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On the second day of 2024, in Busan city, Korea, a terrorist called Kim (the murderer) tried to assassinate  with double-edged dagger Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the opposition party, the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK). 

The assassin disguised as an admirer of the opposition leader approached Lee, asked Lee’s autograph and jumped forward with his dagger and hit Lee’s left side neck and pierced Lee’s vein but fortunately not the artery. 

By miracle, the victim survived after a difficult operation in Seoul National University hospital.

The question which begs for an answer is this: had he himself planned to kill the opposition party leader, or was he ordered to do so by some hidden political forces? 

This criminal and dangerous incident could have a profound impact on the legislative election in April and the future of Korea. 

This paper discusses all relevant aspects of the incident including the possibility of a trilateral conspiracy (ROK-Japan-U.S.) which may be directly or indirectly responsible for the tragic attempted murder of the opposition leader.

As pointed out by the Western media, the incident is caused by an internal conflict within South Korea. This is the correct assessment. But, we need to know the nature of this internal conflict. 

The conflict has a long history of 113 years (1910-2023). It is the conflict between two opposing forces. 

One is the Anti-Korea Force (AKF) composed of those Koreans who collaborated with Japan during the Japanese colonial era (1910-1945) and their descendents. 

The AKF regards the Koreans as rival even as enemy. Therefore, they pursue their own interests at the expense of the interests of the Korean people. 

On the other hand, the opposing force is Pro-Korea Force (PKF). This force includes patriots who fought against the Japanese oppression and flagrant violation of human rights and patriots’ descendents who have been fighting the corruption and the abuse of power of the AKF ever since 1945.

The PKF pursues the promotion of all Koreans’ interests, while the AKF is interested in assuring its own wealth and privileges.  

The AKF-PKF conflict has been difficult to settle partly because of the intervention of Japan and the U.S. to support the AKF.

In other words, this conflict has lasted so long partly due to the conspiracy among AKF of South Korea, Japan and the U.S, which is best designated as a “trilateral conspiracy.”

This paper discusses the following issues.

• Nature of the trilateral conspiracy 
• Evolution of the AKF-PKF fight
• Anti-AKF policy of Moon Jae-in
• AKF’s reaction to Moon Jae-in Policy
• Election of Yoon Suk-yeol as President
• Mission of Yoon Suk-yeol 
• Facts pertaining to the attempted Murder

Nature of the Trilateral Conspiracy

In this section, I will be focussing on the role of AKF, Washington and Tokyo in creating a problematic social and political climate conducive to the failed attempt to assassinate Lee Jae-myung.

The conspiracy is possible because all the three entities have something in common. 

The AKF of South Korea lacks legitimacy, because it is composed of the traitors’ descendents. Therefore, it regards the PKF and the Korean people as enemies. Hence, its priority is given to the maintenance of its power, the creation of its wealth and the continuation of its privileges.

To attain these objectives, the AKF has to silence the opposition voice of the PKF on the one hand, and on the other, it needs protection of Japan and the U.S.

Now, Washington also needs to protect the AKF and demonize the PKF.

The AKF is very pro-Washington and it is ready to compromise Korea’s interest for the promotion of Washington’s interests.

For these reasons, Washington has been cooperating with AKF on the one hand, and on the other, it has been participating in the demonization of the PKF.

Japan also has reasons to support the AKF and antagonize the PKF. The AKF supports Japan’s argument that the Japanese colonialism was good for Korea and that crime of Comfort Women, Labour Slavery and other war crimes were not real. Such unpatriotic behaviour of the AKF is more than welcome for Japan, for it may justify the Japanese colonialism 2.0.

Japan wants to demonize the PKF because it is not pro-Japan and because it wants Korea’s sovereignty. 

There are other reasons for the three entities to side with the AKF and go against the PKF.

First, all three do not want peaceful reunification of Korea for different reasons.

For Washington, the peaceful reunification of Korea means the withdrawal of the US military from Korea.

For Japan, the peaceful reunification means threats to Japan and increasing difficulty in re-colonizing Korea. For the AKF and Yoon, the peaceful unification of Korea means alienation of the AKF and the end of its privilege.

Second, all three entities do not like the strength of the middle class represented by the PKF.

For Washington, strong PKF means increasing difficulty in using South Korea for the promotion of its own interests.

For Tokyo, a strong middle class (PKF) makes it difficult to justify its colonialism. For Yoon and the AKF, it becomes more difficult to destroy it so that Yoon and the AKF keep their wealth and privilege.

It is to be remembered that in 2008 President Lee Myung-bak (2008-2013) could not import rotten American beef due to the PKF’s mass protests. Lee Myung-bak wanted to please Washington. 

In 2019, Japan imposed trade sanctions on South Korea in connection with the labour slavery of Korean workers. But, the PKF fought back through the “Do not buy Japanese goods” campaign ended up by total failure of the Japanese trade sanction. So, Japan does not like the PKF.

Yoon Suk-yeol and the AKF know too well the power of the masses (PKF) which forced all the six AKF to terminate their presidency in a tragic way.

The following shows how Washington, Tokyo and Yoon’s AKF have played their respective role to destroy the PKF.

Washington’s Role

In 1905, Washington took side with AKF through the Taft-Katsura Agreement by virtue of which Japan could have Korea, while the U.S. could conquer the Philippines. This resulted in the annexation of Korea to Japan which was made possible by the treason of Lee Wan-yong who sold Korea to Japan free of charge. 

This created a situation where the traitors and Korean patriots started to fight. This fight is going on now between the descendents of the two forces. 

During 15 years since 1945, the American military government (1945-1948) and the government of Rhee Syngman (1948-1960) (image right), the traitors were hired to run the two governments and the traitors massacred several hundreds of thousands of South Korea civilians to silence the voice of objection to these governments. 

In this way, Washington was responsible for the survival and the expansion of the AKF on the one hand and, on the other, the massive destruction of the PKF.

During the pro-US military dictatorship of Generals Park Chung-hee (1962-1979) and Chun Doo-hwan (1980-1987) Washington supported these two dictators despite their cruel and violent violations of all human rights of the PKF. There is no doubt that Washington has abundantly contributed to the AKF-PKF fight for AKFs advantage.

Now, under the government of Lee Myung-bak (2008-2013) and that of Park Geun-hye (2013-2017) (image Left), Washington would have intervened for the presidential election through various means including the creation of fearful social climate by intensifying anti-North Korea military propaganda and military threat.

Such social climate has often led to electoral victory of the AKF.

There was another way of Washington’s interference in the South Korean presidential elections. For example, two leaders of South Korean minor political parties were suspected to have contributed, in 2022, to the slim victory of Yoon Suk-yeol. These individuals are suspected to be collaborators of American intelligence agencies.

Washington has been showing to Koreans that the AKF’s diplomacy with Washington is better than that of PKF’s. This tactic of Washington is motivated to alienate the PKF and to support the AKF. 

Tokyo’s Role

Tokyo has surely contributed to the interests of the AKF at the expense of those of the PKF.

It is true that Japan lost the Pacific War. But, its ambition of ruling Asia again never died. To rule Asia again, Japan had to conquer again Korea. To do so, it was necessary to colonize Korea again. To colonize Korea, Japan needed the collaboration of the pro-Japan conservative force, that is, the AKF.

It was Japan who funded the first political party of the AKF led by General Park Chung-hee who received USD 66 million in 1963 from Kishi Nonuske, the virtual leader of Japan. 

General Park created with this money the Republican Party. The current party of the AKF, the People Power Party (PPP), is the linear offspring of Park’s Republican Party.

Another strategy of re-colonizing Korea was the negation of Japanese war crimes against the Korean race. The “New Right” movement in South Korea was created to convince the Korean people that the Japanese colonialism was good for Korea and that the PKF’s unfriendly attitude toward Japan is wrong.

One of the ways of supporting the AKF and punishing the PKF was its diplomacy with South Korea. When the AKF is in power the Japan-ROK relations were smooth and constructive. But, when the PKF is in power, Tokyo chose hostile relations with South Korea to argue that the PKF is unable to conduct good diplomacy.

Thus, both Washington and Tokyo have conspired to help the AKF and penalizing the PKF for the promotion of their respective interests.

Role of Yoon and AKF

Image: Yoon takes the presidential oath of office outside the National Assembly, 10 May 2022 (Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0)

The role of Yoon Suk-yeol and the AKF is to subordinate Korea’s interests to those of Japan and the U.S. in return of their protection provided by Washington and Tokyo.

Yoon justified and glorified Japanese colonialism. This concession increases Japan’s ambition to colonize Korea again.

As for the U.S., Yoon accepted the trilateral military alliance. This concession forces the ROK army to fight the China-U.S. proxy war and it will mean the end of Korea.

In short, Japan and the U.S. have conspired with the AKF in its fight against the PKF. In return, Yoon has promoted the interests of Tokyo and Washington even at the expense of Korea’s interests. 

This is the essence of the trilateral conspiracy.

Evolution of the AKF-PKF Fight

Creation of the AKF’s wealth 

In the evolution of the AKF-PKF fight, money has played the vital role. Money has allowed AKF to take and keep power and control the PKF.

In total, the AKF has ruled Korea for 35 years (1910-1945) during the Japanese colonial period and governed South Korea for 55 years since 1945.

The AKF has accumulated enormous wealth during 90 years. During the Japanese colonial period, it became rich by stealing land, houses, factories, money and other assets belonging to Korean patriot families.

During the post-war period, the AKF became extremely rich by the following methods: appropriation of assets of Japanese who left Korea, business-politics collusion allowing the AKF to take a good part of GDP growth, infinite kinds of bribes, kickbacks, illegal land speculation, forced change of land zoning code, fees for the deployment of 300,000 South Korean soldiers to Vietnam, the 4-River construction project, the Natural Resource diplomacy and outright embezzlement of public funds.

Nobody knows about the wealth of the AKF. But it surely amounts to several trillions of dollars. Much of this wealth is invested in real estate at home and abroad.

The AKF had to protect its wealth at all costs. To protect the wealth, it must keep power. To keep power, it must eliminate those who criticise or those who are suspected to criticise the AKF government; it has been imposing police dictatorship, military dictatorship, prosecutor dictatorship even media dictatorship.

Through such criminal regimes, the AKF has massacred more than 600,000 South Koreans; perhaps more than 30% of South Korean families have been the target of police harassment; a great number of young people were barred from public service; many were expelled from Korea; countless young people were tortured by the police for their street demonstration.

Counter-offensive of Citizens

The PKF has not remained idle. It fought back in two ways. One way was the popular uprising by all citizens, especially by the students. The other was counter-offensive by PKF governments.

• The Student Revolution (April 19, 1960) leading to the dismissal of President Rhee Syngman who escaped to Hawaii on American CIA plane. 
• The BUMA Protests (October 16, 1979) leading to the assassination of General Park Chung-hee by his CIAK director.
• The Kwangjoo Democratic Movement (May 18, 1980) allowing the imprisonment of General Chun Doo-hwan and General Rho Tae-woo for corruption
• The Democratic Movement of June 1987: Amendment of constitution allowing direct election of president by the people.
• The Candle Light Revolution (2016-2017) by 17,000,000 citizens of all ages leading to the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye and the formation of the PKF’s government of Moon-Jae-in

Counter-offensive by the PKF’s Governments

The government of Kim Daejung (1998-2003), the government of Rho Moo-hyun (2003-2008) and the government of Moon Jae-in (2017-2022) have fought back against the AKF.

The 15-year PKF governments have fought against the AKF through political, economic, media and judicial reforms.

The three presidents of the PKF have certainly harmed the privileges of the AKF. 

However, it was the government of Moon Jae-in which has harmed the most the AKF.

Anti-AKF Policy of Moon Jae-in 

Image: Moon at his first press conference as president in 2017 (Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0)

Armed with the spirit of the Candle Light Revolution, Moon Jae-in took power in 2017. This change of power meant a great threat for the AKF which had lost its force despite the desperate efforts by Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye to restore it.

The measures adopted by Moon Jae-in included the following: the destruction of the bribe culture, increase in government spending for the improvement of the well being of the ordinary people, increase in minimum wage, increase in the coverage of medical care insurance, increase in corporate tax, increase in capital gains tax, restriction of the coverage of the security law, increase in the negotiation power of labour unions and many other measures which drastically reduced the source of income of the AKF.

Election of Yoon Suk-yeol as President

The AKF was alarmed by Moon’s policies. The AKF decided to find someone who could destroy the PKF. Well, the someone was Yoon Suk-yeol. 

The AKF knew that Yoon had no experience in politics or administration except arresting and imprisoning people.

But this was, precisely, the quality sought by the AKF which wanted a butcher who would kill the PKF.

During the campaign, Yoon showed his ignorance, his stupidity and his Shamanism. He showed, during a the debate, the sign of king “王” on his hand. His wife, notorious criminal, was known to be the disciple of Shaman called “Cheon -Gong”

Mission of Yoon Suk-yeol

Yoon seems to have these missions. 

• Maximum creation of wealth for Yoon and the AKF
• Prevention of citizens’ mass protests against Yoon’s government and the AKF
• Imposition of Prosecutor dictatorship
• Demonization of the PKF and its party, Democratic Party of Korea (DPK)
• Elimination of future leaders of the PKF
• Elimination of Lee Jae-myung

Maximum Creation of Wealth for Yoon and the AKF

In addition to the usual way of accumulating the wealth of the AKF, Yoon has been trying to stack up money for himself and his friends of the AKF.

• First, increase of the allocation of resources to large corporations through subsidies and grants and decrease of corporate taxes so that the bribe money can flow in the pockets of Yoon and the AKF.
• Second, non-bidding contracts for the reparation of new presidential office, moving expenses and a host of other government projects allowing the illegal sharing of the contract funds with the contractors.
• Third, the appointment of AKF people at key government positions for bribes.
• Fourth, possible appropriation of travel expenses of frequent presidential overseas visits.
• Fifth, outright embezzlement of public funds.
• Sixth, cut of spending on people’s wellbeing. To create more wealth for the AKF, Yoon did cut expenses needed for the promotion of people’s well being, decreased old age pension, cut subsidies to schools, decreased subsidies to SMEs, decreased medical care coverage, increased income tax, cut subsidies for R&D and many other measures to impoverish the ordinary people and compromise Korea’s potential economic growth.

Prevention of Citizens Mass Protests Against Yoon’s Government and the AKF

The best way of preventing the citizens’ mass protests against Yoon’s government and the AKF is to make the people so poor that they feel powerless to fight against the Yoon’s prosecutor dictatorship.

To do that, Yoon has decided to destroy the source of income of ordinary Koreans. This requires the demolition of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) which create 90% of jobs on the one hand, and on the other, promote the interests of large corporations which provide most of the bribes.

Moreover, Yoon has decided to cut considerably the funding of R&D. This policy will bring long-run stagnation of the economy. Thus, the poverty of South Koreans will continue.

Imposition of Prosecutor Dictatorship

In order to better control the voice of objection and protest against his regime, Yoon started, right after he took power in 2022, the dictatorship regime of prosecutors.

First he has appointed prosecutors to run key government and government-funded institutions. These prosecutors have no knowledge about the functions they are supposed to perform. 

Their real function is to find any wrong doings committed by those who had worked for the previous government of Moon Jae-in. The purpose was to wipe out the trace of Moon’s reforms which have threatened the existence of the AKF.

Another objective was to eliminate those civil servants who may feel closer to the PKF people. In fact, many former ministers and deputy ministers of Moon Jae-in government are in prison with no evidence justifying their imprisonment.

Second, opinion makers including artists, politicians, academics, journalists and others who criticize or may do so are object of prosecutors’ numerous house search, indictment, harassing and even imprisonment with no supporting evidence. 

This has created a social climate of fear and uncertainty harming any productive activities needed for the development of the society.

The whole purpose of prosecutor dictatorship is the maintenance of the power which is, for Yoon and the AKF, more important than social and economic development of Korea and the Koreans’ well being. 

Demonization of the PKF and Its Party, the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK)

Right from the debut of Yoon’s government two years ago, the DPK has been demonized by Yoon, PPP and the AKF.

The AKF mobilized countless pro-AKF social media, on line media and speeches and conferences to qualify DPK as communists, corrupted gangster and responsible for the artificial peace promoted y the three DPK presidents, Kim Dae-jung (1990-2003)- Rho Moo-hyun (2003-2008) and Moon Jae-in (2017-2022).

Yoon has refused to meet Lee Jae-myung president of the DPK, because the DPK is a criminal organization. The hidden purpose was to blame the DPK for Yoon’s failure of national policies.

Elimination of Future PKF Leaders 

Yoon has adopted the tactic of “judiciary trap” to eliminate future leaders of the PKF. It involves the following steps:

• First, the prosecutor, pro-AKF media and pro-AKF NGOs fabricate evidence of wrong doings of PKF leaders.
• Second, the prosecutor’s office gives the fabricated evidence to pro-AKF media. By the way, more than 90% of Korea median is pro-AKF.
• Third, influenced by the media, the people believe that the target person of the AKF is guilty.
• Fourth, some individuals or some organizations indict the target person. In fact, there is an AKF NGO specialized in indicting PKF members. It inducts each week several individual or organizations of the PKF.
• Fifth, the court trial can last for years in some cases. And the target person has to pay mounting lawyer fee and becomes the public enemy.
• Sixth, usually, the court declares “not guilty”. But the target person is socially, professionally and politically assassinated.

The AKF picks, as target, those leaders who could become presidential candidate for the PKF. 

The manufactured evidence of target person’s wrong doings is sex abuse and bribes scandals.

There were four prominent PKF persons who could be presidential candidate. Two of them killed themselves, although there was no proof of the crimes. They could not allow the suffering of their families. The other two are no longer eligible for presidential candidates 

The disappearance of four PKF leaders has hurt badly the leadership of the PKF.

The troubling fact is that it is quasi impossible to stop the judiciary trap, because the Korean prosecutor office is the most powerful organization in the world. There is no power which cam punish prosecutor up to now. 

Fortunately, in 2023 the National Assembly adopted a law allowing the impeachment of prosecutors. But it has very limited authority. So, the judiciary trap continues.

Elimination of Lee Jae-myung

Lee Jae-myung goes much further than Moon Jae-in in uprooting the social, political and financial infrastructure of the corrupted AKF. 

Lee cannot be bought with bribes. Hence, he must be eliminated by other means. There are two ways of eliminating Lee. One is the judicial trap killing, while the other is political assassination.

Lee Jae-myung is trapped in the judiciary trap. 

First, he is accused of corruption. One is the use of the value added tax income from large private housing development for the project of low rent rental dwelling construction project while Lee was the mayor of Sungnam city. The prosecutor’s office argues that, some of the value added tax is embezzled by Lee. There is no proof.

Second, the other case is this. Lee used empty public land for local soccer team. Lee obtained some funds from local business community. The prosecutor’s office accuses Lee of putting a part of this donation funds in his pocket. There is no proof.

The prosecutor’s office has conducted 367 house searches in two years at Lee’s house, his offices and even homes of his remote relatives.

But it has failed to find any evidence of Lee’s corruption. What is more inhuman is that Lee has to go the police three times a week for investigation. 

What make the people disgusted is the fact that he was summoned one day after Lee’s 25-day fasting. Lee could hardly walk then. Yoon might have hoped that Lee would die on the way to the police station.

Third, there was another land scandal used to connect Lee to corruption scandal. It is the land scandal of Dae-jang-dong. 

Lee was originally accused by one of senior members of the DPK out of jealousy. This person lost his presidential candidacy to Lee Jae-myung at the 2022 presidential election.

The irony is that the people deeply involved who pocketed millions of dollars are members of Yoon’s party, PPP. The case is now the object of a  Parliament’s Special Investigation.

As for the abuse of power, while Lee Jae-myung was the governor of Kyunggi province, Lee’s wife asked one of the secretarial staff of Lee to run an errand of buying beef for $7.0. This accusation is just ridiculous,

What is alarming is that the Western media copy what the corrupted Korean media say about fabricated story of corruption and abuse of power of Lee without investigation the reliability of these stories.

Moreover, the Western media do not mention the criminal activities of the wife of Yoon and ministers and vice-ministers of the Yoon’s government. 

The criminal activities of Mrs. Yoon, Kim Keun-hee is so extensive that the National Assembly adopted a law of Special Parliament Investigation of her crimes. 

But Yoon exercised his presidential veto power to refuse the law. Just imagine how mad man Yoon is. He has imprisoned so many innocent people, but he tries to hide his wife’s crimes.

Facts pertaining to Assassination Attempt

As we saw above, the judicial trap of “assassinating” Lee Jae-myung failed. Therefore, the actual assassination of Lee was the solution. The killer is called Kim of 60s. The following is what has been known so far.

First, he was member of PPP (AKF) for some time.

Second, he joined DPK and trained professionally. Especially, he practiced often how to jump forward and pierce the neck of the target person with a double-edged dagger.

Third, he followed Lee Jae-myung for some time with a view to kill him. Once he was seen trying to attack Lee in front of a car before Lee entered the car.

Day before the murder attempt, he was seen descending from an expensive car in front of a hotel. This suggests the possibility of conspiracy involving people who hate Lee, possibly someone from the AKF.

Fourth, at the police station in Busan, the attacker declared with almost pride that his intention was to kill Lee Jae-myung. This shows that he knew  that he would go to prison, that somebody would look after him and his family and that he would have presidential pardon, if the AKF keeps the power.

Fifth, the online and off line pro-AKF media are trying desperately to convince people that the murder attempt was motivated entirely by the attacker’s personal grudge against Lee Jae-myung. 

Sixth, the government of Yoon is eager to show that the attempted assassination is minor incident. For instance, the Prime Minister’s office declared,  even before the police investigation, that the injury of Lee Jae-myung was very minor.

Seventh, the pro-AKF media are silent; they do not mention the incident. 

Eighth, the police declared that it will not make public briefing about the incidence without explaining why.

Ninth, the possibility of conspiracy on the part of Yoon Suk-yeol and the AKF to eliminate Lee Jae-myung is high. 

The attempt to murder Lee has failed this time by the will of God. It was a miracle that Lee has survived. But, there will be more attempts to kill him.

Did Yoon conspire with Kishida and Biden to produce a social climate of fear until the April general election. The tactic would include the following:

image right: Joe Biden,  Fumio Kishida and Yoon Suk Yeol prior to trilateral meeting, August, 2023, at  Camp David, Maryland. (Official White House Photo by Erin Scott)

• —First, Kishida and Biden will intensify the demonization of North Korea. This will help the re-election of Biden in the U.S. in November and the improvement of Kishida’s approval rate in Japan. This will also help Yoon at the coming legislative election in Korea in April. At least, they hope so.
• —Second, this is important. Yoon will provoke localized armed conflict with North Korea. If North Korea reacts militarily, Yoon may declare the “Marshal Law”, kill Lee Jae-myung and PKF leaders and he may try to rule Korea forever like Park chung-hee and Chun Doo-hwan. 

This is what I call the “Marshall Law Trap” which was planned to be used in 2016 during the Candle Light Revolution. The person who plotted the Marshall Law escaped to the U.S. Now he is back.

However, if North Korea does not react militarily, the Marshall Law trap will fail. I sincerely hope that Chairman Kim Jung-un would not react at all at least until the April election in South Korea.  

If Lee Jae-myung is assassinated, no one has the will or means to fight the insane prosecutor dictatorship. Nobody knows what will happen to South Korea. May God protect Korea!

*

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Dr. Joseph H. Chung is professor of economics at Quebec University in Montreal (UQAM). He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG).

Featured image is licensed under KOGL Type 1

Il Sudafrica ha portato Israele davanti alla Corte Internazionale di Giustizia delle Nazioni Unite, accusandolo di genocidio. Il crimine di genocidio consiste non solo nello sterminio di una popolazione ma nel privarla della sua terra, negarle il diritto di avere un proprio Stato, distruggere il suo tessuto sociale e le sue stesse radici storiche. È esattamente ciò che sta facendo Israele con i palestinesi.

La guerra condotta da Israele a Gaza, motivata come difesa dall’attacco di Hamas (il cui piano era noto da oltre un anno ai capi politici e militari israeliani) mira a cancellare il Territorio di Gaza. Esso fa parte, con quello della Cisgiordania, dello Stato di Palestina riconosciuto dalla Assemblea Generale delle Nazioni Unite della quale esso è membro pur non avendo ancora il diritto di voto. La guerra israeliana non solo stermina la popolazione civile, ma rende il territorio di Gaza inabitabile.

Lo scopo, dichiarato apertamente dalla destra israeliana, è che i palestinesi siano “reinsediati fuori da Gaza”, ossia deportati definitivamente fuori dalla loro terra. Gli Stati Uniti, mentre continuano a sostenere la guerra di Israele per incendiare il Medioriente in cui stanno perdendo la posizione predominante, sono favorevoli a mantenere un territorio formalmente palestinese ma di fatto privo di ogni reale sovranità.

A questa visione corrisponde il piano presentato dal ministro israeliano della Difesa. Esso prevede che Israele mantenga il controllo militare dei confini di Gaza, isolandola ancora di più, mentre una task force multinazionale (formata sicuramente da USA, NATO e UE) supervisiona “la ricostruzione e lo sviluppo economico del territorio”.

Abitanti palestinesi, scelti da Israele e dalla task force internazionale, gestirebbero gli affari civili nell’ “enclave” di Gaza. Non ci sarebbe alcun ruolo a Gaza per l’Autorità Palestinese, che gestisce parti della Cisgiordania occupata da Israele, Israele otterrebbe in tal modo ciò che vuole: la definitiva cancellazione dello Stato di Palestina, deciso dalle Nazioni Unite 77 anni fa nel quadro della formula dei due Stati.

Su questo sfondo è di primaria importanza la decisione del Sudafrica di portare Israele davanti alla Corte Internazionale di Giustizia delle Nazioni Unite con l’accusa di genocidio.

Manlio Dinucci

 

Video (Youtube) :

 

Video (Bioblu.com) :

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Introduction

The world looks on with horror,  and apparent impotence, as more than 23,000 defenseless Palestinians, many of them women and children, have been killed, many more wounded since the October 7, 2023  bombing campaign by the Israeli armed forces,  pulverizing Gaza, ostensibly in retaliation for the attack on Israel by Hamas on October 7, which killed approximately 1,500 Israelis.  

Calls for a ceasefire from around the world are ignored, and, most shamefully of all,  the United Nations Security Council, whose mandate requires it to uphold global peace and security, has, to date, remained impotent, failing to draft any resolution which would demand a cessation of the bombing; and despite the fact that United Nations workers themselves have also been killed as a consequence of the assault on Gaza, the Security Council has completely failed, as of this writing, to produce any resolutions which would halt this collective punishment of the Palestinians, which is now described as genocide.

It would be unfathomable why the UN Security Council permits this slaughter to continue, unabated; it is also unfathomable why the UN Security Council failed to demand that the Minsk Accords be complied with, which would have prevented the current prolonged war between Russia and Ukraine, and saved approximately half a million lives, slaughtered in a useless and preventable war. To make matters more scandalous were the admission by France and Germany that they never intended the Minsk Accords to be complied with, and that they cynically used the UN Security Council approval of the Minsk accords to buy time to strengthen the Ukrainian Army, for the purpose of shattering demolishing Russia.

The Historical Context

A study of the manipulation and abuse of the UN Security Council for the enactment of the geopolitical agenda of the Western powers,  should begin with the 1990-1991 manipulation of the Security Council by the Western powers, just prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union, the USSR by then almost fatally weakened, and unable to withstand US/UK pressure. This study follows, including the exposure of the cynical and Machiavellian tactics used by the West to force through Security Council Resolution 678, which unleashed the pattern of slaughters for which the United Nations Security Council provided both authorization and “cover.”

An examination of overt and covert means by which Security Council approval for resolution 678 was obtained, the methods of coercion, intimidation and bribery by which Security Council members were drawn by the United States into tragic and shameful collaboration in passage of a resolution which has betrayed the very purpose for which the United Nations was originally created (“to prevent the scourge of war”) reveals the criminal and barbarous character or the “New World Order which the former Bush administration intended to impose throughout the world by the most violent means in human history.

On November 16, 1990 the Non-Aligned members of the Security Council drafted an initiative alerting the Security Council members to the risk: “Talk of war option establishes its own momentum which increases the risks of war.” The initiative states:

“1. Given the cultural gap and lack of direct, face-to-face communication between principal parties, and the overall atmosphere of suspicion, there is a high probability that any Iraqi ‘signal’ of ‘flexibility’ would either be ignored, discounted as insincere, or otherwise misinterpreted.”

“2. Given the overwhelming negative consequences now attached to withdrawal, Iraq is not likely to send a signal of flexibility that is sufficiently strong and clear to be understood until war is imminent, by which time it may be too late to stop the momentum toward war.”

Iraq’s Serious Efforts to Cooperate

The New York Times, December 2, 1990 stated:

“Neither President Bush nor Secretary of State James Baker 3^rd responded publicly today to Iraq’s acceptance of Mr. Bush’s offer of talks on the Gulf crisis. But Administration officials rebuffed the Iraqi Government’s suggestion that any direct talks between Iraq and the US on Kuwait should deal with the issue of a Palestinian homeland. In its statement, Iraq welcomed the chance for the two countries to have ‘a deep and serious dialogue,’ but did not make its acceptance of Mr. Bush’s offer conditional on discussion of the Palestinian issue.’”

It would be difficult to misunderstand Iraq’s eagerness for dialogue, or to deny its flexibility. On November 29, following what the New York Times described as a “smoothly orchestrated” series of Security Council meetings (“disrupted today when Cuba complained that the Council is rushing into voting a new Persian Gulf crisis resolution before it has voted on an earlier resolution criticizing Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in the occupied territories…..The United States has been striving to delay a vote on the anti-Israel resolution until after the Council gives permission for military action against Iraq, because it would like to veto the measure.  Such a reminder of the United States’ friendship with Israel would embarrass Washington’s Arab friends.”) inciting the psychological atmosphere necessary for passage of Resolution 678 (the Security Council listened to descriptions of Iraqi atrocities in Kuwait for two days, all sensationally reported by the New York Times.

But interestingly, the major media failed to mention a press conference in United Nations Room 226, given by Dr. Mohammad Said, and contradicting many of the statements describing Iraqi “atrocities” “smoothly orchestrated” in the Security Council chamber.

Dr. Said’s testimony and his description of the historical circumstances and context of the Iraqi invasion were documented extensively with videotapes (he has two half-brothers and other relatives in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia) and eyewitness reports from his travels in Kuwait and Iraq: he brought a view of both Iraq and Kuwait at odds with the picture painted by the American news media “and called for both sides to pursue a rational approach to peace based on a plan put forth by the Committee of Arab-Americans Against “US intervention in the Gulf.” His testimony was ignored by both the press and the Security Council.

US/UK Machiavellian Maneuvers Making War Inevitable 

The War Resolution 678 was adopted, following a campaign of manipulation akin to gangster tactics (to be described in detail, later.) And as, legally, Security Council members opposing the War Resolution 678 could have legitimately obstructed its ignominious passage by demanding a procedural vote on which issue took precedence, and should be dealt with first: in fact, S. 219331, concerning the issue of Palestine, brought before the council on October 8, 1990 legally took precedence, and massive disruption of the “smoothly orchestrated ministerial level ‘war council’” could legitimately have been caused by Security Council members outraged by the brazenly displayed double standard of 12 hastily and threateningly passed resolutions in four months, punishing Iraq for its 4 month old occupation of Kuwait, and no effective resolutions protecting Palestinians in territories “occupied” by Israel after 20 years.

And with cynicism equivalent to utter contempt (November 29, Newsday report),

“The United States agreed informally last night to allow passage of a new Security Council resolution protecting Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied territories if the measure’s sponsors don’t raise the issue and disrupt today’s historic UN vote authorizing the use of force to oust Iraq from Kuwait, according to reliable diplomatic sources. Egyptian Ambassador Amre Moussa said the United States had agreed ‘in principle’ last night not to block the measure on the occupied territories and the sponsors of the resolution promised in return that “there won’t be any ‘show biz’ during today’s council meeting on Iraq and Kuwait.”

The Non-Aligned honored their agreement and the “War Resolution 678” passed without disruption or complication, or the disgrace that the Non-Aligned could have legitimately heaped upon the United States and it Foreign Ministerial collaborators. (In fact, a senior US official told an AP correspondent that the Non-Aligned would have “every reason to feel betrayed if they didn’t get cooperation on S/21933/Rev.1”).

The Famous / Infamous BBC “Leak”

On December 5, a resolution approved by the Permanent Five, including the United States Mission, and the Non-Aligned was drafted and scheduled for Security Council vote, as promised by the United States Mission, and the Non-Aligned was drafted and scheduled for Security Council vote, as promised by the United States, and would have, crucially, also met Iraq’s request for conditions enabling it to immediately and honorably withdraw from Kuwait, thereby averting a devastating war.  “Interestingly,” the resolution, (acceptable to all, including, crucially, Iraq, and guaranteeing a peaceful solution) was “leaked” the evening of December 5 to a BBC reporter by “several of the usual reliable US diplomatic sources,” and immediately broadcast by the BBC as an “important shift in US” policy since “as part of negotiations on this resolution the Americans were proposing a reference in the Security Council resolution to a Middle East peace conference; this was the first time such a conference was mentioned in connection with the Security Council, and would be binding, implying further action of the kind Israel wouldn’t like.”

The premature BBC leak spotlighting the peace conference “caused (more accurately, enabled) Bush to immediately reject the “peace resolution,” and it was squashed. Though the BBC correspondent stated disingenuously that “this kind of proposal would have to have a green light from Washington”’ if it already did, the BBC “leak” relieved, and allowed Bush to “back off” from support for a resolution his administration never intended to support from the outset, though the US mission could appear to support it initially until the cooperative BBC “leak” enabled Washington to obstruct the “peace resolution” from coming to a vote at the Security Council, at which point the US would have vetoed it, exposing its own double standard. (Washington once stated:  “it is not opposed to leaks, it simply wants to control them.”) Had the resolution passed, it might have offered protection to Palestinian civilians, and led to Iraq’s withdrawal from Kuwait, clearly something Washington and its British lackeys in cynical collaboration intended to prevent.

Cynical US/UK Postponements of Vote on Peace Restoration, Malaysia Protest Deception

Nevertheless, this cowardly and dishonorable ploy did not go unnoticed by many Ambassadors at the UN, accustomed to US conniving methods of interference in the domestic affairs of other countries: privately a majority of Ambassadors at the UN referred with disgust to the so-called “leak,” but they lacked a voice on the Security Council. Meanwhile, back at the Security Council events developed in an even more odious and disgraceful fashion: the meeting at the Security Council, scheduled for the afternoon on December 6, and at which the Non-Aligned Resolution S/21933.Rev.2 on Palestine should have been brought to a vote at the Security Council with US support, as promised on November 28, was then shifted to Friday morning, then to Friday evening, then to Saturday evening.  On December 8, 1990, the Soviet Ambassador moved for postponement till December 10 (to spare the US the embarrassment of vetoing Res. 21933/Rev.2:  Ambassador Razalli of Malaysia stated: 

“I appeal to members of the Council to understand what the request for a postponement is all about.  It is not to work towards a different formulation of paragraph 7; it is to work towards the exclusion of paragraph 7, which calls for the convening of an internal peace conference on the Middle East, in the interest of the position of an important member of the Council.”

Nevertheless, the meeting was postponed. At 3PM December 10, the Soviet Ambassador again moved the adjourn the meeting to Wednesday, December 12 at 6PM (again sparing the US the embarrassment of vetoing the Resolution and exposing its own double standards). The Representative of Malaysia again protested:

“For the record, too, let me say that the sponsors have made the maximum concession on the international conference.  We have offered, in what may be called ‘Revision 3,’ if ever that revision clears the surface, to transpose paragraph 7 into the preamble and what is in the preamble into the operative part; this is a maximum concession that in many ways diluted many things on the matter of the international conference.”

To no avail, the meeting was adjourned until December 12 at 6PM. On December 12, the Deputy Ambassador of the Soviet Union proposed adjournment of the meeting to Monday, December 17 at 3PM. Outside the Security Council chambers, Mr. Al Kidwah, the representative of Palestine stated unequivocally that

“it is the USA that is blocking and ultimately preventing any action toward a peaceful and equitable solution of the Palestinian and the entire Middle East crisis.”

When challenged that it was the USSR that had moved to postpone the meetings, Al Kidwah lucidly reaffirmed that it is the USA that is fundamentally responsible for the deadlock, implying that other members were serving the US interest in masking its role, and not too nakedly revealing its duplicitous double-standard.

Stupefaction and disbelief, followed by tension, frustration, rage and despair were shared by Asian, African, Latin American and Middle Eastern diplomats as well as others observing the vulgar and contemptuous methods of the USA, its British and European lackeys, and a collaborative, emasculated USSR, of manipulating and paralyzing any Security Council action protecting Palestinian citizens in the “occupied territories” and ultimately sabotaging effective action toward a peaceful resolution of the crisis in the Middle East. And the extent to which the USA dishonored itself, betrayed its promise of November 28, and succeeded in manipulating the Security Council and the United Nations to serve its own “interest” in instigating the Gulf War was staggering.

Highjacking of the United Nations Security Council by US Dominated Western Powers

The formal meeting scheduled for December 17, 3PM did not occur. Evidently a “long epic informal meeting” (as described by the Representative of Malaysia on December 19) served to further delay serious efforts to resolve the crisis – peacefully, and when on Wednesday, December 19 at 11:55 AM a formal meeting was convened, Finland moved for further postponement – implicitly to enforce a further dilution o S/21933/Rev.3 which would ultimately result in castration of the resolution, thereby serving the USA’s intransigent, obsessive and virtually fanatic insistence that nothing even remotely suggesting that the crucial problems of the Middle East might have some common basis (that suggestion of “linkage,” a word which attained the status of a taboo throughout these negotiations) survive, as Finland thereby insured protection of the “interests” of a tiny ‘elite,’ the Ruling Class in the USA which succeeded in using the entire United Nations apparatus to impose and inflice its own interes upon the entire planet.

The War: UN Security Council Resolution 678: Pulverizing Iraq

And while epithets were hurled at Saddam Hussein throughout this period, references to him as a “madman, another Hitler, etc., the US delegation’s panic at any suggestion of the work “linkage” verged on psychosis, causing any impartial observer to wonder who was in fact the madman, and whether Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait was being used by the USA in precisely the same manner as Hitler used the burning of the Reichstag to justify all his ultimately genocidal actions. Unfortunately, George H. W. Bush’s statement almost 4 weeks later (as on January 16, 1991 the US began bombing Iraq in what was to become the most “intensive bombing campaign in the history of warfare”) (New York Times, January 23, 1991,  p.8…. described, as follows by an Egyptian refugee: 

“They are bombing;  people are dying in the street,” said Mr. Mohammed, the auto mechanic. “This is not war, it is the annihilation of a people, an entire Muslim people. People are sleeping in the Mosques. Soldiers are dead in the streets with no one to evacuate them.

This is a black day.”) was conclusive proof that Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait was indeed Washington’s Reischstag, as George Bush stated before the world that the goal of the bombing was to destroy Iraq’s nuclear and chemical industries and to eliminate Hussein from power. (This despite UNDPI International Atomic Energy Agency/1154 stating “no change has taken place in the status of nuclear material under safeguards in Iraq since the last inspections”…April, 1990. At that time, the conclusion was reached that all nuclear material under safeguard was accounted for.)

According to Felicity Arbuthnot:

“The US having refused all negotiation, then dispatched an extra three hundred and sixty thousand US troops to the Gulf at the end of November, the UN Security Council passed UNSCR 678, threatening force of Iraq did not withdraw by January 15th – Iraq having offered to withdraw, albeit with conditions on August 12th., and without conditions a short time later.

In Geneva, on 9th January 1991, then Secretary of State James Baker (a “diplomat” who stated: “We will reduce Iraq to a pre-industrial age”) met Iraq’s Foreign Minister, Tareq Aziz, with a letter from Bush Snr., promising the destruction of Iraq, if Kuwait was not withdrawn from by 15th January. Tareq Aziz stated he would not deliver the letter.

 

Expansion of the Attack on Iraq: In Violation of UN Security Council Mandate

The New York Times, January 21, 1991: 

“The Bush Administration is taking advantage of combat in the Persian Gulf to try to achieve military aims that go beyond an Iraqi withdrawal from Kuwait:…The process began from the moment President Bush announced the onset of war and said the US would destroy Iraq’s nuclear and chemical industries. That was not envisioned in the 12 United Nations Resolutions on Kuwait, but that was an objective that was certainly on the lists of American officials who had been looking for ways to neutralize Iraq as a regional power. The United Nations resolutions on Kuwait never mentioned Iraq’s nuclear potential. But announcing the start of hostilities permitted Mr. Bush to say explicitly that he intended to destroy the chemical and nuclear potentials of Iraq…The US continues to say that it is not trying to kill Mr. Hussein, but it has made no secret of its hope that he would fall from power as a result of the war.” (New York Times, January 22, 1991)

Yes, United States’ will prevailed, with the collaboration of Finland, and of course the meeting was postponed to December 20, 1990, at which point the US had bludgeoned the entire Security Council into submission, the diluted “offending preambular paragraph  in S/21922/Rev.3” was entirely eliminated and replaced by a Presidential Statement (not legally binding, as a Security Council Resolution including the paragraph would have been) which was virtually meaningless, in any case, stating: 

“In this context they agree that an international conference, at an appropriate time, properly structured, should facilitate efforts to achieve a negotiated settlement and lasting peace in the Arab-Israeli conflict.’ “However, the members of the council are of the view that there is not unanimity as to when would be the appropriate time for such a conference. In the view of the members of the council, the Arab-Israeli conflict is important and unique and must be addressed independently, on its own merits.”

The only voice of sanity (reminiscent of the boy in “The Emperor’s New Clothes” who stated, in opposition to the totally deluded consensus on the exquisite finery of the Emperor’s new clothes, that the Emperor was, in fact, naked) was expressed by Yemen’s Ambassador Al-Ashtal: 

“Since there has been much recent talk of linkage between the Gulf crisis and the problem of the Middle East, I should like in conclusion to recount a brief folk tale that may portray the overall situation with regard to this problem. The story – which by the way is an old Chinese proverb – goes as follows: A farmer had some silver coins and wanted to hide them somewhere. He therefore dug up a small hole in his orchard and buried the coins in it. He then put up a sign reading: ‘There are no silver coins buried here.’ The moral of that terse little tale is that the more we affirm that there is no linkage between the Gulf crisis and the Middle East problem, the more we highlight that link.”

Under the circumstances, it is doubtful whether the BBC would have been severely reprimanded for its “leak” that entirely disrupted negotiations toward a peaceful settlement of the Gulf crisis. All evidence leads toward the BBC “leak” as part of a “smoothly orchestrated” inexorable and deadly “legal” preparation for a war that has revealed its perpetrators, the “coalition” architects as genocidal and barbarous was criminals.

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Carla Stea is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG) and Global Research’s Correspondent at UN headquarters, New York. 

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New Year Donation Drive: Global Research Is Committed to the “Unspoken Truth”

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Introduction 

The Article below documents how:

“Half the soldiers of an Israeli reserve battalion refused to fight in the Gaza Strip and were released from duty by their commander” Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed reported on 17 January.

Inasmuch as the Netanyahu government is involved in an act of genocide against the People of Palestine, Israeli soldiers have an obligation under Principle IV of the Nuremberg Charter to Disobey Unlawful Orders” and “Abandon the Battlefield”.  

What is significant is that the Reserve soldiers who refused to fight were not penalized by their commanding officer.  

This courageous action by Israeli Reserve soldiers sets the stage: Abandon the Battlefield should be extended to ALL Israeli combatants. 

Principle IV of the Nuremberg Charter  defines the responsibility of combatants

“to refuse the orders of Government or a superior … “provided a moral choice [is] possible“. 

What we are proposing is the conduct without delay of a Worldwide grass-roots campaign,  encouraging: Israeli, American and NATO Combatants to “Disobey Unlawful Orders” and “Abandon the Battlefield”.  

The detailed modalities pertaining to Principle IV of the Nuremberg Charter and the obligation to “Disobey Unlawful Orders” is outlined in Part II of this posting.

Global Research, January 19, 2023

***

Part I

Israeli Reserve Soldiers Refuse to Fight in Gaza

by

The Cradle

January 19, 2023

 

The Qatari outlet cited Israel’s Kan Reshet Bet radio as reporting that reserve soldiers were called up to form a new brigade in the Israeli army to carry out protection tasks in the areas surrounding Gaza and the occupied West Bank. However, the soldiers received permission to leave the battalion after the army tried to send them to fight and carry out combat missions within Gaza for which they were not qualified or adequately equipped.

The soldiers were called up in late December, but the new brigade was poorly organized, did not have a deputy brigade commander, and was short on weapons and officers.

During the training period, soldiers complained of serious gaps in equipment, professionalism, and a lack of human resources.

The soldiers were then further angered to learn their mission had changed, and they would be sent to Gaza for combat missions.

The radio quoted one soldier as saying:

“We received the conscription order, and we responded to that. They told us that our specialty would be to protect the towns, and after about a week of training that took place in a horrific manner, without ammunition, and without officers, we were suddenly told that there was an order that the Israeli army needed us to enter the Gaza Strip to clear homes.”

The soldier added,

“We were shocked. We are all combat soldiers. I personally was in the Nahal Brigade, and the rest of the soldiers are from former infantry brigades, but we had not carried out reserve missions for years. We were given an M16 weapon, which fell apart in our hands, and there was no ammunition for training. We collected bullets off the ground so that we have something we can fire.”

The radio station quoted another soldier as saying,

“There are people who trained without military uniforms. There are soldiers who were not given shirts or slippers at first. The means that were available were not suitable for training. The brigade, which was supposed to include four battalions, barely reached one and a half battalions. It is not understandable how they wanted to introduce such a completely unqualified force into the Gaza Strip.”

The report comes amid the announcement that the 36th division, which comprises armored, engineering, and infantry companies, withdrew from the Gaza Strip after 80 days of fighting.

The Israeli government says this is part of a planned transition away from the “intensive manoeuvring stage” of its Gaza military campaign to a more targeted phase to last until the end of this year.

At the same time, some speculate that Israel has been forced to withdraw some of its forces due to heavy losses inflicted by fighters from Hamas’ military wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades.

Israel is also facing economic difficulties, with the government having to pay salaries for hundreds of thousands of reserve soldiers called away from their civilian jobs.

Israel also has large numbers of soldiers on the northern border to support operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Israel’s army chief said Wednesday the likelihood of a full-scale war with the Lebanese resistance group has become “much higher.”

“I don’t know when the war in the north is, I can tell you that the likelihood of it happening in the coming months is much higher than it was in the past,” Israeli army chief Herzi Halevi said in a statement during a visit to northern Israel.

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Part II

Principle IV of the Nuremberg Charter.

Disobey Illegal Orders, Abandon the Battlefield

by

Michel Chossudovsky 

January 19, 2023

 

This text presents a possible solution to put an end to the ongoing genocide. It is a proposal which has not been the object of debate by anti-war activists in solidarity with Palestine.  

It is based on Principle IV of the Nuremberg Charter  which defines the responsibility of combatants “to refuse the orders of Government or a superior … “provided a moral choice [is] possible“. 

Based on the Nuremberg Charter, what is required is a campaign encouraging:

Israeli, American and NATO Combatants to “Disobey Unlawful Orders” and “Abandon the Battlefield”. 

The Campaign would focus on making that “moral choice” possible, namely to enable enlisted Israeli, American, and NATO service men and women to “Abandon the Battlefield”.

The Abandon the Battlefield campaign will in large part be waged in Israel. In regards to Israel, already there are unfolding divisions in the IDF command structures, political divisions, coupled with a protest movement against Netanyahu.

IDF soldiers and commanders must be informed and briefed on the significance of Nuremberg Principle IV. 

Inasmuch as the U.S. and its allies are waging a hegemonic war in major regions of the World, Abandon the Battlefield should be a call for action by the anti-war movement Worldwide. 

 

Click  title page to access full document (pdf)

 

Now let me turn my attention to Nuremberg Principle VI, which defines the crimes punishable under international law: 

Nuremberg Charter. Principle VI 

Both Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu as well as President Joe Biden are responsible for “war crimes”, “crimes against peace” and “crimes against humanity” as defined under Principle VI of the Nuremberg Charter:

Disobey Unlawful Orders, Abandon the Battlefield 

According to Principle IV of the Nuremberg Charter:

“The fact that a person [e.g. Israeli, U.S.soldiers, pilots]  acted pursuant to order of his [her] Government or of a superior does not relieve him [her] from responsibility under international law, provided a moral choice was in fact possible to him [her].”

Let us make that  “moral choice” possible, to enlisted Israeli, American, and NATO service men and women.

Let us call upon Israeli and American soldiers and pilots “to abandon the battlefield”, as an act of refusal to participate in a criminal undertaking against the People of Gaza.  

South Africa’s legal procedure at the ICJ should be endorsed Worldwide. While it cannot be relied upon to put a rapid end to the genocide, it provides support and legitimacy to 

“Disobey Unlawful Orders, Abandon the Battlefield”  campaign under Nuremberg Charter Principle IV.

It is a proposal which has not been the object of media coverage and/or debate by anti-war activists.

While it is predicated on international law, its conduct  does not require the political rubber stamp of either the ICC or the ICJ. It is part of a grass-routs campaign in Israel and the Middle East as well as Worldwide. 

***

For more details see 

The Criminalization of International Justice, Putting an End to the Genocide against the People of Palestine. Nuremberg Principle IV

By Prof Michel Chossudovsky, January 17, 2024

***

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New Year Donation Drive: Global Research Is Committed to the “Unspoken Truth”

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How are Western TV news anchors able to sit at their desks, with a straight face and with no remorse, and broadcast news that enables rampant human rights violations and glorifies mass murder?

Are they evil, selfish or just plain stupid?

When they report news of a country carpet-bombing civilians, with almost half of the slaughtered being children, the next words that come out of the journalist’s mouth cannot be that the country committing genocide “has the right to defend itself”.

Nobody is that stupid.

Western journalists follow their bosses’ marching orders and have agreed to be wilfully blind in order to push through a biased, racist agenda for the sake of their own careers.

They are selfish, resulting in evil acts, so you draw your own conclusions.

To make matters worse, they drown in self-congratulatory adulation from the public for “standing up for morality, democracy, and human rights” while feigning humbleness with a thinly veiled, yet omnipresent, aura of self-righteousness.

Yes, I’m pissed off.

And correction, it’s the public that is that stupid.

To add to the audacity, many Western journalists and owners of media companies, who share a religion or ethnicity with the oppressed, hang their own people out to dry in order to pursue their imperialistic Western agendas for the sake of a profit.

There are specific people I have in mind, but you draw your own conclusions.

My ethnic group has its own Western media sellouts, and will also draw its own conclusions as to who I’m referring to. We’re a target of the wide array of Western anti-human rights tactics, and we’ve experienced them all, including mass murder, expulsion, forced assimilation and systematic human rights abuses.

When your country’s name is forcibly changed (by the West, aiding and abetting your oppressors, of course) in order to eradicate your identity, culture, and history — as announced and celebrated by your oppressors — the next words out of a Western journalist’s mouth cannot be that it is a “resolution of a diplomatic dispute”.

Riot police attacking peaceful protesters cannot result in Western media sympathizing with the police and denouncing the protesters. Dissenters incarcerated and subjected to daily beatings in prison — simply for speaking out — cannot be referred to as “nationalists”. Terrorists who started a civil war in your country and committed murder with the public aim of destroying your ethnic group (with Western backing, of course), cannot be labelled as “human rights defenders”.

When your ethnic group, and your family, are carpet-bombed by the West following World War II (despite being Allies in both world wars) because the West chose to aid Nazi-supporting fascists slaughter your ethnic group, Western journalists cannot call it a “defence of democracy”.

The West chooses which ethnic groups are expendable. They decide who has human rights and superhuman rights, vs. no rights at all. But Western media companies and journalists do not have to obey marching orders. They choose to follow them in lockstep no matter the repercussions for the oppressed. They could take a stand in defence of human rights — and actual life — by reporting the truth, quitting in protest and exposing corruption in their industry, and becoming real defenders of human rights. And their selfishness would be satisfied, as there is profit to be had there too.

But they choose to be accessories to murder. They are evil.

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Bill Nicholov is President of Macedonian Human Rights Movement International. 

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New Year Donation Drive: Global Research Is Committed to the “Unspoken Truth”

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You have to hand it to the U.S. and its henchmen for brazenness. In order to protect their client state Israel and its genocide in Gaza, the U.S., together with the UK, have in one week launched air and sea attacks on the Houthis in Yemen five times, referring to it as “self-defense” in their Orwellian lingo. The ostensible reason being Yemen’s refusal to allow ships bound for Israel, which is committing genocide in Gaza, to enter the Red Sea, while permitting other ships to pass freely.

To any impartial observer, the Houthis should be lauded. Yet, while the International Court of Justice considers the South African charge of genocide against Israel that is supported by overwhelming evidence, the U.S. and its allies have instigated a wider war throughout the Middle East while claiming they do not want such a war. These settler colonial states want genocide and a much wider war because they have been set back on their heels by those they have mocked, provoked, and attacked – notably the Palestinians, Syrians, and Russians, among others.

While the criminalization of international law does not bode well for the ICJ’s upcoming ruling or its ability to stop Israeli’s genocide in Gaza, Michel Chossudovsky, of Global Research, as is his wont, has offered a superb analysis and suggestion for those who oppose such crimes:

that Principle IV of the Nuremberg Charter – “The fact that a person [e.g. Israeli, U.S. soldiers, pilots]  acted pursuant to order of his [her] Government or of a superior does not relieve him [her] from responsibility under international law, provided a moral choice was in fact possible to him.” – should be used to supplement the South African charges and appeal directly to the moral consciences of those asked to carry out acts of genocide. He writes:

Let us call upon Israeli and American soldiers and pilots “to abandon the battlefield”, as an act of refusal to participate in a criminal undertaking against the People of Gaza.  

South Africa’s legal procedure at the ICJ should be endorsed Worldwide. While it cannot be relied upon to put a rapid end to the genocide, it provides support and legitimacy to the “Disobey Unlawful Orders, Abandon the Battlefield”  campaign under Nuremberg Charter Principle IV.

While such an approach will not stop the continuing slaughter, it would remind the world that each person who participates in and supports it bears a heavy burden of guilt for their actions; that they are morally and legally culpable.

This appeal to the human heart and conscience, no matter what its practical effect, will at least add to the condemnation of a genocide happening in real time and full view of the world, even though no one will ever be prosecuted for such crimes since any real just use of international law has long disappeared.  Yet there is a edifying history of such conscientious objection to immoral war making, and though each person makes the decision in solitary witness, individual choices can inspire others and the solitary become solidary, as Albert Camus reminded us at the end of his short story, “The Artist at Work.”

With each passing day, it becomes more and more evident that Israel/U.S.A. and their allies do want a wider war. Iran is their special focus, with Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen targets on the way. Anyone who supports the genocide in Gaza, explicitly or through silence, bears responsibility for the conflagration to come. There are no excuses.

And the facts show that it is axiomatic that waging war has been the modus operandi of the U.S./Israeli alliance for a long time.  Just as in early 2003 when the Bush administration said they were looking for a peaceful solution to their fake charges against Sadam Hussein with his alleged “weapons of mass destruction,” the Biden administration is lying, as the Bush administration lied about September 11, 2001 to launch its ongoing war on terror, starting in Afghanistan. Without an expanded war, President Biden – aka the Democrats, since he will most probably not be the candidate – and his psychopathic partner Benjamin Netanyahu, will not survive. It is bi-partisan war-mongering, of course, internationally and intramurally, since both U.S. political parties are controlled by the Israel Lobby and billionaire class that owns Congress and the “defense” industry that thrives on never-ending war to such an extent that even the notable independent candidate for the presidency, Robert Kennedy, Jr., who is running as an anti-war candidate, fully supports Israel which is tantamount to supporting Biden’s expanding war policy.

Biden and Netanyahu, who are always claiming after the fact that they were surprised by events or were fed bad advice by their underlings, are dumb scorpions. They are stupid but deadly. And many people in the West, while perhaps decent people in their personal lives, are living in a fantasy world of “sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity,” in MLK, Jr.’s words, as the growing threat of a world war increases and insouciance reigns.

Neither the Israeli nor American government can allow themselves to be humiliated, U.S./NATO by the Russians in Ukraine and the Israelis by the Palestinians.  Like cornered criminals with lethal weapons, they will kill as many as they can on their way down, taking their revenge on the weakest first.

Their “mistakes” are always well intentioned. They stumble into wars through faulty intelligence. They drop the ball because of bureaucratic mix-ups. They miscalculate the perfidy of the moneyed elites whom allegedly they oppose while pocketing their cash and ushering them into the national coffers out of necessity since they are too big to fail. They never see the storm coming, even as they create it. Their incompetence or the perfidy of their enemies is the retort to all those “nut cases” who conjure up conspiracy theories or plain facts to explain their actions or lack thereof. They are innocent. Always innocent.  And they can’t understand why those they have long abused reach a point when they will no longer impetrate for mercy but will fight fiercely for their freedom.

All signs point to a major war on the horizon. Both the U.S.A. and Israel have been shown to be rogue states with no desire to negotiate a peaceful world. Believing in high-tech weapons and massive firepower, neither has learned the hard lesson that anti-colonial wars have historically been won by those with far less weapons but with a passionate desire to throw off the chains of their oppressors. Vietnam is the text-book case, and there are many others. Failure to learn is the name of their game.

The Zionist project for a Greater Israel is doomed to fail, but as it does, desperate men like Biden and Netanyahu are intent on launching desperate acts of war. Exactly when and how this expanded war will blaze across the headlines is the question. It has started, but I think it prudent to expect a black swan event sometime this year when all hell will break loose. The genocide in Gaza is the first step, and the U.S./Israel, “not wanting” a wider war, have already started one.

(For an excellent history lesson on the Zionist oppression of Palestinians and the current genocide, listen to Max Blumenthal’s and Miko Peled’s impassioned talk – “Where is the War in Gaza Going? – delivered from the heart of darkness, Washington D.C.  Two Jewish men who know the difference between Zionism and Judaism and whose consciences are aflame with justice for the oppressed Palestinians.)

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

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

Featured image: President Joe Biden participates in a restricted bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Hotel Kempinski in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, October 18, 2023. (Official White House Photo by Cameron Smith)

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On Tuesday, the Senate voted down a resolution that would have set the stage for Congress to place conditions on U.S. military aid to Israel — quashing what has so far been the most serious effort on Capitol Hill to hold the U.S. ally to account for its brutal assault on Gaza. 

Introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., in December, the resolution would have required the State Department to submit a report to Congress about allegations of Israel committing human rights violations, and whether and how the U.S. played a role and responded to such acts. If the bill had passed and the State Department failed to submit the report within 30 days, U.S. aid to Israel would have been frozen. If the State Department had submitted a report to Congress, however, U.S. aid to Israel could have come to a vote, giving Congress the option to condition, restrict, or terminate security assistance to Israel (or to do nothing at all). Such votes would have required only a simple majority for passage.

When it came to a vote Tuesday evening, the Senate voted 72-11 to table the resolution, effectively killing it. 

“It’s frankly historic that this vote took place at all,” said Andrew O’Neill, the legislative director for the political advocacy group Indivisible. “The number of senators willing to take a vote like this even weeks ago, on the face of it, would have been zero.”

Israel receives billions of dollars per year in U.S. aid, making it the largest recipient of American security assistance in the world. In the wake of Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, President Joe Biden asked Congress to approve an additional $14 billion in aid to the country, whose retaliatory war on Gaza has killed more than 24,000 Palestinians.

Sanders’s resolution was based on the Foreign Assistance Act, which prohibits the American government from providing security assistance to any government “which engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights.” Section 502B(c) of the law empowers Congress to request information on a country’s human rights practices, which Sanders took advantage of to force this vote.

“The Senators who lent their support to this resolution did so in spite of enormous political pressure,” O’Neill said, noting that, for decades, there has been a bipartisan status quo of not scrutinizing assistance to Israel. “The 502B process had never been used before, and now that tool is on the table. These are lonely votes, but votes that can be the start of something bigger.”

The votes in support for Sanders’s resolution came almost entirely from Democratic senators: Laphonza Butler of California, Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico, Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, and Peter Welch of Vermont. Rand Paul was the only Republican to vote against tabling the resolution. 

Van Hollen told The Intercept that it’s important for the Senate to get the information required by the proposed report.

“That’s important for transparency and I think taxpayers have a right to know how their funds are being used.”

Speaking with reporters ahead of the vote, Warren said,

“Prime Minister Netanyahu needs to understand that he does not get a blank check from the United States Congress.” 

She continued:

“The Senate has had a role in overseeing our military involvement overseas running back to the drafting of the Constitution. We have a responsibility to stand up now and say that given how Netanyahu and his right-wing war cabinet have prosecuted this war, we have serious questions that we are obligated to ask before we go further.”

Some Democratic senators who voted to kill the resolution told The Intercept they were concerned about Israeli human rights abuses, but they did not think Sanders’s proposal was the way to address them. Others, mostly Republicans, deflected from questions about Israel’s conduct during the war. 

Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., said he was opposed to the resolution because the timeline for potential congressional action would have conflicted with the aims of Israel’s war.

“It doesn’t make a lot of sense to be conditioning a military campaign engaged in by an ally,” he said. He added that “there’s no question if there are allegations, they will be the subject of scrutiny and review,” but said he doesn’t think the resolution is the right approach.

Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., explained his opposition to the resolution by pointing out that 502B(c) has never been used in its 50-year history, and that he prefers a measureOpens in a new tab introduced by Van Hollen. That amendment would require weapons received by any country under Biden’s proposal for supplemental aid to Israel and Ukraine to be used in accordance with U.S. law, international humanitarian law, and the law of armed conflict.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., who has a record of scrutinizing human rights abuses by U.S. allies, voted against the resolution. He told The Intercept that he supports Israel’s right to defend itself and that he has deep reservations about the way it has conducted its campaign, but he doesn’t support measures “potentially designed to cut off funding for Israel.” The resolution, he said, is a vehicle toward completely cutting off aid to Israel. “I don’t think that’s the right move for Congress at this time,” he said. 

Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., told The Intercept that he is “sensitive” to the allegations of human rights abuses by Israel, and that he understands Sanders’s sensitivity to “trying to keep the collateral damage down, and I think everybody would be for that.” Still, he said, he opposed the resolution “because I think it then draws attention away from how it started, and how it has to be litigated, and that’s not easy,” referring to Hamas’s attack on October 7 and Israel’s stated aim of rooting out the organization.

Asked if he thought Israel was doing enough to mitigate civilian casualties, Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., told The Intercept that “they need to kill every Hamas member and anybody that dies in Gaza is a result of Hamas.” He voted against the resolution. 

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., referred to Hamas’s attack on Israel as he explained his opposition to the resolution. “To give them respite would be to allow them to do it again,” he told The Intercept. When asked whether Israel is doing enough to protect civilians, Cassidy repeated a frequent Israeli government talking point about Hamas, saying that “when you build your tunnels with your commanders beneath mosques, hospitals, and schools, then you have created an environment where it’s difficult to prevent civilian injury.”

On his way to vote against the resolution, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, told The Intercept that he has been consistent with his position on the issue. “Of course it does,” he said when asked if he’s concerned about the number of casualties in Gaza. Asked if Israel is doing enough to mitigate the casualties, he responded simply: “Good talking to you,” as the Senate elevator doors closed.

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According to Karen Gilchirst  CNBC (February 2022)

“Speaking to CNBC’s Hadley Gamble at Germany’s annual Munich Security Conference, Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said that a potential new pandemic would likely stem from a different pathogen to that of the coronavirus family. 

But he added that advances in medical technology should help the world do a better job of fighting it — if investments are made now.

“We’ll have another pandemic. It will be a different pathogen next time,” Gates said.

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Buried within the $106 billion supplemental national security funding request the White House sent to Congress on October 20 was a highly unusual exemption. As part of $3.5 billion earmarked for Foreign Military Financing (FMF) funding for Israel, the executive branch sought permission to unilaterally blanket-approve the future sale of military equipment and weapons—like ballistic missiles and artillery ammunition — to Israel without notifying Congress. 

This means the Israeli government would be able to purchase up to $3.5 billion in military articles and services in complete secrecy. The House included the waiver language in a bill that splits off Israeli military aid from the rest of the package.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” says Josh Paul, former director of congressional and public affairs for the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs. Paul recently resigned in protest against the administration’s plans to rush weapons to Israel. ​“A proposal in a legislative request to Congress to waive Congressional notification entirely for FMF-funded Foreign Military Sales or Direct Commercial Contracts is unprecedented in my experience. … Frankly, [it’s] an insult to Congressional oversight prerogatives.”

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Is Zelensky Really Out of Control?

With the Full Endorsement of Washington

by 

Drago Bosnic

 

On January 18, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated that the political West is trying to exert greater control over the increasingly unhinged Kiev regime frontman Volodymyr Zelensky. According to Lavrov’s assessment, the US-led power pole’s puppet is trying to expand his grip on power by eliminating any form of dissent, including canceling this year’s presidential election. The increasingly out-of-control Zelensky has become a nuisance for the United States, prompting it to insist on “more flexibility” from him, Lavrov said, adding that “all the latest rhetoric coming from [Zelensky’s] office only reflects the wish of that individual and his associates… to keep power as much as they can”. Russia’s top-ranking diplomat also stated that “having Zelensky run a re-election campaign would put him more in line with Western interests”.

Lavrov’s comments come at a time when the puppet of the belligerent US-led power pole is indeed coming off as a “proxy” dictator. Terrified of the prospect of becoming (geo)politically obsolete, Zelensky is trying to stay relevant for as long as possible. From a purely logical point of view, this is rather understandable, as Washington DC has a long history of abandoning its puppets whenever they outlive their purpose. Needless to say, Zelensky wants to avoid this unflattering fate. In the initial stages of the special military operation (SMO), he and his entourage, amply aided by the mainstream propaganda machine, fought bitterly to ensure that the image of “united Ukraine standing in the face of Russian aggression” is spread across the world. The illusion held initially, but it was only a matter of time before this false sense of unity faded away for good.

Zelensky’s effort to seize his “Churchill moment” by using the ongoing conflict as a way to “legally” stay in power and continue hoarding whatever’s left of Western funds is slowly coming to an unceremonious end. Battlefield failures led to the plummeting of the already low morale, leading to even more factionalism and fault lines within the Neo-Nazi junta, amplifying its troubles both at home and abroad. Zelensky’s publicly declared “optimism” is being pushed only by his most loyal propagandists, while any attempt to criticize him is decried as supposedly “unpatriotic”, stifling any chance to get accurate information about the situation on the frontlines and in the country itself. Alternative sources are the only way to get bits and pieces of the truth, but using them can be quite dangerous and even deadly nowadays.

And yet, even in such a political climate, Zelensky is still afraid to allow elections to be held. By keeping only those unequivocally loyal to him, he became accustomed to having no competitors or critics. This sort of grip on power has made him increasingly delusional and unable to process the Kiev regime’s grim reality. In recent times, Zelensky even turned on some of his closest backers, as evidenced by Igor Kolomoisky’s arrest back in early September. Before that, the pompously announced counteroffensive resulted in complete failure. Disappointed, the political West increased pressure on Zelensky who was already in an unflattering position as he previously pledged to “liberate the whole country (including Crimea)”. Giving such grossly unrealistic promises is yet another confirmation of Lavrov’s claims.

All this also drew a wider wedge between the Kiev regime and the military, particularly between Zelensky and General Valery Zaluzhny. Thus, the Neo-Nazi junta frontman managed not only to antagonize the top military leader, but also got another strong political opponent, as Zaluzhny has repeatedly hinted at his presidential ambitions. In addition, Zelensky’s old rivals are still very much active, prompting him to start using the state apparatus against them, usually by prosecuting them for corruption, a fact recently revealed by former Ukrainian parliamentarian Andrii Derkach who is also actively being hunted by the Kiev regime’s special services. However, it’s important to note that Zelensky still hasn’t outlived his usefulness for the political West, at least until the belligerent power pole finds an “adequate” successor.

This is evidenced by the mainstream propaganda machine’s effort to justify the repeated postponing of elections, insisting that it would be impractical and even logistically impossible due to ongoing hostilities. Simultaneously, the political West is trying to keep the Neo-Nazi junta geopolitically relevant by organizing historically unprecedented unilateral “peace talks” that are completely inconsequential to the actual strategic situation. Zelensky himself is still at the center of this PR show, particularly when taking into account that he refuses to give up on his absurd “peace plan” that effectively amounts to Russia’s unconditional capitulation. On the other hand, while Zelensky and his backers keep shooting their mouths off about supposed “peace”, there are talks of delivering ever more advanced NATO weapons to the Kiev regime.

Namely, NATO countries are actively breaking international arms control agreements by supplying long-range missiles and even nuclear-capable fighter jets, a fact that Lavrov has been warning about for months at this point.

When taking into account the Neo-Nazi junta’s disastrous policies, worthy of an international war crimes tribunal (which immediately disqualifies the so-called ICC in Hague), as well as the fact that the political West wants to continue supporting this monstrosity (despite the political crisis in the US), it can easily be argued that Zelensky is indeed out of control. However, the same applies to his entire entourage and the rest of the Kiev regime. On the other hand, its US/NATO overlords are in no way better. Terrified of the multipolar world, they’re actively pushing for destabilization on a global scale.

What is the End Game.

The Neo-Colonial Privatization of Ukraine

by

Michel Chossudovsky 

As outlined in Drago Bosnic‘s careful documented article, Zelensky is “Out of Control” with the full Support of U.S.-NATO.

What is the Hidden Agenda? 

This “Engineered Chaos” –which consists in deliberately prolonging an unwinable war, to the detriment of the people of Ukraine–, creates conditions which favour the Neo-Colonial Privatization of An Entire country.

The Privatization of Ukraine was launched in November 2022 in liaison  with BlackRock’s  consulting company  McKinsey, a public relations firm which has largely been responsible for co-opting corrupt politicians and officials Worldwide not to mention scientists and intellectuals on behalf of powerful financial interests. 

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For  details see:

The NeoCons’ Proxy War “Against Ukraine”: Nuclear War is On the Table. The Privatization of Ukraine

By Prof Michel Chossudovsky, September 30, 2023

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BlackRock, which is the World’s largest portfolio investment company together with JPMorgan “has come to the rescue of Ukraine”. The Ukraine Reconstruction Bank. was set up. The stated objective was “to attract billions of dollars in private investment to assist rebuilding projects in a war-torn country”. (FT, June 19, 2023)

“… BlackRock, JP Morgan and private investors, aim to profit from the country’s reconstruction along with 400 global companies, including Citi, Sanofi and Philips. … JP Morgan’s Stefan Weiler sees a “tremendous opportunity” for private investors. (Colin Todhunter, Global Research June 28, 2023)

The Kiev Neo-Nazi regime is a partner in this endeavour. War is Good for Business. The greater the destruction, the greater the stranglehold on Ukraine by “private investors”:

“BlackRock and JPMorgan Chase are helping the Ukrainian government set up a reconstruction bank to steer public seed capital into rebuilding projects that can attract hundreds of billions of dollars in private investment.” (FT, op cit)

“The Kyiv government engaged BlackRock’s consulting arm in November to determine how best to attract that kind of capital, and then added JPMorgan in February 2023. Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced last month that the country was working with the two financial groups and consultants at McKinsey.

BlackRock and Ukraine’s Ministry of Economy signed a Memorandum of Understanding in November 2022.

In late December 2022, president Zelensky and BlackRock’s CEO Larry Fink agreed on an investment strategy.

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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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The vaccine alliance known as Gavi, which is Bill Gates’s vaccine uptake pet project, has Canada listed as its board member and today we’re going to look at who the unelected bureaucrat is that represents our country and just how much taxpayer dollars she has directed to global vaccine uptake efforts.

Canada being a board member of Bill Gates’ vaccine uptake pet project known as the Global Vaccine Alliance (Gavi) may surprise many Canadians.

Gavi is the global authority on compelling vaccines on the world scale, especially third-world countries, under the guise of equitable access, and it has Canada in its financial back pocket.

This first came about in an order paper question in the House of Commons last year, by member of Parliament McPherson in Edmonton Strathcona who asked for negotiation participation notes on the Government of Canada’s position on the World Health Organization’s pandemic treaty.

Global Affairs Canada responded that it “continues to support access to COVID-19 vaccines and medical countermeasures globally through its $2.1 billion contribution to the ACT – Accelerator” and that it “continues to work with countries and global partners to strengthen immunization delivery systems, integrate COVID-19 management into routine health services and reinforce broader health systems.”

That’s 2.1 billion dollars of Canadian taxpayers hard earned money being given to a World Health Organization (WHO) initiative intent on “supporting the development and equitable distribution of the tests, treatments and vaccines the world needs to reduce mortality and severe disease, restoring full societal and economic activity globally in the near term, and facilitating high-level control of COVID-19 disease in the medium term.”

ACT stands for “Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT)” and its “Accelerator” is intended as a “groundbreaking global collaboration to accelerate development, production, and equitable access to COVID-19 tests, treatments, and vaccines.”

Launched in April 2020, the ACT-Accelerator aimed to unite governments, scientists, businesses, and global health organizations, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, CEPI, FIND, Gavi, The Global Fund, Unitaid, the Wellcome trust, WHO, and the World Bank. After the launch, UNICEF and PAHO joined as delivery partners for COVAX, with a focus on vaccine distribution.

The ACT-Accelerator launched its Transition Plan in October 2022, “setting out adjustments to its way of working, as countries move from managing COVID-19 as an acute emergency to integration into longer-term disease control programmes.”

According to the document, COVAX (which is the COVID-19 vaccines global access initiative) said it will “incentivize further innovation on COVID-19 vaccines, especially with the potential need to include them in routine programmes going forward.”

Under Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) it’s said that the group will leverage “communities and other in-country stakeholders to combat misinformation and create [emphasis ours] demand for COVID-19 tools.”

Not only is the Canadian government supporting this through that 2.1 billion dollar contribution, but also by being a board member of Bill Gates’ global vaccine alliance, GAVI.

The order paper response says “As a Gavi Alliance Board member, Canada remains engaged in Gavi’s efforts to support increased vaccine manufacturing in Africa.”

An unelected and unaccountable bureaucrat by the name of Mellissa Hisko is the Canadian GAVI board member.

She’s the director of global immunization and health systems at Global Affairs Canada.

Hisko was the previous director of Canada’s COVID-19 global health task force, managing international aid commitment and investments to combat COVID-19 on a global scale, even though she has no medical training.

Instead, Hisko holds a Bachelor of Arts from Carleton University and a law degree from the University of Ottawa.

Contained in the order paper response is funding above and beyond that 2.1 billion, and it sounds like Hisko directs it all.

There’s the “Canada’s Global Initiative for Vaccine Equity (CanGIVE)” which received “$317 million” which includes “funding to strengthen vaccine delivery systems, integrate COVID-19 vaccination and reinforce immunization and primary healthcare as avenues for enhanced vaccine equity.”

Canada “increased funding to the mRNA Technology Transfer and Manufacturing Hub in South Africa, for a total contribution of $45 million.”

They “also provided $15 million to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)’s COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine Manufacturing Platform to strengthen vaccine production and regulatory capacities in Latin America and the Caribbean.”

Canada is also “providing $100 million over 5 years to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to accelerate the development of vaccines against emerging infectious diseases.”

CEPI was criticized in an article by the Lancet for a lack of transparency in its grant agreements after the vaccine development assistance agency received $1.4 billion in public money to accelerate COVID-19 vaccine research.

According to a February 2023 letter from then health minister Yve Duclos, “Canada committed close to $3.5 billion in international assistance in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Did Canadians ever have a say in this process? In these allocations of funds?

These are questionable priorities by the Liberal government which supports global vaccine efforts despite everyday Canadians’ growing domestic financial struggles amid a housing and cost of living crisis.

With unelected bureaucrat Mellissa Hisko, who lacks medical expertise, directing these funds, the lack of transparency in the various World Health Organization initiatives raises concerns about how much public input was received before these decisions were made and how much democratic process was involved in ensuring fiscal responsibility of our government.

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On February 20, Julian Assange, the daredevil publisher of WikiLeaks, will be going into battle, yet again, with the British justice system – or what counts for it. The UK High Court will hear arguments from his team that his extradition to the United States from Britain to face 18 charges under the Espionage Act of 1917 would violate various precepts of justice. The proceedings hope to reverse the curt, impoverished decision by the remarkably misnamed Justice Jonathan Swift of the same court on June 6, 2023.

At this point, the number of claims the defence team can make are potentially many. Economy, however, has been called for: the two judges hearing the case have asked for a substantially shortened argument, showing, yet again, that the quality of British mercy tends to be sourly short. The grounds Assange can resort to are troublingly vast: CIA-sponsored surveillance, his contemplated assassination, his contemplated abduction, violation of attorney-client privilege, his poor health, the violation of free-speech, a naked, politicised attempt by an imperium to capture one of its greatest and most trenchant critics, and bad faith by the US government.

Campaigners for the cause have been frenzied. But as the solution to Assange’s plight is likely to be political, the burden falls on politicians to stomp and drum from within their various chambers to convince their executive counterparts. In the US Congress, House Resolution 934, introduced on December 13 by Rep. Paul A. Gosar, an Arizona Republican, expresses “the sense of the House of Representatives that regular journalistic activities are protected under the First Amendment, and that the United States ought to drop all charges against and attempts to extradite Julian Assange.”

The resolution sees a dramatic shift from the punishing, haute view taken by such figures as the late Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, who was one of the first political figures to suggest that Assange be crucified on the unsteady timber of the Espionage Act for disclosing US cables and classified information in 2010. The resolution acknowledges, for instance, that the disclosures by WikiLeaks “promoted public transparency through the exposure of the hiring of child prostitutes by Defense Department contractors, friendly fire incidents, human rights abuses, civilian killings, and United States use of psychological warfare.” The list could be sordidly longer but let’s not quibble.

Impressively, drafters of the resolution finally acknowledge that charging Assange under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) for alleged conspiracy to help US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea (then Bradley) Manning access Defense Department computers was a fabled nonsense. For one, it was “impossible” – Manning “already had access to the mentioned computer”. Furthermore, “there was no proof Mr Assange had any contact with said intelligence analyst”.

Ire is also directed at the espionage counts, with the resolution noting that “no other publisher has ever been prosecuted under the Espionage Act prior to these 17 charges.”  A successful prosecution of the publisher “would set a precedent allowing the United States to prosecute and imprison journalists for First Amendment protected activities, including the obtainment and publication of information, something that occurs on a regular basis”.

Acknowledgment is duly made of the importance of press freedoms to promote transparency and protect the Republic, the support for Assange, “sincere and steadfast”, no less, shown by “numerous human rights, press freedom, and privacy rights advocates and organizations”, and the desire by “at least 70 Senators and Members of Parliament from Australia, a critical United States ally and Mr Assange’s native country” for his return.

Members of Australia’s parliament, adding to the efforts last September to convince members of Congress that the prosecution be dropped, have also written to the UK Home Secretary, James Cleverly, requesting that he “undertake an urgent, thorough and independent assessment of the risks to Mr Assange’s health and welfare in the event that he is extradited to the United States.”

The members of the Bring Julian Assange Home Parliamentary Group draw Cleverly’s attention to the recent UK Supreme Court case of AAA v Secretary of State for the Home Department which found “that courts in the United Kingdom cannot just rely on third party assurances by foreign governments but rather are required to make independent assessments of the risk of persecution to individuals before any order is made removing them from the UK.”

It follows that the approach taken by Lord Justices Burnett and Holroyde in USA v Assange [2021] EWHC 3133 was, to put it politely, a touch too confident in accepting assurances given by the US government regarding Assange’s treatment, were he to be extradited. “These assurances were not tested, nor was there any evidence of independent assessment as to the basis on which they could be given and relied upon.”

The conveners of the group point to Assange’s detention in Belmarsh prison since April 2019, his “significant health issues, exacerbated to a dangerous degree by his prolonged incarceration, that are of very real concern to us as his elected representatives.” They also point out the rather unusual consensus between the current Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, and his opposition number, Peter Dutton, that the “case has gone on for too long.” Continued legal proceedings, both in the UK, and then in the US were extradition to take place “would add yet more years to Mr Assange’s detention and further imperil his health.”

In terms of posterity’s calling, there are surely fewer better things at this point for a US president nearing mental oblivion to do, or a Tory government peering at electoral termination to facilitate, than the release of Assange. At the very least, it would show a grudging acknowledgment that the fourth estate, watchful of government’s egregious abuses, is no corpse, but a vital, thriving necessity.

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

Featured image is from Lawyers for Assange

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New Year Donation Drive: Global Research Is Committed to the “Unspoken Truth”

***

Jan. 17, 2024 – New cancer diagnoses expected to hit record high this year.

• New cancer diagnoses in the U.S. are expected to top 2 million for the first time in 2024, driven in large part by an alarming increase in cancers among younger Americans, according to new American Cancer Society data.

• “Doctors are trying to figure out why they’re seeing more young patients with cancer.”
• “Colorectal cancers are presenting with more aggressive disease and larger tumors at diagnosis,” ACS chief scientific officer William Dahut told Axios.
• “Preliminary MSK research found significant differences in the microbiomes of early-onset colorectal cancer patients compared with older ones.”

• “Notably, people aged younger than 50 years were the only one of these three age groups to experience an increase in overall cancer incidence during this time period,” the ACS report said.

American Cancer Society Report, My Take

• This ACS report only goes to 2021. Even though they have 2022 and 2023 data.

• This data is heavily manipulated if not outright fraudulent.
• So why would they admit that cancer is on the rise in people younger than 50, which is true?

• Because they then cover it up by saying that cancer rates dropped in 2021, which is false.

Limited Hangout

• “A LIMITED HANGOUT is a phrase used in the intelligence community to describe situations where leaking or revealing parts of the truth operates to control the public narrative. Manipulative partial disclosure.”

• Cancer is on the rise in people younger than 50 – is a small piece of the truth
• “Cancer mortality continued to decline through 2021” – is the lie
• The combination of the two allows control of the narrative.

• What is the narrative? Have a look:

 

Ethical Skeptic – Latest USA Malignant Neoplasms Mortality (Jan. 18, 2024) 

• This graph shows how manipulative the ACS Report is by only including 2021 data and none from 2022 or 2023.

• There is a significant jump in Turbo Cancers in 2023.

 

 

 

 

ED DOWD – UK Death & Disability Trends for Malignant Neoplasms

 

 

John Beaudoin – Massachusetts Death Certificates

 

AUSSIE17 – Chemotherapy Sales in Singapore

• This data from Aussie17 is absolutely stunning

• If we can’t get proper Cancer mortality data from the American Cancer Society or Canadian Cancer Society, we can take a close look at cancer drug sales:

 

My Take…

COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine Induced Turbo Cancer tsunami is well underway and as I documented in a recent substack, all the big pharmaceutical players are buying up smaller cancer therapy companies and positioning themselves for 2025.

I have been repeatedly told by a California Medical Oncologist, Dr.Jan Kirsch, that there is no increase in cancer.

 

 

This is where the mainstream of Medical Oncology is today, with their heads completely buried in the sand.

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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: NOT a Vaccine: the mRNA COVID vax is a chemical pathogen production device and a technocratic, transhumanistic tool to repgrogram you. Image credit: Jordan Henderson

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New Year Donation Drive: Global Research Is Committed to the “Unspoken Truth”

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The Israel Defense Forces’ detonation of more than 300 mines planted at Israa University in Gaza on Wednesday provided the latest evidence that Israel’s objective in its bombardment of the enclave is not self-defense, rights advocates said.

“This is not self-defense,” said Chris Hazzard, an Irish member of the United Kingdom’s Parliament. “This is not counter-insurgency. This is ethnic-cleansing.”

The International Middle East Media Center (IMEMC) called the destruction of Israa University Israel’s latest attempt to carry out a “cultural genocide” along with the slaughter of at least 24,620 people in just over three months—people who Israeli officials have claimed are legitimate military targets despite the fact that roughly half of those killed have been children.

The wiping out of cultural landmarks was included in South Africa’s International Court of Justice case accusing Israel of genocidal acts in Gaza last week, with the complaint noting that “Israel has damaged and destroyed numerous centers of Palestinian learning and culture,” including libraries, one of the world’s oldest Christian monasteries, and the Great Omari Mosque, where an ancient collection of manuscripts was kept before the building was destroyed in an airstrike last month.

“The crime of targeting and destroying archaeological sites should spur the world and UNESCO into action to preserve this great civilizational and cultural heritage,” Gaza’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said after the mosque was bombed.

Now, international relations professor Nicola Perugini of the University of Edinburgh said, “all the universities in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed.”

The Israeli military just blew up the University of Palestine in Gaza City with 315 mines. All the universities in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed. We need a full academic boycott. pic.twitter.com/nNStUTBc9e

— Nicola Perugini (@PeruginiNic) January 17, 2024

On its Facebook page, the university said the IDF had occupied the campus for about 70 days before planting 315 mines and detonating the institution’s main building, its museum, a university hospital, and other buildings.

The IDF occupied Israa University, said administrators, “and used it as a military base for its mechanisms and a center for [the] snatching of isolated civilians in the areas of Rashid, Maghraqa, and Zahraa streets, and temporarily detained [them] to investigate with citizens before moving them.”

Mitchell Plitnick, president of Rethinking Foreign Policy, said the fact that 315 mines were detonated meant that “by definition… it was not a legitimate military target.”

“Israel would have to have full control to plant so many mines,” said Plitnick. “This is a clear example of a war crime and destruction for the fun of it.”

Eight universities in Gaza have now been targeted since the IDF began its bombardment on October 7, according to the IMEMC.

Birzeit University, in the occupied West Bank, condemned the destruction of the school and accused Israel of stealing 3,000 rare artifacts from Israa’s museum.

“Birzeit University reaffirms the fact that this crime is part of the Israeli occupation’s onslaught against the Palestinians,” said the school on social media. “It’s all a part of the Israeli occupation’s goal to make Gaza uninhabitable; a continuation of the genocide being carried out in Gaza Strip.”

[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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Julia Conley is a staff writer for Common Dreams.

Featured image: The Israeli military used hundreds of mines to blow up Israa University in Gaza on January 17, 2024. (Photo: Screengrab)

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New Year Donation Drive: Global Research Is Committed to the “Unspoken Truth”

***

 

 

Imagine if Iran, Syria, Lebanon, or Turkey – fully backed, armed and diplomatically protected by Russia and China – had the will and the wherewithal to bomb Tel Aviv for three months, day and night, murder tens of thousands of Israelis, maim countless more and make millions homeless, and turn the city into a heap of uninhabitable rubble, like Gaza today.

Just imagine it for a few seconds: Iran and its allies deliberately targeting populated parts of Tel Aviv, hospitals, synagogues, schools, universities, libraries – or indeed any populated place – to ensure maximum civilian casualties. They would tell the world they were just looking for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his war cabinet.  

Ask yourself what the US, UK, EU, Canada, Australia and Germany in particular would do within 24 hours of the onslaught of this fictional scenario. 

Now come back to reality, and consider the fact that since 7 October (and for decades before that date), Tel Aviv’s western allies have not only witnessed what Israel has done to the Palestinian people, but have also provided it with military equipment, bombs, munitions and diplomatic coverage, while American media outlets have offered ideological justifications for the slaughter and genocide of Palestinians.  

The aforementioned fictional scenario would not be tolerated for a day by the existing world order. With the military thuggery of the US, Europe, Australia and Canada fully behind Israel, we helpless people of the world, just like Palestinians, do not count. This is not just a political reality; it is also pertinent to the moral imaginary and philosophical universe of the thing that calls itself “the West”.  

Those of us outside the European sphere of moral imagination do not exist in their philosophical universe. Arabs, Iranians and Muslims; or people in Asia, Africa and Latin America – we do not have any ontological reality for European philosophers, except as a metaphysical menace that must be conquered and quieted. 

Beginning with Immanuel Kant and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, and continuing with Emmanuel Levinas and Slavoj Zizek, we are oddities, things, knowable objects that Orientalists were tasked with deciphering. As such, the murder of tens of thousands of us by Israel, or the US and its European allies, does not cause the slightest pause in the minds of European philosophers.  

Tribal European Audiences

If you doubt that, just take a look at leading European philosopher Jurgen Habermas and a few of his colleagues, who in an astoundingly barefaced act of cruel vulgarity, have come out in support of Israel’s slaughter of Palestinians. The question is no longer what we might think of Habermas, now 94, as a human being. The question is what we might think of him as a social scientist, philosopher and critical thinker. Does what he thinks matter to the world anymore, if it ever did?  

The world has been asking similar questions about another major German philosopher, Martin Heidegger, in light of his pernicious affiliations with Nazism. In my opinion, we must now ask such questions about Habermas’s violent Zionism and the significant consequences for what we might think of his entire philosophical project?

If Habermas has not an iota of space in his moral imagination for people such as Palestinians, do we have any reason to consider his entire philosophical project as being in any way related to the rest of humanity – beyond his immediate tribal European audiences?  

In an open letter to Habermas, distinguished Iranian sociologist Asef Bayat said he “contradicts his own ideas” when it comes to the situation in Gaza. With all due respect, I beg to differ. I believe Habermas’s disregard for Palestinian lives is entirely consistent with his Zionism. It is perfectly consistent with the worldview in which non-Europeans are not completely human, or are “human animals”, as Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has openly declared.

This utter disregard for Palestinians is deeply rooted in the German and European philosophical imagination. The common wisdom is that out of the guilt of the Holocaust, Germans have developed a solid commitment to Israel. 

But to the rest of the world, as now evidenced by the magnificent document that South Africa has presented to the International Court of Justice, there is a perfect consistency between what Germany did during its Nazi era and what it is now doing during its Zionist era.

I believe that Habermas’s position is in line with the German state policy of partaking in the Zionist slaughter of Palestinians. It is also in line with what passes for the “German left”, with their equally racist, Islamophobic and xenophobic hatred of Arabs and Muslims, and their wholesale support for the genocidal actions of the Israeli settler colony.

We must be forgiven if we thought what Germany had today was not Holocaust guilt, but genocide nostalgia, as it has vicariously indulged in Israel’s slaughter of Palestinians over the past century (not just the past 100 days).  

Moral Depravity

The charge of Eurocentrism that is consistently levelled against European philosophers’ conception of the world is not based merely on an epistemic flaw in their thinking. It is a consistent sign of moral depravity. On multiple past occasions, I have pointed out the incurable racism at the heart of European philosophical thinking and its most celebrated representatives today.

This moral depravity is not just a political faux pas or an ideological blind spot. It is written deeply into their philosophical imaginations, which have remained incurably tribal.  

Here, we must recap the glorious Martinican poet Aime Cesaire’s famous statement: 

“Yes, it would be worthwhile to study clinically, in detail, the steps taken by Hitler and Hitlerism and to reveal to the very distinguished, very humanistic, very Christian bourgeois of the 20th century that without his being aware of it, he has a Hitler inside him, that Hitler inhabits him, that Hitler is his demon, that if he rails against him, he is being inconsistent and that, at bottom, what he cannot forgive Hitler for is not crime in itself, the crime against man, it is not the humiliation of man as such, it is the crime against the white man, the humiliation of the white man, and the fact that he applied to Europe colonialist procedures which until then had been reserved exclusively for [Arab, Indian and African peoples].” 

Palestine is today an extension of the colonial atrocities Cesaire cites in this passage. Habermas appears ignorant that his endorsement of the slaughter of Palestinians is completely consistent with what his ancestors did in Namibia during the Herero and Namaqua genocide. Like the proverbial ostrich, German philosophers have stuck their heads inside their European delusions, thinking the world does not see them for what they are.  

Ultimately, in my view, Habermas has not said or done anything surprising or contradictory; quite the contrary. He has been entirely consistent with the incurable tribalism of his philosophical pedigree, which had falsely assumed a universal posture. 

The world is now disabused of that false sense of universality. Philosophers such as VY Mudimbe in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Walter Mignolo or Enrique Dussel in Argentina, or Kojin Karatani in Japan have far more legitimate claims to universality than Habermas and his ilk ever did.  

In my opinion, the moral bankruptcy of Habermas’s statement on Palestine marks a turning point in the colonial relationship between European philosophy and the rest of the world. The world has been awoken from the false slumber of European ethno-philosophy. Today, we owe this liberation to the global suffering of peoples such as the Palestinians, whose prolonged, historic heroism and sacrifices have finally dismantled the barefaced barbarity at the foundation of “western civilisation”.  

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Hamid Dabashi is Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University in the City of New York, where he teaches Comparative Literature, World Cinema, and Postcolonial Theory. His latest books include The Future of Two Illusions: Islam after the West (2022); The Last Muslim Intellectual: The Life and Legacy of Jalal Al-e Ahmad (2021); Reversing the Colonial Gaze: Persian Travelers Abroad (2020), and The Emperor is Naked: On the Inevitable Demise of the Nation-State (2020). His books and essays have been translated into many languages.

Featured image: Jurgen Habermas (Licensed under CC BY 2.0)

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New Year Donation Drive: Global Research Is Committed to the “Unspoken Truth”

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The “rules-based international order” has allowed the incineration of Gaza, and the bombing of Yemeni forces who are trying to stop it.

The “rules-based international order” allowed hundreds of thousands of people to be killed by western-backed Saudi atrocities in Yemen.

The “rules-based international order” allowed NATO powers to knowingly provoke a world-threatening proxy war in Ukraine.

The “rules-based international order” allowed western powers and their regional partners to plunge Syria into a horrific civil war by flooding the nation with heavily armed fascistic extremist factions.

The “rules-based international order” has allowed the US to invade and occupy a vast stretch of Syrian territory in order to control the nation’s natural resources and prevent reconstruction.

The “rules-based international order” allowed Libya to be turned into a chaotic hellscape after western-backed forces killed Gaddafi following a long-desired western regime change operation disguised as “humanitarian intervention”.

The “rules-based international order” allowed the invasion of Iraq to destabilize an entire region resulting in millions of deaths following a campaign of deliberate lies and propaganda.

The “rules-based international order” allowed the invasion of Afghanistan and a decades-long occupation sustained by lies and corruption.

The “rules-based international order” allowed the imprisonment of Julian Assange for journalistic activities exposing US war crimes.

The “rules-based international order” has allowed the planet to be circled by hundreds of US military bases, including in places where the people who live there vehemently oppose their presence like Okinawa, Iraq and Syria.

The “rules-based international order” has allowed the US and its allies to kill huge numbers of civilians with siege warfare tactics in nations like Yemen, Iraq and Venezuela.

The “rules-based international order” has allowed the US to interfere in scores of elections around the world at will and forcibly topple inconvenient governments whenever it wants to.

The “rules-based international order” has allowed China to be surrounded by a rapidly increasing amount of US military bases and war machinery in preparation for a future conflict of unimaginable horror.

The “rules-based international order” has allowed the US to plunge the world into a new cold war with rapidly-escalating brinkmanship against nuclear-armed Russia and China.

The “rules-based international order” has allowed our civilization to be controlled by the most powerful propaganda system ever devised, creating a mind-controlled dystopia of brainwashed gear-turners who are deceived into believing they are free.

The “rules-based international order” has allowed unfathomable amounts of government malfeasance to be hidden behind an increasingly opaque wall of government secrecy.

The “rules-based international order” has allowed the interests of ordinary human beings to be subordinated and subjected to the interests of billionaire corporations and sociopathic government agencies.

The “rules-based international order” has allowed the destruction of our ecosystem for the enrichment of powerful plutocrats.

The “rules-based international order” has allowed our planet to be dominated by an empire of extreme murderousness and depravity at the cost of nonstop bloodshed and ever-increasing tyranny.

If the “rules-based international order” has allowed all these things to happen, what kind of “rules” are we talking about exactly? And what kind of “order” do they sustain? 

If this is what the “rules-based international order” looks like, would we not, perhaps, be better off without it?

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New Year Donation Drive: Global Research Is Committed to the “Unspoken Truth”

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The atrocities against Palestinians in a ruthlessly devastated Gaza — with over 21,000 mostly civilian deaths in retaliation to the killings of 1,200 inside Israel —have resurrected a longstanding question: is it time for Palestine to be recognized as a full-fledged UN member state?

The question has also been triggered by a statement by China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the UN Security Council (UNSC).

Addressing the UNSC on December 29, Geng Shuang, Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative of China, said:

“We support Palestine’s full membership in the UN, and the early resumption of direct negotiations between Palestine and Israel.”

According to the UN, States are admitted to UN membership by a decision of the 193-member General Assembly upon the recommendation of the 15-member Security Council.

The resolution needs a two-thirds majority (currently 128 votes) in the General Assembly– and no vetoes in the Security Council.

And with the crisis in Gaza– and worldwide sympathy towards the Palestinians– would this be the right time to stake that claim?

But any such move for Palestinian UN membership is most likely to be vetoed by the US which continues its undying loyalty to Israel.

The State of Palestine was accepted as “a non-member observer state” of the UN General Assembly in November 2012.

Mahmoud Abbas (centre right), President of the State of Palestine, addresses an event to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the Nakba, held by the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People on 15 May 2023.

Asked for his comments on a meeting with Palestinian leader [Mahmoud] Abbas in Beijing when the Chinese President Xi [Jinping] called for the Palestinians to become a full Member State of the United Nations, UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters last year:

“As you know, the decision on Palestine or any other entity moving from observer to Member State or just becoming a Member State is a decision that the Member States themselves can take. It does not involve the Secretary-General.”

Samir Sanbar, a former UN Assistant Secretary-General and head of the Department of Public Information, told IPS a two thirds majority by the General Assembly was voted recently to overcome a U.S. veto at the Security Council on Gaza.

“Perhaps that is why the US abstained on a following resolution– perhaps to avoid further isolation, particularly with increasing public support for the Palestinians within the United States, especially among the younger generation.”

He also pointed out the “diligent work by certain members of the Security Council, including the Arab Council representative of UAE, Ambassador Lana Zaki Nusseibeh.”

“It is indeed about time for full membership of Palestine at the United Nations since the General Assembly decades ago recognized the full “Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People” and repeated assertions to apply General assembly and Security Council resolutions,” said Sanbar.

Ramzy Baroud, an author, a syndicated columnist, editor of Palestine Chronicle & a Senior Research Fellow at Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA), told IPS admitting Palestine as a full member at the UN is significant in terms of strengthening Palestine’s political and legal positions in the ongoing attempt to hold Israel accountable for its genocide in Gaza, and military occupation and apartheid in general.

“It would also send a message to Israel that while it is actively discussing the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians to Congo and elsewhere, the international community sees Palestine as an entity that belongs to the Palestinian people.”

“History has taught us that Palestine commands the kind of support that would allow it to win the two-thirds majority at the General Assembly”, he pointed out.

“We also know that countries like China and Russia will fully back this effort at the Security Council. The challenge is the Americans and their vetoes,” he said.

The Biden Administration has, thus far, proven to be dedicated to the rightwing agenda of the Israeli government, even when Netanyahu’s agenda directly damages US economic and political interests, let alone reputation throughout the Middle East, in fact the world, said Baroud.

“The US is likely to do everything in its power to block the vote, and, as is often the case, attempt to bribe, and, when needed, threaten those who are likely to support a full Palestinian membership.”

“We have no reason to believe that Washington will not use the veto considering Israel’s complete rejection of the recognition of Palestine as a full UN member.” declared Baroud.

The last six members to join the UN include Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Tuvalu (in 2000); Switzerland and Timor-Leste (2002); Montenegro (2006) and South Sudan (2011).

According to the UN, the procedure for membership is as follows:

• The State submits an application to the Secretary-General and a letter formally stating that it accepts the obligations under the Charter.
• The Security Council considers the application. Any recommendation for admission must receive the affirmative votes of 9 of the 15 members of the Council, provided that none of its five permanent members — China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America — have voted against the application.
• If the Council recommends admission, the recommendation is presented to the General Assembly for consideration. A two-thirds majority vote is necessary in the Assembly for admission of a new State.
• Membership becomes effective the date the resolution for admission is adopted.

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Featured image: A view of the General Assembly Hall as a draft resolution to grant Palestine non-Member Observer State status in the United Nations was introduced. The resolution on the status of Palestine was adopted by a vote of 138 in favour to nine against with 41 abstentions by the 193-member Assembly. 29 November 2012. Credit: UN Photo/Mark Garten

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New Year Donation Drive: Global Research Is Committed to the “Unspoken Truth”

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Introductory Note 

Important article by Stephen Karganovic.

What is the the unspoken agenda of Woke Lunacy? Does it emanate from the WEF?  See this

• Derogate fundamental human rights by creating Woke conflicts;
• Create stylized social divisions which ultimately undermine broader acts of solidarity and resistance against the hegemony of the “Big Money” financial establishment.
• Woke Lunacy also serves to distract people from the ramped poverty and social inequality triggered by the corona crisis, not to mention  the devastating impacts of the Covid-19 vaccine on excess mortality. 

 

Michel Chossudovsky. Global Research, January 19, 2023

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Not one of the items that follow will strike a typical resident of the “collective West,” aka the 14 percent of the world that styles itself as the “international community,” as inherently improbable or even odd in many instances. They have grown accustomed to it; it is part of their everyday landscape.

Here, for illustrative purposes, is a select but representative sample of policies and prescribed behaviours that in that bizarre but thankfully shrinking part of the world have come to constitute the new normal.

Five Selected Woke Policies

1. In order to maintain the fiction that in their attributes men and  women are physiologically indistinguishable, the Canadian government has mandated the installation of tampon dispensers in men’s bathrooms. The empirical fact that men have no use for tampons is trumped by ideology, which dictates categorically that they do because it is dogmatically prescribed that men do menstruate and are furthermore able to give birth to babies. People who believe themselves to be something they are not, and claim that their subjective self-perception overrides reality, are politically empowered to cancel empirical observation and the conclusions reached by scientists who perform accurate, verifiable research.

2. Also on the ideological reality chopping block is terminology that points to pre-woke, common sense notions about natural relations between human beings. “Mother” and “father, “expressions that allude to the manifestly different roles of parents in the process of conception and nurture of offspring, in the woke-controlled universe have been forcibly replaced by designations “parent no. 1” and “parent no. 2,” invented to hide those facts. Now the Methodist Church of Great Britain has gone a step farther, to label terms “husband” and “wife” offensive. Inspired by inclusivity, the technical rationale for this departure from normalcy is “to avoid making assumptions” that are not “the reality for many people.”

3. The avant-garde state of California has passed a law that takes effect this year, AB 1084, requiring large retail stores to include gender neutral toy sections or face fines and other punishments. The new law will place an additional undue burden on retailers and will have the foreseeable economic impact of raising the price of toys generally for normal families and their children. Incidentally, it is anybody’s guess what the definition of gender neutral toys is and whether there is a market for such items. But in a parallel universe governed by ideological delusions these are inconsequential details.

4. In Britain, the country where the novel 1984, which introduced the notion of thought crime, had been written, the first literal thought crime prosecutions have recently been instituted. Isabel Vaughan Spruce, Director of UK March for Life, so far has been cited by the police three times and taken to court for silently praying in front of abortion clinics. Readers should note that her arrests were triggered not by speech or conduct but for an “objectionable” activity that was purely mental. British authorities did not contest her right as a citizen (or royal subject, if you wish) to be in the public space where she was detained. Detention and prosecution were based entirely on their perception of what allegedly was going on in her mind, in the proximity of an abortion clinic, which the authorities considered might be provocative and perturbing to the consumers of the clinic’s services. Readers should be aware that in common law the concept of thought transgression does not exist and that so far the British Parliament has not given statutory expression to such an offence. Nevertheless, an actual person presumably endowed with human rights has been subjected to persecution for objectively unprovable thoughts in order to enforce a legally non-existent norm. But that is the new normal, the rules based order of woke jurisprudence now taking shape in the land that once prided itself on upholding the “rights of Englishmen,” no matter how eccentric. Even the KGB in the old days could not have made this up.

5. Returning to avant-garde California, award-winning Glendale fifth-grade teacher Ray Shelton was suspended for refusing to acquiesce to male students who “identify” as girls stripping naked in front of female students in the girls’ changing room. For opposing the transgender agenda in his school Shelton lost his job. It made no difference that female students and their parents fully supported him and also vehemently objected to these aggressive displays of opposite sex nudity. Glendale happens to be a heavily Armenian suburb of Los Angeles and its overwhelmingly normal residents are unacculturated to progressive Western values. They reacted with consternation to the state-orchestrated sexualisation of their children. Their protests, however, were to no avail. Shelton is now suing the state for damages. Good luck, in the judicial system of the deranged state of California.

These morsels of lunacy might be regarded as the tragicomical final stage in the collapse of a suicidal civilisation except for the fact that by means of highhanded political manipulation and arrogant agenda imposition even nations and cultures which still retain a residue of sanity are being cowed into submission and drawn into the abyss. Let Serbia serve as an instructive case study, foreshadowing the contours of the coming dystopia.

Serbia. Submission to the World Economic Forum

[The Prime Minister of Serbia Ana Brnabić was Member of Klaus Schwab‘s Young Leaders Forum in 1916-1917. She was appointed Prime Minister of Serbia in June 2017. G.R. Editor]

Ana Brnabić. Image Right

For a number of years already and to the utter disgust of its citizens the Serbian government has been signalling its submission to Western values by allowing the parade that the Russian government has had the good sense to prohibit. But that is the least of it. Under the radar, Serbia’s colonial administration recently reconfirmed its fealty to the foreign masters by passing a gender equality law with severely restrictive provisions, copy/pasted from analogous legislation already in effect in the aforementioned 14 percent and shrinking portion of the known world.

As of April of this year, on pain of heavy penalties, in all gender related matters Serbs will be required to mimic their collective West models. The educational system, including textbooks, and all public sector communication will be reorganised to reflect the newly mandated guidelines. The imposition of gender sensitive language, including pronouns, ranks high on this agenda. Serbian parents will be obliged to conform willingly to the whims of their soon to be brainwashed children, acquiesce to gender transition hormone treatments for their youngsters, and to strictly observe the pronoun regime that will be demanded of them. Resistance will result in steep fines and prison sentences and in their offspring being forcibly removed from parental custody to be placed in government-approved foster care.

How totally “modern” is Serbia’s legislation in this regard may be judged from the fact that in Scotland an almost identical law, providing for up to seven years in prison for recalcitrant parents who refuse to accept their children identifying as transgender, has been submitted but still remains in the legislative pipeline. Assuredly it will be passed in the near future, but colonial Serbia can now boast of having beaten Scotland to the punch.

The alert reader might ask what compels Serbia to pass laws that an overwhelming majority of its citizens, perhaps exceeding in number even those who support Russia’s Special Military Operation, find utterly abhorrent. Serbia is not a member of the European Union nor is it obligated by any treaty to embrace such culturally alien norms.

In Serbia, there does not seem to be anybody capable of providing a coherent answer to this very pertinent question, though it may reasonably be inferred that the subservient position of the political elite vis-à-vis their foreign curators probably has something to do with it. But as Serbian academic and spokesman for Serbia’s Family Defence Coalition, Dr. Miša Djurković, has discovered, in his country it is inadvisable even to pose such questions. He and his colleagues, also distinguished academics and public intellectuals, have been targeted with malicious harassmentlawsuits for “discrimination” (readers from Western countries know exactly how that works) to the point where their patience and financial resources are now exhausted.

As a result, Dr. Djurković has sadly decided to terminate his pro-family activities. He recently published a tongue-in-cheek “apology” to his woke detractors, the powerful foreign supported and abundantly financed lobby that is wreaking havoc on his country’s morals and culture whilst subverting the remnants of its degraded legal system. (Readers with a command of the Serbian language may peruse his downhearted missive here.) Needless to say, the very subtlety of the genre Dr. Djurković has chosen to announce his “capitulation” ensures that his point will be entirely lost on the woke ruffians to whose terror, one hopes only temporarily, he appears to have succumbed.  

The nefarious agenda that Dr. Djurković had attempted valiantly to  oppose in his home country may well triumph, in Serbia and elsewhere,  if Bertrand Russell’s nightmarish post-human vision ever comes true, and the collective West’s luciferian engineers of human souls manage to massively implant in the human consciousness “the unshakable conviction that snow is black.”

That is the goal that Russell quite frankly proposed they pursue. But those were not Lord Russell’s private musings. It was the authoritative articulation of the ideology which animates the perpetrators of what Archbishop Vigano has called the “global coup d’état, the all-out war against humanity not motivated only by a lust for wealth and power but mainly by a religious motive …” Russell was in his time a leading intellectual oracle of those very perpetrators.

Their pseudo-religious motive, Vigano explains, is “Satan’s hatred: hatred of God, hatred of God’s creation and hatred of man who is created in the image and likeness of God.” The Archbishop is spot on.

Compulsory denial of the evidence of one’s senses and obligatory surrender to repugnant nonsense constitutes the initial step in that direction. That most certainly is not a scheme for the betterment of society. It is a blueprint for the crushing of the human spirit, leading ultimately to its total subjugation.

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Stephen Karganovic is president of “Srebrenica Historical Project,” an NGO registered in the Netherlands to investigate the factual matrix and background of events that took place in Srebrenica in July of 1995. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.  

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Rethinking Srebrenica

By Stephen Karganovic

Rethinking Srebrenica examines the forensic evidence of the alleged Srebrenica “massacre” possessed by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague. Even though the ICTY created more than 3,500 autopsy reports, many of these autopsy reports were based on bone fragments, which do not represent complete bodies. An examination of the matching femur bones found reveals that there were only about 1,900 complete bodies that were exhumed. Of these, some 1,500 autopsy reports indicated a cause of death consistent with battlefield casualties. Only about 400 autopsy reports indicated execution as a cause of death, as revealed by ligatures and blindfolds. This forensic evidence does not warrant the conclusion of a genocide having taken place.

Karganovic examines the events that took place in Srebrenica in July 1995 in a wholistic manner instead of restricting it to a three-day event. The ten chapters cover:

1) Srebrenica: A Critical Overview;

2) Demilitarization of the UN Safe Zone of Srebrenica;

3) Genocide or Blowback?;

4) General Presentation and Interpretation of Srebrenica Forensic Data (Pattern of Injury Breakdown);

5) An Analysis of the Srebrenica Forensic Reports Prepared by the ICTY Prosecution Experts;

6) An Analysis of Muslim Column Losses Attributable to Minefields, Combat Activity, and Other Causes;

7) The Genocide Issue: Was there a Demonstrable Intent to Exterminate All Muslims?;

8) ICTY Radio Intercept Evidence;

9) The Balance Sheet; and

10) Srebrenica: Uses of the Narrative.

• ASIN:‎ B0992RRJRK
• Publisher: ‎Unwritten History, Inc.; 2 edition (July 8 2021)
• Language: ‎English

Click here to purchase.

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“Following a weekend referendum on December 3, 2023, Venezuela has given directives from state-owned enterprises to begin exploiting the mineral and oil-rich region of Essequibo.” — Excerpt from the Jamaica Gleaner, December 8, 2023

Venezuela’s directives signify an unlawful action with respect to the regulations and principles under public international law. According to the Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter, states are prohibited to use force against another state in their relations and under Article 8 of the UN Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States, no state shall intervene in the internal and external affairs of another state which also could be expanded to attempts to annex territory.

Furthermore, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ruled in its provisional statement that neither Venezuela nor Guyana should make decisions or enact actions that would aggravate the dispute settlement process over the Essequibo region. Through a critical, public international law perspective, one could argue that the Venezuela-Guyana border dispute reinforces the limitations of public international law whereby there are weak enforcement mechanisms to ensure that rules, regulations and principles are adhered to among states.

International relations and law expert, Professor Stephen McGlinchey (2022; December 2023) postulates that there is no sovereign international body or institution to impose punishment on states in the way individuals would be prosecuted for a crime within domestic courts using domestic jurisdictions.

Other public international law and relations scholars such as Kevin Bloor (2022) have noted that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is weak its procedural, independent and authority capacity and consequently, member states can avoid their legal obligations regardless of the judgement.

Both McGlinchey’s and Bloor’s legal assertions are quite applicable to the Venezuela-Guyana dispute because it shows how the actions and pronouncements of states aggravate the dispute settlement process in defence of their national self-interests. Additionally, effective enforcement of the court’s ruling is highly dependent on the consent of the states to accept the court’s jurisdiction that in fact, a violation of public international law has occurred.

Another angle, one could utilize to examine the recent Venezuela-Guyana border dispute is through the lens of third world approaches to international law (TWAIL). Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL) argues that public international law has its roots in colonial origins and this, hierarchal structures with respect to sovereignty and there is continual renewal of imperialist domination (Serpi, 2023).

One of the reasons for the escalation is the fact that it dates back to as far as 1899 Paris Arbitration Award when both countries (Guyana and Venezuela) were still under colonial rule.

The case also highlights the pivotal role of overseas, transnational corporations and industrialized countries such as the United States of America.

Venezuela’s mineral dependency or resource curse dilemma is worsened by the fact that the US has imposed economic sanctions on its petroleum oil industry which has had significant impact on the country’s social and economic development. This is seen in growing social unrests, political instability, food insecurity, poverty, mass suffering and decadent state-run institutions which explains why Venezuela is so adamant in exploring mineral and oil-rich industries in Essequibo. For Guyana, the petroleum exploration and refinery company, Exon Mobbil has amassed profits of US$17.9 billion while poverty and inequality among low income and disenfranchised Guyanese have increased.

USA also plays a major role in covering the legal fees of Guyana in defence of its case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) hearing. These underlying social and economic issues perpetuates existing asymmetries between the Global North and Global South where powerful states and corporations deploy international institutions to shape rules according to their interests and agendas.

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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.

Tina Renier is an independent researcher based in Jamaica. She is a regular contributor to Global Research. Her areas of research interests are international development, with special emphasis on labour and development, education and development and women, gender and development.

Sources

Bloor, K. (2022). Understanding Global Politics. Bristol, England: E-International Relations Publishing.

McGlinchey, S. (2022; 8 December 2023). Human Rights and Sovereignty . Bristol, England: E-International Relations Publishing

Serpi, L.A. (15 December 2023). Nuclear Non-Proliferation and the Imperialist Dynamics in International Law. Bristol, England: E-International Relations Publishing.

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All Global Research articles can be read in 51 languages by activating the Translate Website button below the author’s name.

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First published by Global Research on May 23, 2023

***

 

 

“The United States government is the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today.” — Reverend Martin Luther King, Speech, April 5, 1967, Riverside Church, New York City 

“We are not on the wrong side, we ARE the wrong side.” — Daniel Ellsberg

In a phenomenally well documented study of the fraudulent accusations of atrocities leveled against countries targeted for military intervention by US NATO, fraudulent accusations then used as  “justifications” or rationalizations for “humanitarian military intervention” which devastates the targeted country, ravaging the “infrastructure necessary for sustaining human life” and plundering that country’s opulent  resources, A.B. Abrams describes savage US-Nato military interventions that trivialize the scourges of Attilla the Hun. 

The methods and patterns of these savage interventions are almost identical, indeed virtually predictable:  the country targeted for slaughter is always a state independent of Western (US-Nato) control:  first the targeted country is fraudulently accused of atrocities which occur only in the pornographic imaginations of the US-Nato accuser, and are subsequently (post-slaughter) revealed to be blatant fabrications, at which time these fabricated atrocities have served their purpose of inciting gullible public support for military intervention to end these non-existent atrocities.  Abram’s book is breathtaking in its scope, its accurate command of detail,  and horrifying in his description of the consequences of these fabricated atrocities.   

It is not possible to do justice to the great range of his work, which describes the shameful and horrific duplicity of the US-NATO scourge.  One lesser known attempt at atrocity fabrication against Cuba was “Operation Northwoods,” described by journalist James Bamford: 

“plans to engineer attacks on the US which could be falsely blamed on Cuba as a pretext for an invasion ‘had the support of every single member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and even senior Pentagon official Paul Nitze argued in favour of provoking a phony war with Cuba.  The fact that the most senior members of all the services and the Pentagon could be so out of touch with reality and the meaning of democracy would be hidden for four decades.” 

Operation Northwoods

“CALLED FOR NOTHING LESS THAN THE LAUNCH OF A SECRET CAMPAIGN OF TERRORISM WITHIN THE United States in order to blame Castro and provoke a war with Cuba…in the name of anticommunism, they proposed launching a secret and bloody war of terrorism against their own country in order to trick the American public into supporting an ill-conceived war they intended to launch against Cuba.”

Further, in addition to multiple attempts to assassinate Cuban President Fidel Castro,

“sea and air commando raids launched from the U.S. mainland, most often by exiles of Cuban origin and frequently with CIA supervisors, targeted oil refineries, chemical plants, bridges, crops, mills, warehouses, fishing boats, and merchant ships…the next stage of escalation involved biological warfare…In 1971 the CIA gave Cuban exiles a virus which caused African swine fever for deployment against the country.  Six weeks later the disease broke out in Cuba and forced the country to slaughter 500,000 pigs to prevent a nationwide epidemic.”

As Abrams describes it, with his impeccable documentation, it is almost impossible to find another example of savagery comparable to the barbarism of the US military ravaging Vietnam, atrocities preceded and “explained” as revenge for the fabricated “Gulf of Tonkin incident” which gained the support of the gullible and skillfully manipulated US Congress.  Quoting James Bamford in Foreign Policy, Abrams continues: 

“In light of the Operation Northwoods documents, it is clear that deceiving the public and trumping up wars for Americans to fight and die in was standard, approved policy at the highest levels of the Pentagon. 

In fact, the Gulf of Tonkin seems right out of the Operation Northwoods playbook: 

“We could blow up a US ship in Guantanamo Bay and blame Cuba…casualty lists in US newspapers would cause a helpful wave of indignation.  One need only replace Guantanamo Bay with Tonkin Gulf, and Cuba with North Vietnam.” 

Abrams quotes Rodney Carlisle’s “Encyclopaedia of Intelligence and Counterintelligence”: 

‘In addition to formal propaganda, disinformation was informally promulgated to journalists and the public as well.  The 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident is perhaps the prime example.  At the time, most journalists and the public accepted at face value the claims of President Lyndon Johnson…Yet the highly secret Plan 34A, involving covert attacks jointly managed by the CIA and US navy against North Vietnam was not revealed.  Nor was the fact that a US naval patrol had been sent to gather electronic intelligence in the Gulf of Tonkin.” 

Abrams quotes Robert Lehrman, former White House chief speechwriter: 

‘Was any of LBJ’s speech that night true?  That is exactly what he sought with a resolution written six months earlier, waiting for an event to justify it. ‘On the open seas,’ with its implication that the attack was unprovoked?  The Maddox, cruising off the Vietnamese coast, was part of a covert and illegal intelligence-gathering mission, designed to provoke exactly the response it got.  Two days of attacks? Even Johnson didn’t believe the second one occurred.  Aggression?  The Maddox fired first.  More important, the North Vietnamese were off their own coast.  They were home.  US sailors were about 8,000 miles from home. If anything, the aggressors were us.  Moreover, LBJ didn’t limit himself to deceiving the public.  He deceived the Senate.” 

Using the fabricated atrocity of the Gulf of Tonkin incident as an excuse for escalation, Robert Lehrman noted: the consequences: 

“Three million deaths in a total Vietnamese population of 30 million!  That’s a Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 shot down each day, seven days a week, for 30 years;  that’s not counting the 500,000 to a million victims of Agent Orange.  Aside from mines, of the 15 million tons of explosive ordinance dropped on Vietnam from the air, the Pentagon estimated that around 10 percent did not explode….Beyond explosives, the war effort premised on a response to the Gulf of Tonkin incident saw toxic chemicals widely sprayed across Vietnamese farmland and forests.  Former US Army medic Mike Hastic commented:  ‘The spraying of 70 million litres of the chemical defoliant Agent Orange on the Vietnamese people by the US Government is one of the worst war crimes ever committed in modern warfare.  It is the war crime that is born again with every new generation.  Children die from cancer, they are born without arms and legs, they are born with twisted bodies, mental illness, or no eyes, to name a few birth defects.  Their parents and society have an enormous burden to try to make their lives as meaningful as possible. “ 

Cancer, diabetes, brain cell degeneration, muscular dystrophy and mental problems among the Vietnamese population were all consequences of the lasting legacy of American chemical attacks….Rape was considered a standard practice for US personnel, many of whom recalled  being told by instructors:  ‘we could rape the women, spread them open and drive pointed sticks or bayonets into their vaginas…One veteran described such an incident as follows:  ‘After we raped her, took her cherry from her, after we shot her in the head…we literally start stomping her body.  And everybody was laughing about it.  It’s like seeing the lions around a just-killed zebra. 

The whole pride comes around and they start feasting on the body.  Another example was recalled by former GI John Ketwig who stated that when three young Vietnamese women were captured, ‘everybody circled around and they tortured these women with lit cigarettes…the one girl, they held her down and put the hose from the fire truck between her legs and turned on the water and exploded her.  And the explosion of body fluids splashed across our faces.’  He described it as:  hate against the Vietnamese, the ‘gooks.’”  

“Regarding life in the Amerrican client state, created by Washington using humanitarian pretexts, …A WHO study described South Vietnam as a land of widespread malaria, bubonic plague, leprosy, tuberculosis, venereal disease and 300,000 prostitutes..one of the few places on earth where Leprosy was spreading and bubonic plague was still taking lives.  This was the “Capitalist Paradise” that Washington brought to South Vietnam.”

Subsequent chapters of the book describe the scourge of horrors perpetrated by US-NATO following the collapse of the Soviet Union, when the “West,”  swaggering and drunken with what it considered its victory over the Soviet Union, which collapsed in December, 1991, swept, like Attilla the Hun, through Iraq and Libya, after bullying the United Nations into passing War Resolutions 678, 687 and 688 authorizing their virtual extermination of Iraq, buying and extorting votes in support of these resolutions during the first “Persian Gulf War,” virtually exterminating the Iraqi people, culture and ancient civilization, with the fabricated and subsequently proved fraudulent allegation that Iraqi soldiers were tearing babies out of incubators, and hurling  them on the floor to die.  The carnage wrought by the US, UK and France almost defies belief,  with the UK, according to the NY Times, in 1991, dropping one bomb per second on Iraq for a period of several weeks.  (As former U.S. Attorney General Ramsay Clark stated:  “The U.N. which was created to prevent the scourge of war has become an instrument of war.”)

Abrams’ chapter on the Yugoslav Wars is also almost unspeakably horrifying in its catalogue of US-NATO duplicity in fabricating atrocities they knowingly and fraudulently attributed to Yugoslavia, and then proceeding to perpetrate their own atrocities on their victims in Yugoslavia. 

“A confidential report by NATO’s North Atlantic Council stated that the KLA was ‘the main initiator of violence” in Kosovo and ‘launched what appears to be a deliberate campaign of provocation’ which led to the outbreak of hostilities with Yugoslav government forces. These hostilities in turn paved the way for NATO military intervention.” 

The KLA was deeply involved in organ trafficking, as Carla Del Ponti and Dick Marti reported to the Council of Europe, with Kosovo’s Prime Minister Hashim Thaci chief perpetrator, but that was ignored by NATO.  Abrams quotes the renowned journalist John Pilger referring to civilians being

“blown up in crowded passenger trains and buses, in factories, television stations,  libraries, old people’s homes, schools and 18 hospitals, many cut to pieces by the UK’s thousands of ‘unaccounted for’ cluster bombs which fragment into shrapnel.’ The extent of the slaughter perpetrated by the Western powers on the basis of fabricated atrocities widely and uncritically reported in Western press, he said, ‘requires an apology from the propagandists; because, as NATO’s planners never tired of saying at their post-bombing seminars, without journalists ‘on board,’ they could never have pulled it off.” 

This violence was perpetrated without UN Security Council Authorization.

Abrams documents the enormity of the damage to Yugoslavia’s economy, the destruction of a people, and the virtual extermination of a nation, which, as admitted by the savage perpetrators, could never have been accomplished without the media propagandists who flooded their public incessantly with details of atrocities fabricated and attributed to the country, in this case, Yugoslavia, targeted for slaughter because it was independent of Western – US-NATO control. 

Although Abrams does not state this explicitly, it is obvious that if the Soviet Union had not itself been dismembered, the destruction of Yugoslavia could not have taken place.  But the Western Press bears enormous responsibility and guilt for the carnage which resulted from their duplicitous fabrications of atrocities, without which the resultant devastation of an entire people could not have taken place.  The complicitous press was very highly paid for their spearheading of this barbarity, earning them the title as “presstitutes, as Paul Craig Roberts, accurately describes them.

The use of depleted uranium weapons was an unparalleled war crime in the “78 day bombing campaign against Yugoslavia which began on March 24, 1999

“….Lacking authorization from the United Nations or from the Yugoslav government for these attacks, or any argument that it was acting in self-defense, the Western assault was a crime of aggression against a sovereign state -considered the supreme international crime.  The Western alliance had launched limited strikes on Yugoslavia previously, but the new air assault was far larger in scale and was far more focused on non-military targets.  20,000 tons of bombs were dropped in 40,000 sorties, with the munitions used being approximately equivalent to the payload of one of the nuclear warheads dropped on Hiroshima or Nagasaki.  Yugoslavia was one of four countries the US had attacked from the air in the span of just a few months, with Sudan, Afghanistan and Iraq also being targeted at the time.”

Next in Abrams’ catalogue of fabricated atrocities and their consequences, is one of the most crucial events in this Western scourge of rape of peoples independent of Western capitalist control:  Libya, and the connivance of passage of Resolution 1973 by the UN Security Council.  

The Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya was one of the most progressive countries in Africa, spearheading a sovereign pan-African development movement independent of Western capitalist control.  Libya was extremely powerful and influential, one of the leading military powers in Africa and the Arab world.  But like the biblical Samson, destroyed by his vulnerability, according to Abrams, “Fearing an Iraq-style Western assault in the 2000s, after the USSR’s disintegration had allowed the West to impose harsh sanctions and arms embargoes through the United Nations, Libya agreed to unilaterally disarm and accept intrusive Western inspections of its military facilities in exchange for Western security guarantees and sanctions relief.  This fatal mistake is now the example for and reason why the DPRK will not and cannot divest itself of its nuclear weapons.  The destruction of Libya was so shattering of the nation and its people, that its renunciation of its weapons programs in compliance with Western demands and threats proved a  disastrous mistake, from which a terrifying lesson has been learned.

“In mid-February 2011 the sudden outbreak of concerted attacks on Libyan armouries and security forces by unknown militants saw Libyan forces respond with water cannon and rubber bullets, but refrain from using lethal force…. Throughout the conflict questions were repeatedly raised regarding who Libya’s insurgents were, how they had coordinated and trained for simultaneous attacks across the country, and why they had initiated a military campaign which it was clear from the outset could only succeed if Western militaries were to intervene in support. Some indications could be found in neighbouring Syria, which alongside Libya had long been one of the two staunchest opponents of Western hegemony in the Arab world, and which was targeted simultaneously by a very similar form of attack, and by  many of the same foreign actors.  Both insurgencies saw very swift calls in the West for military intervention against the targeted governments, and gained considerable support not only from Western media outlets, but also from major tech giants such as Google.  French Foreign Minister Ronald Dumas noted that Britain had been training insurgents since at least 2009 to ‘invade’ Syria, with multiple other reliable sources confirming that the insurgency had arms, training and support from Western powers and their partners including the deployment of Western and allied special forces alongside them.  In Libya the confirmed presence of Western special forces on the ground within days of the insurgency’s outbreak indicated that it had been long in the planning much as was the case in Syria.  Mummar Gaddafi, for his part, referred to the insurgents as ‘the traitors who are working for the United States and Britain, the colonialists.’”   As reported in the National Interest in 2014, “A decisive factor in the campaign against Gaddafi was a large influx of mujahideen, many affiliated with Al Qaeda…from Eastern Libya, just as the easterners had made a decisive contribution in the 1980s against the Russians in Afghanistan.’” 

Any description of the annihilation of Libya, which had been a highly developed nation and leader of Pan-African independence during the governance of Khaddafi, would be a repetition of the genocidal horrors which resulted from US-NATO military interventions In Iraq, Korea, Vietnam, Yugoslavia, etc., etc.  One unique feature of this annihilation of the Libyan nation and people, whose “infrastructure necessary to support human life” had been demolished by the US-NATO intervention, with United Nations Security Council Authorization, Resolution 1973, “was perhaps the most serious case of genocide and ethnic cleansing of the 21 century. 

It was perpetrated against black Africans who the Jamahiriya era government had protected but who jihadist insurgents targeted for mass slaughter and extermination, with the genocidal conduct of the militants the West had brought to power bearing a very sharp contrast to the Jamahiriya’s Pan-Africanism. …the massacre of Libya’s black population was fueled by outright atrocity fabrication—the primary culprit being Qatar’s Al Jazeera news network….Irish journalist Mary Fitzgerald reported public hangings of black men in insurgent-held areas. 

The Guardian described ‘pogroms’ against blacks reminiscent of Nazi Germany…..Video footage of blacks being tortured by insurgents, including being kept in animal cages…..provided a small indication of the kind of atrocities being perpetrated across the country by the militants the West had empowered…the new Libya quickly saw the emergence of regular slave markets as blacks were kept in chains or cages, sold for free labour, and often given hot iron cattle brands on their faces to identify them…black men and women were reportedly raped by the insurgence.

Perhaps the ultimate symbol of the horror to which Libya was subjected by the US-NATO intervention, was the unspeakably sadistic torture- murder of Kadaffi, a sadism committed by those “gentle protesters” that US-NATO invaded Libya to “protect.”  The horror revealed on Kadaffi’s face, captured in a photo on the front page of the New York Post makes no mention of the fact that in addition to the barbaric cruelty of his “gentle” murderers, they raped him with a bayonet and broken glass forced up his rectum, an unspeakable degradation of a human being, and a symbol of the Western values of “democratic humanism.”  This particular grotesque cruelty was not reported in the American Press, but Europeans were aghast when reports of this particular atrocity surfaced.  As one European stated:  “We were aghast because it was so unnecessary!” 

Abrams next writes of the Syrian war, and of the prevarication of the OPCW, fabricating  a chemical weapons attack in the Douma affair, and the 2013 allegations of a sarin attack in Ghouta, allegations disputed by esteemed journalist Sy Hersh whose impeccable sources absolved Damascus of responsibility for the attack, and indicated that Obama was burying evidence that Al Nusra was the perpetrator.  Western plans to force through a United Nations Security Council Resolution authorizing US-NATO military intervention in Syria were vetoed, three times by Russia and China.

On December 22, 2016 the Syrian Government recovered control over Aleppo, and though Abrams makes no mention of this, which may or may not be coincidental, on December 25, 2016 the airplane carrying the great Russian Alexandrov Choir, en route to  entertain the Russian troops in Syria, suddenly crashed into the ocean, killing all 90 passengers.  Just prior to this, on December 19, 2016,, the Russian Ambassador to Turkey was murdered, in broad daylight in an art gallery in Turkey, with a front page photograph of the assassination in The New York Times, quoting the assassin shouting:  “Don’t forget Aleppo, Don’t forget Syria” and soon thereafter the Russian Consul to Greece  suddenly suffered a fatal heart attack on January 9, 2017. 

The Russian Ambassador to India then died of a sudden heart attack on January 27, and on February 20, 2017 the famous Russian Ambassador to the UN, Vitali Churkin died suddenly of suspected heart failure. On August 24, 2017 Russia’s ambassador to Sudan, Mirgayas Shirinsky was found dead – of a heart attack in his swimming pool at his home.  Although Abrams does not connect these 7 sudden deaths of Russian diplomats to the Syrian victory at Aleppo, following Damascus’ invitation for Russian assistance, these seven sudden deaths may be related to this. 

Abrams’ earlier work on North Korea, the “Immovable Object” is a virtually inexhaustible source of reliable information about the DPRK,;  in this new anthology he includes analysis of the chemical assassination of Kim Jong Nam in Malaysia, which was immediately attributed to Pyongyang, which immediately denied responsibility.  He states:  “While the lack of evidence implicating North Korea as the perpetrator did not rule out the possibility of its responsibility, it highlighted the extent to which its adversaries could shape narratives and manipulate global opinion based on totally unproven accusations. –   He also examines the multiple anti-DPRK theories surrounding the death of Otto Warmbier, citing medical experts in the US stating that there was absolutely no evidence on Warmbier’s body of mistreatment.  

Finally, Abrams concludes with Xinjiang and the Sino-U.S. Conflict to which I will briefly refer, as Syrian Ambassador Bashir Ja’afari informed me personally that Saudi Arabia yearly paid for all expenses of Chinese Uighurs, whom they brought to the pilgrimage at Mecca, where the Uighurs were hosted a month after all other pilgrims had departed, and these Uighurs were then trained in jihad and Islamic extremism, after which they were returned to China for the purpose of fomenting terrorism and separatist movements to disintegrate China.   As the West attempts to provoke Taiwan into further disintegration of China, with visits by such US luminaries as Nancy Pelosi, etc., the attempted dismemberment of China continues, as does the attempted dismemberment of Russia.  One can only hope that Abrams will address that deadly agenda. 

Abrams book, “Atrocity Fabrication and its Consequences” is a masterpiece, deciphering modern history, and identifying the facts underlying the theatrical obfuscation by Western media.  It should be absolutely required reading in all schools and universities in the West, and elsewhere, but it is perhaps too truthful to be tolerated by the Deep State and Establishment, as Galileo’s heresy was intolerable to the Vatican during the Inquisition. 

It must be read by everyone who seeks the truth in order to restore sanity and genuine humanity to this tormented world, on the verge of incineration, as Daniel Ellsberg and Scott Ritter (and innumerable other experts)  fear that the nuclear clock approaches midnight and the extermination of life on earth. 

Those in the West reading Abrams work must be overcome by shame and disgust that our Western pretensions to civilizations are criminally false, and our respect for human life is nonexistent.  This is capitalism, with its contempt for human life. 

The description of US soldiers forcing a hose into the vagina of a  defenseless Vietnamese girl, then turning on its water full force, exploding her body while the soldiers witnessing the atrocity laugh, and the example of Khadaffi’s expression aghast with horror as a bayonet is forced into his rectum:  the reader must ask:  “What are we?  Animals are not savage for amusement.  The reader must himself burst with shame and rage.  But this book must be read nevertheless.  It is agonizing to read:  and it reveals the agony of the victims of “Atrocity Fabrication.”  But this book must nevertheless be read by everyone, if we are ever to become civilized – indeed, human.

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Carla Stea is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG) and Global Research’s Correspondent at UN headquarters, New York. 

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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New Year Donation Drive: Global Research Is Committed to the “Unspoken Truth”

***

Iraqi security sources are warning of an ISIS revival in the country, which coincides all too neatly with the spike in Iraqi resistance operations against US bases in Iraq and Syria, and with widening regional instability caused by Israel’s military assault on Gaza. 

More than six years after declaring victory over the terrorist organization, Iraqi intelligence reports now indicate that thousands of ISIS fighters are emerging unscathed, under the protection of US forces in two regions of western Iraq.

The Missing Piece of the Puzzle

According to intelligence reports reviewed by The Cradle, at its height, ISIS consisted of more than 35,000 fighters in Iraq – 25,000 of these were killed, while more than 10,000 simply “disappeared.”

As an officer of one Iraqi intelligence agency recounts to The Cradle: 

“Hundreds of ISIS fighters fled to Turkey and Syria at the end of 2017. After the appointment of Abdullah Qardash as the leader of ISIS in 2019, following the death of Caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the new Caliph began to restructure the organization, and ordered his followers to return to Iraq. The organization exploited the long border with Syria, the security disturbances, and the diversity of forces on both sides of the border to infiltrate the Iraqi territory again.”

Imprisoned ISIS officials admit that infiltrating that border is not an easy task, because of the strict control imposed by the Iraqi Border Guards and the use of modern technologies, such as thermal cameras. 

It therefore became necessary for the terror group to identify intermediaries capable of breaking through or bypassing these fortifications to transport its fighters across borders. 

An Iraqi security source, insisting on anonymity, tells The Cradle that the US plays a vital role in enabling these border violations:

“[There are] several incidents that confirm the American assistance in securing the crossing route for ISIS members – mainly, by shelling Iraqi units on the border, especially the Popular Mobilization Units (PMUs), to create gaps that allow ISIS fighters to cross the border.” 

The Iraqi security source adds that there are confirmed reports of US Chinook helicopters transporting fighters from eastern Syria to the Anbar desert in western Iraq and Jebel Hamreen, in the country’s east.

Munir Adib, a researcher specializing in Islamist movements, extremist organizations, and international terrorism, confirms the possibility of the return of ISIS after the organization’s “dozens of attacks in Syria and Iraq in the past few weeks,” which led to the death of tens of civilians and soldiers. 

According to Adib, “the international community’s preoccupation with the Gaza and Russia-Ukraine wars gave ISIS an opportunity to reorganize its ranks, while continuing to receive internal and external logistical support.”

Manufacturing and Harboring Terrorism

Houran Valley is the largest of its kind in Iraq, extending 369 kilometers from the Iraqi-Saudi border to the Euphrates River near the city of Haditha in Anbar Governorate. Its topography is marked by soaring cliffs ranging in height between 150 to 200 meters, and includes the hills surrounding the valley and the sub-valleys that extend into its surroundings.

The valley was and still is one of the most dangerous security environments in the state. Terrorist groups use it as a safe haven because of its desert terrain, and distance from congested urban areas. The valley and its environs have witnessed numerous security incidents, most notably in December 2013, when ISIS killed the commander of the Iraqi army’s Seventh Division, his assistant, the director of intelligence in Anbar Governorate, eight officers, and thirteen soldiers.

Iraqi MP Hassan Salem has called for launching a military operation to clear Houran Valley of terrorist fighters. He confirmed to The Cradle that “there are thousands of ISIS members in the valley receiving training in private camps, under American protection,” noting that US forces have “transferred to this area hundreds of ISIS members of different nationalities.”

US foreign policy, of course, is rife with historical evidence of the creation of proxy armed militias in West Asia and Latin America, often utilizing these organizations to overthrow governments in target countries. We know Washington has no aversion to allying with Islamist extremists largely because of its direct involvement with arming and financing the Afghan Mujahideen, from which the Taliban and Al Qaeda emerged.

An early US-ISIS connection exists quite clearly: the terrorist group’s founding and second rank leaders were among the inmates of Camp Bucca prison in southern Iraq, an internment facility run by the US military. The roster of high-value terrorists captured, then set free by the Americans is quite extraordinary: ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, his successor Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, Abu Muslim al-Turkmani, Haji Bakr, Abu Abdulrahman al-Bilawi, Abu Ayman al-Iraqi, among others.

Camp Bucca, known for abuses against its detainees, brought together extremist elements, slow-boiled this combustive formula for six years (2003-2009), then let the now well-networked extremists go free.

The religious officials of ISIS even say they used their time at the prison to obtain vows from prisoners to join the terrorist group after their release.

US intelligence also protected the terrorist organization indirectly, by allowing ISIS convoys to move between the cities that were under its control. Other forms of protection, according to Iraqi security experts, include refusing to implement death sentences issued by Iraqi courts against detained ISIS members, and establishing safe havens for the organization’s members in western and eastern Iraq.

ISIS: US Foot Soldiers in the Regional War

In a speech on 5 January, Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah warned that the US was supporting an ISIS revival in the region.

The Cradle obtained security information monitoring the new activity of extremists in Lebanon, communications between these elements and their counterparts in Iraq and Syria, and suspicious money transfer activities among them.

Lebanese Army Intelligence also recently arrested a group of Lebanese and Syrians who were preparing to carry out security operations.

Importantly, this surge in terror activities comes at a time when the Lebanese resistance is engaged in a security and military battle with Israel, which may expand at any moment into open war. It is also notable that renewed ISIS activity is concentrated in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Iran; that is, in the countries that support the Palestinian resistance politically, militarily, and logistically.

On 4 January, ISIS officially claimed responsibility for two bombings in the Iranian city of Kerman that targeted memorial processions on the anniversary of the assassination of Quds Force Commander Qassem Soleimani by US forces. The dual explosions killed around 90 people and injured dozens, in an unprecedented attack targeting the biggest US-Israeli adversary in West Asia – just one day after Tel Aviv killed top Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut.

Before that, on 5 October 2023, ISIS drone-attacked an officers graduation ceremony at the Military College in the Syrian city of Homs, killing about 100 people. These attacks, and others in Iraq, Syria, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Africa, indicate that fresh blood, money, and weapons are being pumped into the ISIS organization’s arteries again.

A high-ranking PMU officer, who asked to remain unnamed, tells The Cradle that US forces are preventing Iraqi forces from approaching Houran Valley by attacking any security forces approaching the area. “This happened when American aircraft targeted units of the PMU that were attacking ISIS in the region,” he reveals, citing intelligence reports confirming the presence of dozens of ISIS members and other extremist organizations in the valley, where they receive training and equipment from US forces.

Security sources in the Anbar Operations Command confirm this information:

“Noticeable activity by the organization had been recorded a few weeks ago in the west of the country. Near the Rutba desert, ISIS fighters were spotted digging underground hideouts. Information indicates that the organization is in the process of carrying out terrorist operations in many locations,” they tell The Cradle.

Concurrently, ISIS is expanding its operations in the east of Iraq, within the geographical triangle that includes eastern Salah al-Din Governorate, north-eastern Diyala, and southern Kirkuk, particularly in the geographically challenging Makhoul, Hamrin, Ghurra, Wadi al-Shay, and Zaghitoun areas.

It should be noted that US forces are deployed in Iraq under the umbrella of the International Coalition to Combat ISIS. Last week, four years after the Iraqi parliament first voted to expel foreign forces, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani weighed in on the “destabilizing” impact of US troops and demanded a “quick and orderly” exit of those combat units. 

Washington not only countered by saying it has “no plans” to withdraw from Iraq, but announced on 14 January that it would be sending an additional 1,500 troops to Iraq and Syria illegally, and without the consent of either nation.

One irony here is that ISIS appears to regain momentum each and every time Baghdad raises the issue of US military withdrawal from Iraq. 

It can also no longer be seen as a coincidence that the terror group is now re-assembling its forces to target Washington and Tel Aviv’s most capable regional foes – the Axis of Resistance – just when the US and Israel are struggling to handle a region-wide, multi-front assault from the Axis. 

The extraordinary synergies between the Americans and the world’s foremost terror group can no longer be ignored: their targets are one and the same, and ISIS is only now entering the fray, just as Washington begins to lose its hold on West Asia.

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Featured image is from The Cradle

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America’s War on Terrorism

by Michel Chossudovsky

ISBN Number: 9780973714715

In this new and expanded edition of Michel Chossudovsky’s 2002 best seller, the author blows away the smokescreen put up by the mainstream media, that 9/11 was an attack on America by “Islamic terrorists”.  Through meticulous research, the author uncovers a military-intelligence ploy behind the September 11 attacks, and the cover-up and complicity of key members of the Bush Administration.

The expanded edition, which includes twelve new chapters focuses on the use of 9/11 as a pretext for the invasion and illegal occupation of Iraq, the militarisation of justice and law enforcement and the repeal of democracy.

According to Chossudovsky, the  “war on terrorism” is a complete fabrication based on the illusion that one man, Osama bin Laden, outwitted the $40 billion-a-year American intelligence apparatus. The “war on terrorism” is a war of conquest. Globalisation is the final march to the “New World Order”, dominated by Wall Street and the U.S. military-industrial complex.

September 11, 2001 provides a justification for waging a war without borders. Washington’s agenda consists in extending the frontiers of the American Empire to facilitate complete U.S. corporate control, while installing within America the institutions of the Homeland Security State.

Click here to purchase.

WEF – Davos 2024. The World Is Falling Apart But the Show Must Go On…

Peter Koenig, January 15, 2024

Evidence Relating to NASA Moon Landings, Unexplained Flaws: What Is Reality? What Is Illusion?

Mark Keenan, January 16, 2024

Expanding Middle East War. Planned US-Israeli Attack on Iran, The War on Energy, Strategic Waterways

Prof Michel Chossudovsky, January 15, 2024

Video: Archbishop Carlo Vigano. A False Pandemic and The Imposition of A False Vaccine. A Criminal Plan of World Depopulation

His Excellency Carlo Maria Viganò, January 11, 2024

Driving an Electric Car Is Fake Environmentalism – Elon Musk Debunked

Mark Keenan, January 15, 2024

5G Danger: 13 Reasons 5G Wireless Technology Will Be a Catastrophe for Humanity

Makia Freeman, January 14, 2024

The Criminalization of International Justice, Putting an End to the Genocide against the People of Palestine. Nuremberg Principle IV

Prof Michel Chossudovsky, January 17, 2024

Video: Vaccine Data – This Could Change Everything!

Russell Brand, January 14, 2024

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

Felicity Arbuthnot, December 31, 2023

Genocide Will Not Save Israel. Will the ICJ Save Gaza? Paul Larudee

Dr. Paul Larudee, January 12, 2024

Davos24 Bombshell Video: F**k You at the World Economic Forum (WEF)

Global Research News, January 17, 2024

Video: “Shot Dead”. The Movie They Don’t Want You to See. “Covid Shot Deaths Told by Parents who Lost their Children”

We The Patriots USA, January 16, 2024

US Escalates Two-front War on Serbia

Drago Bosnic, January 12, 2024

War Propaganda Intensifies as US Mainstream Media Calls for War on Iran to Stop the “Axis of Resistance”

Timothy Alexander Guzman, January 15, 2024

Johnson & Johnson to Acquire $2 Billion Drug Developer “Ambrx Biopharma” to Treat Turbo Cancers with Same Tech as Pfizer’s $43 Billion Seagen Acquisition

Dr. William Makis, January 17, 2024

What’s the Magic Number of Vaccines Needed for COVID?

Dr. Joseph Mercola, January 16, 2024

Video: The World Should be Ashamed. Genocide and the Criminalization of International Justice

International Court of Justice, January 17, 2024

RFK Jr.’s ‘Unconditional’ Support for Israel Is Costing His Campaign for President

Scott Horton, January 16, 2024

“Toxic by Design”: Researcher Explains How Big Pharma Vax Operation Shows Intent to Harm

Patrick Delaney, January 15, 2024

On the Need to Study “Zionist Power” as Integral to the Globalist Push for “Centralized Control of Everything”

Prof. Anthony J. Hall, January 13, 2024

“Building Trust”?: The World Economic Forum Is the West’s Perfect “White-Collar Euthanasia Agent”

By Peter Koenig, January 18, 2024

The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) motto for Davos24 (ongoing) is “Rebuilding Trust”. This is worse than a joke because what the WEF propagates openly – a Polygon Cyberattack, a not yet identified virus “X”, already somewhere out there (say Bill Gates and WHO’s Tedros), and more — as well as the untold secret behind closed-door topics, is anything but “Building Trust”.

Propaganda Surrounding JN.1 COVID Variant. The Fearmongering Heats Up

By Dr. William Makis, January 18, 2024

There is a desperation about the “JN.1” variant, by the COVID Cartel – it seems to be one last effort to scare substantial numbers of people into taking their COVID booster shots, before a probable “escalation”.

Zelensky Wants a “Peace Summit” to Which Russia Would Not be Invited

By Drago Bosnic, January 18, 2024

For all of human history, when two sides are in a conflict and one wants to initiate peace talks (common sense implies it’s usually the one that’s not exactly winning), the actual negotiations require both of the warring sides to be present. However, the era of the so-called post-truth also seems to be a time of “post-logic”, as the Kiev regime keeps insisting on a “peace summit” to which Russia wouldn’t be invited.

A Quiet Evil: The Destruction of Informed Consent. Shared Decision-Making Whereby Doctors Help Their Patients Regarding Options and Medical Treatment

By Dr. Emanuel Garcia, January 18, 2024

You will forgive me this preface as I alight on a matter that demonstrates with simple clarity a facet of the evil that has been visited upon us during the Corona War by an institution purporting to have as its charge the protection of the public weal in its regulation of medical practitioners: the infamous Medical Council of New Zealand.

“We Meant It”, No More Weapons: US Stresses There Is No Other Military Package for Ukraine

By Ahmed Adel, January 18, 2024

The White House strategic communications coordinator, John Kirby, at a time when Kiev insists that it needs more weapons to combat Russian forces, said once again that Washington has no more funds for Ukrainian troops and stressed that there is not another package “in the works right now.” His statement comes as the Ukrainian foreign minister attempts to manipulate Congress using a Russian disinformation narrative.

How the US Misleads the World About Its Involvement in Yemen. Scott Ritter

By Scott Ritter, January 18, 2024

British Foreign Minister David Cameron cited the UN Security Council in his justification of the UK’s involvement in the attacks on Yemen, claiming that the Council had “made clear” that the “Houthi must halt attacks in the Red Sea.”

21st Annual MLK Day Event Focused on Labor, Community and Palestinian Struggles

By Abayomi Azikiwe, January 18, 2024

Shawn Fain, President of the UAW International, noted during his major policy address at the 21st Annual Detroit MLK Day Rally that the labor movement and the struggle for civil rights remains at the center of change and transformation in the United States.

NYC Physician, Medical Student Speak on Gaza Genocide and Intimidation at Campuses and Workplaces

By Clara Weiss, January 18, 2024

The Gaza genocide has galvanized immense opposition among healthcare workers and students around the world. Despite freezing temperatures, thousands of people, including many healthcare workers, students and youth, joined a rally in Union Square, Manhattan on Monday to protest against the genocide in Gaza.

Philippines Pushing China’s Limits in South China Sea

By Richard Javad Heydarian, January 18, 2024

The Filipino military chief has announced new plans for massive construction activities across all Philippine-claimed land features in the South China Sea, a move that promises to intensify already hot tensions with China over contested territories.

Gaza Will be the Grave of the Western-led World Order

By Prof. Saul J Takahashi, January 18, 2024

No matter how it concludes, South Africa’s lawsuit in the International Court of Justice arguing Israel has violated the Genocide Convention will go down in history. It will either be remembered as the first step towards finally holding a rogue state accountable for repeated, longstanding violations of international law; or as the last, dying breath of a dysfunctional, Western-led international system.

Nos últimos dias, o Irã lançou uma série de ataques contra alvos ligados a Israel e a grupos terroristas anti-xiitas. Os ataques de alta precisão tiveram sucesso na eliminação do pessoal inimigo e na destruição de bases e equipamentos, além de mostrar aos atores regionais o nível do poder militar iraniano, funcionando como um mecanismo de dissuasão em meio às tensões locais.

Os ataques foram operados pelo Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Mísseis balísticos foram lançados contra as bases do ISIS na Síria e contra as instalações de inteligência do Mossad no Iraque. Além disso, posições do grupo terrorista Jaish al-Adl, baseado no Paquistão, também foram bombardeadas, com Islamabad a condenar a “violação territorial” vinda do Irã e a prometer “graves consequências”.

O objetivo dos ataques era retaliar pelas recentes operações terroristas ocorridas em solo iraniano. No dia 3 de janeiro, duas explosões na região de Kerman mataram quase uma centena de pessoas durante uma cerimónia religiosa em homenagem ao general Qassem Soleimani, assassinado pelos EUA num ataque de drones em 2020. Anteriormente, outro ataque tinha ocorrido na cidade de Rask. , onde onze policiais iranianos foram assassinados. O ISIS foi responsável pelo ataque em Kerman, enquanto Jaish al-Adl foi responsabilizado pelo assassinato de policiais em Rask. Por esta razão, Teerã decidiu bombardear as posições de ambos os grupos na Síria e no Paquistão, neutralizando a ameaça de novas incursões em território iraniano.

No entanto, de acordo com as investigações iranianas, existe uma forte relação de cooperação entre grupos terroristas e a inteligência israelita. Acredita-se que milícias ilegais funcionam como representantes do Estado sionista para lançar ataques ao Irã, razão pela qual o país persa também bombardeou alvos estratégicos ligados à Mossad no Curdistão iraquiano. Segundo Teerã, havia um “centro de espionagem” israelense na região, onde os ataques ao Irã foram planejados por profissionais da inteligência sionista.

Os porta-vozes do IRGC também deixaram claro que as operações contra terroristas e espiões israelitas continuarão até que a “vingança pelos mártires iranianos” seja alcançada. Portanto, espera-se que novos ataques ocorram contra vários alvos na região nos próximos dias.

“Em resposta aos recentes crimes dos grupos terroristas que martirizaram injustamente um grupo dos nossos queridos compatriotas em Kerman e Rask, identificamos locais de reunião de comandantes e elementos do ISIS relacionados com recentes operações terroristas nos territórios ocupados da Síria e destruímo-los. disparando uma série de mísseis balísticos (…) [Também usamos mísseis contra] um dos principais quartéis-generais de espionagem do regime sionista [Mossad] na região do Curdistão no Iraque (…) [O ataque foi] em resposta aos recentes atos vis do regime sionista ao martirizar os comandantes do IRGC (…) Asseguramos à nossa amada nação que as operações ofensivas do IRGC continuarão até que as últimas gotas de sangue dos mártires sejam vingadas “, diz uma declaração do IRGC.

Um detalhe curioso sobre o caso é que a base visada do Mossad no Curdistão estava localizada perto de um consulado americano. Relatos não confirmados dizem que os alvos americanos foram neutralizados no ataque. Mesmo que isto não seja verdade, os ataques foram de fato uma operação dissuasora contra os EUA, destinada a mostrar à equipe diplomática americana o elevado nível das capacidades militares iranianas.

Além de retaliar pelas mortes de cidadãos iranianos, estes bombardeamentos são importantes para Teerã, a fim de demonstrar força e dissuadir os inimigos regionais no atual contexto de tensões. O Irã está a enviar uma mensagem clara aos seus inimigos, afirmando que está disposto a retaliar por cada ataque que sofrer, mesmo que tenha de lançar ataques em territórios estrangeiros, aumentando os riscos de um conflito regional total.

Esses movimentos já eram esperados. Israel e os seus aliados não respeitaram o Irã e avançaram seriamente nas suas provocações, sem levar em conta o grande potencial militar do país. Além de ser uma potência militar relevante e possuir uma indústria de defesa muito forte, Teerã também controla uma grande aliança internacional de milícias, sendo capaz de lidar com cenários de conflitos complexos tanto direta quanto indiretamente. Os inimigos do Irã enfrentarão inevitavelmente muitas dificuldades se quiserem realmente escalar as tensões para uma situação de hostilidades abertas.

A melhor coisa que os EUA e Israel podem fazer nesta situação é simplesmente acalmar o conflito. Não é racional nem estratégico prosseguir um cenário de hostilidades com o Irã, e não há razão para criar um ciclo vicioso de violência que conduza a uma guerra regional total. Contudo, infelizmente, a racionalidade e o sentido estratégico já não parecem ser fatores relevantes no processo de tomada de decisão israelita e americano.

Lucas Leiroz de Almeida

 

 

 

Artigo em inglês : Iran launches high precision strikes in retaliation for terrorist attacks, InfoBrics, 17 de Janeiro de 2023.

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

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

To receive Global Research’s Daily Newsletter (selected articles), click here.

Click the share button above to email/forward this article to your friends and colleagues. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter and subscribe to our Telegram Channel. Feel free to repost and share widely Global Research articles.

New Year Donation Drive: Global Research Is Committed to the “Unspoken Truth”

***

Jan. 5, 2024 USA TODAY: The US is starting 2024 in its second-largest COVID surge ever, experts say.

PROPAGANDA surrounding JN.1 COVID-19 Variant is ramping up over the past few weeks.

Talking Point #1: JN.1 is currently the 2nd largest surge of the entire pandemic (according to COVID wastewater data).

Talking Point #2: JN.1 is highly mutated and up to 4x better at evading immune system than previous variant BA.2.86.

Talking Point #3: JN.1 has achieved “global dominance”, and most if not all variants in the foreseeable future will come from it. It’s a “game changer”.

 

Talking Point #4: JN.1 is so different, it should have its own Greek letter, according to Eric Topol MD.

 

Talking Point #5: JN.1 Incubation period is 3 days or less.

 

 

Talking Point #6: BA.2.86 and JN.1 can fuse to human cells more efficiently and can infect cells that line the lower lung (just like pre-Omicron strains). It may cause more severe disease.

Talking Point #7: According to WHO, holiday gatherings have spread JN.1 and caused 10,000 COVID-19 deaths in December 2023.

 

 

Talking Point #8: New COVID boosters work against JN.1 “severe disease” even though it has 30+ mutations away from the variant XBB.1.5 the COVID boosters were designed for.

Johns Hopkins: “Tests detect JN.1, the news vaccines protect against severe disease, and antivirals are still capable of treating infection from JN.1″

 

 

Talking Point #9: New COVID Boosters generate antibodies against JN.1 “albeit fewer of them…as ever, vaccines will not totally block JN.1 infections but should reduce death” (Time Magazine).

Talking Point #10: New COVID Boosters will protect you against JN.1 hospitalizations, Long COVID, heart attacks and strokes (Peter Hotez really said this).

 

 

Talking Point #11: JN.1 spreading is the reason mandatory masking policies are returning (Johns Hopkins brings back mask mandates):

 

 

 

Talking Point #12: Hospitals are “preparing to once again be overrun with COVID patients.”

 

 

Talking Point #13: Over 100 nursing homes in Victoria, Australia are battling COVID outbreaks due to JN.1.

 

Talking Point #14: Canada, British Columbia Hospitals have set a record for “hospitalizations” on Jan. 10, 2024.

 

 

Talking Point #15: JN.1 is not killing that many people but will add millions to “LONG COVID” (Dr.Eric Topol). You must get your COVID shot to reduce Long COVID risk by 40-50%.

Vaccinations are protective – 40 to 50% reduction of Long COVID.

 

Talking point #16: Long COVID is like HIV – it destroys the immune system.

Talking point #17: Australia has two COVID-19 Variants spreading and the second is “HV.1”

Talking Point #18: JN.1 Variant could mutate in an animal reservoir like deer or recombine with another “more deadly coronavirus like SARS or MERS.”

 

My Take…

I have read through many articles and posts and have digested the Propaganda so you don’t have to.

There is a desperation about the “JN.1” variant, by the COVID Cartel – it seems to be one last effort to scare substantial numbers of people into taking their COVID booster shots, before a probable “escalation”.

The earlier part of this effort, let’s call it “Phase 1” was the marketing campaign for people to get their COVID-19 jab with their flu jab – this was pushed heavily by politicians and celebrities. How bad was it? This bad:

The COVID & flu jab campaign only got about 10-15% of people to take the new COVID-19 jabs, far short of the 50% that Big pharma was targeting (flu jab uptake is 50% and the “double jab” was meant to be a new normal for “annual shots”).

Phase 1 failed. One more round of poison for 50% of the population didn’t work.

Phase 2 is the JN.1 Variant. Heavily mutated (30+ mutations in spike region), rapidly spreading (predictions of up to 2 million infections per day in the US at the peak), but not particularly dangerous (yet).

The “hospitals are overflowing” and nursing home outbreaks propaganda is coming mainly from Australia and Canada, not as much the US. In fact, past 2 days, I am seeing a lot of “overflowing ERs” with “unacceptable waiting times” in various Canadian provinces. Canadians are petrified. There is a reason for this controlled chaos.

Who is struggling with JN.1? The recently COVID Vaccinated and the 4x, 5x, 6x, 7x jabbed. The 2x and 3x jabbed may have recovered from immune dysfunction.

Since governments refuse to give data on vaccine status of those in the hospital, assume that close to 100% of the hospitalized are vaccinated whose immune systems are severely damaged.

Still, deaths from JN.1 are uncommon. So instead, the fear mongering focuses on “Long COVID” and suddenly “Long COVID” is the new HIV.

According to big pharma MD Eric Topol, COVID Vaccines reduce Long COVID by 40-50%. So if you don’t get the new jab, you’ll end up with Long COVID which is like HIV.

In reality, if you take the jab, you will end up with a destroyed immune system like HIV.

Add in the subliminal messaging of the “HV-1” variant in Australia that looks very much like “HIV-1”.

I do believe we’re nearing the end of Phase 2, and they will continue to try to force mask mandates throughout US and Canada.

A more uniform rollout of mask mandates would set the stage for Phase 3 and possible lockdowns due to a “black swan event”.

The warning signs (which I will cover in the next substack):

• Jan. 17, 2024 – WEF Davos Conference Session on “Disease X”
• Feb. 2024 – Google warns of “sensitive event” (civil emergencies, natural disasters, public health emergencies, terrorism, mass acts of violence, etc)
• May 2024 – WHO Pandemic Treaty

Phase 3 is Disease X and black swan events and will be covered in depth in next 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.

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

by Michel Chossudovsky

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Os problemas de mobilização da Ucrânia são cada vez mais claros. O país já não tem cidadãos jovens suficientes para continuar a lutar, razão pela qual apela à população mais idosa. Atualmente, segundo as autoridades locais, a idade média dos combatentes de Kiev é superior a 40 anos, o que mostra como o país está enfraquecido e incapaz de continuar a lutar a longo prazo.

Numa entrevista recente à Espresso TV, Aleksey Tarasenko, comandante da 5ª Brigada de Assalto de Kiev, admitiu os dados críticos sobre a idade média dos soldados ucranianos. Afirmou que é urgente a realização de novas campanhas de mobilização para angariar os mais jovens, pois há uma série de “problemas” no recrutamento de idosos.

“Os militares aguardam ansiosamente novos reforços porque a situação em muitas unidades é crítica em termos de pessoal (…) Mesmo aqueles que vêm muitas vezes deixam muito a desejar por causa de problemas que normalmente surgem”, disse aos jornalistas.

De acordo com Tarasenko, a maioria dos jovens ucranianos anteriormente recrutados já “se foram”. Os seus argumentos e dados endossam a ala do parlamento ucraniano que quer não só apelar a uma nova mobilização total, mas também endurecer as punições para aqueles que evitam o recrutamento. O objetivo é ampliar o número de jovens soldados para reabastecer as tropas enfraquecidas após dois anos de intensos atritos.

Em Dezembro, o presidente Vladimir Zelensky revelou um plano para convocar 500 mil novos soldados. Porém, segundo o governador de Nikolaev, Valery Kim, esse número também seria insuficiente, e seria necessário recrutar pelo menos 2 milhões de novos soldados para que houvesse alguma mudança real em favor da Ucrânia no campo de batalha.

Na verdade, os números parecem irrealistas. A Ucrânia não consegue realizar novas grandes campanhas de mobilização porque já perdeu mais de 500 mil soldados nas linhas da frente. Os ucranianos que ainda não foram mobilizados são basicamente o que resta no país para ocupar todas as funções não militares – se forem convocados, haverá uma crise em vários setores da sociedade civil ucraniana.

Há um esforço do país para resolver este problema através do repatriamento de ucranianos que fugiram para o estrangeiro, mas esta é uma tarefa complicada. As pessoas que fogem das guerras são consideradas refugiados, e não meros migrantes, de acordo com o direito internacional, o que torna ilegal que os países de acolhimento devolvam estes cidadãos à sua terra natal. É pouco provável que a Ucrânia chegue a um acordo com os países ocidentais sobre o tema, esperando apenas que os estados aliados aconselhem os ucranianos a regressar voluntariamente à sua nação.

Todos estes fatos criam uma espécie de impasse para Kiev. O país não consegue continuar lutando. O que resta enviar para a linha de frente são praticamente apenas idosos, mulheres, adolescentes e pessoas com graves problemas de saúde. A maioria da população jovem masculina já foi dizimada ou fugiu do país, com um grave problema demográfico causado pela decisão de Kiev de levar a guerra às últimas consequências.

O governo ucraniano, no entanto, não é verdadeiramente responsável por decidir se continua ou não a lutar. Os patrocinadores do regime deixaram claro desde o início que a guerra deve continuar até ao último ucraniano. Mesmo agora, quando a ajuda começa a diminuir devido à crescente atenção dos EUA a Israel, não parece haver uma “autorização” para Kiev parar os combates. que não está preocupado com o bem-estar e o futuro do povo ucraniano – e que não tem objeções em aniquilar a população ucraniana apenas para tentar “desgastar” a Rússia.

Além disso, é necessário lembrar que mesmo que a Ucrânia consiga melhorar a sua taxa de recrutamento e enviar mais tropas para o campo de batalha, isso certamente não terá qualquer impacto real no resultado final do conflito. Os russos continuam a lutar com apenas uma pequena percentagem da sua capacidade militar real, tendo Moscou uma capacidade de mobilização abundante. Se Kiev aumentar o número de tropas no terreno, Moscou poderá convocar mais reservistas e terá tropas suficientes para realizar tantas mobilizações quantas forem necessárias – enquanto a Ucrânia é cada vez mais demograficamente incapaz de realizar novos alistamentos.

Assim, no final, a Ucrânia só tem duas opções: continuar no seu caminho suicida e causar danos ainda mais irreversíveis à sua própria população, ou agir soberanamente, romper com o Ocidente e aceitar os termos de paz russos.

Lucas Leiroz de Almeida

 

 

Artigo em inglês : ‘Very old’ soldiers majority in Ukrainian army, Info Brits, 16 de Janeiro de 2023

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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New Year Donation Drive: Global Research Is Committed to the “Unspoken Truth”

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For all of human history, when two sides are in a conflict and one wants to initiate peace talks (common sense implies it’s usually the one that’s not exactly winning), the actual negotiations require both of the warring sides to be present.

However, the era of the so-called post-truth also seems to be a time of “post-logic”, as the Kiev regime keeps insisting on a “peace summit” to which Russia wouldn’t be invited.

During this year’s WEF in Davos, the Neo-Nazi junta frontman Volodymyr Zelensky announced his intention to do exactly that.

On the eve of the forum, one of his top-ranking officials, Head of the Presidential Office Andriy Yermak, stated that the Kiev regime believes it is “crucial for China to be at the table for future talks on our peace formula” and that this is “necessary to end the war with Russia”.

As per usual, the Neo-Nazi junta keeps barking up the wrong tree. The idea that Beijing would try to nudge Moscow toward peace talks at a time when the Kiev regime’s overlords are openly talking about the so-called “strategic containment” of both (Eur)Asian superpowers is simply ludicrous.

China is perfectly aware of the fact that it would be next in line if it ever turned its back on Russia. However, for some reason, the Neo-Nazi junta keeps trying to get on Beijing’s good side. These efforts have been completely futile so far, but Zelensky simply refuses to give up. Still, it’s somewhat understandable why he’s doing this. Namely, China is indeed one of the most powerful countries of the new, rapidly expanding multipolar world, effectively being the cornerstone of its economic might.

Along with its growing military power, this gives Beijing the capacity to pursue a completely independent foreign policy, a luxury that very few nations can afford. However, once again, the idea that the Asian giant would use this power to try and coerce Moscow, its geopolitical ally, into accepting anything that would go against its interests is simply unrealistic (mildly speaking). First of all, this cannot even be done, as both superpowers see each other as equal partners, which excludes the possibility of imposing anything among themselves or any other multipolar power. However, this is not to say their foreign policy frameworks are in total lockstep. Still, precisely this multi-vectored approach is behind the success of BRICS+, SCO and similar multipolar global organizations.

And yet, as Chinese Premier Li Qiang is leading his country’s delegation at this year’s WEF, the Kiev regime sees this as a unique opportunity to push its vaunted “peace platform” on at least one top-ranking Chinese official. It’s important to note that the pressure on Beijing won’t come only from the Neo-Nazi junta, but also from its NATO overlords, who have decided to use this year’s WEF for another pointless “peace summit”. In order to give it the optics of an “international event”, they need to use the opportunity that Chinese representatives are there, despite the fact that their participation at the forum has little to do with Ukraine. The “neutral” Switzerland also agreed to play the role of the official host, which is supposed to serve as an important segment of this laughable “geopolitical talk show”.

“We would like the Global South to be present… It is important for us to show that the whole world is against Russia’s aggression, and the whole world is for a just peace,” Zelensky said about the “peace summit”.

The statement is yet another confirmation that PR and optics are everything for the Kiev regime. No substance, no actual point in doing any of it, but to constantly recycle the illusion that Russia is supposedly “isolated” because it’s not at the WEF, while the Neo-Nazi junta is. It can even be said that these futile attempts have long been uncomfortable for China, as its high-ranking officials have agreed to speak to their Kiev regime counterparts only for the sake of being polite and diplomatic. However, this is becoming increasingly tiresome, as Beijing is perfectly aware of the pointlessness of any “peace talks” that don’t involve Moscow, so much so that even the unequivocally pro-Neo-Nazi junta mainstream propaganda machine was forced to admit that this was a complete failure.

Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis said the gathering “helped clarify certain points” for future discussions, but admitted that it was “clear none of the warring parties were willing to make territorial concessions”.

This is a rather peculiar statement, given the fact that “one of the warring parties” was not actually present. Someone should probably explain to Western leaders that it’s exceedingly difficult to talk to someone when they’re not present. And yet, even if Russia was invited (provided it would accept it), the Kiev regime’s completely irrational demands would make it impossible to come to any sort of negotiable settlement. For instance, the Neo-Nazi junta refuses to give up on its vaunted “10-point peace plan” that demands “Russia’s complete withdrawal from the entire territory of Ukraine”.

Mind you, this request refers to what Zelensky claims is “Ukraine’s internationally recognized state border”, which in his view includes Crimea. Who in their right mind thinks Moscow would even consider talking to someone with such demands, let alone accept such a “peace deal”? What this effectively amounts to is a call for Russia’s unconditional capitulation, despite the fact that the situation on the battlefield suggests a complete opposite. To make matters worse, Zelensky stipulated several other absurd requests, including “the return of Ukrainian children stolen by Russia, sanctions, ways to use frozen Russian assets, humanitarian mine clearing, financial assistance and recovery”. In other words, Moscow would also have to accept outright lies and theft of its forex assets.

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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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New Year Donation Drive: Global Research Is Committed to the “Unspoken Truth”

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The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) motto for Davos24 (ongoing) is “Rebuilding Trust”. This is worse than a joke because what the WEF propagates openly – a Polygon Cyberattack, a not yet identified virus “X”, already somewhere out there (say Bill Gates and WHO’s Tedros), and more — as well as the untold secret behind closed-door topics, is anything but “Building Trust”. See this.

See this brief fictitious address to Klaus Schwab by an apparent official WEF invitee, captured by a 19-second video-clip that flashed around the world today, 17 January 2024, in warp speed. It is fake, a satire, produced by Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Yet, it is telling in more ways than one. It reflects the sentiment of just about the entire non-elite world, some 8 billion people. And second, the fact that it was produced by high-quality AI – the very AI pushed to the crushing end by the WEF and its handlers — also shows that AI can be neck-breaking, even, or especially, for those who propagate AI and absolute digitization, including by transforming humans to “humanoids”.

Inventions no matter how brilliant, used for diabolical purposes, tend to backfire on those who misuse them. WEF beware!

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First Movers Coalition

One of the latest inhuman projects, yet propagated as an environmental savior is industrial “decarbonization” of the world. It is called the First Movers Coalition (FMC), consisting currently of 96 members, with “more than 120 commitments” to purchase near-zero emission goods and services by 2030. According to the WEF, these commitments will represent an estimated annual demand of $16 billion by 2030 – the largest demand for emerging climate technologies ever created by the private sector.

These commitments apparently cover seven sectors: aluminum, aviation, carbon dioxide removal, cement and concrete, shipping, steel, and trucking. Be aware, these “commitments” are nothing more than “promises”, or in Cult lingo “Predictive Programming” which is but a warning to the population of what might happen.

This ritual is a MUST for Cults to be successful. They also create fear, which in turn, makes people submissive and drastically reduces the human immune system. That is their main goal. It is one of the more effective tactics of mind manipulation “science” à la Tavistock Social Engineering Institute in the UK.

Remember the Covid farce? It is now admitted even by mainstream having been largely “exaggerated”. People may take note, but the farce goes on, with the next lie, with the next false pandemic, or fake climate disaster, or energy shortages, producing brown-outs and black-outs. As it stands now, people will swallow the lies again, and again – and following the script with obedience, as they did with the covid tyranny.

Or not? Will We, the People, stand up?

The FMC was launched at COP26 (UN Climate Change Conference Scotland, November 2021). From then 35 members it grew to 96 today. The FMC “promises” by 2030, their commitments – now some 120, though non-descriptive — will represent an estimated annual demand of $16 billion for emerging climate technologies (whatever that means) and 31 million tons (Mt) CO₂e in annual emission reductions.

Indoctrinated to the bones with fake “science”, the “global environmentalists” first reaction will be: “Fantastic!“ Another step closer to saving the planet. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

What these Masters of the Universe do perhaps not know is that eliminating CO2 is a step closer to destroying Mother Earth. Because CO2 is as important for life and for the equilibrium of climate as is oxygen, the one chemical that is said is necessary for life to survive (other than water), with its symbol “O” or “O2”. For more explanation on the symbols, see this.

Without CO2, “food” for the trees, there is no oxygen. Trees transform CO2 into oxygen in a process of photosynthesis. See this.

If there is an excess of CO2, it is absorbed by the oceans (NASA); similarly, in case of a shortage, the seas around the world release CO2. It is a perfectly balanced system.

There is no need for industrial interference, for WEF-UN-promoted industrial disturbance of the equilibrium of the universe. All such interferences as the WEF promotes on many fronts – see below – are “gentle” steps towards euthanizing humanity, and what ever other “useless eaters” (quote from Klaus Schwab’s adviser, Yuval Noah Harari) can be replaced by robots, transhumans and AI.

Oxygen is what humans and most life forms need to breath. What the new WEF promotion, FMC, propagates to do, is helping to reduce natural oxygen production.

FMC-participating industries include such heavyweights as the Coca Cola Company, Qatar Airways, Velux, Volvo Cars, Inc., Drax Corporate Limited, Norsk Hydro ASA, and many more.

Guess who are the major shareholders of the FMC companies? You guessed right: BlackRock/Vanguard. The same financial power brokers are also major shareholders of hundreds of corporations, controlling every life-essential sector in the world’s socioeconomics, food, energy, transportation, western banking, and much more – thereby having an absolute stranglehold on humanity.

Guess, who is the major sponsor and financier of the WEF? You are right: BlackRock.

It is, therefore, not difficult to figure out who pulls the strings behind the WEF, WHO, the political UN, the entire UN Network. As long as the majority of (Western) people are feeling comfortable in the system, so long the fist of tyranny around our necks will tighten, lightly but ever more, as in euthanasia.

See this for the full article on the First Movers Coalition (FMC).

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Wanton Chaos, Killing, Confusion

Concurrently with wars and killing in the Middle East, in Ukraine, in Syria, Iraq, Sudan, Yemen, spontaneous murderous attacks on schools, subways, shopping malls, even in the streets, keeping people scared and on their guards, too nervous to think about their own good, their children’s future.

There is a fight going on between good and evil.

This tug of war is predicted to become even more intense in 2024 and in the coming years. We must not be afraid, and, thus, will be able to resist being pulled into the euthanasia mill – a myriad of tricks and traps, cleverly planned and planted by the WEF around the world.

WEF, as the (Western) world’s Euthanasia Agent, is working simultaneously on many fronts. Events and processes playing out at the same time are to confuse the people, to disguise the agent and to gain speed. With people ever more opening their eyes, 2030 is too far away to meet the targets. Speed is of the essence to subdue populations – and to advance the targets.

Many scientists who were silenced from 2020 through 2022 and much of 2023, have come forward and speak the truth about covid, the bioweapon, they called Covid vaccine – the excess mortality related to the poisonous injections called vaccines; the climate change fraud, the energy shortage, the environmental harm done by producing solar panels, building solar farms, and windmills – and more.

The latest fashion of the environmentally-conscious elite – driving an electric car – is the worst for the environment and for fuel efficiency. See this.

Biggest Dam Removal Project in US History

Have you heard about another lunacy being planned and in terms of predictive programming, the people being made aware of – scared? Predictive Programming is the Cult’s way of assuring success for their evil endeavors. So, they must tell people, stun them, block them as the shock incapacitates them from countering these diabolical actions.

The first step of this insanity is that four of the six dams corralling the Klamath River—which runs through Oregon and Northern California—are in the process of being removed by the end of the year. Supposedly for “good environment”, to safe the salmons
(Photo by USGS).

The US plans to eliminate 30,000 (electricity producing) dams by 2050. This is wantonly causing brown-outs and black-outs with disastrous, life-threatening, and life-taking social and economic consequences. See this Biggest dam removal project in US history is underway (morningbrew.com) and this Another Firm Warns to Prepare for Blackouts Across Major Population Centers (youtube.com).

Is this real or a WEF scare-moment? Whatever it is, fear is known to attack the immune system, so that even the non-Covid vaxxed may become more vulnerable to common diseases, but also to all kinds of cancers.

Take turbo cancers: Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said in a recent interview that turbo cancer (aggressive cancers) are on the rise in young people.

Expect large proportions of young people, as many as a third, being hit by turbo cancer (Bourla).

Pfizer is working hard to develop medication to fight this deadly disease. Bourla did not mention that the scary ascent of cancers are largely the results of the Covid vaxx-injections, a fair share of which were produced by Pfizer. Disease is their golden cash-cow playing into the WEF / UN2030 population reduction objective. See this.

Schwab and Bourla at 2022 WEF

By the way, the Covid “vaxxes” do not just cause harm and kill, they cause infertility in men and women, abortions and dead-born babies en masse. In France, the birthrate has declined by 7.2% in the first eight months of 2023, compared to the same period in 2022, the most ever one-year decline. See this. The picture is similar in most of Europe.

Add to this the excess deaths since the beginning of the Covid vaxx coercion; and add to this the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning, or queer) agenda, arduously promoted throughout governments and schools in Europe and the US. Obviously, gays and transgender couples do not make children.

Are the teachers who promote this crime aware of the agenda, or too naïve, to understand the purpose of what they are promoting? Or simply too scared to object and follow their conscious inner-selves?

Just out: In Scotland, parents interfering with their children’s transgender wishes, may face up to 7-year prison sentences. See this.

You cannot see the WEF, but you can smell the WEF.

And there is much more – events, programs, happenings, all in disaster-mode, all simultaneously, all WEF-promoted. Some of the themes are being discussed now, at WEF Davos24. Take the Polygon cyber-attack which was already simulated by WEF and cohorts in 2021 – to happen most-likely in the coming years. No precision. It never says who is the perpetrating enemy.

Take Barack and Michelle Obama’s recent Netflix movie “Leave the World Behind”. Scary, makes you breathless without answer. Haplessly condemned to wait for what might happen. Or not.

Also on WEF’s euthanasia agenda is the mysterious virus “X” – not yet identified, but it is somewhere out there, according to Bill Gates and WHO master Tedros. It will hit sooner or later. Big pharma is already working overtime to develop a vaxx against the yet unknown virus “X”, so when it hits, the bio-weapon injections are ready to be forced upon every citizen, with the help of police and military, if needed.

This only, if the World Health Assembly – WHA (WHO’s General Assembly) approves the two tyrannical documents, the Pandemic Treaty, and the heavily revised International Health Regulation (IHR). They had no chance at the UN General Assembly in September 2023.

It needs two-thirds majority at the WHA for these documents to become law – actually, there is no international law that would give the WHO the power to become the One Health Tyrant of the world. It would be the by now usual elite made “rules-based order”.

WEF Davos24 in closed-door sessions is devising ways of manipulating the approval of these two nefarious documents – they are an integral part of the WEF’s euthanasia agenda.

The Black Swan Event. Towards a Financial Catastrophe

And by far not last is the Black Swan event, also predicted for quite a while. Speculations are running amok of what it could mean – disaster in any case. Most speculations go in the directions of a financial catastrophe as never seen before.

Could it be the implosion of a quadrillion-plus derivative market? As an order of magnitude, a quadrillion is 1,000 trillion. Compare this to the global GDP of about US$ 105 trillion. See Ellen Brown’s elaboration on a possible derivative Black Swan event.

All the above may or may not happen. But “Predictive Programming”, applied to its limits by the WEF and its associates in crime, is part of the euthanasia agenda. When these events play out, people may die in masses from the events. If they do not happen, they may die from fear-related immune failure or from the outright stress from never-ending fear.

We, the People, must be able to say: F*ck the WEF and its globalist fear cum euthanasia agenda.

Let us go our own ways. New ways, create new societies with independent public banking managed money, leading into a new civilization. It can be done. It MUST be done, for the sake of humanity’s survival.

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Peter Koenig is a geopolitical analyst and a former Senior Economist at the World Bank and is the author of Implosion – An Economic Thriller about War, Environmental Destruction and Corporate Greed; and co-author of Cynthia McKinney’s book “When China Sneezes: From the Coronavirus Lockdown to the Global Politico-Economic Crisis” (Clarity Press – November 1, 2020).

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

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New Year Donation Drive: Global Research Is Committed to the “Unspoken Truth”

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It is tempting to think of evil in apocalyptic imagery: vast and sudden demolition, a searing propulsive darkness or a blinding conflagration, the work of engineered catastrophic mayhem, in whose wake is utter smouldering demise. Yet the work of evil is often piecemeal, steady, methodical, and the accomplishment of a great wrong may well be the result of the gradual accumulative weight of small decisions, whose progress is all the surer for its studied implacability. I think of a large battalion of infantry moving painstakingly across a terrain and claiming it inch by inch until they have vanquished all. Yet, in truth, evil is varied, its manifestations as many as there are living human entities who, faced with seemingly slight or casual choices, often land on the side of self-interest, self-aggrandizement and deception. And evil, however disguised, appears in language.

You will forgive me this preface as I alight on a matter that demonstrates with simple clarity a facet of the evil that has been visited upon us during the Corona War by an institution purporting to have as its charge the protection of the public weal in its regulation of medical practitioners: the infamous Medical Council of New Zealand.

On 5 December 2019, while in the employ as a psychiatrist of one of New Zealand’s District Health Boards (since amalgamated into an overarching bureaucratic entity now known as Te Whatu Ora), I received an email communication about informed consent. The document can be perused in its entirety here:

The “Updated statement on informed consent,” signed by Chief Executive Officer Joan Simeon –now, coincidentally enough, the Chair of the Federation of State Medical Board’s international arm, the International Association of Medical Regulatory Agencies – states the following:

“The key points about informed consent are: 

Every time treatment is provided, a doctor must have permission to provide that treatment. The process of obtaining that permission is called ‘informed consent’. Without informed consent, the treatment may be unlawful. To help the patient decide whether they want a treatment, they first need to be given information, such as the risks and benefits of their treatment options. 

Obtaining consent is a process of shared decision-making where a doctor helps the patient understand their medical condition and the options for treating (or not treating) that condition. It is more than signing forms and completing paperwork. As a doctor, you need to take the time to ask questions so that you understand what matters to your patient, and what their concerns, wishes, goals and values are.”

Bear in mind that this statement, meant to be a standard of good medical practice and to be used as a measure of professional conduct, appeared just as covid had been unleashed upon the world.

Then, on 28 April 2021, this very same Medical Council, in conjunction with the Dental Council, issued a guidance statement on professional responsibility and the Covid-19 vaccine (so-called), which can be found here. It was withdrawn without fanfare on 13 September 2023. It is a masterpiece of obfuscation and an inversion of true informed consent. As such, it represents one of those unheralded but highly effective acts of evil.  

Not only are health practitioners themselves expected to get the jab, but the regulators write that

“it is our view that there is no place for anti-vaccination messages in professional health practice, nor any promotion of antivaccination claims including on social media and advertising by health practitioners,” while simultaneously advising that “As a health practitioner, you have a role in providing evidence-based advice and information about the COVID-19 vaccination to others. You should be prepared to discuss evidence-based information about vaccination and its benefits to assist informed decision making.”

Yet when one of my colleagues undertook to provide advice to a pregnant woman about medical issues connected with the use of the Pfizer inoculation, his licence was suspended. Furthermore, given the provisional approval of the inoculation at the time and the absence of long-term safety data, the much-vaunted informed consent process and the collaborative partnership with patients implied necessitated a frank discussion of serious risk – risk that has, sadly enough, been borne out not only in New Zealand but world-wide, with an extraordinary panoply of adverse events, including death, amounting to a genocide.

With every day each of us is confronted by choice, on matters small or large. However mauled we may or may not be by spike proteins, jabs, hippocampal lesions, or the weight of the massive psychological operation played against us with covid, we retain the freedom to choose. During the Holocaust perpetrated by Nazi Germany – in an era far before viral or vaccine-mediated bioweapons were in play – ordinary people made choices, bureaucrats made choices, neighbors made choices, and a tremendous evil was allowed to grow to a horrific immensity.

Undermining a real, a true, a genuine foundational principle of Medicine – informed consent – in the service of … of following an agenda that has oppressed and is still oppressing us and destroying viable and decent Medicine in the process, is but another one of those examples of how evil wins its way in our world. The Medical Council of New Zealand, ostensible protector of public health, has in its serpentine and devious manner, shown us that it is as destructive as it is hypocritical, and as corrupt as it is authoritarian. 

And those many doctors out there who knew then and now know even better about their profession need to come out of hiding, no matter how uneasy or fearful of the “authorities” they may feel.

Unless they do so there won’t be a medical profession left. 

*

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

He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

Featured image is from Children’s Health Defense

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The White House strategic communications coordinator, John Kirby, at a time when Kiev insists that it needs more weapons to combat Russian forces, said once again that Washington has no more funds for Ukrainian troops and stressed that there is not another package “in the works right now.” His statement comes as the Ukrainian foreign minister attempts to manipulate Congress using a Russian disinformation narrative.

“There isn’t another one in the works right now or being scheduled for announcement or delivery. We meant it when we said it at the time, that that was the last one for which we had replenishment authority. And there’s — there’s not another one in the in the works right now,” the American official said during a press conference on January 16.

Two days before, the Pentagon acknowledged that it could no longer extract weapons from its arsenals to send them to Kiev since all the funds it used to replenish military material had been exhausted.

“We don’t have the funds available to us to replenish those stocks should we expend that. And with no timeline in sight, we have to make those hard decisions. And so the most important thing right now is securing additional funding from Congress, and we’ll continue to work closely with them on this important security — international security issue,” said Department of Defense Pat Ryder.

Currently, the Biden Administration is negotiating with Republicans in the House of Representatives to unfreeze a new military aid package valued at about $106 billion, of which $61.4 billion would go to Ukraine and $14.3 billion to Israel. However, the Republicans refuse to approve the package if the Biden administration does not establish tougher measures to prevent illegal immigrants from entering the US.

They also allege that there is a lack of mechanisms to ensure the transparency of the true use of American money when it arrives in Ukraine.

“What the Biden Administration seems to be asking for is billions of additional dollars with no appropriate oversight, no clear strategy to win, and none of the answers that I think the American people are owed,” said the speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, a Republican legislator who, unlike some of his more radical colleagues, is in favour of increasing aid.

The US cannot find information on almost 40,000 pieces of military equipment destined for Ukraine, The New York Times reported, citing a document obtained from the Pentagon. The US has lost $1 billion of the total $1.7 billion, according to the document from the Department of Defense that was sent to Congress and the press, with only a redacted version released to the public.

The newspaper did not give details of the 39,139 missing high-risk pieces, whose impact on the battlefield, confidential technology and relatively small size make them sought after by arms smugglers. It is recalled that under the US Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, the fate and use of the weapons supplied should have been closely monitored.

Great concern about the financial and military aid given to Ukraine, at a time when the US Congress is debating whether to send more aid to Kiev, has been raised. Numerous reports suggest that some of the donated weapons have already ended up on the black market around the world.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba flat out denied the allegations and described it as Russian “disinformation.”

“Every attempt by Russia to disinform the world about (the) alleged leak or illicit traffic of U.S. weapons into other parts of the world… turned out to be fake,” said Kuleba. “So don’t believe in fakes, believe in Ukraine.”

However, it is a ridiculous notion to claim weapons destined for Ukraine that end up on the black market as Russian disinformation.

It is recalled that the New York Times reported in May 2023 that “Ukrainian soldiers risk their lives to keep weapons from the black market”; Axios reported in July 2023 that “the US struggled to track military aid to Ukraine,” according to a Pentagon watchdog; and the Cato Institute reported in May 2023 “the tragic but unsurprising costs of loose US weapons,” among many other examples of non-Russian sources reporting the weapons scandal.

Kuleba’s attempts to justify more US aid by claiming some of the criticisms are Russian disinformation will obviously not manipulate Congress into approving a new package. It is likely a package will eventually be agreed upon when the Republicans get the concessions they want from Biden, but Kuleba’s entitled behaviour will only deepen the opposition’s animosity toward Ukraine, and only months away from the next US presidential election.

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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: An airman loads weapons cargo bound for Ukraine onto a C-17 Globemaster III during a security assistance mission at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, Sept. 14, 2022. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Marco A. Gomez).

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Dec. 31, 2023 – KY – 41 year old Lucinda Cindy Mullins was hospitalized with a small kidney stone and infection, and woke up with her legs amputated. Story above.

Why does this happen to the COVID-19 mRNA Vaccinated? 

1. COVID-19 mRNA Vaccines cause severe immune system damage
2. Minor infections are not dealt with properly – with a damaged immune system, they become a bigger problem, spread and can end up in the blood = SEPSIS.
3. Most people can deal with SEPSIS but those with immune damage can go into SEPTIC SHOCK = Multi-organ failure, blood clots, cardiac arrest, etc.
4. Septic shock results in not enough blood driven to extremities which leads to ischemia, necrosis and the need to AMPUTATE LIMBS

Examples of this happening to other people:

Dec. 26, 2023 – Chattanooga, TN – 13 year old Anita Navas developed an earache but also redness and swelling in her foot and arms. She was hospitalized with Strep Group A and flu type B. She went into septic shock and had to have her legs amputated (her COVID-19 vaccine status is unknown but she plays softball and many athletic kids were forced into COVID-19 Vaccination).

Feb. 1, 2023 – Willington, UK – 20 year old footballer Levi Dewey went to hospital with flu symptoms, then suffered severe sepsis and had to have both legs amputated after suffering multiple organ failure (click here).

Jan. 1, 2023 – UK Piano Teacher Julianna Bransden had pneumonia, which progressed to sepsis, septic shock requiring amputation of her limbs (click here).

Julianna was fully COVID-19 vaccinated. On Dec. 23, 2022 she developed flu like symptoms and on Jan. 1, 2023 she had two cardiac arrests, went into septic shock, multiple systemic organ failure, needing full life support.

She was diagnosed with sepsis resulting from an aggressive form of pneumonia. After weeks of fighting, she had to undergo surgery to amputate both of her legs below the knee and will lose most of her fingers.

Oct. 24, 2022 – 29 year old Krystina Pacheco suffered toxic shock syndrome after giving birth to her daughter on Oct. 24, 2022, resulting in the amputation of her hands and feet days later.

 

My Take… 

Doctors are not telling their patients that COVID-19 mRNA Vaccines damaged their immune systems and that they are now at risk for minor infections becoming life threatening problems such as sepsis, septic shock, cardiac arrest, organ failure and amputations.

COVID-19 mRNA Vaccines damage the immune system and each booster dose causes additional immune damage.

This was proven by Shrestha et al. study published April 19, 2023 (source), which showed that among 51,017 Cleveland Clinic healthcare employees, those who took more COVID-19 vaccines had higher risk of COVID-19 infection:

 

 

Cleveland Clinic description of Septic Shock:

 

 

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The Gaza genocide has galvanized immense opposition among healthcare workers and students around the world. Despite freezing temperatures, thousands of people, including many healthcare workers, students and youth, joined a rally in Union Square, Manhattan on Monday to protest against the genocide in Gaza.

Thousands demonstrating today against the #gazagenocide in #nyc including many healthcare workers pic.twitter.com/8bWlJzFBcs

— Clara Weiss (@claraweiss_wsws) January 15, 2024

The rally was jointly organized by Doctors against Genocide and Healthcare Workers for Palestine. Protesters chanted, “We are all Palestinians, in the thousands, in the millions,” and “Hands off Yemen.” Many held up posters with the names of healthcare workers who had been killed in Gaza over the past 100 days.

The WSWS spoke with a physician and a medical student about the genocide and the crackdown on freedom of speech at workplaces and on campuses in the US.

The medical student explained why he came to the rally:

I feel that it is my responsibility as a person of conscience and as a person who will soon serve patients as my career to advocate for the rights of oppressed people, especially when healthcare institutions and healthcare workers are being intentionally targeted by imperialist powers. This is an opportunity to grow the liberation movement for oppressed people everywhere, not just in Palestine, but particularly in Palestine.

Asked about the crackdown on freedom of speech on campuses, he said:

In my personal experience, I’ve found it difficult to talk openly and in public about these issues because in many cases universities have a very strong bias to Zionism and invest in the war and genocide. Having students call universities out on these issues is very dangerous for their donor base and must be avoided at all costs by the administration. That means the administration will punish students for speaking out. We’ve seen this all across New York City, with places like Columbia shutting down groups that are advocating for the liberation of Palestine. We’ve experienced it personally at my school as well. That gives us all the more reason to remain steadfast and to be out here and be advocates for each other.

"In many cases, Universities have very strong ties to Zionism and invest in war and genocide… That means the administration will punish students for speaking out."

"That gives us all the more reason to remain steadfast and be out here."#GazaGenocide pic.twitter.com/hl1UAn2YmI

— World Socialist Web Site (@WSWS_Updates) January 18, 2024

A physician who teaches part-time and asked to remain anonymous told the WSWS:

As healthcare workers, we have a duty to prevent harm and also attempt to heal. We are organizing because today in the world there is a tremendous amount of suffering and killing that’s happening in a very tiny, small piece of land called Gaza, which is being unrelentingly bombed. The entire infrastructure is destroyed. Those who have not been murdered by the IDF are now facing starvation, lack of access to clean water, and lack of healthcare. We know that this is literally genocide and we as doctors have a duty to speak out against that. That’s why we’re here.

I’ve always been pro-Palestinian. Thirty years ago I did a rotation in a hospital in east Jerusalem and in the West Bank, and I learned a lot. I saw the devastating effects of the occupation, especially with children and young adults. Unarmed people shot in the back and paralyzed by the Israeli police. Ambulances stopped at IDF checkpoints for hours, despite having critically ill patients, like a comatose child with a head injury. Since that time I’ve been a supporter [of the Palestinian cause].

Describing the situation facing his colleagues in Gaza, he said:

If their hands haven’t been blown off by the bombing, their hands are still tied, because there is not even the basic infrastructure to provide even the most fundamental healthcare. There’s not even clean water. That’s one of the basic foundations of having a healthcare institution — it’s got to have clean water. They don’t even have that. It’s really dire, very, very dire. People use the expression “bombing something to the Stone Age.” They literally are doing that. And it’s unconscionable, it’s absolutely unconscionable. Surgeries and amputations without anesthesia? It’s just absolutely abominable.

The discussion then turned to the climate of fear that has been created on campuses and at workplaces. The physician noted:

It’s been hard because there’s a lot of doxxing. I actually got doxxed at my work. I signed a letter supporting students who were being doxxed — the letter simply denounced the doxxing of students. But then I got doxxed by patients and families. I’m OK though, I didn’t get fired, although I got a lot of flak for it. Other healthcare workers who have been doxxed have not been as lucky as I am; some had job offers rescinded, some were fired.

It’s been very difficult. There’s a lot of retribution at workplaces, whether it’s a small workplace like a private practice or whether it’s a large academic institution. People have been fired for simply saying what’s on their mind, for simply calling out genocide. One of the reasons why we formed is not only to organize against this, but also as a social support for physicians and other healthcare workers who are facing this kind of discrimination and this kind of intimidation just for speaking out against the killing of an innocent people.

Asked about the role of the Democratic Party in the genocide, he laughed and said:

They’re contributing to it. Joe Biden has a $13 billion check and he’s like: “You know what, you guys should stop settling in the West Bank. Oh, but here’s your $13 billion.” What kind of pressure is that? That’s not pressure.

A WSWS reporter noted,

“We’re heading into an election now where voters are going to have the so-called choice between ‘Genocide Joe’ and fascist Trump. And no doubt some will try to make the case to vote for ‘Genocide Joe’ as the lesser evil, but how can you seriously make this argument now?”

The physician replied,

“Yep, couldn’t agree with you more!”

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Featured image: Doctors, healthcare workers and medical students protested Monday in New York City against the genocide in Gaza. (Source: WSWS)

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Ukrainian air defense has almost collapsed. Kiev’s officials already admit the country’s failure to effectively continue confronting Russia in the air. Given the intense use of missiles and drones by the Russians and the constant decrease in Western aid, Ukraine has exhausted its resources and no longer has the ability to protect itself from enemy strikes.

The country’s situation was admitted by the official spokesman of the Ukrainian Air Force, Yury Ignat. According to him, Kiev’s air defense arsenal has been depleted and there are no longer appropriate conditions to continue fighting for long, which is why he urges Western countries to keep on sending equipment to Ukraine. Ignat believes that the Russian armed forces have further increased the frequency and intensity of their air strikes, with Ukraine needing to replenish its arsenal so as not to be vulnerable to Moscow’s incursions.

“Intense Russian air attacks force us to use a corresponding amount of air defense means (…) That’s why we need more of them, as Russia keeps increasing its attack capabilities”, he said.

Ignat added that Kiev is currently relying exclusively on Western air defense systems and old Soviet equipment, as the country is unable to produce weapons at adequate levels. This is due to the fact that the Russians are launching massive high-precision strikes against Ukrainian industrial targets, seeking to neutralize Kiev’s ability to restore arms production. In this scenario, neo-Nazi forces begin to depend on foreign equipment or old and inefficient Soviet-era weapons, becoming even weaker in the conflict.

To avoid a quick defeat, Kiev would need to receive many Western weapons in order to immediately rebuild its air defense arsenal. Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba believes that for this it is necessary to receive missiles for the Patriot, IRIS-T and NASAMS systems as quickly as possible.

“First and foremost, we expect the meeting to expedite critical decisions on further strengthening Ukraine’s air defense capabilities, both in terms of modern systems and their ammunition (…) [Supplying missiles for Patriot, IRIS-T, and NASAMS systems is a] top priority that must be completed today, not tomorrow”, the minister said.

This lack of ammunition for Ukraine’s air defense is nothing new. Since the first months of 2023, the media has already shown that Kiev is struggling to continue using its air defense systems, with the lack of missiles having already become one of the main obstacles for Ukraine in the conflict. In May, Western newspapers even stated that the total depletion of Ukrainian air defense ammunition would happen in a matter of a few days – which shows how the situation may be even more worrying now.

“[…] Officials said the continuing need to defend against Russian missile and drone attacks had systematically depleted Ukraine’s stockpiles — a warning backed up by US intelligence documents leaked online this spring that suggested Kyiv might run out of ammunition for five critical air defence systems. According to documents reviewed by the Financial Times, the US assessed in late February that Ukraine’s ability to protect its troops on the front lines would be ‘completely reduced’ by May 23”, a May 2023 Financial Times’ article reads.

At the time, Kiev managed to gain additional aid from the West to continue fighting, but the situation has gotten much worse since then. The Russians intensified their attacks, also reaching facilities where many of the Western weapons were stored. In practice, Moscow’s strategy of maintaining a high-intensity conflict caused irreversible damage to the structure of the enemy troops, forcing Kiev to rapidly exhaust its defense arsenal.

There is an even bigger problem now for Ukraine, however. The West does not seem able to continue spending large amounts of money on useless support for Kiev. The war in Israel has changed the focus of attention of Western elites. In the same sense, Biden was unsuccessful in approving his billion-dollar aid plan for Ukraine and the EU had a similar project vetoed by Hungary.

The difficulty in approving new aid packages has no chance of being resolved soon. The matter is expected to be discussed over the next few months, during which Kiev will continue to need adequate air defense, being vulnerable to Russian attacks. All of this makes Kiev even closer to defeat, with no possibility of reversing the military scenario.

Indeed, it is impossible to win a conflict without maintaining control of the air. The winning side in a contemporary war is the one most efficient in protecting its territory from air attacks and most successful in launching missile and drone attacks. In this case, the Russians have an absolute advantage, as admitted by Ukrainian authorities themselves.

It only remains to be seen whether awareness of its own failure will be enough to make Kiev agree to negotiate peace.

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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.

Featured image is from InfoBrics

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The levels of anti-Russian paranoia are reaching dangerous levels in Sweden. Recently, the country’s authorities asked its citizens to prepare for a possible conflict situation with Russia in the near future. The case clearly shows how Western governments are acting irrationally in their decisions, ignoring reality and failing to properly understand the European geopolitical scenario.

The Swedish authorities’ statements were made during the Folk och Forsvar National Conference in Salen. Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs Tobias Billstrom stated on the occasion that Russia is becoming the biggest threat to Sweden and the entire Europe, adding that his country must be prepared to face a possible situation of prolonged conflict with Moscow.

“Russia will constitute a serious threat to the security of Sweden and Europe for the foreseeable future (…) [So] Stockholm must be realistic and assume – and be prepared for – a drawn-out confrontation”, he said.

Billstrom’s words were reinforced by the position of Defense Minister Pal Jonson, who said that the war could “come” to the Swedes. Jonson stated that Ukraine currently works as a kind of “shield for Europe”, preventing hostilities from affecting other countries. He fears that, with a failure on Kiev’s part, the security crisis will worsen and more countries will begin to engage in direct conflict with Russia.

As well known, since the beginning of the Russian special operation, Sweden has violated its own tradition of neutrality and adhered to an aggressive military policy, having requested membership in NATO. Although the process to accept Sweden into the alliance seems far from complete, the country has already taken important steps in its integration with member states, participating in a series of joint exercises and operations.

The Swedish government recently authorized the deployment of 800 soldiers to Latvia, where the troops will join the “Enhanced Forward Presence in the Baltic states” – an international NATO team led by Canada that aims to “improve” Baltic security amid current tensions. In the same vein, there was a statement by Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson last year saying that Sweden could have NATO nuclear weapons on its territory, which would represent a serious escalation in the regional crisis.

All of this shows how the Swedes, even though they are not yet formally members of NATO, are already engaged in the alliance’s war plans against Russia. Just like Finland, which has already achieved its membership, Sweden is resolute in working in favor of the interests of the Western military bloc, contributing as much as possible to the alliance’s projects. Scandinavian countries have irrationally adhered to the unsubstantiated narratives of the Western mainstream media, so that Swedish and Finnish decision-makers actually believe that there is a kind of “Russian danger”.

There is no evidence that Russia plans to launch military actions against any European country. Moscow does not have any territorial claims in Europe and does not see any need to use force against other countries on the continent. The reason that led Russia to intervene militarily in Ukraine is very clear: there was a genocide of ethnic Russians in Donbass. This was the only reason why Russia, after failing diplomatically, began its special operation and decided to reintegrate some territories into its Federation. There is currently no situation similar to the Ukrainian one in any European country, so Moscow obviously does not plan to “expand” its military actions.

However, it is necessary to emphasize how anti-Russian paranoia creates a kind of “self-fulfilling prophecy” as Russophobic governments implement measures that put regional security at risk, prompting reactions from Moscow. For its part, the Russians have no military interest in Sweden, Finland or the Baltics, but if these countries begin to engage in operations that threaten the Russian strategic environment, then Moscow will certainly retaliate in the appropriate way to keep its borders secure.

In other words, Russia poses no threat to Europe, but Europe is close to posing a threat to Russia. By calling on its soldiers to prepare for conflict, Sweden is engaging in a dangerous way that could have devastating consequences. From the moment it becomes known that a foreign country is preparing for a war with Russia, Moscow has the right to also put its troops on combat readiness. The result can be the beginning of a vicious cycle of tensions and frictions.

Sweden should stop believing Western lies about Russia and focus on its internal problems instead of taking anti-strategic military measures. Stockholm needs to resume its neutrality and stay out of NATO’s war plans, respecting its own diplomatic tradition.

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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.

Featured image is licensed under Wikimedia Commons

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“No president from either party should have the sole power to shut down or take control of the internet or any other of our communication channels during an emergency.”—Senator Rand Paul

What’s to stop the U.S. government from throwing the kill switch and shutting down phone and internet communications in a time of so-called crisis?

After all, it’s happening all over the world.

Communications kill switches have become tyrannical tools of domination and oppression to stifle political dissent, shut down resistance, forestall election losses, reinforce military coups, and keep the populace isolated, disconnected and in the dark, literally and figuratively.

As the Guardian reports,

“From Ukraine to Myanmar, government-run internet outages are picking up pace around the world. In 2021, there were 182 shutdowns in 34 countries… Countries across Africa and Asia have turned to shutdowns in a bid to control behaviour, while India, largely in the conflict-ridden region of Jammu and Kashmir, plunged into digital darkness more times than any other last year… Civil unrest in Ethiopia and Kazakhstan has triggered internet shutdowns as governments try to prevent political mobilisation and stop news about military suppression from emerging.”

In an internet-connected age, killing the internet is tantamount to bringing everything—communications, commerce, travel, the power grid—to a standstill.

Tyrants and would-be tyrants rely on this “cloak of darkness” to advance their agendas.

In Myanmar, for example, the internet shutdown came on the day a newly elected government was to have been sworn in. That’s when the military staged a digital coup and seized power. Under cover of a communications blackout that cut off the populace from the outside world and each other, the junta “carried out nightly raids, smashing down doors to drag out high-profile politicians, activists and celebrities.”

These government-imposed communications shutdowns serve to not only isolate, terrorize and control the populace, but also underscore the citizenry’s lack of freedom in the face of the government’s limitless power.

Yet as University of California Irvine law professor David Kaye explains, these kill switches are no longer exclusive to despotic regimes. They have “migrated into a toolbox for governments that actually do have the rule of law.”

This is what digital authoritarianism looks like in a technological age.

Digital authoritarianism, as the Center for Strategic and International Studies cautions, involves the use of information technology to surveil, repress, and manipulate the populace, endangering human rights and civil liberties, and co-opting and corrupting the foundational principles of democratic and open societies, “including freedom of movement, the right to speak freely and express political dissent, and the right to personal privacy, online and off.”

For those who insist that it can’t happen here, it can and it has.

In 2005, cell service was disabled in four major New York tunnels, reportedly to avert potential bomb detonations via cell phone.

In 2009, those attending President Obama’s inauguration had their cell signals blocked—again, same rationale.

And in 2011, San Francisco commuters had their cell phone signals shut down, this time, to thwart any possible protests over a police shooting of a homeless man.

With shutdowns becoming harder to detect, who’s to say it’s not still happening?

Although an internet kill switch is broadly understood to be a complete internet shutdown, it can also include a broad range of restrictions such as content blocking, throttling, filtering, complete shutdowns, and cable cutting.

As Global Risk Intel explains:

“Content blocking is a relatively moderate method that blocks access to a list of selected websites or applications. When users access these sites and apps, they receive notifications that the server could not be found or that access was denied by the network administrator. A more subtle method is throttling. Authorities decrease the bandwidth to slow down the speed at which specific websites can be accessed. A slow internet connection discourages users to connect to certain websites and does not arouse immediate suspicion. Users may assume that connection service is slow but may not conclude that this circumstance was authorized by the government. Filtering is another tool to censor targeted content and erases specific messages and terms that the government does not approve of.”

How often do most people, experiencing server errors and slow internet speeds, chalk it up to poor service? Who would suspect the government of being behind server errors and slow internet speeds?

Then again, this is the same government that has subjected us to all manner of encroachments on our freedoms (lockdowns, mandates, restrictions, contact tracing programs, heightened surveillance, censorship, overcriminalization, shadow banning, etc.) in order to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, preserve the integrity of elections, and combat disinformation.

These tactics have become the tools of domination and oppression in an internet-dependent age.

It really doesn’t matter what the justifications are for such lockdowns. No matter the rationale, the end result is the same: an expansion of government power in direct proportion to the government’s oppression of the citizenry.

According to Global Risk Intel, there are many motives behind such restrictions:

“For instance, the kill switch serves to censor content and constrain the spread of news. This particularly concerns news reports that cover police brutality, human rights abuses, or educational information. Governments may also utilize the kill switch to prevent government-critical protestors from communicating through message applications like WhatsApp, Facebook, or Twitter and organizing mass demonstrations. Therefore, internet restrictions can provide a way of regulating the flow of information and hindering dissent. Governments reason that internet limitations help stop the spread of fake news and strengthen national security and public safety in times of unrest.”

In this age of manufactured crises, emergency powers and technofascism, the government already has the know-how, the technology and the authority.

Now all it needs is the “right” crisis to flip the kill switch.

This particular kill switch can be traced back to the Communications Act of 1934. Signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Act empowers the president to suspend wireless radio and phone services “if he deems it necessary in the interest of national security or defense” during a time of “war or a threat of war, or a state of public peril or disaster or other national emergency, or in order to preserve the neutrality of the United States.”

In the event of a national crisis, the president has a veritable arsenal of emergency powers that override the Constitution and can be activated at a moment’s notice. These range from imposing martial law and suspending habeas corpus to shutting down all forms of communications, restricting travel and implementing a communications kill switch.

That national emergency can take any form, can be manipulated for any purpose and can be used to justify any end goal—all on the say so of the president.

The seeds of this ongoing madness were sown several decades ago when George W. Bush stealthily issued two presidential directives that granted the president the power to unilaterally declare a national emergency, which is loosely defined as “any incident, regardless of location, that results in extraordinary levels of mass casualties, damage, or disruption severely affecting the U.S. population, infrastructure, environment, economy, or government functions.“

Comprising the country’s Continuity of Government (COG) plan, these directives (National Security Presidential Directive 51 and Homeland Security Presidential Directive 20), which do not need congressional approval, provide a skeletal outline of the actions the president will take in the event of a “national emergency.”

Just what sort of actions the president will take once he declares a national emergency can barely be discerned from the barebones directives. However, one thing is clear: in the event of a perceived national emergency, the COG directives give unchecked executive, legislative and judicial power to the president.

The country would then be subjected to martial law by default, and the Constitution and the Bill of Rights would be suspended.

The internet kill switch is just one piece of the government’s blueprint for locking down the nation and instituting martial law.

There may be many more secret powers that presidents may institute in times of so-called crisis without oversight from Congress, the courts, or the public. These powers do not expire at the end of a president’s term. They remain on the books, just waiting to be used or abused by the next political demagogue.

Given the government’s penchant for weaponizing one national crisis after another in order to expand its powers and justify all manner of government tyranny in the so-called name of national security, it’s only a matter of time before this particular emergency power to shut down the internet is activated.

Then again, an all-out communications blackout is just a more extreme version of the technocensorship that we’ve already been experiencing at the hands of the government and its corporate allies.

Packaged as an effort to control the spread of speculative or false information in the name of national security, restricting access to social media has become a popular means of internet censorship.

In fact, these tactics are at the heart of several critical cases before the U.S. Supreme Court over who gets to control, regulate or remove what content is shared on the internet: the individual, corporate censors or the police state.

Nothing good can come from techno-censorship.

As Glenn Greenwald writes for The Intercept:

“The glaring fallacy that always lies at the heart of pro-censorship sentiments is the gullible, delusional belief that censorship powers will be deployed only to suppress views one dislikes, but never one’s own views… Facebook is not some benevolent, kind, compassionate parent or a subversive, radical actor who is going to police our discourse in order to protect the weak and marginalized or serve as a noble check on mischief by the powerful. They are almost always going to do exactly the opposite: protect the powerful from those who seek to undermine elite institutions and reject their orthodoxies. Tech giants, like all corporations, are required by law to have one overriding objective: maximizing shareholder value. They are always going to use their power to appease those they perceive wield the greatest political and economic power.“

As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People and in its fictional counterpart The Erik Blair Diaries, these censors are laying the groundwork to preempt any “dangerous” ideas that might challenge the power elite’s stranglehold over our lives.

Whatever powers you allow the government and its corporate operatives to claim now, whatever the reason might be, will at some point in the future be abused and used against you by tyrants of your own making.

By the time you add AI technologies, social credit systems, and wall-to-wall surveillance into the mix, you don’t even have to be a critic of the government to get snared in the web of digital censorship.

Eventually, as George Orwell predicted, telling the truth will become a revolutionary act.

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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.

Featured image is from Countercurrents

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New Year Donation Drive: Global Research Is Committed to the “Unspoken Truth”

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Reading the tea leaves for the 2024 economy is challenging. On January 5th, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said we have achieved a “soft landing,” with wages rising faster than prices in 2023. But critics are questioning the official figures, and prices are still high. Surveys show that consumers remain apprehensive.

There are other concerns. On Dec. 24, 2023, Catherine Herridge, a senior investigative correspondent for CBS News covering national security and intelligence, said on “Face the Nation,”

“I just feel a lot of concern that 2024 may be the year of a black swan event. This is a national security event with high impact that’s very hard to predict.”  

What sort of event she didn’t say, but speculations have included a major cyberattack; a banking crisis due to a wave of defaults from high interest rates, particularly in commercial real estate; an oil embargo due to war; or a civil war. Any major black swan could prick the massive derivatives bubble, which the Bank for International Settlements put at over one quadrillion (1,000 trillion) dollars as far back as 2008. With global GDP at only $100 trillion, there is not enough money in the world to satisfy all these derivative claims. A derivative crisis helped trigger the 2008 banking collapse, and that could happen again. 

The dangers of derivatives have been known for decades. Warren Buffett wrote in 2002 that they were “financial weapons of mass destruction.” James Rickards wrote in U.S. News & World Report in 2012 that they should be banned. Yet Congress has not acted. This article looks at the current derivative threat, and at what might motivate our politicians to defuse it. 

What Regulation Hath Wrought

Derivatives are basically just bets, which are sold as “insurance” — protection against changes in interest rates or exchange rates, defaults on loans and the like. When one of the parties to the wager has a real economic interest to be protected – e.g. a farmer ensuring the value of his autumn crops against loss — the wager is considered socially valuable “hedging.” But most derivative bets today are designed simply to make money from other traders, degenerating into what has been called “casino capitalism.” 

In 2008, derivative trading brought down investment bank Bear Stearns and international insurer A.I.G. These institutions could not be allowed to fail because the trillions of dollars in credit default swaps on their books would have been wiped out, forcing the counterparty banks and financial institutions to write down the value of their own risky and now “unhedged” loans. Bear and A.I.G. were bailed out by the taxpayers; but the Treasury drew the line at Lehman Brothers, and the market crashed.  

Under the rubric of “no more bailouts,” the Dodd Frank Act of 2010 purported to fix the problem by giving derivatives special privileges. Most creditors are “stayed” from enforcing their rights while a firm is in bankruptcy, but many derivative contracts are exempt from these stays. Counterparties owed collateral can grab it immediately without judicial review, before bankruptcy proceedings even begin. Depositors become “unsecured creditors” who can recover their funds only after derivative, repo and other secured claims, assuming there is anything left to recover, which in the event of a major derivative crisis would be unlikely. We saw this “bail-in” policy play out in Cyprus in 2013.  

That’s true for deposits, but what of stocks, bonds and money market funds? Under the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) and the Bankruptcy Act of 2005, derivative securities also enjoy special protections. “Safe harbor” is provided to privileged entities described in court documents as “the protected class.” Derivatives enjoy “netting” and “close-out” privileges on the theory that they are a major source of systemic risk, and that allowing claimants to jump ahead of other investors in order to net and close out their bets reduces that risk. However, critical analysis has shown that derivative “super-priority” in bankruptcy can actually increase risk and propel otherwise viable financial entities into insolvency. 

It is also highly inequitable. The collateral grabbed to close out derivative claims may be your stocks and bonds. In a 2016 American Banker article called “You Don’t Really Own Your Securities; Can Blockchains Fix That?”, journalist Brian Eha explained:

In the United States, publicly traded stock does not exist in private hands.

It is not owned by the ostensible owners, who, by virtue of having purchased shares in this or that company, are led to believe they actually own the shares. Technically, all they own are IOUs. The true ownership lies elsewhere.

While private-company stock is still directly owned by shareholders, nearly all publicly traded equities and a majority of bonds are owned by a little-known partnership, Cede & Co., which is the nominee of the Depository Trust Co., a depository that holds securities for some 600 broker-dealers and banks. For each security, Cede & Co. owns a master certificate known as the “global security,” which never leaves its vault. Transactions are recorded as debits and credits to DTC members’ securities accounts, but the registered owner of the securities — Cede & Co. — remains the same.

What shareholders have rather than direct ownership, then, “is a [contractual] right against their broker…. The broker then has a right against the depository institution where they have membership. Then the depository institution is beholden to the issuer. It’s [at least] a three-​step process before you get any rights to your stock.”

This attenuation of property rights has made it impossible to keep perfect track of who owns what.

Fifty Years of “Dematerialization”

In a 2023 book called The Great Taking (available for free online), Wall Street veteran David Rogers Webb traces the legislative history of these developments. The rules go back 50 years, to when trading stocks and bonds was done by physical delivery – shuffling paper certificates bearing titles in the names of the purchasers from office to office. In the 1970s, this trading became so popular that the exchanges could not keep up, prompting them to turn to “dematerialization” or digitalization of the assets.

The Depository Trust Company (DTC) was formed in 1973 to alleviate the rising volumes of paperwork. The DTCC was established in 1999 as a holding company to combine the DTC and the National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC). 

The DTCC is a central clearing counterparty (CCP) sitting at the top of a pyramid of banks, brokers and exchanges. All have agreed to hold their customers’ assets in “street name,” collect those assets in a fungible pool, and forward that pool to the DTCC, which then trades pooled blocks of stock and bonds between brokers and banks in the name of its nominee Cede & Co. The DTCC, a private corporation, owns them all. This is not a mere technicality. Courts have upheld its legal ownership, even in a dispute with client purchasers. According to the DTCC website, it provides settlement services for virtually all equity, corporate and municipal debt trades and money market instruments in the U.S., and central safekeeping and asset servicing for securities issues from 131 countries and territories, valued at $37.2 trillion. In 2022 alone, the DTCC processed 2.5 quadrillion dollars in securities.

The governing regulations are set out in Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) sections 8 and 9, covering investment securities and secured transactions. The UCC is a set of rules produced by private organizations without an act of Congress. It is not itself the law but is only a recommendation of the laws that states should adopt; but the UCC has now been adopted by all 50 U.S. states and has been “harmonized” with the rules for trading securities in Europe and most other countries. 

The Wikipedia summary of the relevant UCC provisions concludes:

The rights created through these links [up the collateral chain] are purely contractual claims ….  This decomposition of the rights organized by Article 8 of the UCC results in preventing the investor to revindicate [demand or take back] the security in case of bankruptcy of the account provider [the broker or bank], that is to say the possibility to claim the security as its own asset, without being obliged to share it at its prorate value with the other creditors of the account provider. 

You, the investor, have only a contractual claim against your broker, who no longer holds title to your stock either, since title has been transferred up the chain to the DTCC. Your contractual claim is only to a pro rata share of a pool of the stock designated in street name, title to which is held by Cede & Co. 

Rehypothecation: The Problem of Multiple Owners

The Wikipedia entry adds:

This re-characterization of the proprietary right into a simple contractual right may enable the account provider [the “intermediary” broker or bank] to “re-use” the security without having to ask for the authorization of the investor. This is especially possible within the framework of temporary operations such as security lending, option to repurchase, buy to sell back or repurchase agreement. 

“Security lending” by your broker or other intermediary may include lending your stock to short sellers bent on bringing down the value of the stock against your own financial interests. Illegal naked short selling is also facilitated by the impenetrable shield of the DTCC, and so is lending to “shadow banks” for the re-use of collateral. As Caitlin Long, another Wall Street veteran, explains:

[T]he shadow banking system’s lifeblood is collateral, and the issue is that market players re-use that same collateral over, and over, and over again, multiple times a day, to create credit. The process is called “rehypothecation.” Multiple parties’ financial statements therefore report that they own the very same asset at the same time. They have IOUs from each other to pay back that asset—hence, a chain of counterparty exposure that’s hard to track. Although improving, there’s still little visibility into how long these “collateral chains” are.

It is this reuse of the collateral to back multiple speculative bets that has facilitated the explosion of the derivatives bubble to ten times the GDP of the world. It should be the collateral of the actual purchaser, but you, the purchaser, are at the bottom of the collateral chain. Derivative claims have super priority in bankruptcy, ostensibly because the derivative edifice is so risky that their bets need to be cleared. 

What About the “Customer Protection Rule”?

Broker-dealers argue that their customers’ assets are protected under the “Customer Protection Rule” of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC). The SIPC provides insurance for stocks similar to FDIC insurance for bank deposits, maintaining a pool that can be tapped in the event of a member bankruptcy. But a 2008 memorandum on The Customer Protection Rule from the law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher asserts:

With respect to cash and securities not registered in the name of the customer, but held by the broker- dealer for the customer’s benefit, the customer would receive a pro rata portion of the aggregate amount of the cash and securities actually held by the broker- dealer. If there is a remaining shortfall, SIPC would cover a maximum of $ 500,000, only $ 100,000 of which may be a recovery for cash held at the broker- dealer.

… [M]ost securities are held by broker-dealers in street name and would be available to satisfy other customers’ claims in the event of a broker- dealer’s insolvency.

If the member has a large derivatives book (JPMorgan holds $54.4 trillion in derivatives and a mere $3.4 trillion in assets), derivative customers with priority could wipe out the pool and the SIPC fund as well. 

What Webb worries about, however, is the bankruptcy of the DTCC itself, which could wipe out the entire collateral chain. He says the DTCC is clearly under-capitalized, and that the startup of a new Central Clearing Counterparty is already planned and pre-funded. If the DTCC fails, certain protected creditors can take all the collateral, upon which they will have perfected legal control.

Defensive Measures

In the event of a cyberattack that destroys the records of banks and brokers, there could be no way for purchasers to prove title to their assets; and in the event of a second Great Depression, with a wave of 1930s-style bank bankruptcies, derivative claimants with super-priority can take the banks’ assets without going through bankruptcy proceedings. In today’s fragile economy, these are not remote hypotheticals but are real possibilities, which can wipe out not just the savings of middle class families but the fortunes of billionaires. 

And there, argues Webb, is our opportunity. The system by which Cede & Co. holds title to all “dematerialized” securities is clearly vulnerable to being exploited by “the protected class,” and Congress could mitigate those concerns by legislation. If our representatives realized that they are not the owners of record of their assets but are merely creditors of their brokers and banks, they might be inspired to hold some hearings and take action. 

The first step is to shine a light on the obscure hidden workings of the system and the threat they pose to our personal holdings. Popular pressure moves politicians, and the people are waking up to many issues globally, with protests on the rise everywhere — economic, political and social. Possible action that could be taken by Congress includes reversing the “special privileges” granted to the derivatives casino in the form of “super priority” in bankruptcy. A 0.1% Tobin tax or financial transaction tax is another possibility. For protecting title to assets, blockchain is a promising tool, as discussed by Brian Eha in the American Banker article quoted above. These and other federal possibilities, along with potential solutions at the local level, will be the subject of a followup article. 

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This article was first posted on ScheerPost.

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

She is a regular contributor to Global Research.

Featured image is by Tech Daily on Unsplash

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New Year Donation Drive: Global Research Is Committed to the “Unspoken Truth”

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“The strikes in Yemen were necessary, proportionate, and consistent with international law.”

With this statement, the United States delegate to the United Nations defended the joint US-UK military strikes against targets affiliated with the Houthi militia undertaken on the night of January 12, 2024.

The irony of this statement is that it was made before a body, the United Nations Security Council, which had not authorized any such action, thereby eliminating any claim to legitimacy that could possibly be made by the US.

The Charter of the UN specifies two conditions under international law in which military force can be used. One is in the conduct of legitimate self-defense as articulated in Article 51 of the Charter. The other is in accordance with the authority granted by the UN Security Council through a resolution passed under Chapter VII of the Charter.

British Foreign Minister David Cameron cited the UN Security Council in his justification of the UK’s involvement in the attacks on Yemen, claiming that the Council had “made clear” that the “Houthi must halt attacks in the Red Sea.”

While the Security Council had issued a resolution demanding that the Houthi cease their attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea, this resolution was not passed under Chapter VII, and therefore neither the US nor the UK had any authority under international law to carry out their attacks on Yemen.

Both the US and UK invoked the notion of self-defense in their attacks on Yemen, thereby indirectly alluding to a possible cognizable action under Article 51 of the UN Charter. US President Joe Biden justified the US military attack on Houthi militia forces in Yemen in a statement released shortly after the strikes ended.

“I ordered this military action,” he declared, “in accordance with my responsibility to protect Americans at home and abroad.” 

The main problem with this argument is that the Houthis had not attacked Americans, either at home or abroad. To the extent that US forces had previously engaged weapons fired by the Houthis, they had done so to shield non-American assets – either the State of Israel or international shipping – from Houthi attack. Under no circumstances could the US argue that it had been attacked by the Houthis.

The US attacks, Biden asserted, “were carried out to deter and weaken the Houthi ability to launch future attacks.”

This language suggests that the US was seeking to eliminate an imminent threat to commercial maritime operations in international shipping lanes. To comply with the requirements of international law regarding collective self-defense – the only possible argument for legitimacy since the US itself had not been attacked – the US would need to demonstrate that it was part of a collective of nation states that were either under attack by the Houthis or were threatened with imminent attack of a nature that precluded seeking Security Council intervention. 

In late December 2023, the US had, together with several other nations, gathered military forces in what was known as Operation Prosperity Guardian to deter Houthi attacks on maritime shipping that had been taking place since November 19, 2023.

However, the US subsequently undermined any case it could possibly have made that its actions were consistent with international law, namely that they were an act of collective pre-emptive self-defense done in accordance with Article 51 of the UN Charter.

US Central Command (CENTCOM), which is responsible for operations in the Middle East, issued a press release shortly after Washington launched a second attack against a Houthi radar installation that it claims was involved in targeting shipping in the Red Sea.

The statement claimed the attack on the Houthi radar installation was a “follow-on action” of the strikes carried out on January 12, and had “no association with and are separate from Operation Prosperity Guardian, a defensive coalition of over 20 countries operating in the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandeb Strait, and the Gulf of Aden.”

By distancing itself from Operation Prosperity Guardian, the US has fatally undermined any notion of pre-emptive collective self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter, highlighting the unilateral, and inherently illegal, nature of its military attacks on Yemen.

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Scott Ritter is a former US Marine Corps intelligence officer and author of ‘Disarmament in the Time of Perestroika: Arms Control and the End of the Soviet Union.’ He served in the Soviet Union as an inspector implementing the INF Treaty, in General Schwarzkopf’s staff during the Gulf War, and from 1991-1998 as a UN weapons inspector. 

Featured image: A RAF Typhoon aircraft taking off RAF Akrotiri to join the US-led coalition to conduct air strikes against military targets in Yemen. ©  AFP / British Ministry of Defence

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New Year Donation Drive: Global Research Is Committed to the “Unspoken Truth”

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Shawn Fain, President of the UAW International, noted during his major policy address at the 21st Annual Detroit MLK Day Rally that the labor movement and the struggle for civil rights remains at the center of change and transformation in the United States.

Speaking at the beginning of a year following monumental developments in the labor and civil rights movements, Fain has gained widespread recognition for his work in placing the working class back at the center of social change in the leading economy in the world.

Image: Shawn Fain

The UAW President who only took office over the last year said at MLK Day that:

“Today, we find our government backing the destruction of lives in villages – not in Vietnam – but in Gaza. We hear the boosters of war claiming that ‘real patriots’ support the bombing. But we know in this room that there is nothing more patriotic than the pursuit of justice no matter where that takes us.

Economic justice cannot end at the doors of the factory or worksite. Social justice cannot end at the border of our country.
We must not be silent when it comes to the pursuit of peace and justice for working class people, the poor, for all of humanity.

The fight against hate and greed is never ending. The fight for economic and social Justice – the fight for humanity – is eternal, and there is no more of a just cause in all of the world.”

Only when we stand up – together – will we rise up and realize the dream of Dr. King; not just for ourselves, but for all of humanity.”

Image: Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib

On January 15, the actual date of the 95th anniversary of the birth of civil rights and peace activist Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was celebrated as a federal holiday in the United States. Shawn Fain and Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib were the featured guest speakers at the most significant and progressive event in Detroit which is committed to the upholding of the actual legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who was assassinated on April 4, 1968, while embroiled in supporting a strike by the largely African American sanitation workers seeking union recognition in Memphis, Tennessee during the early months of that year.

Dr. King had linked the movements for an end to institutional racism, poverty and the opposition to the war in Vietnam which had cost the people of the U.S. billions of dollars along with shifting the focus from reform to imperialist intervention between 1965 to 1968. The ongoing war resulted in the refusal of then President Lyndon B. Johnson to seek reelection in 1968 as well as the assassination of Dr. King right on the verge of the launching of the original Poor People’s Campaign to occupy Washington to demand the passage of legislation to end the impoverishment of African Americans and all other nationalities in the U.S.

2024 Represents Six Decades of Mass Struggles in Labor, Civil Rights and Peace

In the city of Detroit, the MLK Committee chaired by veteran activist Dorothy Dewberry Aldridge, held its 21st consecutive rally and march at the St. Matthew’s-St. Joseph’s Episcopal Church located in the North End district.

This MLK Day manifestation came just months in the aftermath of the largest upsurge in industrial action and international solidarity in years. Hundreds of thousands of members of labor unions in the automotive, entertainment and service sectors of the United States economy went out on strike demanding higher wages and improved working conditions.

Also, the Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip in Palestine for more than three months has resulted in a burgeoning solidarity movement which is unprecedented in history. Millions of people in the U.S. and billions more around the world have rallied and marched calling for an immediate ceasefire and the liberation of the oppressed people of this settler-colonial occupied state.

Both featured speakers at the rally have come out solidly for a ceasefire. Shawn Fain, President of the UAW International and Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib of Detroit.

Over the last several months, Detroit has been designated as “Strike City.” There was the UAW “Stand-Up Strike” which resulted in advances for not only the automotive employees. These industrial actions brought about an increase in wages for workers in non-union shops. The UAW under President Fain has pledged to enhance its recruitment efforts in the auto industry throughout the South which remains a bastion of anti-union labor production.

Therefore, having Fain and Tlaib as key speakers at the event symbolized the reemergence of a broad coalition between civil rights, labor and the antiwar movements. Congresswoman Tlaib, who has been censured by the U.S. House of Representative based upon false information, racial bias and political discrimination, has been elected three times by a diverse spectrum of people within the Detroit metropolitan area. The UAW brings together people from various ethnic and cultural groupings who are committed to improving the situation among its members as well as promoting the notion of social unionism. This approach recognizes that working people are also members of communities which are engaged in struggles related to environment, quality food and water access, universal healthcare, police misconduct, housing and education.

These events in recent months are reflective of the developments which occurred during 1964 when hundreds of youths were deployed to the South in Mississippi and Southwest Tennessee to register people to vote and assist in building independent political movements. In Mississippi, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Congress on Racial Equality (CORE), the state National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), along with other groupings, formed the Coalition of Federated Organizations (COFO) which led to the formation of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP). The MFDP challenged the seating of the all-white segregationist delegates from the state at the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Although the MFDP was not seated as the official representatives of the state of Mississippi despite their democratic practices of selection during 1964, the protest by their delegation and its allies changed the character of party politics in the South. Today, the Democratic Party is facing a challenge to maintain unity amidst rising labor militancy and the movement to end the war against the Palestinians in Gaza and to seek a permanent solution to the situation in West Asia.

Other events in 1964, such as the St. Augustine movement in Florida, prefigured the militant struggle for equality and the need to extend the tactics of the civil rights organizations based upon the objective conditions of the people. Even though the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was signed by President Johnson in early July 1964, the repression and deaths of the people continued. Three civil rights workers from the Summer Project of 1964 were killed by the Ku Klux Klan and the police in Neshoba County, Mississippi.

Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney died that faithful summer at the hands of racist violence. In the third decade of the 21st century, the existence of racist violence remains a major challenge for African Americans and other oppressed peoples in the current period.

A Broad Alliance of Progressive Forces

This year’s MLK Day event in Detroit brought together many organizations who provided speakers, artists and other forms of support. In addition to Fain and Tlaib, the program featured cultural worker Sarah Torres providing land acknowledgement for Indigenous people at the beginning of the program.

Image: Atty. Nancy Parker

Other speakers included: Atty. Nancy Parker, Executive Director of the Detroit Justice Center; Libations were delivered by Moratorium NOW! Coalition and MLK Committee member Yvonne Jones; The Rev. Anthony Estes of the St. Matthew’s-St. Joseph’s Episcopal Church welcomed the participants to the event; Jazz musicians Allen Dennard and Bill Meyer performed a rendition of the Black National Anthem; the LaShelle’s School of Dance performed a tribute to the history of African Americans; Piper Carter, Artist, Community Organizer and Activist spoke on the environmental crisis in Detroit; Wardell Montgomery, Detroit poet and songwriter read a piece in tribute to the struggles of the people in the city and the country; DJ Righteous delivered a spoken word contribution; Russ Bellant of the Detroiters for Tax Justice talked about the large-scale transfer of wealth from working people to the billionaires in the city and the need to defeat this trend; Aurora Harris, co-chair of the event alongside this author, read a poem by veteran SNCC organizer Maryam Lowen as well as a piece of her own; Harris also spoke as a steward for the Lecturers Employee Organization (LEO) on the conditions at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, which was the focus of a strike of the Graduate Employees Organization (GEO) last year; Shushanna Shakur, Poet and Community Activist and Educator, addressed the plight of political prisoners and the need for fundamental change; Ben Will, Motown MIC and Spoken Word Winner for 2022, made a presentation; representatives of the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) spoke on the role of young people along with a poetic contribution; and Joshua Feinstein of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) addressed the audience on the objectives of the work being done by this local and national organization.

The event was attended and supported by veteran SNCC activists John Hardy and Dr. Gloria Aneb House. A community meal was served at the conclusion of the event by the Detroit Wobbly Kitchen.

A host of co-sponsors and endorsers made this event possible. These organizations and individuals included: Detroit Coalition for Police Transparency and Accountability (CPTA); Jennifer Fassbender; Autoworker Caravan; Rev. Denise Griebler & Rev. Bill Wylie-Kellerman; Nelson and Yvonne Jones; Metro Detroit A. Philip Randolph Institute; General Baker Institute; Detroit Active and Retired Employees Association (DAREA); Buck Dinner Fund; Chuck Altman; Michigan Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice (MECAWI), founders of MLK Day in Detroit; Central United Methodist Church; Huntington Woods Peace Project; Detroit Communist Party, USA; Detroit Action; Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP); Michigan Coalition for Human Rights (MCHR); Michigan Welfare Rights Organization (MWRO); Moratorium NOW! Coalition; People’s Water Board Coalition; Senior Water Systems Chemists Association; Linda Szyszko; The Ron Allen Project; Unite All Workers for Democracy; Viola Liuzzo Park Association, We the People of Detroit; Wisdom Institute; Detroit Wobbly Kitchen; Pan-African News Wire; Communist Workers League (CWL); Michigan Peace Council; U.S. Palestinian Community Network, among others.

This rally was covered widely by the local media along with the UAW International. The MLK Committee is already thinking about future activities which will advance the organization and unity of progressive forces going forward in 2024.

*

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

Featured image: Detroit MLK Day 2024 audience in sanctuary and balcony (All images in this article are from Abayomi Azikiwe)

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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Click the share button above to email/forward this article to your friends and colleagues. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter and subscribe to our Telegram Channel. Feel free to repost and share widely Global Research articles.

New Year Donation Drive: Global Research Is Committed to the “Unspoken Truth”

***

No matter how it concludes, South Africa’s lawsuit in the International Court of Justice arguing Israel has violated the Genocide Convention will go down in history. It will either be remembered as the first step towards finally holding a rogue state accountable for repeated, longstanding violations of international law; or as the last, dying breath of a dysfunctional, Western-led international system.

For the hypocrisy of Western governments (and the Western political elite as a whole) has finally brought the so-called “rules-based world order” they purport to lead to the point of no return. Full-throttled Western support for Israel’s genocidal rampage in Gaza has truly exposed the double standards of the West with regard to human rights and international law. There is no turning back, and the West has only its own arrogance to blame.

The litany of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Israel in Gaza are clear as the light of day for anybody who has access to a smartphone. Social media feeds are overflowing with video clips of hospitals and schools being bombed, fathers pulling out the lifeless bodies of their children from under destroyed buildings, mothers crying over the corpses of their babies. And yet, the reaction of Western governments – besides seemingly limitless military and political support – has been to label any criticism of Israel as anti-Semitism and attempt to ban outright any expression of solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Regardless of this oppression, tens of thousands of people are coming out on the streets day after day expressing their disgust at Israeli atrocities and Western complicity. Desperate to regain some semblance of credibility, Western governments (including the US) have recently started to be marginally critical of Israeli attacks. However, it is too little, too late. Western credibility has been shredded irrevocably.

Of course, Western hypocrisy is nothing new. According to Western governments, the world should be up in arms about Russian aggression but should be perfectly happy with Israeli brutality and flouting of international norms. Ukrainians who throw Molotov cocktails at Russian occupation forces are heroes and freedom fighters, while Palestinians (and others) who dare to speak out against Israeli apartheid are terrorists. White-skinned refugees from Ukraine are more than welcome, while black and brown-skinned refugees from conflicts in the Middle East, Asia and Africa (most of which the West are behind) can sink to the bottom of the Mediterranean. The Western attitude has truly been: rules for thee, not for me.

Source: Cartooning for Peace

The Western position towards China exhibits the same insincerity. China is virtually encircled by American and allied military bases, armed to the hilt. Yet it is China that is guilty of… what? Unable to point to any concrete infraction, Western governments and media can only accuse China of “increased assertiveness”, ie, not knowing its assigned subjugate place in the Western hegemonic order.

International justice has become a sick joke. Were the International Criminal Court (ICC) functioning effectively, Israeli leaders would be on trial even as we speak, and there would have been no need for South Africa to approach the ICJ. As it stands, though, the ICC only indicted Africans until 2022, when it announced an investigation into the Russian invasion of Ukraine less than a week after its start. The ICC issued indictments, including for Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, in less than a year. Conversely, it took over six years for the ICC to open an investigation into the situation in Palestine, and even now, years later, meaningful action has yet to be taken. While Israel continued its orgy of violence against the people of Gaza, Karim Khan, the British Chief Prosecutor of the ICC, visited Israel and stressed the need for Hamas’s crimes to be prosecuted, while going soft on Israeli crimes. Little wonder many civil society organisations are calling for him to be fired.

Of course, Western hypocrisy is nothing new. From the get-go, international legal norms were intended to apply only to so-called “civilised” – read white – peoples. Savages did not count, and the powerful Western states could – and did – do to them what they pleased. Natives certainly did not “own” land or natural resources, and colonial powers were free to steal and exploit those as they wished. Zionism was also founded on such racist attitudes – attitudes that remain at the core of Israeli policies to this day.

These double standards are apparent with regard to the right to national self-determination – the fundamental right of all peoples to choose their own political system and control their own natural resources. After World War I, US President Woodrow Wilson insisted that self-determination be the guiding principle of the new world order – but, of course, only for Europeans. Palestinians and other Arab peoples found out the hard way that colonialism was alive and well: They were subject to League of Nations Mandates, which justified colonial rule for “peoples not yet able to stand by themselves”. The Charter of the United Nations also included provisions for Trusteeship, essentially along similar lines as the Mandates of the League.s

The wars of independence in Asia and Africa put a stop to this. The newly independent countries demanded successfully that self-determination be elevated to a right for all. The two international covenants on human rights, adopted in 1966, both stipulate the right of all peoples to self-determination in their common Article 1, making it clear that only with political and economic self-determination can any other human right be meaningful.

The discussion on the right of self-determination went further, to the chagrin of Western governments. The UN General Assembly has stated repeatedly that armed struggle (including that of the Palestinian people) against colonial rule is legitimate. And the 1977 Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions, on the laws of war, also stated that struggles against colonial and racist regimes are valid. International law has definitely developed in the right direction.

Still, the systems to implement international law remain weak. This is by design, and it allows powerful countries to act with impunity, and to shield its proteges – as we see with the US and Israel. Even if the ICJ issues a provisional order for Israel to halt its violence, and even if, years later, it finds Israel guilty of genocide, without any enforcement, Israel can (and probably will) simply ignore those decisions. That would surely be the end of the current world order, as any facade of fairness would collapse.

Enforcement of international law is in the hands of the UN Security Council, but with its veto rights for the five countries that happened to be on the winning side in 1945, that body has time and time again proven itself incapable of fulfilling its mandate. The General Assembly lacks any enforcement power. And the UN, the ICC, and most other international organisations are perennially underfunded, meaning they rely heavily on voluntary contributions from states. This makes them vulnerable to undue influence by the rich and powerful: in other words, the wealthy Western countries.

On a more fundamental level, these international institutions are not representative. Though civil society organisations can contribute to most of the debates, only governments have a say in the decision-making process – despite the fact that, as we see in the case of Gaza, even the governments of ostensible democracies do not necessarily represent the will of their people.

Israeli aggression and colonisation must stop, and abusers of human rights in Palestine must be held accountable – including Western leaders who are complicit in genocide. However, we must not stop there. We must demand a revolutionary reform of international institutions. They must be made truly democratic and egalitarian. They must reflect the voice of the people, through civil society organisations and other democratic modes of representation – not governments that are too often in the pocket of rich and powerful interests.

Creating a world order that will ensure justice and equal rights for all will not be easy. It will require sustained efforts on the part of global citizenry, through putting pressure for change on governments and international organisations. However, it is the only way to ensure that “never again” becomes a reality.

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Saul J Takahashi is Professor of Human Rights and Peace Studies at Osaka Jogakuin University in Osaka, Japan. An international human rights lawyer, he was Deputy Head of Office of the UN human rights agency in Occupied Palestine from 2009 to 2014.

Johnson & Johnson to Acquire $2 Billion Drug Developer “Ambrx Biopharma” to Treat Turbo Cancers with Same Tech as Pfizer’s $43 Billion Seagen Acquisition

By Dr. William Makis, January 17, 2024

Many pharmaceutical companies are rushing to position themselves to profit from treating a tsunami of cancers that they are all expecting to hit starting in 2025.

Israel — “Nation of Murderers and Murder Victims”. Prof. Rima Najjar

By Rima Najjar, January 17, 2024

The hope was that the pressure the families of the hostages was exerting on the Israeli government would succeed in making their release a priority for the Israeli cabinet over the impulse of vengeance. That obviously did not happen and most of them continue to be solidly behind the strategic aims of their blood-thirsty government, if not its tactics.

Shot Dead the Movie: Heartbreaking Stories of Children Who Died After Receiving COVID-19 Shots

By Dr. Joseph Mercola, January 17, 2024

“Shot Dead The Movie,” tells the heartbreaking stories of children who died after receiving COVID-19 shots. Their parents are left behind to pick up the pieces, wondering how and why a shot they were assured was safe took the lives of their children, ranging in age from newborn to 18.

The Case for Genocide. The International Court of Justice May be All That Stands Between the Palestinians in Gaza and Genocide. Chris Hedges

By Chris Hedges, January 17, 2024

Israel’s smearing of South Africa as “the legal arm” of Hamas exemplifies the bankruptcy of its defense, a smear replicated by those who claim that demonstrations held to call for a ceasefire and protect Palestinian human rights are “anti-Semitic.” Israel, its genocide live streamed to the world, has no substantial counter argument.

Milk and the Police State: Another State/Bureaucratic Steroid Overdose in Action

By Judge Andrew P. Napolitano, January 17, 2024

Last week, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, state troopers and investigators executed a search warrant on the farm of Amos Miller. Miller has been producing fresh unadulterated dairy products and grass-fed beef for 40 years. He does not sell to the public. Rather, he sells only to folks who join his club because they want pure raw dairy products, not pasteurized and not chemically treated, as the state commands.

Cancelling the Journalist: The ABC’s Coverage of the Israel-Gaza War

By Dr. Binoy Kampmark, January 17, 2024

What a cowardly act it was. A national broadcaster, dedicated to what should be fearless reporting, cowed by the intemperate bellyaching of a lobby concerned about coverage of the Israel-Gaza war. The investigation by The Age newspaper was revealing in showing that the dismissal of broadcaster Antoinette Lattouf last December 20 was the nasty fruit of a campaign waged against the corporation’s management.

War on Gaza: Namibia Slams Germany for Offering to Defend Israel in ICJ Genocide Case

By Middle East Eye, January 17, 2024

The Namibian presidency issued a statement condemning the German move to act on Israel’s behalf as a third party in defence, recalling Germany’s role in the first 20th-century genocide of the Herero and Nama peoples in the 1900s.

Men of Military Age “Refuse to Fight”. The Are Fleeing the Country. Zelensky Refuses to Take Responsibility for the “Deeply Unpopular Mobilisation Plan”

By Ahmed Adel, January 17, 2024

Since the beginning of the conflict, the Ukrainian Border Guard has detained more than 17,000 citizens who tried to leave the country illegally. More than 20,000 unsuccessful attempts to flee the country by men of military age seeking to avoid the draft were also recorded.

Western Brands Boycott Calls Intensify After US Jets Bomb Yemen

By Zero Hedge, January 17, 2024

Social media users are pressing ahead for continued boycotts of Western brands as the US and its allies pound Yemen with air strikes and missiles to neutralize Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

United Against “Nuclear Iran”: The Shadowy, Intelligence-linked Group Driving the US Towards War with Iran

By Alan MacLeod, January 17, 2024

In the wake of Hamas’ October 7 assault, arch-neoconservative official John Bolton was invited on CNN, where he claimed that what we witnessed was really an “Iranian attack on Israel using Hamas as a surrogate” and that the U.S. must immediately respond.

Note to readers: please click the share buttons above

First published on July 12, 2018

This review article was prepared by the author in relation to his presentation to The Criminalization of War: Gaza, Conference event (July 16, 2018) organized by the Perdana Global Peace Foundation (PGPF), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

We repost this 2018 report, with a view to providing a broader understanding and historical perspective regarding Israel’s all out war against the People of Palestine: 

Following the Al Aqsa Storm Operation on October 7, 2023 Israel‘s defence minister described Palestinians as “human animals” and vowed to “act accordingly,” as fighter jets unleashed a massive bombing of the Gaza Strip home of 2.3 million Palestinians…” (Middle East Eye). A complete blockade on the Gaza Strip was initiated on October 9, 2023 consisting in   blocking and obstructing the importation of food, water, fuel, and essential commodities to 2.3 Million Palestinians. It’s an outright crime against humanity. It’s genocide. 

In Solidarity with the People of Palestine

“What is at stake is the universal recognition of the value of human life, solidarity and understanding between nationalities, ethnic groups and religions, as well as respect for national sovereignty. 

These are the preconditions for World peace.”  

Michel Chossudovsky, July 2018, January 18, 2023

The Criminalization of War: Gaza

by

Michel Chossudovsky 

 

The following issues will be examined: 

The ongoing crimes committed against the people of Palestine,

The broader process of Israeli territorial expansion,

Israel and the criminalization of war as defined by the Kuala Lumpur Declaration launched by former Prime Minister Dr. Tun Mahathir Mohamad in 2005,

The mounting tide of Islamophobia,

The role of the “Global War on Terrorism” as a pretext to wage war on the broader Middle East,

The propaganda campaign directed against Palestine, 

The recent history of Israeli aggression against the People of Palestine including the strategic and geopolitical dimensions, 

The Israeli plan to confiscate Gaza’s offshore natural gas reserves.

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I

INTRODUCTION

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Israel’s blockade of Gaza is a criminal undertaking: Gaza is a concentration camp, the World’s largest open air prison  from which no one can escape. 

Two million Palestinians live  under an Israeli siege. Israel controls the entry of essential goods including food, water, energy and medicine. Israel also controls Gaza’s territorial waters in derogation  of international law.

The Zionist project supports the Jewish settlement movement. More broadly it involves a policy of killing, impoverishing and excluding Palestinians from Palestine with a view to eventually implementing the annexation of both the West Bank and Gaza to the State of Israel:

Today, six million Palestinians dispersed in various refugee camps are denied the right of return to their ancestral Palestine; the other six million lived under occupation in Gaza and the West Bank.  For twelve years, two million Palestinians have been imprisoned under a brutal land and sea military blockade in Gaza.

During this time there were three major military assaults where Gaza was relentlessly bombed for weeks. Recently, since 30 March 2018, unarmed Gaza demonstrators calling for the Right of Return are shot at with high grade military assault rifles leaving more than 124 dead and 13,000 severely wounded with hundreds of amputees and potential amputees. (Dr Swee Ang, Global Research, July 2018

The crimes committed by Israel against the people of Palestine, with the tacit support of Western governments must be addressed in the broader context of the criminalization of war.

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II

THE GREATER ISRAEL PROJECT 

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The expansionist policies of the State of Israel including the annexation of the illegally occupied territories, not to mention the “Greater Israel” project of territorial extension are an integral part of the US-led military agenda in Middle East.

When viewed in the current context, the siege on Gaza and the Zionist Plan for the Middle East are related to the US-NATO military agenda including the US-led 2003 invasion of  Iraq, the 2006 war on Lebanon, the 2011 war on Libya, the ongoing wars on Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

There is a broader US-NATO-Israel war crimes agenda under the thrust of the so-called “Global War on Terrorism” which serves as a pretext for the bombing of civilians under the pretext of  going after ISIS-Daesh.

The “Greater Israel” project consists in weakening and eventually fracturing neighboring Arab states as part of a US-Israeli expansionist project, with the support of NATO and Saudi Arabia. In this regard, the Saudi-Israeli rapprochement is from Netanyahu’s viewpoint a means to expanding Israel’s spheres of influence in the Middle East as well as confronting Iran. Needless to say, the “Greater Israel” project is consistent with America’s imperial design.

Greater Israel would create a number of proxy States. It would include parts of Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, the Sinai, as well as parts of  Iraq and Saudi Arabia. (See map). According to Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya in a 2011 Global Research article,   The Greater Israel Yinon Plan should be viewed as a continuation of Britain’s colonial design in the Middle East:

“[The Yinon plan] is an Israeli strategic plan to ensure Israeli regional superiority. It insists and stipulates that Israel must reconfigure its geo-political environment through the balkanization of the surrounding Arab states into smaller and weaker states.

Greater Israel” requires the breaking up of the existing Arab states into small states.

“The [Yinon Plan] plan operates on two essential premises. To survive, Israel must 1) become an imperial regional power, and 2) must effect the division of the whole area into small states by the dissolution of all existing Arab states. Small here will depend on the ethnic or sectarian composition of each state. Consequently, the Zionist hope is that sectarian-based states become Israel’s satellites and, ironically, its source of moral legitimation…  This is not a new idea, nor does it surface for the first time in Zionist strategic thinking. Indeed, fragmenting all Arab states into smaller units has been a recurrent theme.” (Yinon Plan)

Viewed in this context, the US-NATO led wars on Syria and Iraq are part of  the process of Israeli territorial expansion.

In this regard, the defeat of US-Saudi-Israeli sponsored terrorists (ISIS, Al Nusra) by Syrian Forces with the support of Russia, Iran and Hizbollah constitute a significant setback for Israel.

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III

THE CRIMINALIZATION OF WAR

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US-NATO-Israeli War Crimes: The Kuala Lumpur Initiative to Criminalize War

The State of Israel is responsible for extensive war crimes.

In turn the US-NATO led war applied Worldwide is a criminal undertaking under the disguise of counter-terrorism. It violates the Nuremberg Charter, the US constitution and the UN charter. According to former chief Nuremberg prosector Benjamin Ferencz, in relation to the 2003 invasion of Iraq:

“a prima facie case can be made that the United States is guilty of the supreme crime against humanity — that being an illegal war of aggression against a sovereign nation.”

Moreover, the evidence amply confirms that the United States of America is a “State Sponsor of Terrorism” and that the campaign against the Islamic State is a smokescreen used by the US and its allies including Israel to justify in the eyes of public opinion its global war of conquest.

‘Operation Protective Edge (OPE)  directed against Gaza was reminiscent of the infamous 2001 Dagan Plan entitled “Operation Justified Vengeance” in which the deaths of innocent Israeli civilians had been envisaged and foreseen by IDF military planners.

The deaths are then used to muster the support of the Israeli public as well as provide a justification for a “legitimate” counter-terrorism operation in the eyes of the international community directed against the Palestinian occupied territories.

‘Operation Protective Edge (OPE) directed against Gaza was planned well in advance of the kidnapping and murder of the three Israeli teenagers. Prime Minister Netanyahu has called up 40,000 reservists. In the wake of the shelling and bombing raids, a major ground operation scenario was envisaged.

Moreover, similar to the logic of the Dagan Plan, the head of Israeli intelligence (Mossad) had “predicted” the kidnapping of the three teenagers. Under the title Mossad chief’s chillingly prescient kidnap prophecy, Haaretz confirms that

“Mossad chief Tamir Pardo had “outlined a scenario that was spookily [sic] similar to the kidnapping of three teens missing in the West Bank” (Haaretz, July 13, 2014, emphasis added)

Israeli civilian deaths are blamed on Hamas without evidence to justify military action against Gaza.

The ultimate objective of “Operation Protective Edge” is to break the institutional base of the Hamas leadership and destroy Gaza’s civilian infrastructure, with a view to eventually carrying out the annexation of the Gaza Strip to Israel.  As of July 13, Israel is reported to have struck 1,320 sites within Gaza, resulting in 167 deaths and more than 1,000 injured (Mannam News, July 13, 2014)

Were the three boys killed by Hamas?

Israeli press reports intimate that the three teenagers could have been executed by the Al Qaeda affiliated jihadist entity the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) which just so happens to be supported “covertly” as well “overtly” by the State of Israel.

From the Dagan Plan to the present, Israel’s objective is genocide and expulsion of Palestinians from their ancestral lands:

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New Year Donation Drive: Global Research Is Committed to the “Unspoken Truth”

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I don’t see them much anymore — I mean the “Israeli public.” In the first few weeks after al-Aqsa Flood, their images and voices were all over the live coverage on Al Jazeera Arabic and al-Mayadeen.

The hope was that the pressure the families of the hostages was exerting on the Israeli government would succeed in making their release a priority for the Israeli cabinet over the impulse of vengeance. That obviously did not happen and most of them continue to be solidly behind the strategic aims of their blood-thirsty government, if not its tactics.

“Holding on to the occupied territories will turn us into a nation of murderers and murder victims.” Declaration published in Haaretz in 1967 signed by a minority of Israelis who were against Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories after the 1967 war.

Since the news stream kept flipping back and forth between images and voices from Israel and those from Gaza, the contrast in what the cameras were capturing was arresting and telling. On the one hand, there were images of orderly, rallying Israeli crowds in spacious squares with music emanating from the speakers’ platform; on the other were images of apocalyptic chaos, raw grief and screams of despair, arms flung up to heaven. On the one hand was the image of a little Palestinian girl, bandaged and traumatized and barely able to move, who, upon noticing the camera pointed at her, made a slow and laborious victory sign with her injured hand, her face still blank. On the other was the image of an Israeli teenager marching and giggling with her friends in a youth rally for the hostages stopping to pose sexily for the camera and raise a victory sign.

I used to think that much of the Israeli public isn’t actually aware of the horrendous human consequences of what their military was doing in Gaza, hence their apathy toward its crimes against humanity. Now, however, I am convinced that the degree of denial of the occupation, dehumanization of Palestinians and sense of entitlement is not merely a disconnectedness from reality. Rather, it is a determination not to know and not to hear, a reflection of the Israeli psyche. Because Israel’s national security strategy is apparently driven by a deep-seated fear of annihilation, the Israeli national psyche can be characterized by a sense of insecurity that no degree of military might can fully alleviate.

Israel has always exploited the Holocaust both at home and internationally to bolster its claim to Palestine, molding its identity as a victim entitled to defend itself from the people it oppresses. Israel’s psyche has led it straight to the dock, where it is now defending itself against accusations of genocide against Palestinians at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague

A few early Israelis were strong and smart enough to escape the pull of their national psyche even as it was being forged. They were prescient enough to predict exactly where such a psyche would lead. Such were the Machovers. In an interview by Owen Jones (This Lawyer Reveals Why Israel’s Gaza Onslaught Could Be Stopped By Genocide Case), Daniel Machover, a UK civil litigation lawyer, explains how his parents who “were born in Palestine as it then was” became very concerned about what was happening in Israel in the 1950s.

Following the 1967 war, Machover’s parents were among a very small number of Israelis (including a Palestinian citizen of Israel) who immediately opposed the fact of the occupation and signed a declaration that was published by Haaretz on the 22nd of September 1967. It said:

Our right to defend ourselves from extermination does not give us the right to oppress others. Occupation entails foreign rule; foreign rule entails resistance; resistance entails repression; repression entails terror and counter-terror. The victims of terror are mostly innocent people; holding on to the occupied territories will turn us into a nation of murderers and murder victims. Let us get out of the occupied territories immediately.

The biggest irony of all is that Israel is not “defending itself from extermination,” no matter what its fancy lawyers are saying in The Hague. Israel’s bogus argument that Hamas is out to exterminate all Jews is a legitimization for its mass killing of Palestinian civilians and their ethnic cleansing in Gaza and the West Bank. In both places, Israel is making the conditions of life unbearable to drive Palestinians out and “settle” Jews in their place.

We must radicalize the Israeli public.

*

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This article was originally published on the author’s blogsite.

Rima Najjar is a Palestinian whose father’s side of the family comes from the forcibly depopulated village of Lifta on the western outskirts of Jerusalem and whose mother’s side of the family is from Ijzim, south of Haifa. She is an activist, researcher and retired professor of English literature, Al-Quds University, occupied West Bank.

She is a regular contributor to Global Research.

Featured image source

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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Click the share button above to email/forward this article to your friends and colleagues. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter and subscribe to our Telegram Channel. Feel free to repost and share widely Global Research articles.

New Year Donation Drive: Global Research Is Committed to the “Unspoken Truth”

***

Israel has killed more people per day in its attack on Gaza than were killed daily in any other major conflict during the 21st century.

Oxfam reported Thursday that Israel has killed an average of 250 Palestinians in Gaza each day since October 7, compared to 96.5 killed daily in Syria, 51.6 in Sudan, 50.8 in Iraq, 43.9 in Ukraine, 23.8 in Afghanistan, and 15.8 in Yemen.

“The scale and atrocities that Israel is visiting upon Gaza are truly shocking,” Oxfam Middle East director Sally Abi Khalil said in a statement. “For 100 days the people of Gaza have endured a living hell. Nowhere is safe, and the entire population is at risk of famine.”

Also on Thursday, Save the Children reported that Israel’s bombardment and invasion of Gaza had killed more than 10,000 children in nearly 100 days, or 1% of the 1.1 million children living in Gaza before the war began. More than 40% of the total number killed in Gaza were children.

“There can never be any justification for killing children,” Jason Lee, Save the Children’s country director for the occupied Palestinian territory, said in a statement. “The situation in Gaza is monstrous and a blight on our common humanity.”

More than 10K children have been killed by Israeli airstrikes and ground operations with thousands more missing, presumed buried under rubble.

We need a definitive ceasefire now.

Read more: https://t.co/dWdIl3WvEO pic.twitter.com/GqzkTmJi4j

— Save the Children US (@SavetheChildren) January 11, 2024

On October 7, Hamas launched an attack on southern Israel that killed around 1,100 people and took around 240 hostages. Israel then launched its assault on Gaza in retaliation. Before Hamas’ attack, however, Israel had blockaded Gaza for 16 years and occupied the Palestinian West Bank for 56 years. Since October 7, Israel has killed 330 Palestinians in the West Bank, according to Oxfam.

Both Oxfam and Save the Children’s statements came the same day that a South African legal team appeared before the International Court of Justice to argue that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. It is asking the court to take “provisional measures” to stop the violence. Several other countries, including Brazil, Bolivia, and Pakistan, have supported South Africa’s efforts, but the United States dismissed its case as “meritless.”

Oxfam and Save the Children criticized the wider international community for failing to stop the bloodshed.

“It is unimaginable that the international community is watching the deadliest rate of conflict of the 21st century unfold, while continuously blocking calls for a cease-fire,” Khalil said.

Lee stated:

“Despite the record number of children killed and maimed, the international community has failed to act again and again. One grave violation committed against children is one too many. For the last three months, children in Gaza have faced grave violations every day, while conditions to provide them with the humanitarian assistance they need are simply not there. All parties must agree to a definitive cease-fire now.”

PRESS RELEASE: Israel's military is killing #Palestinians at an average rate of 250 people a day, which massively exceeds the daily death toll of any other major conflict of recent years.
https://t.co/vkORKxvphS pic.twitter.com/j5V8ccixmn

— Oxfam International Media Team (@newsfromoxfam) January 11, 2024

The two non-governmental organizations also emphasized the danger civilians in Gaza now face not only from military action, but also from hunger and disease. Israel only allows 10% of the necessary food aid to enter Gaza’s borders, according to Oxfam. The colder weather increases the risk of illness, especially as people displaced by the conflict are forced to shelter in smaller and smaller spaces. More than 1 million people are now crowded together in Rafah, and Oxfam partner Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees said conditions for people living in tents was “worse than anything you could imagine.”

“The rain was going down from all sides of the tent,” displaced engineer named Mutaz told Oxfam. “We had to sleep lying over the bag of flour to protect it from the rain. My wife and three of my daughters use one blanket at night. There are only enough blankets for four people to share. We have nothing.”

Save the Children pointed out that these hardships took a toll on children especially.

“For children who have survived, the mental harm inflicted and the utter devastation of infrastructure including homes, schools, and hospitals has decimated their futures,” Lee said.

The organization counted a record number of violations against children by both Israel and Hamas, including the destruction or damaging of 370 schools in Gaza, the attacking of 94 hospitals and healthcare facilities, the denial of humanitarian aid to all of Gaza’s 1.1 million children, and Hamas’ taking of children as hostages and killing of 33 children in Israel.

“The war has affected us so badly,” Lana, an 11-year-old girl living in Rafah, told Save the Children. “We had to leave our homes and couldn’t do anything. We learned many things during the war, like how important it is to save water. I hope the war ends, and we live in peace and safety.”

In a statement on Sunday, Save the Children said that, each day of the conflict, more than 10 children in Gaza had lost one or both of their legs. Amputations are also often performed without anesthetic, as Gaza’s hospitals and healthcare system are overwhelmed by the violence, with a shortage of doctors and nurses and only 13 out of 36 hospitals partially functioning.

“Unless action is taken by the international community to uphold their responsibilities under international humanitarian law and prevent the most serious crimes of international concern, history will and should judge us all,” Lee said Sunday. “We must heed the lessons from the past and must prevent ‘atrocity crimes’ from unfolding.”

[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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Olivia Rosane is a staff writer for Common Dreams. 

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The exhaustive 84-page brief submitted by South Africa to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) charging Israel with genocide is hard to refute. Israel’s campaign of indiscriminate killing, wholesale destruction of infrastructure, including housing, hospitals and water treatment plants, along with its use of starvation as a weapon, accompanied by genocidal rhetoric from its political and military leaders who speak of destroying Gaza and ethnically cleansing the 2.3 million Palestinians, makes a strong case against Israel for genocide. 

Israel’s smearing of South Africa as “the legal arm” of Hamas exemplifies the bankruptcy of its defense, a smear replicated by those who claim that demonstrations held to call for a ceasefire and protect Palestinian human rights are “anti-Semitic.” Israel, its genocide live streamed to the world, has no substantial counter argument.

But that does not mean the judges on the court will rule in South Africa’s favor. The pressure the U.S. will bring – Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called the South African charges “meritless” – on the judges, drawn from the member states of the U.N., will be intense. 

A ruling of genocide is a stain that Israel – which weaponizes the Holocaust to justify its brutalization of the Palestinians – would find hard to remove. It would undercut Israel’s insistence that Jews are eternal victims. It would shatter the justification for Israel’s indiscriminate killing of unarmed Palestinians and construction of the world’s largest open air prison in Gaza, along with the occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. It would sweep away the immunity to criticism enjoyed by the Israel lobby and its Zionist supporters in the U.S., who have successfully equated criticisms of the “Jewish State” and support for Palestinian rights with anti-Semitism.  

Over 23,700 Palestinians, including over 10,000 children, have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, when Hamas and other resistance fighters breached the security barriers around Gaza. Some 1,200 people were killed – there is strong evidence that some of the victims were killed by Israeli tank crews and helicopter pilots that intentionally targeted the some 200 hostages along with their captors. Thousands more Palestinians are missing, presumed buried under the rubble. Israeli attacks have left over 60,000 Palestinians wounded and maimed, the majority of them women and children. Thousands more Palestinian civilians, including children, have been arrested, blindfolded, numbered, beaten, forced to strip to their underwear, loaded onto trucks and transported to unknown locations. 

A ruling by the court could be years away. But South Africa is asking for provisional measures that would demand Israel cease its military assault – in essence a permanent ceasefire. This decision could come within two or three weeks. It is a decision that is not based on the final ruling by the court, but on the merits of the case brought by South Africa. The court would not, by demanding Israel end its hostilities in Gaza, define the Israeli campaign in Gaza as genocide. It would confirm that there is the possibility of genocide, what the South African lawyers call acts that are “genocidal in character.”  

The case will not be determined by the documentation of specific crimes, even those defined as war crimes. It will be determined by genocidal intent – the intent to eradicate in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group – as defined in the Genocide Convention.

These acts collectively include the targeting of refugee camps and other densely packed civilian areas with 2,000-pound bombs, the blocking of humanitarian aid, the destruction of the health care system and its effects on children and pregnant women – the U.N. estimates there are around 50,000 pregnant women in Gaza, and that more than 160 babies are delivered every day – as well as repeated genocidal statements by leading Israeli politicians and generals. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu equated Gaza with Amalek, a nation hostile to the Israelites in the Bible, and cited the Biblical injunction to kill every Amalek man, woman, child or animal. Defence Minister Yoav Gallant called Palestinians “human animals.” Israeli President Isaac Herzog stated, as the South African lawyers told the court, that everybody in Gaza is responsible for what happened on Oct. 7 because they voted for Hamas, although half the population in Gaza are children who are too young to vote. But even if the entire population of Gaza did vote for Hamas this does not make them a legitimate military target. They are still, under the rules of war, civilians, and entitled to protection. They are also entitled under international law to resist their occupation via armed struggle.  

The South African lawyers, who compared Israel’s crimes with those carried out by the apartheid regime in South Africa, showed the court a video of Israeli soldiers celebrating and calling for the death of Palestinians – they sang as they danced “There are no uninvolved civilians” – as evidence that genocidal intent descends from the top to the bottom of the Israeli war machine and political system. They provided the court with photos of mass graves where bodies were buried “often unidentified.” No one – including newborns – was spared, the South African lawyer Adila Hassim, Senior Counsel, explained to the court.

https://twitter.com/DrLoupis/status/1745507554229121448

The South African lawyers told the court the “first genocidal act is mass killing of Palestinians in Gaza.”

The second genocidal act, they stated, is the serious bodily or mental harm inflicted on Palestinians in Gaza in violation of Article 2B of the Genocide Convention.

Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, another lawyer and legal scholar representing South Africa, argued that “Israel’s political leaders, military commanders and persons holding official positions have systematically and in explicit terms declared their genocidal intent.”

Lior Haiat, spokesperson for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, called Thursday’s three hour hearing one of the “greatest shows of hypocrisy in history, compounded by a series of false and baseless claims.” He accused South Africa of seeking to allow Hamas to return to Israel to “commit war crimes.” 

Israeli jurists, in their response on Friday, called the South African charges “unfounded, “absurd” and amounting to “libel.” Israel’s legal team said it had – despite U.N. reports of widespread starvation and infectious diseases from a breakdown in sanitation and shortage of clean water – not impeded humanitarian assistance. Israel defended attacks on hospitals, calling them “Hamas command centers.” It told the court it was acting in self-defense. “The inevitable fatalities and human suffering of any conflict is not of itself a pattern of conduct that plausibly shows genocidal intent,” said Christopher Staker, a barrister for Israel.

Israeli leaders accuse Hamas with carrying out genocide, although legally if you are the victims of genocide you are not permitted to commit genocide. Hamas is also not a state. It is not, therefore, a party to the Genocide Convention. The Hague, for this reason, has no jurisdiction over the organization. Israel also claims the Palestinians are warned to evacuate areas that will come under attack and provided with “safe areas,” although as the South African lawyers documented, “safe areas” are routinely bombed by Israel with numerous civilian casualties.

Israel and the Biden administration intend to prevent any temporary injunction by the court, not because the court can force Israel to halt its military assaults, but because of the optics, which are already disastrous. The ICJ’s ruling depends on the Security Council for enforcement – which given the veto power by the U.S., renders any ruling against Israel moot. The second objective of the Biden administration is to make sure Israel is not found guilty of committing genocide. It will be unrelenting in this campaign, heavily pressuring the governments that have jurists on the court not to find Israel guilty. Russia and China, who have jurists in The Hague, are battling their own charges of genocide and may decide it is not in their interests to find Israel guilty.

The Biden administration is playing a very cynical game. It insists it is trying to halt what, by its own admission, is Israel’s indiscriminate bombing of Palestinians, while bypassing Congress to speed up the supply of weapons to Israel, including “dumb” bombs. It insists it wants the fighting in Gaza to end while it vetoes ceasefire resolutions at the U.N. It insists it upholds the rule of law while it subverts the legal mechanism that can halt the genocide.  

Cynicism pervades every word Biden and Blinken utter. This cynicism extends to us. Our revulsion for Donald Trump, the Biden White House believes, will impel us to keep Biden in office. On any other issue this might be the case. But it cannot be the case with genocide.

Genocide is not a political problem. It is a moral one. We cannot, no matter what the cost, support those who commit or are accomplices to genocide. Genocide is the crime of all crimes. It is the purest expression of evil. We must stand unequivocally with Palestinians and the jurists from South Africa. We must demand justice. We must hold Biden accountable for the genocide in Gaza.

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Featured image: I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream- by Mr. Fish via Chris Hedges

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Russia’s top UN envoy called on Friday the joint US-UK strikes on Yemen’s Houthis a “blatant armed aggression against another country” that was in breach of the UN Charter.

“These states all carried out a mass strike on Yemeni territory,” Vasily Nebenzya told the UN Security Council.

“I’m not talking about an attack on some group within the country, but an attack on the people of the country on the whole. Aircraft were used, warships and submarines.”

Mr Nebenzya said the strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen “blatantly” violated Article 2 of the UN Charter.

“All of these pseudo-legal justifications of the White House don’t stand up to any criticism,” he added, saying that the right to self-defence does not apply to ensuring the freedom of shipping.

“Our American colleagues know this fact very well.”

Both the US and Britain defended the military strike as consistent with international law.

The strikes launched overnight were “to disrupt and degrade the Houthis’ ability to continue the reckless attacks against vessels and commercial shipping”, US ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield told council members.

“And they were taken only after none military options proved inadequate to address the threat. Still, any strike of this nature is a decision the United States does not take lightly,” she stressed.

With more than 2,000 vessels forced by Houthi attacks to divert from the Red Sea, the US envoy pointed out that no country on the UN Security Council is immune from the effects of these attacks.

“Not even Russia. No one. Whether your ship flies an American flag or the flag of another nation, whether you voted for this week’s resolution or you abstained from it … All of our ships are vulnerable.”

Ms Thomas-Greenfield also underscored Iran’s involvement in aiding Houthi rebels in Yemen. Without Iranian support, she said, the Houthis would face significant challenges in effectively tracking and attacking commercial vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

UK ambassador Barbara Woodward said Thursday’s operation took particular care to minimise risks to civilians and “limited, necessary and proportionate action in self-defence”.

Khaled Khiari, assistant secretary general for the Middle East, told the 15-member Security Council:

“We are witnessing the cycle of violence that risks grave political security, economic and humanitarian repercussions in Yemen and the region.”

“These developments in the Red Sea and the risk of exacerbating regional tensions are alarming.”

Earlier, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called on all parties involved not to further escalate the situation in the interest of peace and stability in the Red Sea and the wider region.

The situation in the Red Sea has become untenable, said Ms Thomas-Greenfield.

“Every single country has been affected by these attacks. So de-escalation needs to happen,” she said.

“It needs to happen from the Houthis who are putting all of our shipping lines in jeopardy.”

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Featured image: On Jan. 11 at 2:30 a.m. (Sanaa time), U.S. Central Command forces, in coordination with the United Kingdom, and support from Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, and Bahrain conducted joint strikes on Houthi targets to degrade their capability to continue their illegal and reckless attacks on U.S. and international vessels and commercial shipping in the Red Sea. Image from CENTCOM/X

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When CNN goes out on all limbs like this, quite something. Shattering – again.

—Felicity Arbuthnot, Global Research, January 17, 2024

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Israel’s war in Gaza has brought famine with “such incredible speed,” the United Nations’ emergency relief chief told CNN on Monday, as he warned that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are starving in the besieged enclave.

The “great majority” of 400,000 Gazans characterized by UN agencies as at risk of starving “are actually in famine, not just at risk of famine,” Martin Griffiths, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.

“It’s been an extraordinary and wholly unwelcome aspect of the Gazan war,” he said. “It has brought famine with such incredible speed to the front of the lines.”

Aid has been trickling into Gaza slowly from two border crossings in the south but agencies have been warning it is a fraction of what is needed.

Last week, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Israel had denied critical supplies from entering northern Gaza. But Israel has accused the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency of not doing enough and “stalling” the progress.

Griffiths told CNN Monday that work to provide humanitarian aid to 300,000 Gazans who remain in the north of the strip continues to be a challenge.

“It’s not a matter of the number of trucks that can get in,” he said after listing a series of roadblocks stopping aid including unreliable “deconfliction of access routes”, and civilians having to move “from one place of insecurity to another place of insecurity.”

Click here to read the full article on CNN.

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Featured image is a screenshot from a CNN video

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Last week, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, state troopers and investigators executed a search warrant on the farm of Amos Miller. Miller has been producing fresh unadulterated dairy products and grass-fed beef for 40 years. He does not sell to the public. Rather, he sells only to folks who join his club because they want pure raw dairy products, not pasteurized and not chemically treated, as the state commands.

The members of Miller’s club believe that they own their own bodies and that they — and not the government — can decide what they should ingest. Miller has never been successfully sued or credibly charged with harming anyone. He remains without the products the state stole from him, and he remains uncharged with any wrongdoing. The state has prohibited his club members from acquiring the products for which they have already paid.

Here is the backstory.

Not far from where Miller’s farm now stands, in the spring of 1776, revolution was in the air. Congress was meeting in Philadelphia, and it was impatient. Bloody skirmishes between colonial militias and British troops were upsetting the countryside. More British troops were on their way. Congress sensed it needed to do something. It wanted to vote for secession from Great Britain, and it needed a compelling document setting forth the reasons for doing so.

Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 2, 1776. It was dated July 4 and not fully signed until later that summer. The vote was unanimous. The word went forth to the 13 colonies that they were now free and independent.

The word also went forth to the king — whom the British people believed was divinely chosen to rule over them — who interpreted the Declaration as an act of treason and an invitation to war.

The Declaration’s essence is that all persons have natural rights that no government can take away by legislation or command. Those rights can be used freely to pursue and defend life, liberty and happiness. Those rights can also be used to consent or not to consent to a government. And the only legitimate role of government, the Declaration states, is to protect the rights of those who consented.

The colonists were not trying to kill the king — as the French would soon do — they just wanted him gone.

But the real revolution was a revolution of minds — the idea that the government was not legitimate unless consented to and limited; that individual personal freedom, not government power, is the default position. All of this was stirred up by the radicals, articulated by Jefferson, embraced by Congress, achieved by blood and reluctantly accepted by the king.

By 1783, they were free. The revolutionary spirit of maximum individual liberty and minimum government embraced and personified the new America.

Where did it go?

Today, in Amos Miller’s America, we have government — at the local, state and federal levels — that claims authority to right any wrong, regulate any behavior, tax any event and transfer any wealth so long as it can find public support.

What once was a government that needed the consent of the governed not only to exist but also to do anything is now one that requires of us its permission to do nearly everything. What once were liberties guaranteed are now liberties mocked.

How is it that men and women take oaths to uphold the liberties that the founders risked all to achieve and then enter office and ignore them? If I can legally refuse health care, why can’t I legally take the chance of exercising my rights to drink whatever milk product I want to drink? Is there not among the freedoms Jefferson wrote about the freedom to take chances?

Are laws written to preserve liberty or to enforce order? Is the concept of the consent of the governed real, or is it make-believe? Does liberty expand in each generation, or does it shrink? Does the government really believe that our liberties are natural and it lacks legitimacy without our individual consent? Has any living person actually consented to the government we now have, or is the belief that we have consented to the government merely a myth?

Just as the colonists were sick and tired of taxes imposed upon them by London aristocrats, aren’t we sick and tired of police state regulations imposed upon us by nanny staters telling us how to live? A police state is one where the laws do not protect liberty from the government, but protect the government from liberty.

Amos Miller is a successful businessman who delivers products his clients seek. He is also a metaphor for government out of control and out of its mind.

Isn’t government the negation of liberty? Does it have our consent, or doesn’t it? Are our liberties natural to our existence, or aren’t they? Is freedom real, or is it make-believe?

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All images in this article are from Judging Freedom

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Jan. 8, 2024 (CNBC) – J&J to acquire cancer drug developer Ambrx Biopharma for $2 billion 

• Johnson & Johnson said it will acquire Ambrx Biopharma for $2 billion, picking up a drugmaker specializing in one of the hottest areas of cancer treatment.
• The deal makes J&J the latest drugmaker to bet on antibody-drug conjugates, or ADCs (same tech as Pfizer’s latest $43 billion Seagen acquisition)
• The acquisition also comes as J&J scrambles to fill a revenue hole that’s approaching in 2025 (!)
• Johnson & Johnson on Monday said it will pay $2 billion in cash to acquire Ambrx Biopharma
• “Ambrx’s pipeline and ADC platform present exciting future opportunities to deliver enhanced, precision biologics as we look to transform the treatment of cancer and improve patients’ lives”
• Under the terms of the deal, J&J will pay $28 a share for Ambrx, or about DOUBLE the firm’s Friday closing price of $13.63. J&J expects to close the deal in the first half of 2024.
  

Jan. 9, 2024 (Health & Pharma) – J&J’s $2 Billion Strategic Acquisition of Ambrx Biopharma: Leading in ADC Oncology 

• Johnson & Johnson announced the acquisition of Ambrx Biopharma for $2 billion, aiming to boost its oncology pipeline with Ambrx’s innovative antibody drug conjugates
• This strategic move focuses on targeted therapies like ARX517 for prostate cancer
• ADCs, a class of therapeutics that combines the specificity of monoclonal antibodies with the potency of cytotoxic drugs, aiming to target and destroy cancer cells more effectively
• The jewel in Ambrx’s crown is ARX517, their proprietary ADC targeting Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen (PSMA) for treating metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC)
• In addition to ARX517, Ambrx’s portfolio includes other promising ADCs like ARX788, targeted at HER2+ metastatic breast cancer
• ARX305, its proprietary ADC targeting CD-70 for renal cell carcinoma.

Jan. 8, 2024 (Businesswire) – Johnson & Johnson to Acquire Ambrx, Advancing Next Generation Antibody Drug Conjugates to Transform the Treatment of Cancer

• Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) announced today it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Ambrx Biopharma, Inc., or Ambrx, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with a proprietary synthetic biology technology platform to design and develop next-generation antibody drug conjugates (ADCs), in an all-cash merger transaction for a total equity value of $2.0 billion
• results seen to date with ARX517 in mCRPC (prostate cancer) are promising and represent a potential first- and best-in-class targeted therapy for the treatment of this aggressive disease.
• Ambrx’s proprietary ADC technology incorporates the advantages of highly specific targeting monoclonal antibodies securely linked to a potent chemotherapeutic payload to achieve targeted and efficient elimination of cancer cells without the prevalent side-effects typically associated with chemotherapy
• Following completion of the transaction, Ambrx’s common stock will no longer be listed for trading on the NASDAQ Global Select Market.

Turbo Cancers

This is my original prediction about COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine Induced Turbo Cancers, which may change slightly over time as more data comes in.

Top 5 Turbo Cancers by # of people who will be affected long term: 

1. Lymphoma (various types)
2. Brain Cancers (mostly glioblastoma)
3. Breast Cancer (mostly triple negative)
4. Colon Cancer
5. Lung Cancer

Top 10 Turbo Cancers by # of people affected (no particular order): 

• leukemias
• melanomas
• sarcomas
• testicular/ovarian
• kidney

Dec. 14, 2023 – Pfizer’s $43 billion acquisition of Seagen 

• Pfizer has positioned itself to be able to treat 7 of the top 10 Turbo Cancers as I have identified at this early stage.
• Seagen added ADC cancer drugs (or drugs in pipeline) to Pfizer to treat: lymphoma, breast, colorectal, lung, as well as cancers not in my top 10: cervical, urothelial bladder and multiple myeloma.

Johnson & Johnson adds:

• This $2 billion acquisition gives J&J the ability to use the same ADC technology as Pfizer’s $43 billion Seagen, to treat 2 of the top 10 turbo cancers: breast cancer and kidney cancer.
• I have not seen a major spike in prostate cancer yet, but they may know something I don’t.

My Take…

Many pharmaceutical companies are rushing to position themselves to profit from treating a tsunami of cancers that they are all expecting to hit starting in 2025.

• Dec. 14, 2023 – Pfizer closed a $43 billion acquisition to treat several turbo cancers on Dec.14, 2023 and expects to “fill a gap” for the period 2025-2030.
• Dec. 14, 2023 – Moderna targets new mRNA Cancer vaccine to treat melanoma to be available by 2025
• Jan. 8, 2024 – Johnson & Johnson to acquire $2 billion cancer drug company that uses same tech as Pfizer, to “fill a revenue gap in 2025”
• Jan. 10, 2024 – BioNTech expects to return to revenue growth in 2025, when its COVID vaccine business would bottom out, and it would invest to “scale up its oncology business thereafter”
• Oct.12, 2023 – Dxcover targets 2025 launch for blood test that uses light to detect brain cancer
• Sep.2023 – Harbinger Health raises $140M to study blood-based cancer screening test – ahead of a planned launch in 2025.
• Jun.1, 2023 – Multi-cancer blood test shows real promise in NHS study – NHS in England plans to extend the rollout to a further one million people in 2024 and 2025

Cancer Centers to Open by 2025

• Aug. 2023 – Cape Breton (NS, Canada) Cancer centre to open in 2025
• Jul. 2023 – $120M Cancer center (Tennessee Oncology) set for 2025 finish
• Jun. 2023 – $200M Cancer center set to open in NJ in 2025
• Mar. 2023 – Orange County’s only cancer specialty hospital will open in 2025
• May 2023 – Kearney, Nebraska to welcome new cancer center in 2025
• Jan. 2023 – OU Health to open cancer center in 2025
• Dec. 2022 – $2 billion Alberta, Canada cancer centre to open in 2024
• Aug. 2022 – Baltimore, MD – Sinai Hospital to build cancer center by 2025
• Jul. 2022 – Wales – New Velindre cancer centre to open in 2025
• Dec. 2023 – 123 cancer centers opening, expanding, affiliating in 2023

It seems the population is the last to know, but everyone from the largest pharmaceutical companies, to politicians, and healthcare providers are all betting on a tsunami of cancers starting in 2025. 

Johnson & Johnson is just the latest company to secure a piece of the pie, now that they’ve paid a $700 million settlement for the Talc baby powder scandal.

 And they overpaid the latest acquisition by more than 100% of the current stock price.

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

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