies to stateside anti-Cuban groups have prompted temporary stays in disbursement of funds.”

The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is one of two big U.S. paymasters. Founded in 1983, it’s a non-governmental organization funded exclusively by the U.S. Congress. The projects funded by the NED are similar to those formerly undertaken by the CIA.

The Cuban Communist Party’s Granma newspaper on Jan. 18, 2022 presented a list published on the NED website on Feb. 23, 2021. Groups are named “which received funding to intervene in Cuba during the year 2020, with sums ranging from 20,000 to 650,000 dollars.”

The list includes 42 groups; the total amount dispensed was $5,a077,788. Below appears a short list. It contains the names of groups receiving $146,360 or more, the amount of money each one did receive, its home base, and the supposed shortcoming in Cuba needing to be fixed.

The top recipients of NED funds were:

• Cubalex: $150,000 – Memphis, Tenn. (human rights)
• National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI): $500,000 – Washington, D.C. (gender rights)
• Observatorio Cubano de Derechos Humanos: $150,000 – Madrid (human rights)
• Asociacion Diario de Cuba: $215,000 – Madrid (access to information)
• Instituto Cubano por la Libertad de Expresion y Prensa: $146,360 – Hialeah, Fla. (access to information)
• Cuban Democratic Directorate: $650,000 – Miami (access to information)
• Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE): $309,766 – Washington, D.C. (private sector needing support)
• Clovek v tisni, o.p.s. (People in Need): $150,882 – Prague (access to information)
• Grupo Internacional para la Responsabilidad Social Corporativa en Cuba: $230,000 – Miami (labor rights)

The State Department’s U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is another paymaster. On Oct. 23, 2021, journalist Tracey Eaton’s “Cuba Money Project” website reported on disbursements USAID announced during the previous month. The total being delivered to 12 organizations was $6,669,000. The list, constructed like the list above, includes:

• International Republican Institute: $1,006,895 – Washington, D.C. (human rights)
• Pan American Development Foundation: $800,000 – Washington, D.C. (labor exploitation)
• Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba: $717,000 – Miami (medical workers exploited)
• Digital News Association: $604,920 (military abuse)
• Grupo de Apoyo a la Democracia: $625,000 – Miami (political prisoners)
• International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights: $546,00 – Washington, D.C. (human rights and racism)
• Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation: $545,573 – Washington, D.C. (democracy)
• Directorio Democrático Cubano: $520,179 – Miami (tourist workers exploited)
• Outreach Aid to the Americas: $500,000 – Miami (humanitarian crisis)
• Cubanet News: $408,003 – Coral Gables (tourist workers exploited)
• Observatorio Cubano de Derechos Humanos: $250,000 – Madrid (political prisoners)
• Libertatis: $166,430 – Houston, Texas (human rights)

Cubans in many cities, predominantly young people, took to the streets on July 11, 2021. They were protesting shortages of medical supplies, food, and other goods; the failure of remittances from abroad to arrive; and, in some instances, racial discrimination. Arrests and detentions followed and, more recently, trials and prison sentences. Social media played a major role in mobilizing the protesters and subsequently in disseminating news of arrests, injuries, property damage, and reaction from abroad.

As with social media trial runs in earlier anti-Cuban propaganda campaigns, some of the U.S. government funds delivered by the intermediaries were undoubtedly earmarked for expanding the role of social media in recruiting protesters and in publicizing adverse fallout.

As bad news from Cuba makes its way to anti-Cuban politicians in the United States and Europe, it takes on added value. New pretexts crop up for administrative actions and legislation that, aimed at destabilization in Cuba, imposes sanctions and tightens blockade rules. These in turn generate reports of new grief in Cuba.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently responded to the trials of some of the July 11 protest leaders and the resulting prison terms by announcing visa restrictions against eight Cuban officials. A legislative proposal recently introduced by South Florida congresspersons calls upon President Joe Biden to urge the United Nations to issue sanctions against Cuba. The bill’s title is “Atrocities and Genocide in Cuba.”

The story here is about siege socialism. In his Blackshirts and Reds, Michael Parenti shows Russian revolutionaries under Lenin cutting back on their aspirations due to pressures of civil war and invasion by capitalist nations: “[I]n May 1921, the same Lenin who had encouraged the practice of internal party democracy and struggled…to give the trade unions a greater measure of autonomy, now called for an end to the Workers’ Opposition and other factional groups within the party.”

Fidel Castro once offered a vivid characterization of a socialist society faltering under enemy attacks while being advertised, by those enemies, as the best that socialists can do—as if peaceful circumstances did prevail. He declared that, “For 40 years you try to strangle us. And then you criticize us for the way we breathe.”

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W.T. Whitney Jr. is a political journalist whose focus is on Latin America, health care, and anti-racism. A Cuba solidarity activist, he formerly worked as a pediatrician, lives in rural Maine. W.T. Whitney Jr. es un periodista político cuyo enfoque está en América Latina, la atención médica y el antirracismo. Activista solidario con Cuba, anteriormente trabajó como pediatra, vive en la zona rural de Maine.

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In one of the largest studies on glyphosate contamination in a human population, the world’s most used weedkiller was found in over 99% of the general public in France, with a total of over 6,800 urine samples having been tested.

The study, published Wednesday in Environmental Science and Pollution Research, a top peer-reviewed scientific journal, was carried out on 6,848 people, living in 83 municipalities in France.

These volunteers were recruited via the “Glyphosate Campaign” association, which has launched a legal campaign against the weedkiller classified as a “probable human carcinogen” by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).

The samples were taken between June 2018 and January 2020, the vast majority under the supervision of third-party lawyers or legal representatives with a view to legal action. They were analyzed during the sampling period by a third-party laboratory in Germany.

Glyphosate was detected in 99.8% of 6,795 exploitable samples, at “an average level of 1.19 µg/L (ppb)”.

The authors of this new study note that the samples taken in spring and summer, the season for glyphosate and other herbicide spraying, showed “significantly higher levels”. Farmers, especially “working in a wine-growing environment”, also had “significantly higher” levels.

Levels were also higher in men and children, people who regularly consume tap or spring water, smokers and drinkers of beer or juice.

People who said they eat “more than 85% organic food”, on the other hand, had lower levels.

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The authors stress that their sample group was not fully representative of the general population, being older, more female and undoubtedly over-representing “citizens aware of the issues of pesticides and a healthy lifestyle”. In fact this means that it is likely for the levels of glyphosate in the general public would be slightly higher.

They added that its size makes the analysis relevant, especially as “our results confirm almost all other international studies”, while being “rather in the upper part” of the levels found, notes Denis Lairon, director of research emeritus at INSERM and one of the authors. However, he said he was “surprised to see an almost systematic contamination”.

The sampling campaign was accompanied by more than 5,800 individual legal complaints by the participants on the basis of the positive results, in particular for “endangering the life of others”.

“This external analysis by scientists helps the case move forward,” concluded Guillaume Tumerelle, a lawyer for the Glyphosate Campaign.

French President Emmanuel Macron had committed in November 2017 for a total ban on glyphosate “at the latest in three years”. Last week however he admitted to having failed with this pledge, while adding that this was due to a “collective” failure by other EU countries.

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Secretly and quietly, the Biden administration has continued to use the killing machine crafted by President George W. Bush, expanded by President Barack Obama and employed from time to time by President Donald Trump. These presidents have used drones and other unmanned missiles and projectiles to target persons in foreign countries with which the United States is not at war.

They have done this notwithstanding the prohibition of taking life, liberty or property from any person — not just any American, but any person — in the Constitution each has sworn to uphold, and they have done so pursuant to secret rules that they themselves have established for these killings.

Last week, 11 senators and 39 members of the House of Representatives — Democrats all — to their credit sent a harshly worded letter to President Joseph R. Biden asking him to stop the killings. As of this writing, he has not publicly replied.

Here is the backstory.

The purpose of the Bill of Rights — the first 10 amendments to the Constitution — is to protect personal liberty by restraining the government.

The Fifth Amendment prohibits killing persons, restraining liberty and taking property without due process; that means a jury trial at which the government must prove fault. Until President Abraham Lincoln waged war on half the country, the operative clause in the Fifth Amendment was understood to prohibit all federal killing without a declaration of war or due process.

If the country is at war — lawfully and constitutionally declared by Congress — obviously the president can use the U.S. military to kill the military of the opposing country. And if an attack on the U.S. is imminent, the president can strike the first blow against the military of the entity whose attack is just about to occur.

There are no other constitutional circumstances under which a president may kill.

All this changed — culturally, not constitutionally — when President Harry Truman targeted Japanese civilians in Japan as the Japanese government was within days of surrendering in World War II. Truman was, of course, not the first American president to target civilians, as Lincoln criminally targeted American civilians during the War between the States.

Notwithstanding his unprosecuted war crimes, and with the government’s version of Pearl Harbor still fresh in many Americans’ minds, Truman was regarded as heroic for ordering the profoundly immoral, militarily useless, criminal mass killings against the hated Japanese using atomic bombs.

Fast-forward to the 9/11 era, and Bush had precedent to begin his own presidential killings of people the government wanted Americans to hate. While Congress did authorize him to use force against those who caused or aided the 9/11 attacks, we all know that his thirst for Middle Eastern blood knew no regard for the Constitution, evidence, proportionality, civilian lives, morality or human decency.

Julian Assange sits in a British dungeon awaiting decisions on his extradition to the U.S. because he courageously, lawfully and constitutionally published documents and videos demonstrating conclusively that Bush’s use of drones targeted and murdered Afghan and Iraqi civilians, and his administration covered it up.

Obama took this to another level when he targeted and killed Anwar al-Awlaki and his 16-year-old son, both of whom were born in the U.S. Obama’s attorney general, Eric Holder, advised Obama that the killings were lawful, as al-Awlaki had encouraged folks in the Middle East to fight against American soldiers there. Holder likened killing al-Awlaki to a shooting at a bank robber who is being chased by police and shooting at them.

Holder forgot that al-Awlaki was not charged or indicted for any crime, was never accused of violence and was not even the subject of an arrest warrant when a drone evaporated him while sitting at an outdoor cafe in Yemen.

The exercise of power by the federal government is largely based on precedent and politics. Whenever a president wants to kill secretly, he need only find an example of a predecessor having killed secretly with impunity — without due process, without a declaration of war and without an imminent attack. And then he needs only to calculate what he thinks he can politically get away with.

Stated differently, Joe Biden — whose drones in 2021 targeted innocent civilians in Afghanistan, killing dozens — is using unlawful powers that his modern predecessors used and got away with to target and kill unsympathetic persons.

The nature of political power is to expand so that it fills a perceived need, unless there are mechanisms in place to restrain its expansion.

The founding generation believed that British monarchs had no limits on their power and that was a good enough reason for the 13 colonies to secede. They also believed that they had crafted founding documents — the Constitution and the Bill of Rights — for the new nation that imposed sufficient restraints on the federal government.

After all, the Constitution is the supreme law of the land. Its language is clear that only Congress writes laws and declares war, and presidents can kill only troops in wartime or civilians consistent with due process.

Moreover, every president takes an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution as it was written, not as they may wish it to be.

Sadly, the Founders were wrong.

Today, the president writes laws and rules that let him restrain personal liberty and kill with impunity, and Congress and the American people let him get away with it. Formally, we still have a Constitution. Functionally, it has utterly failed to restrain the government.

Ultimately, we have ourselves to blame for these killings. Why do we repose the Constitution for safekeeping into the hands of those who subvert it? If a future president uses Bush’s lust and Obama’s logic and Biden’s stealth to kill Americans in America, no one’s life, liberty or property will be secure.

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In Washington the global US military empire is a bipartisan affair. With a trillion dollar yearly military budget, there are plenty of opportunities for both the position and the opposition parties to thrust snouts deeply into the trough.

While Ron Paul was in Congress and GW Bush was president, we did a good deal to craft a bipartisan antiwar coalition in opposition to the Iraq war and other Bush-ite neocon misadventures.  Then Obama was elected and pursued the same policies of global military empire – but with a better smile – and our coalition disintegrated. Suddenly the Democrats (with a couple of exceptions) were uninterested in the antiwar issue.

Such is the case now, when Obama’s great “success” – the US-led coup in Ukraine – is back in the headlines. Now Obama’s second fiddle is “in charge” of things and those under him who pull the levers are determined to solidify their “great achievement” of peeling Ukraine away from its neighbor and dropping that basket-case into the lap of Brussels and Washington. So for the past five weeks they have been ginning up the idea that Russia is about to invade Ukraine – even when Ukraine’s own defense secretary is practically laughing at Washington’s breathless assertions.

Said Ukrainian Defense Secretary Alexey Danilov:

As of today, we don’t see any grounds for statements about a full-scale offensive on our territory. It’s even physically impossible… Maybe, [seeing Russian troops] is an oddity to our foreign partners who finally saw that there are Russian forces and they move a certain way.

It must be comical for Russia to sit back and watch the US Keystone Kops at the helm of foreign policy blunder and bluster, with Biden’s press secretary insisting that a Russian invasion of Ukraine is “imminent” even as the Ukrainians – who are in a position to know and also in a position to benefit if it was true – pour cold water on the Biden war-fear-porn.

But when it comes to Fed-generated counterfeit money, Congress is always ready to sprinkle plenty around to their favorite causes – usually war and corporatism.

That is why House Democrats are desperately trying to ram through a massive “free weapons” bill for Ukraine before the current lapdog media-driven “RUSSIA INVASION” propaganda dies down.

Just as Big Pharma is rushing to put a new omicron variant vaccine on the market before their Covid gravy train dies out, Washington’s Democratic warmongers (with plenty of Republican fellow travelers) are rushing to send half a billion dollars in weapons to Ukraine before the casual MSM consumer learns (they’re always last to know) that the whole “Russia is about to invade Ukraine” cook-up is another lie.

US military aid overseas is corporate welfare for US Beltway weapons manufacturers who in turn kick back millions to fund pro-war politicians and more millions to fund pro-war “think tanks” who warn us that there are Reds under every bed and that we need to spend moar moar moar!

As The Intercept reports, Pelosi is worried that the “RUSSIA IS INVADING” panic will wear off too soon, so she is “looking to skip marking up the bill and move it straight to the House floor, setting up the possibility of a vote as soon as early next week.”

Angry to be left out of the fleecing of America for foreign interests frenzy, Republicans are racing to offer more of our money to protect the borders of corrupt Ukraine (while foreign invaders are given the red carpet treatment on our borders):

Republicans have offered their own measures. Earlier this month in the House, Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, the lead Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, introduced the Guaranteeing Ukrainian Autonomy by Reinforcing its Defense Act, a companion bill to a measure sponsored by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Jim Risch, R-Idaho. The bill would give Ukraine $450 million from the State Department’s FMF account and impose sanctions related to the Nord Stream 2 project immediately, without waiting for an escalation as in the Democrats’ bill.

Only $450 million? Come on Republicans! Surely you can do better to flush our money down the foreign policy toilet! Slackers!

As the great Pat Buchanan once said, “Our two parties have become nothing but two wings of the same bird of prey.”

Indeed, Mr. Buchanan. Indeed!

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The formal US response to Russia’s demands for security guarantee was delivered to the foreign ministry in Moscow on Wednesday. Moscow’s worst fears came true: Washington simply ducked without addressing the main Russian concerns — NATO’s expansion, rollback of NATO deployments to pre-1997 level, etc. —and instead offered to discuss confidence-building measures. 

Nonetheless, Moscow will only take the dialogue route, as it is in Russian interests not to appear obdurate, although if past experience is any guide, CBMs with US last only until it abandons them. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin, in his annual address to the Russian Parliament last April, had clearly drawn the “red lines” that much as Moscow wants good relations with other countries and “really don’t want to burn bridges… if someone mistakes our good intentions for indifference or weakness and intends to burn down or even blow up these bridges, they should know that Russia’s response will be asymmetrical, swift and harsh.” 

Russian officials have since repeatedly underscored, including this week, that there is no compromise possible on any further expansion of NATO or the alliance’s deployments on the borders. In fact, Russia’s “asymmetrical” reaction is already unfolding. 

Potentially, there are three key templates in play. The first, of course, is the demand this week by Russia’s Communist Party to accord recognition to the separatist regions in Donbass in eastern Ukraine, which was followed by a call from the ruling party United Russia urging the government to render all military and economic support necessary to those regions to withstand any aggressive moves by Kiev. 

The Russian Parliament may well endorse these demands. Now, if Kiev intervenes militarily to stop the emergence of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent entities and threatens the security of the region’s Russian population, that will be casus belli for intervention by Moscow, which will be left with no option but push back the Ukrainian forces and create a buffer anywhere up to the Dnepr river. 

A second template that is becoming kinetic is the energy front. The fact of the matter is that Russia’s major energy exporter Gazprom has been pumping gas in accordance with existing contracts with European countries. But the gas flow to Germany through the Yamal pipeline ended on December 21. 

Moscow has not made any announcement in this regard and probably expects that it is a matter of time before the German authorities give approval for the newly-built Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which has a massive capacity to supply 55 bcm annually.  

The price of Russian gas is very competitive. The average price of Russian gas is around $280 for one thousand cubic metres (whereas, spot market price recently touched $2000.) Thus, the US cannot compete with Russia in the European market and a need arises to evict Russia from its status as the leading supplier. 

However, even if the US finds a way to boost LNG deliveries to Europe, energy prices would jump. Equally, other gas exporting countries — Norway, Algeria and Qatar — lack the surplus capacity to cover the shortfall in Russian gas supplies to Europe. 

Thus, Nord Stream 2, which Washington wanted to kill in its cradle, has become a test of the EU’s strategic autonomy. Washington thinks that the delay in clearing Nord Stream 2 will put pressure on Moscow to back off in Ukraine since Russia stands to earn more than $15 billion annually out of the pipeline. (Russia invested around $11 billion in the pipeline’s construction.)  

Moscow has warned that holding Nord Stream 2 hostage will be “counterproductive.” And it is doubtful that the Kremlin could be browbeaten to give up on its vital security concerns — NATO expansion, etc. —  for the sake of salvaging the gas exports to Europe. 

Russia has huge currency reserves and can afford take some financial losses. Besides, Russia is shortly signing the deal for the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline to China with a massive capacity of $55 bcm. If push comes shove, Russia will replace the European buyers with Asian customers such as Japan, South Korea and India.  

The third template of Russia’s asymmetrical response concerns an altogether intriguing sphere — Ukraine’s internal politics. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky heads an unstable regime with an eroded power base. The ultra-nationalist right-wing elements call the shots in Kiev. As things stand, Zelensky’s prospects of getting a second term in the presidential election in March 2024 do not look good. 

If Ukraine suffers a military defeat, Zelensky’s fate is sealed. That said, the virulently anti-Russian extremist paramilitary groups who are present on the contact line with Donbass may consider it expedient to provoke a conflict, egged on by Western intelligence, triggering Moscow’s intervention. 

Clearly, annexation of Ukrainian territory or an outright invasion of Ukraine is not in the Russian calculus, but if the security of millions of Russians in the Donbass gets jeopardised, Moscow cannot remain indifferent. 

The US knows it, and Zelensky knows it. That’s why Zelensky and his defence minister Oleksiy Reznikov stepped out of line lately and began tamping down tensions, even declaring that Moscow is not contemplating aggression. 

Reznikov (who once served in the Soviet army) was quoted saying on December 24 after a meeting with lawmakers in Kiev, “As of today, the Russian army has not formed a strike group that would be able to carry out an invasion. There are no grounds to think that an invasion will happen tomorrow from a military point of view.”

Things came to a head today with the CNN reporting that President Biden had a difficult 80-minute conversation with Zelensky trying to convince him that a Russian invasion was imminent and Moscow intended to remove him from power. 

According to CNN, in the “long and frank” conversation, Zelensky disagreed and estimated that the threat from Russia remains “dangerous but ambiguous,” and it is not certain that an attack will take place. 

A second CNN analysis today further reported on “New signs of a fracture between the US and Ukraine over the imminence of a possible Russian invasion…Frustration in Kyiv has mounted in recent days over escalating US rhetoric on the crisis.”

What needs to be factored in here is that Zelensky won the election in 2019 with big support from ethnic Russian voters on an electoral platform that sought improvement of relations with Russia and a settlement in Donbass. 

Of course, after coming to power, under immense pressure from the rightwing Ukrainian nationalists who commanded street power and manipulation behind the scenes by Western powers, Zelensky changed course and began pursuing anti-Russian  policies. 

Zelensky realises that he is certain to be the fall guy if the current tense standoff with Russia leads to a war. The tragedy is that he is no longer in control of the contact line with Donbas where US mercenaries are present. His priority will be to see another day and retrieve the lost political ground before the election in 2024. 

Moscow has a terrific grasp of the undercurrents of Ukrainian politics. Significantly, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reiterated today through the state media that “The Russian president has said: if Zelensky wants to discuss normalising bilateral relations…, we are ready for this, no problem. Let him come to Moscow, Sochi or St. Petersburg.” 

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Video: Justin Trudeau Braging About Bribing the Media

In the video below Trudeau points to the Need to “Override the Fundamental Rights of a Minority”

Video: Justin Trudeau on the Need to Violate Fundamental Rights

The “Fact Checkers” claim that Trudeau’s statement in the above video is “taken out of context”. I am not convinced!

The issue is not what Trudeau is saying but what he is doing as a duly elected Prime Minister of Canada’s parliamentary democracy.

The decisions which he has already taken against Canadians including the lockdowns, the imposition of the vaccine passport, labour rights, the suspension of the right to travel both within Canada and abroad, etc etc constitute blatant violations of fundamental rights.  

If you are not convinced have a look at the following video in which The Prime Minister of Canada depicts the non-vaccinated as racists and misogynists.

“They do not believe in science says Trudeau”.

The latter statement also suggests that the Prime Minster of Canada is ignorant regarding the extensive scientific evidence pertaining to the mRNA vaccine, including the patterns of vaccine related mortality and morbidity. 

Trudeau Calls the Unvaccinated Racists and Misogynistic Extremists

Comments  (Source WS)

“I actually find him to be misogynistic as I personally do not like being told what to do with my body by a powerful male stranger. Trudeau is a man-child. He’s pushing 50 years and still looks about 12 years old, as if his emotional development was stunted around that age. He’s also over-groomed and has bad taste in socks.”

“The biggest issue isn’t what he said this, it is that he feels safe to say this on public television. There have been several times when JT has said things that are horrendous in nature but he says them anyway and feels safe to say it and not have his career suffer.”

“I’m now cracking up laughing, on a daily basis, at what these politicians and political leaders like him are coming out with. It’s hilarious. How anybody can take any of this nonsense seriously any more is beyond me.”

“As I cannot speak French, I have to trust the interpretation of what he said. If he indeed said what the headline indicates, we must all bow our heads in shame that he is the PM of Canada. What a new low for JT.”

Does Justin Trudeau Belong to that Minority of Unvaccinated Canadians Whose “Fundamental Rights” are being Violated?

A Registered Nurse (RN) has carefully reviewed the first video of Prime Minister Trudeau and his wife’s vaccination jab which was broadcast on network TV. Reporters were present. It was a carefully planned public relations event.

Video: Has Justin Trudeau Been Duly Vaccinated? Registered Nurse Expresses Doubt on Authenticity of Trudeau’s Vaccine Jab

Watch the video or click this.

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Justin Trudeau lurched into yet another minority government following the recent federal election. In spite of his failure to win even the popular vote, let alone a majority of seats in the House of Common, Trudeau continues to rule as Vaccination Czar of a totalitarian regime. Trudeau is getting away with his transformation of Canada into a vaccination prison camp, because the main federal parties all refuse to disagree with him on anything substantive.

To make up for the impossibility of serious debate among our brain-maimed parliamentarians, Trudeau appointed the so-called “unvaccinated” as the official opposition.

Trudeau ran against those condemning his government’s blindness to the plague of vaccine deaths and injuries that is accompanying the forced injection of Covid clot shots. See this.

Is Trudeau a Closet Anti-Vaxxer?

One of the ironies of Trudeau’s machinations in Canada’s top job, is that he may well be a closet anti-vaxxer himself.

A registered nurse assessed a video of Trudeau’s Covid injection and came to the conclusion it was “obviously fake.”

The observing Registered Nurse (RN) noted that the alleged nurse who injected Trudeau failed to aspirate the syringe.

The same nurse then failed to “landmark” the injection area with her spare hand before inserting the needle into Justin’s shoulder.

When she did execute the jabbing motion with a single hand, it was made seem as if she was tossing a dart at a target. “Nobody does it that way,” the RN exclaimed. See this.

To watch the video: click this or click screen

Our Governments are No Longer Legitimate

Under the current circumstances I have lost confidence in Canada’s governing apparatus.

I can no longer picture the complex of government agencies in Ottawa and the provincial capitals as legitimate. Canada’s parliamentary system does not translate well into secretive zoom calls and a virtual shut down of crucial flows of information.

For instance, how are citizens supposed to make sense of our government when even the flow of news that used to emanate from question period, is no longer available? Question period is a central tradition of parliamentary procedure.

Canada cannot work well when its finances become increasingly subject to the secretive conniving between the likes of Justin Trudeau, Mark Carney, Chrystia Freeland and those in charge of the Wall Street behemoth, BlackRock. As a proxy for the private bankers pulling the strings on the Federal Reserve  and on the Bank of Canada, BlackRock has become a big part of the creation of all manner of Liberal Party slush funds.

Without any real mechanism of accountability, vast new quantities of new money keep being created. Compound interest is still being charged against the growing national debt slated to become part of the bankers’ Great Reset.

As I see it, the people and institutions that together constitute our governments in Canada can no longer claim the confidence of the Canadian citizenry. The violence entailed in forcing mandatory vaccinations on large numbers of Canadians is the last straw. There is no mandate from the people for implementing the kind of ultimatum being forced on the citizenry without justification.

In the section that follows I outline the reasons why I believe our governing entities have lost their legitimacy. I conceive of the words that follow as a manifesto of sorts, as a call to liberate ourselves from the tyranny taking hold. We must begin the process of reconstructing Canada as a nation of integrity, as a nation where the will of the people prevails over the will of those seeking to subvert us at every turn.   

Canadian Institute of National Integrity 

Our governments in Canada have lost their way. They are no longer legitimate. At all levels, our governments have joined an international conspiracy against the people of Canada and against the peoples of many other nations as well.

Our societies are being plunged into chaos born of a contrived mass hysteria. Our public services no longer serve to protect people. Instead they do the opposite. They hurt and kill people. Our health care systems are being made to break down. They are becoming sites of unnecessary deaths and injury. Similarly, our schools, our courts, our transportation infrastructures, and our life-supporting supply chains are being made to break down through the malevolence of our discredited and compromised public authorities.

Moreover, our public and private systems of media have, with some conspicuous exceptions, become sources of disinformation, deception and censorship. Our big venues of mass communication are withholding the truth in ways that imperil the sanity, discernment, safety, public health, and economic viability of whole populations subjected to an unrelenting barrage of psychological warfare. As a result the mental health of a sizeable portion of our population has been permanently undermined. The principles of informed consent in governance have been bulldozed aside.

Our government officials have empowered themselves to declare states of emergency that they then deploy to make of themselves authoritarian despots. These same government potentates refuse to provide evidence to the courts that would justify the states of emergency they declare. Even experts in their fields are censored when it comes to debating the medical substance of the claims and assertions imposed from above.

Tragically the courts are playing along with the charade and chicanery. The judiciary is refusing to live up to its responsibilities as a check on government overreach into tyranny. As is the case in most of the other countries suffering the same plague of despotism, the constitutional protections for the rights and freedoms of citizens are being regularly and systematically violated. Increasingly threatened is our capacity to even present our grievances to the alien governments stolen from us in this international coup.

The Tainted Content of These Forced Injections

The arbitrary creation of mandatory regimes to force tainted Covid shots into the veins of Canadians have transported us all into an era when the imperative to resist the illegitimate governments is now upon us. We can no longer tolerate the malevolent actions of the dictatorial cliques that have malevolently forced their unfounded authority upon us. As much as our governments and their media accomplices are trying to hide the damning information from us, the tainted content in these forced injections is well known to cause high numbers of deaths and injuries.

Significant portions of these deaths and injuries are being caused by the fact that the Covid shots stimulate the proliferation of pathogenic spike proteins throughout the vascular systems of their recipients. This result is causing all manner of blood-related maladies including myocarditis, heart attacks, strokes, and infertility issues in both females and males.

The evidence is overwhelming that many top-ranking scientists warned of the health problems that would arise if the notoriously-corrupt regulatory agencies bestowed emergency measure approval on the clot shots. Nevertheless, the regulatory agencies gave their approval based on accepting a well-documented complex of lies meant to make it seem that no effective alternative remedies existed.

Ever since early reports began to circulate about the extent of injection-related deaths and injuries, many high-ranking medical professionals have been urgently calling for the complete withdrawal of the dangerous Covid jabs from public distribution. No matter how esteemed and distinguished the reputations of these medical whistleblowers, their professional opinions have been consistently ignored.

A brief survey of some of the professional assessments currently being brushed as aside in the rush towards universal vaccination are the following: They include the position of Dr. Peter McCullough, one of the most widely published medical researchers in the United States. He writes

The current code vaccines; AstraZeneca, J&J, Pfizer & Moderna right now are obsolete. They do not cover the new variants Patients are failing on these vaccines, they’re being hospitalised and getting sick despite having the vaccines. The vaccines at this point in time have amounted to record mortality and percent injury, and should be considered unsafe and unfit for human use.”

Dr. Luc Montagnier, expert virologist and Nobel Prize winner in 2008 in the Physiology of Medicine, writes,

We’re in unknown territory and proclaim mandatory vaccines for everyone. It’s insanity. It’s vaccination insanity that I absolutely condemn. 

Dr. Sucharit Bhakdi, a professor, virus expert, and one of the cited research scientists in German history, writes,

Gene-based vaccines are an absolute danger to mankind and their use at present violates the Nuremberg codex, such that everyone who is propagating their use should be put before a tribunal.”

Especially the vaccination of children is something that is so criminal that I have no words to express my horror … We are horribly worried that there’s going to be an impact on fertility. And this will be seen in years or decades from now. And this is potentially one of the greatest crimes, simply one of the greatest crimes imaginable.”

Dr. Geert Vanden Bossche, an experienced vaccinologist with deep experience as a vaccine designer, writes,

The mass vaccination hype will undoubtedly enter history as the most reckless experiment in the history of medicine.

Dr. Zev Zelenko, a renowned medical practitioner who has successfully treated thousands of Covid patients writes, 

Covid War Criminals Should Face Nuremberg-Style Trials For Crimes Against Humanity. 

See this.

The deaths and injuries being caused by the tainted injections are becoming major factors in the disarray that is taking hold of many hospitals. Many health care professionals, but especially nurses, have become aware of the dishonesty reverberating throughout many emergency rooms and intensive care units. They are fleeing the sites of murder and mayhem– of deception and malfeasance– being perpetrated under the besmirched banner of fighting Covid-19.

Mandatory Vaccines. Chaos in Our Health Care System

Now we are seeing the imposed regime of mandatory vaccines causing many hospital workers to refuse the jabs. These individuals are in a good position to realize the dangers involved in taking these injections. As a result, the hospital workers are being pushed out the door with full knowledge it will cause our health care system to crash. Is this wanton destruction of our hospitals a purposeful initiative aimed at wrecking existing institutions so that they can be fully privatized?

The chaos in our health care system is being replicated across many sectors including air transport. The aviation industry is an especially fraught field for the imposition of tainted vaccines. Blood clotting combined with pressure differentials at high altitudes put aviation workers and passengers at added risk. This pattern applies also to those already-high-risk groups engaged in military aviation.

The result is that air transport is falling into a condition of disarray similar to that currently plaguing our hospitals. It seems that governments are not only allowing this crisis to develop, but are actually stimulating it in order to advance aims and objectives whose true nature is being withheld from the public.

There is growing awareness that something is terribly amiss and that the official narrative of Covid-19 is specious. Many fundamental questions are being raised by the severity of the Covid cult’s ruinous agenda of imposing injection mandates on millions of working people as well as on students. The extremism of Covid Officialdom is leading many to the conclusion that the havoc being wrought is being done purposely rather than inadvertently.   

The force being applied in the imposition of injection mandates goes way beyond the realm of coercion into that of extortion. Like the citizens of many countries, never before have Canadians en masse faced anything like the ultimatum to choose between taking a  “product” or losing one’s job or one’s educational opportunities. In this case, the lose of jobs involves the penury that comes from the lose of economic viability as well from a further set of prohibitions, hardships and indignities. The so-called vaccine passports are being designed to create a new class of Canadian lepers excluded from participation in a society now reserved exclusively for vaccine-compliant people.

It would be bad enough if this agenda was being pushed forward on the basis of the dissemination of medical products that were, in fact, safe and effective. But there is a large and growing body of evidence that the Covid clot shots are anything but safe and effective. How are we to explain our governors’ infatuation with the misguided goal of universalizing cradle-to-grave programs of vaccines as they lionize the pharmaceutical industry and downgrade the God-given gifts of natural immunity?       

It is for these reasons that the Canadian Institute of National Integrity is being founded. CINI is being established with the explicit goal of calling attention to the illegitimate nature of the current crop of Canadian governments at all levels. The levers of power must be removed from these illegitimate entities.

Measures must be put in place as a bridge to a new era when governments are structured to be genuinely accountable to the people of Canada. The fact that we have so quickly descended into our current plight can be taken as proof that our system of checks and balances is illusory; that we lack safeguards against severe abuses of the machinery for declaring and exploiting public emergencies.

Many existing systems have been abused and are broken beyond repair. It is hard to picture, for instance, the medical system, the parliamentary system, the media, the courts as currently structured and our universities in their present form, ever regaining the trust and confidence of ordinary citizens. The extent of the betrayal by these institution is palpable.

There were some flaws deeply embedded in all these institutions that caused them to fail just when we needed them the most. Hence the task we are facing goes far beyond kicking out the saboteurs that got us into this mess and to elect instead genuinely ethical leaders. What is required is a comprehensive reworking of our whole political economy so that we will never be subject to such a malevolent takeover in the future. Somehow the banker’s monopoly must be broken to reign in the abuse of usury as a weapon of enslavement.

Putting Justin Trudeau on Notice

We must, however, start immediately to move forward against the usurpers before they become entrenched. As part of the process of moving forward, we have a responsibility to put Justin Trudeau on notice. Trudeau has made himself into a caricature of the malignant forces that must be resisted and controlled. Trudeau junior has fashioned himself as one of the world’s most reviled symbols of the Great Reset and the atrocious conception of transhumanism. Both of these inter-related globalist objectives are being promoted unrelentingly by Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum.

The WEF, which meets annually at Davos, has displaced the role of Canada’s parliament and that of many other legislatures around the world. Canadians are beginning to rise to reclaim the national integrity of our country that has been betrayed by the treasonous agenda that Justin Trudeau has come to embody.

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Dr. Anthony J. Hall is a renowned author, emeritus Professor of Globalization Studies at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada. He has been a professor in the Canadian university system since 1982. Dr. Hall, has recently finished a big two-volume publishing project at McGill-Queen’s University Press entitled “The Bowl with One Spoon”.

He is a frequent contributor to Global Research.

Featured image is from Shutterstock

Tens of thousands of Canadian cross-border truckers with support from their compatriots and American counterparts  from coast to coast have arrived in Ottawa. 

Freedom Convoy 2022 is a mass movement that was organized to address not just the vaccine mandate but also the prolonged freedom restrictions and disregard for human rights by the Trudeau government.

Millions of people are demonstrating in Ottawa and nationwide in support of the truck drivers.

Prime Minister Trudeau has casually described the Freedom Convoy as a “small fringe with unacceptable views”. His legitimacy as head of government is being challenged from coast to coast. 

In turn, the corporate media has initiated a hideous propaganda campaign, intimating that “convoy organizers have history of racism, extremism“. The media casually describes the Freedom Convoy 2022 as a “far-right” initiative comparable to the Washington D.C January 6, 2021 “riot” on Capitol Hill.  

One would expect under a democracy, that the Prime Minster of Canada and members of his government would enter into a constructive dialogue with representatives of The Freedom Convoy 2022 with a view to reaching a solution to the crisis. That is not going to happen. The Trudeau government considers the Freedom Convoy as a potential security threat. According to media reports:

“Amid security concerns, Trudeau and his family have been moved from their home [official resident at 24 Sussex Drive] to an undisclosed location in the nation’s capital”. (CBC)

Freedom Convoy 2022

The Freedom Convoy 2022 initiative seeks all avenues through peaceful means to restore fundamental human rights through dialogue with and within public and private institutions, law enforcement officials, members of the military and the judicial.

What is required is to break down the structures of corruption, hierarchy and abusive authority, namely to pursue what might be described as: “the democratization of decision-making within our institutions”.

This historic event is setting the stage for the world to emulate. Hope is around the corner. There is strength in numbers. Unite and resist the medical tyranny!

Click below for live coverage on Global News in Real Time, thanks to Global

.

Click Here for CTV Real Time coverage or click image: Ottawa, Parliament Hill in Real Time, thanks to CTV news

 

America’s armed forces have been in the throes of a mass die-off event ever since Covid-19 “vaccines” were forced on all servicemen.

At the recent “COVID-19: A Second Opinion” panel that was hosted in Washington, D.C., Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) dropped numerous bombshells showing that Fauci Flu shots are neither safe nor effective as claimed.

Doctors and other expert panelists presented damning data showing that not only are the injections a serious medical problem, but the government’s handling of it amounts to a coordinated coverup of Big Pharma’s evil deeds.

Attorney Thomas Renz reportedly told conservative commentator Daniel Horowitz from The Blaze the details about the cancer epidemic sweeping through the military. Here is what Horowitz tweeted in a follow-up to the gathering:

“I can share with you from attorney Thomas Renz that the number of cancer diagnoses in the military’s DMED system went from a 5-year average (2016-2020) of 38,700 per year to 114,645 in the first 11 months of 2021. This is a predominantly young population.”

“Unlike VAERS where the naysayers can suggest that anyone can submit, this is only by military doctors and quantifies every single ICD code in the military for tri care billing of Humana. This is the ultimate defined and finite population with excellent surveillance.”

Horowitz also shared a video of Renz speaking at the panel about other mind-blowing data he accumulated from several whistleblowers whose credentials, he said, “are impeccable.” One of them is one of the only Green Beret doctors in the military. (Related: Renz is the same guy who warned that everything about the plandemic is centered on fear and manipulation rather than facts.)

“One of the biggest takeaways here is that the data is beyond reproach and widely accessible by the DoD, CDC, FDA, and across the Biden-Harris regime. In other words, they are all very well aware that the jabs are almost certainly causing an untenable increase in cancer in otherwise young and healthy military-age Americans and they’re keeping that information away from the people.”

America’s military is being killed off by covid injections

In a perfect world, what Renz alone said at the panel would have been more than enough to convince the government to immediately halt the jab push while reevaluating the data and coming up with a new plan. That reevaluated data would then have been publicly released for independent scrutiny.

The world is far from perfect, though. Instead of honesty and transparency, the government has instead chosen deception and secrecy when it comes to the “science” behind the injections.

“We have substantial data showing that we saw, for example, miscarriages increasing by 300 percent over the five-year average, almost,” Renz further explained at the panel. “We saw an almost 300 percent increase in cancer over the five-year average.”

Since the corporate-backed media will never report on any of this, it is up to you and others like you to share it with anyone who might be willing to listen.

“We saw – this one’s amazing – neurological,” Renz added in his presentation. “So, neurological issues which would affect our pilots, over 1,000 percent increase. 1,000.”

“Ten times,” Sen. Johnson then interjected. “That’s 10 times the rate.”

“82,000 per year to 863,000 in one year,” Renz continued. “Our soldiers are being experimented on, injured, and sometimes possibly killed.”

The latest news about Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) “vaccine” injuries and deaths can be found at Genocide.news.

Sources for this article include:

TheLibertyDaily.com

NaturalNews.com

This is a serious issue, perhaps the most serious of issues in Europe, but coming as it does immediately on the heels of Russia’s prior list of demands being resolutely rejected by the U.S. and NATO yesterday, the prospects of Washington and Brussels positively responding to this one either don’t appear good.

See: Stoltenberg address and what it means for world peace

American nuclear weapons are based in Europe exclusively under provisions of what NATO calls its nuclear sharing arrangement. Those bombs are currently in Belgium, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and Turkey. NATO nuclear sharing not only provides the justification and terms for their deployment but also mandates that they are to be delivered by aircraft of the host countries and not of the U.S.

On the issue of joint nuclear drills and five European NATO nations hosting U.S. B61 tactical nuclear bombs, the following excerpts are from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

Article I:
Each nuclear-weapon State Party to the Treaty undertakes not to transfer to any recipient whatsoever nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices or control over such weapons or explosive devices directly, or indirectly….

Article II:
Each non-nuclear-weapon State Party to the Treaty undertakes not to receive the transfer from any transferor whatsoever of nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices or of control over such weapons or explosive devices directly, or indirectly….

According to TASS January 27, 2022 report entitled: Russia proposes US returns American nuclear weapons from NATO countries stateside:

… “currently there are about 200 American nuclear air bombs of the B61 family” in five non-nuclear NATO countries

Moscow proposed to Washington to return all American nuclear weapons from NATO countries to US territory in the context of reviewing security guarantees,  … Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Department for Nonproliferation and Arms Control Vladimir Yermakov said in an interview with TASS.

“We insist that NATO’s ‘joint nuclear missions’ should be stopped immediately, all the American nuclear weapons be returned to US national territory and the infrastructure that allows their rapid deployment should be eliminated. This aspect is one of the elements of the package of measures proposed by us to Washington in the context of considering the issues of security guarantees,” he said.

According to the diplomat, “currently there are about 200 American nuclear air bombs of the B61 family” in five non-nuclear NATO countries. Thus, the alliance is capable of rapidly deploying nuclear weapons able to reach strategic targets on Russian territory. “[NATO countries] also retain the infrastructure ensuring rapid deployment of these [nuclear] weapons capable of reaching Russian territory and striking a wide range of targets, including strategic ones,” he pointed out.

At the same time, NATO engages non-nuclear countries in training for using American nuclear weapons against Russia. “Interaction between NATO member countries in joint nuclear planning is underway. NATO ‘joint nuclear missions’ take place with non-nuclear alliance members involved in training on the use of American nuclear weapons against us,” the diplomat stressed.

He noted that the US is modernizing its nuclear arsenal with a view of the increased applicability of such weapons in real conditions, above all, in Europe.“As for modernization, the US is consistently implementing a campaign on the renovation of practically all the components of the nuclear arsenal. The B61 air bombs in their newest B61-12 modification [see video below] will have a decreased or variable yield but increased precision. This raises the question, which containment scenarios justify such ‘calibration?’ This clearly means betting on a ‘higher applicability’ of such weapons under real conditions, first of all, in Europe,” the diplomat stated.

See America’s new B61-12 High Tech Nuclear Gravity Bomb.

Video by US Air Force 

Tens of thousands of Canadian cross-border truckers with support from their compatriots and American counterparts travel from coast to coast to converge in Ottawa on Saturday, January 29th.

Freedom Convoy 2022 is a mass movement that was organized to address not just the vaccine mandate but also the prolonged freedom restrictions and disregard for human rights by the Trudeau government.

The demonstration is expected to be attended by at least 500,000 people. Truckers will reportedly remain in the vicinity until all mandates are dropped and until all Canadians can once again enjoy the freedom that was taken away two years ago.

This historic event is setting the stage for the world to emulate. Hope is around the corner. There is strength in numbers. Unite and resist the medical tyranny!

Read our selection below and share to your family, friends and community.

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Video: Freedom Convoy Interview with Truck Driver Marcus.

By Mark Taliano, January 27, 2022

This is an interview conducted by Mark Taliano in Southern Ontario.

Video: Freedom Convoy Interview with Jamie Lynn: “It’s a Manufactured Crisis” by Trudeau Government

By Mark Taliano, January 27, 2022

This interview by Mark Taliano suggests that there is a deliberate process on the part of the Canadian government of undermining US-Canada commodity trade, even in the case when the truck drivers have all the required documents.

Freedom Convoy 2022 in Solidarity with the Truck Drivers: What Canada Needs Is the “Political Quarantine” of Justin Trudeau

By Prof Michel Chossudovsky, January 27, 2022

There is evidence that cross-border trade is being deliberately undermined. This policy mandate is already creating shortages of essential goods including food, fuel and pharmaceuticals.  It will also affect the delivery of essential commodities shipped via the US from China, the European Union and Latin America.

Video: Freedom Convoy Ottawa Details Shared

By Gord Parks, January 27, 2022

Join us for an interview with Chris and Robert, volunteers with Adopt-A-Trucker, as they share the latest details of what, when and where to expect events in Ottawa on January 29 when the truckers finally arrive.

Colossal Convoy of Truckers Converging on Ottawa for Freedom

By Dr. Mark Trozzi, January 27, 2022

May God please bless these truckers and everyone supporting the convoys and the big Saturday protest in Ottawa. Thank you for helping to set us free from this medical tyranny and genocide. We pray that Trudeau and other covid criminals will be brought to justice, and we the people will soon celebrate in a restored, free, and fair country.

#TruckersConvoy2022: Collective Resolve against Covid Mandates and Lockdowns

By Free to Fly Canada, January 26, 2022

Free to Fly supports this peaceful and much-needed demonstration of collective resolve. Mandates and lockdowns are violating the most fundamental of our constitutional rights, not to mention destroying lives, the economy and jeopardizing the same for future generations. This convoy has been greatly encouraging and helped galvanized much of the nation saying “Enough!”.

Vaccine Mandates for US, Canadian and Mexican Truck Drivers: Disruption of Supply Chains. Food Shortages in Canada

By Brian Shilhavy, January 24, 2022

A COVID-19 mandatory vaccine requirement for all non-U.S. citizens coming across the borders from Canada and Mexico that includes truck drivers went into effect today, Saturday, January 22, 2022. Canada implemented a similar COVID-19 vaccine mandate for U.S. truck drivers entering Canada last week, and it is already disrupting the supply chains in Canada. Besides higher prices, food shortages have also been reported in Canada this past week.

Justin Trudeau Ducks the Great Trucker Revolt. #FreedomConvoy2020

By Jeffrey A. Tucker, January 29, 2022

The resistance reveals itself always in unexpected ways. As I type, thousands of truckers (numbers are in flux and are in dispute) are part of a 50-mile-long convoy in Canada, headed to the capital city of Ottawa in protest against an egregious vaccine mandate imposed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Covid Mandates: Canada Has Had Enough. The Freedom Convoy 2022

By David Skripac, January 29, 2022

Millions of Canadians, both jabbed and unjabbed, stand behind the Freedom Convoy in spirit and in actions, including generous offers of financial help. Already, Can$6.5 million in funds have been raised for the truckers’ fuel, food, and other immediate needs. 

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Western governments and most media took the opportunity of the synagogue hostage-taking incident near Fort Worth, Texas to claim that it was an example of (Muslim) terrorism and anti-Semitic hatred. The truth was more difficult to explain, including apparent misreporting of the killing of the hostage-taker.

Malik Faisal Akram was on a quixotic mission from Britain to try to free Aafia Saddiqi from Carswell prison near Fort Worth.  While the case of Aafia Siddiqi has been an open wound to Muslims, it is largely unknown in the US.  Former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark claimed it was the worst abuse of human rights that he was aware of.

Aafia Siddiqi, a Pakistani neuroscientist who should now be about 44 years old, graduated from MIT and received a PhD from Brandeis University. Recognized as an outstanding Muslim woman leader, she and her husband and two children were harassed by the government after the events of Sept. 11, 2001 into leaving the US. 

Two years later, in 2003, when she was in a taxi in Karachi, Pakistan, she was arrested with her three children and taken into US custody; the arrest was brutal and her six-month old son was thought to have been killed by being thrown on the road.

Her other children initially disappeared and nothing was known of their whereabouts for some years.  It appears that Siddiqi was taken to the US torture gulag in Bagram, Afghanistan, where she became known as “the grey lady”, or Prisoner No. 650, who for years screamed nights from torture and rape.  Journalist Yvonne Ridley publicized the story and although the US claimed that no women were held in Bagram, many started to connect Saddiqi’s disappearance with “the grey lady”. 

The US had to have realized that it had make an embarrassing mistake in torturing an innocent Muslim woman — fluent in English — who now had an international audience following her story.  In 2008 — two weeks after a media event by Ridley that focused on Aafia Siddiqi, a dazed Siddiqi was found with her son (who she did not recognize) crouching by the governor’s house in Ghazni, Afghanistan with bags that reportedly contained directions to bomb US and Afghan sites and liquids in tubes.  A warning had recently been issued that a woman was trying to recruit suicide bombers, so she might have been shot on sight.  Siddiqi entered a male-only masjid and was then in Afghan custody.  At around that time, her daughter appeared at the family home in Pakistan with an identifying sign around her neck; she could speak only English — with an American accent.  

While US representatives were arguing with Afghan police about their right to take her, a US soldier shot her twice in the stomach and she was airlifted to an American base for medical help.  Rather than charge her for anything that might have rationalized her five years of torture and rape in Bagram, the US charged her with trying to shoot the soldier who had shot her. 

Despite showing no evidence to substantiate the charge, Siddiqi was convicted and sentenced to 86 years without parole.  She reportedly forgave the judge and those who had judged her.  Her family have not heard from her in four years; their attempts to communicate with her were largely blocked.  It was rumored that she might have died in 2021.  When the Pakistani consulate tried to contact her, she “chose” not to speak with them despite having had many contacts in past years.  It was reminiscent of Julia Skripal’s “refusal” to speak to the Russian consul after her apparent murder.

Akram clearly related to the injustice of Siddiqi’s treatment at western hands; he wanted to rescue Siddiqi or at least discover if she was still alive.  He flew to the US, where he spent the night in a homeless shelter and purchased a gun on the street.  His hostage-taking of several people in the synagogue near the Carswell prison was captured on the live programming of the service and continued for some hours into it. Akram was heard to demand Siddiqi’s release and repeatedly told the hostages that he did not want to hurt them. 

The Rabbi, Charlie Cytron-Walker, said in an Anti-Defamation League webinar that Akram’s first demand was to speak with Angela Buchdahl, the senior rabbi at Central Synagogue in New York because he believed ‘she was the most influential rabbi’.  For some hours during the event, Akram spoke on the phone to his horrified family; he said he had no intention of harming anyone but assumed he would be killed.   

Image on the right is from ABC News

The New York Times claimed that Akram had threatened the lives of the hostages and that the FBI had not realized that the hostages had gone when they went in for the kill because they used a different door than the hostages had used to exit.  But according to the Guardian account, video from Dallas TV station WFAA shows people running out of the same door used by the police gunman seconds later: a man who then closed the door and shot off rounds of ammunition along with an explosive, apparently with no warning.   

Why did Akram choose a synagogue as a venue to contact Siddiqi?  He clearly believed that the Jewish community was the most influential: he had even identified the rabbi who he thought had the most clout in the United States.  While his choice was spun as anti-Semitic, it can be seen as an implicit insult to the Christian community. 

Akram sacrificed his life in vain: he was not able to help Siddiqi and her story was not even brought forward by the media.  Editorials and opinion pieces could have explained this as a story of ongoing Muslim pain instead of weaponizing it as “terrorism”, “hatred”, and “anti-Semitism”.  The British and American reactions to this story display and perpetrate the vicious racism that they attributed to yet another of their victims.

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Karin Brothers is a freelance writer. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

Featured image is from the author

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As the COVID-19 mainstream media narrative steadily disappears from news headlines around the world, following the highly coincidental timing of last week’s Davos Agenda virtual event held by the World Economic Forum, the corporate media has now, in lockstep, moved onto what many commentators predicted they would – an escalation in the current Ukraine crisis, in which Russia has been accused of planning an ‘imminent’ invasion of its smaller Western neighbour, with Kiev having come under the control the US-EU aligned governments of Petro Poroshenko and Volodymyr Zelensky since the 2014 CIA and MI6-orchestrated Euromaidan colour revolution was launched in response to then-President Viktor Yanukoych’s November 2013 decision to suspend a trade deal with Brussels in order to pursue closer ties with Moscow.

Despite the narrative of an ‘imminent Russian invasion’ first appearing in the mainstream media at the end of November 2021 and being promoted by the same corporate outlets ever since then, in a manner not dissimilar to previous regime change lies such as ‘Saddam has WMDs’ or ‘Iran is building a nuclear bomb’, the sudden abandonment of COVID-19 by the corporate media in the past week has now seen a hypothetical Russian invasion of Ukraine taking centre stage and subsequently, Moscow becoming the target of a coordinated campaign of condemnation by the Western establishment – including from my own country, Ireland.

On Monday, Foreign Minister of the 26-County State, Simon Coveney, speaking in Brussels, condemned standard Russian Navy training exercises due to take place in early February, 240km off the southern Irish coast – a condemnation that, amidst the current context of the Ukraine crisis, has garnered worldwide attention, including from the Russian media, but one that also stands in stark contrast to the facilitation of both British and US imperialism by the Irish Free State since its inception.

Established following the 1921 Anglo-Irish agreement, which saw Ireland partitioned into a north-eastern six county state remaining directly under British rule, and the 26 County pro-British ‘Irish Free State’, the southern Irish government has not only consistently turned a blind eye to the British military occupation of the north-east of the country over the past century and the ensuing atrocities and injustices that it has entailed – but has also colluded in protecting British interests in order to uphold that occupation.

From June 1922 until May 1923, the fledgling Free State army used British-supplied weapons to fight a bloody counter-revolution against Irish Republicans seeking to defend the Irish Republic declared in arms in Dublin on Easter Monday 1916 – 77 Irish Republican prisoners were executed by Free State forces during this 11 month period, a figure that doesn’t include direct combat fatalities or extra-judicial killings such as the notorious Ballyseedy massacre.

Following the end of the Treaty War, the use of Free State forces to facilitate British Imperialism in Ireland continued through the use of military internment camps for Irish Republicans such as the Curragh – a practice that continues today through the use of the non-jury ‘Special Criminal Court’, where the word of a senior Garda alone can see Republicans jailed for ‘membership of an illegal organisation’ in Portlaoise Gaol, the highest security prison in Europe, in which heavily-armed 26 County troops keep Republican political prisoners under lock and key.

Following the turn of the century and the 9/11 attacks however, this facilitation of British imperialism by the Irish Free State was also widened to accommodate US imperialism, with Shannon Airport, located in County Clare on Ireland’s west coast, becoming a de facto US airbase in the run-up to the US-led war on Afghanistan, an arrangement that remains in place more than 20 years and see’s that the southern Irish State, a supposedly neutral entity, remains the first European stopover for US Forces en route to unleash devastation in the Middle East – and unlike February’s planned Russian training exercises in international waters, has come in for little to no condemnation by the Free State’s political and media establishment.

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Gavin O’Reilly is an activist from Dublin, Ireland, with a strong interest in the effects of British and US Imperialism. Secretary of the Dublin Anti-Internment Committee, a campaign group set up to raise awareness of Irish Republican political prisoners in British and 26 County jails. His work has previously appeared on American Herald Tribune, The Duran, Al-Masdar and MintPress News.

He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

All Global Research articles can be read in 51 languages by activating the “Translate Website” drop down menu on the top banner of our home page (Desktop version).

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Visit and follow us on Instagram at @globalresearch_crg.

***

As of January 27, Syria security remains precarious despite a slight improvement in the country’s northeastern, northwestern and southern regions.

In the northeastern region, the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced on January 26 that it had retaken control of Geweran prison in the city of al-Hasakah where hundreds of ISIS terrorists were holding up.

The terrorists launched a large attack on the prison late on January 20 to free their comrades. However, they ended up capturing the entire prison and nearby areas.

The SDF said that its military operation to secure the prison and nearby areas, codenamed the People’s Hammer, was successfully concluded. More than 1,600 terrorists surrendered after running out of water, food and medical supplies. 32 hostages who were held by the terrorists were also freed.

However, the SDF’s victory is questionable to say the least. An unknown number of terrorists are still holding up at some parts of Geweran as well as in nearby areas, possibly to carry out suicide attacks. Gun shots and explosions as still being heard in the vicinity of the prison as of the morning of January 27.

It’s also worth noting that British special forces were spotted along with other formations of US-led coalition near Geweran prison on January 25. On the same day, news sources revealed that the SDF and the US-led coalition, who failed to storm Geweran prison for five consecutive days, were holding talks with the terrorists occupying the prison. Their evacuation to central Syria was reportedly discussed.

The terrorists, many of whom are foreigners, may have withdrawn to central Syria after reaching a deal with the SDF and the US-led coalition with help from British negotiators. More than two thousand terrorists who were holding up at Geweran prison are still missing.

It appears that only the weak and injured terrorists have surrendered to the SDF, while the commanders and more experienced terrorist have fled on their own or under a deal.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the battle of Geweran prison claimed the lives of 124 ISIS terrorists, seven civilians and 50 personnel of the SDF and its security forces.

Regardless of the outcome of the battle, ISIS attack on Geweran prison was a large blow to the SDF and the US-led coalition. ISIS is yet to share its account of the attack’s last days. The terrorist group will likely reveal the number of the terrorists who managed to flee the prison very soon.

In the northwestern region, known as Greater Idlib, the situation remains calm as of January 27.

A few, minor ceasefire violations by the al-Qaeda-affiliated Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and its allies were reported on January 25 and 26. However, there were no casualties.

A harsh snow storm affecting Greater Idlib and nearby areas will likely keep the situation in the region calm at least for another week.

Meanwhile, the situation in central Syria remains tense. Government forces and their allies continue to operate against ISIS in the region.

On January 26, fighter jets of the Russian Aerospace Forces and attack helicopters from the Syrian Arab Air Force carried out more than 50 airstrikes on hideouts, equipment and personnel of ISIS in: the outskirts of the town of Ithriyah in the eastern Hama countryside; the outskirts of the town of al-Sukhnah in the eastern Homs countryside and the outskirts of the town of al-Resafa in the southern Raqqa countryside.

The Russian and Syrian airstrikes were likely a response to an attack by ISIS cells’ that targeted a convoy of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) near the ancient city of Palmyra in the eastern countryside of Homs on January 24. Seven service members of the SAA were killed and 24 others were wounded as a result of the attack. A tank and seven light military vehicles were also damaged.

The attack highlights the threat posed by ISIS cells in the central region. This threat will not likely end anytime soon.

In Syria’s southern region, which includes Daraa, al-Quneitra and al-Suwayda, the situation has been clam. No attacks on government forces were reported as of January 27. Security measures implemented by the government appear to be working, at least for the time being.

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What were the real objectives behind Britain’s ‘secret diplomacy’ with Hitler’s Germany from 1932 to Hitler’s 1939 invasion of Poland? In this Canadian Patriot Review Podcast, Matt talks with Alex Krainer about his research and three part series on the Anglo American plan for a ‘Three Block World Agenda’.

As Alex thoroughly details, this aborted blueprint for a ‘New World Order’ envisioned a trifold power block (replicated by the Trilateral Commission model today) of Anglo-American fascist control over the Americas and much of Europe, India and Africa, a German fascist control over the Eurasian Heartland, and Japanese fascist control of much of the Asia Pacific.

How this agenda was advanced by the London-centered financier oligarchy operating throughout and above the various parts of the Great Game, and how this oligarchy arranged Hitler’s annexation of Austria, carving up of Czechoslovakia to the invasion of Poland is unpacked in great detail.

The important thing to hold in mind while listening to Alex’s remarks, is that this is not a story of the past, but rather a story of the present with extreme importance for the future of civilization. It is after all, a fact that the same formula attempted in 1938 is being replicated once more on the world stage.

And just like in 1938, Russia is still a primary target.

Read Alex’s trilogy: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

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This article was originally published on The Canadian Patriot.

Matthew Ehret is the Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Patriot Review , and Senior Fellow at the American University in Moscow. He is author of the ‘Untold History of Canada’ book series and Clash of the Two Americas (which you can purchase by clicking those links or the book covers below). In 2019 he co-founded the Montreal-based Rising Tide Foundation.

He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

Featured image is a screenshot from the podcast

The Clash of the Two Americas

Vol. 1 & 2

by Matthew Ehret

In his new two volume series The Clash of the Two Americas, Matthew Ehret introduces a new analysis of American history from the vantage point that the globally-extended supranational shadow government that managed the British Empire was never fully defeated and has acted within the USA itself since 1776 as a continuous multi-generational fifth column managing every significant event and assassination of American presidents for the next 250 years.

Click here to order.

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***

In case you have been under a rock, you likely noticed that there is a bit of a problem with the American supply chain — and the rest of the world in general. The pandemic, coupled with the government’s response to it has thrown the world into a whirlwind of uncertainties, inefficiencies, and complete stoppages.

As this article is being written, thousands of containers sit on ships off the California coast waiting to be unloaded. Prices of everything have gone through the ceiling and there are very few signs that anything is improving. Instead of providing meaningful solutions, the government is telling citizens to start rationing.

If you're hitting the grocery store to prepare for winter weather, please just buy what you need and leave some for others!

You may have noticed empty shelves in some stores due to national supply chain issues, but there is no need to buy more than you normally would. pic.twitter.com/RcCNNa4Zj4

— DC Homeland Security & Emergency Management (@DC_HSEMA) January 15, 2022

Thanks to misguided policies such as paying people not to work, regulatory hurdles to industry amid new covid restrictions, and government and Federal Reserve manipulation in the market, we have a historic labor shortage, record inflation, and widespread shortages.

Since the passage of the Jones Act in 1920, which was sold to the public as a means of bolstering the US maritime industry, but has been doing the exact opposite for a century, the perfect storm has been brewing for a long time.

Instead of seeing the writing on the wall and realizing that their burdensome regulatory measures have wreaked havoc on the American economy, bureaucrats have doubled down.

Thanks to the Jones Act driving up the cost of using ships to move products, the US and our neighbors to the north and south have become more dependent on the trucking industry. And now — in what could be interpreted as a purposeful attack to make the supply chain problem worse — the US is going after truckers.

For some reason, the bureaucrats in Washington think that the solution to our supply chain problem is vaccinations. Seriously. In October the Biden administration announced travel restrictions for non-U.S. residents and over the weekend, they went into effect and it is hitting truckers particularly hard.

The hundreds of thousands of truckers who enter the United States from Canada or Mexico — carrying much needed supplies — are now required to show proof of vaccination, as of Jan. 22.

“Starting  on  January 22, 2022, the Department of Homeland Security will  require  that  non-U.S. individuals  entering the United States via  land ports of entry or ferry terminals along  our Northern and  Southern  borders  be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and be prepared to show related proof of  vaccination,” said Secretary  Alejandro N. Mayorkas. “These updated  travel  requirements  reflect the Biden-Harris  Administration’s commitment to  protecting public health while safely facilitating  the  cross-border trade and travel  that is  critical to  our economy.”

🚨 TRAVEL UPDATE 🚨

Effective TODAY: All non-U.S. individuals seeking to enter the U.S. via land ports of entry and ferry terminals at the U.S.-Mexico & U.S.-Canada borders must be fully vaccinated for #COVID19.

Details ➡️ https://t.co/q30K9twdRl pic.twitter.com/2PnaRgiHjZ

— CBP (@CBP) January 22, 2022

As if the problem wasn’t bad enough, officials are already warning folks that this arbitrary measure is going to clog up the borders, increasing shipping delays and ensuring more shortages.

“Travelers should plan for longer than normal wait times and longer lines at U.S. land border crossings when planning their trip and are reminded to exercise patience,” the DHS said in a statement.

Feel safe yet?

Highlighting the absurd and arbitrary nature of such a mandate is the fact that US truckers returning from Canada or Mexico, will not have to show proof of vaccination — only truckers carrying in supplies from Canada and Mexico will have to show their papers. Apparently their American blood is safer.

As a result of mandates like this one, the trucking industry is already reacting, accurately pointing out that this will fuel both driver shortages and inflation — as it already has.

Truckers in Canada waged a mass protest over the weekend in response to the tyrannical vaccine mandate in their country. According to Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA), this mandate will take out as many as 32,000, or 20%, of the 160,000 Canadian and American cross-border truck drivers. Apparently, imaginary lines on a map are magical covid walls that cannot be breached.

With empty shelves now a common occurrence in many parts of the country, the idea of limiting tens of thousands more trucks from carrying supplies is absolute insanity. Unfortunately, however, it appears that insanity is the new norm when it comes to the government’s reaction to COVID-19.

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Matt Agorist is an honorably discharged veteran of the USMC and former intelligence operator directly tasked by the NSA. This prior experience gives him unique insight into the world of government corruption and the American police state. Agorist has been an independent journalist for over a decade and has been featured on mainstream networks around the world. Agorist is also the Editor at Large at the Free Thought Project. Follow @MattAgorist on Twitter, Steemit, and now on Minds.

Featured image is from TheFreeThoughtProject.com

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***

Appearing Tuesday on Tucker Carlson Tonight,  Alex Berenson, a correspondent for The New York Times for almost ten years, said, “These mRNA COVID vaccines need to be withdrawn from the market. No one should get them. No one should get boosted. No one should get double boosted. They are a dangerous and ineffective product at this point.”

“We’re in a very dangerous moment,” he told Carlson. “It is completely clear now that the vaccines don’t really work at all against [the] omicron [variant] in these highly vaccinated and highly boosted countries. Rates of infection are incredibly high, and rates of serious disease and death are also rising.”

“The Israelis are predicting that they’re going to have more serious cases than they ever had at the peak last year. And the idea that we would solve this with another booster is just off the charts insane,” he said.

Therefore, he concludes, “it is clear that to encourage booster shots for anyone — including the elderly — at this point is reckless, bordering on criminal.”

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Credits to GreatGameIndia for the initial transcript of the interview.

Featured image is a screenshot from the video

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On January 23 I reviewed on this website Kees Van Der Pijl’s new book, States of Emergency. Van Der Pijl answers the question so many people have of why and how a fake “deadly pandemic” was orchestrated with worldwide participation in the fraud.

He shows that the event was long in the making by a global elite consisting of philanthropists such as Bill Gates, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Wellcome Trust, elite organizations such as the World Economic Forum, tech companies and multi-billionaire owners, Fauci at NIH, CDC, FDA, WHO, pharmaceutical companies and lobbyists, and elite organizations and groups created for the purpose of concentrating power and advancing and protecting the global elites’ rule by using fear to condition the masses to being controlled and deprived of a voice and alternative explanations. I had been thinking along these lines, but lacked Van Der Pijl’s detailed knowledge of the personalities, organizations and groups and the interactions and cooperation between them. He gives us the story. It was an elaborate exercise in massive deception and censorship that was able to discredit the world’s most renowned medical scientists and to elevate pure fiction to fact and public policy.

We owe it to ourselves to read States of Emergency in order to come to terms with the fact that we are ruled by people devoid of integrity to whom truth is an inconvenience and who are concerned solely with their control and power.

We need to read the book also to understand how things really work, how decisions are really made, how careers are made and ended by whether or not you serve the narrative and how well, how regulatory agencies such as FDA, NIH, CDC, WHO are in fact marketing departments for Big Pharma, how politicians’ positions are dictated by the sources of their campaign funds, why universities and the media must function as Ministries of Propaganda for the ruling elites and their narratives, how Fauci and Big Pharma control content in medical journals via grants to medical researchers. Van Der Pijl writes that pharmaceutical industry research grants make the industry the co-author of many articles and that more than half of all The Lancet‘s revenues come from pharmaceutical companies orders of reprints of articles supportive of their products. Van Der Pijl writes “According to the former editor of The New England Journal of Medicine, who had 20 years of experience, it is simply no longer possible to believe much of the published clinical research.”

The gullible, patriotic American who reads this book will have his eyes opened and become a new person. Van Der Pijl has written the book that can save Americans from their insouciance.

In October 2019 just prior to unleashing the “pandemic” on the world, what was about to happen was first tested in a simulation. The participants were: the Bloomberg-financed Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, the Gates Foundation, the World Economic Forum, the CDC, the (American trained) head of the Chinese health authority, a former deputy director of the CIA, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, and so on.

The participants were primarily concerned with protecting the planned deception from being exposed. They relied on social media and the presstitutes to control the narrative and censor the truth. They considered whether to close the Internet altogether, but were assured that Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Google would only allow news in keeping with the narrative and flood the Internet with information that confirms the narrative while discrediting and blocking the truth. Admiral Stephen Redd of the US Public Health Service thought that people on social media with “negative beliefs,” that is, those who took issue with the narrative, should be tracked down by intelligence services. Singapore’s finance minister said dissidents should be arrested and brought to justice. The head of the Chinese health authority worried that suspicion might arise that the virus originated in a laboratory. Johnson & Johnson wondered if the deaths and injuries in the vaccine trials should be suppressed in order to prevent public suspicion of the poorly tested vaccine.

The participants claim they were just playing a germ game, but the simulation ensured that all was in place to control the explanation prior to the release of the “pandemic.”

The research basis of Van Der Pijl’s book is massive and the information earth-shattering. I intend to return to this book in future articles. But don’t wait on me. Buy the book and read it once, twice, three times. Civil liberty in the US cannot survive if people are too lazy to inform themselves.

When the US government ceased meaningful regulation on the basis of Alan Greenspan’s assertion that “markets are self-regulating” and ceased to enforce its anti-trust laws, massive economic concentration resulted, producing individuals whose wealth greatly exceeded the budgets of public health agencies and even some countries. This gave single individuals enormous power over governments. Van Der Pijl writes that from 2004 onwards, just the annual health grants of the Gates Foundation alone exceeded the annual budget of the World Health Organization. Gates Foundation directors are executives from Merck, GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, Bayer Health Care Services, companies whose stocks are owned by the Gates Foundation. This is just a tiny indication of the power that wealth concentration has given a handful of individuals over government policy.

Van Der Pijl believes that the elite’s use of an orchestrated “pandemic” to solidify their control was too ambitious and has failed. What his optimism overlooks is the possibility that another more dangerous virus will be set upon us and the fear created will sap all resistance. The Covid attempt almost succeeded, especially in Australia, Canada, Austria, Italy, and Germany. In the US it was blocked by the judiciary and by governors such as Florida’s Ron DeSantis. A second run at the unorganized and uninformed peoples of the world could succeed.

Is this an indication that a more deadly coronavirus is about to be released, one for which all treatments have been banned? See this.

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Dr. Paul Craig Roberts writes on his blog site, PCR Institute for Political Economy, where this article was originally published. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

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On 26 January, the US-backed, so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) resumed their theft of Syrian oil in the country’s northeast with a large convoy of tanker trucks heading towards the Iraqi border.

The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) quoted a local source as saying that 130 tankers with crude oil stolen from Syrian oilfields by US occupation troops with the help of SDF militia were making their way towards the Iraqi village of Al-Mahmoudiya, to the south where the illegal Al-Waleed border crossing is located.

According to SANA, the oil was being smuggled through a corridor heading toward Iraq’s Al-Mahmoudiya village, where dozens of SDF convoys pass from the Al-Hasaka region in Syria and then through the Al-Waleed border crossing with Iraq.

The corridor and the Al-Waleed border crossing were opened up by the US occupation when its proxies took control of the area.

SANA reported that after this convoy of 130 tankers passed into Iraq, a fleet of 46 refrigerated convoy tankers, as well as one carrying US logistical supplies, entered Syria on the same road through the same crossing.

The US military routinely smuggles Syrian oil into northern Iraq, in a move that is both in violation of international law and as well as routine practice that shows how deeply entrenched the US is in its occupation of both nations.

Last week, a convoy of 111 trucks stacked with military equipment passed through northeastern Syria to illegal US bases in northern Iraq.

A US convoy of 128 vehicles was caught transporting military equipment and Syrian oil to northern Iraq on 3 January.

While the US claims its presence aims to prevent the oilfields from falling into the hands of ISIS, Damascus says that the US presence in Syria is illegal, and is only there to steal Syria’s oil and other resources.

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On 30 August 2021, the United States’ 20-year military occupation of Afghanistan came to an end when the removal of American forces was completed. Although the withdrawal was botched, it was the correct move. The withdrawal is ignominious because it turns out that the much ballyhooed US fighting forces were, in the end, defeated by Afghan peasants. Has the US learned anything from its debacle in Afghanistan? One might gain an insight into that question by observing the debacle still ongoing in Syria.

Author A.B. Abrams provides an in-depth analysis on the US-led war in Syria in his excellent book World War in Syria: Global Conflict on Middle Eastern Battlefields (Clarity Press, 2021). WW in Syria documents the lead up to war in Syria, the precursors, the ideologies, the tactics, who the combatants are and who is aligned with who at different stages of the war, the battles fought, the impact of sophisticated weaponry, adherence to international law, the media narratives, and the cost of winning and losing the war in Syria for the warring parties. Unequivocally, every side loses in war. People are killed on all sides, and each death is a loss. But a victor is usually declared, and Syria with its allies has been declared as having won this war, albeit at a great price. However, the finality and clarity of the victory is muddled because Turkey and the US are still occupying and pillaging northern areas of Syria where they provide protection for Islamist remnants (or recklessly guard Islamist prisoners; as I write, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and US are fighting to defeat an Islamic State (IS) assault on a prison in northeastern Syria). In addition, apartheid Israel continues to periodically attack war-ravaged Syria.

Abrams asks why the West and Israel were bent on “regime change” in Syria. As Abrams explains, with several examples, nations that do not put themselves in thrall to the US will be targeted for overthrow of their governments. (chapter 1) “Syria was increasingly portrayed as being under some kind of malign communist influence — the only possible explanation in the minds of the U.S. and its allies for any party to reject what the West perceived as its own benevolence.” (p 10)

What is happening in Syria must be understood in a historical perspective. (p 55) Abrams details how imperialist information warfare brought about violent overthrows of socialistic governments in Indonesia, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, and Libya. That tested template has now been applied to Syria. (chapter 2)

Abrams identifies four casus belli for attacking Syria: (1) being outside the Western sphere of influence, (2) to isolate Syria from Hezbollah and Iran, which would appease Israel and the Gulf states, (3) to remove Iran and Russia as suppliers of natural gas to Europe, (4) to isolate Syria geo-politically from China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran, and (5) a new base for foisting Islamist (“Islamist” is used to refer to a political ideology rather than the faith of Muslims) groups against Western-designated enemies.

So Syria found itself beset by a multitude of aggressive foreign actors: key NATO actors Britain, France, the US, and Turkey. Jordan, Cyprus, Turkey, and Israel were staging grounds for attacks. (p 99) The Sunni regimes of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates were also arrayed against Syria. At first, the mass protests — given fuel by Bashar Al Assad’s neoliberalism schemes (p 35) — served as a shield for covertly supported military operations. (p 107)

These state actors supported several Islamist entities. Abrams, who is proficient in Arabic, adroitly elucidates the complex and realigning web of Islamist proxies. Among these groups are Al Qaeda, Fatah Al Asram, Absay Al Ansar, the Free Syrian Army (FSA), and IS.

Syria would not be completely alone as fellow Axis of Resistance members Iran and Hezbollah would come to the aid of Syria. Hezbollah directly joined in the spring of 2013 and it played an important role in the pivotal capture of Al Qusayr. (p 132) Thereafter, Iran would step up its involvement in defense of Syria. (p 134)

What will be a surprise to most people is the solidarity shown by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) toward its longtime partner Syria. (Albeit this is no surprise to readers of another of A.B. Abram’s excellent books, Immovable Object: North Korea’s 70 Years at War with American Power. Review.) Gains made by the invading forces would be substantially rolled back with the entry of Russia, an event deplored by some leftists. Among the reasons for a Russian entry was fear of Islamist terrorism approaching its frontier.

With the advancing tide of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and its allies, Westerners reacted by pressing for the establishment of a no-fly zone in Syria. However, having learned from Western manipulation of such a United Nations Security Council resolution during the war on Libya, in which Russia and China had abstained, Russia and China would veto any such attempt this time.

The enemies of Syria would engage in manufactured gas attacks abetted by disinformation. This pretext led the US and allied attackers to grant themselves the right to bomb Syria. Abrams responds, “It is hard to find a similar sense of self-righteousness and open willingness to commit illegal acts of aggression anywhere else in the world.” Abrams connected this extremism to “the ideology of western supremacism.” (p 174) Syria would relinquish the deterrence of its chemical weapons in a futile effort to forestall any future opposition-contrived chemical attacks attributed to it.

Although Hezbollah, Iran, the DPRK, and Russia were invited by the government of Syria, the western nations (without UN approval) were illegally attacking Syria. Among them were Australia, Belgium, Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, and the Netherlands, and Middle Eastern actors which included Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. (p 197) Israel was abetting Al Nusra. (p 199) The Syrian borders with Jordan and Turkey were supply conduits for the Islamists. (p 203)

The US planned to create safe zones in Syria with an eye to dismemberment of Syria. (p 204-207) Russia would up the ante, killing 150 CIA-backed Islamists in airstrikes, which the US criticized. (p 221) In apparent reprisal, an IS terrorist attack would down a civilian airliner over Egypt killing 219 Russian civilians. War is a dirty endeavor. Among their other crimes, Islamists used civilians as human shields, poisoned water supplies, and carried out beheadings. American war crimes included using depleted uranium and white phosphorus (p 301).

With the US and Turkey competing to occupy land from the collapsing IS, the SAA was pressured to advance as quickly as possible in its lands.

Aside from internecine fighting among the Islamists, there were puzzling complexities described between different combatants. Turkey and the US were sometimes aligned and sometimes at loggerheads; the same complexities existed between Russia and Turkey (“a highly peculiar situation reflecting [Turkey’s] pursuit of both war and rapprochement separately but simultaneously.” p 348), and between Russia and Israel. Of course, given past and current history, any enemy-of-my-enemy alliance between Israeli Jews and Arabs against a fellow Arab country will certainly cause much head shaking.

Despairingly, the UN was also condemned for bias and being complicit in the western attempt to overthrow the Syrian government. (p 334)

Abrams criticized the American arrogation of the right to attack. He warned, “This had potentially highly destabilizing consequences for the global order, and by discarding the post-Second World War legal prohibition against crimes of aggression the West was returning the world to a chaotic order that resembled that of the colonial era.” (p 383)

In toto, Abrams finds, “Even though Syria prevailed, the West was able to achieve its destruction at very little cost to itself … meaning the final outcome of the war still represents a strengthening of the Western position at Dasmascus’ expense.” (p 384)

Israel’s War

A book review can only cover so much, and there is much ground covered in WW in Syria. Particularly conspicuous is the annex at the end of the book entitled “Israel’s War.” (p 389-413) This annex leads one to ask why there are no annexes on America’s War, Turkey’s War, Qatar’s War, Saudi Arabia’s War, UAE’s War, NATO’s War, or even the terrorists’ War. Why does Israel stand out? Prior to the recent invasion of Syria, it was only Israel that was occupying Syrian territory: the Golan Heights, annexed following the 1967 War, and recognized as a part of Israel by president Donald Trump in 2019 (quite hypocritical given US denunciations of Crimea’s incorporation into Russia). Syria does not recognize Israel, and it has not reached a peace agreement with Israel. Of Syria’s Middle Eastern allies, Iran does not recognize Israel; Lebanon signed a peace treaty with Israel under Israeli and American pressure, but Lebanon never ratified it. Hezbollah regards Israel as an illegitimate entity. Hezbollah is noted for the first “successful armed resistance on a significant scale to the Western-led order after the Cold War’s end” in 2006. (p 39) Thus, Israel views the arc from Iran through Iraq and Syria to Lebanon as a security threat. Since Israel is regarded by some foreign policy wonks in the US as its aircraft carrier in the region, that reason among others secures US “aid” and military support. That Syria will not bend its knees to US Empire is also a source of consternation to imperialists. After Egyptian president Anwar Sadat treacherously broke Arab solidarity, (p 21-26) Syria would find itself increasingly isolated. Given the rapacious nature of imperialism, Israel and its lobby have faced no serious opposition from within the imperialist alliance, allowing the Jewish State to pursue its plan for a greater Israel to which Syria, a country that does not threaten any western nation, is an impediment. Israel, writes Abrams, will continually seek to degrade the military capabilities of countries it designates as enemies. (p 406)

Closing

The situation in Syria still simmers. Those who scrupulously read the dispassionate account of WW in Syria will gain a wide-ranging insight into what underlies the simmering. It will also be clear why any attempt by western imperialists and their terrorist or Islamist proxies will not succeed in a coup against the elected Syrian government. Syrians will put up a staunch defense. Hezbollah and Iran will stand in solidarity, as will the DPRK. Having Russia, a first-rate military power, presents a powerful deterrence. In addition, China, no pushover itself, stands steadfast in support of its Russian and other partners. Thus the western imperialists’/proxies’ main goal has been thwarted; they have been shamelessly reduced to pillagers of oil and wheat and occupiers of small pockets of a sovereign country.

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“The main issue is our clear position on the unacceptability of further NATO expansion to the East and the deployment of highly-destructive weapons that could threaten the territory of the Russian Federation.” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov

Washington delivered a slap in the face to Moscow on Wednesday when U.S. ambassador John Sullivan provided a written response to Russia’s proposals for security guarantees. The missive was given to Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko who did not reveal the contents but passed them on to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov for analysis. Lavrov, in turn, issued a statement on Thursday morning confirming our worst suspicions that the Biden administration has shrugged off Russia’s reasonable demands choosing instead to intensify the provocations that are likely to trigger a war between the world’s two nuclear superpowers. This is an excerpt from an article at Tass News Agency:

“The United States and NATO don’t seem to have taken Russia’s concerns on security guarantees into account when drawing up responses to Moscow’s proposals, nor did they demonstrate any willingness to do so, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday.

“The numerous statements that our colleagues made yesterday make it clear that as for the major aspects of the draft agreements that we earlier presented to other parties, we can’t say that they took our concerns into account or showed any readiness to take our concerns into consideration.” (Tass News Agency)

Peskov is right, on the core issues the US either issued no clear response or refused to comply. In effect, the US response was designed to look like Washington was honestly negotiating when in fact, they were merely reinforcing their original position. The US response is essentially a defense of Washington’s commitment to rule the world by force and to ignore the legitimate demands of weaker states to provide even minimal security for their people. If the US and NATO are allowed to pursue their present course of action, Russian cities and towns will be within 7 to 10 minutes of nuclear missiles located in nearby Romania and Poland. Russia’s are being asked to live with a nuclear dagger pointed at their throats. This is Biden’s idea of global security. Is it any wonder why Putin does not agree? Here’s part of what Lavrov said on Thursday:

“There is no positive reaction on the main issue in this document. The main issue is our clear position that further NATO expansion to the east and the deployment of strike weapons that could threaten the territory of the Russian Federation are unacceptable.”

Lavrov has summed it up perfectly. While Sullivan was delivering his response to Grushko, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg issued a statement saying the Alliance “will not compromise” on potential expansion into Ukraine, Georgia, and other former Soviet republics, as this clashes with the NATO’s principles.” Stoltenberg’s statement removes any doubt that NATO will not only continue its eastward expansion onto Russia’s doorstep, but feels thoroughly justified in doing so. As we noted earlier, NATO’s response confirms that Washington is still committed to its overarching plan to rule the world by force regardless of how ordinary people are impacted by the policy.

On Thursday morning, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev reiterated the recently-verified claim that NATO’s eastward expansion violates the promises of US officials to Russia following the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

“They promised not to expand NATO, but didn’t keep their promise,” Medvedev said speaking with the Russian media. “They say that ‘we did not sign anything.’ But we all know well who and when granted to whom such promises, such assurances….. They failed to keep their promises. They are now encroaching on our state borders.”

The steady eastward movement of troops, the buildup of lethal military hardware, and the deployment of nuclear weapons all pose an existential threat to Russia that suffered horrific losses in World War 2. The Biden administration seems to believe their sinister plan is working since people in the west generally believe reports in the media that the fake threat of “Russian invasion” is an honest account of what is actually going on the ground. But there is no threat of a Russian invasion; the story was stitched together to divert attention from Russia’s security demands which are both reasonable and appropriate. Once again, the media is shaping a narrative to fit the policy which is the very description of state propaganda.

In an effort to further downplay the importance of Moscow’s requests, US officials characterized their written response not as “a formal document but a set of ideas for further discussion.” What this means is that Washington does not feel that that Russia is its equal so it does not feel required to enter into a treaty agreement with them. Keep in mind, this response does not in any way meet the basic requirements that were clearly outlined by Putin repeatedly in December when he said thatRussia wanted a written, legally-biding treaty that could not be sloughed off by countries that prefer to conduct an impulsive, self-aggrandizing, fly-by-the-seat-of-their-pants foreign policy that has left great swathes of the Middle East and Central Asia in an utter shambles. Indeed, this may not be a “formal document”, but it is clear that there will be a formal document or there will be no agreement and no peace. The choice is Washington’s.

On the issue of nuclear missile sites in Poland and Romania, as well as, the development of military bases in Ukraine, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken indicated that Washington was still open to discussion.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that if Russia were to approach this seriously, and in a spirit of reciprocity, with the determination to enhance collective security for all of us, there are very positive things in this document that should be pursued,” he said.

“Positive things”, says Blinken?

There are no “positive things” in the American response. The response is a flagrant and contemptible rejection of Moscow’s core demands on NATO expansion and the deployment of nuclear missiles to locations on Russia’s border. To understand what a fraud the Biden administration is engaged in, please, take a look at this brief excerpt from the draft treaty that Russia presented to NATO and Washington.

The United States of America shall undertake to prevent further eastward expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and deny accession to the Alliance to the States of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

The United States of America shall not establish military bases in the territory of the States of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics that are not members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, use their infrastructure for any military activities or develop bilateral military cooperation with them……

The Parties shall undertake not to deploy ground-launched intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles outside their national territories, as well as in the areas of their national territories, from which such weapons can attack targets in the national territory of the other Party.

Article 7

The Parties shall refrain from deploying nuclear weapons outside their national territories and return such weapons already deployed outside their national territories at the time of the entry into force of the Treaty to their national territories.” (“Treaty between the United States and the Russian Federation on Security Guarantees,” Official Russian State Document, December 17, 2021)

Is there anything ambiguous in the language of this document?

No, there isn’t.

The US was asked to respond in writing to these explicit demands. No one is in the slightest bit interested in Blinken’s vague pontifications on “positive things”. It’s completely irrelevant. What Putin wants to know is whether US nukes are going to remain 7 minutes flight-time from Moscow and whether a hostile foreign army is going to be hunkered down in nearby Ukraine. He wants to know whether Washington plans to put a gun to Russia’s head in order to increase its power in the region. That’s what he wants to know, and that’s what this foreign policy debacle is all about.

What Blinken’s response tells us is that the provocations are going to continue unabated whether they ignite a war or not. Even as we speak, the US is sending more lethal weaponry and troops to the Ukrainian theater while other NATO allies promise to assist in the effort. It is madness.

At the same time, President Joe Biden is threatening to impose “direct personal sanctions” on Putin if the Russian president takes action to defend the Russian-speaking people in East Ukraine. The threat was issued just hours after the State Department told Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov that he “would have to leave the US by April if Moscow fails to meet certain demands made by Washington.” While these may seem like trivial developments, the two incidents help to illustrate how relations between the two nations are fast deteriorating increasing the prospect of a tragic miscalculation that could precipitate a bloody and protracted conflagration.

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This article was originally published on The Unz Review.

Michael Whitney is a renowned geopolitical and social analyst based in Washington State. He initiated his career as an independent citizen-journalist in 2002 with a commitment to honest journalism, social justice and World peace.

He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG).

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Video: Freedom Convoy Interview with Jamie Lynn: “It’s a Manufactured Crisis” by Trudeau Government

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By Dr. Joseph Mercola, January 27, 2022

As of January 7, 2022, just over a year into the campaign to inject every human being with a gene transfer product to protect against COVID, the U.S. Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) has received 9,936 reports of death following the COVID jab in the United States’ territories alone.¹ When you include foreign reports received by VAERS, the death toll stands at 21,745.

Colossal Convoy of Truckers Converging on Ottawa for Freedom

By Dr. Mark Trozzi, January 27, 2022

The Trudeau regime’s spree of human rights violations and unlawful dictates include mandates for forced injections of cross border truck drivers. These mandates came into effect January 15th. South of the border, the unelected Biden administration have made similar mandates that started January 22.

COVID to be Declared Endemic by Year’s End in Thailand

By Bangkok Post, January 27, 2022

The Public Health Ministry plans to declare Covid-19 an endemic disease by the end of this year, using its own criteria and with or without World Health Organization confirmation. Health permanent secretary Kiattiphum Wongrajit announced the intention after a meeting of the ministry’s National Communicable Disease Committee on Thursday.

Serbia Stomps on Rio Tinto’s Lithium Mining Project

By Dr. Binoy Kampmark, January 27, 2022

On the face of it, there seems to be little in the way of connection between the treatment of Novak Djokovic by Australian authorities and the cooling of the Serbian government towards Rio Tinto.  The Anglo-Australian mining giant was confident that it would, at least eventually, win out in gaining the permissions to commence work on its US$2.4 billion lithium-borates mine in the Jadar Valley.

Russia and the West: Piercing the Fog of Hysteria

By Pepe Escobar, January 27, 2022

The Pentagon doubles down: “It’s very clear the Russians have no intention right now of deescalating”. Thus the necessity, expressed by spokesman John Kirby, of readying a multinational NATO response force (NRF) of 40,000 troops: “If it is activated…to defeat aggression, if necessary”.

Authoritarian Madness: The Slippery Slope from Lockdowns to Concentration Camps

By John W. Whitehead and Nisha Whitehead, January 27, 2022

In the politically charged, polarizing tug-of-war that is the debate over COVID-19, we find ourselves buffeted by fear over a viral pandemic that continues to wreak havoc with lives and the economy, threats of vaccine mandates and financial penalties for noncompliance, and discord over how to legislate the public good without sacrificing individual liberty.

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This interview by Mark Taliano suggests that there is a deliberate process on the part of the Canadian government of undermining US-Canada commodity trade, even in the case when the truck drivers have all the required documents.

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Interview conducted by Mark Taliano in Southern Ontario

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All Global Research articles can be read in 51 languages by activating the “Translate Website” drop down menu on the top banner of our home page (Desktop version).

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Yair Golan is not the first retired Israeli general to become a peacenik, nor will he be the last. This has become a pattern among Israel’s generals, a pattern set by generals, like Matti Peled and Motta Gur, regarded by Israelis as heroes during their military careers.

As a former deputy military chief and commander in the West Bank defending Israeli colonies, Golan is now a Knesset member for the dovish Meretz party, which favours Palestinian statehood, and speaks out against colonist attacks on Palestinians. He recently referred to violent colonists as “subhuman,” eliciting sharp criticism from colleagues in the right-leaning coalition and complaints from other quarters. Frankness is nothing new. As deputy military chief, he voiced concerns that Israel was becoming fascistic and compared it to Nazi Germany. This is also not a new approach as such terms were adopted decades ago by Israeli scientist and dedicated human rights activist, Israel Shahak, a survivor of Nazi death camps in Poland.

In an interview with the Associated Press Golan stated, “You can’t have a free and democratic state so long as we are controlling people who don’t want to be controlled by us. What kind of democracy are we building here long term?”

He argued that separating from the Palestinians is the only way Israel can remain democratic and based on Jewish values. This is also old hat. Even former Likud Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in 2007 urged Israel to negotiate a separation deal with the Palestinians in order to avoid becoming an “apartheid” state like South Africa.

While serving in the West Bank, Golan focused on combatting Palestinians resisting the occupation and continues to argue that most of the 650,000 colonists living illegally in the occupied territories are law-abiding. His favourable view of the colonists whose presence prevents the emergence of a viable Palestinian state contradicts his contention that Israelis and Palestinians should live separately.

Breaking the Silence, a group of former Israeli soldiers who oppose Israel’s occupation policies, responded to his stance by saying, “Yair Golan knows full well what settler violence looks like and what our violent control over the Palestinian people looks like. That is why his criticism is valuable, but it is not enough.” Indeed, fine words have never been enough to halt the late 19th century Zionist project of colonising the whole of Palestine and any other territory conquered by Israel.

The most high- profile general to break with Israel’s policy of ethnically cleansing or ruling Palestinians was Matti Peled who fought in Israel’s 1948-1949, 1956 and 1967 wars. Having played a role in the conquest of Palestine, Peled served as governor of conquered Gaza for six months after the tripartite Israeli, British and French aggression against Egypt. Unable to speak Arabic and having no knowledge of Palestinian history and customs, Peled found himself at a loss to deal with the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the strip until US President Dwight Eisenhower ended the occupation in 1957. He was the last US president who dared to tackle Israel and its US friends and allies.

Peled was among the hawkish generals who pressed Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol to wage a preemptive attack against Egypt in the spring of 1967. This led to the seizure of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza and the strategic colonisation of these areas to deny Palestinians their state.

He retired from the military in 1968 and continued to study Arabic which he had begun while in the army. He co-founded the Arabic Literature department at Tel Aviv University, was recognised as a scholar in this field, and gradually drifted left-wards.

In 1975, Peled helped establish the Israeli Council for Israeli-Palestinian Peace and in 1977 became a founder of the Left Camp. In 1982, Peled supported reserve army officers who refused to fight in Israel’s war on Lebanon which galvanised the Israeli peace camp and led to the creation of the Jewish, Palestinian Progressive List for Peace. Peled was elected a Knesset member in 1984 and helped form the Gush Shalom, peace bloc, which played a key role in the period following the 1982 Israeli war in Lebanon and led to the Norwegian-brokered negotiations with the Palestinians in 1992-93.

Paratrooper general Mordechai “Motta” Gur became another hard-line military man to oppose Israeli policies after retirement. He did not become a peacenik like Peled but, like him, took a stand against the 1982 campaign in Lebanon at a time the Israeli peace camp was strongly supported by military officers and frontline soldiers as well as centrist and leftist civilians.  The peace option survived for more than a decade.

Gur joined the Zionist underground army in 1946, fought in the 1948-49 war of establishment and the 1956 war in Sinai.  He commanded the 55th Paratroopers Brigade which seized East Jerusalem in 1967, served in Gaza and the northern front with Syria and commanded the 1978 Israeli occupation of portions of southern Lebanon. He was appointed lieutenant general and in 1974 became army chief-of-staff. After leaving the military, he was elected to the Knesset as a Labour party member, served as minister of health and on the Knesset’s foreign affairs committee. After Labour, under former General Yitzak Rabin, who was not a peacenik, won the 1992 election on a peace platform, Gur was appointed defence minister and worked closely with Rabin who was under popular pressure to pursue accords with both Palestinians and Syrians.

Spurred to end the conflict with the Palestinians by the First Intifada (1987-1993) Foreign Minister Shimon Peres’ deputy Yossi Beilin supervised the Israeli team negotiating a secret peace deal with the Palestinians in Norway.

In September 1993, Rabin and Palestinian Liberation Organisation chairman Yasser Arafat agreed to the Oslo Accord which was meant to lead to the creation of a Palestinian state but failed due to Rabin’s refusal to halt Israeli colonisation and negotiate on Palestinian refugees, Israeli colonies, Jerusalem and other key issues. He was murdered in November 1995 by an Israeli extremist who believed, wrongly, Rabin was in the process of handing over occupied territory to the Palestinians.

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We’re excited to be bringing you a live feed of the speeches in Ottawa this Saturday. Keep an eye out for more details.

We do, however, need your support to deliver the news that matters to you. Please click the blue donate button.

Join us for an interview with Chris and Robert, volunteers with Adopt-A-Trucker, as they share the latest details of what, when and where to expect events in Ottawa on January 29 when the truckers finally arrive.

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The January 20 attack on the Ghweran prison in Hasaka, Syria carried out by ISIS terrorists is being blamed on the international community, and western democracies specifically, by Kurdish officials who are responsible for the security at the prison.

Abdulkarim Omar, the co-chair of the Kurdish administration’s foreign office, said the attack was the result of the international community’s failure to shoulder its responsibilities of the ISIS prisoners who are imprisoned in Syria. Kurdish authorities have warned for years that they are not able to properly feed and guard the massive camps of ISIS terrorists and their wives and children. Their repeated requests have never been addressed as the prisoners remain in squalor, without charges, legal procedures, or trial date.

Omar reported to the Kurdish media on Friday that they have “consistently appealed to the international community for ISIS militants in jails and camps. We warned that the current situation could not be maintained. The world and international community must carry out their responsibilities in dealing with the ISIS problem.”

“Every country should take its citizens back. Those who do not accept them should come and assist us, and ISIS members should be prosecuted,” he added.

General Mazloum Abdi is the leader of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) who is the American-backed ally in Syria and the fight against ISIS.  Despite repeated warnings to the Americans, the prison break succeeded with the most dangerous terrorists on earth being set free.

On Monday, the SDF confirmed that they have still not taken back control of the prison after a suicide car bomb was detonated at the gates, which then allowed the prisoners to confiscate weapons and turn them on the SDF guards.  17 of the SDF were killed, and 23 were wounded.  The prison holds about 5,000 inmates, but it is still not known the exact number who were able to escape or those who had been killed or recaptured. The prison is in the northeast of Syria in a semi-autonomous region the Kurds call “Rojava”.

ISIS used young and teenage males as ‘child soldiers in the prison break. The prison is segregated into male adults, teenage boys, and women with small children.  The terrorists used the opportunity of indoctrinating the teenage boys’ unit to use them not only as child soldiers but also as human shields.

In May, a United Nations human rights report said the conditions under which children were held in northeast Syria can describe torture and inhuman and degrading treatment under international law. The report described overcrowded conditions, no access to sunlight, malnourishment, and untreated injuries.

Letta Tayler, associate director at Human Rights Watch, said the crisis happening now could have been averted if the children’s home countries had agreed to repatriate them.  Almost 700 child detainees are being held in Ghweran prison still under siege after the attack.

“Detention should be an exceptional measure of last resort,” she said on Twitter. “Instead, foreign countries dumped responsibility for these children on the NE Syrian authorities. If anything happens to these boys during this prison assault, the boys’ home countries will have children’s blood on their hands.”

The US position and statements

On Saturday, Ned Price of the US State Department condemned the attack on Ghweran prison.

His statement read,

“This attack highlights the importance of, and the need to fully fund, the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS’s initiatives to improve the secure and humane detention of ISIS fighters, including by strengthening detention facility security.  It also underscores the urgent need for countries of origin to repatriate, rehabilitate, reintegrate, and prosecute, where appropriate, their nationals detained in northeast Syria.”

 “The coalition has taken great measures to ensure the humane treatment of detainees, but when ISIS detainees took up arms, they became an active threat and were subsequently engaged and killed by the S.D.F. and coalition airstrikes,” said Maj. Gen. John W. Brennan Jr., commander of the anti-Isis coalition in Iraq and Syria.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Apache helicopter gunships launched airstrikes and conducted low-altitude flights in a show of force.

On June 24, Acting US Special Envoy for the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS and Acting Counterterrorism Coordinator John T. Godfrey visited Al-Hol camp, and Ghweran prison with a delegation of officials and they assessed security arraignments.

Godfrey reported,

“Together with Coalition partners, the United States supports ongoing efforts to improve conditions and security in displacement camps and detention facilities, and to promote improved infrastructure, sanitation, health, education, and economic development in areas liberated from ISIS control.”

The Ghweran prison and others

There are over 10,000 ISIS prisoners in northeast Syria, and ISIS wives and their children make up the majority of the population of the notorious al-Hol camp which consists of about 56,000 people, with more than 10,000   of them being foreigners, many from various western democratic countries who have been held since the fall of Baghuz in 2019.

Ghweran and al-Shaddadi prisons in Hasaka hold an estimated number of 7,500 Syrian and foreign ISIS suspects, including children, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in 2020.  HRW says the SDF holds about 12,000 men and boys suspected of ISIS affiliation, including 2,000 to 4,000 foreigners from almost 50 countries.

Thousands of others are held in secret detention centers where torture is rife, activist groups say.

The Arabs who live near the prison

Arab inmates have been held without charges or trial, fueling resentment by Arab tribal members who accuse the SDF of racial discrimination, and ethnic cleansing of the northeast of Syria.

It is the Syrian Arabs who are the majority of the region, but the US-backed Kurdish forces and their administrative arm are in control of the area at the expense of Syrian families who have been forced from their homes and lands at the hands of the SDF.

Arab tribal elders say some of their community have sympathy for the ISIS inmates, seeing them as victims of the Kurdish occupation of the northeast, which has spawned resentment.

In the wake of the prison break, thousands of residents of Hasaka fled their homes in the bitter cold as the SDF closed in.

Who benefits from the break?

The ISIS inmates benefit as they gain their freedom, and the SDF and the Rojava administration benefit by lessening the load they were tasked and ill-equipped for, and the US benefits by having a new reason to stay longer in Syria.

What does the international community have to say about Syria?

On June 28, the Governments of the United States, Italy, Canada, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Iraq, Ireland, Japan, Jordan, Lebanon, the Netherlands, Norway, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and representatives of the League of Arab States and European Union met on the margins of the Defeat ISIS Coalition Ministerial to discuss the crisis in Syria.

They resolved to focus on humanitarian needs, UN cross-border mechanism, and continued support to Syrian refugees and host countries.

Humanitarian needs are only focused on the Al Qaeda-occupied Idlib province, and a few other border areas which are Turkish-occupied areas or the US-occupied areas.  The vast majority of the Syrian territory and inhabitants are under the Syrian central government in Damascus and do not receive any assistance from foreign donors. These “Friends of Syria” who meet to discuss humanitarian needs do not recognize the needs of the majority of the civilian population but are focused on only the needs of people under the occupation of US and UN-recognized terrorists.

While millions of Syrians left Syria, and some are in refugee camps in Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan, more Syrians remained at home and need help inside Syria.  It would seem only those who left Syria are being rewarded with international help.

The international community says they support the efforts of UN Special Envoy Geir Pedersen and the UN Security Council Resolution 2254 as the solution to almost 11 years of attack on Syria.  However, part of the resolution states “as well as fighting against terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.”

However, the US and EU consistently complain if the Russian forces or the Syrian Arab Army attack Al Qaeda positions in Idlib province.  It would appear that UN 2254 is a tool to prolong the suffering of the Syrian people and prevent the rebuilding of their homes and lives. Besides 2254, the other favorite tool in the toolbox for the US and EU is the sanctions on Syria which prevent importing anything which will be used to rebuild Syria and has even prevented the importation of medical supplies and devices which should be exempt on humanitarian grounds, but western companies are too afraid of the US-EU sanctions to attempt to send anything to Syria.

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This article was originally published on Mideast Discourse.

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

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Voices from Syria (Second Edition) (PDF)

Author: Mark Taliano

ISBN Number: 978-0-9737147-9-1

Year: 2017

Product Type: PDF File

List Price: $6.50

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As expected, Washington and its NATO arm have rejected the Kremlin’s joint security proposal, preferring dire consequences to peace. By rejecting the Kremlin’s proposal, Washington and the Europeans have told the Kremlin that Washington intends to continue its aggressive policy of placing NATO and US missile bases on Russia’s borders and arming Ukraine for attack on Donbass. The rejection also tells Moscow that Ukraine and Georgia, formerly constituent parts of Russia broken off during the period of Russian weakness following the collapse of the Soviet government, remain candidates for NATO Membership despite the Kremlin’s statement that Russia will permit no such membership.

Vladmir Vasilyev, the parliamentary leader of the ruling Russian party said:

“We have waited a long time for a reasonable decision to prevail in Washington, but this is not happening. We only hear about sanctions, and about weapons being sent into the conflict zone. We cannot accept this.” The Americans “are pumping up Ukraine with missile systems, grenade launchers, and other supplies.There are also instructors there to train them how to use this equipment. This is a great danger. It is preparation for military action, and nothing else. Military action against the peaceful population that lives there.”

The Russophobic neoconservatives who dominate US foreign policy controlled the decision and got what they want. But will they want the consequences?

Washington offered to “engage in dialogue” and “listen to Russian concerns,” completely useless reassurances to the Russians. The Kremlin has already conveyed its concerns, and they have been ignored. The Kremlin made it clear that the time for talking is over and that they are not going to be drawn into endless talk that goes nowhere.

At this point the Kremlin cannot possibly back down without inviting even more provocations. So get ready for the dire consequences.

The outcome will not be favorable for Washington. American corporations have told Biden to forget about sanctions as the sanctions hurt US companies worse than they hurt Russia, and NATO is already cracking under the strain of expectations that Russia is going to start playing hardball. Two NATO members, Croatia and Bulgaria, have announced that they won’t be sending any troops to join NATO in any confrontation with Russia in Ukraine, and Germany denied the British flyover permission for their airlift of arms to Ukraine. European governments understand that NATO lacks the military means for a confrontation with Russia.

The available US and NATO troops are just token forces. Washington is reduced to deploying 1,000 soldiers in Bulgaria and Romania to reassure the countries and deter Russia. 1,000 soldiers have no possibility of deterring any Russian army, as the countries understand. No thanks, said Bulgaria.

Stoltenberg’s assurance that NATO has “plans in place” to activate 5,000 French troops and the US will be sending 8,500 troops has the opposite effect of providing comfort. No Russian force would take any notice of such a small number of soldiers. What Stoltenberg has shown is not strength, but Western military weakness.

Washington might be thinking in outmoded ways. It was once thought that a few US soldiers scattered about would prevent an attack because of reluctance to go to war with the US. But the Kremlin has already made it clear that the current security situation is unacceptable to them and that they are not going to continue living with insecurity.

I don’t think war is close at hand unless Washington succeeds in provoking Ukraine to invade Donbass in order to solidify Washington’s hold on Europe and the election for Biden by causing Russian intervention. In which case, it would be a short war with Ukraine sacrificed for Washington’s political purposes. Instead, Russia will target all of Europe with their hypersonic missiles, including the US bases in Poland and Romania and all military facilities in Ukraine as well as Kiev. They will let Europe live under the strain of rising tensions. Europeans are more harmed than benefitted by American hegemony, and sooner or later Europeans will conclude that NATO is a greater threat to them than Russia.

Washington’s decision to reject the security proposal is nonsensical. I suspect the consequence will be a reduction in American power. Washington will replace Russia as the country whose concerns are ignored.

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Dr. Paul Craig Roberts writes on his blog site, PCR Institute for Political Economy, where this article was originally published. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

Featured image: Russian President Vladimir Putin (ID1974/Shutterstock) and President Joe Biden (Stratos Brilakis/shutterstock)