This Year’s (2023) Most Popular Articles

December 29th, 2023 by Global Research News

Pfizer’s “Secret” Report on the COVID Vaccine. Beyond Manslaughter. The Evidence Is Overwhelming. The Vaccine Should be Immediately Withdrawn Worldwide

Prof Michel Chossudovsky, November 24 , 2023

The COVID “Killer Vaccine”. People Are Dying All Over the World. It’s a Criminal Undertaking

Prof Michel Chossudovsky, November 19 , 2023

History: The Federal Reserve Cartel: Freemasons and The House of Rothschild

Dean Henderson, December 9 , 2023

Is the Gaza-Israel Fighting “a False Flag”? They Let It Happen? Their Objective Is “to Wipe Gaza Off the Map”?

Philip Giraldi, December 2 , 2023

We Are Being Smashed Politically, Economically, Medically and Technologically by the Elite’s ‘Great Reset’: Why? How Do We Fight Back Effectively?

Robert J. Burrowes, November 26 , 2023

Video: “Wiping Gaza Off The Map”: Big Money Agenda. Confiscating Palestine’s Maritime Natural Gas Reserves

Felicity Arbuthnot, December 16 , 2023

“Greater Israel”: The Zionist Plan for the Middle East

Israel Shahak, December 16 , 2023

Look Up! Wake Up, People! You Are Being “Suicided in Warp Speed”.

Peter Koenig, December 6 , 2023

Ophthalmologists Now Ethically Obligated to Denounce COVID-19 Vaccines, as 20,000 New Eye Disorders Are Reported

Lance Johnson, May 29 , 2023

Washington Is Out to Topple India’s Modi, Which Is “a Partner of Russia”

F. William Engdahl, June 17 , 2023

The Military Situation in the Ukraine. Jacques Baud

Jacques Baud, December 2 , 2023

How Blackrock Investment Fund Triggered the Global Energy Crisis

F. William Engdahl, November 26 , 2023

Video: Dr. Naomi Wolf Uncovers Pfizer’s Depopulation Agenda, as Evidenced by Its Own Documents

The Vigilant Fox, December 9 , 2023

Turkey-Syria Earthquake: Is This an Act of Terror?

Peter Koenig, September 16 , 2023

The Horrifying Secret Agenda of the UN and WHO: Total Enslavement of Humanity Through a “Global Health Dictatorship”

Peter Koenig, December 14 , 2023

Historical Analysis of the Global Elite: Ransacking the World Economy Until ‘You’ll Own Nothing.’

Robert J. Burrowes, December 2 , 2023

The Federal Reserve Cartel: The Eight Families

Dean Henderson, November 26 , 2023

The Brain Is the Battlefield of the Future. The WEF’s Stated Objective Is “Altering the Human Being”

Peter Koenig, December 3 , 2023

Agenda to Depopulate the Planet Through COVID Vaccination. Revealed by Government Reports and Pfizer Documents

The Expose, November 27 , 2023

War and Natural Gas: The Israeli Invasion and Gaza’s Offshore Gas Fields

Prof Michel Chossudovsky, October 21 , 2023

Canadian Government Admits 48,780 Excess Deaths in 2022 (17% Increase in Mortality). There Is No Evidence COVID-19 Vaccines Saved a Single Life in Canada During 2021-2022

By Dr. William Makis, December 28, 2023

Statistics Canada “Deaths 2022” is data that you can reasonably expect has been thoroughly manipulated and tampered with. It’s “preliminary” and doesn’t include many “younger Canadians” who died suddenly. Even so, it is a devastating report.

Right-Wing Extremism and the Cold War Go Hand-In-Hand

By Cale Holmes, December 28, 2023

U.S. “ironclad” support for militarism undercuts attempts to curb right-wing terrorism. From white supremacist violence in the West Bank to gendered violence in Olongapo, we can’t defeat at home what we export abroad.

U.S. Intelligence: What Is America’s “Fourth Branch of Government” Up to?

By Germán Gorraiz López, December 28, 2023

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was created in 1947 by Harry S. Truman, replacing the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) to investigate administrative and fiscal files without judicial authorization and with the initial philosophy of providing the President with a second point of view drawn up by civilians compared to that provided by the military of the National Security Agency (NSA).

The Middle East: Home of the Earliest Civilizations in World History

By Dr. Vladislav B. Sotirović, December 28, 2023

The region of the Middle East usually covers the territories from the eastern littoral of the Mediterranean Sea up to India in the East. In a broader sense, geographically, the region encompasses territories of the East Mediterranean and Central Asia but many Americans followed by other Western academicians, politicians, and journalists regard as a single region the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). 

Israel’s Crimes and Atrocities Committed in Gaza

By Peter Koenig and Press TV, December 28, 2023

Netanyahu said Israel has no choice but to keep fighting to achieve its goals, including the elimination of Hamas and returning of its hostages. He made the comments after the Israeli army confirmed that 14 troops were killed in Gaza since Friday. It said 153 Israeli troops have been killed and nearly 500 others wounded since the beginning of Israel’s ground invasion in Gaza. Hamas says the number of Israeli army casualties is much higher.

Why Is the Corporate State Media Turning on Netanyahu?

By Ben Bartee, December 28, 2023

Over the past several decades, until very recently, you would have been hard-pressed to locate a single word of criticism in the corporate state media leveled at literally anything the Israeli state does. The uniparty’s pawns in elected government — and, more to the point, the national security state that actually runs foreign policy — have unanimously, full-throatedly embraced Zionism without reservation.

Mass Protests. Washington Is “Coordinating” the Actions of Both the Serbian Government and the Serbian Opposition. Dragana Trifkovic

By Dragana Trifkovic, December 28, 2023

Mass protests have begun in Belgrade. Opposition members and their supporters, who disagree with the results of the recent parliamentary elections, have taken to the streets, blocking roads and attacking government buildings. Law enforcement agencies are responding by trying to contain the unrest. The situation is heating up.

Constitutional Violations: Julian Assange, Privacy and the CIA

By Dr. Binoy Kampmark, December 28, 2023

As a private citizen, the options for suing an intelligence agency are few and far between. The US Central Intelligence Agency, as with other members of the secret club, pour scorn on such efforts. To a degree, such a dismissive sentiment is understandable: Why sue an agency for its bread-and-butter task, which is surveillance?

Will Biden be Forced to Send Ground Troops to Yemen? Escalation? “Both Israel and the US want to implicate Iran.” Mike Whitney

By Mike Whitney, December 28, 2023

The Biden administration is blaming Iran for drone attacks on a commercial tanker in the Indian Ocean. The claims are being used as leverage on Iran to pressure the Houthis to abandon their blockade in the Red Sea and allow maritime traffic to return to normal. But the Houthis have no intention of caving in to pressure from Iran or anyone else. They are determined to continue their attacks on Israel-bound traffic however long it takes and whatever the cost.

As US Veto Power Enables Genocide, There Are Still UN Options to Protect Gaza. Dr. Marjorie Cohn

By Prof. Marjorie Cohn, December 28, 2023

The Biden administration, Israel’s chief enabler, defanged the resolution that was ultimately passed by the UN Security Council on December 22, rendering it merely symbolic. The final resolution calls for humanitarian assistance but not for a ceasefire which would allow aid to reach the people of Gaza. The U.S. saved diplomatic face by not employing its customary veto, but it did not vote for the resolution, electing instead to abstain.

Right-Wing Extremism and the Cold War Go Hand-In-Hand

December 28th, 2023 by Cale Holmes

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U.S. “ironclad” support for militarism undercuts attempts to curb right-wing terrorism. From white supremacist violence in the West Bank to gendered violence in Olongapo, we can’t defeat at home what we export abroad.

In his first month as secretary of defense with the J6 Capitol riots fresh in memory, Lloyd Austin rolled out training requirements to combat right-wing extremism in the ranks of the U.S. military. 

Extremism has indeed been a problem for quite some time, dating back to early American history when George Washington’s army committed violence against the Iroquois and recaptured enslaved Africans who had fled from plantations. In 1919, W.E.B. Du Bois found evidence of widespread racism in the ranks of the U.S. army. All-too-common slurs against Asian Americans originate from U.S. troops fighting the Korean War.

In occupied Guam, activist Naek Flores shared a harrowing incident with CODEPINK during our recent webinar, Beyond the Cold War: A Feminist Foreign Policy for the Asia-Pacific. An air force member reportedly vandalized two buildings, with the message: “Stop racism against white Americans. Our tax dollars pay for your entire government, your paychecks. Without us, you are nothing.” Flores linked the racist vandalism to similar incidents at the hand of Israeli troops in Gaza.

But Austin’s initiatives, while focused on a very real problem, have not addressed that link – the one between extremism and U.S. imperialism. Austin’s policies have in fact solidified this link, by invoking military alliances with settler colonialist states and former colonies of the U.S. as a pretext for “defending” national security. From supporting Israel’s aggression to provoking China, Austin’s “ironclad” commitment to militarism threatens human security, and leaves no room for peace and protecting communities most vulnerable to extremism.

Despite more attention needed on rooting out right-wing extremism from Chicago to Salt Lake City, Austin’s priorities have been focused on targeting the countries of origin of those victimized at home. Since October, he’s repeatedly expressed support for Israel’s genocidal bombardment of Palestine, despite 153 countries – the majority of the world – supporting a ceasefire at the United Nations. 

On December 18, he tweeted on his way to Tel Aviv that he was traveling to reiterate the U.S.’ “ironclad commitment to Israel” and discuss ways to topple Gaza’s government. It comes as the U.S. is sending warships to Yemen (where a U.S.-backed siege has killed at least hundreds of thousands) to reopen the Red Sea for Israeli commerce.

Even as Austin has raised concerns about Israel’s conduct, he’s stubbornly backing it, despite the Palestinian people and the entire world demanding peace, all while bringing more, not less conflict, to war-torn Yemen. The rules-based order is definitely not a diplomacy-based order or a humanity-based order. And it reveals why the South China Sea and Korean peninsula are also on the brink of war.

Austin has used his favorite word – “ironclad” – to embrace Japan’s remilitarization. While the U.S. fought Japan just 80 years ago, most of Japan’s wartime atrocities mostly targeted the Asia-Pacific region from Beijing to Bataan. In fact, Japanese expansionism during the 20th century was enabled by Western politicians who supported Japan’s colonization of Korea in the Taft-Katsura Agreement, as well as the Chinese coastal city of Qingdao after Germany’s defeat in World War I. In October, days before Israel escalated its 75-year-long occupation, Austin said Article V of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty affirms an “ironclad” commitment to defend Japan’s claim to the Senkaku or Diaoyu Islands – territory disputed by China.

Aside from the danger of affirming a military alliance instead of seeking ways to de-escalate between a former colonizer and the country it once colonized, Austin’s ironclad commitment also potentially makes the Japanese people casualties of a would-be war with China.

Signed in 1960, eight years after the U.S. ended its occupation of Japan, the treaty was protested by 6.4 million workers. In Okinawa, occupied by the U.S. until 1972, residents have continued to oppose the treaty’s authorization of American military bases. As New Diplomacy Initiative director Sayo Saurta highlighted in an interview with CODEPINK back in August, Okinawans are still standing up to environmental and human rights abuses perpetrated by U.S. forces.

Austin’s ironclad commitment to our military alliance with South Korea also exposes how little he’s worried about resuming the Korean War. As President Biden met with President Xi in San Francisco, Austin’s visit to Seoul was an alarming reminder that U.S. nuclear threats in Asia did not end with President Trump. Austin said the U.S. commitment includes “the full range of nuclear, conventional, and missile defense capabilities.” Instead of breaking with our ugly history of nuclear blackmail, Austin’s policies are effectively doubling down and blocking chances for peaceful mediation.

North Korea, of course, has a military alliance with China. As Joseph Gerson wrote in a letter to the Boston Globe in September, “Common security negotiations today between the United States and China, focused on Taiwan, the Korean Peninsula, and South China Sea, can resolve the security dilemma and prevent ‘avoidable’ and catastrophic war.”

If Austin really cares about security, as well as stopping extremism, it’s time he expresses ironclad commitment to negotiations, which would decrease abuses of power by military personnel and promote mutual understanding between our supposed adversaries. We can also finally begin our path to decolonization.

From decades of deforestation to the 2014 transphobic murder of Jennifer Laude, our military footprint has increased violence and exploitation. Just like with Japan and South Korea, the Philippines is also in danger of becoming a battleground in a world war. In April, Austin announced four new U.S. military bases in the northern region of Luzon. Some analysts fear President Bongbong Marcos is poised to join a U.S. contingency in nearby Taiwan if war breaks out.

Austin said the U.S.’ support for the Mutual Defense Treaty with the Philippines also remains ironclad, echoing numerous statements of the kind made since the summer as maritime tensions between Beijing and Manila have flared up. Based on a then-secret agreement, hosting U.S. military bases was a condition for the Philippines’ independence, granted in 1946. This was despite the widespread racist abuse by U.S. forces. In 1951, the Mutual Defense Treaty was signed. It has allowed for the continuation of American abuses perpetrated against Filipinos going back to the Spanish-American War. 

From West to East Asia, Austin’s commitment to military alliances is getting in the way of his stated goal of stamping out right-wing extremism. We can’t defeat at home what we are exporting abroad, from white supremacist settler aggression in the West Bank to gendered violence in Olongapo. His ironclad commitments keep no one safe and only secure the legacies of colonization and nuclear terrorism. To truly build peace and root out extremism in the ranks, Austin must embrace common-sense diplomacy and human-centered security. 

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Cale Holmes is CODEPINK’s China Is Not Our Enemy Campaign Coordinator. Cale is an international relations analyst, writer, and environmentalist who has lived in Beijing. He serves as CODEPINK’s China Is Not Our Enemy Campaign Coordinator.

Featured image: US Flag Around the Earth — Image by © Images.com/Corbis

All Global Research articles can be read in 51 languages by activating the Translate Website button below the author’s name (only available in desktop version).

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Wright Mills, in his book “The Power Elite” (1.956), indicates that the key to understanding the American concern would be in the over-organization of his society.

Thus, the establishment would be “the elite group formed by the union of the political, military, economic, university and mass media sub-elites of the United States”, lobbies that would be interconnected by “a restless alliance based on their community of interests and led by military metaphysics” a concept based on a military definition of reality that would have transformed the economy into a permanent economic war and whose paradigm would be the Rockefellers by participating in financial lobbying, military and industry and one of whose members, David would be the driver of “Trilateral Commission” (TC) or Trilateral (1973).

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was created in 1947 by Harry S. Truman, replacing the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) to investigate administrative and fiscal files without judicial authorization and with the initial philosophy of providing the President with a second point of view drawn up by civilians compared to that provided by the military of the National Security Agency (NSA).

Until Eisenhower, the CIA was only the central intelligence organization for the United States government and was behind multiple insurgent training tasks and destabilizing governments contrary to Pentagon policies, but the military and financial lobbies (both fagged by the Zionist lobby) could not resist the temptation to create a de facto government that manipulated the intricacies of power, leading to the emergence of a new entity: the military-industrial complex, in Eisenhower’s words and the control of the United States Congress and Senate.

Eisenhower himself, a year before the end of his term, delivered a premonitory speech of the subsequent mutation of the initial “Campus” until the shadow government that guards American democracy today and from which all democratically elected presidents are held hostage:

“In government councils, we must be attentive to the acquisition of an illegitimate influence, whether or not projected by the military-industrial complex. The risk of the development of a usurped power exists and will persist. We will never allow the weight of this conjunction to threaten our freedoms or democratic processes”.

For his part, Kennedy, in a speech at Columbia University on November 14, 1963, admits that

“there is strong pressure from US power groups to turn the office of President into something merely figurative”

and so, on November 21, 1963, he was forced to sign executive order 11490, “which allows in an emergency to provide the government with exceptional measures, even for any dictatorship” and shortly before leaving for Dallas commented to his intimate advisors: “We have to face the CIA…” while secretly preparing a meeting with Fidel Castro.

All this implied a clear plea to the CIA, a true shadow power-bearer and deeply entrenched in all the US power apparatus.

Thus, its leaders proceeded to the gestation of an endogenous plot that dealt with the Coup de Mano against the democratic legality of the American political system and culminated in the Assassination of Kennedy (Dallas, 1.963). Such a plot would be a work of labyrinthine engineering that would have as brains the aforementioned unofficial CIA and as necessary collaborators to the anti-Castro exile in Miami and its connections with the Mafia and the FBI of Hoover, Lee Harvey Oswald as a scapegoat and distraction exercise to deceive the hounds and as collateral damage the birth of a political system protected by the Fourth Power, remaining since then as hostages all successive US Presidents-elect.

At present, the military-industrial complex would have been transformed into the so-called Department of Homeland Security (Homeland Security) and the primitive hydra-CIA would have born 17 new heads in the form of intelligence agencies that would integrate the US Intelligence Community (the Fourth Branch of Government according to Tom Engelhardt), pathogens of a totalitarian nature and turned into a parallel state and real power in the shadow. This would make the prophetic words of the so-called “Father of the Constitution” James Madison, who in number 47 of the Federalist essay, says

“the accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judicial, in the same hands and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, can be equated with the same definition of tyranny.”

Given the current division of American society into two symmetrical and irreconcilable halves, presumably the Fourth Branch of Government uses its resources to get the next President of the US to implant an Orwellian government that will drink from the sources of paternalism of soft dictatorships and be characterized by the cult of the leader, the use of disinformation and Orwellian surveillance of the non-white population and political dissent, which would de facto be an autocratic government or kind of invisible dictatorship supported by solid strategies of cohesion (mass manipulation and leader worship).

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Germán Gorraiz López is a political analyst. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

The Middle East: Home of the Earliest Civilizations in World History

December 28th, 2023 by Dr. Vladislav B. Sotirović

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The Middle East was the home of the earliest civilizations in the world’s history. The first urbanizations and literacy started there.

The region of the Middle East usually covers the territories from the eastern littoral of the Mediterranean Sea up to India in the East. In a broader sense, geographically, the region encompasses territories of the East Mediterranean and Central Asia but many Americans followed by other Western academicians, politicians, and journalists regard as a single region the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). 

The majority of the inhabitants of MENA have many things in common like the Arab language and culture, confession of Islam, etc., but on the other, different ethnic minorities exist in each of those regional countries while the Islamic religion is divided into two factions: the Sunni (majority) and the Shia (minority). 

All states of the region of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) can be selected into four ethnic-geographic sub-regions (groups): 

1) The North African states; 

2) The Persian Gulf States; 

3) The Central Arab states; and 

4) Iran and Israel. 

The combined number of inhabitants of all of those states is more than 250 million (for the matter of comparison, in the EU 28, i.e. with the UK, there were some 500 million people).

The region itself is experiencing culture and civilization back some 6000 years but the majority of the present-day nations are relatively new.

In other words, except for Iran and Egypt, all other regional states appeared in their present form only in the last century, largely after WWI, but some of them even after WWII (Israel).

The number of states in MENA can be fixed by taking into account at least three criteria:

1) The historical period;

2) Political conditions; and

3) Geopolitical perspective.

Today usually is applied that there are 24 states (with Palestine) in the region of MENA (but with Turkey and Sudan 26).

However, the state of Palestine is still not generally and formally recognized as independent, as it was expected to appear as such taking into consideration the results of the Israeli-PLO negotiations (Roadmap for Peace). 

It is worth noticing that the first modern Arab country became Egypt of Muhammad Ali in the first half of the 19th century when due to the French (Napoleonic) occupation Egypt became familiar with some features of the “European progress”.

Muhammad Ali started certain modernization reforms of the society like the creation of a modern and more effective governance organization, rational economic system, and a modern army restructured and reorganized according to West European principles of warfare at that time. It was established in Cairo as the first Western-type institute, the Egyptian Institute, in the Arab world with the crucial function of spreading out Western European (mainly the French) philosophers’ writings (like Russo and Volter).  

The majority of the regional populations are Arabs and Muslims. Pan-Arabism is one of the focal political issues in MENA in the 20th and 21st centuries.

In recent times, leadership within the Pan-Arab movement, however, initially passed to the hands of the Christian Arabs in Lebanon and Syria. Nevertheless, all political attempts to form some kind of United Arab Republic failed but there are successful stories of macro-regional economic integration, for instance, the economic integration of six states of the Persian Gulf as they created a Gulf Cooperation Council.

Nonetheless, instead of the United Arab Republic existing an Arab League (est. 1945 with 22 member states today) which promotes better communication systems for the region using the Arabic language and the ARABSAT (the Arab Regional Satellite System). 

Oil discovery and production are probably the focal special features of MENA (but particularly of the Middle East) in contemporary history.

The economic and social development of all oil-rich Gulf countries depends almost totally on the policy of oil export and, therefore, for better mutual economic cooperation, Middle Eastern oil-producing nations established their Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (the OAPEC) that is the regional variant of global OPEC (the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries). In fact, some 65−70% of global petroleum reserves are located in the territory of the Middle East. Oil extraction and refining play a significant role in both regional and world economies, and, therefore, have a significant impact on the welfare and politics of the majority of Western (post-industrial) countries (especially of G7).

A lack of a full type of Western “liberal democracy” is another crucial feature of MENA as today, regional forms of governance are ranging from pure authoritarianism (Saudi Arabia) to some forms of democratic experiments based on the Western pattern (Lebanon or Israel) which are followed by Muslim regimes governed by religious leaders (Iran after 1979). Out of 22 Arab League’s states today, 8 of them are republics (including the Islamic Republic of Mauritania and the Baath Socialist Republic of Syria), 7 are monarchies, 4 have a one-party rule, the UAE is a political federation of sheikdoms, Somalia that is, in fact, lacking functioning governance, and finally, Palestine with not clear governmental type and even statehood. In general, regarding politics, the region is still in evolutionary transition as a result of modernization, Westernization, and globalization including references to economic and educational development with current tendencies of the radicalization of Islam as anti-colonial ideology against the post-industrial Western imperialism and the Zionist Israeli (backed by the USA) policy of apartheid (segregation and discrimination) and ethnic cleansing.   

An ancient conflict between two Islamic factions – the Sunni and the Shia Muslims – is another feature of the division of the region of the Middle East and North Africa. The first division within Islam was born soon after the death of his Prophet Muhammad in 632 A.D. when the Islamic world of Arabs became divided between those who had the pretensions to inherit the religious power after the death of the Prophet. They created two principal factions with different claims. The Sunni faction claimed that the religious power of the Caliph after 632 A.D. passed to Abu Bakr – Muhammad’s father-in-law, while the Shia faction (“Followers of Ali”) claimed the religious power to the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet – Ali ibn Abi Talib. The assassination of the third Caliph, Uthman ibn Affan in 656, and the election of Ali ibn Abi Talib fueled the first armed conflict (civil war) among the Muslims which ended with the Battle of the Camel on November 7th, 656 in present-day Iraq in Basra between Aisha’s supporters (widow of the Prophet) and Ali ibn Abi Talib’s supporters (the fourth Caliph and son-in-law of the Prophet) who won the battle against Aisha. However, it was only after the murder of Ali, and a few years later, of his son Hussein ibn Ali in the Battle of Karbala on October 10th, 680 in present-day Iraq, that Islam went to a dogmatic and political split. The Shia Muslims reject the legitimacy of the first three Caliphs whom, however, the Sunni Muslims follow, having at the same time some doctrinal and political differences with the Sunnis. The biggest percentage of Shia Muslims today in the Middle East is in Iran (90−95%), Bahrain (65−75%), Iraq (60−70%), Lebanon (45−55%), and Yemen (30−40%).

The last important feature of the Middle East is the sectarian violence and its impact in some regional states. Several cases are going to be mentioned below:

  1. The Saudi government is composed of Sunnis and the monarchy itself in power belongs exclusively to the Sunni faction which is in constant competition with the Shia Iran. The government of Saudi Arabia fears that the Shia theocratic Islamic Republic of Iran could create serious unrest within both the Saudi and the Gulf’s Shia communities. However, both Iran and Saudi Arabia, in fact, are pretending to become the leading power in the region.
  2. The majority of Bahrain’s population is the Shia believers but there is a ruling Sunni monarchy. Inspired by the Arab Spring in 2011, the Shia believers started to demonstrate their political rights but without support from the US administration. The Bahraini Sunni governmental authorities and its allies, including Saudi Arabia, have violently cracked down on protests, killing hundreds of civilians.
  3. In Iraq, for a long time, the country’s Shia majority had been oppressed by the Sunni regime in Baghdad. We have to keep in mind that in Iraq exist the most sacred religious sites for the Shia Muslims. After the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, they came to power and the Shia population began to target the Sunni community. The Sunni believers have been persecuted and tortured by the Shia death squads and in response to the increasing violence against them, Iraqi Sunnis have committed several suicide attacks and bombings. As a consequence, the Shia-Sunni religious sectarianism in Iraq exacerbated the nationalistic and fundamentalistic attitudes of the Shia Muslims in power and has contributed to the strengthening of the Sunni support to ISIS (ISIL, DAESH).   
  4. For Iran, the most important thing is to protect its regional interests among them the rights of the Shia population abroad. For instance, after the Iranian Islamic revolution of 1979 that brought the Shia government to power in Tehran, Iran began to fund and encourage the Shia revolts in the eastern region of Saudi Arabia which is rich in oil reserves. The Iranian government is also supporting the government of Alawite (a branch of Shia Islam) Assad in Syria, which bridges with Lebanon.
  5. In Yemen, the Houthi rebels, located predominantly in the northern part of the country, are Shia Muslims and represent about 1/3 of the total population. The Houthis were able to force the resignation of President Hadi, recognized by the international community. Regardless of the fact that during the revolt in 2014−2015, Shia rebels took political control, the majority of Sunni tribes in South Yemen do not recognize the Shia authority. In 2015 it was formed a coalition of Arab states under the leadership of Saudi Arabia to support former President Hadi against the Houthi rebels, who are pro-Iranian. Large parts of the territory of Yemen are also under the control of the Sunni militant group al-Qaeda which is opposed to both Shia Houthi and the ex-government of Hadi. The Sunni al-Qaeda in Yemen has been several years targeted by the controversial US drone campaign inside of the country.
  6. Finally, behind the Syrian civil war which started in 2011 is, in essence, sectarian violence. Syrian President al-Assad belongs to the minority of Alawite Muslims who are a branch of the Shia sect. The Alawites take their name from Ali ibn Abi Talib who was a cousin, son-in-law, and the first male follower of the Prophet Muhammad (Alawite = “Follower of Ali”). The protests against Assad’s rule started in March 2011 and have been violently repressed. Nevertheless, the Syrian civil war has in part contributed to exacerbating the feelings of hatred and resentment between the Shia and the Sunni communities in the country. During the conflict, Shia Iran and the Shia Hezbollah from South Lebanon, in the moment of greatest difficulty for Assad’s regime, have flocked to the side of President Assad to prevent the deposition. However, similarly, the Sunni fighters from Jabhat al-Nusra Front and the Sunni ISIS are fighting in Syria against Assad. We have to keep in mind that Jabhat al-Nusra is the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda and that the Sunni monarchies of the Persian Gulf and Sunni Turkey are financially and militarily supporting the Sunni opposition fighters in Syria.

The region of the Middle East and North Africa is an area where geography and history are important factors in the contemporary lives of the people.

There are many native peoples of the region for whom MENA is considered as the Arab homeland. It refers to those lands in which the Arabic language (with all dialects) is spoken. It is, basically, a unique region in the world regarding geography, geopolitics, and geostrategy as here three continents are meeting each other (Europe, Africa, and Asia) and as the region which was a focal point of the development of the first civilizations.

Geologically, its topography was transformed after the Ice Age from a climate that supported the grasslands and waterways into vast steppes and deserts. Around 2000 B.C., the pastoral people of Aryans, or called as well as Indo-Iranians migrated into India and West as well as Central Asia, including today’s Iran (Persia) and surrounding countries. Strategically, MENA was considered all the time to be an extremely valuable geostrategic territory as being a crossroad for trade, faith, conflicts, or cultural development.

In principle, the crucial mark of the region is the predominant Arab culture with some contrasts in the cultural habits between, for instance, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Besides, the cultural features of several other ethnic and confessional groups of MENA give a more comprehensive picture of the region’s peoples and challenges.

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Dr. Vladislav B. Sotirović is a former university professor in Vilnius, Lithuania. He is a Research Fellow at the Center for Geostrategic Studies. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

Israel’s Crimes and Atrocities Committed in Gaza

December 28th, 2023 by Peter Koenig

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Background

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the Gaza war has exacted a “very heavy price” on the regime.

Netanyahu said Israel has no choice but to keep fighting to achieve its goals, including the elimination of Hamas and returning of its hostages. He made the comments after the Israeli army confirmed that 14 troops were killed in Gaza since Friday. It said 153 Israeli troops have been killed and nearly 500 others wounded since the beginning of Israel’s ground invasion in Gaza. Hamas says the number of Israeli army casualties is much higher.

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PressTV: Israel has committed enormous crimes against humanity, causing more than 21,000 Palestinian casualties, since Netanyahu ordered a ground invasion in Gaza.

Please give us your views on these crimes and their consequences.

Peter Koenig (PK): Where to begin is the question. There is an abundance of crimes being committed as we speak

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are wantonly targeting civilian populations.

Of the estimated more than 21,000 killed since October 7, at least two-thirds are women and children.

Coincidence? Of course not, there are no coincidences. Children are the future generation of Palestine, and women are the bearers of future generations. Eliminating them is an Israeli strategy.

More than 80% of all housing is destroyed, not to speak of infrastructure.

Israel is withholding emergency shipments of food and water – literally attempting to starve Palestinians to death.

Israel is selectively cutting off electricity and means of communication – internet, telephone, television….

But these are just “statistics”, right?

Nevertheless, think about it, when you are celebrating New Year with friends and have good times — you may, of course. It is your right. 

But please, DO NOT forget Gaza and Palestine.

Remember, that most likely your government – especially when you are in the US or European Union – your government supports or rather encourages the Israeli slaughter of Palestinians.

And I have not even mentioned yet: the execution-style killings; a few days ago IDF soldiers separated a group of men from women then they shot point blank the men – about a dozen – in front of their wives and children.

Organ stealing – totally illegal, Israel has always been one of the leaders in human organ trading, if not THE leader – now they are stealing killed Palestinians, remove their organs for their illicit organ trade.

Stripping civilians, mostly men, by the hundreds, having them sitting in rows in full sight of everybody – a shameful humiliation. 

And more, much more – the list goes on and on, Israeli crimes have no end.

Nobody should ever talk about the Holocaust inflicted by Nazi Germany on the Jews. Nobody.

What Zionists are doing to Palestinians is at least in the same category or worse. 

And it has lasted for 75 years, for the entire existence of Israel, the apartheid system has prevailed – and killed countless Palestinians indiscriminately, year after year; silenced by the mainstream media, most of which are under Zionist control.

In addition to all the atrocities mentioned before, there is the human suffering that cannot be accounted for, not in money, not in numbers.

But the price Israel is most likely paying for their indiscriminate and well-thought-out genocide of an entire population is high – it may be Israel herself. 

Netanyahu, Zionist-in-chief, is wiping Israel off the map.

Once this is over – and one day it will be over, namely as soon as the money and weapons flow stops, pretty much like the Ukraine – then, the war will stop.

Israel cannot survive without Western money – with war or without war. 

Israel’s regular budget, in normal times, depends to about one-third on “subsidies” from the US – compliments of US tax-payers.

The price for these atrocities and suffering Israel is inflicting on Palestine will be steep.

PEACE is what We, the Western People – forget our corrupted governments – wish upon Palestine.

Our thoughts, our positive vibes, shall help bring PEACE to Palestine.

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Note to readers: Please click the share button above. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter and subscribe to our Telegram Channel. Feel free to repost and share widely Global Research articles.

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

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

Featured image: Bad Moon Rising – by Mr. Fish

Сви чланци Глобалног истраживања могу се читати на 51 језику активирањем дугмета Преведи веб локацију испод имена аутора (доступно само у верзији за десктоп).

Да бисте добили дневни билтен Глобал Ресеарцх-а (изабрани чланци), кликните овде.

Кликните на дугме за дељење изнад да бисте е-поштом/проследили овај чланак својим пријатељима и колегама. Пратите нас на Инстаграму и Твиттеру и претплатите се на наш Телеграм канал. Слободно поново постављајте и делите чланке Глобалног истраживања.

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Почели су масовни протести у Београду. Опозиционари и њихове присталице, који се не слажу са резултатима недавних парламентарних избора, изашли су на улице, блокирајући путеве и нападајући зграде владе. Органи за спровођење закона реагују покушавајући да обуздају немире. Ситуација се захуктава.

По мишљењу стручњака, у Србији се могуће организује државни удар по узору на украјински Мајдан 2014. Већина стручњака сматра да акције српске опозиције координирају Брисел и Вашингтон.

Да ли је могућа политичка револуција у Србији?

Директорка Центра за геостратешка истраживања Драгана Трифковић изнела је руском Јавном сервису своје мишљење о овом питању:

Ко прави протесте у Београду и какви су њихови захтеви?

У Србији су одржани 17. децембра ванредни парламентарни, београдски и локални избори. По мом мишљењу, циљ организовања ванредних избора је био легитимизација политике владајућег режима, посебно у вези са Косовом и Метохијом.

Подсетићу да је владајући режим потписао Бриселски споразум 2013. године и Вашингтонски споразум 2020. године, којим се Србија практично одриче суверенитета и пристаје на одлуке албанских сепаратиста подржаних Вашингтоном. Такође у фебруару ове године је усмено усвојен Француско-немачки план у Охриду, којим се признаје суверенитет, територијални интегритет и национални симболи независног Косова. САД сматрају да је усмени пристанак председника Србије Александра Вучића довољан за легитимизацију независног Косова. Истовремено председник Србије понавља како никада неће признати косовску независност, али не поништава већ потписане договоре и усмени пристанак.

За САД је важно да након избора заврше пројекат косовске независности и у том циљу они координишу деловање и власти и опозиције. То је потребно имати у виду приликом оцене тренутне ситуације у Србији, где су протести и политичка нестабилност само део једног ширег плана.

Постоје индиције да се Вучић сагласио са захтевом амбасадора САД Кристофера Хила да власт у Београду пређе у руке про-западне опозиције, али је очигледно да он жели да задржи власт у Београду. Апсолутно не подржавам мешање страног фактора у Србији, као ни насилне протесте. Међутим чињеница је да и власт и опозиција имају исти политички програм, а то је безалтернативне интеграције Србије у ЕУ. Недавно је ЕУ укључила у процес европинтеграција обавезу Србије да призна косовску независност.

Да закључим, протесте у Србији организује опозција због изборних нерегуларности, али они нису претња по режим осим ако не добију пуну подршку Запада, што сада није случај. Дакле прозападна опозиција користи америчком амбасадору као контролни фактор ка власти, како би власт испунила све потписане уговоре у вези са Косовом.

Да ли је могуће у Србији очекивати државни преврат?

Након ванредних избора режим Александра Вучића је добио већину у Парламенту и фактички се учврстио на власти. То говори о томе да он има и даље велику подршку са Запада. Са једне стране српски режим покшава да одугловачи са потписаним и сагласованим обавезама око Косова, а са друге стране САД желе да пре избора у Америци реализују у потпуности пројекат косовске независности. Дакле ако поредимо ситуацију у Србији са ситуацијом у Украјини до Мајадана, јер има доста таквих поређења, морамо да будемо свесни кључне разлике. То је да је Јанукович одложио потписивање договора са ЕУ, а Вучић за сада ништа није одложио и даље заступа идеју безалтернативних интеграција Србије у ЕУ. Из тог разлога сматрам да не постоји никаква опасност да дође до државног преврата у Србији. Летос смо имали далеко озбиљније демонстрације у Србији где је на улицама било преко 100 хиљаде људи, али након што се про-западна опозција инсталирала на чело тих протеста, они су угушени. Треба и истаћи то да незадовољство грађана у Србији евидентно постоји, и да су они подједнако незадовољни и влашћу и опозицијим, односно комплетном политичком сценом Србије. Фактички у Србији не постоји алтернатива безалтернативном путу у ЕУ нити озбиљне политичке структуре које би могле да задобију поверење грађана. Из тог разлога је нејасно чиме може да резултира нарастајуће незадовољство грађана.

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Напомена за читаоце: Кликните на дугме за дељење изнад. Пратите нас на Инстаграму и Твиттеру и претплатите се на наш Телеграм канал. Слободно поново постављајте и делите чланке Глобалног истраживања.

Why Is the Corporate State Media Turning on Netanyahu?

December 28th, 2023 by Ben Bartee

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Over the past several decades, until very recently, you would have been hard-pressed to locate a single word of criticism in the corporate state media leveled at literally anything the Israeli state does. The uniparty’s pawns in elected government — and, more to the point, the national security state that actually runs foreign policy — have unanimously, full-throatedly embraced Zionism without reservation.

The few over the years who have strayed from the company line, like Pat Buchanan, have been met with the full force of the Israel lobby and its media attack dogs at the Anti-Defamation League, which intentionally, disgustingly conflate criticism of Israel with antisemitism, a common tactic to silence the Israeli state’s political opponents.

Via ADL:

“Buchanan makes no attempt to hide his anti-Semitic and anti-Israel views, which have become more virulent in recent years…

Buchanan also turned his attention to Israel in his columns in 2010. In a June 2010 article, ‘Lift the Siege of Gaza,’ about the Israeli offensive in Gaza, Buchanan wrote that it “’was the inevitable result of Israel doing what it always seems to do: going beyond what is essential to her security, to impose collective punishment upon any and all it regards as hostile to Israel.’ In a May 2010 column, ‘Poodle Biden Gets Kicked,’ about Vice President Joe Biden’s visit to Israel, Buchanan cited Biden’s comment that ‘there is no space between the United States and Israel when it comes to Israel’s security.’ Buchanan then claimed that Biden ‘was played for a fool’ when Israel decided it would build new homes in disputed areas. Buchanan called Americans “grovelers” when it comes to dealing with Israel and claimed that the U.S. responded like a ‘battered spouse to Israel’s ’public slap across the face.’

Buchanan went on to criticize those who believe his views are anti-Semitic… ‘They charge us with anti-Semitism… The truth is, those hurling these charges harbor a ‘passionate attachment’ to a nation not our own that causes them to subordinate the interests of their own country and to act on an assumption that, somehow, what’s good for Israel is good for America.’“

Where’s the lie, ADL? They present Buchanan’s claims with no rebuttal as if they are self-evidently a.) incorrect and b.) somehow antisemitic even though in all cited examples Buchanan is explicitly discussing U.S. foreign policy vis-a-vis Israel — nothing about Jews or Judaism.

Anyway, in recent weeks, a new phenomenon has unfolded: the knives have come out against the government of Bibi Netanyahu (not the Israeli state per se) in the corporate state media — even in its epicenter, which is Morning Joe and his sidepiece, Mika “Deep State Nepo-Baby” Brzeziński. Whatever line Joe and Mika are parroting is, invariably, the current approved narrative; it doesn’t get more establishment.

What gives?

There might be an amalgam of explanations, as most geopolitical issues are multifactorial. But here’s what I think is going on:

Netanyahu, as head of the Likud party and of a governing coalition including even more dogmatic parties, represents the highly religious, nationalistic faction of Israeli politics that is most likely to resist a full takeover by the multinational corporate state. Their vision of an explicitly Jewish state conflicts with the monocultural global technocracy’s ambition to turn the world into a consolidated techno-fiefdom.

What sold me on this theory was a trend that began earlier this year, when I saw a symphony of top technocrats, led by the WEF lieutenant himself, Yuval Noah Harari, who is no critic of Israel per se as a geopolitical beachhead in the Middle East as such, publicly turn on Netanyahu.

Via Times of Israel, March 2023:

“The Israeli historian, philosopher, and best-selling author Yuval Noah Harari said Thursday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may go down in history as the man who destroyed Israel.

Harari, who has been vocal about his opposition to a proposed judicial overhaul by Netanyahu’s right-wing government, said the long-serving prime minister has divided the country to preserve his political longevity.

This has caused rifts that will be difficult to heal, Harari said.

‘If Netanyahu had retired after two terms in office or after, say, eight years. I think even though I didn’t like many of the things he did, I think he would have retired as one of the great leaders of Israel,’ Harari said during an interview with The Associated Press in Tel Aviv.

‘Now, his legacy is he is certainly the divider of Israel, the person who divided the Israeli nation against itself. And I hope … we don’t get there,’ he said. ‘But he could go down in history as the person who destroyed the state of Israel.’…

Harari said Netanyahu, who is in a coalition with ultra-Orthodox and ultranationalist parties affiliated with the West Bank settlement movement, could move toward a dictatorship if the [judicial reform] plan is passed, and sounded the alarm for Israel’s Western backers.

If this kind of power falls into the hands of an autocratic regime, which is also a fundamentalist religious regime with expansionist aims and with this belief in Jewish supremacy, it will set the whole Middle East on fire,’ Harari said.”

The likes of Harari view Israel as a necessary asset of the Western corporate state in a region otherwise dominated by Muslim caliphates, even the most closely-held of which, like Saudi Arabia, are only on board for the oil money and the weapons/military assistance. Even given that the leaderships of these countries are nominally in on the globalist project, they sit atop a barely-contained ticking time bomb of Islamic fundamentalism, waiting for any opening to make a mess of things. Imagine ISIS but backed by the vast oil wealth currently controlled by the Saudi royal family and their analogs in the other Gulf States. This makes them unreliable allies at best, to the extent they could be considered allies at all and not mercenaries. Israel is an indispensable asset in the region.

Religious Israeli hardliners, therefore, represent the chief ideological adversaries of creatures such as Harari, as do nationalists of all stripes — be they secular or sectarian in nature, or ethnocentric or multicultural. It is no coincidence that, since the latter half of the 20th century, “nationalism” has become a dirty word in polite neoliberal society, analogized to Nazism.

Israel, but for the Zionist ultra-nationalists in the way, is very nearly a fully captured state. The most glaring evidence for this is its government’s full-throated embrace of the COVID shots as “the first country on Earth to fully vaccinate a majority of its citizens against COVID-19” and its offering of the Israeli population as the de facto global guinea pigs for the pharmaceutical companies.

There are self-interested geopolitical reasons, of course, for Israel to give itself over to the multinational corporate state; it is surrounded on all sides, except the one occupied by a sea, by its enemies. It depends wholly on the financial, diplomatic, and military support of the United States, which at the top is itself nearly fully captured.

I have previously argued, which I stand by, that October 7 was not an “intelligence failure.” However, I am open to the possibility that Netanyahu himself did not see the attack coming and that the Israeli national security/intelligence apparatus hid pertinent information from him so as to achieve a pretext to finally get rid of him. If that is the case, putting the puzzle pieces together as to why American corporate state media has turned on Bibi becomes easier. 

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This article was originally published on the author’s Substack, Armageddon Prose.

Ben Bartee, author of Broken English Teacher: Notes From Exile, is an independent Bangkok-based American journalist with opposable thumbs. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

All Global Research articles can be read in 51 languages by activating the Translate Website button below the author’s name (only available in desktop version).

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***

The unfortunate dismantling of the Soviet Union over 30 years ago has left a power vacuum in the enormous territory it covered, either directly or through its ideological “brethren”. One of those was Yugoslavia, a relatively prosperous state that had a hybrid market socialist economy. It can be argued that Yugoslavia served as the testing ground for the US-led political West’s crawling aggression against Russia.

Eliminating the USSR simply wasn’t enough for Washington DC and Brussels, as the then newly established Russian Federation was still way too big and powerful for their liking. At the time, Moscow was kept down by the disastrous Yeltsin-era policies that essentially destroyed not only its status as a superpower, but also much of its internal sovereignty and economic power.

In the meantime, NATO focused on the destruction of whatever was left of Yugoslavia. The country’s largest ethnic group, the Serbs, was particularly targeted, with the political West aiming to reduce Serbian ethnic space as much as possible, starting with “Operation Storm” in 1995, when upwards of 400,000 Serbs were ethnically cleansed from the former Republic of Serbian Krajina and western parts of Republika Srpska. The latter was forcibly incorporated into Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1995.

And that certainly wasn’t the end of it, as just four years later, the world’s most aggressive military alliance directly attacked Serbia itself to take away its resource-rich province of Kosovo and Metohia, resulting in another ethnic cleansing of over 250,000 indigenous Serbs.

However, the US-led NATO wasn’t done with Serbia. On the contrary, already the following year (October 5, 2000), it launched a color revolution, in many ways the first one in the post-Cold War era. Belgrade never really recovered from this, as the newly established Western-backed government effectively destroyed the country’s sovereignty by handing it over to Washington DC and Brussels.

By the mid to late 2000s, Serbia was almost completely dismantled, with Montenegro detaching in 2006 after a shady EU-backed referendum. Even before the vote, NATO threatened Serbia in case it intervened to prevent the secession, which pretty much tells you all you need to know about its legitimacy. Just two years later, the political West officially launched the “Kosovo project” by recognizing its so-called “independence”.

In 2012, Serbia’s pro-Western government lost its standing and was replaced by what many thought was a much more independent and sovereigntist option led by the current President Aleksandar Vucic.

However, the pressure on Serbia never subsided and the new government continued much of the same policies. And yet, this wasn’t enough, so the political West continued supporting various pro-EU/NATO political parties and NGOs, seeking to put even more compliant people in power. The recent parliamentary election is a perfect example of that, where pro-Western opposition parties and organizations launched somewhat Maidan-like violent protests, attacking police and several key institutions, including the Belgrade Assembly, as the capital’s city hall is officially called.

Claiming that the election was rigged, the opposition is demanding a new one. Dozens of violent protesters have been arrested, while at least eight police officers were injured. President Vucic is claiming there’s evidence of foreign interference that led to violent protests, while Prime Minister Ana Brnabic even thanked Russian intelligence services for providing timely information that prevented a more violent escalation. [It should be noted that Brnabic is a Young Leader of the WEF, a disciple of Klaus Schwab] The involvement of Moscow might seem a bit strange, but it’s hardly surprising given the history of NATO-backed protests in countries Russia sees as partners and allies.

There have been at least half a dozen such events in the former Soviet Union in the last two decades, with one resulting in the Donbass War in 2014, forcing the Kremlin to intervene in 2022.

After the aforementioned 2000 coup in Serbia, the people involved were swiftly transferred to Ukraine and Georgia. From there, with the help of US intelligence services, they expanded their operations all across the former Soviet Union, with plans to cause instability in Moscow’s entire geopolitical periphery. The number of people involved in these operations is truly staggering and includes individuals from all walks of life. And yet, there’s one particular name that stands out – Srdja Popovic. This man, clearly one of the CIA’s top assets in all of the former Eastern Bloc and beyond, is one of the key people behind the practical implementation of virtually every major protest in the former USSR.

Worse yet, the mainstream propaganda machine has been showering him with praise for decades now, claiming that he’s “helping democracy”. The Guardian styles him as “the secret architect of global revolution“, while the Economist admitted that “Popovic is advising rebels in 40 countries” (or even more). Back in 1998, packed with CIA funds and resources, Popovic established an organization called “Otpor” (“Resistance” in Serbian). After the 2000 coup, he tried his hand at politics, but failed after his close links to US intelligence services were revealed. Highly unpopular in Serbia, Popovic has been keeping a low profile in the country ever since. However, the CIA and the likes put his “expertise” to “good use”, as he switched to organizing similar movements in the former Soviet Union and the Middle East.

Popovic contributed to the so-called “Arab Spring” coups that helped US aggression in several Middle Eastern countries, including Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Syria. And yet, his most important projects involved Georgia and Ukraine in the early 2000s, where he helped organize the so-called “Rose” and “Orange” revolutions in 2003 and 2004, respectively. In 2005, there was also the so-called “Tulip” revolution in Kyrgyzstan, followed by two more in 2010 and 2020. Interestingly, the last one started on October 5, the exact date of the coup that happened in Serbia precisely 20 years earlier. After the political failure of “Otpor”, in 2004 Popovic founded another organization called the Center for Applied NonViolent Actions and Strategies (CANVAS) and took part in the creation of the “Pora” movement.

This organization was effectively a carbon copy of “Otpor”, only focused on Russia and Ukraine. It took active and sometimes even the leading part in every US/NATO-orchestrated rebellion and protest in both countries, including the infamous Maidan that eventually led to the rise of the Neo-Nazi junta in Ukraine. The activities of such movements have also been recorded in Armenia in 2018 and Kazakhstan in late 2021/early 2022. Although organizations Popovic founded and trained claim to use nonviolent methods, the results of their actions always lead to countless deaths, both directly and indirectly. For instance, the Maidan coup is the reason behind the Donbass war that took upwards of 15,000 lives, with hundreds of thousands more after Russia was forced to put a stop to it.

Taking all this into account, it can easily be argued that Popovic is a dangerous and well-trained US/NATO-backed terrorist who should’ve been arrested . Unfortunately, as this was never done, neither by the Milosevic government nor any other, particularly after his overthrow, people like Popovic were given a free hand to sow discord and instability, playing the role of a vanguard that would then be followed by a more direct US aggression. What’s more, the monsters that Popovic created have now grown into even more dangerous organizations that are continuing his “democratic” work. As previously mentioned, the ongoing protests in Serbia are eerily reminiscent of the infamous Maidan, as they have all the trademarks of Popovic’s playbook.

Although there’s no direct evidence that the Kiev regime’s services, such as the SBU, contributed to the protests, it’s not impossible that precisely this happened. The reaction of Russian intelligence further reinforces this notion. While the current Serbian government has largely given in to Western pressure and blackmail, mostly due to decades of US/NATO aggression and partial occupation, even joining some openly anti-Russian initiatives, it’s certainly not in Moscow’s interest to see the much more pro-Western opposition come to power in Serbia. For this reason, the Kremlin definitely sees the current Belgrade establishment as “the lesser of two evils”, as it can still work with it on a number of issues, despite ongoing attempts to drive a wedge between the two historically allied countries.

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This article was originally published on InfoBrics.

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

Featured image is from InfoBrics

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Nov. 27, 2023 – Statistics Canada released a fascinating report called “Deaths 2022”. Here is my analysis of the report.

 

 

The Statistics Canada Report can be accessed HERE

Excess deaths:

  • Let’s start by analyzing some simple numbers.
  • 48,780 excess deaths in 2022 compared to 2019. 17% increase in mortality.
  • That’s 0.128% of the population, or 1 in every 784 Canadians died in 2022.
  • In USA, that would be equivalent to 423,270 American deaths

What would you do?

  • Let’s assume you’re the Trudeau government and you’ve poisoned your population.
  • You recommended 7 experimental COVID-19 Vaccines that are now causing heart attacks, blood clots, collapses, cancers & sudden deaths.
  • These are the COVID-19 Vaccines the Canadian Government (NACI) recommended:
  • If you followed the Canadian government recommendations precisely, you would have taken 7 COVID-19 Vaccines as of right now.
  • It was also possible to skip the 2nd booster and wait for the Omicron bivalent, which means you would have taken 6 COVID-19 Vaccines.
  • We know that there is a tsunami of sudden deaths in the COVID-19 Vaccinated, but how do you present that data as the Federal Government?

What caused 48,780 deaths in 2022?

  • 19,700 deaths from “COVID-19” in 2022, up from 15,900 in 2020.
  • And this after 7 COVID-19 Vaccines recommended by NACI.
  • This is proof that COVID-19 Vaccines did not save a single life.
  • It’s important to remember that 80% of COVID-19 deaths in 2020 in Canada were found to be in long term care home settings (source), where vulnerable seniors were often left to die without adequate treatment (like antibiotics), or were given euthanasia drug cocktails (midazolam, morphine).
  • So most COVID-19 deaths in 2020 were not true COVID-19 deaths.
  • In terms of vaccines protecting from “severe disease”, where is this protection on the graph below? I don’t see any protection in 2021. Hospitalizations were similar in 2021 compared to 2020.
  • Now look at what happened after COVID-19 mRNA 1st booster shots were rolled out in Nov-Dec.2021. This was followed by massive Omicron spikes in 2022 in Jan (BA.1), March (BA.2), July (BA.5), October (BA.5+).
  • Again, where is this “protection from severe illness” promised by the vaccines?
  • There is once again no evidence of vaccines protecting people in 2022.

  • Even if we accept 19,700 deaths from COVID-19 in 2022, who was dying?
  • BC government data (just before they deleted it in July 2022) told us 90% of those dying were Vaccinated.
  • So 17,730 of the 19,700 deaths (90%) were COVID-19 Vaccinated anyways.
  • Therefore, either:
    • they died from a COVID-19 Vaccine Injury and it was falsely reported as a COVID-19 death, or
    • they died from failure of their COVID-19 Vaccine (and likely Immune system injury) and they died from COVID-19.
  • Any way you dissect it, these 19,700 “COVID-19 deaths” are really COVID-19 Vaccine deaths.
  • Where is the 99% or 95% COVID-19 Vaccine efficacy we were promised?

Unspecified causes of deaths:

  • 16,043, a stunning 375% increase from 2019 when it was 3,378!
  • This is the most stunning admission from the entire report.
  • This is also the number that has been circulated extensively on social media
  • We don’t actually get any plausible explanation for this number in the entire report.

Cardiac

  • Cardiac deaths increased by 4,000.
  • This is a significant number, although I suspect many cardiac deaths are hidden in the “unspecified” or “COVID-19” death categories.

Accidents (Unintentional injuries)

  • 18,365, up almost 3,000 from 2019 (15,527)
  • I’m guessing they’re hiding blood clots here (strokes, falls, medical emergency while driving, etc)

Cancer

  • Turbo Cancer due to COVID-19 Vaccines is a signal they have to hide at all costs.
  • I’m not surprised to see only a small rise from 80,400 to 82,400, or +2000
  • This is a number that is undoubtedly tampered with.
  • It would be very easy to hide cancer deaths as COVID-19 deaths.

Statistics Canada:

Life expectancy decreases for a third year in a row”.

  • the important detail: “In 2022, the decline was more prominent among females than among males”.
  • more women are vaccine injured than men.
  • women are losing life expectancy in Canada at faster rate than men.

“COVID-19 deaths…This increase may in part be due to the exposure to new highly transmissible COVID-19 variants and the gradual return to normalcy, eg. reduced restrictions and masking requirements

  • Translation: 19,700 7x-vaccinated Canadians died from COVID-19 because of the milder new variants, no lockdowns and they stopped masking.
  • this explanation makes NO SENSE – if their vaccine protected them, they wouldn’t need lockdowns, wouldn’t need masks that don’t work, and they certainly wouldn’t be dying from milder variants.
  • so Statistics Canada has NO EXPLANATION for these 19,700 deaths.

Deaths due to influenza and pneumonia on the rise

  • deaths due to influenza and pneumonia increased by 45.4% from 2021 to 2022
  • I’ve often talked about this, this is due to COVID-19 Vaccine Immune damage.

“information on the causes of death, particularly among younger Canadians, whose deaths are more likely to result in an investigation, typically requires more time before it is reported to Statistics Canada…the data released today are preliminary

  • they’re telling us that we’re not getting all the young Canadian sudden deaths in this report.
  • So the 48,700 Excess deaths doesn’t include an unknown number of “younger Canadians” who died suddenly.

My Take…

Statistics Canada “Deaths 2022” is data that you can reasonably expect has been thoroughly manipulated and tampered with.

It’s “preliminary” and doesn’t include many “younger Canadians” who died suddenly.

Even so, it is a devastating report.

48,780 Excess deaths in 2022 (17% increase in mortality).

I propose that the vast majority of these are COVID-19 Vaccine deaths.

These COVID-19 vaccine deaths are being concealed as:

  • 19,716 COVID-19 deaths (not possible)
  • 16,043 Unspecified causes (no explanation given or even attempted)
  • the remaining 12,000 or so they’re not hiding:
    • 4,000 Cardiac
    • 3,000 Accidents
    • 2,000 Cancers
    • 800 liver disease
    • 500 kidney disease
    • 500 diabetes

A reminder that 1 in every 784 Canadians died in 2022, as admitted by the Canadian government in this Nov.27, 2023 Statistics Canada report. 

This is very much in line with Denis Rancourt’s work on excess deaths due to COVID-19 Vaccination.

This is what I wrote in my very first substack article on Feb.6, 2023:

“A good quick rule of thumb is: highly COVID vaccinated countries lost0.1% of their total population to “excess deaths” in 2022. That’s 1 in every 1000 people, dead.”

Statistics Canada corrected me. Not 1 in 1000.

Worse. 1 in 784.

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

Featured image is from Michael Nevradakis, PhD via COVID Intel


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

by Michel Chossudovsky

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

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

Reviews

This is an in-depth resource of great interest if it is the wider perspective you are motivated to understand a little better, the author is very knowledgeable about geopolitics and this comes out in the way Covid is contextualized. —Dr. Mike Yeadon

In this war against humanity in which we find ourselves, in this singular, irregular and massive assault against liberty and the goodness of people, Chossudovsky’s book is a rock upon which to sustain our fight. –Dr. Emanuel Garcia

In fifteen concise science-based chapters, Michel traces the false covid pandemic, explaining how a PCR test, producing up to 97% proven false positives, combined with a relentless 24/7 fear campaign, was able to create a worldwide panic-laden “plandemic”; that this plandemic would never have been possible without the infamous DNA-modifying Polymerase Chain Reaction test – which to this day is being pushed on a majority of innocent people who have no clue. His conclusions are evidenced by renown scientists. —Peter Koenig 

Professor Chossudovsky exposes the truth that “there is no causal relationship between the virus and economic variables.” In other words, it was not COVID-19 but, rather, the deliberate implementation of the illogical, scientifically baseless lockdowns that caused the shutdown of the global economy. –David Skripac

A reading of  Chossudovsky’s book provides a comprehensive lesson in how there is a global coup d’état under way called “The Great Reset” that if not resisted and defeated by freedom loving people everywhere will result in a dystopian future not yet imagined. Pass on this free gift from Professor Chossudovsky before it’s too late.  You will not find so much valuable information and analysis in one place. –Edward Curtin

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

Price: $11.50 FREE COPY! Click here (docsend) and download.

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

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Mass protests have begun in Belgrade. Opposition members and their supporters, who disagree with the results of the recent parliamentary elections, have taken to the streets, blocking roads and attacking government buildings. Law enforcement agencies are responding by trying to contain the unrest. The situation is heating up.

According to experts, an attempt is being made to stage a coup in Serbia on the model of Ukraine’s Maidan in 2014. Most experts believe that the actions of the Serbian opposition are coordinated by Brussels and Washington.

Is a political revolution possible in Serbia?

The director of the Center for Geostrategic Research, Dragana Trifkovic, gave the Public News Service her own take on the issue.

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On December 17 of this year, parliamentary and local elections were held in Serbia. In my opinion, the purpose of organizing early elections was to legitimize the policies of the ruling regime, especially in relation to Kosovo and Metohija.

Let me remind you that the ruling regime signed the Brussels Agreement in 2013 and the Washington Agreement in 2020, according to which Serbia practically renounces its sovereignty and agrees with the decisions of the Albanian separatists supported by Washington.

Also, in February this year, the Franco-German plan to recognize the sovereignty, territorial integrity and national symbols of an independent Kosovo was verbally adopted in the city of Ohrid. The United States believes that the verbal agreement of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic is sufficient to legitimize an independent Kosovo. At the same time, the Serbian president repeats that he will never recognize Kosovo’s independence but does not cancel already signed agreements and verbal consent.

It is important for the United States to finalize the Kosovo independence project after the elections, and to that end it is coordinating the actions of both the government and the opposition. This should be kept in mind when assessing the current situation in Serbia, where the protests and political instability are only part of a larger plan.

There are signs that Vucic has agreed to U.S. Ambassador to Serbia Christopher Hill’s request to cede power in Belgrade to the pro-Western opposition, but it is clear that he wants to keep power in Belgrade. I in no way support the intervention of a foreign factor in Serbia or violent protests. But the fact is that both the government and the opposition have the same political program – Serbia’s uncontested integration into the EU. The EU recently included Serbia’s commitment to recognize Kosovo’s independence in the European integration process.

In conclusion, we can see that the protests in Serbia are organized by the opposition because of the electoral irregularities, but they do not pose a threat to the regime unless they receive full support from the West, which they do not have at the moment. Therefore, the pro-Western opposition is used by the USA as a factor of control over the government, blackmailing the government to fulfill all the contracts signed regarding Kosovo.

After the early elections, Aleksander Vucic’s regime won a majority in parliament and effectively consolidated its power. This shows that it still enjoys strong support from the West. On the one hand, the Serbian regime is trying to delay the implementation of the already signed and agreed obligations regarding Kosovo, and on the other hand, the United States wants to fully implement the Kosovo independence project before the American elections.

So, if we compare the situation in Serbia with the situation in Ukraine before Maidan, because there are many similarities of this kind, we must recognize one fundamental difference. This is due to the fact that Yanukovych postponed signing an agreement with the EU, while Vucic still defends the idea of Serbia’s unquestionable integration into the EU and continues cooperation with the Union. Therefore, I believe that there is no risk of a coup in Serbia.

This spring we had much more serious demonstrations in Serbia, where more than 100,000 people took to the streets, but after the pro-Western opposition took the lead in the protests, they were repressed. It should also be noted that the dissatisfaction of the citizens in Serbia clearly exists, and they are equally dissatisfied with the government and the opposition, i.e. with the entire political scene in Serbia.

In fact, in Serbia there is no alternative to the single path to the EU, just as there are no serious political structures that can win the trust of citizens. For this reason, it is unclear how far the growing discontent of citizens will take us. Political stability is based solely on the agreement between the government and the opposition with the American ambassador, and the interests of Serbian citizens have nothing to do with it.

*

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This article was originally published on Geostrategy.rs.

Constitutional Violations: Julian Assange, Privacy and the CIA

December 28th, 2023 by Dr. Binoy Kampmark

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As a private citizen, the options for suing an intelligence agency are few and far between. The US Central Intelligence Agency, as with other members of the secret club, pour scorn on such efforts. To a degree, such a dismissive sentiment is understandable: Why sue an agency for its bread-and-butter task, which is surveillance?

This matter has cropped up in the US courts in what has become an international affair, namely, the case of WikiLeaks founder and publisher, Julian Assange. While the US Department of Justice battles to sink its fangs into the Australian national for absurd espionage charges, various offshoots of his case have begun to grow. The issue of CIA sponsored surveillance during his stint in the Ecuadorian embassy in London has been of particular interest, since it violated both general principles of privacy and more specific ones regarding attorney-client privilege. Of particular interest to US Constitution watchers was whether such actions violated the reasonable expectation of privacy protected by the Fourth Amendment.

Four US citizens took issue with such surveillance, which was executed by the Spanish security firm Undercover (UC) Global and its starry-eyed, impressionable director David Morales under instruction from the CIA. Civil rights attorney Margaret Ratner Kunstler and media lawyer Deborah Hrbek, and journalists John Goetz and Charles Glass, took the matter to the US District Court of the Southern District of New York in August last year. They had four targets of litigation: the CIA itself, its former director, Michael R. Pompeo, Morales and his company, UC Global SL.

All four alleged that the US Government had conducted surveillance on them and copied their information during visits to Assange in the embassy, thereby violating the Fourth Amendment. In doing so, the plaintiffs argued they were entitled to money damages and injunctive relief. The government moved to dismiss the complaint as amended.

On December 19, District Judge John G. Koeltl delivered a judgment of much interest, granting, in part, the US government’s motion to dismiss but denying other parts of it. Before turning to the relevant features of Koeltl’s reasons, various observations made in the case bear repeating. The judge notes, for instance, Pompeo’s April 2017 speech, in which he “‘pledged that his office would embark upon a ‘long term’ campaign against WikiLeaks.’” He is cognisant of the plaintiffs’ claims “Morales was recruited to conduct surveillance on Assange and his visitors on behalf of the CIA and that this recruitment occurred at a January 2017 private security industry convention at the Las Vegas Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.”

From that meeting, it is claimed that “Morales created an operations unit, improved UC Global’s systems, and set up live streaming from the United States so that surveillance could be accessed instantly by the CIA.” The data gathered from UC Global “was either personally delivered to Las Vegas; Washington, D.C.; and New York City by Morales (who travelled to these locations more than sixty times in the three years following the Las Vegas convention) or placed on a server that provided external access to the CIA”.

Koeltl preferred to avoid deciding on the claims that Morales and UC Global were, in fact, “acting as agents of Pompeo and the CIA”. Such matters were questions of fact “that cannot be decided on a motion to dismiss.”

A vital issue in the case was whether the plaintiffs had standing to sue the CIA in the first place. Citing the case of ACLU v Clapper, which involved a challenge to the National Security Agency’s bulk telephone metadata collection program, Koeltl accepted that they did. In doing so, he rejected a similar argument made by the government in Clapper – that the injuries alleged were simply “too speculative and generalized” and that the information gathered via surveillance would necessarily even be used against them. “In this case, the plaintiffs need not allege, as the Government argues, that the Government will imminently use their information collected at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London.” If the search of the conversations and electronic devices along with the seizure of the contents of the electronic devices “were unlawful, the plaintiffs have suffered a concrete and particularized injury fairly traceable to the challenged program and redressable by favorable ruling.”

Less satisfactory for the plaintiffs was the finding they had no reasonable expectation of privacy regarding their conversations with the publisher given that “they knew Assange was surveilled even before the CIA’s alleged involvement.” The judge thought it significant that they did “not allege that they would not have met Assange had they known their conversations would be surveilled.” Additionally, it “would not be recognized as reasonable by society” to have expected conversations held with Assange at the embassy in London to be protected, given such societal acceptance of, for instance video surveillance in government buildings.

This reasoning is faulty, given that the visits by the four plaintiffs to the embassy did not take place with their knowledge of the operation being conducted by UC Global with CIA blessing. In a general sense, anyone visiting the embassy could not help but suspect that Assange might be the object of surveillance, but to suggest something akin to a waiver of privacy rights on the part of attorneys and journalists aiding a persecuted publisher is an odd turn.

The US Government also succeeded on the point that the plaintiffs had no reasonable expectation to privacy regarding their passports or their devices they voluntarily left at the Embassy reception desk. In doing so, they “assumed the risk that the information may be conveyed to the Government.” Those visiting embassies must, it would seem, be perennially on guard.

That said, the plaintiffs convinced the judge that they had “sufficient allegations that the CIA and Pompeo, through Morales and UC Global, violated their reasonable expectation to privacy in the contents of their electronic devices.” The government even went so far as to concede that point.

Unfortunately for the plaintiffs, the biggest fish was let off the hook. The plaintiffs had attempted to use the 1971 US Supreme Court case of Bivens to argue that the former CIA director be held accountable and liable for violating constitutional rights.  Koeltl thought the effort to extend the application of Bivens inappropriate in terms of the high standing nature of the defendant and the context.  “As a presidential appointee confirmed by Congress […] Defendant Pompeo is in a different category of defendant from a law enforcement agent of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics.” More’s the pity.

Leaving aside some of the more questionable turns of reasoning in Koeltl’s judgment, public interest litigants and activists can take heart from the prospect that civil trials against the CIA for violations of the US Constitution are no longer unrealistic. “We are thrilled,” declared Richard Roth, the plaintiffs’ attorney, “that the court rejected the CIA’s efforts to silence the plaintiffs, who merely seek to expose the CIA’s attempt to carry out Pompeo’s vendetta against WikiLeaks.” The appeals process, however, is bound to be tested.

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Dr. Binoy Kampmark was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge.  He currently lectures at RMIT University. He is a Research Associate at the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG). Email: [email protected]

Featured image: Julian Assange was secretly recorded while living at the Ecuadorean embassy in London. (Source: EPV)

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***

 

Why go for war, when Yemen’s request is very simple: Allow humanitarian aid flow into Gaza and a Ceasefire. They didn’t even request it for themselves, even though they have a need for aid. God bless Yemen @EsirEid

The Biden administration is blaming Iran for drone attacks on a commercial tanker in the Indian Ocean. The claims are being used as leverage on Iran to pressure the Houthis to abandon their blockade in the Red Sea and allow maritime traffic to return to normal. But the Houthis have no intention of caving in to pressure from Iran or anyone else. They are determined to continue their attacks on Israel-bound traffic however long it takes and whatever the cost.

On Sunday, numerous articles in the western media reported that Iran had launched a drone attack on a Japanese-owned chemical tanker named the MV Chem Pluto in the Indian Ocean. Many of these articles based their reports on claims made by unidentified Pentagon sources or declassified intelligence. As of Tuesday, none of those allegations have been independently verified or proven to be true.

What we know from previous experience is that elements of the national security state frequently plant fictitious stories in the media in order to garner public support for unpopular military campaigns or to demonize foreign nations for things for which they are in no way responsible.

And that appears to be the case here. There is no doubt that both Israel and the US want to implicate Iran in the recent attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea. But, so far, there is no evidence to verify those claims. Iran’s leaders strongly oppose Israel’s ongoing massacre in Gaza, but they’ve also indicated that they do not want to participate in the hostilities. Iran does not want to get dragged into a broader regional war which could trigger a confrontation with the United States which would result in the deaths of millions of Iranians. All of this suggests that the recent flurry of anti-Iran reporting is agenda-driven disinformation designed to turn public opinion against Iran. This is from an article at BBC:

A chemical tanker in the Indian Ocean was hit by a drone launched from Iran on Saturday, the US military says….

Iran has not commented. Houthi rebels in Yemen – who are backed by Iran and support Hamas in its war with Israel – have recently used drones and rockets to target vessels in the Red Sea….

The same company also said the vessel was heading from Saudi Arabia to India, and was linked to Israel. The Houthis have claimed to be targeting Israel-linked vessels over the conflict in Gaza.

The US said the Chem Pluto was hit by “a one-way attack drone fired from Iran”. It is believed to be the first time the US has publicly accused Iran of targeting a ship directly.

It has previously accused Iran of being “deeply involved” in planning operations against commercial vessels in the Red Sea – a charge Tehran has denied…Tanker hit off India coast by drone from Iran, says US, BBC

Not surprisingly, the BBC article is factually wrong on several counts. First, Iran HAS commented on the incident, in fact, they have categorically denied any involvement whatsoever. This is from Al Jazeera:

Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has dismissed accusations of the United States that Tehran struck a chemical tanker in the Indian Ocean, as tension rises globally over threats to maritime shipping.

A spokesperson for the ministry dismissed the accusation out of hand at a news conference on Monday. He asserted that the US claim that an Iran-launched drone had hit a Japanese-owned tanker as it sailed near India was false.

“We declare these claims as completely rejected and worthless,” said Nasser Kanaani when asked about the US accusation.

“Such claims are aimed at projecting, distracting public attention, and covering up for the full support of the American government for the crimes of the Zionist regime [Israel] in Gaza,” he added. Iran dismisses US accusations of tanker attack off India, Al Jazeera

We cannot understand why BBC editors did not include this explicit denial of involvement unless they were driven by an ulterior motive, that is, to further demonize Iran.

Second, we have zero evidence that the “drone (was) launched from Iran“. None of the many cookie cutter articles we have read provide anything remotely resembling verifiable evidence.

Third, Iran is not “deeply involved” in planning operations against commercial vessels in the Red Sea”. The idea of attacking Israel-bound merchant ships in the Red Sea was concocted by Houthi leaders alone. Both the Houthis and the Iranians have admitted as much. Here’s more from the BBC:

The Pentagon statement said the Chem Pluto, “a Liberia-flagged, Japanese-owned, and Netherlands-operated chemical tanker”, was struck on Saturday at 10:00 local time …. The BBC was not able to independently verify the incident.” BBC

If the BBC “was not able to independently verify the incident,” then why in heaven’s name did they file a report that implied Iranian culpability? Is that not professional malfeasance?

Here’s more from the same article:

Many global shipping groups have suspended operations in the Red Sea due to the increased risk of attacks. The UK government has vowed to ensure the route’s safety.

Defence Secretary Grant Shapps told the Sunday Times newspaper that the UK was committed to repelling attacks on vessels – and would not allow the Red Sea to become a “no-go area”...

Chris Farrell from Neptune P2P Group, a UK maritime security company, described nervousness in the region and observed that container ships were proving more likely to reroute than larger vessels.“Nobody really knows the situation out there,” he told the BBC World Service’s Weekend programme.

“Because of the lack of stability, that’s creating the uncertainty with the clients and the shipping companies which are putting their assets within that region.” BBC

This excerpt requires some additional analysis: The UK Defence Secretary says he will not allow the Red Sea to become a “no-go area” while tacitly admitting that it has already become a “no-go area”. In other words, by his own admission, “Many global shipping groups have suspended operations in the Red Sea”, the transit corridors are no longer safe, and “container ship” are already being rerouted. By any conceivable metric, the Houthi strategy is working better than anyone could have imagined.

That is what he is saying. Don’t the authors realize that? Don’t they see that they have just admitted that the Houthi’s asymmetrical attack may be the most successful hybrid attack of all time; that they have effectively detonated a nuclear bomb at the economic epicenter of the “rules-based order”? It would be impossible to overstate the impact this ingenious offensive is having on political leaders and elites scattered across the western world. The sense of hysteria is palpable. A smallish, unsophisticated militia has delivered a withering blow to the Empire’s Achilles heel—the vital transit corridor for global trade that is now under the de facto control of Washington’s mortal enemy, the Houthis. Is that not a victory for the majority of ordinary people around the world who oppose the US and Israel’s sadistic butchery of the Palestinian people?

It is a victory. It is a triumph of good vs evil. But it will not go unanswered. Here’s more from an article at CNN:

The US on Friday released newly declassified intelligence that suggests Iran has been “deeply involved in planning the operations against commercial vessels in the Red Sea,” National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson told CNN.

The Iran-backed Houthi rebels have launched more than 100 attacks against about a dozen commercial and merchant ships transiting the Red Sea over the past four weeks, CNN previously reported. The newly declassified intelligence suggests that “Iranian support throughout the Gaza crisis has enabled the Houthis to launch attacks against Israel and maritime targets, though Iran has often deferred operational decision-making authority to the Houthis,” Watson said.

On Tuesday, a senior US military official said the Iranians are operating in the Red Sea when asked whether Iran is helping the Houthis select targets. But that official said the Houthi attacks have been broadly indiscriminate.

“Iran has the choice to provide or withhold this support, without which the Houthis would struggle to effectively track and strike commercial vessels navigating shipping lanes through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden,” Watson said….US intelligence suggests Iran involved in planning attacks in Red Sea, CNN

What declassified intelligence? What senior US military official? Who provided this intelligence and what documents can CNN produce to prove their claims? We need to know the answers to these questions.

Once again, there’s no evidence, no witnesses, no documents, no electronic communications, and no proof. We are left with nothing but a “tapestry of lies” supporting an insidious anti-Iran narrative that may or may not be true. We just don’t know, because there are no verifiable facts, just speculation amid huge doses of hearsay. All we know for sure is that the authors want us to believe that Iran is source of all the problems in the Middle East. But that idea defies any understanding of the region’s history or recent events. It’s not Iran that has been toppling governments, killing millions and obliterating countries across the ME for the last 30 years. That is Washington’s doing. And it’s not Iran that has waged a brutish war of extermination on the civilian population in Gaza, reducing most of the area to smoldering rubble while herding 2 million starving people towards the Egyptian border. That is Israel’s doing. Iran wages war on no one; rather, they have been the target of relentless US hostility for over 5 decades for having the audacity to assert control over their own resources. That is Iran’s real crime; it’s unwillingness to bend a knee to Uncle Sam and timidly accept its role as Washington’s servile meat-puppet. Is that true or not true?

It’s true. This is from ABC News:

U.S. President Joe Biden ordered the United States military to carry out retaliatory airstrikes against Iranian-backed militia groups after three U.S. service members were injured in a drone attack in northern Iraq….

Iraqi officials said that U.S. strikes targeting militia sites early Tuesday killed one militant and wounded 18. They came at a time of heightened fears of a regional spillover of the Israel-Hamas war….

The U.S. has also blamed Iran, which has funded and trained the Hamas group, for attacks by Yemen’s Houthi militants against commercial and military vessels through a critical shipping choke point in the Red Sea. “Biden orders strikes on an Iranian-aligned group after 3 US troops wounded in drone attack in Iraq, ABC News

Are these really “retaliatory strikes” on Iranian positions or is Biden trying to coerce Iran into putting pressure on the Houthis?

IMO, the attacks are clearly aimed at the Houthis who can only be approached via their ally, Iran. The administration has made no effort to talk directly with the Houthis nor will they. US leaders will not negotiate with people they see as their inferiors which means they must persuade Iran to make their case for them. But, what does Iran get for its efforts?

They avoid the wider regional war that Netanyahu is angling for but that no one else (including the US) really wants. So, the Biden team is pressuring Iran because the next escalatory step is firing directly on Houthis positions, command-and-control, arms depots, communications and the rest. Once that happens, events will move very quickly. The Houthis will close the Red Sea to maritime traffic, they will attack regional US bases and installations, and they will take out critical oil infrastructure in Saudi Arabia. The genie will be out of the bottle and all Hell will break loose across the region. Oil prices will skyrocket, markets will plunge, and the global economy will go off a cliff. Which is why Biden is pursuing the Iranian track. It’s a last-ditch effort to avoid a Middle East catastrophe.

Sadly, it won’t work because Israel is determined to continue its ethnic cleansing in Gaza and then move on to the West Bank. So, the attacks on commercial ships are going to continue which will leave Washington with no option but war.

Yemen poses a unique but serious threat to US hegemony. Its military is small by US standards but they are adept at fighting in rugged terrain and they know every nook and cranny of the battlefield. They are fully prepared to fight a guerrilla war that could drag on for years. Naturally, Biden and his advisors would rather avoid such a conflict, but that may not be possible, after all, the “rules-based order” rests on a foundation of economic-political-military power.

So, when a smaller country ‘disrespects’ the US by disrupting merchant ships in the world’s most important shipping lanes, Uncle Sam must prove that he has the power to put down that rebellion or be prepared to face similar insurgencies in the future. This is the logic that guides imperial policy. Never show weakness or the jackals will rip you apart and leave you to die. That is the maxim Washington lives by.

What the Houthis are showing the world is that the Washington is no longer capable of imposing its Pax Americana on the hinterland. The US cannot form a broad-based maritime coalition because America’s allies no longer trust Washington’s judgement or believe in its moral authority. Nor does the Navy have a flotilla large enough or nimble enough to protect the waterways and transit corridors that sustain western economies. This is no small problem. This is crisis of legitimacy. It is a question of whether the US can act as the guarantor of global security or not. We don’t think it can, but we do think that the administration and the western elites that support them, are going to give-it-the-old-college-try by charging into Yemen ‘guns blazing’ in an effort to put down the Red Sea rebellion and to restore America’s image as the world’s premier military power.

Bottom line: Uncle Sam is not going to allow itself to get slapped-around in public by a country it sees as a ‘third-rate power.’ It’s going to roll-out the heavy artillery and then send in the ground troops. God help us.

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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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***

 

Some 1,000 children have had limbs amputated without anaesthesia in the Gaza Strip since Israel began its brutal bombing campaign on 7 October, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has said.

It added that allowing the continued shelling of Gaza means greenlighting the killing of more children.

The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip has previously stated that nearly 70 per cent of the casualties of the aggression were children and women.

The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip has surged to 20,674, the Health Ministry in the territory said yesterday.

Ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qudra also said that 54,536 people had been injured in the months-long offensive.

The Israeli onslaught has left Gaza in ruins, with half of the coastal territory’s housing damaged or destroyed and nearly 2 million people displaced within the densely populated enclave amid acute shortages of food and clean water.

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***

As Israel continues its genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza — with the death toll now exceeding 20,000 (about 70 percent women and children) — the world seems powerless to stop the slaughter.

The Biden administration, Israel’s chief enabler, defanged the resolution that was ultimately passed by the UN Security Council on December 22, rendering it merely symbolic. The final resolution calls for humanitarian assistance but not for a ceasefire which would allow aid to reach the people of Gaza. The U.S. saved diplomatic face by not employing its customary veto, but it did not vote for the resolution, electing instead to abstain.

On the same day, Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons Paula Gaviria Betancur warned that Israel seeks to permanently change the composition of Gaza’s population with additional evacuation orders, and systematic and widespread attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure in areas of southern Gaza.

Calls for prosecution of Israeli and U.S. officials in the International Criminal Court (ICC) have been ignored as the chief prosecutor of the ICC demonstrates blatant bias in favor of Israel.

On November 13, the Center for Constitutional Rights filed a lawsuit on behalf of Palestinian human rights organizations, Palestinians and Palestinian Americans against President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, charging them with failure to prevent genocide and complicity in genocide. It seeks an emergency court order to halt U.S. military and diplomatic support to the Israeli government. The suit documents how Israel is committing genocide as defined in the Genocide Convention. A hearing will take place in January.

Nevertheless, the carnage continues unabated.

The “World Court” Decides Disputes Between Countries

The ICC’s Rome Statute provides for the prosecution of individuals who commit, or aid and abet the commission of genocide. By contrast, the International Court of Justice (ICJ or “World Court”) — the judicial arm of the UN system — resolves disputes between countries.

Any of the 153 state parties to the Genocide Convention can and should submit Israel’s genocide to the ICJ. Article IX of the Genocide Convention provides:

Disputes between the Contracting Parties relating to the interpretation, application or fulfilment of the present Convention, including those relating to the responsibility of a State for genocide . . . shall be submitted to the International Court of Justice at the request of any of the parties to the dispute.

A formal investigation of the “Situation in the State of Palestine” has been pending in the ICC for nearly three years. If the ICJ were to make a finding of genocide, the ICC would not have to determine that genocide has occurred. The ICC would just have to decide which individuals are responsible for the genocide.

In the last two months, states parties to the Genocide Convention — including South Africa, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Comoros, Colombia, Algeria and Turkey — have urged the ICC to investigate Israeli officials for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Gaza. Other countries critical of Israel’s actions include Pakistan, Brazil, Chile, Belize, Jordan, Ireland, Honduras, Bahrain, Venezuela, Iran and Cuba.

These countries should be urged to submit the matter of Israel’s genocide to the ICJ. If one of them does make a submission, the ICJ would have jurisdiction to hear the matter. Its decision must then go to the Security Council for enforcement, although that could be limited by political considerations.

When the Genocide Convention was invoked against Serbia by Bosnia and Herzegovina regarding the 1995 massacre at Srebrenica, the ICJ ruled against Serbia. This fed directly through to prosecutions at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

In 2004, the ICJ issued an advisory opinion against Israel in the case involving the barrier wall it built on Palestinian land. There’s another advisory opinion case pending in the ICJ about the legality of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory, in which the ICJ is expected to rule against Israel.

But if a state party to the Genocide Convention were to submit the matter of Israel’s genocide to the ICJ, the court’s decision could have binding authority.

On December 12, Craig Murray, the U.K.’s former ambassador to Uzbekistan, attended a UN session in Geneva called by Palestine. More than 120 countries were represented. Murray spoke to several delegates about why no country has submitted the matter of Israel’s genocide to the ICJ.

“The answer is now clear to me,” Murray wrote. “It is not that people are worried that a claim of genocide will not be successful at the International Court of Justice. It is that everybody is quite sure it will succeed.”

A World Court Finding of Genocide Would Bind the ICC

“The problem is that once the ICJ has determined that this is a genocide, it follows that not only are [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and hundreds of senior Israeli officials and military personally liable,” according to Murray. “[B]ut it is absolutely plain that ‘Genocide Joe’ Biden, [U.K. Prime Minister Rishi] Sunak and members of their administrations are also criminally liable for complicity, having provided military support for the genocide.”

Murray added,

“The International Criminal Court cannot ignore a judgment of genocide from the International Court of Justice and will have no choice but to issue arrest warrants.”

There is no doubt that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. Craig Mokhiber, former director of the New York Office of the UN’s High Commissioner of Human Rights (who resigned in October to protest the UN’s failure to prevent Israel’s genocide) called it “unprecedented — a text book case of genocide.”

Speaking at a December 13 webinar sponsored by the Institute for Policy Studies, Friends Committee on National Legislation, and MPower Action, Mokhiber said that Israel has murdered entire bloodlines, multigenerational families and whole neighborhoods in Gaza.

Israel has destroyed the civilian infrastructure and intentionally imposed disease, hunger, thirst and a lack of medical care on the people in Gaza. This amounts to the deliberate infliction of conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of the Palestinians in whole or in part, Mokhiber stated, which constitutes a genocidal act.

The ICJ can infer genocidal intent from Israel’s conduct, Mokhiber noted. But, he added, the court doesn’t need to infer intent from conduct because Israel is openly declaring its genocidal intent through public statements uttered by Israeli government officials: the intent to reduce Gaza to rubble, to bury Gazans, etc. “I have never seen a case like this,” Mokhiber said.

The General Assembly Should Convene Under “Uniting for Peace”

There is also a procedure the General Assembly can follow to circumvent a U.S. veto in the Security Council. Under Uniting for Peace, a resolution passed by the General Assembly to evade the Soviet Union’s veto power during the Korean War, the General Assembly can call on its 193 UN member states to impose a trade embargo on Israel and urge them to organize a military force to intervene in Gaza. The General Assembly can also suspend Israel from its ranks.

I have joined dozens of global intellectuals in signing a Declaration of Conscience and Concern, urging “national governments to embargo and halt all shipments of weapons to Israel, especially the United States and the United Kingdom, which should also withdraw their provocative naval presences from the Eastern Mediterranean.” We called on “the UN Security Council and General Assembly to so decree without delay.”

Moreover, we “unequivocally” urged “an immediate ceasefire and the initiation of diplomatic negotiations under respected and impartial auspices, aimed at terminating Israel’s long and criminally abusive occupation of Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem. This process,” we wrote, “must be fully respectful of the inalienable right to self-determination of the Palestinian people and take proper account of relevant UN resolutions.”

Millions of people around the world have taken to the streets to protest Israel’s genocide. We must redouble our efforts to mobilize public opinion to pressure countries critical of Israel to submit the matter of its genocide to the ICJ and convene the General Assembly under Uniting for Peace. And we must support the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement to compel Israel to end its occupation of Palestinian land.

The people of Gaza deserve our immediate and urgent action.

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Copyright © Truthout. May not be reprinted without permission.

Marjorie Cohn is professor emerita at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, former president of the National Lawyers Guild, and a member of the national advisory boards of Assange Defense and Veterans For Peace, and the bureau of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers. She is founding dean of the People’s Academy of International Law and the U.S. representative to the continental advisory council of the Association of American Jurists. Her books include Drones and Targeted Killing: Legal, Moral and Geopolitical Issues. She is co-host of “Law and Disorder” Radio.

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***

Trade between India and Russia exceeded $50 billion this year, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said, setting a new record by an astronomical amount. It comes as the South Asian and Eurasian Giants deepen their ties despite major attempts by Washington to prevent this.

“There is an X factor when it comes to the relationship between India and Russia, which has remained good and has enhanced to a Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership. I signed an agreement along with DPM Manturov for future units of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project in Tamil Nadu. The bilateral trade between India and Russia can increase from the present $50 billion to $100 billion in the next few years,” said Jaishankar, while interacting with the Indian diaspora in Moscow on December 26 as part of his five-day visit and after explaining that trade exchange with Russia was previously between $12 billion and $14 billion.

“Our relationship with Russia has been stable over the past many decades as the leadership has taken care to nurture it, and there are strong people-to-people connections between our two nations. We support Russia for their BRICS Presidency and will continue to be their partner,” India’s top diplomat added.

He also indicated that India and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) – made up of Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia, and Kyrgyzstan – will begin negotiations on a free trade agreement at the beginning of 2024. Both countries already prepared a draft trade agreement in March 2020, but its consideration was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The fact that Jaishankar visited Moscow in the last week of the year to meet with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov and with the Russian Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov among others, demonstrates the importance that India places with its relationship with Russia, something to the immense frustration of the US.

The Biden administration has told foreign governments, including India, that now is not the time for “business as usual” with Russia, as the US President makes no secret of his efforts to try to isolate Moscow. Since the beginning of the Ukraine conflict, the Biden administration has been trying to disrupt Russia’s economy through sanctions and export control measures, which created hurdles in India’s trade ties with the country. Both countries have acknowledged that billions of dollars of payments are stuck in banks due to difficulties in transferring payments created by the sanctions.

New Delhi has also expressed serious concern about the West’s import restrictions on Russian diamonds. Russia and India complement each other in the diamond industry, with the former being the largest producer globally while the latter is the world’s top exporter of polished diamonds.

It is recalled that the Indian Air Force (IAF) admitted to a committee of the Indian Parliament earlier this year that Russian defence exports to India have been delayed due to Western sanctions on the Russian military-industrial complex.

Russia and India signed in December 2021 the “Agreement on Military Technical Cooperation Program” for 2021-2031, which provides for the licensed production of T-90 tanks and Su-30 MKI fighter jets, along with the sale of S-400 systems. According to New Delhi’s aims of achieving self-reliance in defence production, Russia assists India in establishing manufacturing facilities for AK-203 rifles and BrahMos missiles, contributing to the fact that Russia is India’s largest supplier of arms.

Nonetheless, despite the difficulties created by the sanctions, New Delhi has shown Western powers that it will not shy away from Russia and instead will rapidly deepen trade relations. Due to this, Washington is forced now to show a greater understanding of India-Russia ties, which was spurred on mostly by the West’s favouritism towards Pakistan and financing of regional jihadi groups during the Cold War.

The success of Jaishankar’s visit to Moscow will ultimately be judged on the outcome of the meetings, such as whether a significant deal will be signed between Russia and India, which can be seen as a breakthrough. Although energy trade appears to be replacing defence as the key pillar of New Delhi-Moscow relations, evidenced by the fact that Russia is now the largest supplier of crude oil to India, it does not diminish security as a major concern, including financial security, especially in the face of US pressure. Yet, even a breakthrough deal is unlikely to garner major public backlash in the West as they now understand that they cannot deter the growing relations between India and Russia, meaning it will only be a matter of time until $50 billion worth of trade becomes $100 billion.

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

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[Our thanks to Al Jazeera for this article.]

***

It has been four days since Gaza’s smallest refugee camp was pounded in yet another series of Israeli air strikes, but Palestinians there are still digging up the bodies of their loved ones from under the rubble.

The onslaught in central Gaza’s Maghazi late on Sunday killed at least 90 people, including children and many who were internally displaced.

In one of the deadliest attacks on the Gaza Strip since Israel launched a war on the enclave on October 7, residents including Ashraf al-Haj Ahmed said the assault happened “suddenly” and without prior warning.

“At around 11:30pm that night, we witnessed a series of large explosions that shook the entire camp,” al-Haj Ahmed told Al Jazeera.

[Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]

At least three homes were completely destroyed [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]

His relative’s home was among those that were flattened to the ground. Al-Haj Ahmed recalled running towards it as soon as the bombardment woke him up, just a few blocks down.

At the scene of the attack, he found a four-storey building destroyed “on top of those who were living in it”.

“There must have been around 40 people, among them are the owners of the house, as well as displaced families who were taken in,” he said.

At least three houses in the overcrowded camp were hit by Israeli air strikes. Officials in Gaza said seven families were among the casualties.

While the official number of those who were killed stands at 90, residents of the camp near Deir el-Balah say in reality, the figure is much higher as entire residential blocks were wiped out.

“In each home, there’s a minimum of 50 people,” another Maghazi resident told Al Jazeera. “A lot of them are displaced Palestinians from other parts of Gaza who were forced to flee their homes.”

[Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]

Israel’s attacks have not spared homes and shelters that displaced people have fled to [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]

The camp normally houses 30,000 people, according to the UN refugee agency for Palestinians (UNRWA). But with the displacement of Palestinians fleeing Israel’s relentless bombardment in other parts of the enclave, the number of people there has risen to an estimated 100,000.

“We pulled out so many body parts that we can’t even estimate the total number of deaths yet,” the second resident said.

“They’re all in pieces, and we’re pulling them out with our bare hands,” he added. “We’ve now gathered at least two piles of body parts.”

‘Dark and Painful Night’

Israel’s attacks have not spared homes and shelters that people have fled to.

Despite being on the southern side of the Strip, an area that Israeli forces deemed “safe” and ordered civilians from the north to flee ahead of their ground offensive, Maghazi has been subjected to intense artillery and air raids.

It was also attacked last month when at least 50 Palestinians were killed. The vicinity of the camp was also subjected to intense Israeli shelling over the last week.

Abu Rami Abu al-Ais is among those who have been sheltering in Maghazi ever since he left his home in the al-Zahra neighbourhood. He said Sunday’s attack was not the first time he and his family members had been hit.

“We had a home in al-Zahra, which came under attack. After coming here, the house we were staying in was bombed again,” al-Ais, whose daughter is badly injured, told Al Jazeera.

[Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]

More than 21,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 7 [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]

He echoed al-Haj Ahmed’s experience and said there had been “no warnings whatsoever” prior to the strikes.

Al-Ais said in previous assaults on the enclave, Israeli forces would sometimes warn residents of a building to evacuate a few minutes before an attack, either by throwing leaflets or via speakerphones. But during this offensive, there had been no such warnings.

“The rockets fall on the heads of innocent people sleeping in their homes,” he said. “They [Israel] want to commit a complete genocide.”

Al-Ais said people are still collecting the remains of their friends, neighbours and relatives with their bare hands.

“We found the remains of women and children who were blown up. Their body parts have been scattered over a span of about three blocks,” due to the intensity of the strikes, al-Ais said.

“It was a very dark and painful night for Maghazi,” he recalled. “The widespread and sheer destruction is indescribable.”

[Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]

Residents of Maghazi refugee camp have called for an urgent ceasefire [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]

Infrastructure, such as roads leading to the camp, were also destroyed.

Al-Ais said there are no excavators that can help speed up the process of recovering people from under the blocks of concrete.

The lack of much-needed fuel to operate bulldozers and vehicles means that – just like civil defence teams in Gaza – residents are digging with only their bare hands to try and pull out as many victims from under the rubble as they can.

Israel has blocked the entry of fuel since it imposed a total siege on the already blockaded Strip at the start of the war, and has only allowed a very small amount of aid in through the Rafah border crossing.

“We don’t need food, we don’t need water, we don’t need coffins,” al-Ais said. “What we need is a ceasefire and for this war to end.”

Al-Haj Ahmed, agreed. “Shame on the Arab world. We don’t just need aid, we need you here personally. Come and stand with your brothers,” he said.

Attacks on refugee camps and civilian infrastructure have become common since October 7. The Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza has been targeted several times, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of Palestinians.

Civilian infrastructure – including schools, hospitals, ambulance vehicles, and places of worship – has also been subjected to bombardment.

More than 21,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 7, while nearly 1.9 million – more than 80 percent of the 2.3 million people who live in Gaza – have been displaced.

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Featured image: At least 90 Palestinians were killed in Sunday’s attack on the Maghazi refugee camp [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]

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***

US Vice President Kamala Harris has the lowest approval rating of any vice president in their first term since 1990. According to the latest polls, the ratings of vice presidents are linked to the presidents. If proven true, this will be disastrous for Harris since Joe Biden is currently less popular than Donald Trump.

According to the American poll-focused blog FiveThirtyEight, Harris’ approval rating fell from 41.7% to 36.3% from January 1 to December 5. A poll by the Los Angeles Times found that as of December 18, only 39% of registered voters had a favourable opinion of Harris, and 55% had an unfavourable opinion, a net rating of -16 percentage points. These results show that Harris is less popular among voters than US President Joe Biden, a head of state with historic unpopularity. Furthermore, the current vice president’s approval rating is lower than what Mike Pence, Dick Cheney and Al Gore had during their first term.

Voters may be paying more attention to Harris than previous vice presidents due to concerns about the age of Biden, who in 2020 became the oldest US president in history. If he wins re-election, he will be 82 years old on Inauguration Day and 86 years old at the end of his second term.

According to a September CNN poll, 77% of all voters, including 65% of Democrats, say they are concerned about Biden’s age and suitability for office. Harris would be sworn in as president if Biden failed to complete his second term.

Although Biden has two primary opponents who are polling better than many of former President Donald Trump’s opponents, the Democratic Party all but cancelled the primaries, refusing to hold debates and putting only Biden on the ballot in several states, such as Florida, Massachusetts, North Carolina, and Tennessee.

“To realise just how unpopular Kamala Harris is, you have to keep in mind the historical significance of it all. No one in her position has had this low of favourabilities in a first term since Dan Quayle,” declared the leader of the American Policy Center from University College London, Thomas Gift, to the American news magazine Newsweek.

“That’s saying something. So it’s no surprise, especially with Biden’s age, that Republicans keep hammering home a simple point: a vote for Biden is a vote for Harris,” he added.

If the Democratic Party hopes that Harris’ relative youth can ease voters’ concerns, these polling numbers add another cause for concern for the Democratic Party National Committee.

For his part, Biden’s approval ratings have been low for more than a year, and recent polls have found him trailing former US President Donald Trump, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, in a head-to-head match-up and key swing states.  

A Monmouth University poll released on December 18, only days prior to a Wall Street Journal poll showing Biden with a 37 percent approval rating, found that the current US President hit a new low of 34 percent. In contrast, according to The Hill/Decision Desk HQ national polling averages, Trump holds a 2 percent lead over Biden.

In fact, sources close to the US president told The Hill that advisers, internal White House aides and external personal confidants, have met with Biden to discuss Trump, the negative polling and how to message the president’s accomplishments effectively.  

One source told the outlet that the meetings had occurred because of “deep frustration” over polls.

“The meetings are intended to discuss messaging on his age and his accomplishments. There has been concern among his inner circle that the messaging has not been strong or consistent enough to break through with the public,” the source said. 

Given Harris and Biden’s declining approval in the polls, it is little wonder that the Colorado Supreme Court issued a surprise decision to remove Trump from the primary ballot in that state, making Democrats excited that this could be repeated in other states. However, hopes were dashed when the US Supreme Court on December 22 rejected a request by the special counsel to expeditiously decide whether Trump has immunity from federal prosecution over his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.

With the Supreme Court’s rejection of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s request, the appeals court will now first hear the immunity case, which could make it difficult to maintain the March trial date. Due to this, Trump welcomed the Supreme Court’s move and said he was looking forward to presenting his arguments before the appeals court, stressing on his Truth social media platform, “Of course I am entitled to Presidential Immunity.”

“I was President, it was my right and duty to investigate, and speak on, the rigged and stolen 2020 Presidential Election,” he said, repeating his claims to have won the previous election.

It is evident that the American establishment does not want Trump to return and is using every non-fatal method to prevent him from running in next year’s election, where he has a serious chance of becoming president again, especially considering Biden’s failure to improve the lives of the average American in the post-pandemic period. Yet, it is seemingly apparent that the Democrats will insist on Biden and Harris despite their historic low approval ratings.

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

Featured image source

Is Kiev Regime Now Killing Foreign Journalists to Hide Its Corruption?

By Drago Bosnic, December 27, 2023

Back in August this year, reputable Egyptian investigative journalist Mohammed al-Alawi revealed exclusive materials regarding the purchase of a villa worth nearly $5 million by a woman named Olga Kiyashko. This would hardly be newsworthy if the person in question wasn’t the mother-in-law of the Kiev regime frontman Volodymyr Zelensky.

Stunning Atrocities in Gaza Funded by US Taxpayers

By Ralph Nader, December 28, 2023

The stunning atrocities going on day after day is being recorded by U.S. drones over Gaza and by brave Palestinian journalists directly targeted by the Israeli army. Over 66 journalists and larger numbers of their families have been slain. Israel has excluded foreign and Israeli journalists for years from Gaza.

Free Zones or Zones of Unfreedom? Debunking National Mythologies of “Happy” Jamaican Call Centre Workers

By Tina Renier, December 27, 2023

Jamaica serves as a peculiar case study on special economic zones’ integration in global supply chains (GSCs) because it is a small island developing state in the Caribbean region with 213 special economic zones across 10 out of 14 of its parishes which employs 53,000 people.

Israel’s War Spending: The Ballooning Costs of Israel’s Genocidal War Against Palestine

By Dr. Binoy Kampmark, December 27, 2023

The Bank of Israel Governor Amir Yaron is worried. He is keeping an eye on the ballooning costs of his country’s war against Gaza and the Palestinians. Initially, the Netanyahu government promised to increase its defence budget by NIS 20 billion (US$5.48 billion) per annum in the aftermath of the war.

Fort Bragg: Meeting at the End of the World. The US Military in Crisis. “Recent COVID Period Worsened All These Problems”

By Christine E. Black, December 27, 2023

In the past few years, the U.S. military has failed to meet its recruitment goals, according to U.S. news outlets. International outlets, like Al Jazeera, also report on the shortages. Young people’s poor mental and physical health, learning losses, and lack of confidence in the U.S. government and the military have all been blamed for lagging recruitment. The recent Covid period worsened all these problems.

Europe Betrayed. Minsk Peace Negotiations “Did Not Fail”? They Prepared Ukraine for War with Russia? Angela Merkel

By Lucas Leiroz de Almeida, December 27, 2023

According to former German prime minister, Angela Merkel, the Agreements did not fail, but fulfilled their real objective: to prepare Ukraine for a war against Russia in the near future. Commenting on the beginning of Moscow’s special military operation and the escalation of the conflict in Donbass, the German former official stated that this confrontation was expected from the very beginning, with the ceasefire established in Minsk only working as a way to temporarily alleviate tensions, enabling Kiev to gain time.

Christ in the Rubble. The Billionaires in Davos: “The Hypocrisy and Racism of the Western World Is Transparent…” Rev. Munther Isaac

By Rick Thomas, December 27, 2023

Will the genocidal war machine come to its senses and stop the barbaric slaughter of innocent civilians? Or will the conflict stir up so much regional anger, that the conflict escalates into a much wider confrontation between Israel, America, Hezbollah and Iran?

Sudden Deaths: What Is Killing COVID-19 Vaccinated Men at 30-39?

By Dr. William Makis, December 27, 2023

31 year old Amsterdam High School teacher Liam Pickett died suddenly of a burst aortic artery on Nov. 28, 2023 which happened after teaching his last period class.

Palestine: The Cost of Bearing Witness. Chris Hedges

By Chris Hedges, December 27, 2023

Writing and photographing in wartime are acts of resistance, acts of faith. They affirm the belief that one day – a day the writers, journalists and photographers may never see – the words and images will evoke empathy, understanding, outrage and provide wisdom. They chronicle not only the facts, although facts are important, but the texture, sacredness and grief of lives and communities lost.

Palestinian Resistance Cannot be Killed

By Steven Sahiounie, December 27, 2023

For the last thirty years, various resistance groups in the Middle East have emerged. Over time, they have made alliances among themselves. Their collective goal is to free Palestine from the brutal and enduring Israeli occupation.

Stunning Atrocities in Gaza Funded by US Taxpayers

December 28th, 2023 by Ralph Nader

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The unstoppable Israeli U.S. armed military juggernaut continues its genocidal destruction of Gaza’s Palestinians. The onslaught includes blocking the provision of “food, water, medicine, electricity and fuel,” openly genocidal orders decreed by Netanyahu and his extreme, blood-thirsty ministers.

The stunning atrocities going on day after day is being recorded by U.S. drones over Gaza and by brave Palestinian journalists directly targeted by the Israeli army. Over 66 journalists and larger numbers of their families have been slain. Israel has excluded foreign and Israeli journalists for years from Gaza.

This no-holds-barred ferocity came out of the Israeli government’s slumber on October 7th which allowed a few thousand Hamas and other fighters to take their smuggled hand-held weapons and attack soldiers and civilians before being destroyed or driven back to Gaza.

Seventy-five years of Israel military violence against defenseless Palestinians and fifty-six years of violently and illegally occupying their remaining slice of the original Palestine provides some background for Israel’s Founder, David Ben-Gurion’s candid statement: “We have taken their country.” (See, his full statement here).

The overwhelming military superiority of Israel – a nuclear armed nation – in the Middle East has produced a more aggressive Israeli government. Being more secure than ever before doesn’t seem to temper the expansionist missions of right-wing Israeli colonies in the West Bank.

Presently, the narrow Netanyahu majority in the Parliament believes that “nothing can stop us.” Presently, they are right.

Joe Biden and Congress are vigorously enabling the annihilations. The UN is frozen by the Joe Biden administration’s vetoes in the Security Council against ending the carnage in Gaza. The Arab nations either lay in ruins – Syria, Iraq – or are too weak to cause Israeli generals any worry. The rich Arab nations in the Gulf want to do business with prosperous Israel and, other than Qatar, care little about their Palestinian brethren.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) are no obstacle. Israel, along with Russia and the U.S. do not belong to the International Criminal Court. The Palestinian Authority is a party, but the practical difficulties of investigating Israeli war crimes in Gaza and apprehending the accused are insurmountable. The ICJ’s jurisdiction requires a country to bring Israel before the Court for war crimes or genocide. In any event, the Court’s lead-footed procedures trespass on eternity. So much for international law and the Geneva Conventions. Netanyahu rejects the moral authority of seventeen Israeli human rights groups, including Rabbis and reservist soldiers. Their open letter to President Biden in the December 13, 2023 issue of the New York Times on “The Humanitarian Catastrophe in the Gaza Strip” was ignored by the media despite the truth and courage it embodied.

In the U.S., protests and demonstrations are everywhere. Many are organized by Jewish human rights groups such as Jewish Voice for Peace, If Not Now, Standing Together, Veterans for Peace and various student organizations. Everywhere Biden travels there are people from all backgrounds protesting.

A few days ago, the first protests by labor union members occurred in Oakland, California. Union activists could turn their attention to why, for years, union leaders put billions of dollars into riskier lower-interest Israeli bonds rather than U.S. Treasuries or bond funds investing in America. Like U.S. weapon deliveries, purchases of Israeli bonds by states, cities and unions have surged since October 7th.

Pope Francis, informed of the Israeli attack on the only Catholic Church and Convent in Gaza, which housed people with disabilities, killing and injuring Christians sheltering there, sorrowfully said: “Some would say, ‘It is war. It is terrorism.’ Yes, it is war. It is terrorism.”

In 2015, over 400 Rabbis from Israel, the USA and Canada called on Prime Minister Netanyahu to stop the practice of demolishing hundreds of Palestinian homes as being contrary to international law and Jewish tradition. Their successors Rabbis for Human Rights are being ignored by the regime.

The Head of the U.S. Bishops Conference and the National Council of Churches, representing millions of parishioners, condemned the bombings but received little coverage.

There is only one institution that could stop Netanyahu’s mass military massacres of the Palestinian people. That is the U.S. Congress. As long as over 90% of the politicians there automatically support AIPAC, the Israeli Government Can Do No Wrong Lobby, even a peace-loving Joe Biden cannot deter Netanyahu. Bibi (his nickname) could simply say to a hypothetically transformed Biden “Joe, take it up with OUR Congress.”

How has AIPAC achieved such domination on Capitol Hill? By years of relentless lobbying and the smear of “anti-semitism” to anyone defying them. AIPAC and its chapters don’t bother with marches or demonstrations. They personally focus on the legislator – one by one. Carrots or sticks. Praise, PAC money and junkets are the Carrots. The Sticks are smears and money for selected primary challengers in their Districts or States. Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) called AIPAC “a Hate Group.”

There are about 300,000 citizens spending significant time back in the states working Congress in AIPAC’s favor. They know the doctors, lawyers, accountants, clergy, local politicians, donors, golf champions and other friends of the Senators and Representatives, and forcefully promote Israeli expansionism backed to the hilt by the U.S. government.

AIPAC is proficient in part for lack of any organized opposition. It is also practicing state-of-the-art non-stop grassroots lobbying.

Congress is poised to send $14.3 billion to Israeli militarism—a “genocide tax” on U.S. taxpayers—without public hearings. While growing public opinion in the U.S. is against unconditional backing of the Israeli regime, it has not changed a single vote in Congress. Someday, more organized support for America’s national interest will.

(For calls to your legislators, the Congressional switchboard is 202-224-3121.)

[From Common Dreams: Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.]

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Ralph Nader is a consumer advocate and the author of “The Seventeen Solutions: Bold Ideas for Our American Future” (2012). His new book is, “Wrecking America: How Trump’s Lies and Lawbreaking Betray All” (2020, co-authored with Mark Green).

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More than two months into Israel’s punishing military offensive in Gaza, a report by the Palestinian Ministry of Culture has yet another piece of tragic statistics: at least 28 Palestinian artists, intellectuals, and writers in Gaza have been killed since October 7.

They are among the more than 20,000 Palestinians killed in the besieged coastal enclave that has faced indiscriminate and incessant Israeli bombing after Hamas fighters carried out an unprecedented cross-border operation.

The report eloquently captures the profound impact of Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza’s cultural fabric, offering a poignant narrative that underscores the gravity of the situation.

“The war on culture has always been at the heart of the aggressors’ war on our people, as the real war is a war on the narrative to steal the land and its rich treasures of knowledge, history, and civilization, along with the stories it holds.” says Dr. Atef Abu Saif in the report’s introduction.

He emphasises that the essence of this war is embedded in an endeavour to erase those who persist in contributing to this rich cultural heritage.

In honouring their legacy and ensuring their efforts and works remain indelible, we present a trimmed list of Palestinian literary and artistic figures who was brutally killed by Israel in last two months:

Heba Zagout

Image: Heba Zagout’s art frequently centred on themes such as women, the homeland, nature, and the profound bond between mothers and children. 

Visual artist and fine arts educator Heba Ghazi Ibrahim Zagout, aged 39, and her son were killed on October 13. In the days leading up to her tragic death, she recorded a video showcasing her paintings and passionately discussing her works, expressing her dream of organising an art exhibition to share her creativity.

Her art frequently centred on themes such as women, the homeland, nature, and the profound bond between mothers and children. Zagout, an alumna of Gaza’s Al Aqsa University with a degree in fine arts, depicted scenes from the Old City of the occupied East Jerusalem, the revered Al Aqsa mosque, and the Church of the Nativity in Beit Laham—a significant site for Christians, marking the birthplace of Jesus.

Hiba Abu Nada

Image: Abu Nada was educated at Islamic University, Gaza, where she was awarded a bachelor’s degree of biochemistry.

Hiba Abu Nada, a 32-year-old poet and novelist, was killed alongside her son in an Israeli airstrike in Khan Yunis on October 20.

The accomplished writer had garnered recognition for her contributions, including published collections of poetry and a novel titled “Oxygen is Not for the Dead,” which secured second place at the Sharjah Awards for Arab creativity in 2017.

Her last poem was shared on X, formerly Twitter, just a few days before her death:

“Gaza’s night is dark apart from the glow of rockets, quiet apart from the sound of the bombs, terrifying apart from the comfort of prayer, black apart from the light of the martyrs. Goodnight, Gaza.”

Omar Abu Shaweesh

Poet, novelist, and dedicated community activist, Omar Faris Abu Shaweesh, was killed on October 7 during the shelling of the Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza.

Distinguished for his commitment to youth causes, Abu Shaweesh co-founded several youth associations and earned accolades both locally and internationally.

Among his notable awards are the “Best National Song of the Year 2007” from the International Festival of National Song and Heritage in Jordan.

Furthering his impact, the Arab Youth Council for Integrated Development of the Arab League honoured him with the “Distinguished Arab Youth in the Field of Media, Journalism, and Culture” award in 2013.

Abu Shaweesh’s literary contributions were equally significant, with several collections of poetry and a novel, “Alā qayd al-mawt” (2016), to his name.

His legacy extends beyond his written words, reflecting a profound dedication to uplifting youth and promoting cultural richness of Palestine.

Inas al Saqa

Image: An influential figure in Gaza’s theatre scene, Saqa was among the pioneers in children’s theatre and an artist skilled in visual arts.

A renowned playwright, actor, and educator specialising in children’s theatre, Inas al Saqa was killed in a late October Israeli airstrike alongside three of her children—Sara, Leen, and Ibrahim.

Sheltering in a Gaza City building, the family was struck, leaving Farah and Ritta critically injured and in intensive care.

An influential figure in Gaza’s theatre scene, Saqa was among the pioneers in children’s theatre and an artist skilled in visual arts.

Saqa’s cinematic contributions included roles in the 2014 film “Sara” and “The Homeland’s Sparrow,” both addressing significant societal issues and the Palestinian struggle. Beyond her acting, she was known for her cultural contributions, collaborating with theatre groups in Gaza.

Her last social media post serves as a haunting testament: “Sometimes you look back to get a glimpse of your past… and you discover that you emerged alive from a massacre…”

Yusuf Dawas

Image: Fluent in both Arabic and English, Dawas wrote extensively and produced videos discussing a range of topics, including his aspiration to travel and explore the world.

On October 14, Palestinian writer, journalist, and photographer Yusuf Dawas lost his life in an Israeli airstrike on his family home in northern Gaza.

Dawas, also a guitarist, actively participated in the We Are Not Numbers initiative—an organisation established in Gaza after Israel’s 2014 attack, dedicated to fostering a new generation of Palestinian writers and thinkers to effect meaningful change in the Palestinian cause.

Fluent in both Arabic and English, Dawas wrote extensively and produced videos discussing a range of topics, including his aspiration to travel and explore the world—a dream shared by many young people in Gaza, especially given more than sixteen years of the blockade imposed on them by the Israeli occupation.

Mohammed Qaryeqa

The artist Mohammed Sami Qaryeqa, aged 24, was killed on October 18th. Known for his innovative approach, he integrated technology with art, depicting scenes from daily life.

His final social media post showcased a video of children playing in the garden of the Baptist Hospital in Gaza, just a day before it fell victim to an Israeli airstrike, leading to a tragic massacre with 500 martyrs and dozens of wounded.

Even in his last moments, Qaryeqa endeavoured to alleviate the anxiety and psychological stress faced by children and patients in the hospital through his art, reflecting his unwavering commitment to bringing comfort and solace in the face of adversity.

Nour al Din Hajjaj

Poet and writer Nour al Din Hajjaj was killed by an Israeli airstrike on his home in Al Shujaiyya on December 2.

Renowned for his literary contributions, he authored the play “The Gray Ones” (2022) and the novel “Wings That Do Not Fly” (2021). Hajjaj was an active participant in initiatives such as the Cordoba Association, and the Days of Theater Foundation.

His final message to the outside world was:

“My name is Nour al Din Hajjaj, I am a Palestinian writer, I am twenty-seven years old and I have many dreams.

I am not a number and I do not consent to my death being passing news. Say, too, that I love life, happiness, freedom, children’s laughter, the sea, coffee, writing, Fairouz, everything that is joyful—though these things will all disappear in the space of a moment.

One of my dreams is for my books and my writings to travel the world, for my pen to have wings so that no unstamped passport or visa rejection can hold it back.

Another dream of mine is to have a small family, to have a little son who looks like me and to tell him a bedtime story as I rock him in my arms.”

The listed names offer a glimpse into the untold number of artists, writers, and musicians shaping Gaza’s resilient arts landscape.

As another prominent killed Palestinian poet Refaat Alareer once reminded us, if he dies, we must live to tell his story:

If I must die, you must live to tell my story to sell my things to buy a piece of cloth and some strings, (make it white with a long tail) so that a child,
somewhere in Gaza
while looking heaven in the eye
awaiting his dad who left in a blaze —
and bid no one farewell
not even to his flesh
not even to himself —
sees the kite, my kite you made, flying up above,
and thinks for a moment an angel is there
bringing back love.
If I must die
let it bring hope,
let it be a story.

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Featured image: Heba Zagout’s art frequently centred on themes such as women, the homeland, nature, and the profound bond between mothers and children. (Source: TRT World)

As recentes notícias sobre a libertação de Maryinka mostraram que os russos continuam a avançar no campo de batalha, apesar da lentidão dos combates. Mais do que isso, a cidade é extremamente estratégica e possibilita o processo de libertação total da República Popular de Donetsk, consolidando o controle territorial russo nas regiões reintegradas.

O anúncio da vitória em Maryinka foi feito no dia 25 de dezembro pelas autoridades russas. O fato foi reconhecido pelo próprio governo ucraniano, que confirmou que as suas tropas recuaram da cidade e estão agora entrincheiradas nas redondezas.

Maryinka, por fazer parte de Donetsk, já é território legalmente russo desde os referendos de 2022, porém, a região ainda era disputada militarmente, com presença de forças ucranianas na cidade até então. Maryinka está localizada no extremo oeste de Donetsk e o seu controle é essencial para permitir a expulsão definitiva dos soldados ucranianos do recém-integrado oblast.

Maryinka tem sido bombardeada diariamente desde o início do conflito. A sua localização estratégica levou a fortes atritos desde 2014, quando começaram os confrontos entre separatistas russos e militantes ucranianos. Na época, os ucranianos conseguiram construir fortificações na região e manter-se numa posição sólida, que só agora foi destruída pelos russos.

Uma extensa rede de túneis subterrâneos e bunkers foi construída pelas forças de Kiev, segundo o Ministério da Defesa russo. Isto explica por que os combates foram tão intensos e longos, considerando a dificuldade de conduzir operações militares em regiões ocupadas por canais subterrâneos que permitem ao inimigo se esconder e armazenar equipamentos. Nesse sentido, ao destruir a fortificação militar ucraniana no sudoeste de Donetsk, os russos conseguem infligir pesados ​​danos às forças de Kiev, agravando ainda mais a fraqueza da Ucrânia.

Em verdade, controlar as cidades nos arredores de Donetsk parece ser hoje uma prioridade russa. Ao libertar as zonas fronteiriças dos novos oblasts, os russos conseguem expulsar o inimigo e consolidar as suas posições nos territórios que já fazem parte da Federação. Nesse sentido, o sucesso em Maryinka soa como uma grande vitória para Moscou e mostra como os objetivos militares e políticos russos continuam a ser alcançados, apesar do conflito parecer “lento” e sem grandes mudanças territoriais.

Desde o início da operação militar especial, a Rússia optou por uma estratégia de movimentos “lentos mas seguros”. O objetivo das forças de Moscou nunca foi avançar rapidamente no campo de batalha e tomar o máximo possível de territórios – pelo contrário, a Rússia tem se esforçado por manter linhas de defesa sólidas, protegendo as zonas já libertadas e mantendo uma distância segura entre estas e as áreas controladas pelos ucranianos.

No mesmo sentido, os russos apostam fortemente no uso de artilharia para neutralizar o inimigo, mobilizando tropas no terreno apenas depois de infligir danos substanciais ao inimigo. Assim, as vidas dos soldados russos também são protegidas. É possível dizer que salvar vidas militares e civis tem sido a principal prioridade da Rússia durante toda a operação.

Na prática, isso faz com que o combate seja mais demorado e gera na opinião pública uma sensação de “paralisia” no campo de batalha. No entanto, é uma forma comprovadamente eficiente de salvar vidas humanas sem causar perdas militares e territoriais. O tempo não é inimigo da Rússia neste conflito – pelo contrário, o tempo corre contra Kiev, que perde cada vez mais soldados, equipamentos e territórios e não tem capacidade de reverter este cenário.

Em outra declaração recente do ministério da defesa russo, foi dito que o principal objetivo da operação militar especial em 2023 era neutralizar a “contraofensiva” ucraniana. Obviamente, o objetivo foi alcançado com sucesso, com o conflito a entrar agora numa nova fase, em que as forças ucranianas já não parecem ter qualquer possibilidade de sequer tentar uma reação ou contra-ataque. Nesta nova etapa de hostilidades, as forças russas têm controle absoluto sobre como conduzir seus avanços, pois as tropas ucranianas estão extremamente enfraquecidas e não conseguirão manter posições por muito tempo.

Do ponto de vista militar, a libertação de Maryinka pode ser vista como o início de uma onda de libertações nas regiões fronteiriças de Donetsk. Acredita-se que a Rússia iniciará movimentos focados na obtenção do controle total dos novos territórios, eliminando definitivamente a presença militar ucraniana nestas áreas. Considerando a estratégia adotada até agora, é possível que os conflitos se prolonguem e os objetivos demorem a ser alcançados, mas isso certamente acontecerá devido ao próprio interesse da Rússia em evitar perdas humanas – e não devido à capacidade de defesa da Ucrânia.

Lucas Leiroz de Almeida

 

Artigo em inglês :

https://infobrics.org/post/40157/

Imagem : InfoBrics

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Lucas Leiroz, jornalista, pesquisador do Center for Geostrategic Studies, consultor geopolítico.

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

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Back in August this year, reputable Egyptian investigative journalist Mohammed al-Alawi revealed exclusive materials regarding the purchase of a villa worth nearly $5 million by a woman named Olga Kiyashko. This would hardly be newsworthy if the person in question wasn’t the mother-in-law of the Kiev regime frontman Volodymyr Zelensky.

According to the documentation al-Alawi presented, the lavish compound is located in the so-called VIP area of the city of El Gouna on the Red Sea coast. Zelensky’s mother-in-law acquired the villa in May for 150 million Egyptian pounds (approximately $4,860,000). This is rather peculiar, given that Zelensky’s income before he took power in 2019 was ₴28 million (hryvnia), which is around $750,000.

Ever since, his wealth increased exponentially. Although sources vary significantly, Zelensky’s current net worth that not even the mainstream propaganda machine denies is roughly $20 million. The actual number could be orders of magnitude higher, but for the sake of the argument, let’s say it’s true. Still, the question arises, how did he manage to accomplish a 25-fold increase in wealth? Worse yet, this “remarkable” accomplishment happened in the middle of an “evil Russian invasion”. However, it should be noted that the reason why his net worth is extremely likely to be much higher lies in the fact that he surely wouldn’t invest a quarter of his wealth into a luxurious villa that probably costs tens of thousands in maintenance per month.

Still, the more important question is where did the money come from? Obviously, the question is rhetorical, but the Neo-Nazi junta and its NATO overlords wouldn’t want anyone to start asking it, let alone giving the most obvious answer.

Egyptian sources indicate that much of the so-called “Ukrainian elite” acquired property in Egypt, particularly in the aftermath of the special military operation (SMO). However, Al-Alawi “dared” to do his job and investigate the matter and it seems that he really hit the hornet’s nest by revealing this information.

Namely, several news outlets reported that he was found dead near the El Hadaba road in Hurghada. Local police said that his body had numerous abrasions, fractures, bruises and a traumatic brain injury.

The investigation has so far concluded that al-Alawi was beaten to death. His family and relatives said that they feared for their lives ever since he revealed the details of his investigation. Namely, both al-Alawi and his family have been receiving death threats for months. Interestingly, the mainstream propaganda machine and its “independent fact-checkers” fought tooth and nail to “debunk” al-Alawi’s findings and even launched a smear campaign against him. However, Egyptian authorities are now suspecting that special services (most likely the SBU) were involved in al-Alawi’s murder. This is hardly surprising, given that murdering foreign journalists and anyone who doesn’t bow to the Neo-Nazi junta has become its common practice.

In this particular case, the goal was to punish al-Alawi for exposing Zelensky and undermining the image of a “war hero” that the Kiev regime and the political West have been trying to create since the SMO started. What’s more, it’s not impossible that al-Alawi had additional information about the rampant corruption of the Neo-Nazi junta and its leadership, the extent of which is difficult to overstate. The sheer magnitude of embezzlement on all levels of government has prompted the Kiev regime’s American backers to actively disrupt any audits. Such investigations would certainly reveal the enormous extent of the Neo-Nazi junta’s corruption. This would only exacerbate its funding issues, as the GOP-dominated Congress can’t wait for an excuse to cut it completely.

And yet, corruption scandals keep springing up everywhere in Ukraine. In recent days, a senior Defense Ministry official was arrested for embezzling $40 million allocated for the purchase of artillery munitions. The unnamed official is said to have committed fraud by using state funds to purchase shells at inflated prices. His home was searched by the police who found documentation that confirms he ran the scheme. It should be noted that the Kiev regime forces are experiencing chronic shortages in artillery munitions. This means that the unnamed official effectively contributed to the problem that is so severe now that Ukrainian artillerymen are forced to limit their fire support only to larger formations and completely ignore smaller Russian units.

Corruption scandals are so common that the Neo-Nazi junta is simply unable to prevent people from leaking information about it. The Defense Ministry is particularly involved in such embezzlement schemes, as evidenced by ongoing investigations into the acquisition of sub-standard bulletproof vests, as well as the purchase of food supplies and uniforms at inflated prices. One of the more recent scandals was when Zelensky fired all officials in charge of conscription commissions. Namely, they were essentially selling exemption notices and making it possible for the more well-off people to avoid being sent to the frontline. This is creating tensions with the political West, as both the US and EU are deeply irritated by the lack of battlefield results.

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This article was originally published on InfoBrics.

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

Featured image is from InfoBrics

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Read Part I: 

From Colonialism to “Neoliberal Capitalism”: Low Wage “Special Economic Zones”. Integrating Developing Countries into Global Supply Chains: The Case of Jamaica

By Tina Renier, December 16, 2023


I have to create affirmation cards to boost my self-esteem whenever I go to work daily.

I keep up the facade of happiness to meet daily targets and customers’ satisfaction. I have to keep up a facade of happiness even though I am paid less than my regular monthly salary.

Call centre workers are not treated as human beings. We are treated as robots or business transactions.”

(Online testimony from a 21-year-old woman working at a BPO company for 2 years and 2 months, Daily Observer, February 21, 2022).

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For decades, special economic zones (SEZs) have been pivotal development strategies to promote economic growth, international trade, foreign direct investment, and job creation for several developing countries. Special economic zones (SEZs) are also known as “free zones”, “free trade zones” or “export processing zones” and they are geographically delimited areas within which governments facilitate industrial activity through fiscal and regulatory measures as well as infrastructural support (UNCTAD, 2019). Globally, SEZs have proliferated throughout the world and there are over 7,000 special economic zones employing more than 100 million people. More than 1,000 special economic zones have been established in the last five (5) years (UNCTAD, 2022).

Jamaica serves as a peculiar case study on special economic zones’ integration in global supply chains (GSCs) because it is a small island developing state in the Caribbean region with 213 special economic zones across 10 out of 14 of its parishes which employs 53,000 people. The nation was also a host of the 8th Annual Conference for the World Free Zones Organisation in 2022. Jamaica has positioned itself as a hub for private investment in the business product outsourcing (BPO) sector in the Latin America and Caribbean region. One of the main policy objectives for the Government of Jamaica (GOJ) is to promote job creation through economic growth while creating an enabling environment for local and foreign investors (National Investment Policy of Jamaica, White Paper, July 2022).

In this interpretive essay, I argue that the Government of Jamaica’s use of special economic zones as key policy instruments obscures the attention from the quality of jobs created and therefore, this undermines the sustainable development imperative, which is also a core aspect of its policy objective outlined in its National Investment Policy White Paper.

Sustainable development is defined as ensuring that the needs of the present generation are met without jeopardizing future generations and it is a form of development that pays keen attention to economic, social, and ecological considerations. Drawing on Sara Ahmed’s (2010) conceptual frameworks of “promise of happiness” and “cognitive capitalism” this essay explains that Jamaica’s neoliberal capitalist government regime, business product outsourcing (BPO) corporations, employers, BPO industry experts and private sector investors serve a powerful discursive function in which they construct and produce “happy” narratives and images of call centre workers while profits and foreign direct investment revenue have been maximised.

On the other hand, the majority of call centre workers describe their deplorable working conditions as akin to slavery and hence, free zones or special economic zones can be considered as ‘zones of unfreedom’.

Cognitive capitalism refers to the exploitation of creative and emotional labour and purports that the dominant subjective interpretation that work is a major contributor to the economy while thoughts, desires and feelings are quantified as expressed solely in terms of monetary value (Marini, 2007). Finally, this essay highlights how significant changes such as the post-COVID-19 pandemic context, global supply chain disruption, global geo-political crises, pessimistic projections for an incoming new year (2024) and the Fourth Industrial Revolution (artificial intelligence-driven work) pose serious implications for not only decent work creation in special economic zones but also for the Jamaican decision-making landscape concerning special economic zones.

Special economic zones undermine the Government of Jamaica’s sustainable development imperative because immense emphasis has consistently been placed on profit maximisation and the number of jobs created rather than the quality of jobs created.

This is evident in the fact that it was reported that the business product outsourcing sector (BPO) within special economic zones contributes USD$136 billion to the Jamaican economy which is equivalent to 6% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (Williams, 2023). Local and foreign investors are entitled to a wide array of benefits under Sections 3 and 4 of the 2016 Special Economic Zones Act of Jamaica. Local and foreign investors are exempted from customs duties, exempted from income taxes on profits derived from rentals of property within zones and a 12.5% tax rate on income of the developer or occupant (Special Economic Zones Act of Jamaica, 2016).

One of the primary legal rights of a zone occupant is to transfer funds freely in and out of Jamaica under Section 39 1 h of the 2016 Special Economic Zones Act and as mentioned previously in the first part (Part 1) of this essay, this reinforces the hegemonic power of business product outsourcing (BPO) or call centre transnational corporations whereby they are effectively able to wield leverage over the Government of Jamaica’s local regulatory and investment policy frameworks to suit their agendas.

Transnational corporations expert, John Madeley (2008:18) argued that governments of developing countries often overlook the deeply problematic social costs of integrating into global supply chains and social costs associated with hosting transnational corporations in their countries because developing country governments are more concerned about pressing economic needs such as addressing high unemployment rates, chronic debt and the need for generating foreign exchange revenue from investments. As a result, developing country governments end up defending corporations that are exploiting the country (Madeley, 2008, p.18).

Madeley’s postulation is seen in the example of Government of Jamaica and its correspondent agencies and ministries utilising the media (online news headlines) as an avenue to establish constructs of “happy news” about the creation of more BPO/call centre jobs by marketing and promoting Jamaica as an ideal investment location because it has a proven track record in foreign direct investment, nearshore advantage to North America, a highly educated and English-speaking workforce, competitive labour costs and quality infrastructure (JAMPRO, 2017). Competitive labour costs are the code words for low-waged, low-valued added, indecent work as the cost for wages in Jamaica are 40-60% lower than the corresponding salaries in North America. 

Sara Ahmed (2010) in her book, “The Promise of Happiness” offers a critical decolonial and feminist perspective and an incisive interpretation of happiness where she defines happiness as a technique of power relations and a crucial industry that maintains hierarchical relations in societies through texts, popular images, messaging, and several forms of media. Ahmed (2010:3) postulates that happiness narratives or national stories are often cited in old or new media when the social realities of oppressed groups do not reflect the national mythologies of happiness.

The national mythology of happiness associated with business product outsourcing (BPO) work is widely shared in newspaper headlines by industry experts, government, BPO employers, private investors, and even high-ranking government officials such as the Prime Minister of Jamaica, The Most Honourable Andrew Holness who boasts,

Jamaica has the largest BPO market in the Latin America and Caribbean region and the industry has createdjob opportunities that has transformed people’s lives” (Angus, Jamaica Information Service, June 7, 2022).

Without a doubt, massive transformation has been associated with creating thousands of BPO jobs but what is not mentioned in the national mythology or national frenzy of happiness is the fact that the transformation is highly uneven, as the nation still suffers from high inequalities in income, life expectancy and access to social and economic opportunities for majority of its population (UNDP’s Human Development Report, 2021) and the fact that the transformations lay bare the enduring history of labour exploitation that stems from its colonial past.

The transformation to which Prime Minister Holness speaks is not transformative per se either in potential or reality but is rather highly extractive. The harsh social ramifications of special economic zones’ integration in global supply chains are revealed in the quotes from testimonies of call centre workers at the beginning of this interpretive essay who have openly shared that despite slavery-like, waged jobs, they are forced to mask their real emotions on the job by pretending to be happy. This is referred to as emotional labour. Emotional labour involves more than being polite to customers. It involves suppressing genuine emotions with happiness because most call centre workers’ job security and wages are on the line and their working conditions are primarily characterized by emotive performance (Granday, Rupp and Brice, 2015).

Thus, happiness about working in Jamaican call centres is treated like a script to be followed as deviations from the script of happiness deployed by employers, private investors, BPO industry experts and governments would be perceived as not only a deviation from happiness but unsettling the broader macroeconomic, social, spatial-ecological, epistemological, and political conditions of oppression? Similar to Ahmed (2010:50), I ask the question, “How can one justify the unequal distribution and exploitation of labour and say such a form of labour makes people happy?” How can Jamaica’s call centre workers be happy about low wages, gruelling working hours, customer, peer and employer mistreatment, abuse and harassment, excessive surveillance of job performance, limited or no social protection benefits, limited or no job security, myriad occupational health illnesses associated with call centre work and no union representation to advocate on their behalf?

The zones of unfreedom established by the previous and the current neo-liberal capitalist government regime continue to court foreign direct investment and hold economic growth as the sole metric of development without any serious emphasis on the quality of jobs created.

The severity of the BPO/call centre dilemma has gained the attention of the Governor of the Bank of Jamaica, Richard Byles who has explained that BPO jobs are not only low waged but low value-added as most of them primarily rely on customer call service operations and they are like the low waged jobs that have created two decades ago. For the Government of Jamaica to achieve its sustainable development imperative, the Government of Jamaica must place urgent focus on ensuring the special economic zones as central strategies of development or policy instruments court both foreign direct investment while creating decent work with adequate attention to designing and implementing progressive or inclusive labour demand and labour supply policies. Adequate attention must be given to designing and implementing progressive or inclusive, labour demand and supply policies because the vast majority of the populations in the Latin American and Caribbean region are working jobs (including call centre work) that do not pay enough that lift them out of poverty and people living and working in poverty experience the highest deficits in decent work (Abramo, Cechini and Morales, 2019, p.14).

Secondly, special economic zones undermine the Government of Jamaica’s sustainable development imperative because there are several labour and human rights violations even though national laws and policies have outlined that employers should adhere to legislation governing interactions with employees.

Fundamental rights and freedoms of Jamaican workers including the right to freedom of association and freedom from discrimination under Chapter III- Fundamental Rights and Freedoms in Jamaica’s Constitution (Amended 2011) have been seriously breached in special economic zones.

In fact, as a country, we have been categorized for repeated labour rights violations of workers, according to the 2022 International Trade Union Confederation Global Rights Index. These unlawful actions should exemplify greater social advocacy and movement towards reforming Jamaica’s Constitution to better reflect not only today’s socio-economic realities but to ensure rights of every Jamaican are both effectively upheld and enforced presently and for future generations. Additionally, from a right-based perspective, the United Nations Common Multi-Country Analysis (UN CMCA) Report in 2021 referred to the limitations of most Caribbean Constitutions. The report illustrated that most Caribbean countries do not provide guarantees for economic, social and cultural rights in their domestic legislations or constitutions.

Therefore, one potential area for improvement or a recommendation for the Government of Jamaica’s effort at constitutional reform is to ensure that our constitution fully reflects the values and principles enshrined in the 1966 UN Covenant for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights along with stronger enforcement mechanisms to ensure accountability and more punitive measures for individuals and or entities that are in breach of legally binding principles.  Two powerful, online testimonies were posited in the Jamaica Daily Observer article entitled, “Sweatshop: Call Centre workers employed in a Slavery-like Working Environment and Unfair Treatment” dated February 21, 2022. 

A 30-year-old call centre worker working at a BPO company explained in the Jamaica Daily Observer article:

“This sector is like modern-day slavery as you are easily drained, overwhelmed and replaceable. Base pay is not enough and the slightest mistake results in the loss of monthly incentives”.

A 22-year-old woman call centre worker, who works a year and 11 months at another BPO company noted in the Jamaica Daily Observer article:

“I have 10-hour shifts with no breaks or lunch. You have to do everything on time and if you are late for work, it comes out of your monthly pay. You earn a sick day every 22 days and when you get sick, they do not pay for it. The industry offers good salaries only at the managerial and occupational levels.”  

In the same article, Khadea Folkes who is an Attorney-at-Law observed that according to Jamaica’s labour laws, workers are entitled to ten (10) sick days annually and these workers’ experiences and concerns underscore the need for the enforcement of the 2017 Occupational Health and Safety Act which would allow employees to experience decent work conditions without jeopardizing their health and well-being. The online testimonies of these call centre workers mirror a completely different reality from the ambitious statements examined in policy documents or “happy” national announcements of the creation and establishment of more zones of unfreedom with BPO sector jobs.

Sara Ahmed (2010) expresses that happiness means to follow someone else’s directives and when one or a group becomes unhappy or speaks about the source of their happiness is seen as a source of defiance especially if one or a group of oppressed people are expected to recede in the background.”

Ahmed’s explanation is quite relevant to these Jamaican call centres as their testimonies have not only assisted in debunking national mythologies of happiness, as zones by their very restrictive spatial design add to call centre workers’ unfreedom alongside surveillance but their testimonies also embody resistance against the national tropes of happiness and inequitable, extractive transformation that BPO brings to their lives. These testimonies also show how cognitive capitalism is embedded in the psyche of workers and is popularized by the time is money and money is time, adage. In a country where wages are 40-60% less than comparable wages of North American workers and where globally, the cost of living, inflation, and devaluation of developing countries’ currencies like Jamaica have impacted negatively on wages and purchasing power, we simply cannot expect Jamaican call centre workers to be happy or to “recede into the background by silencing stories that need to be told- stories that unsettle national fabrications of happiness.

To add insult to injury, there is more “unhappy” news from the 2022 International Labour Organization (ILO) publication has expounded on the fact that erosion of wages affects all wage earners in developing, emerging market and industrialized countries but a more disproportionate impact is faced by wage earners from low-income households, especially in the post-pandemic context. The report also calls for renewed attention on rebuilding people’s sense of social justice. We can only rebuild a sense of social justice when the local sustainable development agenda is pursued both on paper and, as well as when our development strategies are people-centred coupled with a serious focus on environmental sustainability.

Finally, the Government of Jamaica should observe the trends in global development that will affect the local, policy decision-making landscape concerning special economic zones, as we are a small, island developing states that are becoming ever more vulnerable to exogenous shocks.  On a global scale, it is predicted that this year and the incoming years (2024 and beyond) will be characterized by rapidly shifting macroeconomic conditions, global supply chain disruptions both due to the COVID-19 pandemic’s long-lasting implications and geo-political crises, banking sector turmoil in the US and Europe, the Fourth Industrial Revolution and increased vulnerabilities for developing countries (United Nations, 2023). Already business product outsourcing (BPO) mainly consisting of call centre jobs is experiencing the headwinds of accelerated artificial intelligence which is expected to slash seventy (70%) of BPO with more than 38,000 of an estimated 55,000 people employed being without work (Editorial, Jamaica Gleaner, April 13, 2023). Excuse my pessimism which might be seen as an act of political troublemaking! but we must collectively rethink, reimagine, and develop policies to ensure a more equitable transformation beyond the current exploitative, extractive model of neoliberal and cognitive capitalism associated with these zones of unfreedom.

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Sources

Abramo, L, Cechini, S. and Morales, B. (2019). Social programmes, poverty eradication and labour inclusion. Lessons from Latin America and the Caribbean. Santiago de Chile, Chile: United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (UNECLAC) publication.

Ahmed, S. (2010). The Promise of Happiness. London and Durham: Duke University Press.        

Allen, I. (11 October 2019). Byles: Jamaica needs to create high-value jobs. Jamaica Gleaner. Retrieved from https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/business/20191011/byles-jamaica-needs-create-high-value-jobs

Angus, G. (7 June 2022). 6,000 More BPO Jobs Since COVID-19. Jamaica Information Service. Retrieved from https://jis.gov.jm/6-000-more-bpo-jobs-since-covid-19/

Granday, A. Rupp, D, and Brice, W. (2015). Emotional Labour Threatens Decent Work: A Proposal to Eradicate Display Rules. Journal of Organisational Behaviour, 36, pp. 770-785.

International Labour Organization. (2022). The Impact of Inflation and COVID-19 on Wages and Purchasing Power. Geneva, Switzerland: ILO Publications

Jamaica Gleaner. (13 April 2023). Low tech-Low Wage Dilemma. Editorial. Retrieved from jamaica-gleaner.com/article/commentary/20230413/editorial-low-tech-low-wage-dilemma

Jamaica Observer. (21 February 2022). Sweatshop: Call Centre workers complain of a slavery-like working environment and unfair Treatment. Retrieved from https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/sweatshop/

Madeley, J. (2008). Big Business, Poor Peoples: How Transnational Corporations Damage the World’s Poor. London and NY: Zed Books. p.18

Marini, C. (2007). The Feminization of Labour and Cognitive Capitalism. Feminist Review, 87, pp. 40-59

United Nations. (2023). World Economic Situation and Prospects- Mid Year Update. New York, USA: UN Publications.

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (2019). World Investment Report. Special Economic Zones- Chapter IV. Geneva, Switzerland: UNCTAD Publications.

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. (17 May 2022). Special Economic Zones. Geneva, Switzerland: UNCTAD Publications

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***

The Bank of Israel Governor Amir Yaron is worried. He is keeping an eye on the ballooning costs of his country’s war against Gaza and the Palestinians. Initially, the Netanyahu government promised to increase its defence budget by NIS 20 billion (US$5.48 billion) per annum in the aftermath of the war. But a document from the Finance Ministry presented to the Knesset Finance Committee on December 25 suggests that the number is NIS 10 billion greater.

The Finance Ministry is also projecting that the war against Hamas will cost the country’s budget somewhere in the order of NIS 50 billion (US$13.8 billion). NIS 9.6 billion will go towards such expenses as evacuating residents close to the borders of the country’s north and south, buttressing emergency forces and rehabilitation purposes.

The increased military budget is predictable and in keeping with the proclivities of the Israeli state. What is striking is that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has regarded Israeli defence expenditure as generally inadequate when looked at as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP).

Between 2012 and 2022, military expenditure as a percentage of GDP fell from 5.64% to 4.51%. Doing so enables him to have two bites at the same rotten cherry: to claim he was blameless for that very decline in military expenditure, and to show that he intends to rectify a problem he was hardly blameless for.

Even in war time, Netanyahu is proving oleaginous in his policy making. The mid-December supplementary budget for 2023, coming in at NIS 28.9 billion, was intended to cover the ongoing conflict with Hamas and Hezbollah. But its approval was hardly universal. Opponents of the budget noted the allocation of hundreds of millions of shekels towards “coalition funds” intended for non-war related projects relevant to parliamentarians and ministers. Benny Gantz’s National Unity party, a coalition partner, would have nothing to do with it. Intelligence minister Gila Gamliel was absent from the vote, while Yuli Edelstein of Netanyahu’s own Likud Party abstained. Opposition leader Yair Lapid pointed the finger at the rising budget deficit.

On December 18, Yaron gave vent to some of his concerns.

“During this period, more than at any other time, and as investors, rating agencies, financial markets and the public as a whole are carefully examining policymaking in Israel, it is necessary to manage economic policy – fiscal and monetary – with great responsibility.”

Body counts interest Yaron less than budget figures and reputational damage in the markets, though killing Palestinians is proving an expensive business.

“The government will have to find the right balance between financing war expenses and the expected increase in the defence budget and the need to continue investing in other civilian budgets, which are already low, in particular in growth engines such as infrastructure and education.”

Yaron has every reason to assume that costs will continue to balloon. For one thing, Netanyahu’s idea of peace in the current conflict reads like a blueprint for ongoing, lengthy massacre, accompanied by permanent mass incarceration: the destruction of Hamas itself, the demilitarisation of Gaza and a Palestinian society free of radical elements. This is a nightmare to both humanitarians and the belt-tighteners in the Finance Ministry.

Notably, the plan says nothing about Palestinian statehood, which, in the scheme of Israel’s aims, has been euthanised. Gaza, the designated monstrosity Israel nourished as a supposedly useful tool to keep Palestinian ambitions in check, is to be turned into a prison entity that seems awfully much like it was prior to the October 7 attacks by Hamas. (The cruel, in such cases, lack imagination.)

A “temporary security zone on the perimeter of Gaza and an inspection mechanism on the border between Gaza and Egypt” will be established in accordance with “Israel’s security needs”. The zone will also serve to prevent “smuggling of weapons into the territory”, which sounds much like the original blockade, lasting 14 years, that was meant to achieve the same purpose.

The Israeli PM is, however, promising that the destruction of Hamas will take place “in full compliance with international law”, begging the question what sort of international law he is consulting. Given various official statements from Netanyahu’s cabinet and the Israeli Defence Forces, it must be either a law of jungle provenance or one applicable to animal kind. That same standard of legal analysis has permitted the generously expansive massacre of over 20,000 Palestinians, a staggering number of them children, the ongoing flattening of Gaza, and the utter destruction of critical infrastructure.

Given that Israeli law, alongside military and administrative policy, does nothing other than encourage the radicalisation of Palestinians and the fertilising of the Jihadist soil, this is charmingly delusionary. The current war will simply prove to be the same as previous ones, protean, adjustable, and shape changing. Conflict will simply continue by other means, a continued growth of flowering hatreds, leaving Israel a butcher’s bill of shekels and casualties it is only now chewing over.

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Dr. Binoy Kampmark was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge. He is a Research Associate at the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG). He currently lectures at RMIT University. Email: [email protected]

Featured image: Slaughterhouse – by Mr. Fish

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***

Dying throes of U.S. militarism, with post-covid trauma and malaise, display themselves in Fayetteville, North Carolina this December as I travel there on a Friday for a Saturday meeting.

Fort Bragg is there, which is one of the largest military bases in the world.  My meeting is with a group I volunteer with that counsels military members and veterans, takes calls from those who need help, and directs them to services. 

In the past few years, the U.S. military has failed to meet its recruitment goals, according to U.S. news outlets. International outlets, like Al Jazeera, also report on the shortages. Young people’s poor mental and physical health, learning losses, and lack of confidence in the U.S. government and the military have all been blamed for lagging recruitment. The recent Covid period worsened all these problems.

Current service members suffer heart problems after receiving mandated Covid shots, and over 8000 service members were discharged for declining the shots, with members losing benefits and promotion opportunities. War rages in Israel and Palestine, and U.S. warships recently fired on drones that attacked commercial ships in the Red Sea. The military has sent thousands of U.S. troops to the Middle East while attacks on soldiers in Iraq and Syria increase. 

Because my father was career military, my family lived at Ft. Bragg when I was a child, and my father left from there for his first deployment to the Vietnam War. The base was recently renamed Fort Liberty. Gleaming chains stores line the main road into town – I Hop, Panera, Ross, every imaginable fast-food place, and some I have never heard of like Cinnaholic, all brightly lit and crowded. Consumerism and consumption look like signs of prosperity, but here, now, they seem to have reached an unsustainable critical mass.

Signs of despair and struggle are everywhere along with a sweet vulnerability also circulating among common people as though we tremble at the edge of the world, the edge of doom when being kind to each other, making some kind of connection seems more important than ever.

“Is it nice enough?” I ask the lady at the counter when I check into the Comfort Inn on Friday night. “I’m tired after a long drive.”

“It is,” she answers tenderly. When I ask her where a good place to eat is, she asks me what I like and when I tell her a few choices, she walks out the door of the hotel beside me, with extraordinary politeness, to point out Mission BBQ a few store fronts down, close enough for me to walk.

Cars, muscular trucks, and gleaming motorcyles roar through the main drag that is eight-lanes wide. Occasionally, a driver accelerates an engine with a ferocious sound and burst of speed. You can almost smell the testosterone. I often wonder: does the U.S. public really understand what we ask military people, mostly men, to do when we train them for wars and send them to wars? What do people think actually happens there? Military patches, photos, tools, and mementos fill the walls of the Mission BBQ restaurant where I eat.

A large print of the U.S. Army’s Soldier’s Creed hangs prominently in the main dining room. Prints of soldiers returning from war, kissing girls, are displayed in the women’s bathroom. 

The girl bussing tables asks me what I am reading. She tells me she likes to read, that she read a lot when she lived in England, growing up in a military family. 

“Joan Didion,” I tell her and show her the cover of the book of essays, Slouching Towards Bethlehem. I read it in my twenties and am re-reading it now. My copy is yellowed and brittle. She thanks me, says she’ll check it out. The restaurant is full of young men, amazingly fit, plus a few young families. At the table next to me is a huge, beautiful man with tattoos all over his arms and neck. It looks like he is with his wife, mother, and toddler son.

On my walk back to the hotel, I see a smoke shop and am curious as I have never been in one before. Students in public schools where I have taught sneak vape pipes in bathrooms and get in trouble when detectors identify them. When I was in high school, we smoked cigarettes outside and some sneaked marijuana, but I didn’t like it. I wanted to see what the shop was like. They are everywhere now – neon and bright, full of colorful, varied products, rows of boxes and bottles, lines of vials and packages, candles, incense and fragrance oils. I puzzled how populations in the U.S. were so easily subdued by government Covid lockdowns in 2020 and beyond. Maybe shops like this one – and video games — were part of the answer. People stayed home, smoked, drank (liquor stores were never closed), played MMOGs, waited for Amazon boxes to appear on their porches.

I tell him I am a teacher, plus a writer and put on my reporter’s role, ask questions of the 23-year-old young man working there. He kindly answers. The store sells CBD or nicotine for vape pipes and a special kind of strong tobacco for the hookah pipes, also sold there.

In many states, marijuana is fully legal now. A steady stream of customers arrives, buying rolling papers for marijuana, another buying a vape pipe, which are rechargeable in all kinds of styles. The shop also sells disposal pipes to ingest psychedelic mushrooms. The young shop worker grew up in military family, he says, and recounted the many places he had lived. He joined the military at 17, was in for four years, stationed a few places, including Fort Bragg, and then got out. He’s now divorced at 23.

“I am leaving here as soon as I can,” he says.

I walk back to the hotel. Discarded shopping carts with trash and old clothes litter spaces between bushes. A homeless person rests beside her shopping cart, filled with clothes and bedding. Parking lots are strewn with trash. I look in the hotel lobby for hot tea. 

“We don’t have fresh right now,” says the young black guy seated, half sleeping, in the lobby. I ask him if there’s a place I could walk to for a hot chocolate or tea.

“There’s a Dunkin Donuts,” he says. He steps out of the hotel with me and points. He’s wearing a security uniform. He says he’ll walk with me, that he’s trying to wake up for his night shift at the hotel. I ask him if he is working security after military service. He says he was in the Marines and was shot in the leg and got out on a medical discharge and now works security at the hotel. I ask him if he likes it.

“It’s quiet and not that hard,” he says. He is young, yet his face has a tremor. Old railroad tracks run beside the road. I tell the young man I lived at Fort Bragg when I was a child, that my father left for Vietnam from there. 

“It’s a lot different since then, I’m sure,” he says. “Now they call it Fort Liberty. I don’t know why they did that. It doesn’t seem to matter. They’re just trying to be showy or something.”

Dozens of obscenely bright stores shine in the night as we walk to Dunkin Donuts. Christmas lights blink and flash. I see more trash tangled in bushes and strewn on sidewalks; cigarette butts, plastic cups, and Styrofoam containers litter parking lots. 

When I get back to the hotel room, the colors from the high-definition TV in my room are even brighter than the world outside; shapes and figures are hyper-real, extremely defined, almost grotesque in their clarity. There is a ridiculous game show on. I don’t see high-definition TV at home, so hotel TVs easily entrance and shock me. When I watch too long, a sick feeling of the decline of Western civilization overtakes me. The show, Raid the Cage, is on a major network this Friday night, the network with the stylized eye ball I remember from childhood. How different TV is now.

Ghoulishly grinning, jumping, and cheering couples take turns running and grabbing purses, electronics, designer perfumes, jewelry, even kayaks from an enclosure and then carry the items out before a buzzer ends the round. The man or woman goes into the enclosure while the other one cheers and jumps. The person may even push a four-wheeler or a car out. I have the sound off, watching this scene unfold, this American decadence and consumerism with garish lights, neon flashing, and bells ringing on the set. I think couples may have had to compete in other games to qualify to “raid the cage.” 

“Rebuild the world,” says a Lego toy advertisement with insanely detailed computer animation. Holiday Coke ads glitter with snows and Santas and computer stardust. Has TV become more hyper real after Covid nightmares, after wars in Ukraine and Palestine? Do advertisers want us in there – inside the screens – rather than in the world?

Pharmaceutical companies occupy airwaves. Fat people dance in a town square in an ad for pills to lower blood sugar. Another ad proclaims that a cartoon guy will deliver a colon test to your doorstep in a box. Drug ads for eczema, chrone’s disease, and all kinds of ailments fill the screen. Rich people in glittering rooms with tinsel and gold and greenery slowly eat Lindor chocolates. Pfizer advertises vaccines for pregnant women. On another network, a show called The Great Christmas Light Fight appears. 

There is too much here. My eyes and heart hurt from the excess. My meeting is tomorrow.

*

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This article was originally published on Brownstone Institute.

Christine E. Black’s work has been published in The American Journal of Poetry, Nimrod International, The Virginia Journal of Education, Friends Journal, Sojourners Magazine, The Veteran, English Journal, Amethyst Review, Dappled Things, Adbusters Magazine, Brownstone Institute, The Harrisonburg Citizen, The Stockman Grass Farmer, Off-Guardian, Cold Type, The News Virginian, and other publications.

Featured image is from Shutterstock

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***

Given the unholy dissonance, Bethlehem’s usual celebration of the birth of a Palestinian Prince of Peace was cancelled this year as Gaza endured – and an indifferent West watched – genocide unfold beneath pitiless Israeli airstrikes. Along with a “Liturgy of Lament,” the Rev. Munther Isaac created a nativity scene for the times: Baby Jesus lying amidst the rubble. Meanwhile, rescue workers still struggle to dig, pull, save children from it. Peace on earth, indeed.

Now more than ever, “one of the most intense civilian punishment campaigns in history” has leveled Gaza to a hellscape where, per Doctors Without Borders, “no one and nowhere is safe.”

Over the holiday weekend, 90 people were killed in strikes on Gaza City, including 76 members of one extended family and a longtime UN official alongside his wife and five children, and a “Christmas Eve massacre” saw over 100 killed in Khan Younis, Bureij refugee camp and Al-Maghazi refugee camp, about half women and children. In a genocidal crusade where “everything is intentional,” such collateral damage is no concern to Netanyahu; after griping critics are “unjustly blaming Israelis for these casualties,” he proclaimed, “We have no choice (but) to continue to fight… We are not stopping.”

Appalled by the ongoing carnage, Bethlehem officials cancelled traditional Christmas celebrations in the presumed place of Jesus’ birth. At the Church of the Nativity, a searing sculpture depicts a bombed-out version of the nativity scene with debris, barbed wire, and angels representing the souls of too many murdered Palestinian children. At the Evangelical Lutheran Church, Rev. Munther Isaac set up a creche with baby Jesus in a Palestinian keffiyeh – “A Jewish infant. A homeless infant. A refugee infant” – lying in the concrete remains of a building.

“We are angry. We are broken. This is an annihilation,” he said in his sermon, Christ in the Rubble: A Liturgy of Lament. “If Christ were born today, he would be born under the rubble. This is where we find God right now.”

Honoring a Jesus “born among the occupied and marginalized…in solidarity with us in our pain and brokenness,” Isaac also blasted the hypocrisy of a Western world that “sent us bombs whilst celebrating Christmas.”

“They sing about the Prince of Peace in their land, while playing the drum of war in our land,” he said. “Your charity, your words of shock after the genocide won’t make any difference. Words of regret will not suffice…I want you to look at the mirror (and) ask: Where was I?”

The Intercept echoes him, wishing us “Merry Christmas!” while noting that, “in any just universe,” we should all be imprisoned at the Hague for our failure to act on ills from the “junkyard of the U.S. war on terror” to “the Palestinian nightmare.” Hillel the Elder: “What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow.”

In Gaza, for now, 14,000 rescue workers making up civil defense teams across the enclave daily toil to save lives in an apocalyptic landscape where, “Everyone is a target.” “I cannot sleep,” says Ibrahim Musa, 27. “I am constantly haunted by the voices and screams of people under the rubble as they beg us to pull them out. These are our children, our siblings, our families whom we are saving.” After each airstrike, they arrive at the scene and quickly try to determine what lies under the tangle of wire and concrete: “We scream until someone hears us.” Often, as they begin to dig, they must calm children trapped beneath, asking about their families: “We sometimes lie and tell them everyone is okay so they don’t go into shock…This is our work.”

At a bombing in southern Al-Qarara, Ahmed Abu Khudair recalls hearing moaning, starting to dig, finding “two stuck legs.” He frees a 12-year-old girl named Aisha, who says eight members of her family are buried there with several other families, including nine children. But without equipment, they cannot reach them. This is their ultimate horror: “Leaving a place knowing there are people alive under the rubble, but you cannot do anything for them.” From poet Nasser Rabah:

“When I return from the war, if I do/don’t look into my eyes/do not see what I saw…If war knew/that it made good poets/it would shoot itself.”

Yet life goes on. In this world, we wish you a holiday season of peace, joy, family, compassion and no savage military incursions. We are unfairly blessed.

From Common Dreams: Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.

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Abby Zimet has written CD’s Further column since 2008. A longtime, award-winning journalist, she moved to the Maine woods in the early 70s, where she spent a dozen years building a house, hauling water and writing before moving to Portland. Having come of political age during the Vietnam War, she has long been involved in women’s, labor, anti-war, social justice and refugee rights issues. Email: [email protected]

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What Are the Health Benefits of Sweating?

December 27th, 2023 by Dr. Joseph Mercola

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When your body temperature rises, sweat glands release water at your skin’s surface, which quickly evaporates and cools your skin and the blood underneath

In traditional Persian medicine, sweating is used for both preventive care and disease treatment

Sweat glands secrete antimicrobial peptides that help restrict the growth of various microbes on the skin, potentially helping to reduce infection or atopic dermatitis

Concentrations of the heavy metals nickel, lead and chromium may be 10 to 30 times higher in sweat than in blood and urine, and some toxins may be preferentially excreted in sweat

Sweating may offer support for chronic diseases, including cardiovascular, respiratory and joint diseases

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Sweating is often viewed as a nuisance — something unpleasant that humans try to avoid and cover up. Yet, this natural and important body process occurs for good reasons. In addition to regulating body temperature, sweating helps maintain homeostasis in your body, including removing waste products and toxins.1

Sweating can also be used therapeutically to support well-being and reduce chronic disease.2 If you’re unable to sweat normally, sweating either too much or too little may signify significant health concerns, another clue of its wide-reaching importance.

Why Humans Sweat

Sweating, also known as perspiration, describes the release of liquid from your sweat glands, which number anywhere from 2 million to 4 million. During puberty, your sweat glands become fully active, with glands in men tending to produce more sweat than sweat glands in women.3

As a method of thermoregulation to help keep your body cool, sweating ramps up if the weather is hot or you’re exercising. However, you may also sweat if you’re feeling angry, stressed, anxious or afraid. Medical conditions, such as cancer and low blood sugar, can also trigger sweating, as can menopause and fever.

Consuming certain medications, including thyroid hormone and morphine, may also make you sweat, as can drinking alcohol or caffeinated beverages or eating spicy foods, a condition known as gustatory sweating.4

When your body temperature rises, sweat glands release water at your skin’s surface, which quickly evaporates and cools your skin and the blood underneath. “This is the most effective means of thermoregulation in humans,” according to researchers with the University of Mississippi Medical Center.5 Beyond cooling you off, sweating also has “important homeostatic functions,” such as:6

  • Clearing excessive micronutrients from your body
  • Removing waste products produced by metabolic processes
  • Eliminating toxins
  • Support for chronic diseases, including cardiovascular, respiratory and joint diseases

Health Risks of Excessive or Inadequate Sweating 

Your body depends on its ability to sweat normally, such that when this balance is thrown off disease states can result. Hyperhidrosis is the medical term for excessive sweating, believed to affect about 4.8% of U.S. adults, or 15.8 million people.7

Hyperhidrosis is known to interfere with self-esteem, social interactions, relationships and career choices, with many affected reporting problems with work, school, social functioning and emotional health. Close to half — 48% — say their quality of life is poor or very poor as a result of hyperhidrosis.

The condition can also cause dehydration and skin infections.8 A link to systemic conditions is also possible, as sweating disorders may signal dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system, particularly the sympathetic nervous system.9

Hypohidrosis, which is inadequate sweating, and pathologic anhidrosis, an inability to sweat, are also potentially damaging to your health and may lead to dry skin, heat exhaustion, heatstroke and death.10

Sweating to Help Prevent and Relieve Chronic Disease

In traditional Persian medicine, sweating is used for both preventive care and disease treatment.11According to a review published in Galen Medical Journal:12

“Reviewing historical medical manuscripts indicates that traditional Persian medicine (PM) scientists have described several methods for the treatment of diseases. Sweating is one of them which has an important role in both prevention and treatment of diseases.

PM physicians were well aware of the health benefits of sweating and believed that sweating removes waste products, maintains the body health, and balances body temperature.

Based on the principles of PM, any disturbances in the excretion of metabolic and dietary waste products can cause disease; therefore, the use of several sweating methods and even diaphoretic herbs have been considered in maintaining human health and as one of the therapeutic method since many centuries ago.”

Indeed, from Roman baths and Scandinavian saunas to Aboriginal sweat lodges, sweating for health has been embraced by cultures worldwide. Researchers writing in the Journal of Environmental and Public Health explained:13

“Sweating with heat and/or exercise has been viewed throughout the ages, by groups worldwide, as ‘cleansing’ … Sweating offers potential and deserves consideration, to assist with removal of toxic elements from the body.

… Sweating is not only observed to enhance excretion of the toxic elements of interest in this paper, but also may increase excretion of diverse toxicants, as observed in New York rescue workers, or in particular persistent flame retardants and bisphenol-A … Optimizing the potential of sweating as a therapeutic excretory mechanism merits further research.”

The researchers noted the following promising roles of sweat in detoxification:

  • Sweat may be an important route for excretion of cadmium when an individual is exposed to high levels
  • Sweat-inducing sauna use might provide a therapeutic method to increase elimination of toxic trace metals
  • Sweating should be the initial and preferred treatment of patients with elevated mercury urine levels

Sweat glands also secrete antimicrobial peptides that help restrict the growth of various microbes on the skin, potentially helping to reduce infection or atopic dermatitis. The sweat gland-derived antimicrobial peptide dermcidin is also thought to play a role in regulating the innate immune system’s response to infection and injury.14

Many Toxins May be ‘Preferentially Excreted Through Sweat’

Because sweat is 99% water, it’s sometimes said that sweating doesn’t provide a meaningful avenue for detoxification. In the journal Temperature, it’s noted, “The role of sweating to eliminate waste products and toxicants seems to be minor compared with other avenues of excretion via the kidneys and gastrointestinal tract.”15

However, research shows that toxins are, in fact, excreted via sweat. According to research in Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology:16

“Many toxic elements appeared to be preferentially excreted through sweat. Presumably stored in tissues, some toxic elements readily identified in the perspiration of some participants were not found in their serum. Induced sweating appears to be a potential method for elimination of many toxic elements from the human body.”

For instance, concentrations of the heavy metals nickel, lead and chromium may be 10 to 30 times higher in sweat than in blood and urine.17 It’s also noted in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, “Physiologists have long regarded sweating as an effective and safe means of detoxification, and heavy metals are excreted through sweat to reduce the levels of such metals in the body.”18

That study found levels of nickel, lead, copper and arsenic in sweat were higher when the sweating was induced via dynamic exercise as opposed to sauna usage, although mercury levels in sweat were the same regardless of sweating method.19

Another systematic review found that in people with higher exposure or body burden of arsenic, cadmium lead and mercury, “sweat generally exceeded plasma or urine concentrations, and dermal could match or surpass urinary daily excretion … Sweating deserves consideration for toxic element detoxification.”20

Bisphenol A is another chemical contaminant often detected in sweat, in some cases even when no BPA was found in serum or urine samples.21

Health Benefits of Sauna Usage

Inducing sweating via sauna usage has been linked to many health benefits, including for the heart, respiratory system, joints, chronic pain and brain.22 One mechanism for this effect is thought to be related to the fact that heat stresses your heart and body similar to that of exercise, thus prompting similar effects.23 However, sweating is also part of sauna bathing’s therapeutic effects.

Researchers in Finland — where sauna use is common — found that men who used a sauna four to seven times a week for an average of 15 minutes had a 66% lower risk of developing dementia, and 65% lower risk of Alzheimer’s, compared to men who used the sauna just once a week.24

Waon therapy, a form of dry sauna treatment that warms the entire body, is also linked to improved heart health, including in people with chronic heart failure.25 Separate research published in JAMA Internal Medicine revealed that men who used a Finnish-style, dry heat sauna seven times per week also cut their risk of death in half from fatal heart problems compared to those who used it only once a week.26

This held true even after confounding factors such as smoking, blood pressure and triglyceride levels were factored in. In regard to time, the greatest benefits were found among those who sweated it out for 19 minutes or more each session.

As noted by the study, “Sauna bathing leads to skin sweating — induced fluid loss and increase in heart rate, which are physiologic responses to warm temperature … Our results suggest that sauna bathing is a recommendable health habit.”27

How to Induce Sweating

Regular sauna usage is one way to induce sweating, but it’s not the only one. Virtually any type of intense exercise will lead to sweating, as will exercising in warm temperatures or in a heated room, such as in Bikram yoga. If you choose to use a sauna for sweating, there are several options, including a Finnish sauna, far-infrared saunas and near-infrared saunas.

The difference between the infrared saunas and the traditional Finnish sauna is the Finnish-style heats you from the outside in, whereas the infrared heats from the inside out. Near-infrared saunas have additional benefits as they penetrate your tissues more effectively and at wavelengths not absorbed by water.

The near-infrared range affects your health primarily through interaction with chromophores, light-absorbing molecules found in your mitochondria and water molecules. Near-infrared light also has healing and repairing properties, helping optimize other biological functions.

Remember, if you sweat heavily, you’ll also lose valuable fluids and electrolytes. So, be sure to drink plenty of pure water and replace your electrolytes. Coconut water is one option to replace electrolytes naturally. You can also mix one-quarter teaspoon of Himalayan salt with a gallon of pure filtered water for electrolyte replacement.

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Notes

1, 2, 6, 10, 11, 12 Galen Med J. 2020; 9: e2003

3, 4 Medline Plus, Sweating

5 National Library of Medicine, StatPearls, Anatomy, Skin Sweat Glands October 10, 2022

7, 8 Am J Clin Dermatol. 2023; 24(2): 187–198

9 Br J Dermatol. 2018 Jun;178(6):1246-1256. doi: 10.1111/bjd.15808. Epub 2018 Apr 25

13 Journal of Environmental and Public Health Volume 2012 (2012), Article ID 184745, 10 pages

14 Shock. 2016 Jan; 45(1): 28–32

15 Temperature (Austin). 2019; 6(3): 211–259

16 Arch Environ Contam Toxicol. 2011 Aug;61(2):344-57. doi: 10.1007/s00244-010-9611-5. Epub 2010 Nov 6

17, 18, 19 Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Apr; 19(7): 4323

20 J Environ Public Health. 2012; 2012: 184745

21 J Environ Public Health. 2012;2012:185731

22 Galen Med J. 2020; 9: e2003., Introduction

23 Complement Ther Med. 2019 Jun:44:218-222. doi: 10.1016/j.ctim.2019.05.002. Epub 2019 May 2

24 Age and Ageing, Volume 46, Issue 2, March 2017, Pages 245–249, doi: 10.1093/ageing/afw212

25 Am J Cardiol. 2012 Jan 1;109(1):100-4. doi: 10.1016/j.amjcard.2011.08.014. Epub 2011 Sep 23

26 JAMA Internal Medicine 2015;175(4):542-548

27 JAMA Internal Medicine 2015;175(4):542-548, Introduction, Conclusions

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The current conflict in Ukraine is a direct result of the failure of the Minsk Agreements. Between 2014 and 2015, Russia and the European Union mediated negotiations between the breakaway republics of Donbass and the Kiev government, reaching a mutually beneficial protocol that was expected to guarantee regional peace. However, the terms of the pact were never respected by the Ukrainian regime, which continued to constantly attack the republics and advance its project of “de-Russification” and ethnic cleansing.

According to former German prime minister, Angela Merkel, the Agreements did not fail, but fulfilled their real objective: to prepare Ukraine for a war against Russia in the near future. Commenting on the beginning of Moscow’s special military operation and the escalation of the conflict in Donbass, the German former official stated that this confrontation was expected from the very beginning, with the ceasefire established in Minsk only working as a way to temporarily alleviate tensions, enabling Kiev to gain time.

However, this does not appear to be the opinion of some other insiders who were also deeply involved in negotiations in the Belarusian capital. I recently had the opportunity to visit the Donbass region as a war correspondent. There I interviewed several local leaders, politicians and state officials, including the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of Lugansk, Vladislav Deinego, who was one of the negotiators in the Minsk process.

In our conversation, I asked the Minister his opinion on the failure of the Minsk Agreements and heard from him a long explanation about how the situation got out of control and escalated to the current status of war. According to Deinego, Merkel is lying when she claims that the plan has always been to simply prepare Ukraine. For him, Europe had a genuine interest in achieving regional peace and stabilizing its relations with Russia, avoiding a military escalation that would put the entire continental security architecture at risk.

Deinego claims that Kiev wanted total war from the beginning. The Minister explains that, before the Minsk Accords were established, the separatists tried to resolve the situation diplomatically in several ways. After non-military means failed, the republics proposed to Kiev that the fighting be somewhat limited to avoid civilian casualties.

First, a ban on the use of artillery and aviation was proposed, which Kiev quickly denied. Next, Donbass’ leaders attempted to establish security zones, limiting the use of heavy weapons according to their distance to civilian areas. In this model, artillery would be allowed only in regions far from inhabited cities, while in the “zero line” combat would be limited to the regular use of infantry, preventing civilians from being hit by heavy weapons. Even so, Ukraine denied signing such a deal.

This insistence by the neo-Nazi regime on waging all-out war against the separatists, according to the minister, generated real concerns among Europeans. The deeper the Ukrainian incursions were, the closer the attacks would come to Russian borders, worsening the security crisis. In practice, the situation could at any time escalate into a situation of absolute violence in which Moscow would be forced to intervene, generating a major conflict in Europe. This worried EU members, especially Germany, which was very dependent on the partnership with Russia.

Being a major importer of Russian gas and depending on friendship with Moscow to guarantee its economic and social stability, Berlin engaged deeply in the diplomatic process to try to end, or at least freeze, the conflict. For this reason, Germany was the main negotiator on Kiev’s side in Minsk, while Russia negotiated in support for the Donbass’ republics. In this sense, after many negotiations, the pact was finally signed, establishing measures such as ceasefire, release of prisoners and respect for the political autonomy of Russian-speaking regions.

Deinego believes that actual compliance with the Agreements would be the best scenario for Europeans as it would guarantee stability in Russia-EU relations, despite Ukrainian hostility towards Moscow. However, as well known, Kiev never obeyed the Minsk’s terms and continued violence in the region – even though the intensity of the fighting obviously decreased. Deinego thinks that this was never in the European interest and that, in fact, the direction taken by the conflict showed the failure of European diplomacy.

Indeed, at the time Russia-EU relations were prosperous, despite ideological and geopolitical rivalry. There was no reason for Europeans to agree to participate in a war plan in which they would be severely harmed. This leads us to believe that other actors worked to escalate the crisis, without considering European interests. Certainly, the US, which always wanted war with Russia, was responsible for this.

The circumstances show that Washington probably took advantage of the “stability” generated by the Minsk Agreements to prepare Kiev to act as a proxy against Russia. The Europeans never participated in this plan and were betrayed by NATO just like the Russians. Currently, Europe continues to be a victim of NATO’s war plans, being forced by the US to impose suicidal sanctions against Russia, affecting its own economy.

The opinion of an insider of the Minsk process is vital to show the real reasons for the conflict. In practice, Deinego presents proof of how relations between the US and EU are semi-colonial, with Europeans being used by Washington in war plans, without having their interests respected.

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This article was originally published on InfoBrics.

Lucas Leiroz is a journalist, researcher at the Center for Geostrategic Studies, geopolitical consultant. You can follow Lucas on X (former Twitter) and Telegram. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

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A former advisor to a former Ukrainian president warns that the expansion of forced conscription, the devaluation of hryvnia, and the Ukrainian elite’s lack of understanding of the current situation are putting the country in a very bad scenario. The Ukrainian elite’s lack of understanding is because they continue to hold delusional beliefs despite Western support exhausting and emerging divisions.

President Volodymir Zelensky’s decision to continue hostilities against Russia and increase military strength with forced drafts threatens to provoke a civil war in Ukraine, said Oleg Soskin, former advisor to former Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma (1994 to 2005), on his YouTube channel.

“All events will influence the beginning of the civil war in Ukraine. There is still no money, there is a devaluation of hryvnia, there will be inflation, the rationing system will begin, there are no successes on the front, there are huge losses, there is a completely mocking elite who lost understanding of the situation,” he noted.

According to Soskin, the Kiev regime wants to continue military operations despite the imminent end of supplies of money and weapons from Western countries.

The expert added that Zelensky’s government is expanding the forced recruitment of men and women into the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to send them to the battlefront. Soskin warns that as soon as they start arresting Ukrainians, spontaneous resistance will begin.

“Everything is developing towards a bad scenario; there is nothing good, and it is really clear that there will be no counteroffensive, no breakthrough. Furthermore, even conventional weapons are already running out,” concluded Soskin.

Soskin’s revelation comes only days after Major General of the Ukrainian forces Dmitry Marchenko admitted in an interview with Deutsche Welle, “We have run out of volunteers willing to voluntarily join the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine”, and the Washington Post reported on December 22 that there is chronic shortage of artillery, citing a member of a unit which now only fires 10 to 20 shells a day at Russian positions, whereas previously, it used an average of 50 shells and sometimes up to 90.

At the same time, an unnamed Ukrainian Armed Forces official expressed concern to the Independent newspaper, claiming that Russia has destroyed Ukrainian industry, leaving the country unable to produce the equipment needed for its Armed Forces.

According to the newspaper, the agent stated that “Russia has succeeded in crippling Kiev’s industry, according to this senior Ukrainian officer, making it impossible to produce the supplies it needs domestically.

“This war has become a war of attrition and we have to hold the line for some time to win. We are really depending on international support from the US, Britain, the EU and South Korea,” the Ukrainian source said.

The official also mentioned the “need” for “more Patriot missiles than we previously expected” due to “new versions of S-400 rockets to hit ground targets.”

Mikhail Podolyak, adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, wryly suggested that the West’s humanitarian response to Ukraine’s defeat might be to hold a concert supporting the Ukrainians, a clear expression of dissatisfaction with Western assistance. Previously, he emphasised that Ukraine’s future would be brighter if Western countries supplied weapons more quickly.

Podolyak is a clear example of the “elite who lost understanding of the situation,” as expressed by Soskin, since the current adviser believes Ukraine still has a chance of winning the war if the West provides more weapons more quickly. Yet, major aid packages for Ukraine were blocked by Hungary in the European Union and by Republicans in the US Congress, clearly demonstrating that the West is divided on continuing support.

It is the Ukrainian “elite who lost understanding of the situation” that is responsible for the mounting and rapid death toll. Despite the summer offensive, initially scheduled for the spring, being an utter failure that led to the death of tens of thousands of Ukrainians and the destruction of Western military equipment, the Ukrainian elite continued to delusionally believe that they could reverse their predicament and even capture Crimea.

The truth is that Western countries are less willing to spend their money on Ukraine amid its lack of success on the front, which is why they are thinking about confiscating Russian assets. Although the Europeans are coming under pressure from Washington, which demands that Russian assets be channelled to support Kiev, it is evident that Moscow’s response will be immediate for offending countries, such as Germany, for example, which has assets that Russia could confiscate.

With Western support exhausting, conscription becoming increasingly desperate and unable to support manpower needs, and Ukrainian elites still holding onto delusional beliefs, there is every chance that the country could descend into civil war, as Soskin warns, because ordinary people will refuse to fight and die in a futile war against Russia.

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

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In a sermon called Christ in the Rubble, given on December 23, in Bethlehem, Rev. Munther Isaac, made the following comments:

“Gaza today has become the moral compass of the world. Gaza was hell before October 7th and the world was silent.

Should we be surprised that they’re silent now? If you are not appalled by what is happening in Gaza, if you are not shaken to your core, there is something wrong with your humanity. And if we as Christians are not outraged by the genocide, by the weaponization of the Bible to justify it, there is something wrong with our Christian witness. And we are compromising the credibility of our Gospel message. If you fail to call this a genocide, it is on you. It is a sin and a darkness you willingly embrace.”

Rev. Munther, who is a Palestinian theologian, condemned the collective West:

“The hypocrisy and racism of the Western world is transparent and appalling! They always take the words of Palestinians with suspicion and qualification. No, we are not treated equally. Yet, the other side, despite a clear track record of misinformation, is almost always deemed infallible!”

Words like these are not to be taken lightly. October 7th, 2023 will go down in history as one of those pivotal moments where the fate of the world hung in the balance. At this moment in time, everything is Gaza. The whole world is watching.

The Genocidal War Machine

Will the genocidal war machine come to its senses and stop the barbaric slaughter of innocent civilians? Or will the conflict stir up so much regional anger, that the conflict escalates into a much wider confrontation between Israel, America, Hezbollah and Iran?

The character of the American global war machine is not pleasant. In fact, the United States has intervened, bombed, invaded and engaged in regime changes in over 80 nations in the last 100 years. It is their modus operandi. Why would we expect them to suddenly change?

The nation-state of Israel is an integral part of the global war machine. Israel was installed by European colonial powers for strategic purposes, beginning with the infamous Balfour Declaration in 1917, that bequeathed 8,470 square miles (21,937 km2) of land to a stranded ethnic group—namely, the Jewish diaspora, who spent 1900 years lamenting the loss of their homeland.

It was the British Empire who made a deal (with no expiry date) with one of the largest banking families in the world, the Rothschild family,who incidentally do not own any residential property in Israel. They have a multitude of magnificent estates in Britain, France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Netherlands and Austria, as well as one lone estate in America. Why such a lack of interest in living in their own Private Little Idaho in the Middle East?

The answer is that the Rothschild family and their allies, the British Empire, had no interest in Israel for humanitarian purposes. They used and manipulated the scattered remnants of ancient Israel who were spread out over Europe, and convinced them Israel was the “only safe and secure home” for Jews.

They were interested in expanding their power base by creating a military outpost in the Middle East.

The ideal location of Palestine on the Mediterranean Sea offers a transit hub for trade and traffic from North Africa via Egypt to the south, and Europe to the north via Syria, Lebanon and Turkey. To the East is the gateway to Asia through Iraq and Iran.

In the world of geopolitics, it is always about location, location, location.

Christ in the Rubble, by Kelly Latimore Icons

Through the Eye of a Needle

Yeshua ben Yusef, otherwise known as Jesus, son of Joseph, once made a bold statement that unsettled even his followers. Jewish tradition held that wealth and prosperity were a gift from God, while poor people were cursed because of sin. Yeshua’s kindness towards the poor and downtrodden was a slap in the face to the self-righteous religious leaders.

Yeshua announced on one occasion, that it was “easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”

When his disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?”

Bankers, like the Rothschild family, are the rich men and women who are unlikely candidates for the Kingdom of Heaven. In January of 2023, at the last meeting of the uber-wealthy in Davos, Switzerland, almost 3000 of the wealthiest and most powerful people met to discuss how they can become wealthier and more powerful.

According to a report by Oxfam,

“As global elites gather this week in the ski resort town of Davos, Switzerland, for the annual World Economic Forum, our global context couldn’t be more alarming. For the first time in 25 years, extreme wealth and extreme poverty have increased at the same time. People in the US and around the world struggle to pay the high costs of food, gas, and other necessities, yet over the past two years, the richest 1% have secured nearly twice as much wealth as the rest of the world combined.”

The main problem with the super rich is that they don’t care. They lack empathy and human compassion. They are not in touch with humanity. Their inability to comprehend humanity puts them into a sociopathic category, a separate species of the human race.

Gaza is a third-world territory surrounded and occupied by a first-world nation. Gaza is one of the poorest areas in the world: Per capita income was estimated at US$3,100 in 2009, a position of 164th in the world. A UN report in 2022 estimated Gaza Strip’s unemployment rate to be 45% and 65% of the population under poverty, living standards went down by 27%, compared to 2006, and 80% of the population depends on international aid for survival.

Israel’s per capita income is $54,771 per person, or almost 18 times as much as the average citizen of Gaza. The world is in a class war between all of humanity and the mega billionaires who are gobbling up all the resources, consolidating their power base and making long-term plans for the enslavement of the human race.

The Übermensch

The mega billionaires represent the Übermensch (Super-human) of Friedrich Nietzsche’s play Thus Spake Zarathustra. Nietzsche’s character proclaimed that “God is dead,” and the road to true enlightenment lay in casting off the shackles of Christianity and religion in general. The Übermensch were the Herrenrasse (Master Race), an idea that inspired the Nazis.

The Nazi notion of the Master Race also spawned the idea of “inferior humans” (Untermenschen) who needed to be dominated and enslaved. The Nazis considered Jews, Gypsies and Slavs, including Poles, Czechs, Russians and Serbs, “racially inferior sub-humans.”

These ideas of racial supremacy and racial inferiority are currently embraced by the Zionist regime of Israel.

  • “We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly.” ~ Yoav Gallant, Israeli Defence Minister
  • “Those evil butchers have no G-D, no religion. Islam, as Christianity before it, is an offshoot of Judaism. In the Bible, Israel is land of the Jews. Hamas actions attest that they are surely not Muslim. I doubt they’re even human. Wild animals don’t do the things they’ve done.” ~ Dof Yomi
  • “The Western world must stand with Israel as it fights the bloodthirsty animals of Hamas.” ~ Israel’s Ambassador to Berlin Ron Prosor 
  • “The Hamas organisation have behaved like animals and Israel will target Hamas like human animals during and after the war.” ~ Israeli Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Avi Dichter

Human Rights

The struggle for basic human rights and dignity is central to the current conflict in Gaza. Dehumanizing Palestinians is part of the apartheid culture that was created by the nation-state of Israel who have systematically confiscated the Palestinians’ land over the course of the last 100 years.

The so-called Holy Land has become very unholy since October 7th. It is highly symbolic that Bethlehem, the birth place of Yeshua ben Yusef, is now in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. If Yeshua was alive today and living in the West Bank, he would be arrested and branded a terrorist.

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Rick Thomas is a musician, activist and the author of How to Defeat the New World Order. For social activism: VictoryCanada.today and for all articles: Substack.

All images in this article are from the author

Sudden Deaths: What Is Killing COVID-19 Vaccinated Men at 30-39?

December 27th, 2023 by Dr. William Makis

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***

Nov. 30, 2023 -Omaha, NE – 30 year old Michael Peterson died suddenly at his home on Nov. 30, 2023.

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Nov. 29, 2023 – Spanish 30 year old Vegan bodybuilding influencer Alfredo Martin died suddenly (Nov. 29, 2023) No cause of death reported.

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Nov. 28, 2023 – Amsterdam, NY – 31 year old Amsterdam High School teacher Liam Pickett died suddenly of a burst aortic artery on Nov. 28, 2023 which happened after teaching his last period class.

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Nov. 23, 2023 – Taftville, CT – 37 year old Robert Blanchette JR died suddenly on Nov. 23, 2023.

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Nov. 19, 2023 – South Wales – 30 year old Charlie Batcup, British soccer player, died suddenly during a trip to Amsterdam Nov. 19, 2023.

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Nov. 19, 2023 – BRAZILIAN DOCTOR DEAD – 33 year old Dr.Rodolfo Duarte Ribeiro dos Santos suffered a cardiac arrest following a hemorrhage in the liver and died on Nov. 19, 2023.

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Nov. 18, 2023 – Kinnelon, NJ – 30 year old volunteer firefighter Justin Bower died suddenly.

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Nov. 18, 2023 – Sheffield, UK – 37 year old Matt Hardy died after a 2 year battle with cancer (Nov. 18, 2023).

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Nov. 18, 2023 -Former Ohio University wrestler, 37 year old Josh Horne died suddenly on Nov. 18, 2023.

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Nov. 17, 2023 – Cork, Ireland – 39 year old sailor, Leading Seaman Conor Kiely was found unresponsive by his colleagues on a vessel that was in dock. He died on Nov. 17, 2023.

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Nov. 16, 2023 – 37 year old Air India Pilot Captain Himanil Kumar had cardiac arrest at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport during training.

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Nov. 15, 2023 – Zimbabwe international soccer player 32year old George Chigova died 4 months after suffering a heart attack. He died Nov. 15, 2023.

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Nov. 15, 2023 – Dekalb County, GA – 33 year old Police Officer Samuel Curry died on Nov. 15, from complications related to a “sudden illness.”

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Nov. 15, 2023 – Huntington, WV – 36 year old Derek Rowland Moore died unexpectedly in his home on Nov. 15, 2023. 

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Nov. 13, 2023 – NFL Football Star 35 year old Devon Wylie who played for the Kansas City Chiefs and Tennessee Titans died suddenly on Nov. 13, 2023 of “unknown causes.”

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Nov. 12, 2023 – US DOCTOR DEAD – Seattle, WA 35 year old Dr. Blaise Anthony Carney MD died in his sleep while on vacation, on Nov. 12, 2023.

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Nov. 12, 2023 – Anton, TX – 38 year old football coach Matthew Hoover was found dead in his home on Saturday Nov. 12, 2022. He leaves behind four daughters.

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Nov. 11, 2023 -Purcell, OK – 38 year old Chase Patrick Hayes, audio technician for NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB, etc died suddenly on Nov. 11, 2023.

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Nov. 9, 2023 – UK – 30 year old Joshua Annear died suddenly in his girlfriend’s arms on Nov. 9, 2023 “my whole world has been shattered.”

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Nov. 8, 2023 – California – 32 year old Enforcement Officer Kyle Evans Ghirardi suffered a medical emergency and died on Nov. 8, 2023.

Click here to read the full article.

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

Featured image is from COVID Intel


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

by Michel Chossudovsky

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

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

Reviews

This is an in-depth resource of great interest if it is the wider perspective you are motivated to understand a little better, the author is very knowledgeable about geopolitics and this comes out in the way Covid is contextualized. —Dr. Mike Yeadon

In this war against humanity in which we find ourselves, in this singular, irregular and massive assault against liberty and the goodness of people, Chossudovsky’s book is a rock upon which to sustain our fight. –Dr. Emanuel Garcia

In fifteen concise science-based chapters, Michel traces the false covid pandemic, explaining how a PCR test, producing up to 97% proven false positives, combined with a relentless 24/7 fear campaign, was able to create a worldwide panic-laden “plandemic”; that this plandemic would never have been possible without the infamous DNA-modifying Polymerase Chain Reaction test – which to this day is being pushed on a majority of innocent people who have no clue. His conclusions are evidenced by renown scientists. —Peter Koenig 

Professor Chossudovsky exposes the truth that “there is no causal relationship between the virus and economic variables.” In other words, it was not COVID-19 but, rather, the deliberate implementation of the illogical, scientifically baseless lockdowns that caused the shutdown of the global economy. –David Skripac

A reading of  Chossudovsky’s book provides a comprehensive lesson in how there is a global coup d’état under way called “The Great Reset” that if not resisted and defeated by freedom loving people everywhere will result in a dystopian future not yet imagined. Pass on this free gift from Professor Chossudovsky before it’s too late.  You will not find so much valuable information and analysis in one place. –Edward Curtin

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

Price: $11.50 FREE COPY! Click here (docsend) and download.

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

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***

To: President Joe Biden

You’ve often spoken of how much you care about children and how terrible it is when they’re murdered. “Too many schools, too many everyday places have become killing fields,” you said at the White House last spring on the one-year anniversary of the school shooting in Uvalde. At the time of that tragedy in Texas, you had quickly gone on live television, speaking gravely.

“There are parents who will never see their child again,” you said, adding: “To lose a child is like having a piece of your soul ripped away. . . . It’s a feeling shared by the siblings, and the grandparents, and their family members, and the community that’s left behind.”

And you asked plaintively:

“Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why do we keep letting this happen? Where in God’s name is our backbone to have the courage to deal with it and stand up to the lobbies?”

This year you’ve asked similar questions many times, as in the aftermath of shootings at a grade school in Nashville, Michigan State University and the University of Nevada.

The massacre in Uvalde took the lives of 19 children. For nearly three months, the ongoing massacre in Gaza has taken the lives of that many children every few hours.

In mid-November, after five weeks of Israel’s bombing of Gaza, the director-general of the World Health Organization reported that children were being killed at an average rate of six per hour, adding that “nowhere and no one is safe.” Palestinian civilians of all ages continue to undergo slaughter, with the death toll surpassing 20,000.

You have continued to voice support for Israel’s military assault on Gaza and its residents. After 10 weeks of the carnage, when you got around to expressing a bit of concern about Israel’s “indiscriminate bombing,” you were meanwhile still doing everything you could to greenlight and fast track massive U.S. shipments of weapons and ammunition to Israel so that the indiscriminate bombing could continue.

Even your belated and inadequate words on Dec. 12 about “indiscriminate bombing” apparently caused you to have second thoughts. The next day, Voice of America reported that “the White House appears to be walking back” your comment about “indiscriminate bombing.”

Most important, of course, are not words but deeds. As commander-in-chief, since early October you have approved large-scale shipments to Israel of 2,000-pound bombs—described by the New York Times as “one of the most destructive munitions in Western military arsenals,” a weapon that “unleashes a blast wave and metal fragments thousands of feet in every direction.”

In a Dec. 21 video report based on analysis of “aerial imagery and artificial intelligence”—headlined “Visual Evidence Shows Israel Dropped 2,000-Pound Bombs Where It Ordered Gaza’s Civilians to Move for Safety”—the Times indicated that “Israel used these munitions in the area it designated safe for civilians at least 200 times.” Those 2,000-pound bombs have been “a pervasive threat to civilians seeking safety across south Gaza.”

Since the war in Gaza began 11 weeks ago, the Times reported, “the U.S. has sent more than 5,000 2,000-pound bombs” to Israel. And after a long phone conversation with Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu on Dec. 23, you told the press:

“I did not ask for a ceasefire.”

With your ongoing help, Israel is continuing to murder children and other civilians in Gaza just as methodically as the gunman murdered children at the elementary school in Uvalde. And you have continued to provide weaponry for the murders just as surely as the gun shop in Uvalde sold firearms and ammunition to the man who went on to kill at the elementary school.

But that is an unfair comparison—unfair to the Uvalde gun-shop owner, who did not know the intended use of the weapons and ammo. But you know what the billions of dollars’ worth of weapons and bombs gifted by the U.S. government are being used for.

When three 9-year-old students were among those shot to death at a school in Nashville last March, you spoke about them the next day.

“A family’s worst nightmare has occurred,” you said. “Those children should all be with us still,” you said. And you said: “We know the names of the victims.”

But you don’t know the names of the children you’ve helped to murder in Gaza. And there are so many.

From Common Dreams: Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.

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Norman Solomon is the national director of RootsAction.org and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. His new book, War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine, was published in June 2023 by The New Press.

Featured image source

Palestine: The Cost of Bearing Witness. Chris Hedges

December 27th, 2023 by Chris Hedges

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***

Writing and photographing in wartime are acts of resistance, acts of faith. They affirm the belief that one day – a day the writers, journalists and photographers may never see – the words and images will evoke empathy, understanding, outrage and provide wisdom. They chronicle not only the facts, although facts are important, but the texture, sacredness and grief of lives and communities lost. They tell the world what war is like, how those caught in its maw of death endure, how there are those who sacrifice for others and those who do not, what fear and hunger are like, what death is like. They transmit the cries of children, the wails of grief of the mothers, the daily struggle in the face of savage industrial violence, the triumph of their humanity through filth, sickness, humiliation and fear. This is why writers, photographers and journalists are targeted by aggressors in war — including the Israelis — for obliteration. They stand as witnesses to evil, an evil the aggressors want buried and forgotten. They expose the lies. They condemn, even from the grave, their killers. Israel has killed at least 13 Palestinian poets and writers along with at least 67 journalists and media workers in Gaza, and three in Lebanon since Oct. 7.

I experienced futility and outrage when I covered war. I wondered if I had done enough, or if it was even worth the risk. But you go on because to do nothing is to be complicit. You report because you care. You will make it hard for the killers to deny their crimes. 

This brings me to the Palestinian novelist and playwright Atef Abu Saif. He and his 15-year-old son Yasser, who live in the occupied West Bank, were visiting family in Gaza — where he was born — when Israel began its scorched earth campaign. Atef is no stranger to the violence of the Israeli occupiers. He was two months old during the 1973 war and writes

“I’ve been living through wars ever since. Just as life is a pause between two deaths, Palestine, as a place and as an idea, is a timeout in the middle of many wars.”

Amazon.com: The Drone Eats With Me: Diaries From a City Under Fire eBook : Saif, Atef Abu, Hickman, Janice, Page, Ra, Chomsky, Noam: Kindle Store

During Operation Cast Lead, the 2008/2009 Israel assault on Gaza, Atef sheltered in the corridor of his Gaza family home for 22 nights with his wife, Hanna and two children, while Israel bombed and shelled. His book “The Drone Eats with Me: Diaries from a City Under Fire,” is an account of Operation Protective Edge, the 2014 Israeli assault on Gaza that killed 1,523 Palestinian civilians, including 519 children. 

“Memories of war can be strangely positive, because to have them at all means you must have survived,” he notes sardonically.

He again did what writers do, including the professor and poet Refaat Alareer, who was killed, along with Refaat’s brother, sister and her four children, in an airstrike on his sister’s apartment building in Gaza on Dec. 7. The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor said that Alareer was deliberately targeted, “surgically bombed out of the entire building.” His killing came after weeks of “death threats that Refaat received online and by phone from Israeli accounts.” He had moved to his sister’s because of the threats.

Refaat, whose doctorate was on the metaphysical poet John Donne, wrote a poem in November, called “If I Must Die,” which became his last will and testament. It has been translated into numerous languages. A reading of the poem by the actor Brian Cox has been viewed almost 30 million times. 

If I must die,

you must live

to tell my story

to sell my things

to buy a piece of cloth

and some strings,

(make it white with a long tail)

so that a child, somewhere in Gaza

while looking heaven in the eye

awaiting his dad who left in a blaze—

and bid no one farewell

not even to his flesh

not even to himself—

sees the kite, my kite you made,

flying up above

and thinks for a moment an angel is there

bringing back love

If I must die

let it bring hope

let it be a tale.

Atef, once again finding himself living amid the explosions and carnage from Israeli shells and bombs, doggedly publishes his observations and reflections. His accounts are often difficult to transmit because of Israel’s blockage of Internet and phone service. They have appeared in The Washington PostThe New York TimesThe Nation and Slate.

On the first day of the Israeli bombardment, a friend, the young poet and musician Omar Abu Shawish, is killed, apparently in an Israeli naval bombardment, though later reports would say he was killed in an airstrike as he was walking to work. Atef wonders about the Israeli soldiers watching him and his family with “their infrared lenses and satellite photography.” Can “they count the loafs of bread in my basket, or the number of falafel balls on my plate?” he wonders. He watches the crowds of dazed and confused families, their homes in rubble, carrying “mattresses, bags of clothes, food and drink.” He stands mutely before “the supermarket, the bureau de change, the falafel shop, the fruit stalls, the perfume parlor, the sweets shop, the toy shop — all burned.”

“Blood was everywhere, along with bits of kids’ toys, cans from the supermarket, smashed fruit, broken bicycles and shattered perfume bottles,” he writes. “The place looked like a charcoal drawing of a town scorched by a dragon.”

“I went to the Press House, where journalists were frantically downloading images and writing reports for their agencies. I was sitting with Bilal, the Press House manager, when an explosion shook the building. Windows shattered, and the ceiling collapsed onto us in chunks. We ran toward the central hall. One of the journalists was bleeding, having been hit by flying glass. After 20 minutes, we ventured out to inspect the damage. I noticed that Ramadan decorations were still hanging in the street.”

“The city has become a wasteland of rubble and debris,” Atef, who has been the Palestinian Authority’s minister of culture since 2019, writes in the early days of the Israeli shelling of Gaza City. “Beautiful buildings fall like columns of smoke. I often think about the time I was shot as a kid, during the first intifada, and how my mother told me I actually died for a few minutes before being brought back to life. Maybe I can do the same this time, I think.”

He leaves his teenage son with family members.

“The Palestinian logic is that in wartime, we should all sleep in different places, so that if part of the family is killed, another part lives,” he writes. “The U.N. schools are getting more crowded with displaced families. The hope is that the U.N. flag will save them, though in previous wars, that hasn’t been the case.”

 On Tuesday Oct. 17 he writes:

I see death approaching, hear its steps growing louder. Just be done with it, I think. It’s the 11th day of the conflict, but all the days have merged into one: the same bombardment, the same fear, the same smell. On the news, I read the names of the dead on the ticker at the bottom of the screen. I wait for my name to appear.

In the morning, my phone rang. It was Rulla, a relative in the West Bank, telling me she had heard there’d been an airstrike in Talat Howa, a neighborhood on the south side of Gaza City where my cousin Hatem lives. Hatem is married to Huda, my wife’s only sister. He lives in a four-story building that also houses his mother and brothers and their families.

I called around, but no one’s phone was working. I walked to al-Shifa Hospital to read the names: Lists of the dead are pinned up daily outside a makeshift morgue. I could barely approach the building: Thousands of Gazans had made the hospital their home; its gardens, its hallways, every empty space or spare corner had a family in it. I gave up and headed toward Hatem’s.

Thirty minutes later, I was on his street. Rulla had been right. Huda and Hatem’s building had been hit only an hour earlier. The bodies of their daughter and grandchild had already been retrieved; the only known survivor was Wissam, one of their other daughters, who had been taken to the ICU. Wissam had gone straight into surgery, where both of her legs and her right hand had been amputated. Her graduation ceremony from art college had taken place only the day before. She has to spend the rest of her life without legs, with one hand. “What about the others?” I asked someone.

“We can’t find them,” came the reply.

Amid the rubble, we shouted: “Hello? Can anyone hear us?” We called out the names of those still missing, hoping some might still be alive. By the end of the day, we’d managed to find five bodies, including that of a 3-month-old. We went to the cemetery to bury them.

In the evening, I went to see Wissam in the hospital; she was barely awake. After half an hour, she asked me: “Khalo [Uncle], I’m dreaming, right?”

I said, “We are all in a dream.”

“My dream is terrifying! Why?”

“All our dreams are terrifying.”

After 10 minutes of silence, she said, “Don’t lie to me, Khalo. In my dream, I don’t have legs. It’s true, isn’t it? I have no legs?”

“But you said it’s a dream.”

“I don’t like this dream, Khalo.”

I had to leave. For a long 10 minutes, I cried and cried. Overwhelmed by the horrors of the past few days, I walked out of the hospital and found myself wandering the streets. I thought idly, we could turn this city into a film set for war movies. Second World War films and end-of-the-world movies. We could hire it out to the best Hollywood directors. Doomsday on demand. Who could have the courage to tell Hanna, so far away in Ramallah, that her only sister had been killed? That her family had been killed? I phoned my colleague Manar and asked her to go to our house with a couple of friends and try to delay the news from getting to her. “Lie to her,” I told Manar. “Say the building was attacked by F-16s but the neighbors think Huda and Hatem were out at the time. Any lie that could help.”

Leaflets in Arabic dropped by Israeli helicopters float down from the sky. They announce that anyone who remains north of the Wadi waterway will be considered a partner to terrorism, “meaning,” Atef writes, “the Israelis can shoot on sight.” The electricity is cut. Food, fuel and water begin to run out. The wounded are operated on without anesthesia. There are no painkillers or sedatives. He visits his niece Wissam, racked with pain, in al-Shifa Hospital who asks him for a lethal injection. She says Allah will forgive her.

“But he will not forgive me, Wissam.”

“I am going to ask him to, on your behalf,” she says.

After airstrikes he joins the rescue teams “under the cricket-like hum of drones we couldn’t see in the sky.” A line from T.S Eliot, “a heap of broken images,” runs through his head. The injured and dead are “transported on three-wheeled bicycles or dragged along in carts by animals.”

“We picked up pieces of mutilated bodies and gathered them on a blanket; you find a leg here, a hand there, while the rest looks like minced meat,” he writes. “In the past week, many Gazans have started writing their names on their hands and legs, in pen or permanent marker, so they can be identified when death comes. This might seem macabre, but it makes perfect sense: We want to be remembered; we want our stories to be told; we seek dignity. At the very least, our names will be on our graves. The smell of unretrieved bodies under the ruins of a house hit last week remains in the air. The more time passes, the stronger the smell.”

The scenes around him become surreal. On Nov. 19, day 44 of the assault, he writes:

A man rides a horse toward me with the body of a dead teenager slung over the saddle in front. It seems it’s his son, perhaps. It looks like a scene from a historical movie, only the horse is weak and barely able to move. He is back from no battle. He is no knight. His eyes are full of tears as he holds the little riding crop in one hand and the bridle in the other. I have an impulse to photograph him but then feel suddenly sick at the idea. He salutes no one. He barely looks up. He is too consumed with his own loss. Most people are using the camp’s old cemetery; it’s the safest and although it is technically long-since full, they have started digging shallower graves and burying the new dead on top of the old—keeping families together, of course.

On Nov. 21 after constant tank-shelling, he decides to flee the Jabaliya neighborhood in the north of Gaza for the south, with his son and mother-in-law who is in a wheelchair. They must pass through Israeli checkpoints, where soldiers randomly select men and boys from the line for detention.

“Scores of bodies are strewn along both sides of the road,” he writes. “Rotting, it seems, into the ground. The smell is horrendous. A hand reaches out toward us from the window of a burned-out car, as if asking for something, from me specifically. I see what looks like two headless bodies in a car — limbs and precious body parts just thrown away and left to fester.”

He tells his son Yasser: “Don’t look. Just keep walking, son.”

In early Dec. his family home is destroyed in an airstrike.

“The house a writer grows up in is a well from which to draw material. In each of my novels, whenever I wanted to depict a typical house in the camp, I conjured ours. I’d move the furniture around a bit, change the name of the alley, but who was I kidding? It was always our house.”

“All the houses in Jabalya are small. They’re built randomly, haphazardly, and they’re not made to last. These houses replaced the tents that Palestinians like my grandmother Eisha lived in after the displacements of 1948. Those who built them always thought they’d soon be returning to the beautiful, spacious homes they’d left behind in the towns and villages of historic Palestine. That return never happened, despite our many rituals of hope, like safeguarding the key to the old family home. The future keeps betraying us, but the past is ours.”

“Though I’ve lived in many cities around the world, and visited many more, that tiny ramshackle abode was the only place I ever felt at home’” he goes on. “Friends and colleagues always asked: Why don’t you live in Europe or America? You have the opportunity. My students chimed in: Why did you return to Gaza? My answer was always the same: ‘Because in Gaza, in an alleyway in the Saftawi neighborhood of Jabalya, there stands a little house that cannot be found anywhere else in the world.’ If on doomsday God were to ask me where I would like to be sent, I wouldn’t hesitate in saying, ‘Home.’ Now there is no home.”

Atef is now trapped in southern Gaza with his son. His niece was transferred to a hospital in Egypt. Israel continues to pound Gaza with over 20,000 dead and 50,000 wounded. Atef continues to write.

The story of Christmas is the story of a poor woman, nine months pregnant, and her husband forced to leave their home in Nazareth in northern Galilee. The occupying Roman power has demanded they register for the census 90 miles away in Bethlehem. When they arrive there are no rooms. She gives birth in a stable. King Herod – who learned from the Magi of the birth of the messiah – orders his soldiers to hunt down every child two years old and under in Bethlehem and the vicinity and murder them. An angel warns Joseph in a dream to flee. The couple and infant escape under the cover of darkness and make the 40-mile journey to Egypt. 

I was in a refugee camp in the early 1980s for Guatemalans who had fled the war into Honduras. The peasant farmers and their families, living in filth and mud, their villages and homes burned or abandoned, were decorating their tents with strips of colored paper to celebrate the Massacre of the Innocents.

“Why is this such an important day?” I asked.

“It was on this day that Christ became a refugee,” a farmer answered.

The Christmas story was not written for the oppressors. It was written for the oppressed. We are called to protect the innocents. We are called to defy the occupying power. Atef, Refaat and those like them, who speak to us at the risk of death, echo this Biblical injunction. They speak so we will not be silent. They speak so we will take these words and images and hold them up to the principalities of the world — the media, politicians, diplomats, universities, the wealthy and privileged, the weapons manufacturers, the Pentagon and the Israel lobby groups — who are orchestrating the genocide in Gaza. The infant Christ is not lying today in straw, but a pile of broken concrete.

Evil has not changed down the millenia. Neither has goodness.

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Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist who was a foreign correspondent for fifteen years for The New York Times, where he served as the Middle East Bureau Chief and Balkan Bureau Chief for the paper. He previously worked overseas for The Dallas Morning News, The Christian Science Monitor, and NPR. He is the host of show The Chris Hedges Report.

Featured image: Bearing Witness – Mr. Fish

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The Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army (JAF) executed on  Sunday evening their seventh airdrop to assist those besieged within the Church of Saint Porphyrius in the north of Gaza Strip.

JAf said that the drop, executed under Royal directives, serves as a demonstration of solidarity with the Christian community amid the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza.

The statement revealed that a Royal Air Force plane airdropped humanitarian aid and food supplies, aiming to alleviate the conditions of those trapped inside the church, recognised as one of the oldest churches globally. 

The estimated number of besieged individuals within the church is approximately 800 civilians, primarily Christian, facing food shortages and a severe lack of basic necessities amidst harsh humanitarian conditions, according to the statement.

The source added that aid packages were parachuted onto the church, providing a safe haven for Christians and their children while being surrounded by Israeli occupation forces. This airdrop marks the seventh Jordanian airdrop, conveying a message of solidarity with our Christian brethren in the besieged strip amid the escalating Israeli war against Gaza, which has cast its shadow over the Christmas festivities.

During a meeting with religious leaders in the Al Husseiniya Palace last Wednesday, His Majesty King Abdullah, affirmed Jordan’s commitment to providing assistance to those seeking refuge in the church. The source emphasised that Jordan, in adherence to Royal directives, will continue to support the brothers and sisters in Gaza, standing by the Palestinian people and supporting their resilience on their land through various means to alleviate the challenging humanitarian conditions they face.

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Featured image is a Petra photo via The Jordan Times

Palestinian Resistance Cannot be Killed

December 27th, 2023 by Steven Sahiounie

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***

On October 17, just 10 days after the Hamas attack on Israel, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said Hamas cannot be eliminated.

Barak said,

“We cannot completely eliminate Hamas. Hamas is an ideological movement which exists in [Palestinian] people’s dreams, in their hearts and in their minds.”

For the last thirty years, various resistance groups in the Middle East have emerged. Over time, they have made alliances among themselves. Their collective goal is to free Palestine from the brutal and enduring Israeli occupation.

The US and Israel have both killed numerous resistance leaders, but the resistance movement has only gained in strength and momentum.

Since October 7, and the Hamas attack on Israel which resulted in about 1,200 Israelis killed, and almost 200 Israelis taken as hostages to Gaza, Israel has responded with a military bombardment of Gaza that has resulted in over 20,000 dead, with the majority being women and children.

In a recent Harvard poll, respondents aged 18 to 24 were asked,  “Do you think the Hamas killing of 1200 Israeli civilians in Israel can be justified by the grievances of Palestinians or is it not justified?” a 51 percent to 49 percent majority said the attacks were justified.

In 1982, the UN General Assembly resolution affirmed the right to use force against occupation to achieve the independence and liberation of Palestine.

In 1977, the Geneva Conventions, to which Palestine acceded in 2014, classifies conflicts against racist regimes as legitimate armed conflicts. The UN has reported Israel is an Apartheid state, and by definition a racist regime.

History supports that the liberation of occupation is rarely achieved without an armed struggle. Resistance fighting is governed by international humanitarian law, which means civilians must not be targeted and should be protected. The Hamas attack of October 7 was armed resistance, but did not distinguish between legitimate Israeli regime targets, and civilians.

Yahya Sinwar is the Prime Minister of Gaza, and Israel holds him responsible for the October 7 attack.  Israel has said one of the goals of its current war on Gaza is to kill Sinwar. He was born in Khan Younis refugee camp, and holds a bachelor’s degree in Arabic language from Gaza University.

“This abominable attack was decided upon by Yahya Sinwar,” said IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi. “Therefore he and all those under him are dead men walking.”

Many experts have said that Israel is incapable of eradicating Hamas, because it is an ideology. Killing Sinwar, or others, including the Palestinian people, will not get rid of armed resistance.  

In January 2020, US President Donald Trump ordered the assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani by a drone strike after his plane landed in Baghdad.

Soleimani was the commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and a main architect of Iran’s participation in the resistance of the occupation of Palestine.  

In the fight to defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria, Soleimani headed a coalition of Iraqi and Syrian fighters who killed as many ISIS as did the US-led coalition. The defeat of ISIS in Iraq and Syria was accomplished by the joint efforts of the US, Russia, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon and Syria, but without collaboration.

In February 2008, the CIA assassinated Imad Mughniyeh in Damascus. He was the master of the military branch of the Lebanese resistance group Hezbollah.  Israel had occupied the south of Lebanon for decades, but left abruptly in 2000. However, they have continued to occupy an area in the south known as Shebaa Farms, which has water resources Israel has exploited.  Hezbollah is resisting the occupation of Palestine, but also Lebanese occupied land.

In March 2004, Ahmed Yassin was assassinated in Gaza by an Israel helicopter strike ordered by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.  Yassin was one of the founders of Hamas. He was killed while going to pray in the early morning in the wheelchair which he had been confined to since the age of 12.

In September 2000, Yassin had proposed several ceasefire initiatives with Israel, asking Israel to withdraw from the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, along with stopping the assassination of Palestinian activists.

Yassin defended the Palestinian people’s right to resist the occupation and had criticized the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank for their decision to not participate in the armed resistance to Israeli occupation.

In 2005, Israel withdrew from Gaza, and in 2006 Hamas was elected to govern the enclave. Israel has imposed a land, sea and air blockade of Gaza since 2007, and many refer to Gaza as the largest ‘open-air prison’ on earth.

The population of Gaza is about 2 million, making it one of the highest population densities, and with eight refugee camps. The majority are Sunni Muslims, with a small Christian minority.

The UN is now warning of an imminent risk of famine in Gaza as the Israeli bombardment of the north and south rages on without a ceasefire in sight. The report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) published on Thursday reports the levels of acute food insecurity in Gaza is the largest ever recorded globally.

The UN’s World Food Program food security experts had already established that Gazans have ‘used up all their resources, livelihoods have collapsed, bakeries are destroyed, shops are empty, and families can’t find food,’ the report said.

The occupation of Palestine is the root cause of all suffering in the Middle East, and the liberation of Palestine is a fundamental cultural value held by the vast majority of all the Arab people, which number 22 countries, and represent about 300 million people.

The Palestinian people have been stateless, and under Israeli military occupation since 1948. They lack freedom, human rights and the UN calls Israel an Apartheid state.

Israel, and America may continue to kill Palestinian resistance leaders, but it will never stop the resistance, because it is a living ideology. The American patriot, Patrick Henry, said “Give me liberty, or give me death.” Those words spoken in 1776 are in the hearts and minds of millions of Palestinians and their supporters, including the University students across America.

*

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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.

Featured image is from MD

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***

The US, EU, and UK do not tire of defending Israel’s genocidal war against the Palestinian people with the cliched incantation that “Israel has the right to defend itself”.

In August 2022, Israel bombed Palestinians in Gaza over three days, killing 49 people, including 17 children. The US and the EU’s response to the massacre was to declare emphatically their support for “Israel’s right to defend itself” and mutedly to regret the death of Palestinian civilians.

That was the last major massacre Israel committed in Gaza before its current genocidal war, but it certainly was not the first. For that, we must go back to 1951, when Israel began to raid the Gaza Strip.

Israel had already expelled hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to Gaza between the end of 1947 and the summer of 1950 when the remaining 2,500 Palestinians from the Mediterranean town of Majdal ‘Asqalan (now the settler-colony of Ashkelon) were loaded on to trucks by the Israeli army. Israel would also expel 7,000 Palestinian Bedouins to Egypt during this period up to 1955.

A History of War Crimes

In October 1951, the Israelis raided Gaza, killing dozens of Palestinians and Egyptians, demolishing dozens of houses, and blowing up wells to curb the attempts by the expelled Palestinians to return home across the new borders erected by the Jewish settler colony.

Earlier, in August 1949, Israeli soldiers captured two Palestinian refugees. They killed the man and 22 soldiers took turns raping the woman before killing her. In March 1950, Israeli soldiers abducted two Palestinian girls and one boy from Gaza across the new border.

They killed the boy and then raped the two girls before killing them. By then, it was quite common for Israeli soldiers and police to rape female Palestinian refugees attempting to return to their homes, a practice that was widespread during the Nakba a few years earlier.

In August 1950, for example, four Israeli policemen raped a Palestinian woman picking fruit from her family’s orchard across the West Bank border.

Israeli raids on Gaza would continue in 1952 and 1953, culminating in the Bureij refugee camp massacre in August of that year. The Israeli military unit 101 killed at least 20 Palestinian refugees, including seven women and five children, by throwing bombs through the windows of their huts while they slept and shooting those who fled. Dozens were injured. Other sources put the final tally of Palestinians killed at 50.

At the time, foreign observers did not mention Israel’s “right to defend itself” and called the massacre “an appalling case of deliberate mass murder”. That same year, the Israelis slaughtered 70 Palestinian civilians in the West Bank village of Qibya, which even the Indianapolis-based, pro-Israel National Jewish Post compared to the Nazi massacre at Lidice.

In February 1955, the Israelis raided an Egyptian military camp in Gaza, killing at least 36 Egyptian soldiers and two Palestinian civilians, one of whom was a child.

Until then, Egyptian authorities had been placating the Israelis by policing the borders and preventing Palestinian “infiltration”. After the raid, Palestinians in Gaza rose up against the Egyptian authorities, demanding weapons to defend themselves from the unceasing Israeli raids.

Exasperated by Israeli brutality and bellicosity, and under pressure from the Palestinian refugees, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser acceded to the Palestinian demand. A group of Palestinian fedayeen retaliated against Israel by raiding it in August 1955 and infiltrating as far as 27 miles inside its borders – ambushing soldiers, laying mines, and attacking vehicles and buildings – during which five soldiers and 10 civilians died.

Lest anyone think that the current Jewish supremacist Israeli government is the first to invoke the biblical “Amalek” to provide a religious imprimatur to its ongoing genocidal war against the Palestinians, as Benjamin Netanyahu did, it was in fact the secular Prime Minister David Ben Gurion who first used the analogy seven decades ago.

Ahead of Israel’s invasion of Gaza and Egypt in October 1956, Ben Gurion proclaimed that “the hosts of Amalek” were rearming themselves to “destroy the State of Israel and the people of Israel”.

The Israelis bombed the Gaza city of Khan Younis on 2 November 1956 from the air, killing scores of civilians before Israeli tanks entered the city on 3 November.

The Israelis rounded up resistance fighters and executed them on the spot or in their homes. Meanwhile, in the adjacent refugee camp, the Israelis rounded up all men and boys above the age of 15 in the town square. They proceeded to machine-gun them, killing between 300 and 500 people, the vast majority of whom were civilians and half being 1948 refugees. They occupied Gaza and the Sinai Peninsula until they were forced out by the US and the USSR in March 1957.

‘Genocidal Atrocities’

In the past few weeks, Israel carried out massacres in Khan Younis, Gaza’s second-largest city, which Israel dubbed “a dangerous combat zone” after it had served as a safe zone for one million Palestinians who had fled northern Gaza. It included the slaughter of 30 civilians sheltering at a school from Israel’s savage bombings. The relentless mass killing of Palestinians since 7 October makes the 1956 savage Israeli massacres seem humane in comparison.

In 1967, Israel again invaded and occupied Gaza. It expelled 75,000 Palestinians from the Strip and prevented 50,000 more (who were working, studying, or travelling outside Gaza when Israel invaded) from returning home. It confiscated 60 percent of the land and all the water of the Palestinians, much of which was for the exclusive use of the Jewish colonists who had access to 18 times the amount of water available to the indigenous Palestinians.

The Jewish colonists had 85 more (stolen) land per capita than the Palestinian owners of the land. Israel subjected the entire Palestinian population to a racialised military occupation during which it destroyed Gaza’s economic infrastructure until 2005.

Since Israel’s redeployment around Gaza in September 2005 and its incarceration of 2.3 million Palestinians in the Gaza concentration camp, the Israelis launched numerous bombing campaigns against the camp’s civilian inmates and the resistance, including in 2006, 2008-2009, 2012, 2014, and 2021, killing thousands of civilians.

The only “victory” that the Israeli military has scored since 7 October is the slaughter of tens of thousands of civilians, with tens of thousands more injured, and more than two million others displaced. It has further succeeded in the destruction of homes and residential buildings, hospitals, schools, libraries, municipal buildings, churches and mosques. Despite all the civilian slaughter and destruction, its reputation for military preparedness has been lost for the foreseeable future.

As more and more details trickle out of Israel’s murder of its own civilians and destruction of their homes on 7 October, it will be a long time before it can recapture some of the fictional military allure it had previously enjoyed in the West and among its Arab allies.

One of the more interesting ironies of the current Israeli war is that whereas the US empire and its EU and UK subsidiaries continued to rearm Israel since 8 October without respite so that the settler colony could continue its genocidal war, it is the Palestinian resistance that has had no weapons replenishment since that date and yet continues to score military victories against the Israeli invaders.

But not only have the Americans been the major party to this war against a colonised and brutalised people, Jake Sullivan, President Biden’s national security adviser, went further by identifying the US with Israel so much that he referred to the Palestinian resistance as the “enemy” of the United States.

Sullivan said he had “discussed the conditions and timing for Israel to wind down the current phase of its operations with Israeli leaders”, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But he declined to specify a time frame, saying that neither wanted to “telegraph for the enemy what the plan is”.

If pro-Israel Americans likened the 1953 Qibya massacre to the Nazi massacre at Lidice, and famed Ashkenazi Israeli columnist Yehoshua Radler-Feldman, known by the pen name Rabbi Benyamin, wrote of the 1956 massacre of 50 Palestinian citizens of Israel in the village of Kafr Qasim “that soon we will be like Nazis and the perpetrators of pogroms”, today both Israeli officials and Palestinian resistance spokespersons are repeatedly referring to each other as “Nazis”. 

But while the Palestinian spokesmen refer to the Israeli government and its military as Nazis and fascists, Israeli officials label the Palestinian people as a whole as “Nazis”.

Given the shameless racist discourse among Israeli officials about the Palestinians as “animals” and “subhuman”, the extraordinary force of the indiscriminate Israeli killing machine, and the scale of Israel’s genocidal atrocities, the appropriateness or inappropriateness of the analogy is up for debate.

What remains beyond doubt, however, is that while the industrial scale of Israeli atrocities in Gaza is unprecedented, their cruel nature has been part and parcel of Israel’s war on the Palestinian people since 1948.

*

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Joseph Massad is professor of modern Arab politics and intellectual history at Columbia University, New York. He is the author of many books and academic and journalistic articles. His books include Colonial Effects: The Making of National Identity in Jordan; Desiring Arabs; The Persistence of the Palestinian Question: Essays on Zionism and the Palestinians, and most recently Islam in Liberalism. His books and articles have been translated into a dozen languages.

Featured image: A view of a United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) school sheltering displaced Palestinians in Khan Yunis, Gaza on October 22, 2023 [Abed Zagout/Anadolu Agency]

All Global Research articles can be read in 51 languages by activating the Translate Website button below the author’s name (only available in desktop version).

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***

The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse. — Edmund Burke

Folks, it’s time to break the cycle of abuses—cruel, brutal, immoral, unconstitutional and unacceptable—that have been heaped upon us by the government for way too long.

Here’s just a small sampling of what we suffered through in 2023.

The government failed to protect our lives, liberty and happiness. The predators of the police state wreaked havoc on our freedoms, our communities, and our lives. The government didn’t listen to the citizenry, refused to abide by the Constitution, and treated the citizenry as a source of funding and little else. Police officers shot unarmed citizens and their household pets. Government agents—including local police—were armed to the teeth and encouraged to act like soldiers on a battlefield. Bloated government agencies were allowed to fleece taxpayers. Government technicians spied on our emails and phone calls. And government contractors made a killing by waging endless wars abroad.

The president became more imperial. Although the Constitution invests the President with very specific, limited powers, in recent years, American presidents have claimed the power to completely and almost unilaterally alter the landscape of this country for good or for ill. The powers amassed by each successive president through the negligence of Congress and the courts—powers which add up to a toolbox of terror for an imperial ruler—empower whoever occupies the Oval Office to act as a dictator, above the law and beyond any real accountability. The presidency itself has become an imperial one with permanent powers.

The cost of endless wars drove the nation deeper into debt. Policing the globe and waging endless wars abroad hasn’t made America—or the rest of the world—any safer, but it has made the military industrial complex rich at taxpayer expense.

The courts failed to uphold justice. Time and time again, the Supreme Court failed to right the wrongs being meted out by the American police state. A review of critical court rulings over the past decade or so, including some ominous ones by the U.S. Supreme Court, reveals a startling and steady trend towards pro-police state rulings by an institution concerned more with establishing order and protecting the ruling class and government agents than with upholding the rights enshrined in the Constitution.

The Surveillance State rendered Americans vulnerable to threats from government spies, police, hackers and power failures. Thanks to the government’s ongoing efforts to build massive databases using emerging surveillance, DNA and biometrics technologies, Americans became sitting ducks for hackers and government spies alike. Billions of people have been affected by data breaches and cyberattacks. On a daily basis, Americans were made to relinquish the most intimate details of who we are—our biological makeup, our genetic blueprints, and our biometrics (facial characteristics and structure, fingerprints, iris scans, etc.)—in order to navigate an increasingly technologically-enabled world. The Department of Homeland Security, which has led the charge to create a Surveillance State, has continued to deploy mandatory facial recognition scans at airports and gather biometric data on American travelers. Police were gifted with new surveillance gadgets. The Corporate State tapped into our computer keyboards, cameras, cell phones and smart devices in order to better target us for advertising. Social media giants such as Facebook granted secret requests by the government and its agents for access to users’ accounts. And our private data—methodically collected and stored with or without our say-so—was repeatedly compromised and breached.

Mass shootings claimed more lives. Mass shootings have taken place at churches, in nightclubs, on college campuses, on military bases, in elementary schools, in government offices, and at concerts. In almost every instance, you can connect the dots back to the military-industrial complex, which continues to dominate, dictate and shape almost every aspect of our lives.

The rich got richer, and the poor went to jail. Not content to expand the police state’s power to search, strip, seize, raid, steal from, arrest and jail Americans for any infraction, no matter how insignificant, the courts continued their practice of jailing individuals who are unable to pay the hefty fines imposed by the American police state. These debtors’ prisons play right into the hands of those who make a profit by jailing Americans.  This is no longer a government “of the people, by the people, for the people.” It is fast becoming a government “of the rich, by the elite, for the corporations,” and its rise to power is predicated on shackling the American taxpayer to a debtors’ prison guarded by a phalanx of politicians, bureaucrats and militarized police with no hope of parole and no chance for escape.

“Show your papers” incidents skyrocketed. We are not supposed to be living in a “show me your papers” society. Despite this, the U.S. government has introduced measures allowing police and other law enforcement officials to stop individuals (citizens and noncitizens alike), demand they identify themselves, and subject them to patdowns, warrantless searches, and interrogations.

Free speech was dealt one knock-out punch after another. Protest laws, free speech zones, bubble zones, trespass zones, anti-bullying legislation, zero tolerance policies, hate crime laws and a host of other legalistic maladies dreamed up by politicians and prosecutors (and championed by those who want to suppress speech with which they might disagree) conspired to corrode our core freedoms, purportedly for our own good. On paper—at least according to the U.S. Constitution—we are technically free to speak. In reality, however, we were only as free to speak as a government official—or corporate entities such as Facebook, Google or YouTube—allowed. The reasons for such censorship varied widely from political correctness, safety concerns and bullying to national security and hate crimes but the end result remained the same: the complete eradication of free speech.

Police became even more militarized and weaponized. Despite concerns about the government’s steady transformation of local police into a standing military army, local police agencies continued to acquire weaponry, training and equipment suited for the battlefield. There are now reportedly more bureaucratic (non-military) government civilians armed with high-tech, deadly weapons than U.S. Marines.

Schools turned into prisons. So-called school “safety” policies, which run the gamut from zero tolerance policies that punish all infractions harshly to surveillance cameras, metal detectors, random searches, drug-sniffing dogs, school-wide lockdowns, active-shooter drills and militarized police officers, turned schools into prisons and young people into prisoners.

The government waged a renewed war on private property. The battle to protect our private property has become the final constitutional frontier, the last holdout against our freedoms being usurped. We no longer have any real property rights. That house you live in, the car you drive, the small (or not so small) acreage of land that has been passed down through your family or that you scrimped and saved to acquire, whatever money you manage to keep in your bank account after the government and its cronies have taken their first and second and third cut…none of it is safe from the government’s greedy grasp. At no point do you ever have any real ownership in anything other than the clothes on your back. Everything else can be seized by the government under one pretext or another (civil asset forfeiture, unpaid taxes, eminent domain, public interest, etc.).

The plight of the nation’s homeless worsened. In communities across the country, legislators adopted a variety of methods (parking meters, zoning regulations, tickets, and even robots) to discourage the homeless from squatting, loitering and panhandling. One of the most common—and least discussed—practices: homeless relocation programs that bus the homeless outside city limits.

The government waged war on military veterans. The government has done a pitiful job of respecting the freedoms of military veterans and caring for their needs once out of uniform. The plight of veterans today is America’s badge of shame, with large numbers of veterans impoverished, unemployed, traumatized mentally and physically, struggling with depression, suicide, and marital stress, homeless, subjected to sub-par treatment at clinics and hospitals, left to molder while their paperwork piles up within Veterans Administration offices, and increasingly treated like criminals— targeted for surveillance, censorship, threatened with incarceration or involuntary commitment, labeled as extremists and/or mentally ill, and stripped of their Second Amendment rights—for daring to speak out against government misconduct.

The Deep State took over. The American system of representative government was overthrown by the Deep State—a.k.a. the police state a.k.a. the military industrial complex—a profit-driven, militaristic corporate state bent on total control and global domination through the imposition of martial law here at home and by fomenting wars abroad. When in doubt, follow the money trail. It always points the way.

The takeaway: Everything the founders of this country feared has come to dominate in modern America.

As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People and in its fictional counterpart The Erik Blair Diaries, if freedom is to survive at all, “we the people” must refuse to allow the government’s abusive behavior to be our new normal.

There is nothing normal about egregious surveillance, roadside strip searches, police shootings of unarmed citizens, censorship, retaliatory arrests, the criminalization of lawful activities, warmongering, indefinite detentions, SWAT team raids, asset forfeiture, police brutality, profit-driven prisons, or pay-to-play politicians.

Let’s not take the mistakes, carnage, toxicity and abuse of this past year into 2024.

As long as we continue to allow callousness, cruelty, meanness, immorality, ignorance, hatred, intolerance, racism, militarism, materialism, meanness and injustice—magnified by an echo chamber of nasty tweets and government-sanctioned brutality—to trump justice, fairness and equality, there can be no hope of prevailing against the police state.

*

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This article was originally published on The Rutherford Institute.

Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute. His most recent books are the best-selling Battlefield America: The War on the American People, the award-winning A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State, and a debut dystopian fiction novel, The Erik Blair Diaries. Whitehead can be contacted at [email protected].

Nisha Whitehead is the Executive Director of The Rutherford Institute. Information about The Rutherford Institute is available at www.rutherford.org.

They are regular contributors to Global Research.

It is, once again, the most wonderful time of the year!

Many things to be grateful for in 2023 — chief among them is your indefatigable support for Global Research’s publication.

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This Christmas, I Have Tears in My Eyes. “Disobey Unlawful Orders, Abandon the Battlefield”

By Prof Michel Chossudovsky, December 25, 2023

Today, we are “fraternizing” and acting in solidarity Worldwide with the People of Palestine against the hegemonic agenda of the U.S. and it allies  which are waging an all-out war against humanity. 

War on Gaza: Palestinian Doctor Asks Biden How ‘Many More Need to Die’ Before US Demands Ceasefire

By Middle East Eye, December 27, 2023

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Dr Ahmed Moghrabi, head of plastic surgery in Khan Younis’s Nasser Hospital, was heavily distraught as he recounted having to work around the clock for 80 days to treat the Palestinian victims of constant Israeli bombardment.

Sloughing from Guernica to Gaza to be Born

By Emanuel Pastreich, December 26, 2023

Jews then were an occupied people, struggling under the heavy hand of Rome, oppressed like the Palestinian people today who are likewise subject to a new imperial order expressed through remote cameras, armed drones and robots, and cluster bombs. They are subject to the brutal authority of Jerusalem, Washington, and London, the empire of deception and decay.

The Israel Lobby Embarks on a Course of Lies and Crimes to Push More War, Based on a False Narrative of October 7 (10/7)

By Prof. Anthony J. Hall, December 26, 2023

Just as the fabricated story of bin Laden and al-Qaeda was a fraud to push the United States into a series of wars for Israel, so too is the false account below of the Hamas-Israel relationship a calculated lie meant to advance disastrous outcomes for average people, including Jews, the world over. The fraudulent character of the accounts of the supposed rapes and killing of children has been expertly exposed by Max Blumenthal.

The Yemeni Houthis Take on the Empire

By Renee Parsons, December 26, 2023

While it is astounding that one small, feisty Arab tribe in the nation of Yemen has shown the mega-world how to creatively stand up to the Hegemon without threatening nuclear weapons, without initiating direct military conflict and yet achieve their goals – what is even more astounding is that the Houthis are not the least intimidated by the Empire’s pretentious display of empty threats and waning power. 

What Did Russia Destroy at Starokonstantinov Airbase? “High Priority Targets”. SAM Systems Destroyed.

By Drago Bosnic, December 26, 2023

Both Russian and Ukrainian milbloggers reported that the Starokonstantinov strike is associated with solid information about the appearance of “something very important at the airbase”, which prompted the VKS to use its most dangerous air-launched missile that is generally reserved for such high-priority targets.

Journalists and Reporters Who Were Mandated COVID-19 mRNA Vaccines, “Died Suddenly”

By Dr. William Makis, December 26, 2023

38 year old news anchor, journalist, Elaine da Silva was 23 weeks pregnant and was sent to hospital in Sao Paulo, Brazil on Monday Nov. 20 with pneumonia. She died next day with her unborn child.

Yemen’s Houthis Have “Biden by the Shorthairs”. Disruption of the Most Important Maritime Trading Routes. Potential Shock to the Global Economy

By Mike Whitney, December 26, 2023

Yemen’s Houthi militia has shown how a small army can take on the American Empire and win. They have shown how courage, resolve and commitment to principle can act as a force-multiplier allowing a much weaker military to ‘punch above its weight’. They’ve also shown that a few well-placed missiles in key locations on the world’s most critical shipping lanes, can send tremors across the global economy and shake the “rules-based order” to its foundations.

With Hearing Set, Time for Biden to Drop Assange Charges

By Colonel Ann Wright, December 26, 2023

Fifty years ago, no U.S. publisher, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times or any other newspaper in the U.S. or abroad was prosecuted for publishing the classified history of the U.S. war on Vietnam, the Pentagon Papers [although Nixon tried].  

Yemen Resistance Remains Defiant as Pentagon Escalates Tensions in Red Sea

By Abayomi Azikiwe, December 26, 2023

In response to the declaration of the Ansar Allah Resistance Movement in Yemen that it would enforce a blockade on Israeli linked ships until the genocidal siege on the Palestinians ceased, the U.S. has pledged to protect commercial vessels traveling throughout the Red Sea.

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***

A Palestinian surgeon in southern Gaza has made an impassioned plea to the Biden administration, asking the US president how many more civilians need to be killed in Israel’s military campaign on Gaza before the US demands a ceasefire.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Dr Ahmed Moghrabi, head of plastic surgery in Khan Younis’s Nasser Hospital, was heavily distraught as he recounted having to work around the clock for 80 days to treat the Palestinian victims of constant Israeli bombardment.

“I want actually to ask the Biden administration and the leaders of the world and [those] who sent these prohibited mass destruction weapons to Israel,” Moghrabi said. “How many more of us have to die? Really, how many more of us have to die, as civilians? How many more videos do you have to see?”

The US is one of Israel’s closest allies and supplies the country with billions of dollars in military assistance each year. Since the war on Gaza began in October, the US House of Representatives approved an additional $14bn to the country to aid in its campaign on the besieged enclave.

Israel has so far been sent 230 cargo planes and 20 ships loaded with weapons and military equipment from the US.

Moghrabi, who said he has developed psychological disorders from his work since the war began, shared a grim account of the humanitarian situation inside Gaza’s hospitals, noting that doctors do not have proper tools or enough medical supplies to treat their patients.

“Me, as a doctor here, as a surgeon here, I can’t save lives properly as I’m supposed to because I don’t have proper instruments.”

Beyond that, patients are going hungry without food and thirsty without clean drinking water, according to Moghrabi.

“Our children are not only dying from bombs or snipers or dragging them and executing them outside of their houses and executing them at the checkpoints; they are dying from hunger, from the cold, from the contamination of the water. 

“You as democratic countries are there. I don’t know, how would you allow the entire population to starve?”

‘Biden Ensuring Israel’s Slaughter Continues’

Hospitals all across Gaza have been subjected to Israeli attacks, from aerial bombardment to being laid to siege by tanks on the ground or snipers on rooftops.

Middle East Eye reported earlier this month about the Israeli siege on al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza, where 250 doctors, patients and their families were forced to the brink of starvation.

A staff member inside Awda gave a first-hand account to MEE of the dire conditions inside the hospital, when Israeli snipers surrounded the hospital and essentially turned the Palestinians inside into hostages until the hospital’s food and water ran out. Snipers were also shooting at anyone seen to move.

Last week, the World Health Organisation announced that northern Gaza no longer has a functional hospital due to Israel’s military assault, which has created a lack of fuel, staff and supplies.

“There are actually no functional hospitals left in the north,” Richard Peeperkorn, WHO representative in Gaza, told reporters.

The situation is similarly dire in the south of Gaza. The WHO said that out of all 36 health facilities in the enclave, only nine are partially functional – all of them in the south.

Despite the calls from much of the international community to end the war on Gaza, the United States has yet to push for a ceasefire.

At the United Nations Security Council last week, a vote for a ceasefire resolution was delayed multiple times to avoid a US veto. The language of the resolution ended up being changed to calling for urgent steps “to create the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities” between Hamas and Israel.

Analysts have said that the compromises made to avoid the US veto have resulted in a resolution that will have limited bearing on Gaza’s humanitarian crisis.

“Biden’s changes will help ensure that Israel’s slaughter in Gaza continues while minimising the UN’s insight into what increasingly appears to be a genocide,” Trita Parsi, vice president of the Quincy Institute, said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

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Featured image: Dr Suleiman Qaoud surveys the damage at the Rantisi Specialist Hospital, part of the Nasser Medical Complex in Gaza City, following Israeli missile attacks on November 6, 2023 [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]

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Ukraine has a “civil rights problem”, with “wartime policies” that “effectively relegate Russian speakers to permanent second-class status”, and many Ukrainians “across the political spectrum”, including “former officials” and “intellectuals” worry that such policies, after peace is achieved, will “alienate, criminalize, or deport a significant portion of the country’s population.” Moreover, in a survey taken six months before the war, over 40 percent of Ukrainians nationwide (“and nearly two-thirds in the east and south”), agreed with Putin that Ukrainians and Russians are “one people.”

Who is making these claims? Oh, it must be one of those “pro-Russia propagandists”, right?

No, it is in fact Nicolai N. Petro, a professor of political science at the University of Rhode Island, writing for Foreign Policy.

Professor Petro was a US Fulbright scholar in Ukraine in 2013-2014, and served in Washington as the State Department’s special assistant for policy on the Soviet Union under President George H. W. Bush, and as temporary political attache at the American Embassy in Moscow.

Petro writes that “freedom of religion, freedom of the press, and minority rights” are all areas of concern in Ukraine. Regarding the first one, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), one of the largest denominations in the country, is, he notes, the target of a crackdown, with holy sites having been seized even years before 2022 and clergymen being judicially harassed over their alleged links to Moscow.

Regarding the second and the third (press and minorities), a March 2023 law gave further censorship powers to the National Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting: by 2024, it will further increase the minimum percentage of Ukrainian language on television from 75 to 90 percent, entirely prohibiting the use of non-Ukrainian languages in certain contexts. The main target of such policies is of course the Russian language, spoken by millions of Ukrainians. According to Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council, “the Russian language must completely disappear from our territory, it being an aspect of hostile propaganda and the brainwashing of our population.”

Commenting on such measures, Ukrainian philosopher Sergei Datsyuk stated “it will be unclear which is more dangerous for us, war with Russia or internal civil war” (Oleksiy Arestovich, former presidential advisor to Zelensky made similar statements). Those are serious concerns, but one should keep in mind that such “internal civil war” in fact already started almost a decade ago, in Donbass.

As Petro sums it up:

“in Ukraine, the freedoms of religion and the press are deeply intertwined with the issue of minority rights, specifically with the treatment of the country’s largest minority, Russophile Ukrainians—those who identify themselves with Russian heritage, be it through language, culture, history, or religion.”

He adds:

“the vast majority of Russophile Ukrainians refuse to categorize themselves as a minority. They see themselves simply as Ukrainians citizens, and as such, they argue, they have a constitutional right to speak any language and espouse any religion or culture they wish, not just the ones endorsed by the state. But Ukrainian law does not recognize Russians as indigenous to Ukraine, or even as a minority within Ukraine. They therefore have no claim to legal protection of their cultural heritage and language, a direct contradiction of Article 10 of the Ukrainian constitution.”

Professor Petro, and the aforementioned Ukrainians are not alone in their concerns about the civil rights of the Russian minority in Ukraine. As I’ve written,  the European Commission for Democracy through Law, better known as the Venice Commission, also worries about the matter.

At its June session, the Venice Commission analyzed the (new) Law on National Minorities (Communities) of Ukraine, and, among other things, concluded that,

“to ensure full conformity” with international standards, “a number of provisions of that Law should be reconsidered”, including those pertaining to “the right to organise events in minority languages”, to  “publishing books and to bookshops”,  “the right to access to mass media in minority languages”, and “the minority language school-system.”

However, in the words of Olga Stefanishyna (Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration),

“There is no Russian minority in Ukraine. It does not exist!”

According to the 2001 Ukraine’s census, which is to date its only census since its 1991 independence, ethnic Russians were 17.3% of the Ukrainian population –  that is, over 8 million people.

Ukraine is in fact a strongly Russian-Ukrainian bilingual society, with a high degree of intermarriage, and, to further complicate things, many people can declare themselves ethnically as either Russian or Ukrainian, depending on context.

As I wrote back in 2020, regarding the Donbass war (which has been going on since 2014), one’s political stance could sometimes be a better predictor – regarding one’s attitude towards the conflict – than language or ethnicity. And the main dividing issue there was and is the Maidan. It has always been about 2 possible Ukraines: one is a European nation, closer to the West and the US while, at the same time, proud of Stepan Bandera and of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) which during World War II sided with Nazi Germany and committed war crimes against Poles. The other is a natural ally of Russia and part of the “Russian world” (culturally) and is also proud of its Soviet heritage.

The “Russian Question” in Ukraine therefore does not pertain merely to “ethnic Russians” (self-identified or otherwise); it also involves the issue of Russophones and Russophiles.

As researcher Volodymyr Ishchenko writes, there has always been in Ukrainian politics a “large camp” calling for “closer integration with Russia-led international institutions rather than with those in the Euro-Atlantic sphere”. This “pro-Russian camp”, after the 2014 Maidan was “marginalized”, and according to Ishchenko the “pro-Russian label” became “inflated” to the point of being used to describe (and discredit) any discourse that raises questions about the “pro-Western, neoliberal, and nationalist” stances which have “dominated Ukraine’s political sphere since 2014, but do not really reflect the political diversity of Ukrainian society.” All such “pro-Russian” political parties have in fact been banned in 2022, including the Opposition Platform for Life, which had come second in elections and held 44 seats in the Parliament.

In March 2022 students demanded political scientist John Mearsheimer be “canceled” due to his alleged “Putinism”.

The fact that Nicolai N. Petro’s piece was published in Foreign Policy thus far without any attacks against him is quite interesting. Now that it is becoming increasingly clear to the Western political elite and media that a “land for peace deal” is the only way to Kyiv. And maybe there will finally be a wide and honest discussion on some inconvenient truths about post-Maidan Ukraine.

The truth is that even after peace is achieved, as long as the Russian minority remains marginalized there and as long as NATO expansion continues, there will still be room for tension and conflict – internally and internationally.

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This article was originally published on InfoBrics.

Uriel Araujo is a researcher with a focus on international and ethnic conflicts. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

Featured image is from InfoBrics

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“Gaza is one of the most intense civilian punishment campaigns in history,” said a U.S. military historian as Israel’s use of arms including 2,000-pound “bunker-buster” bombs pushed the Palestinian death toll over 20,000.

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As the Palestinian death toll from Israel’s 10-week annihilation of the Gaza Strip passed 20,000, warfare experts said this weekend that the retaliatory campaign ranks among the deadliest and most destructive in modern history.

Gaza health officials said Friday that 390 Palestinians were killed and 734 others wounded in the besieged strip over the previous 48 hours, driving the death toll from 77 days of near-relentless Israeli attacks to 20,057, with another 53,320 people injured. More than 6,000 women and over 8,000 children have been killed—approximately 70% of all fatalities.

That’s more than twice the number of civilians—and over 14 times as many children—as Russian forces have killed in Ukraine since February 2022.

Thousands more Palestinians are missing and feared buried beneath the rubble of the hundreds of thousands of buildings destroyed or damaged by Israeli bombardment.

“The scale of Palestinian civilian deaths in such a short period of time appears to be the highest such civilian casualty rate in the 21st century,” Michael Lynk, who served as the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories from 2016 to 2022, told The Washington Post on Saturday.

Robert Pape, a U.S. military historian and University of Chicago professor, told The Associated Press that

“Gaza is one of the most intense civilian punishment campaigns in history.”

“It now sits comfortably in the top quartile of the most devastating bombing campaigns ever,” he added.

By comparison, the 2017 U.S.-led coalition battle for Mosul, Iraq during the war against the so-called Islamic State—widely viewed as among the most intense urban assaults in recent decades—killed approximately 10,000 civilians, around a third of them from aerial bombardment.

Pape said that by some measures, Israel’s bombing of Gaza is surpassing the Allied “terror bombing” of German cities during World War II.

He noted that U.S. and U.K. airstrikes obliterated about 40-50% of the urban areas of the 51 German cities bombed between 1942-45, and that around 10% of all buildings in Germany were destroyed. In Gaza, approximately 1 in 3 buildings have been destroyed. In northern Gaza, over two-thirds of all buildings have been leveled.

“Gaza is now a different color from space. It’s a different texture,” Corey Scher, who studies natural disasters and wars using satellite remote sensing at the City University of New York’s Graduate Center, told the AP.

Experts point to the types of munitions being used by Israeli forces as a major reason why so many Gazans are being killed and injured. These include U.S.-supplied 1,000-pound and 2,000-pound guided “bunker-buster” bombs, which Israel says are necessary to target Hamas’ underground tunnels.

These massive bombs turn “earth to liquid,” Marc Garlasco, a former Pentagon defense official and war crimes investigator for the United Nations, told the AP. “It pancakes entire buildings.”

Garlasco said that 2,000-pound bombs mean “instant death” for anyone within about 100 feet of the blast, with shrapnel posing a deadly danger for people up to 1,200 feet away.

In a separate interview with CNN, Gerlasco said that the intensity of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza has “not been seen since Vietnam,” when U.S. airstrikes killed up to hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese, Cambodians, and Laotians. The U.S. dropped more bombs on tiny, non-belligerent Laos than all sides combined unleashed during World War II.

“You’d have to go back to the Vietnam War to make a comparison,” Garlasco added. “Even in both Iraq wars, it was never that dense.”

The use of such heavy ordnance in close proximity to critical civilian infrastructure like hospitals has alarmed observers.

“What we have been witnessing is a campaign that was planned, it was a plan, definitely, to close down all the hospitals in the north,” Léo Cans, head of mission for Palestine with Doctors Without Borders, told the Post.

Aided by AI-based target selection systems, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) commanders are approving bombings they know will cause large numbers of civilian casualties. In a bid to assassinate a single Hamas commander, the IDF dropped at least two 2,000-pound bombs on the densely populated Jabalia refugee camp on October 31, killing more than 120 civilians.

Although the United States—which has killed more foreign civilians this century than any other armed force in the world—provides Israel with thousands of 1,000 and 2,000-pound bombs, its own military avoids using such massive ordnance in civilian areas due to the devastation they cause.

“It certainly appears that [Israel’s] tolerance for civilian harm compared to expected operational benefits is significantly different than what we would accept as the U.S.,” Larry Lewis, research director at the Center for Naval Analyses and a former U.S. State Department senior adviser on civilian harm, told CNN.

That includes the risk of killing Israel’s own citizens and others held hostage by Hamas in Gaza.

Lewis added that the Jabalia strike was “something we would never see the U.S. doing.”

That isn’t entirely true; during the 1991 Gulf War the U.S. dropped a pair of 2,000-pound Raytheon GBU-27 Paveway III laser-guided bombs on the Amiriyah air raid shelter in Baghdad, killing at least 408 Iraqi civilians in one of the deadliest single airstrikes in modern history. U.S. officials claimed they thought the shelter, which was used during the Iraq-Iran war, was no longer a civilian facility.

“The use of 2,000-pound bombs in an area as densely populated as Gaza means it will take decades for communities to recover,” John Chappell, advocacy and legal fellow at the Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group Center for Civilians in Conflict, told CNN.

Even more concerning for some experts is Israel’s use of unguided, or “dumb” bombs, against civilian targets in Gaza.

While IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said that “we choose the right munition for each target so it doesn’t cause unnecessary damage,” the death and destruction in Gaza—and Israeli officials’ own words—tell an entirely different story.

Early in the war, Hagari declared that “Gaza will never return to what it was,” clarifying that “the emphasis is on damage and not on accuracy.”

Meanwhile, numerous Israeli officials advocated the complete destruction of Gaza, with more than a few government figures—including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Cabinet members—making statements supporting genocide against the Palestinian people.

U.S. President Joe Biden—who has affirmed his “unwavering” support for Israel and is seeking $14.3 billion in additional military aid for the country, which already gets almost $4 billion annually from Washington—has implored Israeli leaders to stop the “indiscriminate” bombing of Gaza, even as his administration thwarts international cease-fire efforts and restocks the IDF’s arsenal.

Chappell stressed that

“the devastation that we’ve seen for communities in Gaza is, unfortunately, co-signed by the United States.”

“Too much of it is carried out by bombs that were made in the United States,” he added.

Ahmed Abofoul—a Gaza-born, Netherlands-based attorney with ‎the Palestinian human rights organization Al-Haq who has lost 60 of his relatives to Israeli bombing— said in Friday interview with Democracy Now! that “the American government is complicit in this genocide.”

“There is blood of Palestinian children on their hands,” he added. [Biden] said Israel is engaged in indiscriminate bombing. This is a war crime. So, the question is: Why do you then send weapons to Israel? The position of the U.S. is quite hypocritical.”

[From Common Dreams: Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.]

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Brett Wilkins is a staff writer for Common Dreams.

Nel giorno del Natale cristiano cattolico, Israele non ferma le sue bombe e devasta con un raid aereo il campo profughi di Maghazi. 

NATALE A GAZA: ANCORA COLPITI CIVILI PALESTINESI

Il campo si trova al centro della Striscia di Gaza ed il bollettino delle vittime sarebbe di almeno 106 persone ma purtroppo è destinato a salire.

Il giorno di Natale è stato trasformato in una delle giornate più sanguinose dall’inizio dell’operazione militare israeliana in risposta all’attacco di Hamas del 7 ottobre scorso.  

I registri del vicino ospedale di Al-Aqsa hanno annotato un numero impressionante di feriti, almeno secondo quanto riportato dall’agenzia di stampa americana Associated Press.

ISRAELE COLPISCE IN PALESTINA ANCHE LA MEZZALUNA ROSSA

Mentre l’esercito israeliano IDF ha dichiarato di aver avviato una verifica sul campo dei danni e delle vittime a Maghazi, la Mezzaluna Rossa, equivalente della Croce Rossa occidentale, ha riferito sul social X che proiettili di artiglieria hanno colpito la sede di Khan Yunis, a sud della Striscia di Gaza, uccidendo alcuni sfollati che si trovavano al suo interno. 

Anche l’Organizzazione Mondiale della Sanità ha riferito di “testimonianze strazianti” raccolte dalle sue squadre di medici negli ospedali della Striscia di Gaza dove si trovano le vittime dei bombardamenti.

In un altro episodio, il ministero della Sanità di Gaza ha detto che  anche 10 membri di una famiglia sono stati uccisi in un raid nel campo di Jabalia.

NETANIAHU: “AVANTI FINCHÈ NON LI FINIAMO”

Intanto il premier israeliano Benjamin Netaniahu ha visitato di nuovo l’esercito nella Striscia, sottolineando come non intende fermare le operazioni, “fino alla fine, finché non li finiamo. Niente di meno”. 

Netaniahu è molto contestato in Israele, soprattutto dai parenti degli ostaggi ancora nelle mani di Hamas.

Secondo fonti dell’esercito israeliano che hanno riferito alla Knesset, il parlamento israeliano, reparti di terra sono entrati “all’alba di oggi nei campi profughi nel settore centrale della Striscia di Gaza” portando la presenza delle forze armate con la stella di David ad essere presenti in tutta la Striscia. 

FALLISCE IL NEGOZIATO EGIZIANO PER UNA TREGUA IN PALESTINA

Hamas e la Jihad Islamica hanno respinto la proposta egiziana di sostituire il loro governo a Gaza in cambio di un cessate il fuoco permanente. Lo riporta Haaretz sulla base di indiscrezioni giunte oggi dall’Egitto. Il piano egiziano, appoggiato dal Qatar, prevedeva un nuovo scambio di prigionieri, seguito da un cessate il fuoco permanente e dalla futura costituzione a Gaza di un governo di tecnocrati. Dalla Striscia anche il sito di informazione ‘Gaza Report’ scrive di aver appreso che Hamas e la Jihad islamica ”hanno respinto ufficialmente” il piano egiziano.

ISRAELE COLPISCE GENERALE IRANIANO IN SIRIA

Non ha aiutato alle trattative l’uccisione di un importante generale delle Guardie rivoluzionarie, l’esercito ideologico iraniano.  L’agenzia di stampa ufficiale iraniana, IRNA, ha riferito che il generale Razi Moussavi è stato ucciso in Siria in un attacco vicino a Damasco attribuito a Israele. 

Il presidente iraniano Ebrahim Raisi ha dichiarato che Israele “pagherà certamente per questo crimine”, segno della “frustrazione e dell’impotenza del regime sionista nella regione”. 

FRONTE CALDO ANCHE IL CONFINE CON IL LIBANO. IN PALESTINA 21 MILA MORTI

Intanto Israele alza il livello di allerta al confine del Libano. Dall’inizio della guerra 80 mila cittadini israeliani residenti nelle città di confine dell’Alta Galilea sono stati sfollati, a causa degli scontri con gli Hezbollah in quell’area. 

A testimoniare la vergogna e il dolore rimane lo sconcertante numero di vittime in quella terra, che secondo i credenti cristiani, ha visto la nascita di Gesù: dal 7 ottobre ad oggi sono quasi 21 mila morti e 55 mila i feriti.

Davide G. Porro

VIDEO :

https://www.byoblu.com/2023/12/26/palestina-natale-ancora-bombe-su-gaza-respinto-il-piano-di-pace-egiziano/

 

Sloughing from Guernica to Gaza to be Born

December 26th, 2023 by Emanuel Pastreich

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I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and, at the same time, to talk about the larger symbolic power of Christmas for us in the received tradition. Christmas today commemorates the birth of Jesus, the child of the poor Jewish couple Joseph and Mary who travelled from Nazareth to David, where Joseph was to be registered for the census ordered by the Roman Empire during the gaudy rule of Caesar Augustus.

Jews then were an occupied people, struggling under the heavy hand of Rome, oppressed like the Palestinian people today who are likewise subject to a new imperial order expressed through remote cameras, armed drones and robots, and cluster bombs. They are subject to the brutal authority of Jerusalem, Washington, and London, the empire of deception and decay.

These two imperial systems, although separated by two thousand years, have much in common. It was the dream of wealth and the power of Rome that deeply influenced the mentality behind British expansion in the nineteenth century, and American expansion in the twentieth.

Mary and Joseph stopped in Bethlehem the night that Jesus was born; Mary had him in the manger, alongside the animals, because there was no room for them at the inn. Today, Bethlehem is located in the West Bank, a region supposedly under Palestinian control, but subject to the worst forms of Israeli suppression. Bethlehem may be inhabited by Palestinians today, but the heavy hand of imperial control is the same that Jews were subject to then.

Jesus led an effort to resist Roman imperialism, the globalism of that day. He was one of many who tried to do so at that time. His approach was unique in that he made an appeal to all citizens, not just to ethnic Jews, and he stressed the spiritual aspect of resistance to Rome.

This Christmas gives us a chance to reflect on this long battle, economic, spiritual, and physical, against overwhelming imperial power in Palestine. Despite all the Zionist ideology that decorates the New York Times, I do not think there is much doubt as to where Jesus would stand in the current struggle.

Israel has always been an imperialist experiment. Establishing Israel as an ethnic state served as the means for the British Empire during the First World War to extend its influence throughout the Middle East, to extend its control the Suez Canal, and to gain access to petroleum. The leaders of the Zionist movement advocating that Jews had a right to Palestine guaranteed by God, and that they were entitled to take it back at any cost, were greatly assisted by the British Empire.

Click here to view the video.

From Guernica to Gaza

If we want to understand what is happening in Gaza today, it is useful to turn our attention to the German bombing of the Basque city of Guernica in Republican Spain on April 26, 1937. The German Condor Legion and the Italian Aviazzione Legionaria carried out the attack under the direction of the brutal military genius Colonel Wolfram von Richthofen. The bombing of Guernica was not the deadliest battle of the Spanish Civil War, but it had profound significance for world history because it was a devious experiment.

The Germans and Italians, along with their Spanish Fascist allies, had decided that they did not care what the world thought of them and that they were determined to win the war in Spain by inspiring fear through ruthless destruction.

Bombs were dropped on Guernica without any military purpose, but rather to cause the greatest deaths among civilians, employing creative combinations of explosive bombs and incendiary devices that were dropped on residential communities. The attack first targeted water tanks and fire stations so as to make sure the fires could not be extinguished. Fleeing citizens were attacked by Heinkel 51s and Messerschmitts BF109s to show the entire world the unforgiving power of fascist armies.

And thus, in Guernica, a new form of war was born, a new breed of terror that would become the model for “Blitzkrieg” attacks in Poland and France a few years later.

Ruins of Guernica

Guernica was an unmistakable sign to the world that the Fascist forces did not care what others thought of them and that they had the military hardware and the troop discipline to destroy any resistance to their rule. The message telegraphed to all of Europe was the Guernica would be the fate of any city in Europe that dared to resist (source).

The horror of the attack was commemorated by Pablo Picasso in his painting “Guernica” because it so clearly represented a transformation of the nature of the war itself.

 

This new fascist way of war was best described by the leader of the Spanish fascists, General Emilio Mola. Mola declared,

“It is necessary to spread terror. We have to create the impression of mastery, eliminating without scruples or hesitation all those who do not think as we do.”

That brings us back to the on-going mindless genocide in Gaza: the murder of children, the bombing of hospitals, the killing of journalists and doctors, deprivation of food and water, and the ruthless push to kill in the most brutal manner with impunity.

Like Guernica, the attack on Gaza is not being carried out to defend the Jewish residents of Israel.

Nor it is being done to bring peace and security to anyone. In fact, it is undertaken in a manner that completely discredits the Israeli government and the American government.

This attack is not meant as defense, but rather as an opportunity to show to the entire world, in the most brazen manner possible, that the Israeli Defense Forces, backed by the United States, Great Britain, and numerous other powers, are free to do whatever they want.

It is an opportunity for experiments in destroying urban spaces and killing off citizens using drones, robots, missiles, facial recognition software, surveillance and tracking systems, and other new technologies (the Messerschmitts of today) that will be used in future wars around the world.

The attack on Gaza is an opportunity to demonstrate how an urban space can be occupied, its citizens controlled and destroyed, and the space entirely rebuilt to serve a different population without any possibility of resistance. The knowhow being developed in the process will not only be used to target Palestinians, it will be used against everyone, including Israelis.  

Gazan child at a hospital after an Israeli airstrike

Gaza is unlike previous Israeli occupations of the occupied territories, or the murderous American invasion of Iraq, in that the point is not to cover up murder in the fig leaves of security, self-defense, or “just war.”

No, the collapsing shadow empire with its feet of clay in London, Washington, and Jerusalem has made a fatal decision to cast all legitimacy to the winds, to embrace brutality, terror, and overwhelming force as the only means to advance its desperate struggle for survival. If we go back to Noam Chomsky’s famous book “Hegemony or Survival,” it is clear that we have chosen “hegemony” over “survival.”  

No one in Washington should be allowed the cowardice and hypocrisy to try to pin this war on Israel alone.

The “Gaza Option,” the total annihilation of a community with complete impunity has roots in the Nakba campaigns of the Zionists in 1948 that drove 750 thousand Palestinians from their land, but it also has roots in the 1985 MOVE bombing in Philadelphia, the 1992 attack on Ruby Ridge, the 1993 Waco Siege, and the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing lockdown.

The rough beast slouching towards Gaza to be born this time will spread its new power to every smart city, to every shopping mall, to every office building in the world containing the surveillance and security software and hardware that is being tested on Palestinians today.

We Americans will not let this stand.

We will not allow a handful of the rich to employ banks of supercomputers, running sophisticated algorithms, to manipulate and dumb down our people, to use hidden persuaders in entertainment to induce narcissism, to run mass media campaigns to distract us with the insignificant, to fabricate financial crises that destroy our lives, nor to allow them to launch false-flag operations that will herd us into a Gaza of the soul.

We will not permit them to wall us in on all sides with economic bankruptcy, institutional collapse, cultural banality, spiritual depravity, intellectual barbarism, or physical slavery.

We will not follow the cardboard messiahs that they have carefully prepared for us backstage, nor will we use the flawed logic they feed us through their public intellectuals so to confuse us, nor will we fall for the cultural, racial, or identity conflicts they have stirred up in order to divide us against each other.

Nothing will stop us from coming together “e pluribus unum” to build a new nation, one that is built up from the basement following exactly the plans we have agreed on, a mansion for the people built not out of money and debt, not out of pornography, social media, and games, not out of weapons systems and surveillance technology, not out of offshore trusts and funds, but build out of, and by, our people, each and every one of us, gathering together to write a new contract which binds us together as equal partners for the common good within a nation state that follows the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

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This article was originally published on Fear No Evil.

Emanuel Pastreich served as the president of the Asia Institute, a think tank with offices in Washington DC, Seoul, Tokyo and Hanoi. Pastreich also serves as director general of the Institute for Future Urban Environments. Pastreich declared his candidacy for president of the United States as an independent in February, 2020.

He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

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“We write to express our dismay and disappointment at political leaders and notable public figures invoking Holocaust memory to explain the current crisis in Gaza and Israel.”

This is how an open letter recently published by a distinguished group of scholars of the Holocaust and antisemitism begins. Its main concern is that appealing to the memory of the Holocaust risks obscuring the understanding of antisemitism and dangerously misrepresents the causes of violence in Israel and Palestine.

The scholars quote several problematic statements and acts by Israeli, European and American officials in the context of Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza following the Hamas-led attack on 7 October.

The Israeli ambassador to the UN donning a yellow star featuring the words “Never Again” while addressing the UN Security Council. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that “Hamas are the new Nazis” and framing the war on Gaza as a battle for western civilisation in the face of barbarism. And US President Joe Biden remarked that Hamas had “engaged in barbarism that is as consequential as the Holocaust”.

It is impressive how western leaders are following the same script, to the point of uttering blatant absurdities, like conflating Israel with Ukraine when it is Palestine that has been occupied by Israel for more than half a century and should be equated to Ukraine.

Israel is invoking the Holocaust to justify what is nothing more than a collective punishment of the people living in Gaza. Almost all of its political leadership promoted an irrational and malign narrative beginning with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who said that “there are no innocent civilians in Gaza”. Not a single word of condemnation for such outrageous statements was uttered by those western leaders who proudly uphold the so-called rules-based world order.

‘Poisoned’ Political Climate

Predictably, the open letter was contested by another group of distinguished scholars of Nazi Germany, the Holocaust, Israel, and antisemitism. It was a poorly argued response that did not seem to grasp the concerns raised by the scholars and was convincingly dismantled in a counter-reply.

Amid a rising death toll of mostly women and children, the most the opposition letter could convey was a vague criticism of Israel’s “poor decisions”. Not a single shred of empathy for the ongoing humanitarian disaster was uttered.

Such insensitive positions have been echoed by unbelievable acts and behaviour by some European “democracies”. Peaceful public protests in support of Palestinian rights and asking for a ceasefire have been carefully watched and often hampered by authorities in the UK, France and, especially, in Germany. It is hard to ascertain if such behaviour is due to ignorance, laziness, fear or deliberate complicity with the Israeli government.

It took several weeks for Josep Borrell, the EU foreign policy chief, to recognise that “far too many civilians have been killed in Gaza” and that “we are witnessing an appalling lack of distinction in Israel’s military operation in Gaza”. It is even more depressing that another major EU power, Italy, issued appeals to Israel to ease its violence only after the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem denounced the killing of Christian civilians inside the Holy Family Parish in Gaza by Israeli snipers.

Far before the 7 October attack, European political discourse about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict had shifted and become poisonous; the old continent was experiencing its own McCarthyite period. Fundamentally flawed US and Israeli narratives about the conflict were accepted without even an eyebrow raised. To put it unequivocally, the mere assertion of Palestinian rights had become synonymous with antisemitism. Unbelievable smear campaigns were perpetrated against those who ask for justice for the Palestinians.

The ordeal experienced last week by Russian-American journalist and writer Masha Gessen is a dramatic example of such a toxic political climate.

Gessen had been awarded the prestigious Hanna Arendt prize for political thought, but the ceremony was almost cancelled because the host of the event, the Heinrich Boll Foundation, withdrew its support because of an article they had published days earlier in The New Yorker, emblematically titled “In the Shadow of the Holocaust”.

The writer’s unforgivable sin was that they equated the Jewish ghettos in Nazi-occupied Europe to the current situation in Gaza. Ironically, the award was meant to recognise “individuals who identify critical and unseen aspects of current political events and who are not afraid to enter the public realm by representing their opinion in controversial political discussions”.

The political climate has become so absurd that, according to an acute observer, the same “Hanna Arendt would not qualify for the Hanna Arendt prize in Germany today”.

For once, common sense finally prevailed, and the ceremony was held. Gessen delivered an outstanding lecture, emphasising how comparison is important to learn and to know the world. They also remarked that:

“A political project is something that happens in the present, in the world, among people. Hannah Arendt spent her entire intellectual life thinking about what constitutes politics. To her, politics was a space where we figured out how to live together in this world, a space of discussion and thinking and the creation of new possibilities. After the Holocaust, it’s a space in which we figure out how to live together in this world without repeating the Holocaust. One of the structures that we have invented, acting politically, to prevent a repetition of the Holocaust, is international humanitarian law, particularly the laws for the protection of civilians. It is also the framework of international jurisprudence, such as the International Criminal Court, war crimes tribunals, and universal jurisdiction trials. The concept of genocide, too, emerged as a result of the Holocaust.”

It is then depressing, to say the least, that international humanitarian law, whose codification emerged in the aftermath of the Holocaust, is now openly disregarded by the Israeli army in Gaza and the West Bank. It is equally absurd that the International Criminal Court would indict Russian President Vladimir Putin for the forced transfer of children from Ukraine to Russia, while not a finger has been lifted against Israel, which has not only forced the transfer of the children inside Gaza but has also killed at least 10,000 of them.

Weaponising Antisemitism

The outcry against Masha Gessen is part of a wider problem connected with the definition of antisemitism, and the too frequently instrumental conflation between it and anti-Zionism.

In 2016, the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) proposed a definition of antisemitism accompanied by 11 specific examples of such phenomena. Seven of them are related to Israel and some are quite controversial, such as “claiming that the existence of the State of Israel is a racist endeavour” and “drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of Nazis”.

Although adopted by only the US and 27 EU countries, and having no legal force, the IHRA’s definition is extremely influential and to a certain extent is setting the political discourse about the use of antisemitism in the framework of the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It would be more correct to say in weaponising its definition to suppress legitimate criticism of certain Israeli policies against the Palestinians.

In 2020, some academics proposed an alternative definition called the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism. It provided 15 examples of antisemitism, and as many as 11 of them are related to Israel; however, five of them are statements frequently used in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict which are explicitly listed as not antisemitic.

The most interesting are:

1) Supporting the Palestinian demand for justice and the full grant of their political, national, civil and human rights, as encapsulated in international law.

2) Criticising or opposing Zionism as a form of nationalism or arguing for a variety of constitutional arrangements for Jews and Palestinians in the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean whereas such arrangements accord full equality to all inhabitants “between the river and the sea”.

3) Evidence-based criticism of Israel as a state, including its institutions and founding principles, policies, and practices, domestic and abroad, including its conduct in the West Bank and Gaza… It is not antisemitic to point out systematic racial discrimination nor compare Israel with other historical cases, including settler-colonialism or apartheid.

4) Boycott, divestment and sanctions, as commonplace, non-violent forms of political protest against states. In the Israeli case they are not, in and of themselves antisemitic.

5) Criticism [of Israel] that some may see as excessive or contentious, or as reflecting a “double standard”, is not, in and of itself, antisemitic.

The struggle against the highly concerning regurgitation of antisemitism is a legitimate one and should not be weaponised for political purposes, to maintain a feeble hold on power, and to shield Israel from accountability for actions that contravene its claimed democratic values.

Finally, invoking the Holocaust to claim impunity for war crimes and crimes against humanity is immoral and dishonours the memory of the millions of Jews killed in the Nazi gas chambers.

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Marco Carnelos is a former Italian diplomat. He has been assigned to Somalia, Australia and the United Nations. He served in the foreign policy staff of three Italian prime ministers between 1995 and 2011. More recently he has been Middle East peace process coordinator special envoy for Syria for the Italian government and, until November 2017, Italy’s ambassador to Iraq.

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***

I read with great skepticism the statement describing the “The 10/7 Project” below.

I see in its content a prelude to what the vast and powerful complex of Zionist agencies in North America have in mind for us. I see the explanation of the “10/7 Project” basically as a declaration of psychological warfare on public opinion on a similar scale as the 9/11 Disinfo Project.

The intent of this gargantuan Lobby, known for its utter hostility to truth and rational discourse concerning Israel’s vastly oversized role in global governance, as one that is about to whisk us into War War and More War .

Just as the fabricated story of bin Laden and al-Qaeda was a fraud to push the United States into a series of wars for Israel, so too is the false account below of the Hamas-Israel relationship a calculated lie meant to advance disastrous outcomes for average people, including Jews, the world over. The fraudulent character of the accounts of the supposed rapes and killing of children has been expertly exposed by Max Blumenthal.

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December 5, 2023 — Washington, DC

Leading U.S. Jewish Organizations Launch ‘the 10/7 Project,’ a New Centralized Communications Operation to Promote Continued U.S. Bipartisan Support for Israel; Push for Accurate, Complete Coverage of Israel-Hamas War; Stronger Focus on Oct. 7 Victims and Hostages 

The 10/7 Project to be led by American Jewish Committee, the Jewish Federations of North America, ADL, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations

Following last month’s historic March for Israel that brought nearly 300,000 people to the National Mall, the nation’s most prominent American Jewish organizations have today joined forces to launch The 10/7 Project — a new centralized communications operation. The 10/7 Project is designed to promote continued U.S. bipartisan support for Israel by working to ensure more complete and accurate information about the Israel-Hamas war in real time for policymakers and the American public.

The 10/7 Project is led by the American Jewish Committee (AJC), the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), ADL (the Anti-Defamation League), the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.

A bipartisan effort, The 10/7 Project will focus on fact-based coverage of the Israel-Hamas war, aggressive rapid response, and a media campaign dedicated to reminding policymakers and the broader American public about the more than 100 hostages still held by Hamas terrorists; uplifting the stories of the innocent victims of October 7; setting the record straight about the conflict in Israel and Gaza; and combating misinformation spouted by Hamas terrorists and their anti-Israel allies. 

“Since October 7, there has been a concerted and consistent effort from Israel’s enemies to draw a false and dangerous equivalence between Hamas’ deadly rampage to destroy the Jewish state and Israel’s right to defend itself against terrorists,” said Ted Deutch, CEO, American Jewish Committee (AJC). “The 10/7 Project will be a trusted and timely source of accurate information to set the record straight and combat false narratives perpetuated by Hamas terrorists and their anti-Israel allies.  They are responsible for slaughtering some 1,200 innocent Israeli civilians. This is no time for equivocation.”

“At this critical juncture, it is imperative that we separate fact from fiction regarding America’s most important Middle East ally and remind people that the vast majority of Americans understand that Hamas is our common enemy,” said Eric Fingerhut, President & CEO, the Jewish Federations of North America. “Through aggressive rapid response and a comprehensive media campaign, The 10/7 Project will work tirelessly to combat misinformation and inaccurate reporting about the Israel-Hamas conflict and continue shining a light on the victims and hostages of October 7. We must ensure that murderous Hamas terrorists are not covered in a way that morally equates them with the sovereign, democratic state of Israel and its people, and that the loudest, most uninformed voices are not permitted to drown out the facts.”

“In the wake of Hamas’s deadly terrorist attack on Israel, there has been an onslaught of misinformation and conspiracy theories about the conflict and Israel circulating on social media and, in some cases, elevated by mainstream press outlets,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of ADL. “Tragically, we have even seen alarming incidents of antisemitic violence and hate stemming from inaccurate coverage of the conflict. And while it’s understandable that Americans are clearly interested in what’s happening in the Middle East, The 10/7 Project will make sure they’re receiving verifiable, truthful, and balanced information, especially at a time when some platforms have regrettably cut back on their trust and safety teams.”

“The 10/7 Project will help ensure that America’s leaders are educated and informed about Hamas’s despicable assault on the people of Israel and the Western values that America and Israel champion together,” said Howard Kohr, CEO, AIPAC. “The United States must continue to stand with our democratic ally as it works to protect its families and secure its future.”

“As leaders of American Jewry, we cannot be silent in the face of deadly violence from the Hamas Terrorist Army targeting the people of Israel,” said William Daroff, CEO, Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. “We must ensure that America and the entire world are told and retold the stories of the butchery of the October 7 massacre. We must discredit and make outcasts of 10/7 deniers, who are Hamas sympathizers seeking to perpetuate false and misleading narratives by minimizing and rationalizing the most deadly day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust. And we must work together, as one Jewish community, to successfully communicate to the American people the critical need to stand with Israel, as well as the importance of the US-Israel relationship to America and to Israel.”

The 10/7 Project has also launched a daily newsletter, The 10/7 Project Daybook, for journalists and other interested parties and a new website. Members of the media interested in connecting with The 10/7 Project or talking with a spokesperson should email [email protected].

The 10/7 Project will not endorse or oppose any candidates for public office.

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The Events of 10/7, October 7, 2023, have still not been subjected to any formal investigation by objective arbitrators not tied to the giant and disreputable political lobbies like those preparing the ground for their Big Money/ propagandistic “10/7 Project.”

The haste of the Netanyahu/Biden government to eliminate Palestinians from the Jewish Supremacist state of Israel based on the contrived narrative of 10/7, repeats key aspects of the 9/11 scenario.

When the 9/11 episode was finally investigated by the purveyor of “public mythology,” Phillip Zelikow,

” the resulting report was was a total fiction conceived and executed to entrench Zionist lies about bin Laden/ Al-Qaeda.

See this, this, this, and this.

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This article was originally published on the author’s Substack, Looking out at the World from Canada.

Dr. Anthony Hall is currently Professor of Globalization Studies at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta Canada. He has been a teacher 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 Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG).

The Yemeni Houthis Take on the Empire

December 26th, 2023 by Renee Parsons

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While it is astounding that one small, feisty Arab tribe in the nation of Yemen has shown the mega-world how to creatively stand up to the Hegemon without threatening nuclear weapons, without initiating direct military conflict and yet achieve their goals – what is even more astounding is that the Houthis are not the least intimidated by the Empire’s pretentious display of empty threats and waning power. 

As a 28-year-old country and being the poorest of all nations in the Middle East has not stopped the Houthis from exercise of their principles as equal participants on the global stage. 

Even as the Ukraine war grinds to a reluctant halt with Zelensky and the US refusing to call it quits, continued funding going for naught in someone’s pocket, the US preps for military expansion in the Middle East. The Israeli-Gaza war mutates into another military adventure for an additional wasteful expenditure of resources and lives.   

It is fair to say that the Houthis have the Hegemon neo-con militarists over a barrel with nowhere to go unless WW III is a valid objective. If the US with its feeble-minded Congress and equally anemic foreign policy apparatus believe they are still to be feared, the Houthis have called their bluff. 

From mid-November when the Ansarullah launched their first drone, the world has followed their heroic deeds to protect the Moustazafeen (oppressed ones) of planet Earth. It may be that the Houthis own experience at the hands of the Empire has sensitized and empowered them to the Hegemon-initiated suffering they have endured.  

Those Houthis are unique individuals as it appears they get their dander up when they experience raw genocide conducted against a defenseless civilian population which has now suffered 20,000 fatalities, gratis US bombs and missiles. 

Drone attacks were conducted through the Bab al-Mandeb strait, a 20-mile wide narrow passageway leading from the Indian Ocean into the Red Sea and up to the Suez Canal which has now, in effect, closed down. It is that Strait which controls 30% of the world’s shipping.  

Houthi boardings on cargo ships have been unexpectedly effective as five of the largest international shipping lines chose to ‘pause’ their operations as the Houthis forced shipping to find an alternative route around Africa.  

The Israel goal has shifted from destroying Hamas since it is now recognized that strategy was never realistic. Israel has instead focused on the extermination of Palestinians from their indigenous home, incurring a full range of war crimes.

Disrupting the supply chain of shipments headed for the psychotic Israel is nothing short of genius strategy as it goes to the heart of what the Zionists value most; it took the Houthis to recognize the vulnerability of international trade on its way to Israel to brazenly intercept tankers and oilers exhibiting more chutzpah than seen among many other more well-heeled Islamic nations.  

As if Israel and its patron, had not enough to worry about, Malaysia, another small chink in the chain, has joined the fray as it has closed all its ports to Israel traffic. 

Literally landing on-board a specific liner in question via a helicopter drop, the Houthis displayed a  courage rarely seen in maritime encounters against the Empire as Jordan, the UAE and the Saudis may be quivering in their sandals at the thought.  

Even US Secretary of Defense Austin’s haughty promise to “jointly address security challenges in the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, with the goal of ensuring freedom of navigation for all countries and bolstering regional security and prosperity” has fallen on deaf ears. “The recent escalation in reckless Houthi attacks originating from Yemen threatens the free flow of commerce, endangers innocent mariners, and violates international law.” 

Spokesman for the Houthi rebels replied,

“Even if America succeeds in mobilizing the entire world, our operations in the Red Sea will not stop unless the massacre in Gaza stops. We will not give up the responsibility of defending the Moustazafeen (oppressed ones) of the Earth.”

Well, stick that in your pipe and smoke it.

Meanwhile the USS Eisenhower remains floating idly in the tropical waters of the Red Sea without any sign of retaliation against the Houthis who could be expected to respond with an armed, under water drone to take out one US bazillion dollar floating bathtub.  

As the Israel-Gaza conflict becomes more intense along the Lebanon border with Hezbollah adopting a more aggressive response, it is no coincidence that Yemen has been bombed since 2014, sanctioned by the US since 2012 and at war with its Saudi neighbors (with US weapons) in 2015, all of which failed as the Houthi’s refused to succumb to the Hegemon. 

With a sitting duck flotilla of US Navy’s Operation Prosperity Guardian, the US has pushed the panic button with creation of an unimpressive ten member maritime coalition (including Bahrain — home to the US Fifth Fleet and member of the limp-noodle Abraham Accords), Canada sent three staff officers and the UK sent one rusted-out tin can to patrol the Red Sea in a futile effort to stop underwater armed drones.      

To date, the US/UK have shot down a dozen drones as if to challenge Houthi’s authority in international waters as the US remains in a self delusional world. The Houthis shot down a $30 million American MQ-9 Ripper unmanned aerial vehicle since it  engaged in hostile surveillance and espionage activities in the airspace of Yemeni territorial waters.”

Suddenly, creation of a Palestinian state is now on the table even as the US will remain the largest block of resistance despite the election of Trump who, as a Zionist, will dance to Israel’s tune.  

Never one to miss an opportunity to blame Iran for any military aggressive behavior, the US accused Iran of being “deeply involved’ with the Houthis as if US motives are pure as the driven snow. 

As if the US’ highest priority is to continue confrontational relations with every country in the world which denies its status as Empire, there is no serious strategy on dealing with a principled opponent except more violence and hatred.  The Houthis continue to make fools of the multi-billion dollar US Navy.

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Renee Parsons served on the ACLU’s Florida State Board of Directors and as president of the ACLU Treasure Coast Chapter. She has been an elected public official in Colorado, staff in the Office of the Colorado State Public Defender, an environmental lobbyist for Friends of the Earth and a staff member of the US House of Representatives in Washington DC.

She is a regular contributor to Global Research. 

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On December 14, Avia.pro reported that the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) sent four MiG-31K/I (interceptors modified into strike fighters) armed with 9-A-7660 “Kinzhal” air-launched hypersonic missiles (usually given the unconfirmed Kh-47M2 designation) to destroy high-priority targets at the Starokonstantinov airbase in the Khmelnitsky oblast (region). Citing Ukrainian sources, Avia.pro posits that the launch was carried out from Russia’s Lipetsk oblast, nearly 1000 km away. The attack was initially thought to have destroyed only the Soviet-era Su-24M tactical bombers modified to carry the Franco-British “Storm Shadow/SCALP EG” air-launched cruise missiles. Soon, the information was updated to include the destruction of MiG-29 and Su-27 fighter jets.

However, since then, there have been a number of reports that the actual targets were much more than the rapidly dwindling supply of older Soviet-era air superiority jets. These reports indicate not only the suspected destruction of several NATO-supplied air defense systems, including the much-touted “Patriot” SAM (surface-to-air missile) systems, but also the much more overhyped US-made F-16 fighter jets. Several milblog Telegram channels even gave the exact timing of the attacks. Citing sources “close to the leadership of the Kiev regime forces”, the reports claim that, at 16:45, three high-speed air targets were flying towards Starokonstantinov, resulting in a massive explosion two minutes later. By 16:50, at least two more explosions were recorded.

Both Russian and Ukrainian milbloggers reported that the Starokonstantinov strike is associated with solid information about the appearance of “something very important at the airbase”, which prompted the VKS to use its most dangerous air-launched missile that is generally reserved for such high-priority targets.

Prominent channels such as the “Two Majors” and the “Militarist” reported that these airstrikes were part of the wider effort that also destroyed one German-supplied “Patriot” SAM. Kiev-based Defense Express published similar reports on December 14, claiming that the VKS used the “Kinzhals” for the “first time in more than four months”, with the “last recorded strike being on August 11”, when targets in western Ukraine were hit.

Colonel Yurii Ihnat, one of the Neo-Nazi junta’s spokespeople, said that he would not comment on the information about the consequences of the attack, insisting that “[we should] let the enemy draw their own conclusions” and “[we will] not feed them information about what they targeted and what they hit”. However, even the heavily biased Kiev regime sources admitted that the attack was highly complex, involving lots of decoys and drones. Air raid sirens announced that MiG-31K/I jets took off at 11:07, which later turned out to be a false alarm. The same happened at 12:42 and 14:09, both of which were later confirmed to be false alarms, as there were no missile strikes. The next time, the aforementioned air raid sirens announced the attack only after the first explosion.

This is a clear indicator of the elaborate nature of the missile strike, once again confirming the notion that whatever was stationed at the Starokonstantinov airbase was indeed a high-priority target. The sheer magnitude of confusion in the Neo-Nazi junta sources resulted in announcements that the number of “Kinzhals” reached 15, up from just two missiles mere minutes earlier. As for the Russian military, it seems what caught the attention of its ISR (intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance) was the urgent deployment of NATO-sourced SAM systems that were there to protect the high-priority assets. Apparently, as previously mentioned, this includes the stationing of the first highly anticipated US-made F-16 fighter jets in Ukraine.

It should be noted that, on December 24, the Russian MoD (Ministry of Defense) acknowledged successful strikes on multiple military facilities across Ukraine. This includes the destruction of SAM systems such as the NASAMS (Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System) and the French-made “Crotale-NG”, both at the Starokonstantinov airbase. Presumably, these air defense systems were there to protect the aforementioned high-priority assets. Interestingly, just two days prior, on December 22, the Netherlands announced that it would “soon deliver” at least 18 F-16 fighter jets. Caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte himself confirmed this, calling it “one of the most important elements of the agreements made on military support for Ukraine”.

Kiev regime’s Defense Minister Rustam Umerov recently stated that the F-16 is highly complex and sensitive, requiring the best possible facilities and infrastructure. The only airbase in Ukraine with such parameters is precisely the one at Starokonstantinov. Built by the USSR, it’s well-known for its sturdiness, being one of the most important Soviet airbases during the (First) Cold War. Coupled with the political West’s practice of announcing the delivery of weapons after they’ve already been transferred to the Neo-Nazi junta, as well as the fact that it had additional SAM coverage, this further reinforces the idea that the overhyped F-16 fighter jets are (or in this case, were) already at the Starokonstantinov airbase.

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This article was originally published on InfoBrics.

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

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***

US/UK arms-supported genocide in Gaza has 70,000 killed or injured to date: majority women, children and families.

Babies, children, pregnant women, journalists, reporters, plus entire families of up to three generations — all unarmed civilians, have been killed on the streets and in their homes  by missiles from US-equipped and supplied, Israeli war planes — all flying completely unchallenged to perpetrate death and destruction on a scale not seen since WW2. That these are all war crimes is beyond dispute, for any terrorist act in the pursuit of war, or otherwise, that intentionally and/or wantonly kills unarmed civilians, ether singly or en masse, is, according to the Geneva Conventions, a war crime. And those responsible must be brought to trial, as early as possible after the genocide is eventually stopped.

To date, 20,000 Palestinians are reported to have been killed and 50,000 injured, by American-armed, Israeli troops, in Gaza, of which the majority were women, children and other unarmed civilians including journalists and photographers.

Israel is currently being armed and funded by a US House of Representatives (Congress) that votes to give nearly $US4,000,000,000 to this nuclear-armed state, every year — as America’s paid agent in the Middle East! The US Congress comprises both the House and the Senate, and are controlled overall by the influence of this most powerful lobby in America, AIPAC — the American Zionist Organisation (AKA ‘the Israel Lobby’), based in New York. This is a dangerously influential, powerfully funded, political lobby that is supported by both Christian and Jewish Zionists, that includes a US Evangelical Christian cohort numbering about 60 million — which uses its influence and power to control the legislative process. Consequently, no American President would dare to take any major decision without the prior approval from this unelected caucus.

Given that the US is still, at this time the most powerful nation on Earth, it follows that its creature state in the Middle East, has been given enormous power to disrupt the politics and economy of the entire region, and thence, the world. That is where the ultimate danger lies and from where the global (nuclear) war will start. It could be imminent. The disruption of International shipping, and therefore global trade, has already started. Global commodity prices will soon increase dramatically.

The immediate creation of a fully autonomous, independent State of Palestine might just avert such a world war. Maybe.

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Hans Stehling is a regular contributor to Global Research.

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***

My main argument about the Holocaust has always been “come on, this is cartoonish evil – people don’t act like that.”

However, insofar as Jews are “people,” they are proving wrong my assumption.

I recently heard John Mearsheimer say that the Jews have no fear of being brought before a war crimes tribunal. He said that the language being used, calling the Arabs “subhuman animals,” could be used in such a trial, but there was no chance of that happening because America and/or the Jews control these tribunals. However, I’m not really so sure that’s correct.

I think the world is still processing that this is actually happening – that we’ve spent 3 months watching the Jews murder children. However, when it sets in what has happened, I think it is going to be very easy for the rest of the world to organize against the United States, which is ultimately responsible for this situation.

I think we could live to see Jews put on trial for this.

CNN:

Israeli soldiers raiding a hospital in northern Gaza desecrated the bodies of dead patients with bulldozers, let a military dog maul a man in a wheelchair, and shot multiple doctors even after vetting them for terror links, according to allegations by staff and patients.

The claims relate to an eight-day operation by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) at the Kamal Adwan Hospital last week, which the military alleges was being used as a command and control center by Hamas.

Every hospital is a Hamas base.

CNN spoke to two senior medical staff, another doctor and a patient at the hospital, who provided corroborating testimonies of what happened. CNN also reviewed video evidence for some of the claims.

They paint a disturbing picture of how the IDF carried out the operation, as doctors were interrogated for their connections to Hamas and staff struggled to treat patients trapped inside.

The IDF says that Hamas hides terrorist infrastructure in and around civilian institutions in Gaza, such as hospitals, and that targeting them is essential as it works to eliminate Hamas from the Gaza Strip. But its operations are contentious, with humanitarian organizations saying that medical facilities in Gaza are rendered unable to provide basic services.

They’ve claimed this for years, but there’s never been any evidence.

It would make sense to claim this, however, if you wanted to murder civilians on a large scale, while claiming it is a legitimate military operation.

That said, I don’t think anyone even claims this is a legitimate military operation at this point. Even the people who support it just say they support mass-murdering Arab children.

Among the most serious allegations relating to the IDF’s operations at Kamal Adwan is that, as troops were leaving the hospital complex, they used bulldozers to dig up bodies that had recently been buried in makeshift graveyards in the hospital’s courtyard.

“The soldiers dug up the graves this morning and dragged the bodies with bulldozers, then crushed the bodies with the bulldozers,” said the hospital’s head of pediatric services, Hossam Abu Safiya, in a phone interview on Saturday. “I have never seen such a thing before.”

No one has ever seen anything like that before. This is exactly the sort of thing the Jews claimed the Nazis did, and everyone laughed because it was so ridiculous.

Now, it seems, we’re seeing that the Jews were able to make up these stories about the Nazis because it’s what they would have actually done to people. This is a sort of “a-ha” moment there, perhaps.

Videos and images he shared with CNN show decomposing human remains scattered across the hospital grounds.

The allegation was supported by the hospital’s head of nursing, Eid Sabbah, and another nurse, Asmaa Tanteesh.

The bodies outside in the courtyard were plowed in front of our eyes,” Tanteesh told CNN. “All the while, we were shouting and screaming at them, but our screams fell on deaf ears.”

Satellite imagery taken on December 15 – right before the IDF withdrew from the hospital area – shows razed grounds outside the hospital complex.

The IDF did not address the allegations directly when approached for comment by CNN but acknowledged that it had carried out an operation at the hospital. “The troops apprehended 80 terrorists, some of whom took part in the atrocious October 7th massacre,” it said in a statement to CNN.

Well, why aren’t they being paraded around then? If they actually arrested people from October 7th, surely they would be parading them around?

There is in fact zero evidence that they’ve captured any Hamas, at all. I assume they must have killed some. But there is no evidence of any captures.

Here, you must assume, they just arrested random hospital staff.

Earlier this week, the IDF released a video of the interrogation of the hospital’s director and published an accompanying statement saying he admitted it was being used for military purposes. It was unclear whether the statement was elicited under duress.

Abu Safiya, the pediatrics director, and Sabbah, the chief nurse, countered that the hospital only provided medical services and that the arrestees were civilians and medical workers.

Of course the statement was “elicited under duress.” Israel tortures everyone.

After they bomb you, then they come in and bulldoze you, then they arrest you and torture you.

Standard Jewish practices.

Now, the whole world sees the Jews as I see Jews.

I’m thankful to them for exposing themselves like this.

There was no chance of the whole world believing me until they saw it.

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Elvis Dunderhoff contributed to this article.  

All images in this article are from Daily Stormer

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***

Dec. 23, 2023 – 31 year old French journalist Clementine Vergnaud, died suddenly on Dec. 23, after a 1.5 year struggle with bile duct cancer.

Dec. 11, 2023 – 42 year old Emily Matson, TV news Anchor and reporter at WICU-TV in Erie, PA, died suddenly.

Dec. 6, 2023 – UK – 45 year old journalist Russell Hargreaves, popular rugby commentator died suddenly.

Dec. 5, 2023 – Canadian Journalist Ian Vandaelle, who pushed COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine passports and wanted unvaccinated Toronto Police Officers fired – died suddenly at age 33 on Dec. 5, 2023.

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Dec. 4, 2023 – 47 year old Sports Journalist and 2010 World Cup media manager Jermaine Craig died suddenly after collapsing in the gym. Died Dec. 4, 2023.

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Dec. 4, 2023 – Italy – 34 year old Anrea Pardini, Tuscan journalist, was found dead in his house by his pregnant wife on Dec. 4, 2023.

Nov. 26, 2023 – Sierra Leone Journalist Stephen Douglas died suddenly from a heart attack on Nov. 26, 2023.

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Nov. 21, 2023 – Brazil – 47 year old journalist Sergio Salexandre Vieira, died suddenly from a cardiac arrest.

Nov. 21, 2023 – Brazil – 38 year old news anchor, journalist, Elaine da Silva was 23 weeks pregnant and was sent to hospital in Sao Paulo, Brazil on Monday Nov. 20 with pneumonia. She died next day with her unborn child.

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Nov. 16, 2023 – Curitiba, Brazil, 44 year old journalist Kathya Pricyla Balan died Nov. 16, 2023 after 4 month battle with Turbo Breast Cancer, Triple Negative, common turbo cancer after taking COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine.

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Nov. 11, 2023 – BBC Radio 5 journalist Helen Place died after “short and sudden illness”. She died Nov. 11, 2023 “a couple of weeks after a cancer diagnosis.”

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Oct. 23, 2023 – Brazil – 50 year old journalist, Sandro Rego died suddenly due to cancer. He was living in North of Portugal.

Oct. 18, 2023 – Italy – 37 year old journalist Vittorio Savoia, Head of editorial Staff, died on Oct. 18, 2023 due to “sudden illness.”

Oct. 10, 2023 – 61 year old Gail O’Neill, former fashion model and TV Journalist died after battling a “serious illness” for 2 years.

Oct. 1, 2023 – 51 year old Puerto Rican journalist who worked for ESPN died suddenly after a battle with aggressive cancer.

Sep. 23, 2023 – TURBO CANCER DEATH IN HOURS – Brazil – 43 year old journalist Wallescka de Andrade Lyra was diagnosed with leukemia in the morning, intubated & died same day Sep. 23, 2023. Diagnosis to death: hours.

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Sep. 14, 2023 – 35 year old BBC reporter, comedian Maddy Anholt died after 1 year battle with rare & aggressive brain cancer diagnosed shortly after birth of her baby.

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Sep. 10, 2023 – Vancouver, BC – 46 year old CBC anchor Kuljeet Kaila died Sep. 10, 2023 from aggressive brain cancer: “It is the unanticipated swiftness of this battle that leaves us all in state of disbelief.”

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Sep. 5, 2023 – 48 year old Ruschell Boone, Emmy award winning journalist died on Sep. 5, 2023 after 1 year battle with pancreatic cancer. Diagnosed June 2022, she was cancer free March but 4 months later it returned.

Click here to read the full article.

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

Featured image is from COVID Intel


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

by Michel Chossudovsky

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

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

Reviews

This is an in-depth resource of great interest if it is the wider perspective you are motivated to understand a little better, the author is very knowledgeable about geopolitics and this comes out in the way Covid is contextualized. —Dr. Mike Yeadon

In this war against humanity in which we find ourselves, in this singular, irregular and massive assault against liberty and the goodness of people, Chossudovsky’s book is a rock upon which to sustain our fight. –Dr. Emanuel Garcia

In fifteen concise science-based chapters, Michel traces the false covid pandemic, explaining how a PCR test, producing up to 97% proven false positives, combined with a relentless 24/7 fear campaign, was able to create a worldwide panic-laden “plandemic”; that this plandemic would never have been possible without the infamous DNA-modifying Polymerase Chain Reaction test – which to this day is being pushed on a majority of innocent people who have no clue. His conclusions are evidenced by renown scientists. —Peter Koenig 

Professor Chossudovsky exposes the truth that “there is no causal relationship between the virus and economic variables.” In other words, it was not COVID-19 but, rather, the deliberate implementation of the illogical, scientifically baseless lockdowns that caused the shutdown of the global economy. –David Skripac

A reading of  Chossudovsky’s book provides a comprehensive lesson in how there is a global coup d’état under way called “The Great Reset” that if not resisted and defeated by freedom loving people everywhere will result in a dystopian future not yet imagined. Pass on this free gift from Professor Chossudovsky before it’s too late.  You will not find so much valuable information and analysis in one place. –Edward Curtin

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

Price: $11.50 FREE COPY! Click here (docsend) and download.

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

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***

 

 

“Yemen has said it would stop the blockade of Israel-bound ships as soon as sufficient food, water and medicine are allowed to enter Gaza. Guess that’s asking too much.” — Elizabeth Murray@elizabethmurra

Yemen’s Houthi militia has shown how a small army can take on the American Empire and win. They have shown how courage, resolve and commitment to principle can act as a force-multiplier allowing a much weaker military to ‘punch above its weight’. They’ve also shown that a few well-placed missiles in key locations on the world’s most critical shipping lanes, can send tremors across the global economy and shake the “rules-based order” to its foundations. In short, the Houthis have shown that David can bring down Goliath without breaking a sweat, provided that David maintains his perch along the Bab-al-Mandab Strait.

Here’s what’s going on:

The Houthis occupy an area along the narrowest part of the Red Sea that is the most important shipping corridor in the world. It is “responsible for 12% of international trade and almost one-third of global container traffic.”

When the movement of ships is disrupted along this waterway, insurance premiums skyrocket, prices on retail merchandise rise, and oil prices go through the roof.

That is why western powers are committed to keeping these shipping lanes open at all times whatever the cost. Here’s some background from CNN:

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels are stepping up their strikes on ships in the Red Sea, which they say are revenge against Israel for its military campaign in Gaza.

The attacks have forced some of the world’s biggest shipping and oil companies to suspend transit through one of the world’s most important maritime trade routes, which could potentially cause a shock to the global economy.

The Houthis are believed to have been armed and trained by Iran, and there are fears that their attacks could escalate Israel’s war against Hamas into a wider regional conflict. Who Are The Houthis, CNN

At present, these shipping lanes are effectively closed due to Houthis attacks on Israeli-bound vessels. This, in turn, has slowed overall traffic to a crawl. If the current situation persists or gets worse, the impact on the global economy could be catastrophic.

Here’s more from the Washington Post:

On Monday, oil giant BP became the latest company to announce it would be pausing its shipments through the Red Sea. Several shipping companies, including MSC, Maersk, Euronav and the Evergreen Group, have said they are also avoiding the Suez Canal as militants target cargo vessels.

Roughly 10 percent of all maritime oil trade goes through the Red Sea — which connects to the Mediterranean Sea via the Suez Canal. Without access to the Red Sea route, many ships will have to take the far longer and costlier journey around Africa to reach their destinations….

It urged “the global community to continue to pursue every possible diplomatic effort in support of security in and safe navigation through this region that is vital to international trade.”New U.S.-led Red Sea task force won’t stop shipping attacks, Houthis say, Washington Post

It’s worth noting that the Houthis have repeatedly said that ships that are NOT bound for Israeli ports will not be attacked. But that has not stopped all of the major shipping companies from rerouting their vessels from the Red Sea to the Cape of Good Hope. This alternate route adds weeks to the sailing time forcing carriers to raise their cargo prices and adjust their schedules. Bottom line: The action of the Houthis is going to further boost inflation in western countries pushing their economies into a sharp and protracted nosedive.

Surprisingly, the Houthis do not stand to gain anything for their efforts.

In fact, they are putting themselves at great risk (of retaliation by the United States) in order to pressure Israel into stopping its relentless bombardment of the Gaza Strip and to allow the starving Palestinian people access to food, water and medical supplies.

The Houthis should probably be applauded for their selfless compassion and humanity, but Washington doesn’t see it that way. They don’t think see the Houthis’ action as laudable, virtuous or just.

They see it as a challenge to American primacy.

They see it as a threat to their regional hegemony and global leadership.

They see it as interference in their Gaza policy in which Israel has been granted carte blanche to kill and maim as many Palestinians as it sees fit in order to achieve its own strategic objective, which is Greater Israel.

So, what we have is an unstoppable force and an immovable object. We have two opposing points of view, and no way to resolve their differences without a direct military confrontation. That means there’s going to be trouble in the very near future.

And that is why, last Monday, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced that he had assembled a ten-member maritime coalition that would patrol the waterways in the Red Sea and defend the “freedom of navigation” in that area. (Coalition members include: Britain, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles, and Spain.)

Now a reasonable person might wonder why Austin would cobble together another makeshift military coalition—whose strategic goals are far from clear—instead of first contacting the Houthi leadership to see if a deal could be worked out and a confrontation avoided. But those who have followed US foreign policy for the last 30 years, know that the US does not negotiate with people or countries it considers its inferiors.

So, that option was quickly discarded. Instead, the US has decided to pursue its traditional approach to emerging crises, which involves a fair amount of incendiary rhetoric followed by a military hammer-blow. And, that appears to be the direction that things are now headed. Check out this excerpt from an article by John Helmer:

“… on Monday, in the Moscow newspaper Vedomosti, it was reported that Russian experts expect “most likely, the Americans will launch missile and bomb attacks on command centres and military depots of the Houthis, or targeted strikes by special forces may follow in order to eliminate the commanders of the movement. The operation will be roughly comparable to the actions of Western allies in Syria or Iraq.” The newspaper claimed that, according to its source, “the military forces of Saudi Arabia and the UAE may participate in the operation – their armed forces and their proxies have been waging a sluggish war against Iran’s allies in Yemen since 2015. John Helmer, Dancing With Bears

And respected publications in the western media are calling for a war with the Houthis too. This is from The World Socialist Web Site:

The US media is, meanwhile, agitating for the Biden administration to target both Yemen and Iran. In an editorial, the Wall Street Journal wrote, “The press is reporting that the Biden Administration is contemplating the use of military force in response to continuing attacks on commercial shipping by the Houthi militia in Yemen. It’s about time. The Houthi missile attacks pose the most significant threat to global shipping in decades, and they will continue unless a global coalition unites to stop them.”

The Journal continued, “The question is whether the U.S. and other Western navies are merely going to play defense and catch missiles as the Houthis set the terms of battle. Sooner or later a Houthi missile may get past U.S. naval defenses and kill American sailors. Then the White House will have little choice other than to strike back.” The Journal demands that the US escalate against Iran, declaring, “Eventually Iran’s rulers have to know that their assets—military and nuclear—are at risk if they continue to foment disorder, attack U.S. allies, and target American bases or ships.” As Gaza genocide continues, US prepares major escalation of war throughout Middle East, World Socialist Web Site

So, there’s definitely an element within the foreign policy establishment that supports the idea of a war on Yemen.

We expect this ‘rush to war’ will gain momentum in the weeks ahead as more ships are diverted to Africa and hostilities continue to mount. But there’s no sign that the Houthis are going to ease up on their demands or abandon the Palestinian cause anytime soon. If anything, they appear to be more resolute than ever as is evident in this quote by Houthi Council member Muhammad al-Bukhaiti,

“Even if America succeeds in mobilizing the entire world, our operations in the Red Sea will not stop unless the massacre in Gaza stops. We will not give up the responsibility of defending the Moustazafeen (oppressed ones) of the Earth.”

There’s not a lot of wiggle-room here. The Houthis want a cessation of the violence and the distribution of humanitarian aid. And they are willing to go to war with the United States to make sure their demands are met. And no one knows better than the Houthis, what that means. During the 9 years they were at war with Saudi Arabia, Washington provided the weapons and embargo-power that led to the deaths of an estimated 377,000 people. “More than half died due to starvation and disease caused by the siege.” (Antiwar.com)

So, the Houthis know what savagery Washington is capable of. Even so, they are not backing down and not caving in. There’s going to be a ceasefire or there’s going to be a war. It’s up to Biden to decide. But if he opts for war, he should realize that it’s not going to be a cakewalk. Oh, no. There are going to be attacks on American bases, American warships and Saudi oil fields and infrastructure. Oil prices will soar, commercial shipping will grind to a standstill, and global equities will tumble. And, all the while, China and Russia will be watching from the sidelines while Uncle Sam drains his last ounce credibility and power down a black hole on the Arabian Peninsula.

This is how Houthi leader Sayyed Abdul-Malik al-Houthi summed it up:

“If the US wants to go to war with us, they must know that we are waiting. We want a direct war between Yemen and the US and Israel. We are not afraid of America and all the people of Yemen will stand against them.”

This is a war that the United States can easily avoid by simply ‘doing the right thing’ and approving a ceasefire now. That will bring a swift end to Israel’s atrocities and stop the attacks on commercial shipping at the same time. That’s a solution we can all live with.

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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). 

Featured image is from TUR

With Hearing Set, Time for Biden to Drop Assange Charges

December 26th, 2023 by Colonel Ann Wright

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President Joe Biden, you defeated Donald Trump, yet your administration has not rolled back all of the evil caused by your predecessor. 

Take the case of journalist Julian Assange.  

Under the Obama administration in which you, Biden, were vice president for eight  years, journalist and publisher Julian Assange was NOT prosecuted for publishing the Collateral Murder video of the U.S. Army murder by hellfire missile of Reuters reporters nor the classified Afghanistan and the Iraq War files.  

However, you and the Obama administration did prosecute and won conviction of U.S. Army PFC Bradley Manning for disclosing those classified materials.  

As you will know as former head of the Senate’s Judiciary Committee, journalists and publishers are protected by the First Amendment which allows them to publish classified materials given to them by whistleblowers.  But, that amendment does not protect those such as Manning, whom you prosecuted, who released classified information to a journalist.  

Fifty years ago, no U.S. publisher, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times or any other newspaper in the U.S. or abroad was prosecuted for publishing the classified history of the U.S. war on Vietnam, the Pentagon Papers [although Nixon tried].  

Daniel Ellsberg, who released the 4,000-page sordid, classified tale of U.S. military involvement, fully expected to be prosecuted as he was the one who gave classified information to the media.  

The Nixon administration’s theft of Ellsberg’s medical records torpedoed President Richard Nixon’s attempt at prosecuting Ellsberg [and the Times].  Nixon continued to rail against Ellsberg as “the most dangerous man in America” because he, Nixon, was unable to put Ellsberg in jail.

No publisher in the history of the United States had been prosecuted until the Trump administration came into power.

After WikiLeaks and other media published in 2017 “Vault 7,” a list and description of the mostly C.I.A. materials about C.I.A. hacking capabilities to ever come into the public domain, Trump’s Attorney General Bill Barr and C.I.A. Director Mike Pompeo decided to try a new legal theory, one that had never been used in U.S. history.  

Pompeo described WikiLeaks as a “non-state hostile intelligence service” and the Department of Justice charged non-U.S. citizen, Julian Assange, with espionage against the U.S. and demanded his extradition from England. 

Pompeo while C.I.A. director calling WikiLeaks a nonstate hostile actor. (Screenshot)

A conviction of U.S. charges of espionage could result in Assange being sentenced to 175 years in prison.

At the time of the U.S. charges, Assange had requested asylum from the Ecuadorian government and had been protected by living in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for five years.

With a change in Ecuadorian government and under intense pressure from the British and U.S. governments, in April 2019, the new Ecuadorian administration allowed British police to break the embassy’s sovereignty and enter it.

London police carried Assange out of the embassy, put him into a police van and immediately locked him up in the highest security prison in the U.K., Belmarsh Prison. 

Prior to the police breaching the Ecuadorian embassy, Assange had been denied his razor for weeks.  His haggard appearance as he was carried out of the embassy was part of an orchestrated negative publicity campaign orchestrated by the British government and without a doubt, the U.S. government.

Imprisoned for Almost Five Years with No Conviction 

For the past four years and nine months, Assange has been in Belmarsh Prison, a high security prison for those convicted of violent crimes. He has been in solitary confinement for 22 hours a day, a violation of the right not to be tortured, according to former U.N. Special Rapporteur Nils Melzer.

Yet, Assange has not been convicted of any crime. Despite no conviction, he has been incarcerated by the British government on behalf of the U.S. government until extradition proceedings to the U.S. are successful.  

Belmarsh Prison flyover view. (dave patten, Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Almost three years ago in January 2021, lower court Judge Vanessa Baraitser ruled that Assange should be released from Belmarsh Prison. She denied the U.S. request for extradition based on Assange’s mental health, his propensity to commit suicide and conditions of U.S. prisons. 

The U.S. appealed her decision, issuing “diplomatic assurances” that Assange would not be mistreated in a U.S. prison.  The High Court, after a two-day hearing in March 2022, accepted those “assurances” and rejected Assange’s appeal.

His application to the U.K. Supreme Court to hear the case was then denied. Assange then applied for a new appeal of Baraitser’s legal decisions and the home secretary’s extradition order. His  150-page argument was rejected in a three-page ruling. The appeal of that decision will now take place on Feb. 20-21, 2024.

Don’t Trust US ‘Diplomatic Assurances’

Assange supporters in a weekly protest on behalf of the publisher on Sept. 16, outside Belmarsh Prison, where Assange is being held. (Alisdaire Hickson, Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0)

As a former U.S. diplomat, I can guarantee Assange that U.S. “diplomatic assurances” mean absolutely nothing.  The U.S. breaks its word to individuals and countries frequently. And the U.S. Department of State has no jurisdiction over the Bureau of Prisons which makes decisions unilaterally of how prisoners are treated [with input from the C.I.A., which plotted to kill Assange.]  

At the Belmarsh Tribunal held in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 9, former C.I.A. officer John Kiriakou, who spent nearly two years in federal prison for talking about the C.I.A.’s waterboarding program, the existence of which had been in the public domain for years, said that the guarantees that the State Department had made in court documents were meaningless. 

He said that the Bureau of Prisons makes its own decisions on whether a person will be in solitary confinement and the recommendations of the State Department and Department of Justice are disregarded.  

The United States has more prisoners in solitary confinement than any other country.  In May 2023, the watchdog group Solitary Watch and the advocacy coalition Unlock the Box released a groundbreaking joint report showing that at least 122,840 people are locked daily in solitary confinement in U.S. prisons and jails for 22 or more hours a day.

Pressure From Australia & US Congress

In October 2023, a group of bipartisan members of the Australian Parliament traveled to Washington and lobbied the U.S. government to drop the charges against Assange. 

At the end of October, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited Washington where he raised the Assange issue in a meeting with Biden and repeated his call for  Biden to bring the matter to a close.

On Nov. 8, 16 Congressional representatives from across the political spectrum signed a letter to Biden, calling on him to drop all charges and withdraw the extradition request. 

In the letter, the U.S. lawmakers said:

“We believe the Department of Justice acted correctly in 2013, during your vice presidency, when it declined to pursue charges against Mr. Assange for publishing the classified documents because it recognized that the prosecution would set a dangerous precedent.” 

The letter continued to say that the signatories are “well aware that should the U.S. extradition and prosecution go forward, there is a significant risk that our bilateral relationship with Australia will be badly damaged.”

Why Aren’t Charges Dropped?

The Biden administration could immediately withdraw the request for extradition from the U.K.  It wasn’t Biden’s administration that cooked up the novel legal theory under which Assange is charged; it was the Trump administration. 

The Obama administration in which Biden served never charged Julian Assange with a crime.

Is it that Biden fears the right-wing Republican Party members will call him soft on the Trump-era cooked up “non-state actor” legal theory of espionage?  

Surely, the former chair of the Senate’s Judiciary Committee can see through that smear attempt.

It is long past time for U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to tell President Biden that the Trump charges against Assange that are the basis for the extradition request are without merit.

It’s long overdue for the United States to cancel its request for extradition of Julian Assange and for Assange to be able to be free from the bogus charges of the past decade.

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Ann Wright served 29 years in the U.S. Army/Army Reserves and retired as a colonel.  She was a U.S. diplomat for 16 years and served in U.S. embassies in Nicaragua, Grenada, Somalia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Sierra Leone, Micronesia, Afghanistan and Mongolia.  She resigned from the U.S. Diplomatic Corps 20 years ago in March 2003 in opposition to the U.S. war on Iraq.

Featured image: Julian Assange at the Stop the War Coalition rally at Trafalgar Square, London, Oct. 8, 2011. (Haydn, Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

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Although the administration of President Joe Biden claimed earlier on in the Al-Aqsa Storm launched on October 7 that the United States was opposed to the widening of the military struggle between the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and the Hamas resistance movement in Gaza.

Soon after the bombing campaign and attempted total siege of Gaza, clashes between Hezbollah armed forces and the IDF grew in frequency and severity.

The blanket bombing of Gaza along with the IDF raids on towns and refugee camps in the West Bank was bound to ignite solidarity efforts across the region and the world. Millions everyday engage in mass demonstrations and rallies while resistance forces in Iraq and Syria have launched attacks on U.S. military forces.

In response to the declaration of the Ansar Allah Resistance Movement in Yemen that it would enforce a blockade on Israeli linked ships until the genocidal siege on the Palestinians ceased, the U.S. has pledged to protect commercial vessels traveling throughout the Red Sea. Therefore, such an initiative by Washington further exposes the false statements by the White House claiming the administration opposes the wanton slaughter of civilians, since the foreign policy trajectory of Washington and Wall Street is geared toward maintaining the occupation of Palestine.

In figures released by the Gaza Health Ministry over 20,000 people have been killed since October 7. More than 50,000 have been wounded and almost the entire population of 2.3 million Palestinians have been displaced.

The Palestinian people are suffering from lack of shelter, healthcare, clean drinking water, adequate food, fuel for transportation, energy generation and cooking. The U.S. as the main allies of the settler-colonial State of Israel has refused to call for a ceasefire and continues to block any effective measures before the United Nations Security Council.

Thousands of tons of weapons are being transported to the Israeli state by the U.S. every week as daily massacres of Palestinians occur. All humanitarian organizations have pleaded with Tel Aviv and the U.S. to halt the bombing.

Corporate and government-controlled media outlets in the West are providing political cover for the Israeli state by consistently labeling Hamas and other resistance forces in Palestine and across the region as “terrorists” and “rebels.”

Pentagon-led Alliance Facing Enormous Challenges

“Operation Prosperity Guardian” is the latest military project by the Pentagon to attempt to build a “coalition” of like-minded states whose objectives would be to keep commerce flowing in the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, a strategic waterway providing a lucrative shipping lane connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean. The strait connects the West Asian and Northeast African states of Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula along with Djibouti and Somalia in the Horn of Africa.

These waterways serve to transport manufactured goods, petroleum and natural gas. Any threat to shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden areas would represent a severe blow to the world economy.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin claimed in a press release that the alliance already had 20 members. However, many of the participants are choosing to remain anonymous.

Of the Arab states in the region only Bahrain has been named as a member. Even other imperialist states such as Spain, France and Italy have declined to join the Pentagon-led intervention. Spain says it would participate in a NATO or United Nations initiative while France wants to be a part of Operation Prosperity Guardian yet does not wish to function under the Pentagon command structures.

Greece made a public statement saying it would be involved in Operation Prosperity Guardian without specifying what resources are being shifted to the project. Greece noted that its economy heavily relies on shipping.

Australia, a close ally of the U.S., says it wants to join the Pentagon-led campaign while keeping its focus on the Pacific. The country will deploy 11 personnel to the operational center in Bahrain. However, no military vessels will be sent into the Red Sea area. (See this)

In the War Zone website which covers military affairs, it pointed out on December 23:

“While wrangling any multi-national coalition for a tumultuous operation like this is never easy, these developments among America’s closest allies are certainly setbacks. They also come as it appears that the threat to shipping is expanding far beyond the Bab el-Mandeb and its more immediate surroundings. Just hours ago, a Liberian-flagged chemical tanker M/V Chem Pluto that has ties to Israel was struck by a drone while sailing in the Indian Ocean, roughly 120 miles to the southwest of the Indian port city of Veraval. According to ABC News, Ambrey, a prolific security contractor that provides armed guards and other services to commercial vessels, said the drone struck the stern of the ship and a fire was ignited, but was eventually put out without injuries to the ship’s crew. The ship has structural damage and has taken on some water as a result of the attack. It was heading from Saudi Arabia to India when it was struck. The Indian Navy responded to the ship’s distress call with a maritime patrol aircraft and a warship.” 

It is estimated that 10% of the oil shipped around the globe travels through the Bab-el-Mandeb strait. Several leading shipping firms have suspended their operations in the Red Sea area. The threats to its cargo, personnel and the higher costs for insurance and security have threatened to severely reduce their rates of profit. These shipping firms are being forced to reroute their commerce around the Southern and Western regions of Africa.

On December 24, Maersk, the second largest commercial shipping company in the world, announced that it would resume its regular commerce routes in light of the commitment made by the Pentagon to safeguard trade in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. This firm based in Denmark, will still face credible threats since the Yemeni resistance forces are not deterred by the growing presence of the U.S. warships.

White House Moves to Bolster Israel amid Major Setbacks in Military Campaign

Secretary of Defense Alston’s maneuvering of troops and military hardware is a reflection of the difficulties experienced by Tel Aviv and Washington in the Gaza siege. After nearly three months of offensive operations in Gaza and the West Bank, Hamas and other resistance forces continue their strikes against the IDF.

The actual statistics for the number of IDF soldiers killed and wounded remain shrouded in secrecy. Nonetheless, since early December, figures have been released by the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and several press agencies which illustrate growing numbers of IDF forces killed including high-ranking members of elite military units and their commanders.

Thousands of IDF soldiers have been injured and rendered disabled. Most of the deaths and injuries are being inflicted by the al-Qassam Brigades and other military wings of the resistance movement. (See this)

Moreover, the losses are not only physical on the battlefield. World public opinion has turned against the State of Israel and the U.S. for its unconditional support for Tel Aviv.

The Biden administration has further damaged its potential for re-election due to the White House and Congressional positions on the Palestinian question. A majority of the Democratic electorate are in favor of a ceasefire in Gaza.

Yet due to the strategic role of Israel in the U.S. imperialist project in West Asia and North Africa, the Biden administration is prepared to neglect the burgeoning mass sentiment against the settler-colonial state. Both the Democratic and Republican parties are led by imperialist interests. In order for there to be a shift in U.S. foreign policy towards Israel, tremendous political pressure will have to be brought against the legislative and administrative branches of the federal government.

The formation of a mass anti-imperialist party in the U.S. will require substantial time for political education and the building of internal organizational structures. Nonetheless, the work of constructing a society based upon peace and social emancipation is the only solution to the imperialist crises of perpetual war and economic exploitation both domestically and internationally.

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

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“Shrouded in Secrecy”: The Companies Profiting from Israel’s 2023 Attack on Gaza

December 26th, 2023 by American Friends Service Committee

All Global Research articles can be read in 51 languages by activating the Translate Website button below the author’s name (only available in desktop version).

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The companies listed here have provided Israel with weapons and other military equipment used in its so-called “Swords of Iron” attacks on Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, and Syria during October-December 2023.

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Since Oct. 7,  Israel has waged unprecedented aerial and ground attacks on Gaza after Hamas-led attacks on Israel. Palestinian civilians in Gaza have been killed at historic pace, and Israel has destroyed large parts of the Gaza Strip, making them uninhabitable. These attacks have been accompanied by a surge of Israeli violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, clashes between the Israeli military and armed groups in Lebanon, and Israeli aerial strikes in Syria.

Shortly after Oct. 7, the U.S. government started transferring to Israel massive amounts of weapons. Among these weapons,  Israel received more than 15,000 bombs and 50,000 artillery shells within just the first month and a half. These transfers have been deliberately shrouded in secrecy to avoid public scrutiny and prevent Congress from exercising any meaningful oversight.

Some of these weapons were purchased using U.S. taxpayers’ money through the Foreign Military Sales program; some were direct commercial sales purchased through Israel’s own budget; and some were replenished U.S. military stockpiles in Israel, which the Israeli military may also use. A list of known U.S. arms transfers is maintained by the Forum on the Arms Trade.

The scale of destruction and war crimes in Gaza would not be possible without this continued flow of weapons from the U.S.

Despite massive public protests, the Biden administration has been working to give Israel over $14 billion to buy more weapons. This is on top of the $3.8 billion the U.S. already gives to the Israeli military annually. Israel is required to use this money to buy U.S.-made weapons. This is a form of corporate welfare for the largest weapon manufacturers, like Lockheed Martin, RTX, Boeing, and General Dynamics, which have seen their stock prices skyrocket, but also for companies that are not part of the weapon industry, such as Caterpillar, Ford, and Toyota (see below).

As a Quaker organization with a long history of work in Palestine and Israel, including in Gaza, AFSC supports a full arms embargo to both Israeli and Palestinian militant groups. This list focuses on weapons used by Israel because all Palestinian militant groups are already sanctioned and receive no support from Western governments or corporations.

This research relies on media sources, social media, and other open sources. This page is updated regularly as new information comes to light. If you have information that you think we should add, or if you are a researcher or journalist who needs access to the raw data, please contact us.

For a more comprehensive list of publicly traded companies that are involved in the Israeli occupation, accompanied by our divestment recommendations, please refer to our Investigate database.

Companies

AeroVironment

  • A military drone manufacturer headquartered in Arlington, Virginia.
  • Around Oct. 30, Israel requested to purchase 200 AeroVironment Switchblade 600 Kamikaze drones, an advanced direct fire loitering missile system that acts as a “suicide drone.”
  • For more information on this company (not including these latest developments), see our company profile on the Investigate database.

AM General

  • A manufacturer of military vehicles based in South Bend, Indiana. The company’s High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV or Humvee) has been used by the Israeli military in Gaza. The armor for these vehicles is made by Plasan (see below).
  • On Nov. 5, the Israeli military reportedly used Humvees, accompanied by tanks and other armored vehicles, to lead a “supply convoy” into Gaza. Humvees were again used by the Israeli military on Nov. 8 to transport Israeli media correspondents into Gaza.
  • On Dec. 6, a U.S. cargo plane delivered additional Humvees to Israel.
  • In addition to Oshkosh (see below), AM General also makes the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle.

BAE Systems

  • The world’s seventh largest weapon manufacturer, UK company BAE Systems manufactures the M109 howitzer, a 155mm mobile artillery system that the Israeli military has been using extensively, firing tens of thousands of 155mm shells into the Gaza Strip.
  • Some of these shells are white phosphorus bombs, the use of which is forbidden in densely populated civilian areas and potentially amounts to a war crime.
  • BAE also manufactures electronic missile launching kits and other components for Israel’s F-15, F-16, and F-35 fighter jets, which the Israeli Air Force has used extensively in all of its attacks on Gaza, including in 2023.
  • For more information on this company (not including these latest developments) see our company profile on the Investigate database.

The Boeing Company

  • The world’s fifth largest weapon manufacturer, Boeing manufactures F-15 fighter jets and Apache AH-64 attack helicopters, which the Israeli Air Force has used extensively in all of its attacks on Gaza and Lebanon, including in 2023.
  • Boeing also manufactures multiple types of unguided small diameter bombs (SDBs) and Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) kits, which convert these bombs into precision-guided munitions. 
  • Israel has been using these bombs extensively, including in a Nov. 1 bombing of Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp, which killed hundreds of Palestinian civilians and could amount to a war crime, according to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
  • On Oct. 10 and 22, the Israeli military used bombs equipped with Boeing JDAM kits to carry out what Amnesty International calls “unlawful air strikes on homes full of civilians in the occupied Gaza Strip.” The attacks, which could amount to a war crime, killed 24 people of the al-Najjar family and 19 people of the Abu Mu’eileq family.
  • Immediately after Oct. 7, Boeing expedited delivery of 1,000 smart bombs, and another 1,800 JDAM kits, to Israel. Both deliveries were part of a 2021 order that Israel made during its previous large-scale attack on Gaza.
  • Headquartered in Chicago, the company has important production facilities outside of Los Angeles, Seattle, and St. Louis. For more locations, see this map.
  • For more information on this company (not including these latest developments), see our company profile on the Investigate database.

Caterpillar

  • For decades, Caterpillar has been supplying Israel with the D9 armored bulldozer, which the Israeli military routinely uses to demolish Palestinian homes and civilian infrastructure in the occupied West Bank and to enforce the blockade of the Gaza Strip.
  • Armored D9 bulldozers have been crucial in the Israeli military’s ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, accompanying combat troops and paving their way by clearing roads and demolishing buildings.
  • D9 bulldozers were also used in raids of Palestinian cities in the occupied West Bank, including Jenin and Tulkarem, where a bulldozer was used to destroy a memorial to former Palestinian president Yasser Arafat. Deliberate destruction of cultural heritage sites during an armed conflict canconstitute a war crime.
  • Israel placed an urgent order for dozens of D9 armored bulldozers during the current attacks.
  • For more information on this company (not including these latest developments), see our company profile on the Investigate database.

Colt’s Manufacturing Company

  • Colt’s Manufacturing Company makes firearms, including the M16, which was the standard-issue assault rifle used by the Israeli military from the 1990s to the early 2010s. Many older M16 rifles are still in use by the Israeli military and police.
  • Israel requested to purchase from Colt about 18,000 M4 and MK18 assault rifles, out of 24,000 total assault rifles from U.S. companies. Israel designates these firearms for newly-formed civilian “security squads” in dozens of cities and towns, including illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
  • U.S. State Department officials, who have to approve the sale of automatic rifles, expressed concerns that these weapons will be used to expel Palestinian civilians from their land in the occupied West Bank. While Israel guaranteed that the rifles will only be used by government agencies, the U.S. has reportedly delayed a shipment of 4,500 rifles from the same order.
  • Colt is headquartered in Hartford, Connecticut, and is owned by Czech firearms manufacturer Colt CZ Group (CZP).
  • For more information on this company (not including these latest developments), see our company profile on the Investigate database.

Day & Zimmermann

  • A privately owned munitions manufacturer headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
  • In 1990, company subsidiary Mason & Hanger manufactured some of the 120mm rounds that Israeli Merkava tanks fired at a U.N. school in Gaza in November.
  • The Israeli military also routinely uses 155mm artillery rounds made at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant, which is operated by American Ordnance, another subsidiary of Day & Zimmermann.

Dynamit Nobel Defence (DND)

Dynamit Nobel Defence (DND) is a German weapons company that co-developed the Matador (RGW 90) portable shoulder-fired anti-tank rocket with Rafael (see below) and the Singaporean government. It is unclear whether the Matador systems used in Gaza are made in Germany.

Elbit Systems

  • Israel’s largest weapon manufacturer, Elbit Systems is one of the primary suppliers of weapons and surveillance systems to the Israeli military, including Skylark and Hermes military UAV drones, which form the majority of Israel’s fleet of large drones and have been used extensively in Gaza.
  • Elbit Systems’ killer Hermes 450 and 900 drones have been used extensively in attacks on and surveillance missions in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, and Lebanon.
  • It also supplies the Israeli military with 155mm artillery shells and many other weapons systems and technologies.
  • Elbit Systems spearheaded the technological aspects of the “smart” border wall surrounding the Gaza Strip, which failed on Oct. 7. It is also a prime contractor for the militarization of the U.S.– Mexico border.
  • On Oct. 13, the Israeli military fired 120mm tank rounds at journalists in south Lebanon, killing Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah and injuring six others in what could amount to a war crime. The munitions used were most likely M339 rounds made by Elbit Systems, according to Amnesty International.
  • The company, headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, has a large U.S. presence, with facilities in Alabama (Talladega), Florida (Boca Raton and De Leon Springs), Massachusetts (Cambridge), New Hampshire (Merrimack), Pennsylvania (Birdsboro) South Carolina (Ladson), Virginia (Reston and Roanoke), and Texas (San Antonio).
  • For more information on this company (not including these latest developments), see our company profile on the Investigate database.

Emtan Karmiel

  • A privately-held Israeli firearm manufacturer that, within a week of Oct. 7, delivered some 12,000 rifles to the Israeli military and other security forces.
  • Many of these rifles, if not all of them, are MZ4P assault rifles that have been acquired by the Israeli Ministry of National Security to arm new civilian “security squads” in dozens of cities and towns, including illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank. News of these security squads reportedly caused the U.S. to halt shipments of thousands of additional assault rifles to Israel (see above on Colt).

Ford Motor Company

  • A U.S. automaker whose commercial pickup trucks are armored and retrofitted for the Israeli military by AM General (see above), Oshkosh (see below), and Plasan (see below).
  • The Ford Super Duty F-350 XL pickup truck, for example, serves as the basis of Plasan’s SandCat light armored vehicle. On Dec. 6, a U.S. cargo plane delivered SandCat vehicles to Israel.
  • For more information on this company (not including these latest developments), see our company profile on the Investigate database.

General Dynamics

  • The world’s sixth largest weapon manufacturer, General Dynamics, supplies Israel with artillery ammunition and bombs for attack jets used in Israel’s assault on Gaza.
  • The company developed the F-16 fighter jet, although it has been manufactured by Lockheed Martin since 1993.
  • General Dynamics is the only company in the U.S. that makes the metal bodies of the MK-80 bomb series, the primary weapon type Israel uses to bomb Gaza. The bodies of the bombs are filled with explosives by the U.S. military, and then can be made into a guided bomb using Boeing‘s JDAM kits.
  • It is also the only company in the U.S. that makes 155mm caliber artillery shells, which have been used extensively to attack Gaza. One source reported that, by Nov. 25, one Israeli brigade fired some 10,000 such shells using BAE’s M109 howitzer.
  • 155mm shells have been part of the U.S.’s recent weapons shipments to Israel. The U.S. is planning to send “tens of thousands of 155mm artillery shells that had been destined for Ukraine” to Israel. Their use by Israel, according to Oxfam, is “virtually assured to be indiscriminate, unlawful, and devastating to civilians in Gaza.” On Nov. 13, more than 30 organizations issued a letter opposing the transfer.
  • On an Oct. 25 call with investors, General Dynamics CFO, Jason Aiken, said, “I think if you look at the incremental demand potential coming out of [the attacks on Gaza], the biggest one to highlight and that really sticks out is probably on the artillery side.”
  • General Dynamics is based outside of Washington, D.C., in Fairfax, Virginia. For more locations, see this map.
  • For more information on this company (not including these latest developments), see our company profile on the Investigate database.

General Electric

  • The world’s 25th largest weapon manufacturer, General Electricmanufactures T700 Turboshaft engines for Boeing’s Apache helicopters.
  • GE is headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut.
  • For more information on this company (not including these latest developments), see our company profile on the Investigate database.

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI)

  • A large Israeli state-owned weapon manufacturer, Israel Aerospace Industries makes multiple weapons systems specifically for the Israeli military, including the Heron TP killer drone.
  • On a Nov. 22 call with investors, IAI CEO, Boaz Levy, said that Heron drones have “played a pivotal role” in Israel’s attacks on Gaza, including in strike operations. In early October, Germany approved a request by Israel to use two Heron TP drones, manufactured by IAI, in its attacks on Gaza.
  • For more information on this company (not including these latest developments), see our company profile on the Investigate database.

L3Harris Technologies

  • The world’s ninth largest weapon manufacturer, L3Harris manufactures components that are integrated into multiple weapons systems used by the Israeli military in Gaza, including Boeing‘s JDAM kits (see above), Lockheed Martin’s F-35 warplane (see below), Northrop Grumman‘s Sa’ar 5 warships (see below), ThyssenKrupp’s Sa’ar 6 warships (see below), and Israel’s Merkava battle tanks.
  • For more information on this company (not including these latest developments), see our company profile on the Investigate database.

Leonardo

The world’s eleventh largest weapon manufacturer, Italian company Leonardo makes the Oto Melara 76/62 Super Rapid 76mm naval guns installed on the Israeli Navy’s Sa’ar 6 warships, which were used for the first time on Oct. 16 against targets in Gaza.

Lockheed Martin

  • The world’s largest weapon manufacturer, Lockheed Martin supplies Israel with F-16 and F-35 fighter jets, which Israel has been using extensively to bomb Gaza. Israel also uses the company’s C-130 Hercules transport planes to support the ground invasion of Gaza.
  • Lockheed Martin manufactures AGM-114 Hellfire missiles for Israel’s Apache helicopters. One of the main weapon types used in aerial attacks on Gaza, these missiles have been used extensively in 2023. Some 2,000 Hellfire missiles were delivered to Israel sometime between Oct. 7 and Nov. 14.
  • On Dec. 11, the Israeli Air Force used a Lockheed Martin C-130-J Super Hercules aircraft to drop approximately seven tons of equipment to Israeli soldiers engaging in ground attacks in Khan Younis, located in the southern Gaza Strip. This was the “first operational airdrop” that Israel has carried out since the 2006 Lebanon War.
  • On Nov. 9, an Israeli missile hit journalists sitting near Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. The missile was reportedly a Lockheed Martin–made Hellfire R9X missile, a version of the Hellfire that was developed by the CIA for carrying out assassinations. Instead of exploding, the missile shreds its target using blades, allowing for a direct hit without collateral damage. The target in this case was not a military one.
  • The Israeli military also uses Lockheed Martin’s M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS). Used to fire Elbit Systems’ high-precision AccuLAR-122, the weapon was used by Israel for the first time, since the 2006 war in Lebanon, on Oct. 6, according to the Israeli military.
  • On an Oct. 17 call with investors, Lockheed Martin CEO, Jim Taiclet, “highlighted the Israel and Ukraine conflicts as potential drivers for increased revenue in the coming years.”
  • Lockheed Martin is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, and has key production sites in Denver, Houston, New Orleans, and San Diego. For more locations, see this map.
  • For more information on this company (not including these latest developments), see our company profile on the Investigate database.

MDT Armor (Shladot)

  • MDT Armor, owned by Israeli company Shladot, makes the David Urban Light Armored Vehicle, the standard patrol and reconnaissance vehicle used by the Israeli military and routinely used in human rights violations in the occupied West Bank.
  • On Nov. 14, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) posted evidence of the Israeli military using two David armored vehicles to block an ambulance carrying a wounded Palestinian in the Tulkarm Refugee Camp. The same day, the Israeli military used a David vehicle to attack Palestinian youth at the Zaatara military checkpoint near the occupied West Bank city of Nablus.
  • A shipment of David vehicles was rushed to Israel in Oct. 2023. The David is built on the basis of Toyota’s Hilux and Land Cruiser pickup trucks and is retrofitted for the needs of the Israeli military at MDT’s factory in Auburn, Alabama.
  • For more information, see our company profile on the Investigate database.

Nordic Ammunition Company (Nammo)

  • The maker of the M141 Bunker Defeat Munition, a shoulder-fired “bunker-buster” rocket used by the Israeli military in Gaza. As of the end of October, the U.S. has delivered 1,800 out of a requested 3,000 M141 shoulder-fired rocket launchers to Israel.
  • These rockets are made in the U.S., at the Nammo Talley factory in Mesa, Arizona. However, Nammo Talley’s parent company, Nammo, is headquartered in Norway and co-owned by the Norwegian government and Finnish company Patria Oyj. The latter is co-owned by the government of Finland (50.1%) and Norwegian company Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace (49.9%), which is part of Kongsberg Gruppen (FRA: KOZ).

Northrop Grumman

  • The world’s sixth largest weapon manufacturer, Northrop Grummansupplies the Israeli Air Force with the Longbow missile delivery system for its Apache attack helicopters and laser weapon delivery systems for its fighter jets.
  • It has also supplied the Israeli Navy with Sa’ar 5 warships, which have participated in the assault on Gaza.
  • Northrop Grumman is headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia, and its most important production sites are located in and around Baltimore, Denver, Los Angeles, and San Diego. For more locations, see this map.
  • For more information on this company (not including these latest developments), see our company profile on the Investigate database.

Oshkosh

  • A specialty truck manufacturer headquartered in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, Oshkosh manufactures the hulls for the Eitan, Israel’s newest armored personnel carrier, which was used operationally for the first time in the ground invasion of Gaza.
  • Oshkosh also makes the trucks that Israel converts into the Panther, an armored personnel carrier used extensively in the occupied West Bank.
  • On Dec. 7, the Israeli military captured dozens of Palestinians in Gaza and transported them to Israel for interrogation. Individuals were stripped down to their underwear and publicly humiliated for hours, potentially in violation of international humanitarian law. At least some were transported in Oshkosh Medium Tactical Vehicles. While Israeli media claimed that these individuals were all members of Hamas, the Israeli military later admitted that the vast majority were civilians.
  • In October, Israel requested to purchase 75 Oshkosh Joint Light Tactical Vehicles for its 2023 attack on Gaza.
  • For more information on this company (not including these latest developments), see our company profile on the Investigate database.

Plasan

  • A private Israeli military vehicle manufacturer that makes the SandCat light armored vehicle for the Israeli military. At least some of these vehicles are manufactured at the company’s factory in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
  • Since Oc. 7, Plasan has delivered dozens of SandCat Tigris armored vehicles to the Israeli military and has produced “hundreds of ballistic plates every day” for its use.
  • The company also makes the armor for Oshkosh’s Joint Light Tactical Vehicles (JLTVs) (see above) and AM General’s Humvees and JLTVs (see above). The Israeli military has used all of these vehicles in its 2023 attacks on Gaza.
  • On Dec. 6, a U.S. cargo plane delivered Plasan-armored Humvees to Israel.

Rafael

  • A large Israeli state-owned weapons manufacturer, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems makes missiles, drones, and other weapons systems for the Israeli military.
  • The Israeli military has used Rafael Spike Anti-Tank Guided Missiles extensively to target, from the ground, people inside buildings in the Gaza Strip.
  • The Israeli military has also used the Matador (RGW 90) portable shoulder-fired anti-tank rocket, which Rafael developed with German company Dynamic Nobel Defence and the Singaporean government.
  • Rafael’s Trophy Active Protection System for armored vehicles enables Israeli battle tanks to go into Gaza and avoid being damaged by anti-tank weapons. The company markets the system as one that “increases the lethality of combat forces.”
  • Rafael collaborated with the Israeli military to develop the Spark, a new unmanned drone used to carry out intelligence missions, escort ground forces, and direct strikes. After first being received by the Israeli Air Force in September, Spark drones have reportedly been assisting Israeli combat teams in Gaza and acting as a “force multiplier on the battlefield.”

RTX (formerly Raytheon)

  • The world’s second largest weapon manufacturer and largest producer of guided missiles, RTX supplies the Israeli Air Force with guided air-to-surface missiles for its F-16 fighter jets, as well as cluster bombs and bunker busters, which have consistently been used against Gaza’s civilian population and infrastructure.
  • RTX subsidiary Pratt & Whitney manufactures engines for F-15 and F-16 fighter jets.
  • As part of a joint venture with Israeli state-owned weapon manufacturer Rafael, RTX makes interceptors for Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system, which have been part of the U.S.’s recent weapons shipments to Israel.
  • On an Oct. 24 call with investors, RTX CEO, Greg Hayes, said, “I think really across the entire Raytheon portfolio, you’re going to see a benefit of this restocking.”
  • RTX’ is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts. For more locations, see this map.
  • For more information on this company (not including these latest developments), see our company profile on the Investigate database.

SK Group

A private Israeli company that owns:

  • Israel Weapon Industries (IWI): a firearms manufacturer that makes the Tavor assault rifle and Negev machine gun, both of which are standard issue weapons in the Israeli military. Since mid-October, IWI has reportedly been producing “hundreds of Tavor rifles each day” for the Israeli military as well as the domestic commercial market.
  • Meprolight: a manufacturer of ‘see-through-the-wall’ radar technology used to identify targets concealed behind walls and barriers. The technology was used by the Israeli military for the first time in its 2014 attacks on Gaza.
  • Israel Shipyards: a shipbuilding company that designs and manufactures missile boats, gunboats, and patrol boats for the Israeli Navy and Israel Border Police. On Dec. 5, the company announced the launch of its first Shaldag MK V patrol boat, a ship “equipped with highly advanced weapons,” for the Israeli Navy.
  • Other subsidiaries include Greek company Elvo, Israeli real estate developer Oshira, and Uni-Scope, which makes optical systems for armored vehicles.

Skydio

A drone manufacturer headquartered in San Mateo, California, that has sentmore than 100 short-range reconnaissance drones to the Israeli military, “with more to come.” These autonomous drones are used to navigate and produce 3D scans of buildings in “complex urban environments.”

SMARTSHOOTER

An Israeli company that developed the SMASH 2000L (3000) system, marketed as a ‘smart sight’ for tracking moving targets and used by the Israeli military in its 2023 attacks on Gaza. For example, in November, the Maglan special forces unit of the Israeli military used the system to target homes and infrastructure near a school in the Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza. 

ThyssenKrupp

A German engineering company that built the Israeli Navy’s four Sa’ar 6 warships, which were used for the first time on Oct. 16 against targets in Gaza.

Toyota

A Japanese auto maker that manufactures the pickup trucks used by the Israeli military as the basis for the David Urban Light Armored Vehicle (see MDT Armor above).

XTEND

A privately held Israeli company that manufactures drones, including the Wolverine combat drone that requires “no training.” Operated via virtual reality goggles and a one-handed joystick, the Wolverine is being used by the Israeli military in Gaza to search and gather intelligence on buildings and infrastructure. Equipped with a robotic arm, the drones can also be used for “tactical operations.”

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***

Every now and then an image perfectly captures the moment, in all its light or darkness.I was struck by the creche that was set up in Bethlehem’s Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church after that city’s Christians canceled this year’s Christmas celebrations. You’ve probably seen it: it shows the Nativity scene, as all such displays do, but the newborn infant Jesus is lying in the ruins of a concrete building.

“God is under the rubble in Gaza,” says the pastor who created the creche, Rev. Munther Isaac. “This is where we find God right now.”

I’m not a Christian, if Christianity means embracing the theology of a threefold God and the idea of Jesus as the sole source of personal salvation. But I love the teachings of Jesus as they’ve been conveyed. And I’ve been deeply moved by the meaning of the Christmas story, even if I can’t accept it literally. It says that God, the most powerful entity that ever was or ever could be, chose to enter this world in the most helpless form we humans can imagine: a newborn infant. And not just any infant, either. A Jewish infant. A homeless infant. A refugee infant.

A Palestinian infant.

Rev. Isaac, who last name once meant “he who laughs”, has touched the world. That’s not due to any artistic skill. On the contrary. Not to be unkind, but the creche is not an aesthetic triumph. His execution and framework are awkward. But his heart is pure, and it shows.

Look at it again.

The animals in the manger are at the bottom of the ruins and the Three Wise Men are in the upper right. But what’s most striking is the sight of Joseph and Mary in the upper left corner, separated from their child by the rubble and unable to reach him. I imagine them not knowing if he’s dead or alive. Perhaps they wrote his name on one leg to identify him if the worst happens, like so many other Palestinian parents.

The childlike simplicity of the creche stays with me: the toy figures, the candles, and the doll itself, so unlike any real child — but so like a toy a real child might have.

According to the story, Jesus was born in a manger because the Romans forced everyone to return to the city of their birth to be counted in the census. Historians say that’s not true; people (only men, actually) were counted where they lived. But it’s true that the occupiers demanded that they be carefully counted.

That particular colonial practice hasn’t changed. As Israeli architect and author Eyal Weizman writes in his book, Hollow Land: Israel’s Architecture of Occupation:

An important aspect of Israel’s overall domination … is manifested in its control of the population registration. Every Palestinian birth in Gaza, death in the West Bank, marriage in Jerusalem, or change of address in Galilee must be entered into Israel’s Interior Ministry database in order to exist. No one can travel, work, open a bank account, or even emigrate without it.

We know how the Christmas story ends. This child becomes a leader, a prophet, the epitome of marginalized humanity: despised, hunted, convicted, and sentenced to death.

Nothing in this story –nothing – teaches us to side with the oppressor against the oppressed.

Joe Biden is Catholic. So was one of my grandmothers. (The other was Jewish.) Like many a Catholic grandmother, mine terrified me with the prospect of damnation at a very young age. But people carry their own kind of hellfire. The Catholic faith and litany is also rich with beauty and profundity. My life has been enriched by its art, music, and literature. A Catholic monsignor helped me recover from drugs and alcohol. I know the dark side of the Church’s history, but I know its other side, too.

I can’t help but wonder how the president reconciles his faith with his support for today’s occupiers. Pope Francis, the Holy Father, said of the conflict: “we’ve gone beyond war. This is terrorism.” He used the word “terrorism” again after Israeli snipers shot and killed two women sheltering in a Gaza church – “in cold blood” and “without warning,” according to Church officials there.

I believe the president is a sincere Catholic. That’s why I don’t understand how he can reconcile his actions with his faith. I don’t know why he isn’t moved by the image of the infant in the rubble, even after 8,000 children – perhaps many more – have died. I don’t know why he sides against the homeless, the refugees, the laboriously counted and still unseen people suffering under occupation.

I’m grateful to Rev. Isaac, “he who smiles,” for creating this work. I hope he and his neighbors can smile again someday soon. I’m haunted by his portrayal of two parents unable to reach their child under the ruins. Of the mother — the divine mother — who for Christian and Muslims is a uniquely sacred figure for all of humanity. Of the mother, afraid. Of the mother who is every mother living under oppression.

By most Christian accounts, Mary was a teenaged girl – probably no older than 14 – when an angel appeared and revealed her destiny. That’s a heavy weight to place on a young girl’s shoulders. But it’s no heavier than the weight a mother or father carries when they hold their dead child in their arms.

As for the president, perhaps at some point he learned the Litany of Loreto, one of the prayers of praise for the mother, Mary. It includes these words:

Mother of hope.
Mirror of justice.
Mystical rose.
Gate of heaven.
Morning star.
Solace of migrants.
Comfort of the afflicted.
Queen of Martyrs.
Queen of peace.

And it concludes:

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world

— R. Eskow, Christmas, 2023

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Dec. 2, 2023 – Australia – 36 year old Pediatric nurse Amy Barker was 36 weeks pregnant when she died suddenly with her unborn child. The family has no answers.

Nov. 21, 2023 – Brazil – 38 year old news anchor Elaine da Silva was 23 weeks pregnant and was sent to hospital in Sao Paulo, Brazil on Monday Nov. 20 with pneumonia She died next day with her unborn child.

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Nov. 19, 2023 – Dr.Kristina Navarro-Krupka, athletic director for UW-Platteville died suddenly with her unborn baby on Nov. 19, 2023.

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Nov. 8, 2023 – UK – 33 year old Jayne Cox, a COVID-19 Vaccinated mom of 3 died suddenly Nov. 8, 2023 during C-section before she could hold her newborn baby in her arms.

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Oct. 31, 2023 – India – 35 year old Dr. Priya was a doctor and an actress in the Malayalam film industry. She suffered a fatal heart attack while pregnant. The baby was saved.

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Oct. 1, 2023 – UK – 29 year old Hannah Williams was diagnosed with Stage 3 Lung Cancer during pregnancy, delivered her baby and died 10 days after delivery and 4 months after diagnosis.

Sep. 27, 2023 – Denver, CO – Margaret Marian Rossman died on Sep. 27, 2023 from complications of childbirth.

Sep. 14, 2023 – Palermo, Italy – 28 year old Giorgia Migliarba was 6 months pregnant when she presented to hospital in cardiac arrest and died suddenly with her baby.

Aug. 15, 2023 – Scottsburg, IN – 34 year old Devonnia Tscheulin, a Paramedic and Deputy Chief for Scott County EMS died suddenly from “complications during delivery” of her third child.

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Aug. 14, 2023 – New York, UK – 27 year old Eladia Garcia died from 2 heart attacks due to complications of giving birth to a stillborn baby on Aug. 14, 2023.

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Aug. 6, 2023 – Franca, Brazil – 30s year old teacher and lawyer Vanessa Mendes Takarada had a stroke on Aug. 6, 2023 and she died along with her unborn twins on Aug. 30, 2023.

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July 22, 2023 – Perth, Australia – 24 year old Krystal Pitt collapsed while lining up at a local post office just 10 days after giving birth to her 2nd child, and died in hospital a few days later.

July 21, 2023 – Liverpool, UK – Kelsey Brown died suddenly while pregnant with her second child. She had just moved to Spain with her family.

July 21, 2023 – Brazil – 26 year old Renata Pereira was 3 months pregnant when she had cardiac arrest & died suddenly.

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July 14, 2023 – Lubbock, TX – 19 year old Ariana Nicole Sanchez gave birth to a baby girl who weighed 10 pounds 6 ounces and died unexpectedly during delivery.

June 10, 2023 – South Carolina – Justine Kostenbauder delivered a baby girl but died unexpectedly from complications during delivery.

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June 2, 2023 – Lafayette, IN – 26 year old Sha’Asia Johnson had a heart attack 2 hours after delivery and died unexpectedly.

May 15, 2023 – Perth, Australia – 36 year old Monika Mann died 7 days after giving birth to twins. She arrived at ER “unresponsive” and was declared dead.

May 11, 2023 – New Zealand – 32 year old Sue Maroroa Jones, International NZ Chess Champion, died suddenly after giving birth to her 2nd child, on May 11, 2023, due to “post natal complications”.

May 2, 2023 – 32 yo Olympic sprinter Tori Bowie died on May 2, 2023 She was found dead alone in bed after wellness check Autopsy: she was 8mo pregnant & in labor?

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My Take..

COVID-19 mRNA Vaccinated pregnant women are dying suddenly, often of unknown causes. This shouldn’t be happening in 2023.

But they are really coming for pregnant women in 2024.

Here are some examples:

Nov. 9, 2023 – AJOG (American Journal of Obstetrics & Gyn) recommends 6 COVID-19 shots for pregnant women

  • On Nov 9, 2023, AJOG published: “Pregnancy should be a condition eligible for additional doses of COVID-19 messenger RNA vaccines”
  • “we believe that additional booster doses should be offered to pregnant individuals who received a bivalent COVID-19 booster before becoming pregnant.”
  • for most people, there were the first two doses (primary series), the booster (late 2021), the 2nd booster (Summer 2022), the bivalent (Fall 2022), so depending if you took the 2nd booster or waited for the bivalent, they are recommending a 5th or 6th COVID-19 vaccine for pregnant women.
  • “no evidence of harm from third or additional doses of COVID-19 messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines in females in the demographic of childbearing potential exists”
  • “it is unlikely that additional appropriately spaced doses pose threats to maternal or infant health”

Oct. 17, 2023 – NBC – COVID, flu, RSV Vaccines urged during pregnancy but few want them, CDC finds

  • “For the first time, four vaccines are recommended during pregnancy, including new RSV shots. Doctors say they are prepared to take on vaccine disinformation.”
  • “this is the first year that four vaccines are being recommended during pregnancy. Yet, there are already signs that fewer pregnant women are getting vaccinated”
  • “We didn’t get this kind of pushback on this scale before the pandemic.”
  • “Now all vaccines are lumped together as ‘bad,'”
  • “In September, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended for the first time that pregnant people get the RSV vaccine”
  • “new CDC guidance means pregnant women will be encouraged to get four vaccines to protect against the flu, Covid and pertussis (also called whooping cough), as well as respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV. “
  • “none of these vaccines have ever been shown to have any negative impact on the fetus or newborn.”

Dec. 12, 2023 – Investigation Shows Pfizer Likely Deceived Pregnant Women to Push RSV Vaccine

  • “Once again, Pfizer has been found putting pregnant women and preborn children at risk, this time with trials for an RSV vaccine.”
  • according to an investigation recently published by the British Medical Journal(BMJ), Pfizer failed to alert pregnant women participating in its own RSV vaccine trials about trials for a similar vaccine by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) that ceased immediately after a potential risk of preterm birth and neonatal deathbecame evident.
  • “Researchers must renew the informed consent of each participant…if new information becomes available”
  • “There is no indication that Pfizer followed this guideline when new information became available from GSK’s halted trials”
  • “no women were notified of the possible dangers to their preborn children.”
  • “In April 2022, just two months after GSK halted trials, Pfizer published its Phase 2 trial results which showed a “numerical imbalance of preterm births” in its own vaccine.
  • Pfizer showed no interest in warning pregnant women about this possible danger, even when it decided to study preterm birth as an “adverse event of special interest” in Phase 3.” According to the BMJ report, Pfizer did not disclose that decision either in Phase 3 trial consent forms.
  • “Women not only remained uninformed about GSK’s new information, they were also not informed that preterm birth was being studied as an adverse event.”
  • “BMJ reached out to authorities in 18 countries with trial sites and over 80 trial investigators – none were able to confirm women had been told of the findings.
  • In fact, according to BMJ’s report, “some confirmed that Pfizer continued to enroll and vaccinate women for months after the news of the potential risk of preterm birth in GSK’s vaccine trial was made public.”
  • Despite GSK halting trials due to the risk of preterm birth – the cause of which GSK was never able to fully determine – and despite Pfizer’s own findings on preterm birth that required further analysis from a committee with the FDA, a year later, the Food and Drug Administration still approved the (RSV) vaccine in August 2023. 
  • 4 of the 14 FDA members voted that the data presented by Pfizer were not adequate to support safety after a detailed discussion on the preterm birth.”
  • “In its approval, the FDA restricted use of the vaccine to a window of 32 to 36 weeks of pregnancy. According to the Pfizer website, this restriction is to prevent the risk of preterm birth.“

Oct. 23, 2023 – Medscape – What Will It Take for More Pregnant Women to Get the Updated COVID-19 Vaccine?

  • Camille Clare, MD, MPH, calls the moment a pregnant patient decides to get the COVID-19 vaccine “a win.”
  • “A personal win, a win for our field, a win for medicine and science,” said Clare, chair of the department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University in New York City. 
  • “Despite a majority of pregnant women reportedly receiving the initial two-dose series of the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine, only 27.3% have received the booster, according to the CDC.”
  • “Less than half of pregnant women reported receiving the flu vaccine, the report found.“
  • “misinformation surrounding the safety of the vaccine has contributed to its uncertainty or refusal.”

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

Featured image is from COVID Intel


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

by Michel Chossudovsky

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

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

Reviews

This is an in-depth resource of great interest if it is the wider perspective you are motivated to understand a little better, the author is very knowledgeable about geopolitics and this comes out in the way Covid is contextualized. —Dr. Mike Yeadon

In this war against humanity in which we find ourselves, in this singular, irregular and massive assault against liberty and the goodness of people, Chossudovsky’s book is a rock upon which to sustain our fight. –Dr. Emanuel Garcia

In fifteen concise science-based chapters, Michel traces the false covid pandemic, explaining how a PCR test, producing up to 97% proven false positives, combined with a relentless 24/7 fear campaign, was able to create a worldwide panic-laden “plandemic”; that this plandemic would never have been possible without the infamous DNA-modifying Polymerase Chain Reaction test – which to this day is being pushed on a majority of innocent people who have no clue. His conclusions are evidenced by renown scientists. —Peter Koenig 

Professor Chossudovsky exposes the truth that “there is no causal relationship between the virus and economic variables.” In other words, it was not COVID-19 but, rather, the deliberate implementation of the illogical, scientifically baseless lockdowns that caused the shutdown of the global economy. –David Skripac

A reading of  Chossudovsky’s book provides a comprehensive lesson in how there is a global coup d’état under way called “The Great Reset” that if not resisted and defeated by freedom loving people everywhere will result in a dystopian future not yet imagined. Pass on this free gift from Professor Chossudovsky before it’s too late.  You will not find so much valuable information and analysis in one place. –Edward Curtin

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

Price: $11.50 FREE COPY! Click here (docsend) and download.

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

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More than 1,000 Palestinian elders have been killed by Israeli bombs and bullets during the 10-week Gaza onslaught, with dozens of men and women over age 60 “executed” by Israel Defense Forces troops, a prominent human rights group said Friday.

“Israel has turned all people in the [Gaza] Strip into targets since the October 7 start of its ongoing genocide against Palestinians there,” Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, a Geneva-based nonprofit, asserted in a statement.

Euro-Med Monitor said that 1,049 elderly men and women have been killed by Israeli forces since they began bombing the densely populated enclave in retaliation for the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel that left more than 1,100 people dead.

The group said the majority of elderly Gazan victims were crushed to death under the debris of their homes or the shelter where they sought safety amid Israel’s near-relentless bombardment. Others were killed while venturing out in search of basic necessities.

“Alarmingly, however, dozens were targeted in killings and field executions,” the NGO alleged. “These incidents included soldiers shooting elderly people immediately after ordering them to evacuate their homes, and in some cases, executing them just moments after their release from hours or days of arbitrary detention.”

Euro-Med Monitor noted:

The elderly Dr. Akram Abu Hasira and his wife were shot and left to bleed to death by Israeli forces on… December 21, after being forcibly evacuated from their home on Yarmouk Street in Gaza City. The soldiers then set fire to their home. Their son, Dr. Mahmoud Abu Hasira, reported that after the Israeli forces withdrew from the area, their family managed to bury the couple’s bodies….

[Euro-Med Monitor] also highlighted the execution of Dr. Muhammad Eid Shabir, 77, former president of the Islamic University in Gaza, along with his wife, Rihab Muhammad Shabir, 74, on November 11… His daughter confirmed to Euro-Med Monitor that Israeli planes bombed her aunt’s house on Abu Hasira Street in Gaza, killing five civilians, while 15 people survived the attack. The majority of victims were women and children…

“They came out alive, fleeing into the street, where my mother sent a distress message, and I heard my father’s voice calling for one of his grandchildren,” the daughter told Euro-Med Monitor… “After the start of the truce on November 25, my parents were found dead in the street on the opposite road to Shifa after they had been shot by an army sniper.”

Other Gaza elders reportedly killed by Israeli forces but not highlighted in Euro-Med Monitor’s statement include Nahida Khalil Anton, a 70-year-old Palestinian Christian woman who, along with her 50-year-old daughter Samar Kamal Anton, left the sanctuary of the Holy Family Parish in Gaza City to use a bathroom in another building. Both women were shot by an Israeli sniper or snipers; one while trying to carry the other to safety.

Israel denies killing the women. Pope Francis reacted angrily to the killings, accusing Israel of “terrorism.”

Elderly Gazans also face a higher risk of starvation and disease, as Israel has cut off the flow of food, medicine, and hygiene staples.

“Tens of thousands of elderly people are at serious risk of death,” warned Euro-Med Monitor, given that nearly 70% of them “suffer from chronic diseases, and the majority of them have not received any medical care, as most of the hospitals are out of service.”

The group also noted that “distinct suffering experienced by elderly people residing in displacement camps, where there are no services or care options available to them that are appropriate for their age, health issues, inability to withstand cold weather, or frequent need to use the restroom. Notably, 700–1,000 people must use a single bathroom in these camps.”

“Israel is waging a campaign of widespread punishment and killing, and oppressing Palestinian society’s most vulnerable groups in a way that is seldom seen in the modern history of wars or armed conflicts,” the statement concludes. “Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza fully unveils its blatant disregard for international humanitarian law and is a serious transgression of the principles of war.”

Euro-Med Monitor’s analysis came as the Palestinian death toll from 78 days of near-relentless Israeli attacks topped 20,000, with around 70% of those killed women and children. More than 50,000 others have been injured. Around 1.9 million of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have also been forcibly displaced; most of the strip’s homes have been damaged or destroyed.

“The need for a permanent cease-fire has become urgent, and… in order to stop the ongoing genocide war, an immediate international investigation must be launched into Israel’s horrific crimes,” the group said. “Any countries that remain silent are actively encouraging Israeli genocide.”

[From Common Dreams: Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.]

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Brett Wilkins is a staff writer for Common Dreams.

Featured image: Eve of Destruction – by Mr. Fish

Gaza War: The Latest Ceasefire Negotiations

December 26th, 2023 by Dr. Paul Larudee

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The following is a combined two-part English summary of an Al Mayadeen Arabic broadcast.

The first carries little information, but accurately describes the sentiment of the people of Gaza in the face of genocide, which has only swelled the ranks of resistance volunteers. It remains to be seen which side will outlast the other, but the outcome is by no means certain. Israel is ill-prepared to tolerate extended mobilization.

The second is the description of the negotiations. 

Member of the General Central Committee of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Comrade Maher Mezher, in an interview on Al Mayadeen TV (1/2): 
  • Our people remain steadfast and unswerving, and will not deviate from continuing to resist the occupation.
  • The enemy has carried out organized killings and genocide, as we saw in the massacre at the Al-Maghazi camp yesterday.
  • The enemy aims with its crimes to pressure the resistance forces to succumb to the zionist dictates and conditions that the War Council is trying to impose to stop the aggression.
  • Our people will not bow, despite the thousands of martyrs, tens of thousands of wounded, and the destruction that affects homes, mosques, schools, and hospitals.
  • Salute to the fighting resisters who confront the enemy in all battlefields from Jabalia to Gaza to Khan Younis.
  • Our people carry the message of steadfastness and perseverance until the occupation ends.
  • The criminal leadership of the enemy and its War Council try to continue the killing operations it practices against our people, to protect its neck from prosecution.
  • The enemy believes that the operations of killing, genocide, and the policy of starvation could possibly undermine the resolve of our people.

Member of the General Central Committee of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Comrade Maher Mezher, in an interview on Al Mayadeen TV (2/2):

There is a difference between the Qatari proposal and the Egyptian proposal, which aims for a ceasefire. The Qatari proposal was presented by the head of the Mossad, which was presented to the leadership of the Hamas movement, which stressed the need to remove the barriers and return the population to the cities of the north.

The Hamas movement presented a clear position emphasizing that negotiations will not take place until the aggression against our people stops and aid enters the Gaza Strip, after which the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip will be negotiated.

This proposal was rejected by the enemy, and then a different Egyptian proposal was presented based on several stages that begin with the release of civilian prisoners in the Gaza Strip, in exchange for the release of a number of Palestinian prisoners.

This will be followed by a complete ceasefire in all the cities of the Gaza Strip, the redeployment of the “Israeli” forces penetrating into the Gaza Strip, and allowing the freedom of movement of citizens from the south to the north, including the movement of trucks and cars.

The proposal is also based on stopping all aerial activities of occupation aircraft, including drones, and intensifying the introduction of humanitarian aid.

The next stage includes the release of all female soldiers detained by the resistance in Gaza, in exchange for the release of an agreed-upon number of Palestinian prisoners in the occupation prisons, and the handover of all bodies held by the resistance and the occupation since October 7, provided that this stage extends for 7 days.

The third stage of the Egyptian proposal: during which negotiations will take place for a month, regarding the resistance’s release of all “Israeli” prisoners in exchange for the occupation’s release of an agreed-upon number of prisoners in the occupation’s prisons.

The determinants of implementing the proposal relate to the fact that shooting will be suspended for 48 hours before starting to implement the proposal and agreeing on the names that will be released from the first and second stages, so that the transition to a stage will not take place until after the completion of the previous stage.

Once the proposal is agreed upon, implementation of the agreement will begin, with all parties adhering to the time limit for negotiation.

The proposal includes Egypt, the United States, and Qatar coordinating the formation of a factional or political “technocratic” unity government in Gaza and the West Bank, and announcing a comprehensive ceasefire, to be implemented with Egyptian, Qatari, and American guarantees and follow-up.

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