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”

***

Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) is outraged by Canada’s refusal to support South Africa’s application to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Israel. Statements issued today by Prime Minister Trudeau and Foreign Affairs Minister Joly state that Canada does not support the “premise” of South Africa’s fact-based and compelling case. Tellingly, they are unable to identify any arguments in South Africa’s case that they disagree with. As such, they refuse to address the substance of the case, and retreat to denial.

Let us be clear. South Africa is alleging, with compelling evidence, that Israel’s actions constitute genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza, that Israel’s political and military leaders have expressed genocidal intent, and that provisional measures are necessary to stop Israel’s actions. Disagreeing with the “premise” of such allegations, while failing to disprove any of South Africa’s arguments, is a grave and shocking abdication of Canada’s responsibilities under the Genocide Convention.

No country is exempt from the prohibition on genocide. Canada should have put its full support behind South Africa’s application, which is one of the few remaining mechanisms to obtain a ceasefire and protect Palestinians from genocidal violence.

CJPME is also outraged by Canada’s failure to acknowledge the huge problem of anti-Palestinian racism. While Canada’s statement cites its opposition to Islamophobia, antisemitism, and anti-Arab sentiment, it omits the biggest victims of this conflict: Palestinians, whether those in Gaza, or those facing racism and repression in the West.

We reiterate our appreciation for South Africa in bringing this critical case to the ICJ, and demonstrating what true global leadership looks like. The Trudeau government’s failure to support South Africa will no doubt be a historic embarrassment, with grave humanitarian consequences.

*

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.

Featured image: Slaughterhouse – by Mr. Fish

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”

***

The material loss Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have suffered in three months of Israeli bombing is unprecedented. Not only have they lost their homes, entire neighbourhoods and civilian infrastructure, but residents say another “immeasurable damage that cannot be repaired” has been the erasure of Gaza’s history. 

Since the beginning of its war on Gaza on 7 October, the Israeli military has targeted and destroyed dozens of heritage sites, including historic churches and mosques, cultural museums, and archaeological structures that date back thousands of years.

Key religious sites have been a target for Israeli air strikes and artillery shelling across the different districts of Gaza. Many of those sites had been transformed into shelters for displaced Palestinians at the time of the attack, resulting in dozens of casualties.

On 18 October, the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius was damaged by an Israeli air strike on the adjacent 141-year-old Ahli Baptist Hospital, the oldest hospital in the strip.

Two days later, it was directly targeted by a strike that killed at least 16 people and wounded dozens others among the families who were taking refuge in the church.

Randa Arteen, a Christian resident of Gaza, said the church was one of the few religious sites where she and her community would pray and spend religious holidays since Israel does not grant them permits to travel to Bethlehem through the Beit Hanoun (Erez) crossing each year.

“The churches in the Gaza Strip are not many, but all of them are old and historic. So, if one church is destroyed, it is not actually one church, it is hundreds of years erased,” the 53-year-old woman told Middle East Eye.

“Unlike any other churches, we had a special spiritual connection with the Greek Orthodox Church in particular. It is a symbol of Palestinian Christians in Gaza, and even across Palestine as well.

Gaza City’s Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius was damaged in Israeli bombardment, 2 January 2024 (Mohammed al-Hajjar/MEE)

“We used to attend Christmas there and light up the tree along with the children every year. It is hard to believe that the few places available for Christians in Gaza are now destroyed.”

The almost 900-year-old church, one of the oldest in the world, was one of three churches that were damaged across the strip.

‘More Than Just a Mosque’

In addition to churches, at least 114 mosques have been destroyed and 200 others have been damaged in Gaza, including the 13th century Othman Bin Qashqar Mosque in al-Zaytoun neighbourhood, south of Gaza City, and the medieval Great Omari Mosque, the largest and oldest mosque in Gaza, located in the heart of the Old Town east of Gaza City and dating back to the seventh century.

Om Ahmed al-Saqqa, 64, who lives in al-Shujaiyya neighbourhood, a few kilometres away from the Omari Mosque, said that she has prayed in the mosque since she was a child, especially during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Currently displaced in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip after her house was severely damaged, Saqqa said she was more saddened by the destruction of the mosque than of her own home.

Israeli bombardment left Gaza’s Old Town in ruins, 2 January 2024 (Mohammed al-Hajjar/MEE)

“I was born and have lived all my life in this neighbourhood. When I was around six years old, and throughout all my childhood years, my father used to take me and my siblings every night during Ramadan to perform the Taraweeh prayers in this mosque. I had my childhood and adulthood memories there,” Saqqa told MEE.

“For us, Palestinians, it is more than just a mosque. It is our history and our present. When we talk about Gaza, we talk about the Omari Mosque. We believed that it would be impossible to harm such a place, not just because it was a holy site, but because of its rich history and importance for both Muslims and Christians around the world.”

The mosque, which was converted from a Byzantine church, is considered one of the oldest in the world.

Close to the Omari Mosque lies Hammam al-Samra (the Samra Bath), a prominent and rare surviving example of an Ottoman architectural site in Gaza.

On 30 December, Israeli strikes directly hit the site, destroying Turkish-style features that date back over 1,000 years. 

Saint Hilarion

In a report released by Heritage for Peace in November, documenting the impact of Israel’s war on Gaza’s cultural heritage, the organisation said at least 104 out of 195 architectural heritage sites that it counted in the coastal enclave were destroyed or damaged.

Since it is impossible to assess the damage on-site, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) experts say they have been remotely monitoring the situation “using satellite data and information transmitted to us by third parties, in coordination with its partners and UN agencies on the ground, and our office in Ramallah”.

“Unesco has initiated early October remote monitoring of the damage. As part of this remote monitoring, [we are] particularly concerned about the situation of the ruins of Saint Hilarion, inscribed on the National Tentative List of World Heritage in 2012. These are the remains of one of the region’s earliest Christian monasteries,” a Unesco spokesperson told MEE, requesting anonymity.

The ruins of Saint Hilarion are part of the Tell Umm Amer site, located in the al-Nussairat camp in the central Gaza Strip. The site has been severely damaged by the Israeli bombing campaign.

“The conflict in the Gaza Strip has caused a serious humanitarian crisis affecting all aspects of civilian life. As stated publicly on several occasions, Unesco is gravely concerned about this impact on education, culture and the protection of journalists – the pillars of its mandate,” he said.

“While humanitarian emergencies are a legitimate priority, the protection of cultural heritage in all its forms – as well as the protection of educational and media infrastructures – must also be ensured, in accordance with international law, which stipulates that cultural property is civilian infrastructure, and as such must neither be targeted nor used for military purposes.”

War on the Past, Present, and Future

Another notable casualty of air strikes in Gaza City was the Central Archive Building, which was destroyed on 29 November.

Run by the Municipality of Gaza, the building contained thousands of historical documents and national records about Gaza, dating back over 100 years.

In addition, at least three museums were destroyed or severely damaged, including the government-run Basha Palace Museum, which dates to the 13th century and was directly targeted.

In Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, al-Qarara Cultural Museum was damaged multiple times by Israeli air strikes on adjacent homes.

Mohammed Abulehia, who established the museum in 2016, says explosive barrels were dropped on the neighbourhood and in its vicinity, severely damaging the building and the collection.

“The museum contained a collection of over 5,000 assets, including antiquities and items that date back to the Canaanite period. I collected them and put immense efforts to establish the museum to protect and preserve the heritage of Gaza,” Abulehia told MEE.

“Israeli occupation forces dropped heavy bombs on a home very close to the museum. Due to the massive explosion and the air pressure, the museum was severely affected, and many items were destroyed or lost.”

Abulehia, who is not able to reach the museum to inspect the damage due to displacement, says he expects to return to find it completely or severely damaged.

A small section of the Basha Palace Museum, which dates to the 13th century, remains standing in Gaza (Mohammed al-Hajjar/MEE)

“Following the first attack, I am sure that multiple other attacks have damaged the museum again. However, I cannot currently reach it since I have been displaced to Rafah.

The situation in Khan Younis and in the area where the museum in particular is located is very dangerous, he added.

“It has been under intense Israeli air strikes and artillery shelling for weeks. No one can reach it.”

Abulehia said the damage from the war has been immense, on all levels of Gaza’s society, both material and moral.

“It is like they are launching the attacks with an intention of destroying not only our present and future, but also our past.”

*

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.

Featured image: The oldest mosque in Gaza, the Omari Mosque, was severely damaged in Israeli bombardment, 2 January 2024 (Mohammed al-Hajjar/MEE)

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”

***

The US, UK and other countries have responded to continued attacks by Houthi rebels on Red Sea shipping with a series of strikes across Yemen, but it is not clear whether they will have much of an effect.

“Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping were a major problem and it was not going to go away on its own,” said Thomas Juneau, assistant professor at the University of Ottawa, whose research focuses on Yemen and Iran.

“The challenge for the US is that they only face bad options in trying to deal with this.”

The US and UK on Thursday struck more than a dozen Houthi targets in Sanaa and along the Red Sea coast, including missile and drone sites as well as radar and surveillance locations.

The military action came after the Houthis launched 27 strikes in recent months on ships in the Red Sea, a critical passageway for global shipping. The group, which is allied with Palestinian militant group Hamas, has claimed the ships it attacked were travelling to or connected with Israel.

This week alone, US forces shot down 18 Houthi missiles and drones aimed at commercial vessels traversing the Red Sea.

Washington has warned both the Houthis and Iran that such attacks would have consequences and President Joe Biden’s patience appears to have run out. 

In a statement issued following the strikes, Mr Biden said he would not “hesitate” to take further action if necessary.

But Mr Juneau is doubtful the strikes will deter the Houthis and the US is likely to find that ending the Red Sea attacks for good will be challenging.

The rebel group, which controls much of the western coast of Yemen, has spread its military capabilities throughout the territory it runs, he said.

The Houthis have “significant” weapons at their disposal, including shore-to-sea missiles, amphibious assault teams, drone boats, naval mines and a host of other weaponry.

They have vowed to respond to the strikes, which could drag the US further into a regional conflict it is desperate to avoid.

Washington must find the right balance between striking the Houthis hard enough that their capabilities are affected but not so hard as to draw them deeper into conflict.

“It’s not impossible that they could find that sweet spot of hitting the Houthis just enough to deter them from continuing and not enough that it triggers some kind of escalation,” Mr Juneau said. “But that’s difficult.”

*

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.

Featured image: The US and UK struck more than a dozen Houthi targets in Sanaa and along the Red Sea coast, including missile and drone sites as well as radar and surveillance locations. US Central Command / X / Reuters

A defesa aérea ucraniana quase entrou em colapso. Os líderes ​​de Kiev já admitem o fracasso do país em continuar efetivamente a confrontar a Rússia no ar. Dada a utilização intensa de mísseis e drones pelos russos e a diminuição constante da ajuda ocidental, a Ucrânia esgotou os seus recursos e já não tem capacidade para se proteger dos ataques inimigos.

A situação do país foi admitida pelo porta-voz oficial da Força Aérea Ucraniana, Yury Ignat. Segundo ele, o arsenal de defesa aérea de Kiev está esgotado e já não existem condições adequadas para continuar a lutar por muito tempo, razão pela qual incita os países ocidentais a continuarem a enviar equipamento para a Ucrânia. Ignat acredita que as forças armadas russas aumentaram ainda mais a frequência e intensidade dos seus ataques aéreos, com a Ucrânia a precisar de reabastecer o seu arsenal para não ficar vulnerável às incursões de Moscou.

“Os intensos ataques aéreos russos obrigam-nos a utilizar uma quantidade correspondente de meios de defesa aérea (…) É por isso que precisamos de mais deles, à medida que a Rússia continua a aumentar as suas capacidades de ataque”, disse ele.

Ignat acrescentou que Kiev depende atualmente exclusivamente de sistemas de defesa aérea ocidentais e de antigos equipamentos soviéticos, uma vez que o país é incapaz de produzir armas em níveis adequados. Isto deve-se ao fato de os russos estarem a lançar ataques massivos de alta precisão contra alvos industriais ucranianos, procurando neutralizar a capacidade de Kiev de restaurar a produção de armas. Neste cenário, as forças neonazistas passam a depender de equipamentos estrangeiros ou de armas antigas e ineficientes da era soviética, tornando-se ainda mais fracas no conflito.

Para evitar uma derrota rápida, Kiev precisaria de receber muitas armas ocidentais para reconstruir imediatamente o seu arsenal de defesa aérea. O chanceler Dmitry Kuleba acredita que para isso é necessário receber mísseis para os sistemas Patriot, IRIS-T e NASAMS o mais rápido possível.

“Em primeiro lugar, esperamos que a reunião acelere decisões críticas sobre o fortalecimento adicional das capacidades de defesa aérea da Ucrânia, tanto em termos de sistemas modernos como de suas munições (…) [O fornecimento de mísseis para os sistemas Patriot, IRIS-T e NASAMS é um ] prioridade máxima que deve ser concluída hoje, não amanhã”, disse o ministro.

Esta falta de munições para a defesa aérea da Ucrânia não é novidade. Desde os primeiros meses de 2023, a mídia já mostrou que Kiev está lutando para continuar usando seus sistemas de defesa aérea, sendo que a falta de mísseis já se tornou um dos principais obstáculos para a Ucrânia no conflito. Em maio, os jornais ocidentais afirmaram mesmo que o esgotamento total das munições de defesa aérea ucranianas aconteceria numa questão de poucos dias – o que mostra como a situação pode ser ainda mais preocupante agora.

“[…] Autoridades disseram que a necessidade contínua de defesa contra ataques de mísseis e drones russos esgotou sistematicamente os estoques da Ucrânia – um alerta apoiado por documentos de inteligência dos EUA vazados online nesta primavera que sugeriam que Kiev poderia ficar sem munição para cinco defesas aéreas críticas. “De acordo com documentos revistos pelo Financial Times, os EUA avaliaram no final de fevereiro que a capacidade da Ucrânia de proteger as suas tropas nas linhas da frente seria completamente afetada até 23 de maio”, diz um artigo do Financial Times de maio de 2023.

Na altura, Kiev conseguiu obter ajuda adicional do Ocidente para continuar a lutar, mas a situação piorou muito desde então. Os russos intensificaram os seus ataques, atingindo também instalações onde muitas das armas ocidentais estavam armazenadas. Na prática, a estratégia de Moscou de manter um conflito de alta intensidade causou danos irreversíveis à estrutura das tropas inimigas, forçando Kiev a esgotar rapidamente o seu arsenal de defesa.

Contudo, existe agora um problema ainda maior para a Ucrânia. O Ocidente não parece capaz de continuar a gastar grandes quantias de dinheiro num apoio inútil a Kiev. A guerra em Israel mudou o foco da atenção das elites ocidentais. No mesmo sentido, Biden não conseguiu aprovar o seu plano de ajuda bilionário à Ucrânia e a UE teve um projeto semelhante vetado pela Hungria.

A dificuldade em aprovar novos pacotes de ajuda não tem hipótese de ser resolvida em breve. O assunto deverá ser discutido ao longo dos próximos meses, durante os quais Kiev continuará a necessitar de defesa aérea adequada, estando vulnerável aos ataques russos. Tudo isso deixa Kiev ainda mais perto da derrota, sem possibilidade de reversão do cenário militar.

Na verdade, é impossível vencer um conflito sem manter o controle do ar. O lado vencedor numa guerra contemporânea é aquele que é mais eficiente na proteção do seu território contra ataques aéreos e mais bem sucedido no lançamento de ataques com mísseis e drones. Neste caso, os russos têm uma vantagem absoluta, como admitem as próprias autoridades ucranianas.

Resta saber se a consciência do seu próprio fracasso será suficiente para fazer Kiev concordar em negociar a paz.

Lucas Leiroz de Almeida

 

 

Artigo em inglês : https://infobrics.org/post/40213/

Imagem : InfoBrics

*

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”

***

The study of how power is acquired and exercised is very old. This study is much older than the social sciences. The pursuit of power and the study of power are deeply intertwined. The questions are many. Who has power? How did they get it, maintain it, and augment it? How can one power cartel displace and replace the base of another conglomerate of power?

The study of power is integral to the study of the war, economics, education, technological transformation, propaganda, religion, and cultural expression. Weaving in and out of the study of power is the topic of the rise and fall and resurgence of Zionist Power.

The power of the cascades of peoples identified over times as Pharisees, Hebrews, Israelites, God’s Chosen People, Jews and Zionists forms a unique topic often connected to the study of power. In fact or in legend, Jesus Christ is one of those who was deeply engaged in the study and criticism of Zionist Power.

In periods when Zionist Power has become dominant, as is the case now, part of the dominance is usually expressed by governing authorities that put up walls of censorship and obfuscation meant to minimize research into the basis of Zionist Power. This research usually has strong economic components. The research tip, follow the money, is especially apt when it comes to the study of Zionist Power.

For Zionist Power to flourish, it must be made fairly invisible yet well equipped with coercive weaponry to impose severe punishments on those who do study the subject in spite of the often considerable dangers attached to this kind of research.

Those who do study the matter, such as the USA’s most exceptional industrialist of all times, Henry Ford, usually come to the conclusion that so much over-concentration of influence in such a small and self-serving minority has disastrous consequences for society at large.

Think of the disjoint we are seeing throughout the West as large numbers of citizens become appalled by the grotesque display of the most ruthless forms of genocide being pressed on civilian populations of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.

The citizen groups opposed to the US-Israeli embrace of genocide as an instrument of public policy have no well-embedded constitutional platforms on which to park their political principles in the existing structure of political parties in parliaments, legislatures and the US Congress. In the USA, for instance, all three front runners for presidential office in the looming November election, are owned lock-stock-and-barrel by the Israel Lobby.

This Lobby, including the ADL and AIPAC in the USA, are currently hard at work creating media propaganda at the behest of their patrons in the world’s pre-eminent Baby Slaughtering Country.

US President Biden’s hands are especially filthy with Palestinian blood. He deserves a heavy spotlight this year as one of the primary culprits being put on trial by International Court of Justice (ICJ) as it explores South Africa’s allegation that the UN’s Genocide Convention has been violated.

The British government might very well be found guilty of complicity in a genocide that both Conservative Leader Rishi Sunak and Labour Leader Keir Starmer have sanctioned and embraced with ghoulish enthusiasm.

Fake Fighting by Fake Opponents. Both Sunak and Starmer Take Their Orders from the Same Zionist Governors that Dominate Great Britain. These Zionist Governors Have Commanded Both Sunak and Starmer to Back the Genocide of the Palestinian People in Gaza and the West Bank.

When it comes to anything to do with Zionist power, opposition parties refuse to oppose government parties because they all depend on the same complex of Zionist Power for campaign financing and positive coverage in the media.

In the present context Zionist Power includes shutting down democratic debate in legislatures, in Zionist-dominated media and, as shall be discussed below, in universities and colleges.

The document below is a critique of an academic essay presenting an interpretation of the malevolent alignments of power behind the manufactured COVID crisis. It also addresses the conflict between Russia and NATO’s proxy, Ukraine, as well as the genocidal assault by the Israeli government on the Palestinian people. This third conflict in the Middle East is rapidly expanding into a regional war.

Dr. Piers Robinson and Vanessa Beeley are the authors of the paper I criticize. (also published by Global Research]  Both of them have faced malicious recriminations for challenging wrongheaded interpretations that hold in place by the corrupt Zionist domination of the governments of Israel, the USA and UK. Both Robinson and Beeley, as am I, are part of a circle of researchers in and around The Working Group on Propaganda and the 9/11 Global War on Terror.

The introducing statement of this working Working Group includes vague language pointing to “institutional and social challenges that have constrained academic research.” The concern is that “institutional impediments” are already deeply embedded in universities and other sites of supposed knowledge production.

These impediments tend to deny “the relevance and scholarly quality” of the important work being done to counter the mass production of power-serving disinformation. This copious disinformation is regularly served up by unscrupulous and well-rewarded PR spin doctors to keep the public in the dark about what is really going on.

The result of the impediments against disseminating accurate information on the key issues of the day is the basis of the burgeoning police states we inhabit. The dystopias where we live are being governed by agencies of thought control like the weaponized internet search engines that censor much truth to highlight only power-serving interpretations. See this.

This war on free and open debate to test ideas based on merit rather than on the wealth of their backers is being currently played out in many universities. In Ivy League institutions, for instance, we are currently witnessing the firing of many academics whose scholarly work does not conform to the pro-Israel interpretations favoured by weak and corrupt administrators. At Harvard and Penn State and many other schools, the curriculum is being determined based on the donations of very rich Jewish donors who are using their fortunes to crush free speech and academic freedom.

This approach to deciding what happens in supposed institutions of higher learning will, in the long run, severely damage not only the schools that are discrediting themselves. The credibility of Israel and international Zionism itself is being undermined by the crudeness of Zionist billionaires accustomed to being and selling the prestige of science and academia.

The rich donors and those that collapse under the force of their threats are playing with fire in a case that puts genocide at the front and centre of Israel’s reputation, but not in the way that has developed from 1945 until recently. Heavily politicized Jewish professors like Deborah Lipstadt are bound to meet increasingly resolute opposition when they attempt to continue destroying the careers of what should have been colleagues in a shared field of academic research. The surviving opponents of the drive-by attacks by vacuous agents of Lipstaft-style thought policing, will probably rally to insist on a return to the vital process of historical revisionism.

The long and short of it is that my commentary below is an encouragement to my colleagues to throw off the shackles created by the intimidation and punishments pointed our way when we challenge the Zionist domination that is ruining the decency and viability of our societies. We must stand together with those throughout the world who are insisting that the Genocide Convention should be made to apply to a power block whose impunity for international crime spree must be brought to an end. Israel is not conducting self-defence. It is trying to complete the illegal occupation and genocide it initiated in 1948.

 

*

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.

This article was originally published on the author’s Substack, Looking out at the World from Canada.

Dr. Anthony Hall is currently Professor of Globalization Studies at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta Canada. He has been a teacher in the Canadian university system since 1982. Dr. Hall, has recently finished a big two-volume publishing project at McGill-Queen’s University Press entitled “The Bowl with One Spoon”.

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

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”

***

Who Is Alfred Thayer Mahan?

Image is from the Public Domain

Alfred Thayer Mahan (1840–1914) was a famous American naval officer and historian who wrote the theory of American naval power at the beginning of the 20th century. He is the mentor of President Theodore Roosevelt. With his work titled “The Influence of Sea Power Upon History”, he predicted that the USA would turn to the seas for world domination and this geopolitical theory became the unchanging doctrine of the US state policy. 

The summary of his ideas is as follows:

“States must become rich in order to develop. This is achieved through the country’s exports. The transportation of excess goods produced and sold abroad to the world’s ports is provided by merchant fleets. Naval forces are needed to protect this transportation and to own overseas colonies. To support the Naval Forces, naval bases must be established in the country and overseas. States that establish and operate such a Naval Power system will gain power and hegemony around the world.” 

His other approach was:

“Navies must achieve decisive and overwhelming victories over existing enemy fleets, and nations must build huge, powerful navies to achieve such victories.”

The Birth of American Imperialism

The transition of Mahan’s teachings from theory to practice made him the leading guide of US naval build-up and expansionism. His greatest fortune was to persuade the then Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt, a very powerful politician, in the field of navalism. In 1882, when Roosevelt was not even a secretary, he said the following about the future of the US Navy:

“It is an urgent need to have an effective navy… Only our incredible political shortsightedness can prevent us from achieving this goal…” 

Later, when he became President, Roosevelt expressed his ideas. He put it into practice and transformed the USA into an imperialist state through naval power by organizing state institutions within the Protestant capitalist doctrine. The USA, which discovered oil in 1858, went to sea as a requirement of its new geopolitics and never returned to land. This transformation played an important role in the arms race that led to World War I. 

35 years after Mahan’s death, Stimson, Secretary of War during the reign of President Franklin Roosevelt, glorified Mahan so much that he was able to say,

“Neptune, the God of the Oceans, Alfred Mahan is his prophet, and the only real church on earth is the American Navy.”

Mahan and Corbett Schools

During World War II, the United States could only apply Mahan’s decisive naval warfare principles in the Pacific theater. The decisive naval war in which large navies faced each other in the open sea areas envisaged by Mahan was only experienced in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, and this war went down as the last great naval war in world naval history. The United States and other navies applied the principles of British strategist Sir Julian Corbett (1854-1922) in the years leading up to the Second World War on the Atlantic front and the subsequent Cold War. Corbett was against decisive and large-scale naval battles at sea. 

According to the theses stated in his book “Some Principles of Maritime Strategy”, the struggle at sea should support the struggle on land. In this context, it was very important to prevent maritime trade of the enemy or to protect friendly maritime trade. This situation was in full compliance with the strategy implemented by the USA in the Atlantic during the Second World War. In summary, while Mahan’s sea power theory created high-level geopolitical and geo-economic results, Corbett’s ideas created results at the operative level.

Mahan’s Trio[1]

According to Mahan, trade produces wealth that enhances maritime power. 

Just as the famous Prussian strategist Clausewitz (1780-1831) emphasizes the indispensability of the “triad” of people, government, and military power in order to become a strong state in his work “On the War”, Mahan also emphasizes national wealth, trade and military power. In this respect, sea power supports not only geopolitics but also geo-economy. Today, cultural and technological ecosystems can be added to Mahan’s trio. 

Mahan, both as a historian and a geopolitician, analyzed very well the processes of France, the Netherlands and England becoming maritime and ocean powers. 

He charted a course for the US state mechanism by making cause and effect analyses of France’s maritime mistakes as a continental power or England’s dominance of the seas as a small island state.

According to him, the main reason why France could not surpass England at sea, despite having a minister like Colbert at the time of Louis XIV, was that its military power and commercial power were worn down by unnecessary wars on land, focusing on excessive geopolitical objectives.

Although France was more advanced in technology than England in some areas at that time, it preferred expansion by land to expansion by sea, and as a result, it lost its colonies in the American continent and India to English Crown. However, Colbert had supported the increase in trade and naval power to enrich France and made important reforms in this field. 

The Netherlands fell into similar traps. She focused only on trade and economic wealth. Netherlands neglected that a strong navy was necessary for the continuity of the ecosystem of trade and economic wealth. England created a trading system that was backed and maintained by military force. 

The Mahan Trio and China

The famous trio of national wealth, commercial power and naval power, which Mahan sees as the key to becoming a global power, when transformed into today’s global conjuncture, highlights economic size, scope of supply chains and military power, especially the navy. 

Technological superiority, which is an integral part of this trio, is also related to economic size, commercial power and naval power. 

Today, China implements Mahan’s trio, which focuses not only on geopolitical but also on geoeconomic consequences, much more effectively than the United States. 

In other words, what China has achieved in the last 20 years is similar to the transformation processes of the USA into a global power at the beginning of the 20th century. 

In 1890, the USA surpassed England in production and trade for the first time and became the world’s largest economy. 

China surpassed the USA in foreign trade for the first time in 2010. 

As the USA began to grow, it first secured the south (Mexico) and north (Alaska-Canada) and then took control of the Pacific (Hawaii-Philippines) and South-Central America (Caribbean) region to ensure its geopolitical integrity. 

While China first tried to prevent Taiwan from becoming an American forward base, it tried to expand its maritime jurisdiction. It expanded its sovereignty in the South China Sea with the 9-point line. Because he knew very well that the bottom of the seas was much more valuable than the land. While China expanded its navy, she also expanded its area of interest and influence with interregional and intercontinental trade and supply chains. Today, there is Chinese investment or financing in 105 ports of 50 countries covering all oceans.

China Growing at the Sea

Despite Mahan’s prediction, the United States abandoned expanding its merchant fleet, the most important leg of its maritime power after the navy, in the second half of the 20th century. 

After the Cold War, it rapidly reduced the size of its navy. The US-flagged merchant fleet is extremely inadequate today with 200 ships. 

If a world war broke out tomorrow, the United States would have difficulty finding merchant fleets to support its overseas bases. 

There are still almost no warships to escort these fleets. 

Although the American navy is seen as the gendarmerie of the oceans today, the number of ships is very insufficient. 

The USA has 291 combat-ready ships. 

Only 232 of these ships are major combatant ships. The remaining 59 ships are auxiliary ships such as tankers. 

Only 72 combat ships out of the 232 combatant ships, on deployment in the world’s oceans and seas today. 

On the other hand, the Chinese Navy (PLAN) has over 750 warships, of which 239 are the major combatants. 

PLANS Xiamen (DDG-154) 20180420 (Licensed under CC BY 4.0)

They operate the world’s largest merchant marine fleet with a total national flag tonnage of 294 million GT.

1600 containers (box cargo) are moving every minute in the world, and nearly half of them are either loaded or unloaded at Chinese ports. 

Nearly 50% of all ships built in the world are produced in China. 

The USA protects its own shipyards thanks to the Jones Act of 1920, but the number of shipyards to be protected is rapidly decreasing. 

In the words of the American Secretary of the Navy,

“China can produce a ship in one year that it takes the USA in 7 years.”

In the beginning of Cold War USA had 11 military shipyards. Today, there are no military shipyards, building warships left. Only around 7 civil shipyards build warships. This number is several dozen in China. The 154 existing civilian shipyards in the USA today can turn to warship production in case of war. In China, this number is 1200 shipyards. 

Another problem area for the USA is the problem of finding qualified sailors to man the warships. 

In addition, they have a serious shortage of personnel to work in shipyards. It will take 30 years for American shipyards to catch up with China.

Supply Chains

The most serious developments that make China stand out as both a trade and naval power have occurred in the last 25 years. 

While the BRI-Belt and Road initiative has been improving the supply chain both in Eurasia and in the world oceans since 2013; By making huge investments in the navy, for superiority over the USA, they took measures to protect trade and provide freedom of movement in sensitive sea areas, especially Taiwan and the Malacca Straits. 

From 2013, when it was announced, to 2022, the total imports and exports between China and BRI countries reached 19.1 trillion US dollars, with a growth of 6.4% every year. 

On the other hand, the total bilateral investments between China and BRI partner countries reached 380 billion US dollars. 

In short, today China strictly implements what Mahan said roughly 120 years ago, both within the geopolitical and geoeconomic frameworks. 

On the contrary, the USA is moving away.

*

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.

Ret Admiral Cem Gürdeniz, Writer, Geopolitical Expert, Theorist and creator of the Turkish Bluehomeland (Mavi Vatan) doctrine. He served as the Chief of Strategy Department and then the head of Plans and Policy Division in Turkish Naval Forces Headquarters. As his combat duties, he has served as the commander of Amphibious Ships Group and Mine Fleet between 2007 and 2009. He retired in 2012. He established Hamit Naci Blue Homeland Foundation in 2021. He has published numerous books on geopolitics, maritime strategy, maritime history and maritime culture. He is also a honorary member of ATASAM.  

Note

[1] Mahan as Geoeconomic Strategist, By Colonel Walter M. Hudson, U.S. Army (Retired), January 2024, USNI Proceedings, Vol. 150/1/1,451

Featured image: An MH-60S Seajawk helicopter flies past the U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer Sterett. (MC1 Daniel Barker/U.S. Navy)

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”

***

“Morality is the basis of things & truth the substance of morality.” – Mahatma Gandhi

Fascism and the violation of First Amendment Rights always starts with a bought-out corporate mainstream press, news media and Internet that doesn’t allow all the truth that’s fit to print to actually be told and brought to the public’s attention and conscious awareness. Corporate news empires commonly have editors, editorial boards and independently-wealthy private owners, invisible to the public’s eyes, who carefully screen from the general awareness and consciousness, whatever particularly skewed ideological bent dictates what truths or untruths will be told or not told. Uncomfortable geo-political news items, truths or perspectives that the powers-that-be don’t approve of, and don’t want to see shared with their readership, are routinely screened out by their designated gate-keepers, lookout’s and sentinel’s. 

Therefore, “all the truth that’s fit to print”, isn’t necessarily the ‘high bar’ standard set by the appointed gate-keepers of the corporate press, even if they claim to be, whether it be Google who controls the Internet or whomever are all the other main gatekeepers of public awareness of every political social, cultural, religious, persuasion in every country, worldwide.

What follows in almost every case of an already closed, or budding, fascist system of government, is that if the at first friendly’ censuring doesn’t duly work to muzzle the undeterred writer-journalist of whatever truth is making the powers-that-be increasingly more uncomfortable, there then eventually comes the anonymous warning phone calls at all hours or unsigned messages slipped under the door or left on the answering service, that warn the writer to stop and desist from pursuing whatever line of investigation is unwelcomed.

If that doesn’t work, there then comes the proverbial final knock on the door in the dead of night and the writer either totally stops their writing,or in some cases they’re conveniently ‘disappeared’. End of the story.

But a completely free and open press is the only means in the world that the individual freelance journalist, who genuinely seeks to speak-truth-to-power, has at their means to tell “the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help them God” to the best of their ability, especially when they lack the necessary funds or wherewithal to otherwise do so on their own.

So, when this writer recently released his latest controversial article, “Jewish Lobby Behind War Mongering in Gaza & War Threat in Middle East”, on which he had diligently and extensively worked to expose what some of the main causes are that remain either hidden, or less openly and freely talked about concerning some of the less-well-known causes of the war in Gaza, the West Bank and Gaza Strip; it wasn’t long before it was initially picked up and published by an independent source, he was elated and proud that he had accomplished the goal he had set out to do.

But he quickly became crestfallen when he realized that no sooner had the article begun to circulate, worldwide, then, unexplainably, it had suddenly totally disappeared from the Internet, nowhere to be found. It had been de-listed by unknown parties who held the power to do so.

Several expectant readers searching for the article reported that, “Sadly, it appears you’ve just been victimized by parties unknown. But so-called ‘de-listing’ is just a more pleasant way to say to the victimized writer-human being, of whatever stature or status, that, “Sorry! You’ve just become another victim of censorship, and your basic human and civil rights woefully violated by some unknown ruthless, dictatorial power, without any recourse, whatsoever.” Some explained it away as “It’s just one of those Google things.”

Another frustrated would-be reader, said, “Check out who Jared Cohen is, and how he might figure into this blacklisting by Google.” A cursory check of who Cohen is soon proved as fascinating as it was enlightening.

Jared Cohen, Braintrust of Google and Man of Many Talents

After even a cursory perusal of Cohen’s awesome biography and professional vitae on the web, one comes away wondering how one individual could accomplish, in a  single lifetime what would seem the equivalent of five or even ten industrious, aggressive individuals.

Or, furthermore, how the scribbles of this lowly writer could even remotely begin to threaten someone like himself or his lofty Google brain trust; by going so far as to arbitrarily delist and censure/assassinate his work; when the stature, power and prestige of someone like himself and Google would otherwise seem to be to instead extend some sense of Noblesse oblige to those of a lesser status beneath them.

Jared Cohen is indeed a very interesting character. A graduate of Stanford University, with a MPhil in International Relations from the University of Oxford where he studied as Rhodes Scholar, who speaks fluent Swahili. His accolades run long.

He is a former: US Diplomat President of Global Affairs; Co-head of the Office of Applied Innovation; a Protégé of former Google CEO Eric Schmidt; founder of Jigsaw, an incubator at the giant tech firm; a member of Gen Next; a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader; Founder and CEO of Jigsaw, an independent unit of Google-focused on how to address global security challenges; an adjunct senior fellow at the Council of Foreign Affairs (CFR); an advisor to RAND, and; member of the National Counter-Terrorism Centre and Anti-Slavery Collective; co-head of Office of Applied Innovation and President of Global Affairs, and a partner at Goldman Sachs.

Cohen is also the founder of Alphabet, Inc, that focuses on applying cutting-edge technology to whatever challenges Alphabet deems destabilizing to the Internet, including cyber-attacks, dis/misinformation; mainstream geo-political extremism and conspiracy theories. He also, as well, has served as closer advisors in the White House to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton. Upon leaving the White House, before his tenure began at Google, he spent time in Iran and Azerbaijan when the killing of Iranian scientists began.

Additionally, Cohen’s career includes being a best-selling author of five books that includes: Children of Jihad, and; One Hundred Days of Silence; America and the Rwanda Genocide. His writings also have appeared in innumerable venues, such as: Foreign Affairs; Foreign Policy; New York Times; Wall Street Journal, and; the Washington Post. He was named, as well, to Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People;n Foreign Policy’s Top 100 Global Thinkers, and: Vanity Fair’s New Establishment.

Well, this one remained breathless after this cursory check of the facts. The only still unanswered question this schmuck of a writer was left with at that point was, as one who only ever seeks to speak the simplest of self-evident truths to power, by comparison, besides being a piece of low-lying fruit, easy to pick off by whomever dislikes the simple self-evident truths to which he would call the public’s attention, is still the $64,000 dollar question: Why would unnamed parties even waste their time with him?

Why has the Almighty Google and/or Jared Cohen, or whomever the case may be, indeed been responsible for de-listing this writer’s latest article, “Jewish Lobby Behind War Mongering in Gaza & War Threat in Middle East?” Especially, when there exists so many bigger fish than he to fry? While already possessing so much power, what do they fear most? Losing control? Becoming impotent? Thinking more deeply?

*

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.

The writer Jerome Irwin is a Canadian-American writer who originally was a Criminology student working in one of America’s local police departments. For decades, Irwin has sought to call world attention to problems of environmental degradation and unsustainability caused by a host of environmental-ecological-spiritual issues that exist between the conflicting world philosophies of indigenous and non-indigenous peoples.

Irwin is the author of the book, “The Wild Gentle Ones; A Turtle Island Odyssey” (www.turtle-island-odyssey.com), a spiritual odyssey among the native peoples of North America that has led to numerous articles pertaining to: Ireland’s Fenian Movement; native peoples Dakota Access Pipeline Resistance Movement; AIPAC, Israel & the U.S. Congress anti-BDS Movement; the historic Battle for Palestine & Siege of Gaza, as well as; the many violations constantly being waged by industrial-corporate-military-propaganda interests against the World’s Collective Soul. The author and his wife are long-time residents on the North Shore of British Columbia.

He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

Featured image: A US government propaganda poster from the 1940s (Source: Multipolarista)

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.

***

“2023 has been a challenge for Global Research, but we know 2024 will be no different. That’s why we need your support. Will you make a New Year donation to help us continue with our work?”

*

This article was first published in October 2023.

Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft and one of the world’s richest globalists, is now funding a new initiative to “combat global warming” and “save the planet.” Gates’ organization, Breakthrough Energy, has invested $6.6 million in the project led by a company called Kodama Systems, founded in 2021. The plan is to harvest no less than 70 million acres of forest, mostly in the western United States. After mass harvesting, the millions of trees will be buried in the ground so that no one can use them. This is because climate alarmists believe that “burying trees will reduce global warming” as it prevents them from releasing carbon dioxide into the air.

KODAMA SYSTEMS is sponsored by Bill Gates to fell and bury millions of tons of trees. Like other climate companies, Kodama has similarly simple logos and drawings describing their activities, as if they were cast from the same mold. Screenshot: Kodama Systems

Carbon dioxide in the air is needed for plants and trees to absorb carbon and use it to build their plant parts and grow. Oxygen is released through photosynthesis, which we humans breathe. Therefore, trees sequester large amounts of carbon dioxide during their lifetime. When they die and decompose or burn, the bound carbon dioxide is released. When trees are harvested at the end of their lifespan, when they are most valuable as timber or firewood, and are buried instead of being sold, the idea is that the carbon dioxide will be bound and kept separate from our planet’s atmosphere. Therefore, the project’s coordinators, known as the Carbon Lockdown Project, plan to store the “biomass in oxygen-free tree vaults” for a long time to come. The trees will be buried or submerged in water instead of being used for things like timber for housing or pulp, which will further increase the prices of timber, firewood, paper, and all wood-based products.

Timely Forest Fires

The logging is not a future idea; it has already begun. The American business magazine Forbes reports that Kodama Systems co-founder Merritt Jenkins is currently leading test logging in Stanislaus National Forest, located at the base of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in Northern California. The nature reserve covers nearly 900,000 acres and is managed by the U.S. Forest Service, a part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 31% of U.S. forests are federally owned.

MERRITT JENKINS has every reason to look pleased as billionaires and authorities pour millions into his company. Jenkins is a co-founder of Kodama Systems and is seen here, holding a Corona-branded shovel (enlargement in inset), sitting in front of freshly cut trees in California that will soon be buried. Jenkins, who holds a master’s degree in robotics, is also a co-founder of Pattern Ag, a company that analyzes soil for farmers. Therefore, Jenkins is well aware of how decaying trees are crucial for creating future arable land, a vital natural process that his other company, Kodama, is now set to hinder. Jenkins is a vital part of a project known as the Carbon Lockdown Project. Many on social media have reacted with dismay to Kodama’s plans, and others wonder where the once outspoken environmental activists and “tree huggers” are now. Photo: X @forbes

Currently, Kodama is testing and improving a semi-autonomous harvesting unit, which is eight meters long and weighs 17 tons. The goal is to build fully autonomous timber harvesting machines that can work around the clock without human operators, from cutting down the trees to hauling them out of the forest. Kodama’s current test machine can operate at night but still requires human operators. With satellite connectivity and advanced lidar cameras (light detection and ranging), similar to those used in self-driving cars, the work can be directed and monitored remotely. Those who have seen the movie Avatar can roughly understand what it would look like.

Kodama is using forest fires as one of its main selling points, as they also offer to take care of fallen trees and undergrowth, as well as thinning the forest – the forest management that is no longer carried out as before. Kodama points out the threat to life and property as well as the health risks from wildfire smoke. Jimmy Voorhis, Director of Biomass Utilization and Policy at Kodama, tells Forbes that decision-makers are now listening to them, especially after this summer’s Canadian wildfires created hazardous air conditions in major cities like New York, Washington, D.C., and Chicago.

“The orange sky in San Francisco was a turning point. They’re listening to us now,” says a satisfied Voorhis.

U.S. authorities are now seeking to swiftly address the problem their own inactivity has created by hiring Kodama. The U.S. Forest Service aims to thin out 70 million acres of forests, mostly in California, over the next decade. Typically, after such forest thinning, logs of sellable size go to sawmills, while the rest is piled up and, together with undergrowth, is later burned under controlled conditions. Now, instead, Kodama will bury one billion tons of “biomass” in “tree vaults” designed to maintain dry and oxygen-free conditions to prevent the wood from decomposing or burning.

Kodama has already received $1 million in grants from California’s forestry fire agency and others, as well as purchase commitments for the carbon credits associated with the first 400 tons of trees that the Gates-sponsored company buries. Forbes writes that “on the open market, these credits should fetch $200 per ton”. Forbes likely chooses this price because climate alarmists have touted it as a soon-to-come minimum price needed to “save the planet.” Currently, emissions allowances cost less than half of this cost. So, the upfront payment for 400 tons of buried trees corresponds to $0.8 million in carbon credits. Real value in the form of timber and firewood is thus transformed into a fictitious value based on the lie of human-made global warming.

Free West Medias’ foreign desk has access to an internal presentation showing that the forces behind this idea plan to make money in several ways. It is led by Ning Zeng, a Chinese professor at the University of Maryland in the USA and the founder of the Carbon Lockdown Project (CLP). Ning is described as the “godfather of biomass burial.” The presentation, held for other insiders, is revealing as it provides insight into their thinking. Ning emphasizes, among other things, that 97 percent of the trees will be preserved after 100 years, indicating that they plan to store them for a long time and then potentially reuse them. It is important to note that trees stored in oxygen-free environments gain higher quality over time and can command a value of tens of euro per kilogram.

Ning particularly highlights that the cost of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere will be very low, $10-50 per ton. Companies that must pay for so-called carbon credits in the ongoing emissions trading – a multi-billion-dollar industry that globalists are now imposing on the world – can purchase this “service” from CLP.

The EU’s average auction price for emissions allowances in 2022 was 79 euros per ton of CO2, with a minimum price of about 58 euros per ton of CO2 and a maximum of 98 euros per ton of CO2. This can be compared to the 2021 average price of about 53 euros per ton of CO2, a 33 percent increase in just one year. There is no indication that this trend of rising prices will be broken; instead, it is likely to accelerate. This year, the average price seems to be well above 100 euros. The logging and burial of forests can, according to Ning Zeng’s internal cost estimation, already this year generate a profit of at least 100 to 1,000 percent. Finland’s government has already paid Zeng’s company $181 per ton, and the Swedish investment company Kinnevik recently bought 1,000 tons of carbon credits, equivalent to the weight of buried trees.

Aside from the profits from selling carbon credits, millions of tons of forests in the future will be able to be sold for tens of euro per kilogram, many times more than they are worth now, not factoring in inflation. This means both a value-preserving investment and pure profits counted in trillions rather than billions. There are, therefore, several largely hidden economic motives, as is often the case with globalists’ plans.

Natural Farming Is Eradicated

Carbon Lockdown Project states on its website that the “natural carbon cycle is in near balance,” but not in perfect balance. Therefore, the imperfect nature must be saved by the artificial solutions of globalists, as the natural cycle is not sufficient. Carbon Lockdown Project explains it with the words: “Even though photosynthesis is ‘free,’ forests must be managed sustainably,” something they claim to know best how to do. Carbon Lockdown Project then emphasizes the importance of tree planting and how they plan to “intervene” to save our planet:

The idea of Wood Harvesting and Storage (WHS) proposes management intervention through wood harvesting or the collection of wood residues, followed by storage in anaerobic underground or wet/dry/cold conditions to prevent decay.

A “TREE VAULT” will store tree trunks so that they cannot emit carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. To address the problem of forest land often having bedrock close to the surface, the idea is to build “tree vaults” resembling ancient burial mounds. The trees are buried in cells stacked on top of each other, each of which is then sealed with airtight materials. When the tree vault reaches its maximum possible height, everything is sealed with, for example, clay. Then, a layer of soil is placed over the “burial mound,” where Kodama suggests that solar farms can be built. Problems with soil erosion due to rain and wind are not discussed, nor is the fact that it will mar the landscape. As shown in the picture, not only forests and tree trunks will be buried, but also recycled wood and wooden houses after demolition. Image: Carbon Lockdown Project

Thus, it is evident that it involves logging and not just clearing fallen and decaying trees in the forest – as establishment fact-checkers claim after the project starts to receive attention and criticism. From the project’s other materials, it is also clear that the focus is on trees in their final phase – before they risk starting to release carbon dioxide – thus, the oldest and largest trees, precisely those most suitable for timber and most desired by sawmills and the construction industry. Instead of becoming timber for housing construction, for example, they will be buried. This will not only mean significantly higher timber prices but also soaring firewood prices. In many countries, including Eastern Europe, it is common for people – especially now that energy and heating costs have skyrocketed – to go into the forest and pick up fallen branches and old dried trees to use as firewood.

BLACK OAK is the name of oak that has been submerged in water for an extended period. The name comes from it being considerably darker than regular oak. These pieces come from the lock gate of the Swedish Göta Canal in Mem, which was built in 1832 and replaced in 2007, meaning they were submerged in water for 175 years. Wood stored in oxygen-free conditions becomes harder over time and, therefore, commands a higher price, regardless of provenance. If it is stored underground, in fresh or brackish water, it also avoids shipworms, which thrive in saltier environments. Companies like Kodama can, therefore, be expected to get much more money for the timber when it is excavated and sold. Photo: Nya Tider

Tree planting may sound like a positive thing until we see that the globalists are targeting open landscapes in general and agricultural land in particular. Only that part of the “war on carbon” to achieve Net Zero will force many farms to close, resulting in a further reduction in natural food production, cattle, and grains. In the Netherlands, the globalist-controlled government is trying to force 3,000 farms to close, and in Ireland, dairy farmers warn that 3,000 milk producers are on the verge of being wiped out due to new “climate requirements.” Moreover, the economic incentives for logging and burying trees will dictate the development. Forbes’ article reveals that there are extensive plans to steer farmers towards such “carbon farming,” which is paid for with carbon emissions allowances and is already more profitable than traditional farming. The aim is to get them to stop producing food and wood products. It is also mentioned that they want to introduce foreign “better carbon-absorbing” tree species for this purpose, such as bamboo. These can be genetically modified to withstand the cold at our latitudes.

Already, high energy prices have wiped out large parts of the chemical industry – mostly in the West – which produces artificial fertilizers that are necessary for nearly half of the world’s food production. In addition, the ongoing weak solar cycle, which began in December 2019, has created extreme weather that has destroyed crops worldwide. This fall, harvest time in the Northern Hemisphere, seems to be one of the worst ever in many countries (the numbers are not finalized yet). Global food security has never been so threatened, something even the Agenda-pushing UN has acknowledged.

KODOMA is the name of spirits that inhabit trees, according to Japanese folklore. The term is also used to designate a tree where a “kodama” is believed to reside, usually older trees. The phenomenon known as yamabiko, when sound produces a delayed echo effect in mountains and valleys, is sometimes attributed to this type of spirit. Kodama can also mean “echo” in Japanese. In contemporary Japan, Kodama are still feared as they are seen as demons capable of harming those who disturb them by cutting down the tree. Therefore, such trees are still marked with special shimenawa ropes made of hemp fibers (an inset shows one at the Yuki Shrine in Kyoto). The drawing depicts a Kodama (left) and is from the book “Gazu Hyakki Yagyō” (English: “The Illustrated Night Parade of a Hundred Demons”) by Toriyama Sekien. A peculiar choice of name, perhaps, for a company planning to cut down millions of older trees. Image: Toriyama Sekien, Photo: Chris Gladis

Food production worldwide needs to be significantly and rapidly strengthened, but instead, the opposite is happening. Globalists primarily want to abolish livestock farming and replace animal protein with plant-based and synthetic “meat” as well as insects. Dairy products are also supposed to be replaced in the same manner, with everything from soy-based “dairy products” to cockroach milk. However, they never explain how they intend to replace the more serious and enormous shortfall in grains.

In addition to agriculture being forced to step back, both in terms of food and timber production, it leads to something else that no one talks about. Decaying vegetation and trees create new nutrient-rich soils, which are the foundation of all cereal production. Leached soils as a result of industrialized agriculture, often driven by globalist multinational companies, are a significant problem today. By removing millions of trees from the natural cycle, the future’s arable land and food production are also being destroyed.

*

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.

Featured image: Bill Gates wants to bury trees – for Climate’s sake. Photo: carboncredits.com

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

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.

***

“The Israel-Gaza war is the most dangerous situation for journalists we have ever seen, and these figures show that clearly…The Israeli army has killed more journalists in 10 weeks than any other army or entity has in any single year. And with every journalist killed, the war becomes harder to document and to understand.”

– Sherif Mansour, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ’s) Middle East and North Africa program coordinator. [1]

LISTEN TO THE SHOW

Click to download the audio (MP3 format)

Operation Cast Lead, launched in December of 2008, claimed lives in the range of between 1,166 and 1,324 Palestinians. It was considered “the most destructive Israeli assault since the Six Day War (of 1967.)”[2][3][4]

The Israel-Gaza war, in response to the October 7 attack by Palestine-Islamists in neighbouring Israel, has, as of this date killed over 23,000 Palestinians, two thirds of whom are women and children. [5]

And according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, as of January 12, 82 journalists and media workers were confirmed dead as a result of the war. The CPJ records indicate this is more journalist deaths than have died in any one country within one country ever! [6][7]

So this moment in time is a major, major event!

In the last days of 2023, South Africa asked the International Court of Justice for an urgent order declaring Israel to be in violation of the 1948 Genocide Convention.[8]

Several countries, including Malaysia, Turkey, Jordan, and the 57 member bloc making up the Organization of IsIamic Countries support South Africa’s Genocide call. The United States and Israel opposed it. Most of the countries in the West, including the European Union are silent on targeting Israel with genocide, even though most of these same countries supported genocide case at the ICJ of Russia. [9][10]

The events unfolding on the Palestinian population at the blood-soaked hands of Israel is evident for everyone to see. Will it continue to escalate through all the cries of NEVER AGAIN? This is the question looming for the loyal listeners of the Global Research News Hour.

In our first half hour, we hear from lawyer, journalist and activist Dimitri Lascaris. He has been following the situation in Gaza and was present on the ground in Lebanon in late October. He will assess the evidence the was will expand into a much greater regional war, and also describe the legal aspects of South Africa’s genocide case against Israel.

In our second half hour, two individual Global Research writers, Paul and Calvin Larudee discuss their doubts about the ICJ on the grounds the decisions are more political than legal.

Finally, Robert Inlakesh, a journalist and film-maker with extended family in Gaza returns to the show to reveal the research he has done and bring us more information than what the mainstream Western press is inclined to reveal.

Dimitri Lascaris is a lawyer, a journalist and an activist. From 2004 to 2016 he was a member of Canada’s leading class action law firm Siskinds LLP. He now works pro-bono legal cases. In 2020, he ran for the leadership of the Green Party of Canada and placed second with  45.5% of the membership. 

Paul Larudee is a retired academic and current administrator of a nonprofit human rights and humanitarian aid organization.

Calvin Larudee, Paul’s grandson, is a high school student in Castro Valley, California. He provides international weekly news summaries and analysis at International Informants, to which subscribers are welcome.

Robert Inlakesh is a political analyst, journalist and documentary filmmaker currently based in London, UK. He has reported from and lived in the occupied Palestinian territories and hosts the show ‘Palestine Files’. Director of ‘Steal of the Century: Trump’s Palestine-Israel Catastrophe’. Follow him on Twitter @falasteen47

(Global Research News Hour Episode 417)

LISTEN TO THE SHOW

Click to download the audio (MP3 format)

The Global Research News Hour airs every Friday at 1pm CT on CKUW 95.9FM out of the University of Winnipeg. The programme is also podcast at globalresearch.ca .

Other stations airing the show:

CIXX 106.9 FM, broadcasting from Fanshawe College in London, Ontario. It airs Sundays at 6am.

WZBC 90.3 FM in Newton Massachusetts is Boston College Radio and broadcasts to the greater Boston area. The Global Research News Hour airs during Truth and Justice Radio which starts Sunday at 6am.

Campus and community radio CFMH 107.3fm in  Saint John, N.B. airs the Global Research News Hour Fridays at 7pm.

CJMP 90.1 FM, Powell River Community Radio, airs the Global Research News Hour every Saturday at 8am. 

Caper Radio CJBU 107.3FM in Sydney, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia airs the Global Research News Hour starting Wednesday afternoon from 3-4pm.

Cowichan Valley Community Radio CICV 98.7 FM serving the Cowichan Lake area of Vancouver Island, BC airs the program Thursdays at 9am pacific time.

Notes:

1. https://cpj.org/2023/12/israel-gaza-war-takes-record-toll-on-journalists/
2. Yaakov Lappin (March 26, 2009), ‘IDF releases Cast Lead casualty numbers’, The Jerusalem Post; https://web.archive.org/web/20110511121653/http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1237727552054&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
3. Khan Younis (January 22, 2009), ‘Rights Group Puts Gaza Death Toll At 1,284’, CBS News; https://web.archive.org/web/20090125220045/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/01/22/world/main4746224.shtml?source=RSSattr=World_4746224
4. https://web.archive.org/web/20140306075708/http://www.map-uk.org/news/media-room/witness.aspx
5. https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-briefing-notes/2024/01/israel-occupied-palestinian-territory-situation-100-days
6. https://cpj.org/2024/01/journalist-casualties-in-the-israel-gaza-conflict/
7. https://cpj.org/2023/12/israel-gaza-war-takes-record-toll-on-journalists/
8. https://www.newarab.com/news/who-representing-israel-s-africa-gaza-genocide-case
9. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/9/which-countries-back-south-africas-genocide-case-against-israel-at-icj
10. https://www.asia-pacificresearch.com/australia-must-support-south-africa-international-court-justice-case-against-israel/5631862

Os níveis de paranóia anti-russa estão a atingir níveis perigosos na Suécia. Recentemente, as autoridades do país pediram aos seus cidadãos que se preparassem para uma possível situação de conflito com a Rússia num futuro próximo. O caso mostra claramente como os governos ocidentais estão a agir de forma irracional nas suas decisões, ignorando a realidade e não conseguindo compreender adequadamente o cenário geopolítico europeu.

As declarações das autoridades suecas foram feitas durante a Conferência Nacional Folk och Forsvar, em Salen. O Ministro dos Negócios Estrangeiros sueco, Tobias Billstrom, afirmou na ocasião que a Rússia está a tornar-se a maior ameaça para a Suécia e para toda a Europa, acrescentando que o seu país deve estar preparado para enfrentar uma possível situação de conflito prolongado com Moscou.

“A Rússia constituirá uma séria ameaça à segurança da Suécia e da Europa num futuro próximo (…) [Portanto] Estocolmo deve ser realista e assumir – e estar preparada para – um confronto prolongado”, disse ele.

As palavras de Billstrom foram reforçadas pela posição do ministro da Defesa, Pal Jonson, que disse que a guerra poderia “chegar” aos suecos. Jonson afirmou que a Ucrânia funciona atualmente como uma espécie de “escudo para a Europa”, evitando que as hostilidades afetem outros países. Ele teme que, com um fracasso por parte de Kiev, a crise de segurança se agrave e mais países comecem a entrar em conflito direto com a Rússia.

Como é sabido, desde o início da operação especial russa, a Suécia violou a sua própria tradição de neutralidade e aderiu a uma política militar agressiva, tendo solicitado a adesão à OTAN. Embora o processo de aceitação da Suécia na aliança pareça longe de estar completo, o país já deu passos importantes na sua integração com os estados membros, participando numa série de exercícios e operações conjuntas.

O governo sueco autorizou recentemente o envio de 800 soldados para a Letônia, onde as tropas se juntarão à “Enhanced Forward Presence in the Baltic states” – uma equipe internacional da OTAN liderada pelo Canadá que visa “melhorar” a segurança do Báltico no meio das atuais tensões. Na mesma linha, houve uma declaração do Primeiro-Ministro Ulf Kristersson no ano passado dizendo que a Suécia poderia ter armas nucleares da OTAN no seu território, o que representaria uma grave escalada na crise regional.

Tudo isso mostra como os suecos, embora ainda não sejam formalmente membros da OTAN, já estão envolvidos nos planos de guerra da aliança contra a Rússia. Tal como a Finlândia, que já conseguiu a sua adesão, a Suécia está decidida a trabalhar a favor dos interesses do bloco militar ocidental, contribuindo tanto quanto possível para os projetos da aliança. Os países escandinavos aderiram irracionalmente às narrativas infundadas dos principais meios de comunicação ocidentais, de modo que os tomadores de decisções suecos e finlandeses acreditam realmente que existe uma espécie de “perigo russo”.

Não há provas de que a Rússia planeje lançar ações militares contra qualquer país europeu. Moscou não tem quaisquer reivindicações territoriais na Europa e não vê qualquer necessidade de usar a força contra outros países do continente. A razão que levou a Rússia a intervir militarmente na Ucrânia é muito clara: houve um genocídio de russos étnicos em Donbass. Esta foi a única razão pela qual a Rússia, depois de falhar diplomaticamente, iniciou a sua operação especial e decidiu reintegrar alguns territórios na sua Federação. Atualmente não existe nenhuma situação semelhante à ucraniana em nenhum país europeu, pelo que Moscou obviamente não planeia “expandir” as suas acções militares.

No entanto, é necessário sublinhar como a paranóia anti-russa cria uma espécie de “profecia auto-realizável” à medida que os governos russofóbicos implementam medidas que colocam em risco a segurança regional, provocando reações por parte de Moscou. Por seu lado, os russos não têm interesse militar na Suécia, na Finlândia ou nos Bálticos, mas se estes países começarem a envolver-se em operações que ameacem o ambiente estratégico russo, então Moscou irá certamente retaliar da forma apropriada para manter as suas fronteiras seguras.

Por outras palavras, a Rússia não representa uma ameaça para a Europa, mas a Europa está perto de representar uma ameaça para a Rússia. Ao apelar aos seus soldados para que se preparem para o conflito, a Suécia está a envolver-se de uma forma perigosa que poderá ter consequências devastadoras. A partir do momento em que se sabe que um país estrangeiro se prepara para uma guerra com a Rússia, Moscou tem o direito de também colocar as suas tropas em prontidão para o combate. O resultado pode ser o início de um ciclo vicioso de tensões e atritos.

A Suécia deveria parar de acreditar nas mentiras ocidentais sobre a Rússia e concentrar-se nos seus problemas internos, em vez de tomar medidas militares anti-estratégicas. Estocolmo precisa de retomar a sua neutralidade e ficar fora dos planos de guerra da OTAN, respeitando a sua própria tradição diplomática.

Lucas Leiroz de Almeida

 

 

Artigo em inglês : Sweden prepares for ‘war’ due to its own Russophobic paranoia, infobrics.org, 1o de Janeiro de 2023.

Imagem : InfoBrics

*

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”

***

There are very few countries that have done as much damage to the Serbian people as the United States has. Despite never having been an enemy to the US, Washington DC simply doesn’t want to leave the small Southeast European country alone. What’s more, Belgrade was an American ally in both world wars, while Serbian people in America have given an invaluable contribution to its development, with globally renowned Serbian scientists like Nikola Tesla and Mihailo Pupin being among the most prominent names.

During WWII, the Serbian Chetnik resistance launched Operation Halyard (also known as Operation Air Bridge) and saved over 500 Allied pilots shot down by Nazi German forces and their Croatian, Bosnian Muslim and Albanian allies. Serbian civilians also took part in this effort, providing food and shelter at a time when they had very little and needed every resource available.

What’s more, Nazi Germany and its allies in former Yugoslavia were conducting an all-out genocide that killed nearly 1.5 million Serbs. Their “crime”? They were the “Untermenschen”, so they had to be eradicated, along with other “lesser peoples”, which included over half of Europe at the time. Croats, aided by Bosnian Muslims, were conducting the slaughter in western parts of former Yugoslavia that Germans gave them control of, while Albanians were doing the same in Kosovo and Metohia, a southern Serbian province that Nazi Germany also gave to them. And while this may seem like a long-forgotten history now, the truth is that it’s still an ongoing process. The only “difference” is that it’s now being conducted by the geopolitical descendant of the Axis powers – NATO. And it’s precisely Washington DC that has taken the role that was previously held by Berlin.

Interestingly (albeit not unexpectedly), their allies in former Yugoslavia are exactly the same and include Croatians, Bosnian Muslims and Albanians. For its part, the US has fully taken their side and did everything in its power to do as much damage as possible to the Serbian people, the same one who has been saving American pilots during WWII (as previously mentioned, often at its own detriment). In the last over 30 years, the US has directly contributed to the genocide and ethnic cleansing of Serbs from the Republic of Serbian Krajina, Republika Srpska, and Kosovo and Metohia by helping Croats, Bosnian Muslims and Albanians to finish the job started in WWII. It can be argued they were the least successful in Republika Srpska, although the damage they’ve done is significant, as this Serbian state lost nearly 30% of its territory in Bosnia.

And yet, this isn’t enough for the US, which is determined to completely dismantle Republika Srpska. On January 9, Banja Luka saw the celebration of the Day of Republika Srpska, dedicated to St. Stephen. The event was met with frenzied warmongering in Sarajevo, which is frustrated by the fact that it was never able to defeat Republika Srpska, not even with the help of NATO during the 1990s. Thus, it did what it does best – cry for help from its US/NATO overlords. Washington DC responded by sending two F-16 fighter jets to fly over Bosnia and Herzegovina as a show of force. The goal was to threaten Serbian leaders, particularly Milorad Dodik, the president of Republika Srpska. Once in control of over 70% of Bosnia, Serbian territory was reduced to 49% due to US/NATO aggression, aided by the aforementioned local Croat and Muslim collaborators.

In addition, Republika Srpska was forced to officially stay part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, although it kept all its state institutions, including the military. However, decades of US/NATO pressure effectively turned it into a semi-autonomous republic, as the occupation forces kept chipping away parts of its sovereignty. The other half of the country, officially known as the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a de facto NATO protectorate, is largely dysfunctional due to constant bickering between Croats and Bosnian Muslims. Obviously, the Serbs don’t want to take part in this, but the US and NATO are determined to keep them trapped in this satellite of theirs, with plans to eventually dismantle Republika Srpska and force the entire country into NATO. What’s more, during the F-16 flyover, the US Embassy in Sarajevo effectively said so.

“This bilateral training is an example of advanced military-to-military cooperation that contributes to peace and security in the Western Balkans as well as demonstrates the US commitment to ensuring the territorial integrity of [Bosnia and Herzegovina] in the face of anti-Dayton and secessionist activity,” the statement said, adding: “The US has underscored that the Constitution [of Bosnia and Herzegovina] provides no right of secession, and it will act if anyone tries to change this basic element.”

This statement perfectly illustrates what sort of a bottomless pit of hypocrisy and double standards the US foreign policy is. This is the very definition of the so-called “rules-based world order“, a euphemism for US/NATO imperialist and supremacist policies that are provisionally using certain parts of the international law while ignoring the rest whenever this suits their interests. Namely, while insisting on the “territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina”, Washington DC is simultaneously breaking international law by propping up the Albanian narco-terrorist entity occupying the Serbian province of Kosovo and Metohia. This includes the latest move to additionally arm the illegal entity in Pristina, with the US sending hundreds of “Javelin” ATGMs (anti-tank guided missiles) to Albanian narco-terrorist forces, now posing as a “military”.

On January 11, US Ambassador to Serbia Christopher Hill (infamous for his close ties to the Al Qaeda-linked Albanian KLA terrorist organization) confirmed that the US Congress already approved the transfer of these weapons. Hill issued the statement right after meeting Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, who said the move was a “great disappointment”, but that “Serbia, together with the United States, will work to ensure the continuation of strong Serbian-American relations”. Obviously, such attempts to appease the US bring no results, as evidenced by Washington DC’s determination to continue damaging Serbia’s basic national interests. What’s more, the Albanian narco-terrorist entity announced this isn’t the last weapons acquisition and that other NATO members, particularly the Neo-Ottomanist Turkey, would provide additional armaments.

Given the history of US/NATO destabilization in Serbia/former Yugoslavia, this is hardly surprising. Despite its futile attempts to keep good relations with the political West, Belgrade is faced with perpetually increasing pressure, this time on two fronts, as US/NATO occupation forces are still actively working against Serbian interests in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as in Kosovo and Metohia. The obvious goal is to further reduce Serbian ethnic space and make sure that the current state of semi-occupation is “upgraded” into a full-blown (neo)colonial status. The endgame is to ensure that Belgrade can never recover its full sovereignty and potentially become a geopolitical “nuisance” that could ally itself not only with Russia, but any other multipolar global power, particularly at a time when BRICS+ is making such tremendous strides.

*

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.

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

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”

***

The post-9/11 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were enabled by a historically unprecedented combination of budgetary procedures and financing methods.

Unlike all previous U.S. wars, the post-9/11 wars were funded without higher taxes or non-war budget cuts, and through a separate budget.

This set of circumstances – one that I have termed the “Ghost Budget” – enabled successive administrations to prosecute the wars with limited congressional oversight and minimal transparency and public debate. I adopted the name “Ghost Budget” because the term “ghost” appeared frequently in post-9/11 government reports in reference to funds allocated to people, places, or projects that turned out to be phantoms.

The Ghost Budget was the result of an interplay between changes in the U.S. budgetary process, a more assertive military establishment, and the conditions in global capital markets. It has had far-reaching implications for the conduct and course of the post-9/11 wars and for defense policy today.

Funding the Post-9/11 Wars

The “Ghost Budget” was the biggest budgetary anomaly in U.S. history. Prior to 9/11, U.S. wars were financed through a mixture of higher taxes and budget cuts, and funded mostly through the regular defense budget. One third of the costs of World War I and half the costs of World War II were met through higher taxes. During World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt described paying taxes as a “patriotic duty” as he raised taxes on business, imposed a “wealth tax,” raised inheritance taxes, and expanded the number of income taxpayers to roughly 80 percent of the workforce by 1945. Wars in Korea and Vietnam largely followed a similar pattern, with President Harry Truman pledging to make the country “pay as you go” for the Korean War. War funding was also a central issue in the Vietnam War, which ended when Congress refused to appropriate money for the South Vietnamese military.

The post-9/11 war funding pattern was completely different. For the first time since the American Revolutionary War, war costs were covered almost entirely by debt. There were no wartime tax increases or cuts in spending. Quite the reverse: far from demanding sacrifices, President George W. Bush slashed federal taxes in 2001 and again in 2003, just as the United States invaded Iraq. President Donald Trump reduced taxes further in 2017. Overall, federal taxes declined from 18.8 percent of GDP in 2001 to 16.2 percent by the start of 2020. In the same period, outstanding federal debt held by the public rose from $3.5 trillion to $20 trillion. War spending contributed at least $2.2 trillion to this increase.

Not only was the financing strategy unprecedented, but the budgetary mechanism used to approve the vast post-9/11 wartime spending also diverged radically from the past. In all previous conflicts, the United States paid for wars as part of its regular defense appropriations (the defense “base budget”), after the initial period (1-2 years) of supplemental “emergency” funding bills. By contrast, for the entire decade from FY 2001 to FY 2011, Congress paid for the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan as “emergencies,” devoid of serious legislative or executive oversight.

By statute, emergency spending is defined as “unanticipated…sudden…urgent…unforeseen…and temporary” and is typically reserved for one-off crises such as floods and hurricanes. Such emergency spending measures are exempt from regular procedural rules in Congress because the intent is to disburse money quickly in situations where delay would be harmful.

Congress continued to enact “emergency supplemental” funding even as the war effort expanded. The United States sent 130,000 military personnel into Iraq in 2003 (alongside troops from more than 30 countries). By 2009, there were 187,200 U.S. “boots on the ground” in Iraq and Afghanistan, supported by a similar number of military contractors, with nearly 500 U.S. military bases set up across Iraq, but the conflict was still being paid for as an “emergency.” In FY 2012, President Obama renamed the “Global War on Terror” as “Overseas Contingency Operations” (OCO) but the war continued to be funded using money that – although not designated as “emergency” – was explicitly exempted from regular spending limits on other government spending programs.

How We Got Here

There were three primary drivers of the Ghost Budget: unusual economic conditions, congressional budget dysfunction, and military assertiveness.

Economic Conditions: Unlike earlier wars, the post 9/11 conflicts took place in an era of free-flowing international capital markets. That provided the U.S. Treasury with access to a deep and global pool of capital, making it easy to borrow large amounts without negatively affecting the cost. It was also a period of historically low interest rates. Real interest rates (nominal rate minus inflation) on 10-year Treasury bonds fell from 3.4% at the start of 2001 to negative (-0.4%) by early 2021 — a 40-year low. Consequently, the Treasury was able to borrow trillions of dollars to pay for the wars, and simultaneously finance the tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 without having any material effect on the amount of debt service being repaid through the annual budget. By FY 2017, total public debt had more than tripled, but debt service payments as a percentage of annual budget outlays had decreased to 6.6 percent, compared to 8.5 percent of federal budget outlays in FY 2002. In terms of cash outlays, this meant that the United States paid only slightly more in interest payments in FY 2017 than it had in FY 2002 ($268 billion versus $232 billion in 2018 dollars). Borrowing seemed virtually painless.

Budget Dysfunction: For several decades, the federal budget process has become increasingly dysfunctional. This breakdown may be traced to the post-Watergate budget reforms enacted in 1974, which shifted power away from the President and to the Congress. Most budget experts from both parties agree that the reforms made the budget process weaker, less predictable, less capable of reconciling competing demands, and more prone to fiscal crises. Prior to 1974, the federal government had never ceased operations for lack of funding. Since then, it has “shut down” 22 times, completely or partially. There have been only four years in which Congress passed its annual appropriations bills on time, and a series of near-defaults and other fiscal crises. In the absence of reliable budgets, Congress has enacted hundreds of short-term stopgap “continuing resolutions” to pay the bills. In this context, it was convenient for all the stakeholders to fund the wars as an“emergency” outside the regular process. The President was able to exclude war funding from his annual defense budget request to Congress, thus presenting an artificially low number for the federal budget deficit. This helped the Bush administration sustain the pretense that the wars would be short, while pursuing its political agenda of cutting taxes. Meanwhile, Congress was freed from the need to find politically painful spending cuts elsewhere to pay for the war, and the Pentagon was able to prosecute the wars without worrying about whether Congress would pass the defense appropriations bills on time.

Military Assertiveness: In 2001, the Pentagon was actively seeking to increase its budget after a decade of post-cold war budget cuts. The Afghanistan and Iraq conflict not only reversed the downward trend in military spending, but opened the floodgates to a spending bonanza due to the nature of emergency and OCO appropriations. Unlike the regular defense base budget, the wartime supplemental money was easier to secure, had few restrictions on how it could be spent, and avoided the lengthy internal Planning, Programming, Budgeting & Execution Process (PPBE) budget justification process. Consequently, the Defense Department was able to shift war funding into other categories to obtain items on its long-time “wish list” that were only tangentially (or not at all) related to the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan. Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates termed this a “culture of endless money” inside the Pentagon.

By 2009, war spending accounted for almost one quarter of the total military budget; the Pentagon budget had grown to its highest level since the Second World War, and military spending had rebounded from 2.9% of GDP in FY 2001 to above 4% of GDP, where it remained through FY 2019. The OCO budget had evolved into a second defense budget that was largely untethered from the wars, and protected the military from congressional budget volatility.

Implications for Perpetual War

The Ghost Budget provided the ability to keep borrowing and spending in an almost unconstrained manner for more than two decades. The absence of new taxes insulated the public from the mounting cost of the wars and broke the expectation that wars would inevitably involve higher taxes. The OCO budget extended far beyond the immediate operational needs of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, perpetuating military actions throughout the region. As Immanuel Kant predicted in Perpetual Peace (1795), the ability to keep borrowing and spending with minimal oversight allowed the United States to keep fighting indefinitely.

The Ghost Budget also weakened the main lever through which Congress maintains control of a war, namely its control of the purse. The combination of deferred spending, weak oversight, broadening definition of war costs, and readily available supplemental funding relaxed the pressure to maintain budget discipline over military spending. Congress held fewer hearings and presidents made fewer public speeches about the war compared to previous conflicts. And the ready availability of funds for new defense programs encouraged successive administrations to see the world through a “Pentagon lens,” which views military intervention as the default foreign policy option.

The legacy of the Ghost Budget is that money is no longer a serious deterrent to war. To date, 99% of US assistance to Ukraine has been funded by supplemental emergency funds – which means that this spending is in addition to the $840 billion regular defense budget. The Biden administration has asked Congress to approve another $106 billion in emergency funding for the Middle East, Ukraine, and other regions. Regardless of the merits of any particular endeavor, the use of Ghost Budgets makes it far easier to prolong the fighting at any cost.

*

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.

Professor Linda J. Bilmes (@LJBilmes) is the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Senior Lecturer in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. Her research focuses on budgeting and public administration in the public, private and non-profit sectors.

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”

***

I wish I could see a way that Gaza can escape genocide, but I can’t. The global mobilization of millions of people, including you and me, is inspirational, as is the stunning work by small independent journalists, upon whom we now rely for the truth, in contrast to the fiction peddled by the mainstream coddlers of racist mass murderers and their professional Zionist prevaricators tasked with persuading us all that black is white, filth is clean and countless child deaths by disease, starvation, thirst and exposure is self defense.

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”

***

Amid mounting calls for a comprehensive ceasefire in Israel’s onslaught on Gaza, South Africa has invoked the Genocide Convention and lodged a case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague. 

The application, filed last month, delineates the atrocities perpetrated by Israel in Gaza in the wake of the 7 October operation by Hamas.

The application, while acknowledging and unequivocally condemning the actions of Palestinian armed groups on 7 October, emphasises that these acts cannot serve as justification for the crime of genocide. 

The South African document notes that the Genocide Convention states that all parties to the convention have a duty to prevent or punish the crime of genocide, and based on emerging evidence in Gaza, it is South Africa’s view that Israel has contravened the convention both by perpetrating genocide and by not acting to prevent genocide, nor punishing incitement to genocide. 

It argues that Israel’s acts and omissions are genocidal in nature, as it seeks to bring about the destruction of Palestinians as a national, racial or ethnic group. 

The application additionally points to the language of the Israeli leadership, which has demonstrated a genocidal intent to eradicate Palestinians. The case draws a distinction between the crime of genocide and other atrocities perpetrated by Israel, including intentional attacks against civilians, religious and educational buildings, historic monuments and hospitals, among others. 

It also differentiates between the crime of genocide and brutalities such as torture, starvation of civilians, and other war crimes and crimes against humanity, including breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which outlines the duty to protect civilians in situations of armed conflict. 

While accepting that there is often a close correlation between these acts, the South African case argues that the acts of genocide are distinct, and must be contextualised in the framework of an ongoing occupation of Palestine over decades. 

As early as 30 October, the South African official statements began referring to genocide, which is indicative that preparing the case for genocide may have begun much earlier than December. 

Over 400 Israeli citizens have signed a petition in support of South Africa’s application to the ICJ, including Tel Aviv University professor Anat Matar and Israeli peace activist Jonathan Pollak.

Momentous Decision

The momentous decision by the South African government to pursue legal recourse against Israel through the ICJ came amid growing bilateral tensions, as South Africa vehemently condemned Israeli military aggression and drew firm analogies between Israeli policies and the crime of apartheid. South Africa believes it is necessary to pursue legal recourse at the highest level, and if the court finds in its favour, all state parties to the United Nations would be compelled to abide by the ruling. 

The director-general of South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation, Zane Dangor, said the case would begin with a discussion of “provisional measures” on 11 January.

“We expect that the case will be a long-drawn process, but we have petitioned the court that while the substantive issues are being dealt with, we hold Israel to account to end the issues that we allege are genocidal, and that includes calling for an immediate ceasefire,” he told Middle East Eye.

“If the court rules in our favour, this will be binding on all state parties. We will be presenting our case on why we think, based on all the evidence, that the crime of genocide has been perpetrated, including special intent … We have seen a systemic approach to the attacks in Gaza and the mounting death toll in excess of 20,000 people, mainly non-combatants,” Dangor said.

“The crime of genocide does not require that millions of people should be killed,” he added. “What it requires is a demonstration that there is intent to destroy a group of people in whole or in part. We looked at the nature in which these crimes are unfolding, and we looked at the evidence emerging from various sources, including special rapporteurs of the Human Rights Council. We will cite various sources that allege that the crime of genocide is being committed. While we will present the facts, our key focus will be on intent.” 

Intent of genocide has been considered the most difficult to prove in court, but South Africa believes it has a compelling argument, having collated public statements by key figures in Israel, including the president, prime minister and members of the war cabinet. The application additionally seeks to argue that Israel’s failure to punish members of civil society and journalists for incitement to genocide represents a duty that Israel has shirked as a state party to the convention. 

Almost in anticipation of an urgent ICJ ruling on the provisional measures, Israel recently began the withdrawal of five brigades from Gaza – an apparent shift in its military tactics to be more targeted than the carpet bombing that has flattened most of the Gaza Strip over the last three months. 

‘Criminally Complicit’

In its response to South Africa’s ICJ application, Israel said it would appear before the court to “dispel South Africa’s absurd blood libel”. Government spokesperson Eylon Levy, armed with combative language, described South Africa as “fighting pro-bono for anti-Jewish racists” and of being “criminally complicit with Hamas’s campaign of genocide”.

It is expected that Israel’s defence will rest on the argument of the right to defend itself, antisemitism, and counter-claims of genocidal intent by Hamas, which would be much more difficult to prove.

In the meantime, Israel is gearing up for a global public relations response to the case by instructing its diplomatic missions to issue statements against South Africa’s claims, arguing that the Israeli military is operating in Gaza in accordance with international law. It is expected that Israel will seek to persuade the court to reject the request for an injunction. 

The US has come out, unsurprisingly, as a staunch ally of Israel, with White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby asserting:

“We find this submission meritless, counterproductive, and completely without any basis in fact whatsoever.” 

This statement likely stems not only from the Biden administration’s absolute support for Israel, but also from a defensive perspective, as the court proceedings may lay bare the complicity of other states, including the US, to the genocide, by enabling Israel through rhetoric and the supply of arms. 

South Africa’s bold move, though coming from a moral high ground, may irk global powers such as the US, resulting in strained relations and potentially punitive consequences. This is not the first time the current South African administration has veered against American hegemony, having taken a non-aligned position vis-a-vis Ukraine and strengthening its relations with Russia. 

South Africa seems to be persistent in pushing the power boundaries and championing the Global South, calling the imperial and often supremacist states to order, invoking the very international laws they profess to embody and reinforcing multilateral institutions that have been paralysed by power plays. 

Strong Support

Europe appears divided on the matter, as most countries expressed support for Israel during its offensive in Gaza, while France recently stated that it would abide by the court’s decisions. 

Several countries and organisations have expressed strong support for South Africa’s legal move, including Malaysia, Turkey, Jordan and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. 

South Africa has amassed a formidable legal team led by John Dugard, professor emeritus of the University of the Witwatersrand. He has served as a UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Palestine and chaired two commissions of inquiry into Israel’s violations of international law. He is well versed on the proceedings of the ICJ, having previously served as an ad hoc judge. 

Other lawyers on the case include Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, a specialist in constitutional law; Max du Plessis, who has advised on cases before the International Criminal Court (ICC); Adila Hassim, an expert on human rights and constitutional law; and Blinne Ni Ghralaigh, who previously worked on the Bloody Sunday inquiry. 

Lawyer Alan Dershowitz, who was reportedly being considered to lead Israel’s team, has been removed. Instead Israel has appointed former Supreme Court president and Holocaust survivor, Aharon Barak as their judge ad hoc.

American human rights lawyer Francis Boyle, who argued and won Bosnia’s case for genocide, stated on Democracy Now that he is certain South Africa will win the case, given the meticulous application and the expectation that the legal team will present sound and validated evidence to the court. 

Should South Africa succeed in its application and the court find in its favour, it is expected that the provisional measure of a ceasefire will be incumbent on all parties, pending further measures that may include an independent investigation. In the long term, should the court find Israel guilty of genocide, the UN Security Council may be expected to pass a resolution to establish a tribunal similar to Yugoslavia or Rwanda. 

There has been a level of frustration with the slow progress of the ICC in addressing cases against Israeli actors. A favourable decision for South Africa at the ICJ may allow the ICC to act more swiftly. 

*

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.

Zeenat Adam is a former diplomat and an independent international relations strategist based in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Featured image: Funeral for Palestine TV journalist Mohammad Abu Hattab. Credit: X/@MuhammadSmiry

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”

***

South African attorney Tembeka Ngcukaitobi on Thursday used the words of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other high-ranking officials to make the case to the International Court of Justice—and to the world—that Israel’s military is acting with clear genocidal intent in the Gaza Strip.

“Let the prime minister’s words speak for themselves,” said Ngcukaitobi, pointing to Netanyahu’s November remarks urging Israelis to “remember what Amalek has done to you. Netanyahu has repeatedly likened Gazans to the Amalekites, whom the Old Testament God orders King Saul to massacre.

Ngcukaitobi went on to cite the deputy speaker of the Israeli Knesset, who called on Israel’s military to “burn Gaza” to the ground—a statement he reiterated ahead of Thursday’s hearing at the United Nations’ highest court.

“There is an extraordinary feature in this case: that Israel’s political leaders, military commanders, and persons holding official positions have systematically and in explicit terms declared their genocidal intent,” said Ngcukaitobi. “And these statements are then repeated by soldiers on the ground in Gaza as they engage in the destruction of Palestinians and the physical infrastructure of Gaza.”

The South African attorney played video footage of Israeli soldiers dancing and chanting that there are “no uninvolved civilians” in Gaza—a precursor to the war crime of collective punishment.

Watch Ngcukaitobi’s full speech:

South Africa’s 84-page filing at the ICJ contains nine pages of statements from Israeli officials that, according to the South African legal team, signal “genocidal intent against the Palestinian people.”

Intent, as the U.N. has emphasized, is “the most difficult element to determine.”

“To constitute genocide, there must be a proven intent on the part of perpetrators to physically destroy a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group,” the U.N. explains in a summary of the Genocide Convention, which Israel stands accused of violating.

But Ngcukaitobi argued Thursday that Israeli officials’ explicit calls for the decimation of Gaza and its population leave no question that the Israeli government’s assault on the Palestinian enclave is genocidal.

“Many propagators of grave atrocities have protested that they were misunderstood, that they did not mean what they said, and that their own words were taken out of context,” Ngcukaitobi said, preempting a possible Israeli line of defense. “What state would admit to a genocidal intent? Yet the distinctive feature of this case has not been the silence as such but the reiteration and repetition of genocidal speech throughout every sphere of state in Israel.”

“We remind the court of the identity and authority of the genocidal inciters: the prime minister, the president, the minister of defense, the minister of national security, the minister of energy and infrastructure, members of the Knesset, senior army officials, and foot soldiers,” Ngcukaitobi continued. “The evidence of genocidal intent is not only chilling, it is also overwhelming and incontrovertible.”

Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, wrote in response to Ngcukaitobi’s presentation that

“decades of the U.S. insulating Israel from any accountability has led to this moment: Israeli leaders have thought they are so untouchable that they have openly declared the genocidal intent of their policies.”

“But South Africa is now using Israeli leaders’ own words to convict them at the ICJ,” Parsi added.

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

*

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.

Jake Johnson is a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams.

Featured image is a screenshot from the video

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”

***

As I expected, Washington is moving the conflict toward Iran.

Washington chose this moment to escalate in order to direct the news away from Israel’s trial in the International Court of Justice. Regardless, Washington’s neoconservatives intended escalation from the beginning of the Israeli-Hamas war. See this.

It has been clear to me since 9/11 in 2001 that neoconservative dominance in Washington guaranteed we were on a road to escalation that would eventually reach Armageddon. The world is going to be victimized by the incapacity of the American political and intellectual classes to think clearly and honestly. We are approaching Armageddon because US foreign policy serves Israeli expansion, not peace.  

Washington has now launched air and naval attacks on Yemen.

Sadeh, Zubaydah, Abs, Bani, Sana, Hudaydah, and Taiz have been attacked by American forces, initiating yet another war without Congressional approval, a branch of the US government emptied of power. 

The New York Times, of course, blames the expansion of the conflict on the Houthis for interfering with shipping to Israel. 

With any luck, the fools in Washington will topple all of the US puppets in the US. Even Bahrainis are in the streets today protesting Bahrain’s participation in Washington’s attack on Yemeni territory.

The price of oil increased in response to the American attacks. 

Oil kingdoms, such as Saudi Arabia and Oman, are beginning to feel rocky as a result of their alignment with Washington against the Houthis. The White House fool says it is the Houthis’ attacks that are reckless, not Washington’s.

The New York Times and the rest of the Western media have gone to work placing all blame on the Houthis. The Houthis have announced that as a result of the US/UK strikes on Yemen “all American and British interests have become legitimate targets.” You can see where this is going. See this.

*

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.

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

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).

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”

***

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”

***

“Wait, wait, wait….. the UN voted for a ceasefire in the Red Sea (where the Yemenis harmed 0 humans)…. But has yet to pass a cease fire vote after 30,000+ have been killed (in Gaza)???” —Tony Montana @9mmScorpion/X

On Tuesday, the Houthis launched their largest attack on ships in the Red Sea to date. 21 missiles and drones –that were launched from positions on mainland Yemen– were shot-down by US and British warships patrolling the area. No casualties were reported.

According to a Houthi spokesman, the attack was retaliation for the killing of 10 Houthi militants who were strafed by US helicopter gunships while trying to board the Maersk Hangzhou on Sunday. The western media has omitted this critical fact from their reporting in order to conceal the provocation that triggered Tuesday’s attack on US and UK warships.

The Houthis say the Hangzhou refused to respond to radio calls inquiring whether the ship was bound for an Israeli port or not, which prompted their attempt to board the ship. That’s when all hell broke loose. (The Houthis require that commercial ships acknowledge whether they are linked to Israel or not. The Maersk Hangzhou failed to do so.) Here is a brief summary of Tuesday’s incident from a post at Sputnik International:

Yemeni Ansar Allah claimed responsibility for an attack on a US Navy ship in the Red Sea, after the US attacked Houthi forces, Houthi spokesperson Yahiah Sariah said in an official statement. What is also known: Navy forces, missile forces and unmanned aircraft of Yemen’s Houthis conducted a joint military operation using a large number of ballistic and ship-based missiles and drones, targeting a US Navy ship providing support to Israel; This operation was the first response to an attack on the Houthi naval forces by the US Navy 10 days ago; Ansar Allah troops will continue to prevent ships from sailing to Israel, both in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf, until the aggression against the Gaza Strip ends.@SputnikInt

And here is a summary of the Houthis demands following the killing of 10 of their fighters by US forces last Sunday: (This was not reported in the western media)

⚡️BREAKING

The Houthis want the US to hand over the Americans who killed Yemenis in the Red Sea

The Yemeni Chief of Staff warns that if the United States does not hand over these Americans for trial, the consequences will be unprecedented for the United States. pic.twitter.com/BYdiU8JVZY

— Iran Observer (@IranObserver0) January 6, 2024

In short, the Houthis attack on Tuesday was a response to a US provocation that took place two days earlier.

Houthi leaders have repeatedly said they do not want a confrontation with the US but they have also said that they won’t back-down if they are attacked. Tuesday’s incident proves that they meant what they said and are prepared to sacrifice their lives to force Israel to lift its siege of Gaza and to allow food and medicine to reach the Palestinian people. By attacking and killing the 10 Houthi fighters on Sunday, the US has made itself a party to the genocide that is taking place in Gaza. Washington has effectively declared war on Yemen and cast its lot with a government that is committed to eradicating a civilian population of 2 million people.

The Biden administration has described their actions in the Red Sea as a defense of “freedom of navigation” and ‘open seas’. But this is merely an attempt to frame the issue in a manner that best suits the objectives of the perpetrators. To the vast majority of people around the world, the US is defending the horrific depredations of the Israeli state. Not surprisingly, the western media has tried to characterize the goings-on in Gaza as an attempt to “defeat Hamas”. Fortunately, few people have been taken in by the ruse. The fact is, there has never been a more vicious bloodletting in the last half century and people everywhere are appalled by the relentless, ethnically-fueled butchery conducted by callous thugs who celebrate their savagery on TikTok. Now, we are told that the same country that is sending 2,000-pound bombs to Israel to kill women and children in their homes, should be revered as the ‘guarantor of regional security’ in the Red Sea. Naturally, many people see the administration’s behavior as hypocritical.

At present, foreign policy elites are focused almost exclusively on escalation. On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned “there will be consequences” if the Houthis persisted with their attacks on commercial vessels implying that the Biden administration is now considering military action. Keep in mind, the US has already assembled a multinational maritime task force, Operation Prosperity Guardian, to patrol the Red Sea to ensure the safety of commercial ships passing through the vital waterway. But that makeshift coalition has failed to build confidence among a number of the world’s biggest carriers who refuse to transit the Red Sea until the hostilities end. That puts the onus on the Biden administration to find a workable solution that will end the attacks and restore Red Sea traffic to what it was prior to the crisis. Regrettably, all the evidence suggests that Biden and Co. have decided that the only way forward is to intensify the fighting by bombing military sites on the mainland. This is from an article at Bloomberg News:

According to more than a dozen people interviewed by Bloomberg including Yemen, shipping and defense and security experts, these options include:

Targeted Strikes

These would be focused on eliminating or degrading the Houthis’ ability to fire ballistic missiles at ships and shipping lanes by striking launch sites, radars, missile warehouses and other supporting infrastructure and logistics. Since mid-November, the Houthis have fired more than 100 drones and ballistic missiles in two dozen separate attacks, according to the Pentagon. More than 15 vessels have been targeted. US Braces for High-Stakes Decisions Over Houthi Sea Strikes, Bloomberg

And here’s more from an article by James Kraska at Lawfare:

Strikes into Yemen would be a new kind of naval war to counter the Houthis’ new method of exercising sea control from the land. The Houthi infrastructure on land that puts at risk commercial ships and warships exercising high seas freedoms should be eliminated. Further, Iran is apparently operating a radar spy ship in the Red Sea that is providing targeting guidance for Houthi missiles and drones. Iran’s ability to transmit targeting data must be neutralized. This means the only effective strategy is to strike the entire Houthi missile, drone, and piloted aircraft enterprise, including the Iranian ship and other offensive capabilities that are used by the Houthis to project power far from Yemeni shores. The Houthi radar and surface-to-air missile complexes that protect the offensive systems must also be disabled or destroyed. The law supports the destruction of the Houthis’ ability to launch attacks on U.S. warships..

…. Houthi attacks are not going to end until the Houthis no longer have the capability to wage war on international shipping. This conclusion reflects the judgment of Riad Kahwaji, founder of the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis, a Dubai-based security research group, who said, “Unless the [United States] bombs the Houthis’ missile launch sites, radars, airfields and boats, its efforts to combat the threat to shipping won’t be effective.” Attacks on U.S. Warships Justify Self-Defense Against Houthi Forces Ashore James Kraska, Lawfare

You can see where this is going. For the neocon-dominated Biden administration, escalation is the only way forward. But, as we’ve said from the beginning, the bombardment of Houthi missiles sites and military infrastructure will not stop the attacks on commercial traffic, it will merely trigger a call for ‘boots on the ground’. Once the bombing campaign fails, (as it will) US ground forces will be deployed to fight a bloody and protracted guerilla war on the Arabian peninsula. That is the disaster that is looming on the horizon for the US; a disaster that will further alienate (and infuriate) Washington’s dwindling allies in the Middle East and lead to America’s inevitable expulsion from the region.

A better strategy would be to open a channel for direct communication with the Houthis and begin the arduous process of negotiating a diplomatic settlement. That is the only way the crisis will be resolved. Take a look at this excerpt from an article at Foreign Affairs that underscores the importance of diplomacy:

Because the Houthi attacks could have serious consequences for global commerce, the United States is under substantial pressure to respond militarily. But instead of retaliatory strikes, the U.S. should favor a diplomatic approach….

Some politicians and analysts have argued that the best way to counter Houthi aggression is with military escalation designed to “restore deterrence.”…

But proponents of airstrikes against the Houthis cannot articulate what should happen afterward. It is hard to see how airstrikes would deter Houthi attacks now when they have failed to do so over the past decade. Airstrikes against Houthi targets might marginally erode the Houthis’ ability to launch missiles and drones, but it will be much harder to effectively target and eradicate the Houthis’ small, cheap manned and unmanned boats. …

An approach that combines diplomacy with deterrence is the least bad way for the United States to deal with this intractable problem in the near term….

To deal with the threat posed by the Houthis, ultimately the United States must push for an end to the war between Israel and Hamas—as well as to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in general. Like it or not, the Houthis have linked their aggression to Israel’s operations in Gaza and have won domestic and regional support for doing so. Finding a sustainable, long-term approach to both conflicts will be critical to de-escalating tensions across the region and getting the Houthis to call off their attacks on commercial vessels. Such attacks would have limited utility in the absence of these conflicts.

These measures cannot fully address the threat that the Houthis pose to U.S. interests and to stability in the region more broadly. But they remain the best among bad options—and the United States has only bad options because of its failed approaches to Yemen over the past 20 years. Washington must not repeat its mistakes. Decades of experience have shown, by now, that military efforts to dislodge the Houthis are unlikely to be effective. Instead, they may merely further devastate the lives of the already struggling people of Yemen. Don’t Bomb the Houthis, Alexandra Stark, Foreign Affairs

It’s worth noting, that the Houthis do not need to defeat the US militarily to win the war in the Red Sea. They merely need disrupt traffic enough to negatively impact the global economy which they can do whether their cities have been razed to ground or not. This is not Afghanistan. Yemen represents a commercially vital shipping-lane that can be effectively shut down by well-armed guerillas who know how to exploit the vulnerabilities in the system. Brute force and superior firepower will not ‘carry the day’. Diplomacy and restraint are the way forward. Is anyone in Washington listening?

NOTE: As this article was going to press, the United States initiated airstrikes on Houthi positions in Yemen. President Joe Biden has started a war on the Arabian peninsula without consulting Congress and without a formal declaration of war. This is from Bloomberg News:

The US and UK launched airstrikes on Houthi rebel targets in Yemen, escalating a conflict with an Iranian proxy in response to a string of attacks that have disrupted commercial shipping in the Red Sea.

… Heavy explosions were reported in the Yemeni capital of Sana’a and the port city of Al Hudaydah…..

In a televised speech earlier Thursday, Houthi leader Abdul Malik Al-Houthi vowed a “big” response to the US and its allies if they proceeded with military action against his group.

“We’ll confront the American aggression,” he said. “Any American attack won’t go unpunished.”…

The US had been debating whether to attack the Houthis for weeks. A key challenge had been finding a way to diminish the group’s ability to menace shipping, while avoiding further expansion of the conflict, according to a UK official familiar with the conversations. US and UK Strike Houthis Over Attacks on Shipping, Bloomberg

Final note: We must assume that the attack on Yemen was timed to coincide with South Africa’s genocide case against Israel which began earlier in the day.

*

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.

This article was originally published on The Unz Review.

Michael Whitney is a renowned geopolitical and social analyst based in Washington State. He initiated his career as an independent citizen-journalist in 2002 with a commitment to honest journalism, social justice and World peace.

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

Featured image is from TUR

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”

***

“Another weighty bill plopping through Uncle Sam’s letter box.”

—Felicity Arbuthnot, Global Research, January 12, 2024

*

Ukrainian drone manufacturers have ramped up production to the extent that the government budget is not sufficient to procure all of them.

Kyiv allocated 40 billion hryvnias ($1.14 billion) for investment in domestic drone production in 2023, a 10-fold increase over the previous year.

The number of state-contracted drone manufacturers rose to over 40 last year from less than a dozen a year before, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said in July.

Over 200 Drone Manufacturers

By November, the number rose to 200, according to Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov.

“We need more drones at the frontline,” the minister said.

“Therefore, we are constantly thinking about what else we need to do in terms of innovation, taxes, increased funding, and attracting partners to produce even more drones for the defense forces.”

Lack of Funds 

Lack of sufficient state finances, however, has prevented full procurement, according to  Fedorov.

“As of today, the market has accelerated much faster than the amount of money to buy all the UAVs,” Reuters quoted the minister as saying on Ukrainian national television.

“Therefore we need to increase financing and open up markets further, so that prices fall thanks to competition and localisation of part (production) begins.” 

Expensive Drones

A price gap between the Ukrainian drones and cheaper Chinese drones such as the DJI is one of the main reasons behind the former’s low procurement.

“The cost of a new drone will initially be much higher because it lacks the advantages of mass production, which Chinese drones benefit from after years of research and development investments,” Ukraine’s Espreso TV quoted Commander of Ukrainian Armed Forces Valery Borovyk as saying.

“This price comparison with Chinese drones serves as a benchmark for procurement. 

Government departments involved in buying drones face constraints; they can’t justify purchasing more expensive Ukrainian drones when cheaper Chinese ones are available. This would be considered a waste of public funds and potentially lead to legal issues.”

Meanwhile, Ukraine plans to procure at least one million drones in 2024, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said on the first day of the year.

*

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.

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”

***

A friend of mine who follows international developments closely recently observed that the United States and Israel have “own goaled” themselves to become widely perceived as together the two most evil governments on earth.

It is a judgement that is hard to disagree with regarding the Jewish state if one examines the abundant evidence that Israel is systematically committing war crimes against the largely unarmed Palestinian civilian population in an effort to bring about ethnic cleansing or even genocide in Gaza and on the West Bank.

The process would include removing the Palestinians physically and/or killing them if they resist, which is what is currently taking place.

Something like 10,000 dead Palestinian children attest to the brutality and inhumanity of the effort, together with nearly 400 doctors and nurses who were directly targeted plus more than 100 UN employees trying to bring aid to the civilians. What Israel is doing in monstrous, almost unimaginable. A number of senior Israeli officials have confirmed their government’s view, supported by public opinion, that a land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea swept clean of Arabs would be the most desirable outcome of current developments.

The United States is at the same time loathed alongside Israel because it is enabling the slaughter by the Israelis while simultaneously spewing the lies that it is somehow restraining or even making somehow more “humanitarian” Israel’s attack. Nothing could be farther from the truth as the White House recently worked hard to defang a major UN-led diplomatic effort that had global support to bring about a ceasefire that would enable emergency relief supplies to be introduced into the battered enclave. Instead, Israel now continues its daily bombardment of Gaza and controls entering supplies, slowing the process down while watching people die of famine and disease, not to mention from artillery shells and bombs. Oh, and the United States both funds the Israeli war effort and supplies the munitions that make it all possible. That makes Washington an accessory to the war crimes and to what most of the world considers to be a genocide being perpetrated openly and with malice.

In spite of all that, and the tons of evidence of atrocities of all kinds which even includes “friendly fire” killing of Jewish hostages, . 

Thursday saw the opening of the International Court of Justice hearings on evidence filed by South Africa demonstrating that Israel’s slaughter of the Palestinians amounts to a genocide as defined by the 1948 “UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide” which both Israel and the US have signed. On the day before it opened at the Hague, US National Security Council Spokesman John Kirby preemptively stated that the charges were “meritless, counterproductive and completely without any basis in fact whatsoever.” State Department spokesman Matt Miller added that the United States is “not seeing any acts that constitute genocide” in Israel’s bombing and physical destruction of Gaza. Both comments are contrary to the fact that Israel is clearly creating at a minimum “conditions that don’t allow the survival of the population,” which is a definition of genocide. It all means that the United States will be fighting hard on behalf of its favorite son, doing whatever lying, coercing and cheating that it might take to protect Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the crimes-against-humanity crew that he has surrounded himself with. As it is not a US interest to become a nation that condones the killing of tens of thousands of helpless civilians, one must ask the question

“Who owns you Joe and why are your top officials lying about what is taking place?”

As an American, what I find most offensive about the current state of play is that my country has been turned into a war criminal by a group of politicians and staff appointees controlled by a foreign government and its lobby whose ignorance is so profound that they should not be running a hot dog stand.

In particular, it is soul-destroying to hear the pathetic squealing coming out of a subservient White House every time Israel kills another hundred or so Palestinian children and women cowering in the ruins of a hospital, church or school. Each squeal in support of more “humane” or “restrained” warfare is followed by an assertion from Netanyahu to the effect that Israel’s war cabinet will make its own decisions about who it will kill and when.

One senior official Itamar Ben-Gvir even warned Biden that Israel is “no longer a star on the American flag.” Indeed, but it is not that Israel is ungrateful, as those two-thousand pound bunker buster bombs supplied by Biden can really do a number on them “terrorists.” The Biden Administration has now expedited two shipments of munitions to Israel worth about $253 million, relying on another lying rascal Antony Blinken of the State Department’s claim that the weapons were urgently needed for poor “victim” Israel to “defend itself, allowing circumvention of existing Congressional authority requiring legislative approval of arms sales. There is no step so low when pandering to Israel that the Biden Administration will not take it!

It is all as if Genocide Joe is in a hurry to get the job done on those pesky Palestinians so he can get back to the serious work of fooling the US electorate into voting for him a second time. He is now going around the country trying to sell the product that he is “saving democracy,” which he is claiming would be destroyed by Trump. As Trump is on an apparent revenge tour, Biden might actually be more right than he usually is, but one has to ask what is happening to American democracy with the current open borders and two wars being de facto fought simultaneously without any actual threat to the US having ever been involved and without the consent of the American people. Quite the contrary, opinion polls suggest the wars are very unpopular while Biden weasels his way to support the fighting while pretending that the US is not directly involved. Can one imagine voluntarily putting the survival of one’s nation in the hands of someone like Joe Biden?

Israel continues to play its own hand as the US has given it political cover to bomb and otherwise kill as it sees fit. Civilian deaths from bombing totaled 247 on one night alone in early January, but the Netanyahu government has just announced that it will be shifting from large scale troop movements in Gaza to more “directed” operations that will focus on Hamas concentrations, finding hostages, and destroying the tunnels that connect resistances points. Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, the chief spokesperson for the Israeli military, described how the new phase of the campaign, hopefully to be completed by the end of the month, will involve fewer soldiers and airstrikes, though Israel has previously lied repeatedly about its actual intentions. Ironically, the US concern appears to be that the war is already expanding apart from Gaza. The violence by armed settlers directed against Palestinians on the West Bank is increasing and foreign targeting by Israel now includes the killing of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders in Lebanon, regular bombing missions directed against targets in Syria which recently killed a dozen senior Iranian officials near the Damascus airport, assassinations in Iraq, as well as the terror bombing in Tehran claimed by ISIS that killed 103. Both Israel and the US are known to have cooperative clandestine relationships with ISIS.

And there are several other issues that are worthy of mention. First, is how a steady stream of mostly Republican hawks have been making the pilgrimage to Israel to express their wholehearted support of Israel’s ongoing genocide of the Palestinians. Most recently, former Vice President Mike Pence made the trip and was photographed near Israel’s border with Lebanon writing messages or possibly signing off on US made artillery shells that were about to be fired against Hezbollah. This pushing for direct US involvement in a impending war that should and could be avoided has had an impact in Washington, where clowns like Senator Lindsey Graham has called on the Biden administration to “…hit Iran. They have oil fields out in the open, they have the Revolutionary Guard headquarters you can see from space. Blow it off the map.” This pressure has prompted Biden to pledge to those in Congress calling for war and also to the Israelis that he will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon and do whatever it takes to stop it. As US intelligence has declared its judgement that Iran has no such weapons program, the alleged intelligence suggesting that Iran has a secret program will inevitably come from Israel and Netanyahu, so guess what? Israel will be working hard to produce fabricated evidence that will drag the US into a first strike against Iran, which will in turn hit back against US bases in Syria, Kuwait, Qatar and Iraq. It is all too reminiscent of the neocon-Israeli plot that dragged a clueless George W. Bush and Condi Rice into initiating the disastrous Iraq War in 2003.

And the other issue that absolutely no one chooses to talk about is the “secret” Israeli nuclear arsenal of 200-400 weapons together with delivery systems, which is definitely a potential game changer no matter what happens in Gaza and on the West Bank. Would Israel use the nukes? They sure would, especially if the war they are deliberately expanding should turn against them somehow. When former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was queried about how the rest of the world might respond to Israel using its nukes to effectively wipe out its Arab neighbors, he responded “That depends on who does it and how quickly it happens. We possess several hundred atomic warheads and rockets and can launch them at targets in all directions, perhaps even at Rome. Most European capitals are targets for our air force… We have the capability to take the world down with us. And I can assure you that that will happen before Israel goes under.”

The plan by America’s “best friend” and “closest ally” to nuke the world even has a name: “The Samson Option,” recalling how the Biblical strongman Samson brought down the temple where the Philistines were mocking him, killing thousands of them. So maybe Joe Biden should be thinking long and hard about how, and with whom, he is getting our country set up to go to war. Or just maybe it is already too late!

*

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.

This article was originally published on The Unz Review.

Philip M. Giraldi, Ph.D., is Executive Director of the Council for the National Interest, a 501(c)3 tax deductible educational foundation (Federal ID Number #52-1739023) that seeks a more interests-based U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Website is councilforthenationalinterest.org, address is P.O. Box 2157, Purcellville VA 20134 and its email is [email protected]. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

Featured image is from TUR

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”

***

The Israeli military implemented the “Hannibal Directive” during Hamas’ attack on 7 October, killing some of its own civilians and soldiers to prevent Hamas from taking them as captives back to Gaza, according to an investigation by Israel’s leading newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth, which will be published in full on 12 January.

The Hebrew edition of the paper wrote on 11 January that

“one of the revelations revealed in the investigation is that at noon on October 7, the IDF [Israeli army] ordered all of its combat units in practice to use the ‘Hannibal Procedure’ although without clearly mentioning this explicitly by name.”

The order was to stop “at all costs any attempt by Hamas terrorists to return to Gaza, that is, despite the fear that some of them have abductees,” the paper wrote.

The Times of Israel described how the Hannibal procedure, or directive, “allows soldiers to use potentially massive amounts of force to prevent a soldier from falling into the hands of the enemy. This includes the possibility of endangering the life of the soldier in question in order to prevent his capture.”

A previous Haaretz investigation of the directive concluded that

“from the point of view of the army, a dead soldier is better than a captive soldier who himself suffers and forces the state to release thousands of captives in order to obtain his release.”

During the 7 October attack, Hamas and other Palestinians successfully took some 240 Israeli soldiers and civilians from the settlements (also known as kibbutzim) and military bases back to Gaza as captives. 

Hamas hoped to exchange them for the thousands of Palestinians, including women and children, held in Israeli prisons.

Hamas used the Toyota pick-up trucks and motorcycles with which they entered Israel, as well as cars stolen from the settlements, to take Israeli captives back to Gaza. Some were also taken to Gaza on foot and even in carts pulled by tractors by other Palestinians who crossed into Israel after the Hamas fighters breached the border fence.

According to Yediot Ahronoth, about a thousand “terrorists and infiltrators” were killed in the area between the settlements and the Gaza Strip.

But the paper added it is not clear at this time how many of the Israeli abductees were killed due to the activation of the Hannibal directive: 

“In the week after the attack, soldiers of elite units checked about 70 vehicles that were left in the area between the settlements and the Gaza Strip. These are vehicles that did not reach Gaza, because on the way they were shot by a combat helicopter, an anti-tank missile or a tank, and at least in some cases everyone in the vehicle was killed.”

As journalist Dan Cohen reported, the Israeli military killed Efrat Katz, age 68, as she was being taken from Kibbutz Nir Oz to Gaza on a cart pulled by a tractor on 7 October. Her daughter, Doron Katz-Asher, and two granddaughters, Raz, age 2, and Aviv, age 4, were also in the cart. 

Doron Katz-Asher later told Israel’s Channel 12 that the Israeli army opened fire on the tractor, injuring her two daughters and killing her mother, Efrat.

As previously reported by The Cradle, Israeli Air Force (reserve) Col. Nof Erez described Israel’s actions on 7 October as a “mass Hannibal” event in response to the use of Apache helicopters and tanks.

“What we saw here was a mass Hannibal. There were many openings in the fence, thousands of people in many different vehicles with hostages and without,” he told Haaretz.

The revelation that the Israeli military informally issued the Hannibal Directive raises questions about the deaths of many Israeli civilians who were initially presumed taken captive by Hamas on 7 October but whose bodies were later discovered near the Gaza border fence. 

For example, 80-year-old Carmela Dan and her 12-year-old autistic granddaughter Noya both vanished on the morning of 7 October. The family assumed both were taken captive by Hamas. But two weeks later, Israeli authorities announced their bodies “were found near the border fence,” Foreign Policy reported.

On 19 October, Carmela’s niece told NBC News,

“There was an operation by the Israeli army some days ago at this point to retrieve bodies, and we believe that it took them time to run what we know to be three DNA tests and to identify that it was both of them.”

In another widely reported case, an Israeli brigadier general, Barak Hiram, acknowledged to the New York Times that he gave an order on 7 October for a tank commander to open fire on a home in Kibbutz Be’eri to kill Hamas fighters, even though 14 Israeli captives were barricaded inside the home as well.

At roughly sundown, Hiram told the tank commander:

“The negotiations are over. Break in, even at the cost of civilian casualties.”

The Hamas fighters and all but one of the captives were killed, including 12-year-old twins Liel and Yanai Hetzroni. Their bodies were so severely damaged and burned that it took weeks to identify them.

In an interview with Channel 12 on 26 October, before Hiram had publicly acknowledged giving the order to fire on the home in Be’eri, the general alluded to his logic on 7 October. He stated,

“I am very afraid that if we return to Sorana [Israeli military headquarters in Tel Aviv] and try to hold all kinds of negotiations, we may fall into a trap that will tie our hands and not allow us to do what is required, which is to go in, manipulate, and kill them [Hamas] …”

In another case in Be’eri, an elderly couple, Mati and Amir Weiss, were allegedly killed by Hamas fighters who entered their home on the morning of 7 October. Mati sent a message to their son Yuval that the fighters had entered the house and that Amir had been shot.

Yuval, who was a member of the kibbutz security team, provided their location to commanders in the army, telling them Hamas fighters were inside the home.

To explain the elderly couple’s death, Haaretz writes, “Mati and Amir Weiss were attacked by terrorists who blew up one of the walls of their safe room and shot them.”

But the picture of the Weiss home published by Haaretz shows a massive hole in the wall of the home and significant damage to the roof, suggesting a tank shell or helicopter strike had hit it.

The Hannibal Directive was also evident on 7 October at the Nova music festival, where Hamas allegedly massacred 364 Israeli partygoers.

Though Israeli army ground units did not respond to the Hamas attack on 7 October for many hours, the Southern District Commander of the Israeli Police, Maj. Gen. Amir Cohen gave the order, code-named “Philistine Horseman,” at 6:42 am to dispatch Border Police units to various sites to confront the Hamas attack. 

These units included elite counter-terror units, known as Yamam, who were dispatched by helicopter, according to Israeli officials speaking with the New York Times.

These units apparently opened fire on partygoers as Hamas was taking people captive. 

Germany’s Bild reported the testimony of Maya P., who survived the festival. Bild writes, “The terrorists who set up the road blockades came disguised as police officers and soldiers.” 

“People ran into them hoping to be rescued, and then they were executed,” Maya said, crying.

Another survivor, Yuval Tahupi, stated to CNN, “A police lady told us most of the terrorists are dressing like soldiers, as cops, as security guards, so don’t trust anyone.”

Both Maya and Yuval could not imagine that Israeli forces had fired on them, so they assumed Hamas fighters must have been disguised as soldiers and police. 

Israeli attack helicopters also were deployed to the Nova site, opening fire on partygoers as well.

Haaretz reported that

“According to a police source, an investigation into the incident also revealed that an IDF combat helicopter that arrived at the scene from the Ramat David base fired at the terrorists and apparently also hit some of the revelers who were there.”

The BBC documented an apparent instance of the Hannibal Directive by helicopter fire. The British state broadcaster writes that car dash cam footage its journalists reviewed shows “a group of men appear. Only one is armed – they appear to be there to loot … Two people, a man and a woman, who were hiding in a car are discovered and led away.”

“The woman who was taken suddenly reappears two minutes later. She jumps and waves her arms in the air. She must think help is at hand – by this time, the Israeli Defence Forces had began [sic] their efforts to repel the incursion. But seconds later, she slumps to the floor as bullets bounce around her. We don’t know if she survived.”

*

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. 

Featured image: Abandoned and damaged cars parked at the festival (12 October) (Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0)

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”

***

Western media have not stopped reporting negative news about the performance of the Ukrainian military since the launch of its counteroffensive last summer, in which more than 90,000 Ukrainian soldiers were killed or injured. This time, The New York Times described the conditions in which Kiev’s troops operate, which have long suffered from a shortage of soldiers, making it extremely difficult to advance.

The outlet interviewed members of the 117th Separate Mechanized Brigade of Ukraine. One of them said, “Physically we are exhausted.” While they claimed that morale was high, they could not hide the deficiencies in their ranks.

“We are short of people,” said an intelligence commander of the 117th Brigade who uses the call sign, Banderas, supposedly after the actor Antonio Banderas, but this is likely a cover story, and he is instead probably named after Stepan Bandera, a World War II Ukrainian Nazi collaborator. “We have weapons but not enough men,” Banderas added.

Both officers and soldiers admitted to the American newspaper that “Russian attacks were so intense that operating near the frontline has never been so dangerous.”

“Soldiers said that since March they had suffered the additional devastating power of glide bombs, half-ton explosives unleashed from planes that smash through underground bunkers,” noted the newspaper.

“They would send them two by two by two, eight in an hour,” said a 27-year-old soldier of the 14th Chervona Kalyna National Guard Brigade, known as Kit. Like others interviewed, Kit identified himself by his call sign, according to military protocol. “It sounds like a jet coming down on you,” he said, “like hell’s gate.”

Kit told the New York Times that he believes the Kiev regime “should be doing more” to reinforce its arsenal of drones, a weapon that, according to him, Moscow uses effectively. He highlighted that, unlike Russia, Kiev still relies on civilian volunteers and donors for its drone program.

According to the newspaper, Russian forces use a type of “subterfuge” to play tapes of gunfire on drones and, in this way, make Ukrainian soldiers believe they are being attacked, leading them to abandon their bunkers and reveal their positions.

In addition, Ukrainian forces also deal with smoke grenades launched by Russian drones, which “causes a very strong pain in the eyes and a fire, like a piece of coal, in your throat, and you cannot breathe,” according to a Ukrainian soldier identified as Medic.

“The toll is heavy for all units along the front. Almost everyone has been wounded or survived a narrow escape in recent months,” soldiers said to the outlet.

The revelations made to the New York Times match recent reports from the front about the increasingly bleak picture for the Ukrainian military following the failure of last year’s counteroffensive, a new round of Russian missile and drone attacks, concerns that NATO may abandon Ukraine, and fears of the possibility of a Russian advance along the front.

Zelensky himself said that many of Ukrainians were no longer committed to the war. The exhaustion is felt by the soldiers, as revealed in the New York Times, but also by ordinary citizens and the West. Western political and military leaders recognise that there is no hope of regaining Ukraine’s lost territories, but Zelensky maintains the delusion to citizens that even Crimea could be captured.

The Russian and Ukrainian armies strive to stabilise the front and carry out strategic strikes, but this requires the appropriate capabilities. In this context, it is Russia showing its superiority in a war of attrition aimed at exhausting the morale and resources of Ukraine at a time when the country is becoming increasingly dependent on foreign support.

Ukraine’s deputy prime minister Mykhailo Fedorov told The Wall Street Journal in an article published on January 8, that Kiev has been using FPV drones instead of artillery because it does not have enough ammunition, with Ukrainian forces firing one or two shots for every five or six from the Russians.

The newspaper also completed an analysis of the strategic situation last week, showing that Russia’s military budget and weapons production capabilities have increased dramatically over the past two years. “Ukraine is also investing in domestic military production capabilities, but it is no match for a much larger Russian military-industrial complex running at full steam. Kiev could fall further behind as Western support dries up,” WSJ reported.

US and European officials have repeatedly warned that Ukraine’s military will fail against Russia without further cash injections from NATO allies, confirming Moscow’s characterisation of the Ukrainian crisis as a “proxy war” between Russia and the Western bloc. Whilst soldiers, society and Westerners are tired of fighting, Zelensky insists on continuing the futile war effort against Russia.

*

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.

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

Featured image: Joining forces: The International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine has enabled thousands of foreign volunteers to join the fight against the Russian invaders. Image: Mil.gov.ua / Wikimedia Commons

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”

***

What a show.  As US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was promoting a message of calm restraint and firm control in limiting the toxic fallout of Israel’s horrific campaign in Gaza, a decision was made by his government, the United Kingdom and a few other reticent collaborators to strike targets in Yemen, including the capital Sana’a. These were done, purportedly, as retribution for attacks on international commercial shipping in the Red Sea by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

The wording in a White House media release mentions the operation’s purpose and the relevant participants.

“In response to continued illegal, dangerous, and destabilizing Houthi attacks against vessels, including commercial shipping, transiting the Red Sea, the armed forces of the United States and the United Kingdom, with support from the Netherlands, Canada, Bahrain, and Australia, conducted joint strikes in accordance with the inherent right of individual and collective self-defense”.

US Air Forces Central Command further revealed that the “multinational action targeted radar systems, defense systems, and storage and launch sites for one way attack unmanned aerial systems, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles.”

The rationale by the Houthis is that they are targeting shipping with a direct or ancillary Israeli connection, hoping to niggle them over the barbarities taking place in Gaza. As the Israeli Defence Forces are getting away with, quite literally, bloody murder, the task has fallen to other forces to draw attention to that fact. Houthi spokesperson Mohammed Abdusalam’s post was adamant that

“there was no threat to international navigation in the Red and Arabian Seas, and the targeting was and will continue to affect Israeli ships or those heading to the ports of occupied Palestine.”

But that narrative has been less attractive to the supposedly law-minded types in Washington and London, always mindful that commerce trumps all. Preference has been given to such shibboleths as freedom of navigation, the interests of international shipping, all code for the protection of large shipping interests. No mention is made of the justification advanced by the Houthi rebels and the Palestinian plight, a topic currently featuring before the International Court of Justice in the Hague.

Another feature of the strikes is the absence of a Security Council resolution from the United Nations, technically the sole body in the international system able to authorise the use of force under the UN Charter. A White House statement on January 11 attributes authority to the strikes much the same way the administration of George W. Bush did in justifying the warrantless, and illegal invasion of Iraq in March 2003. (Ditto those on his same, limited bandwidth, Tony Blair of the UK and John Howard of Australia.) On that occasion, the disappointment and frustrations of weapons inspectors and rebukes from the UN about the conduct of Saddam Hussein, became vulnerable to hideous manipulation by the warring parties.

On this occasion, a “broad consensus as expressed by 44 countries around the world on December 19, 2023” and “the statement by the UN Security Council on December 1, 2023, condemning Houthi attacks against merchant and commercial vessels transiting the Red Sea” is meant to add ballast. Lip service is paid to the self-defence provisions of the UN Charter.

In a separate statement, Biden justified the attack on Houthi positions as necessary punishment for “unprecedented Houthi attacks against international maritime vessels in the Red Sea – including the use of anti-ship ballistic missiles for the first time in history.” He also made much of the US-led Operation Prosperity Guardian, “a coalition of more than 20 nations committed to defending international shipping and deterring Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.” No mention of the Israeli dimension here, at all.

In addition to the pregnant questions on the legality of such strikes in international law, the attacks, at least as far as US execution was concerned, was far from satisfactory to some members of Congress. Michigan Democratic Rep. Rashita Tlaib was irked that US lawmakers had not been consulted. “The American people are tired of endless war.” Californian Rep. Barbara Lee warned that,

“Violence only begets more violence. We need a ceasefire now to prevent deadly, costly, catastrophic escalation of violence in the region.”

A number of Republicans also registered their approval of the stance taken by another Californian Democrat, Rep. Ro Khanna, who expressed with certitude the view that Biden had “to come to Congress before launching a strike against the Houthis in Yemen and involving us in another middle eastern conflict.” Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah was in full agreement, as was West Virginia Republican Rep. Thomas Massie 

“Only Congress has the power to declare war,” Massie affirmed.

Unfortunately for these devotees of Article I of the US Constitution, which vests Congress approval powers for making war, the War Powers Act, passed by Congress in November 1973, merely requires the president to inform Congress within 48 hours of military action, and the termination of such action within 60 days of commencement in the absence of a formal declaration of war by Congress or authorisation of military conflict. These days, clipping the wings of the executive when it comes to engaging in conflict is nigh impossible.

There was even less of a debate about the legality or wisdom of the Yemen strikes in Australia.  Scandalously, and with a good deal of cowardice, the government preferred a deafening silence for hours in the aftermath of the operation. The only source confirming that personnel of the Australian Defence Forces were involved came from Biden, the commander-in-chief of another country. There had been no airing of the possibility of such involvement.  Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had, in not sending a warship from the Royal Australian Navy to join Operation Prosperity Guardian, previously insisted that diplomacy might be a better course of action. Evidently, that man is up for turning at a moment’s notice.

In a brief statement made at 4.38 pm on of January 12 (there was no press conference in sight, no opportunity to inquire), Albanese declared with poor conviction that,

“Australia alongside other countries has supported the United States and the United Kingdom to conduct strikes to deal with this threat to global rules and commercial shipping.”

He had waited for the best part of a day to confirm it to the citizenry of his country. He had done so without consulting Parliament.

Striking the Houthis would seem, on virtually all counts, to be a signal failure. Benjamin H. Friedman of Defense Priorities sees error piled upon error:

“The strikes on the Houthis will not work. They are very unlikely to stop Houthi attacks on shipping. The strikes’ probable failure will invite escalation to more violent means that may also fail.”

The result: policymakers will be left “looking feckless and thus tempted to up the ante to more pointless war to solve a problem better left to diplomatic means.” Best forget any assuring notions of taking the sting out of the expanding hostilities. All roads to a widening war continue to lead to Israel.

*

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.

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]

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”

***

In the worlds of journalism and political activism, John Pilger stands out as one of the greatest and most courageous voices of our time. In a career that reaches as far back as the Vietnam War, John has been a persistent thorn in the side of corrupt political power and, in particular, the West’s belligerent and repressive Imperialism. He went to the places he reported on, often at great risk to himself. He defended the disenfranchised, the weak and the vulnerable against the rapacious colonialist power complexes that preyed upon the sectors of society that could not fight back. He was a champion of truth and many of us have stood on his shoulders to attempt to emulate his courage under fire. The world has lost a powerful force for justice and truth.

It was a deep understanding of how power operates in liberal democracies that marked John out. Unlike so many of his peers, John recognised the powerful constraints that acted upon journalists — the political and corporate pressures, the propensity to self-censor, the unwarranted deference to official sources — and he fought hard against these. At the same time, he was unique among journalists in terms of understanding the role and significance of propaganda. Usually dismissed by corporate/legacy media journalists as a feature of non-democratic ‘enemy’ states, John understood the extent to which propaganda is used in order to manipulate Western populations, especially in times of war.

And it was because of this informed approach to the craft of journalism that he became such an effective voice for marginalised and repressed people around the world, and those of us who have sought to challenge the belligerent and nefarious foreign policies pursued by the US and its allies.

Early in his career he joined the UK’s Daily Mirror, becoming chief foreign correspondent, at a time when the US war of aggression against the Vietnamese people was at its height. His first film, The Quiet Mutiny for ITV’s World in Action in 1970*,* documented the collapse in morale amongst US forces in Vietnam.

Four years later, Vietnam: Still America’s War revealed the ongoing US engagement in Vietnam and its consequences for civilian suffering. He also documented events in Cambodia in Year Zero: The Silent Death of Cambodia, noting the culpability of Nixon and Kissinger in terms of laying the ground work for that disastrous phase in Cambodia’s history. When Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1975, with the backing of the US, and unleashed a genocidal campaign that wiped out one third of the population, Pilger shined a spotlight on these crimes.

During the 1990s, when the liberal classes were celebrating the End of History and the West’s purported new found humanitarianism, John maintained his critical gaze. The documentary Paying the Price: Killing the Children of Iraq documented the brutal consequences of the UN sanctions in place against Iraq following the 1991 Gulf War. In this case, the US-led sanctions regime and the resulting deaths of half a million children was infamously justified by the then US Secretary of State Madeline Albright as a ‘price worth paying’. Senior UN officials Denis Halliday and Hans von Sponeck both resigned over these horrors whilst UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter, by highlighting the basic lie underpinning the sanctions regime regarding alleged Iraqi production and possession of chemical and biological weapons, effectively foretold the deceptions that would subsequently be used in 2002/2003 to justify the US-led invasion of Iraq. John was there to help keep the record straight.

When the US invaded Afghanistan in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 event, John was quick to point out the injustice of such actions and the thinly disguised resource interests driving US policy. He also noted the plausibility that 9/11 itself was a case of LIHOP (let it happen on purpose). And when the US turned its guns on Iraq, stage two of their regime-change war plans, he helped convey the lies and hypocrisy. His 2010 documentary The War You Don’t See served as a masterful critique of wartime propaganda and how it works to obscure the scale of death and human misery.

David Miller worked with John on his film, which opens with the now famous horrific footage of a US Apache helicopter attack on Iraqi civilians. He was only able to use that footage because of the heroic efforts of Julian Assange and Wikileaks to get leaked classified material into the public domain. David was in touch with John regularly during the War on Terror, and John provided advice and volunteered four of his pieces to be what became the opening section of the book David edited in 2003 called Tell Me Lies.

Throughout, Pilger was attentive to understanding and giving a voice to the victims of power. For much of his career this meant providing a voice to people who would otherwise be drowned out by the propaganda emanating from Western power centres. He relayed the plight of the Aborigines in his Australian homeland in The Secret Country: the first Australians fight back (1984) and Utopia (2013), and documented the brutal expulsion of the inhabitants of the Chagos Islands by the British so as to enable the construction of the US military base in Diego Garcia.

John had been an early advocate of the Palestinians, producing the film Palestine is Still the Issue in 1977. Twenty-five years later in 2002, he made a companion film with the same name, a pointed reminder that the liberation of Palestine had still not been achieved. There is a scene in the film which John describes as follows. It is worth quoting at length for the strong parallels between then and what is now happening in Gaza.

In Ramallah, following an invasion of the West Bank by the late Ariel Sharon in 2002, I walked through streets of crushed cars and demolished houses, to the Palestinian Cultural Centre. Until that morning, Israeli soldiers had camped there. I was met by the centre’s director, the novelist, Liana Badr, whose original manuscripts lay scattered and torn across the floor. The hard-drive containing her fiction, and a library of plays and poetry had been taken by Israeli soldiers. Almost everything was smashed, and defiled.

Not a single book survived with all its pages; not a single master tape from one of the best collections of Palestinian cinema.

The soldiers had urinated and defecated on the floors, on desks, on embroideries and works of art. They had smeared faeces on children’s paintings and written — in shit — “Born to kill”. Liana Badr had tears in her eyes, but she was unbowed. She said, “We will make it right again.”

What enrages those who colonise and occupy, steal and oppress, vandalise and defile is the victims’ refusal to comply. And this is the tribute we all should pay the Palestinians. They refuse to comply. They go on. They wait — until they fight again. And they do so even when those governing them collaborate with their oppressors.

This passage prefigures, and perhaps in retrospect can be seen as more perceptive than it might then have been, in apprehending the full horror of Zionism. In Gaza, we have seen the systematic extermination of civilians and especially children, attacks on all elements of Palestinian society especially those that keep the society running, bakeries, doctors, journalists, fuel supplies, and of course there are multiple videos emerging of unimaginable abuses including triumphalist representations of humiliation of Palestinians and of naked Jewish supremacism.

As Western governments have become ever more authoritarian and prone to heavy-handed censorship of dissent on the home front, Pilger has stood by those courageous enough to speak out against war and corruption. He viscerally understood what it is to be maligned, persecuted and threatened by the privileged and powerful when it is their agendas you threaten with the truth. Naturally, John was an instinctive and strong supporter of Julian and Wikileaks — and his support never wavered, unlike many on the left who were gulled by propaganda lines about women’s rights, which turned out to fabrications of a sort familiar to astute observers of the CIA and other Western Intelligence agencies.

Indeed, John has become a cornerstone for the now longstanding battle to save Assange from the clutches of the US Security State. John understood that this battle, as well as a personal and very human one for Assange and his wife, Stella Assange, and family, represents the most important case in Western democracies regarding the battle between freedom of expression and nefarious, ill-intentioned, governments.

The British and US governments, soaked in the blood of the countless victims killed by their eternal belligerence, have already succeeded in making an example of Assange in order to create a chilling effect amongst journalists. Extradition and incarceration will seal that. But victory in this critical case will be a powerful blow against US-led imperialism abroad and authoritarianism on the home front. A huge amount is at stake, and that is why the Julian Assange case was such an important battle for John to champion.

John’s support for those pushing back against corrupt power was ubiquitous. When scientists from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) courageously spoke out about the manipulation of an alleged chemical weapons attack investigation in Syria, Pilger gave his support.

He also supported Professors Mark Crispin Miller, David Miller, Piers Robinson and Chris Simpson when they established the Organisation for Propaganda Studies in 2017, and he served on its advisory board. John was always ready to support progressive initiatives and to give sage advice on contemporary issues.

In 2018, he wrote to David about his work on the Novichok and anti-Russian propaganda which he referred to as ‘superb’:

‘I must say the events of the past few weeks have left my jaw permanently ajar. Doesn’t it say so much about media/education that [Theresa] May et al can be so confident that they can get away with their fabrications and manipulations? You rightly call them ‘spectacularly successful’. I’m glad you mentioned that millions of British citizens remain sceptical — as no doubt they are — yet the ‘filter bubble’ remains in control. For the first time in my life, I have to try hard not to be dispirited.’

In March 2019, David and Piers published co-authored work on the UK government funded propaganda project, called the Integrity Initiative, and, in response, the Foreign Office minister Alan Duncan denounced us as “working against democracy”. John was his usual supportive self, writing to us that ‘he’s attacking you … because you’ve been effective. You’ve revealed them. In its way, it’s a compliment. Let me know what happens.’ Later in 2019, he was supportive of the campaign to defend Chris Williamson in what John called ‘his struggle against the Kafkaesque nonsense about anti-semitism’.

In private, John was a quiet, kind and studious man with a lovely sense of humour, and the three of us are honoured to have known him. When Vanessa was going through a difficult phase in the BBC harassment campaign, he replied with the words:

You’ll get through this. My mother, a Latin teacher, used to say to me — in Latin — ‘Don’t let the bastards get you down’. She despaired when I could never remember it …! You threaten them — in the same way Julian threatens them. That’s to be proud of.

Another time Vanessa was discussing an article outlining the 75 years of regime change wars, clandestine operations, and CIA or MI6 meddling in Syria’s internal affairs since their independence from French mandate in 1946. John, as always, gave sage and constructive advice, and he included an excerpt from a 2014 article entitled — From Pol Pot to ISIS: “Anything that flies on everything that moves”

Like Ebola from West Africa, a bacteria called “perpetual war” has crossed the Atlantic. Lord Richards, until recently head of the British military, wants “boots on the ground” now. There is a vapid, almost sociopathic verboseness from Cameron, Obama and their “coalition of the willing” — notably Australia’s aggressively weird Tony Abbott — as they prescribe more violence delivered from 30,000 feet on places where the blood of previous adventures never dried. They have never seen bombing and they apparently love it so much they want it to overthrow their one potentially valuable ally, Syria. This is nothing new, as the following leaked UK-US intelligence file illustrates: 

“In order to facilitate the action of liberative [sic] forces … a special effort should be made to eliminate certain key individuals [and] to proceed with internal disturbancesin Syria. CIA is prepared, and SIS (MI6) will attempt to mount minor sabotage and coup de main [sic] incidents within Syria, working through contacts with individuals … a necessary degree of fear … frontier and [staged] border clashes [will] provide a pretext for intervention … the CIA and SIS should use … capabilities in both psychological and action fields to augment tension.”

That was written in 1957, though it could have been written yesterday. In the imperial world, nothing essentially changes. Last year, the former French Foreign Minister Roland Dumas revealed that “two years before the Arab spring”, he was told in London that a war on Syria was planned. “I am going to tell you something,” he said in an interview with the French TV channel LPC, “I was in England two years before the violence in Syria on other business. I met top British officials, who confessed to me that they were preparing something in Syria … Britain was organising an invasion of rebels into Syria. They even asked me, although I was no longer Minister for Foreign Affairs, if I would like to participate … This operation goes way back. It was prepared, preconceived and planned.”

The only effective opponents of ISIS are accredited demons of the West — Syria, Iran, Hezbollah. The obstacle is Turkey, an “ally” and a member of NATO, which has conspired with the CIA, MI6 and the Gulf medievalists to channel support to the Syrian “rebels”,  including those now calling themselves ISIS. Supporting Turkey in its long-held ambition for regional dominance by overthrowing the Assad government beckons a major conventional war and the horrific dismemberment of the most ethnically diverse state in the Middle East.

John was a consummate journalist and human being. He was the epitome of effective reporting on the crimes of the ruling elite and their military adventurism. His writing style was unique — compassionate, informative and deeply researched — imbued with his own personal experiences. When the US/UK proxy war in Yemen struck in 2015, and the US-manufactured cluster bombs began to decimate the northern regions literally flaying the skin of children that were being targeted, we were reminded of another John Pilger quote:

If those who support aggressive war had seen a fraction of what I’ve seen, if they’d watched children fry to death from Napalm and bleed to death from a cluster bomb,they might not utter the claptrap they do.

John cared, it was that simple.

He also said ‘It’s only when journalists understand the role they play in this propaganda, it’s only when they realize they can’t be both independent, honest journalists and agents of power, that things will begin to change.’ We hope his legacy will be a new generation of journalists who will take this advice to heart. Thank you John for your lifetime contribution to our enlightenment. You will never be forgotten and you will be hugely missed both personally and professionally.

*

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.

Vanessa Beeley is an independent journalist and photographer who has worked extensively in the Middle East – on the ground in Syria, Egypt, Iraq and Palestine, while also covering the conflict in Yemen since 2015. In 2017 Vanessa was a finalist for the prestigious Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism which was won by the much-acclaimed Robert Parry that year. In 2019, Vanessa was among recipients of the Serena Shim Award for uncompromised integrity in journalism. Vanessa contributes regularly to UK Column News, RT, Press TV and many independent media outlets. You can find her work at her Substack and Patreon.

David Miller is an investigative researcher, broadcaster, and academic. He is the founder and co-director of the lobbying watchdog Spinwatch and editor of Powerbase.info. David is also Producer of a weekly show, Palestine Declassified, on PressTV, and he is a regular columnist at al Mayadeen English. David was unjustly sacked by Bristol University at the behest of the Zionist movement.

Dr. Piers Robinson is a co-director of the Organisation for Propaganda Studies, convenor of the Working Group on Syria, Media and Propaganda, associated researcher with the Working Group on Propaganda and the 9/11 Global ‘War on Terror’, member of Panda and BerlinGroup21. He researches and writes on propaganda, conflict and media and was Chair/Professor in Politics, Society ad Political Journalism, University of Sheffield, 2016-2019, Senior Lecturer in International Politics (University of Manchester 2010-2016) and Lecturer in Political Communication (University of Liverpool, 1999-2005).

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”

***

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday night Israel “has no intention of permanently occupying Gaza or displacing its civilian population,” rebuffing hard-right ministers’ calls to rebuild Israeli settlements in the territory and encourage Palestinian emigration.

The premier’s English-language video posted to social media came on the eve of the International Court of Justice in The Hague hearing a highly charged case accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza.

“I want to make a few points absolutely clear,” Netanyahu said. “Israel has no intention of permanently occupying Gaza or displacing its civilian population. Israel is fighting Hamas terrorists, not the Palestinian population, and we are doing so in full compliance with international law.”

“Our goal is to rid Gaza of Hamas terrorists and free our hostages. Once this is achieved, Gaza can be demilitarized and deradicalized, thereby creating a possibility for a better future for Israel and Palestinians alike.”

At the same time, a senior Likud member insisted Wednesday that Netanyahu had previously expressed support for the idea of the voluntary resettlement of Palestinians outside Gaza, but took it off the table in the face of pushback from the US.

“The prime minister told me two weeks ago in this room that it’s a good idea,” MK Danny Danon told The Times of Israel, seemingly confirming an earlier report that the prime minister had informed a Likud faction meeting that he was working to facilitate voluntary migration.

"I want to make a few points absolutely clear:
Israel has no intention of permanently occupying Gaza or displacing its civilian population.
Israel is fighting Hamas terrorists, not the Palestinian population, and we are doing so in full compliance with international law. pic.twitter.com/amxFaMnS0P

— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) January 10, 2024

Click here to read the full article on The Times of Israel.

*

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.

Featured image: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a message on Israel’s war with Hamas, January 10, 2024. (Video screenshot)

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”

***

Courtesy of OpenSecrets.org, I saw a chart on AIPAC contributions to U.S. senators that showed that all 100 senators have taken AIPAC money.

Leading the way are senate “giants” like Mitch McConnell (nearly two million dollars) and Chuck Schumer (roughly $1.7 million).

Talk about bipartisanship! I’m sure it’s just a coincidence that the U.S. Senate is so strongly pro-Israel. It obviously has nothing to do with the power of AIPAC and all that money.

Bipartisanship and no divisiveness. Who says we have a dysfunctional and divided Congress? Nonsense!

Here’s how AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) describes itself on its own website:

The Largest Pro-Israel PAC in America

WE STAND with those who stand with Israel. The AIPAC PAC is a bipartisan, pro-Israel political action committee. It is the largest pro-Israel PAC in America and contributed more resources directly to candidates than any other PAC. 98% of AIPAC-backed candidates won their general election races in 2022.

That last sentence is a killer. AIPAC is reminding Members of Congress that if you want to be elected, or win reelection, you very much want AIPAC on your side. And if you don’t kowtow to their agenda, they will do everything in their power to defeat you.

Imagine if there was an American Palestine Public Affairs Committee, an APPAC, that contributed hundreds of thousands if not millions to every U.S. senator and that boasted of a 98% success rate in getting APPAC-anointed candidates elected or reelected. Do you think maybe the U.S. Senate would have a different position on Gaza and the West Bank?

Speaking of Gaza, I watched Chris Hedges interview Ilan Pappé, an Israeli historian. Pappé put it simply and clearly: Israel is engaged in “incremental genocide” against the Palestinian people, a genocide in slow motion, a strategy of “displacement and replacement.” The “displacement” of the Palestinians is done by mass bombing, mass destruction, mass death, and (hopefully for the Israelis) mass migration, and the “replacement” will come when Jewish settlers take possession of Gaza (after a lot of munitions cleanup and infrastructure redevelopment, I suppose, probably paid for by the U.S. taxpayer).

There’s an Orwellian term for this. For mass death followed by forced expulsion, Israel is using the term “voluntary migration” (or “voluntary” emigration). But of course there is nothing “voluntary” about any of this.

If U.S. government officials appear clueless about what’s happening in Gaza, they’re not. They’re just bought and paid for.

*

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.

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”

***

“When every country turned to protect its own private interest, the world public interest went down the drain, and with it the private interests of all.“  —Charles Kindleberger (1910-2003), American economic historian, (in his book “The World Depression 1929-1939”, 1973)

“The world is a dangerous place to live—not because of the people who are evil but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.” —Albert Einstein (1879-1955), (As quoted in the book by Josep Maria Corredor “Conversations avec Pablo Casals“, 1955)

“I think it is the beginning of a new Cold War… I think the Russians will gradually react quite adversely and it will affect their policies. I think it is a tragic mistake. There was no reason for this whatsoever. No one was threatening anybody else.” —George F. Kennan (1904-2005), American diplomat and historian, (in The New York Times, May 2, 1998, about the U.S. expansion of NATO toward Russia.)

“While defending our own vital interests, nuclear powers must avert those confrontations which bring an adversary to a choice of either a humiliating retreat or a nuclear war. To adopt that kind of course in the nuclear age would be evidence only of the bankruptcy of our policy—or of a collective death—wish for the world.“ —John F. Kennedy (1917-1963), 35th U.S. President, 1961-1963, (in an important speech on Monday, June 10, 1963)

In 2024, most economies are expected to face economic headwinds. Indeed, that is why in many countries, especially in Europe and in North America, polls indicate that people’s main preoccupations are economic topics, such as the lingering inflation, high personal and public debts and the likelihood of a more or less severe economic recession.

An economic-social issue such as the influx of hordes of illegal immigrants will also be a source of concern, especially in Europe and in North America, especially if the rates of unemployment increase.

Similarly, the ongoing bombing wars in Ukraine and in Palestine, as well as the growing tensions between the United States and China and those between the U.S. and Iran, are foreign policy issues that could raise concerns.

Important Economies According to Their GDP vs. Smaller Rich Economies Per Capita

According to World Bank data, the gross domestic product (GDP) of the United States, at mid-year 2023, was $25,463 billion. This places the U.S. economy number one with 24.3 percent of the world economy.

The economy of the European Union (EU), a bloc of 27 countries, represents 21.7 percent of global GDP and is the second largest in the world. China’s economy follows in third place, with 15.0 percent of global GDP.

However, in terms of living standards (GDP per capita), small economies dominate the list, with Luxembourg ($127,580) in the lead, followed by Norway ($106,328), Ireland ($103,176) and Switzerland ($92,381).

An Overview and Expectations

The economic cycles of the major economies do not coincide perfectly, and vary somewhat depending on their economic structures and the economic policies followed by their governments.

The central question today is whether or not the coming economic year will be one in which major economies will be able to avoid a full-fledged economic recession.

The exuberance in the stock and bond markets seems to indicate that they are anticipating a gentle economic slowdown, driven by a marked decline in inflation and multiple cuts in interest rates to come.

The alternative situation to consider, contrary to the general optimism, could be that of a year characterized by a classic economic recession, more or less severe, a consequence of economic and financial imbalances accumulated in the past. It could be caused also by unexpected economic, financial and geopolitical shocks to come.

Currently, the general economic consensus is that the fight with higher interest rates that the main central banks are waging against inflation, (which was generated by large public deficits and by excessive monetary creation to counter the harmful economic effects of the 2020-2022 pandemic.), will succeed.

Thus, the central question boils down to whether the coming year will witness a very manageable mild economic slowdown or that many countries could rather have to go through a longer and more severe economic recession, with a minimum of two successive quarters of contracting GDP.

The American Economy

Even if the U.S. economy is presently the most resilient of all, being at a virtual full employment level, with an official 3.7 percent unemployment rate, and with a rising consumer confidence, there are nevertheless some cracks appearing.

For example, the Conference Board’s leading economic index is still declining and forecasting a mild economic recession in the United States in 2024. Also, even though U.S. employment still holds steady, job openings are declining. This could be an indication that business investment and production plans in some sectors are being adjusted downwards.

The reason why the U.S. economy is performing better than other economies, besides the contribution of its vibrant technology sector, is partly due to its heavily subsidized arms industry, which is one sector that is prosperous and in constant growth. It comprises more than 200,000 companies, the most prominent being Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, RTX (Raytheon), General Dynamics and Boeing.

Those companies are important contributors to the industrial growth and economic prosperity of states such as Alabama, Connecticut, Virginia, Texas and California.

The European and Canadian Economies

It is even possible that future economic data, to be released next March, will confirm that several European countries and Canada are already into a recession, with two quarters in a row of decline in domestic production.

An energy crisis stemming from the Ukrainian-Russian conflict is adding to the rise in interest rates in slowing down European economies, notably those of the 20 countries of the Eurozone. Presently, the German and Italian economies would seem to be the best candidates for a recession.

In Canada, the unemployment rate is still respectable at 5.8 percent. But job growth is anemic, with only100 new jobs created last December.

Additionally, largely due to an open-door immigration policy, the Canadian population is growing at a record rate, by far the most of all industrialized countries, while employment growth stagnates. This is translating into a decline in living standards, as measured by real GDP per capita.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has even published a study, in March 2023, in which it highlighted that Canada is lagging behind developed economies in terms of the standard of living of its population, which continues to decline. The standard of living in Canada has been deteriorating since 2014, under the effect of unbridled immigration and poor general productivity growth.

Geopolitical Risks

What could turn a mild economic recession into a more serious one would be an expansion of the ruinous and ongoing military conflicts in Ukraine and in the Middle East, or new and wider hegemonic wars to come.

In such a case, as most governments face high debt levels (i.e. total public debts greater than their yearly total domestic product), such developments would be likely to reignite inflation and cause a further surge in interest rates in years to come.

It is rare for economic conditions and geopolitical risks to be linked so closely, but unfortunately, this is the type of world we live in today.

Conclusions

The economic conundrum in 2024 is whether the expected economic slowdown will be mild and not very disruptive to labor and stock markets, or rather, whether unforeseen financial events, such as the failure of a large financial institution, could precipitate a more serious and severe global economic recession.

The geopolitical ball is murkier because the U.S. government of Joe Biden does not seem anxious to end military conflicts, even though the President had initially promised, at the start of his administration, to rely more heavily on diplomacy to resolve international disputes.

Nevertheless, the year 2024 could be an important turning point, both economically and geopolitically.

*

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.

This article was originally published on the author’s blog site, Dr. Rodrigue Tremblay.

International economist Dr. Rodrigue Tremblay is the author of the book about morals “The code for Global Ethics, Ten Humanist Principles” of the book about geopolitics “The New American Empire“, and the recent book, in French, “La régression tranquille du Québec, 1980-2018“. He was Minister of Trade and Industry (1976-79) in the Lévesque government. He holds a Ph.D. in international finance from Stanford University. Please visit Dr Tremblay’s site or email to a friend here.

Prof. Rodrigue Tremblay is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG).

Featured image source

---

The Code for Global Ethics: Ten Humanist Principles

by Rodrigue Tremblay, Preface by Paul Kurtz

Publisher: ‎ Prometheus (April 27, 2010)

Hardcover: ‎ 300 pages

ISBN-10: ‎ 1616141727

ISBN-13: ‎ 978-1616141721

Humanists have long contended that morality is a strictly human concern and should be independent of religious creeds and dogma. This principle was clearly articulated in the two Humanist Manifestos issued in the mid-twentieth century and in Humanist Manifesto 2000, which appeared at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Now this code for global ethics further elaborates ten humanist principles designed for a world community that is growing ever closer together. In the face of the obvious challenges to international stability-from nuclear proliferation, environmental degradation, economic turmoil, and reactionary and sometimes violent religious movements-a code based on the “natural dignity and inherent worth of all human beings” is needed more than ever. In separate chapters the author delves into the issues surrounding these ten humanist principles: preserving individual dignity and equality, respecting life and property, tolerance, sharing, preventing domination of others, eliminating superstition, conserving the natural environment, resolving differences cooperatively without resort to violence or war, political and economic democracy, and providing for universal education. This forward-looking, optimistic, and eminently reasonable discussion of humanist ideals makes an important contribution to laying the foundations for a just and peaceable global community.

Click here to purchase.

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

Felicity Arbuthnot, December 31, 2023

The Next Crisis “Bigger than Covid”: Paralysis of Power Supply, Communications, Transportation. The WEF “Cyber Attack” Scenario, “Usher In the Great Reset”

Prof Michel Chossudovsky, January 7, 2024

Breaking: Florida Will be the First Jurisdiction to Halt COVID-19 mRNA Vaccines

Dr. William Makis, January 5, 2024

British Airways Leads the World in Flight Attendant Sudden Collapses and Deaths in 2023

Dr. William Makis, January 5, 2024

Excess Deaths and Depopulation: Shall We Sit Around in Our Insouciance and Permit This to Happen?

Dr. John Campbell, January 2, 2024

The WEF and WHO – Are They Running a Death Cult? A WHO / Pharma controlled Worldwide Tyrannical “health system”

Peter Koenig, January 6, 2024

John Pilger on the Coming War. Speak Up, Now! “America has Gone to War with the World”. May 1, 2023

John Pilger, January 7, 2024

Australia Is Building World’s Largest Sudden Cardiac Arrest Registry to Solve the “Mystery” of COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine Sudden Cardiac Deaths

Dr. William Makis, January 9, 2024

The “Silent Cardiac Killer” Fraud: At Least 20 Young People Age 14-35 Drop Dead Each Week. One in 300 Now Carry an “Undetected Heart Condition”

Dr. William Makis, January 10, 2024

Video: Obama Chilling Movie, “Leave the World Behind”: Cyberattack, Power Grid Goes Out, Synchronized Chaos, Collapse, “Civil War”

Dr. Joseph Mercola, January 7, 2024

The War on Gaza: How We Got to the “Monstrosity of Our Century”

Amir Nour, January 8, 2024

Silencing the Lambs. How Propaganda Works. John Pilger, His Legacy Will Live

John Pilger, January 2, 2024

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

Dr. William Makis, December 28, 2023

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

Prof Michel Chossudovsky, January 11, 2024

Criminality in the White House: The Rise of the Political Psychopath

John W. Whitehead, January 10, 2024

Tony Blinken Is a Cold-Blooded Sociopath

Caitlin Johnstone, January 10, 2024

Pathologist Arne Burkhardt Revealing the Grave Dangers of MRNA Vaccines

Dr. Arne Burkhardt, January 9, 2024

J’Accuse … ! The Line Is Clear, COVID-19 Was a Concerted Effort by the “Global Cabal” to Control the Population

Dr. Emanuel Garcia, January 8, 2024

Nuclear Alert: Another 32 US Bases in Europe Close to Russia

Manlio Dinucci, January 7, 2024

Independent Media Tugging the Curtain Hiding the Wizard of Mainstream Corporate Press: The Most Censored Stories of 2023

Michael Welch, January 6, 2024

Video: The World Should be Ashamed. South Africa’s Closing Argument at the World Court Against Israel for Genocide

By Global Research News, January 12, 2024

There is an urgent need for provisional measures to protect Palestinians in Gaza from the irreparable prejudice caused by Israel’s violations of the Genocide Convention. 

Japan Resumes Construction on New US Base in Okinawa Despite Local Opposition

By Dave DeCamp, January 12, 2024

Japan has resumed construction work on a landfill for the relocation of a US military base in Okinawa despite strong opposition from the island’s governor and residents.

‘No One Is Spared’: South Africa Presents Genocide Case Against Israel at ICJ

By Jake Johnson, January 12, 2024

“Israel’s political leaders, military commanders, and persons holding official positions have systematically and in explicit terms declared their genocidal intent,” a South African lawyer told the top U.N. court.

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

By Philip Giraldi and Prof Michel Chossudovsky, January 12, 2024

“A tissue of lies” has served to justify the killing in the Gaza Strip of more than 23,000 civilians, of which 70% are women and children coupled with total destruction and a string of atrocities. 

“Canada’s Foreign Student Surge Prompts Changes and Anxiety.” Opinion Response to a New York Times Article

By Tina Renier, January 11, 2024

For international education to fulfill a sustainable development imperative, policy objectives and actions need to go beyond simply attracting an influx of international students because of Canada’s race in the global competition for international students and instead shift focus on making immigration policy more equitable.

Is Latin America Finally Making United Stand Against US Imperialism?

By Drago Bosnic, January 11, 2024

The troubled Biden administration is forced to beg for AMLO’s help to “stem the tsunami of illegal immigrants entering the US”, as the reputable Zero Hedge put it recently.

Young Girls Around the World Dying from Pfizer COVID-19 mRNA Vaccines

By Dr. William Makis, January 11, 2024

This crime is taking place on a global scale. Who is protecting these young girls? No one. It didn’t take long for the first 2024 child death from Pfizer COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine to be announced, on Jan. 3, 2024.

United States and Britain Threaten to Bomb Yemen in Defense of Gaza Genocide

By Abayomi Azikiwe, January 11, 2024

As Secretary of State Antony Blinken jets across West Asia and North Africa holding talks with various government leaders, the threats by the United States, Britain and the State of Israel have accelerated against the people of Palestine and other neighboring territories.

Tall Tales and Murderous Restraint: Blinken on Gaza and Israel. Meaningless Statements on Control and Protection of Civilians

By Dr. Binoy Kampmark, January 11, 2024

The role of the US State Department regarding Israel’s continued obliteration of Gaza is becoming increasingly clear. As the actions of the Israeli Defence Forces continue, the Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, is full of meaningless statements about restraint and control, the protection of civilians, the imperatives of humanitarianism in war.

Mergers and Mind Games: From Media Consolidation to Digital Indoctrination

By Greg Guma, January 11, 2024

Today information comes to us faster, and at greater volume, than ever before in human history. But from the telegraph to television, and on to the Internet, mass communication has long been a double-edged sword, especially when it comes to what is true.

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”

***

As more nations continue to find viable solutions to bypass the US dollar for other alternative currencies, the US government’s stranglehold on global finance and trade continues to decline. No one should be surprised at this point since Washington has been using its currency as a weapon of war including the economic sanctions it has imposed on various nations across the globe and its open threats for regime change and so on against those who are unwilling to obey Washington’s Old-World Order. So you can expect major challenges for Washington. Most of the world are currently working to end the reign of the US dollar which has been a reserve currency since 1944. The BRICS+ coalition and the idea for a new multipolar world order is already taking place, it’s inevitable.

An analysis from J.P. Morgan, ‘De-dollarization: Is the US dollar losing its dominance? sounded the alarm concerning the risk of the US dollar losing its reserve currency position. According to Alexander Wise, a member of Strategic Research team at J.P. Morgan, a geopolitical shift has taken place,

“However, its hegemony is in question, especially in light of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis. The risk of de-dollarization, which is a periodically recurrent theme throughout post-war history, has returned into focus due to geopolitical and geostrategic shifts.”

It was well-known that US sanctions would backfire at some point in time:

In particular, the U.S. sanctions on Russia have made some countries wary about being too dependent on the greenback. In addition, against a backdrop of rising interest rates, a strong U.S. dollar is becoming more expensive for emerging nations, leading some to trade in other currencies. In July 2023, Bolivia became the latest South American country — after Brazil and Argentina — to pay for imports and exports using the Chinese renminbi

The report asks one important question, “What are the potential implications of de-dollarization, and what could this mean for global markets and trade?” How could the US dollar lose its world reserve status?

There are two scenarios that could erode the dollar’s status. The first includes adverse events that undermine the perceived safety and stability of the greenback — and the U.S.’s overall standing as the world’s leading economic, political and military power. For instance, increased polarization in the U.S. could jeopardize the perceived stability of its governance, which underpins its role as a global safe haven. 

The second factor involves positive developments outside the U.S. that boost the credibility of alternative currencies — economic and political reforms in China, for example. “A candidate reserve currency must be perceived as safe and stable, and must provide a source of liquidity that is sufficient to meet growing global demand,” Wise noted.

These scenarios will undermine the role of the US dollar geopolitically and that would weaken Washington’s position as a global player, “Fundamentally, de-dollarization would shift the balance of power among countries, and this could in turn reshape the global economy and markets.” So, who would it effect the most according to Wise? Obviously, the US consumer:

The impact would be most acutely felt in the U.S., where de-dollarization would likely lead to a broad depreciation and underperformance of U.S. financial assets versus the rest of the world. “For U.S. equities, outright and relative returns would be negatively impacted by divestment or reallocation away from U.S. markets and a severe loss in confidence. There would also likely be upward pressure on real yields due to the partial divestment of U.S. fixed income by investors, or the diversification or reduction of international reserve allocations”

De-dollarization would drastically impact U.S. growth as foreign investments would decline as inflationary pressures would dramatically increase the cost of imported goods and services including food, oil and gas that will create uncertainty among the US population.  Relatively speaking, the US would become an unstable environment for any foreign investment:

De-dollarization could reduce institutional, investor and corporate demand for the dollar over time, and in size could cause its value to fall. If there is a specific catalyst for the move, de-dollarization could also result in heightened exchange rate volatility, especially as over 60 currencies are pegged to the greenback 

Although the use of the dollar has declined, its share of global currencies in use remains slightly higher.  Meera Chandan, Co-Head of the Global FX Strategy research team at J.P. Morgan said, “Overall dollar usage has declined, but it remains within long-run ranges and its share remains elevated compared to other currencies.” She continued, “The dollar’s transactional dominance remains top-of-class despite secular declines in U.S. trade shares. On the other hand, de-dollarization is evident in FX reserves, where the dollar’s share has declined to a record low of 58%.”  The renminbi could replace the dollar, but it will take time according to Alexander Wise who said that “one might naturally expect the renminbi to assume a greater role in the global economy over time, but this transition would likely occur over the course of decades.”  Wise says that China must do several things for the renminbi to become an alternative currency and that includes “Relaxing capital controls, opening markets, implementing measures to promote market liquidity, bolstering the rule of law, reducing appropriation and regulatory risk, and promoting Chinese government bonds as an alternative safe asset — these could all cement China and the renminbi as a credible alternative to the U.S. and the dollar.”  The point is clear, for researchers at J.P. Morgan to ring the alarm on the inevitable demise of the US dollar is a sign of things to come.

BRICS+ and De-Dollarization Is Moving Forward 

According to Al Mayadeen news, Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani implied that Iran “will work on the de-dollarization of trade and economic and financial transactions within the group of major emerging economies, revealing that some efforts in this direction are already underway.” Bagheri Kani said that

“We have planned many missions and joint work with other BRICS members within the framework of this organization,” he continued “one of the most important tasks is the de-dollarization of trade and economic transactions and financial cooperation.”

It was a newsworthy story that the US mainstream media decided to not report on,

“In August, the 15th top-level BRICS summit in Johannesburg extended invitations to Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia to join the bloc. Their full membership, except for Argentina, is scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2024.”

Argentina’s new Western puppet, Javier Milei had declined an invitation to join the BRICS coalition and “vowed to dollarize the Argentinian economy and has been compared to former US President Donald Trump and former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.”  Le Monde Diplomatique interviewed Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and said that

the decision was “one of the clumsiest and stupidest things Milei has done against Argentina” and that “the new president in Buenos Aires has taken his country back to the 19th century and is turning it into a “vassal of the imperial unipolar world.” 

Maduro is hopeful that Venezuela “would be accepted as a permanent member of BRICS+ at the next summit in Russia in October 2024. Caracas expects to acquire full membership in BRICS proper “sooner rather than later.”

The Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported that

“the establishment of new financial and banking platforms has opened a “new chapter” in banking relations between Iran and Russia, with the two countries agreeing to ditch the US dollar and instead trade in local currencies.” 

Iran and Russia will be using their own national currencies with new enhanced platforms including “non-SWIFT messaging systems and establishing bilateral brokerage relations.” Western sanctions are one of the main reasons that Iran and Russia decided to bypass US dollars which should not surprise anyone,

“Iran and Russia, both under draconian Western sanctions, have repeatedly criticized the US and its European allies for weaponizing the dollar as a tool to put pressure on other countries.” 

Keep in mind that sanctions are not the only reason to move away from the US dollar as Business Insider suggests

“3 reasons countries around the world want to break up with the dollar” claims that “While the macro-geopolitical environment is spurring countries to seek alternative currencies, there’s long been uneasiness over the dollar’s outsized dominance in global trade and finance.” 

The Global South including China and Russia have many reasons why they want to ditch the dollar, one of them being that the US Federal Reserve’s monetary policy has too much power over the rest of world’s economy. As for the position of the US dollar reserve currency status,

“This position has afforded the US what Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, the president of France from 1974 to 1981, called an “exorbitant privilege” and that “one facet of this privilege is that the US might not run into a crisis if it is unable to pay its debt when the value of the dollar falls sharply because Washington could simply issue more money” which has a negative impact on their economies, “some countries, including India, have said that they are sick and tired of US monetary policies holding them hostage — going as far as to say that the US has been an irresponsible issuer of the world’s reserve currencies.” 

And one last reason for most of the world to ditch the dollar is when it gains, the world loses as imports become expensive, especially for emerging nations.

Business Insider mentioned India’s frustration with the US dollar as it attempted to use the rupee to pay for crude oil imports, but it has failed so far according to The Economic Times:

India’s push for rupee to be used to pay for import of crude oil has not found any takers as suppliers have expressed concern on repatriation of funds and high transactional costs, the oil ministry told a parliamentary standing committee. The default payment currency for all contracts for import of crude oil is US dollar as per the international trade practice. However, in a bid to internationalize the Indian currency, the Reserve Bank of India on July 11, 2022, allowed importers to pay with rupees and exporters be paid in rupee.

While there has been some success with non-oil trade with a select few countries, rupee continues to be shunned by oil exporters

Business Insider also reported on India’s failed de-dollarization efforts, ‘India wanted to ditch the US dollar and buy oil in rupees. No seller wanted to get involved’ said that “India’s push to internationalize the rupee has been seen as part of a wider drive among nations from China to Brazil to reduce their reliance on the dollar in international payments and investments” they also mention Indonesia’s moves to bypass the US dollar in efforts to expand the use of the rupiah.

Even in the Caribbean nation of Jamaica, people have taken notice that de-dollarization is a necessary step to break the chains of US dominance according to Deuane Taylor, a business analyst at Tax Administration Jamaica wrote an interesting article in LinkedIn ‘Jamaica and De-dollarization’ that explains why de-dollarization can improve Jamaica’s economy. On the positives of de-dollarization, he said that

“it can help reduce the risks associated with being too dependent on a single currency and may improve economic stability and sovereignty. On the other hand, we may see an increase in transaction costs and a reduction in the efficiency of international trade and finance.” 

Besides the fact that de-dollarization would increase the use of the Jamaican dollar that can “increase in the stability of the Jamaican economy by reducing our vulnerability to fluctuations in the US dollar exchange rate. This stability can help Jamaican businesses better plan and forecast their costs and revenues.” The most beneficial aspect of de-dollarization will be the “reduction of the transaction costs with doing business” since exchange fees, for example, will be much more affordable for both businesses and customers.

Bottom line is that it won’t be easy to transition out of the US dollar. The world will need to ‘adapt’ to local or international currencies while balancing the health of their respective economies. As Taylor concluded to what needs to happen before Jamaica completely de-dollarizes its economy,

“Overall, the impact of de-dollarization on Jamaican businesses depends on various factors, such as the degree of reliance on the US dollar, the level of economic stability, and the level of preparedness of businesses to adapt to changes in currency usage.”

The BRICS coalition for a multipolar world will advance in the next couple of years. Saudi Arabia has just joined BRICS with Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the UAE also becoming new member. BRICS nations will lead the way to de-dollarization no matter what Washington and its European minions do to undermine the coalition with economic sanctions, threats, regime change and any other plans they have up their sleeves to continue their dominance of the world’s economic order. But, like the former heavyweight champion of the world, Mike Tyson once said, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth” and that punch is de dollarization,

The world knows that de-dollarization is a solution that will stop US imperialism and its economic order. Sputnik reported that “A third of UN member states have already opted for de-dollarization and decided to rely on national currencies to conduct payments, Sputnik’s analysis has found.” Roughly about 68 countries are on board to de-dollarize their economies:

According to the study, the most decisive calls to scrap the greenback and replace it with national currencies came from politicians whose countries are members of major regional organizations such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and BRICS, which originally сomprised Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa – but was expanded to include a host of other nations on January 1

The report also mentioned Kenya’s President, William Ruto, who has told local leaders to stop using dollars and use the pan-African payment system for transactions. 

“Sputnik’s investigation indicated that many countries have already realized the fact that the dollar poses a threat not only as a means of payment, but also as an instrument of savings, so the concept of de-dollarization should be considered more broadly.”

If that’s not bad enough for the US dollar regime, even their closest ally, Israel, is moving away from the US dollar in favor of the yuan according to Sputnik,

“Israel, for instance, earlier announced that it would reduce the dollar’s share in the country’s foreign exchange reserves in favor of the yuan” according to the report.

You know it’s bad when a country like Israel who is dependent on the US government for basically everything including fighting their wars in the Middle East is abandoning the US dollar.

Most of the world is already considering using other alternatives to the US dollar and they are taking the necessary steps to make a transition in a new multipolar world, but unfortunately, that will take some time since a world war is on the way to stop that transition. Maybe that’s why the US government is getting ready to launch a multi-front war in the first place. Remember when Libyan President, Muammar Gaddafi, had an idea to create a gold-backed African dinar to bypass the US dollar and the euro? Gaddafi was overthrown and murdered as Libya was being systematically destroyed.

Washington will do everything in their power to ensure that nothing can challenge the US dollar even if it means starting a world war, but that would only push countries further away from the toxic currency.

*

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.

Timothy Alexander Guzman writes on his own blog site, Silent Crow News, where this article was originally published. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

Featured image is from SCN

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”

***

Sweden‘s civil defence minister has warned his country could soon face the prospect of war and urged citizens to join voluntary defence organisations in preparation for a potential armed conflict.

In a rousing speech that took note of his country’s hotly anticipated accession to NATO this year and ongoing Russian aggression in Ukraine, Carl-Oskar Bohlin called on ordinary citizens to ask themselves ‘who are you if war comes?’.

Speaking at Sweden’s annual ‘Folk och Försvar’ (Society and Defence) conference in Sälen this past weekend, the minister said:

‘It is human to want to view life as you wish it was, rather than as it actually is.

‘For a nation for whom peace has been a pleasant companion for almost 210 years, the idea that it is an immovable constant is conveniently close at hand. But taking comfort in this conclusion has become more dangerous than it has been for a very long time,’ Bohlin said.

Sweden has not been involved in an armed conflict since a brief war with neighbour Norway in 1814 as the latter sought to establish its own constitution and parliament. it stayed neutral during WW2.

‘There could be war in Sweden… The world is facing a security outlook with greater risks than at any time since the end of the Second World War,’ the civil defence minister continued.

Click here to read the full article on Daily Mail Online.

*

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.

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”

***

“Israel’s political leaders, military commanders, and persons holding official positions have systematically and in explicit terms declared their genocidal intent,” a South African lawyer told the top U.N. court.

*

South African representatives argued before the International Court of Justice on Thursday that Israel is engaged in a genocidal assault on the Gaza Strip, subjecting the enclave to “merciless” bombing with the clear intent to wipe out the Palestinian population.

“They have deplored anyone feeling sorry for the uninvolved Gazans, asserting repeatedly that there are no uninvolved, that there are no innocents in Gaza, that the killers of the women and the children should not be separated from the citizens of Gaza, and that the children of Gaza have brought this upon themselves,” South African attorney Tembeka Ngcukaitobi said during his presentation.

Thursday’s hearing also featured remarks from South African Justice Minister Ronald Lamola, South African Ambassador to the Netherlands Vusimuzi Madonsela, lawyer Adila Hassim, and international law professor John Dugard, each of whom laid out an aspect of South Africa’s case against the Israeli government.

Hassim argued that Israel’s “first genocidal act” is the “mass killing of Palestinians in Gaza,” pointing to the U.S.-armed military’s use of 2,000-pound bombs in southern Gaza—the region to which Israeli forces ordered Gazans to move earlier in the war.

“No one is spared. Not even newborns,” said Hassim, displaying photos of mass graves in the Gaza Strip. “U.N. chiefs have described it as a graveyard for children.”

Hassim made the case that Israel is guilty of violating articles 2a, 2b, 2c, and 2d of the Genocide Convention, which defines genocide as harm inflicted “with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group.”

“Israel has deliberately imposed conditions on Gaza that cannot sustain life and are calculated to bring about its physical destruction,” said Hassim. “Israel has forced—forced—the displacement of about 85% of Palestinians in Gaza. There is nowhere safe for them to flee to.”

South Africa’s presenters sought to demonstrate genocidal intent in part by directly quoting high-ranking Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Ngcukaitobi pointed to Netanyahu’s repeated invocation of biblical passages to paint Gazans as modern-day Amalekites.

The attorney also played footage of Israeli soldiers chanting that they will “wipe off the seed of Amalek” and that there are “no uninvolved civilians” in Gaza.

“Israel’s political leaders, military commanders, and persons holding official positions have systematically and in explicit terms declared their genocidal intent,” said Ngcukaitobi. “These statements are then repeated by soldiers on the ground in Gaza as they engage in the destruction of Palestinians and the physical infrastructure of Gaza.”

South Africa’s legal team decided against sharing highly graphic videos and photos during its presentations, saying it did not want to turn the court’s proceedings “into a theatre for spectacle.”

“South Africa’s application in this court today is built on a foundation of clear legal rights, not images,” the legal team said Thursday.

South Africa is asking the ICJ to adopt “provisional measures” to halt Israel’s mass killing and displacement of Gazans, many of whom are starving and being stalked by disease.

Israel is set to offer its counter to South Africa’s case on Friday, which will mark the first time Israel has defended itself in person at the United Nations’ highest court.

In the days ahead of the ICJ’s public hearings, Israeli officials pressured governments around the world to publicly denounce South Africa’s case. The United States, Israel’s top ally and leading arms supplier, has dismissed South Africa’s arguments as “meritless.”

But a growing number of national governments are backing South Africa, including Brazil, Malaysia, Bolivia, and Pakistan. South Africa’s ICJ effort has also drawn massive support from grassroots organizations across the globe.

“Israel’s killing, injuring, traumatizing, and displacing large numbers of Palestinians and denying water, food, medicine, and fuel to an occupied population meet the criteria for the crime of genocide,” reads an open letter signed by more than 1,000 unions, popular movements, and other groups. “If a majority of the world’s nations call for a cease-fire, yet fail to press for prosecution of Israel—what is to stop Israel from ethnically cleansing all Palestinians?”

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

*

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.

Jake Johnson is a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams.

Featured image: Public hearings in South Africa’s genocide case against Israel began at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands on January 11, 2024. (Photo: Selman Aksunger/Anadolu via Getty Images)

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”

***

Article by Holly Johnston and Sinan Mahmoud

The National News

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”

***

Does anybody believe that the ICJ will accuse Israel of committing genocide on Palestinian people, notably in Gaza, as accused by the government of South Africa?

Is there any lawyer, or team of lawyers in the world, that would dare to condemn Israel for crimes against humanity?

And even if there were courageous lawyers and judges to take on Israel for its horrendous and atrocious crimes, does anyone believe Israel – or the Zionists running Israel, the driving force behind the war; protected and supported by almost the entire Western world, or rather the governments of the Western world – would blink an eye and pay attention?

---

VIDEO. ICJ Hearings in The Hague

Click Screen to View the ICJ Hearings, January 11, 2024

---

They have an agenda – and this agenda is to be fulfilled, come hell or high water.

PM Netanyahu is the perfect “fall guy” for this job. He is inhuman. He has no morals, no ethics. He is ideal. That is why the US and the “system” – or call it the Matrix – pushed him into the PM position for the third time in November 2022.

Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu has previously held the Office of Prime Minister (PM) from 1996 to 1999, and again from 2009 to 2021. He is the chairman of the ultra-conservative, neoliberal Likud party. Netanyahu is the longest tenured PM in the country’s history, having served for a total of over 16 years. He is also the first Prime Minister having been born in Israel after Israel’s establishment.

In November 2019, Netanyahu was officially charged with fraud, breach of trust and for receiving bribes. He would likely be in prison, if he would not have been shoved into his third PM position – compliments of the powerful Zionist lobby in the United States and the support of all those who are doing the Zionists bidding in the US and around the world. “Bibi” serves the Western elite’s interests better as Israel’s PM than as a prisoner.

Why?

Because Netanyahu is ideal – heartless in killing civilians, mostly women and children, eradicating one or more generations of Palestinians – to achieve the multiple-headed agenda, the creation of Greater Israel (see map).

The Zionist’s Greater Israel would become THE Power House of the Middle East, possibly of the world, exactly as predicted by the Talmud which may be called the Israeli equivalent to the Christian Bible.

The power of the Chosen People has no limits and must obey to no-one.

With Palestine gone, more than a trillion cubic feet (probably much more) of natural gas off-shore of Gaza would be absorbed by Israel. This is already the current plan.

Greater Israel would be the second or third largest power in terms of controlling hydrocarbon resources worldwide. And as we know, the world’s energy supply depends on about 85% of petrol and gas.

Who controls the energy, controls food supply. And who controls food, controls the people.

To expand Zionist-Israel’s power even further, the plan for Greater Israel is also to control the shipping lines – thereby controlling the European economy. What is already going on today — Yemeni Houthis pirating Israeli and US ships in the Red Sea and vessels of any other nation attempting to supply Israel, are attacked, and taken over by Houthi warriors in the Red Sea. The Red Sea is linked to the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal.

Aat least 18 European nations have already said they will avoid the Suez Canal for “security reasons”, meaning that the cost for them doing business with their Asian markets is going to skyrocket. And a key income for Arab-Egypt which owns the Suez Canal would be drastically reduced.

But there is an alternative. The so-called Ben-Gurion Canal that has been on the drawing board since the early 1970s, crossing from the Med Sea just outside of the current Gaza border, through Israel and the West Bank into the Red Sea, effectively rendering the Suez Canal obsolete. A massive reduction of shipping traffic might bring the Suez Canal into receivership, potentially ruining Egypt’s economy. Closing the Suez Canal may then become the logical next step.

In other worlds, Greater Israel would potentially also exercise command over the entire shipping routes for Western and Eastern Europe, Russia, Turkey, Syria, from reaching their Asian market destinations. Of course, they could go around Africa, and a third to half of business might be lost, due to high costs and long shipping time.

Alternatively, everybody might use the “future” Ben Gurion Canal.

Does still anybody believe the ICJ would make one iota of difference for the pursuits of Greater Israel, even if Israel were to be accused of genocide and ordered to stop, and pay reparation to Palestine?

It would not stop Israel from pursuing her goal, nor would it stop the Western nations, notably the US, from continuing in supporting all the murderous actions of Israel – already expanding to the West Bank and into Southern Lebanon, soon stepping up to absorb all of Lebanon, as planned.

So, what is this South African initiative of attempting to legally try Israel for her crimes on humanity? A mere fig leaf for Western morals and ethics?

Maybe it is more.

Maybe it is an attempt to show to the world whether international law has still a role to play – or, if not, make the elite’s rules-based order official. For all to see. A wake-up call. One more of them for people and politicians to see that they are just puppets following a lawless small elite of dirty-rich people and foremost, of a corporate controlled worldwide mayhem.

South Africa’s initiative may have an agenda that does not meet the eye of the average politician, nor may it affect the immediate fate of Israel – but it may have repercussions way beyond the Middle East.

It may become a blunt demonstration to the Western civilization that our system is sick, so sick, recklessly lawless, with no common sense; that this matrix must be abandoned and rebuilt by a peoples-run society of the People for the People.

Is this just a dream?

Well, all revolutions, any paradigm shift of such magnitude, where light is to replace the supremacy of darkness has started and will start with a dream. A multifaceted dream. A dream that sparks a fire; a fire burning down the trash and creating fertile ground for new seeds to grow.

*

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

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

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

Featured image: The International Court of Justice. Photo credit: ICJ

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”

***

I would like to share my opinions on the article entitled, “Canada’s Foreign Student Surge Prompts Changes and Anxiety” written by Vjosa Isai and published in the Canada letter on January 6, 2024.

Excerpt from the article

Recruiting foreign students who pay higher tuition fees — roughly five times as much as Canadians to obtain an undergraduate degree, according to the census agency — has always been attractive to the country’s institutions. It has also become increasingly important for the federal government, which is vying to hit a lofty goal of attracting 1.45 million immigrants between 2023 and 2025.

…

In Canada, the surge of overseas students has fanned concerns about the readiness of university and college communities to adequately host them, and about efforts to ensure that their labor and their finances are not exploited. The immigration minister, Marc Miller, recently announced a handful of measures taking effect this month for foreign students.

For the first time since the early 2000s, the government has increased the savings threshold that foreign students must have to qualify for a study permit to about 20,600 Canadian dollars, up from 10,000 dollars. And it will continue, until at least April, to allow international students to work more than 20 hours per week, a policy it had previously walked back.

Without providing details, Mr. Miller’s ministry said it was also looking into ways that it could ensure colleges and universities, which are provincially regulated, accept only as many students as they can assist in finding housing.

“Ahead of September 2024, we are prepared to take necessary measures, including significantly limiting visas, to ensure that designated learning institutions provide adequate and sufficient student supports,” Mr. Miller said last month at a news conferencein which he announced the changes. He accused some institutions of operating the “diploma equivalent of puppy mills,” depriving those foreign students of a positive academic experience in the face of outsize hardships and a lack of intervention by provincial governments.

–Vjosa Isai, The New York Times, January 6, 2024

First, let me commend the editorial team and author of the article for raising awareness on the paradoxes of the influx of international students’ presence in Canada, their contributions, and a variety of struggles in their living, studying, and working experiences. I like the fact that the article shared the broader context of Canada’s recent immigration policy towards international students that influenced the recent surge. In fact, Canada’s major policy document is outlined in its International Education Strategy (2014-2018) and the recent one (2019-2024) where Canada states its ambitious intent to increase the number of international students and to utilize international education as one of the key drivers to foment national, economic, and social development. 

Despite the ambitious intent outlined in these key policy documents and Canada’s immigration policy, international students do not only contribute five to six times more in tuition fees than domestic students, but they also contribute $22 billion to the Canadian economy, according to Global Affairs Canada. 

The issues of labour exploitation due to precarious citizenship status (study permits/temporary status) should be examined in the longer trajectory of the Canadian project of nationhood. In other words, we should interrogate the ways in which Canada established its nation building project and the premises on which nationhood was predicated. When one does an extensive examination of this topic, there are histories that affect the present-day predicament of international students’ lived experiences of exploitation and precarity that are often not discussed thoroughly in national discussions.

One of such issues that is often not discussed thoroughly is Canadian universities and classrooms, as sites of ongoing racial-colonial and imperial encounters that promulgates multiple racisms/ systems of oppression, repressive institutional structures, subordination, and subjugation as well as indigenous land dispossession. Professor Sunera Thobani (2022) argues about the same issues raised in this article about precarious labour and citizenship status in one of her texts on ‘Coloniality and (in) Justice in the University: Counting for Nothing?’ Thobani (2022) debates that there have been multiple and consistent attempts to de-radicalize insurgent, critical scholarship but also to obscure histories that influence contemporary problems. 

Precarity is not only a matter of temporary resident status or an exploitation of labour. It is also an existential phenomenon whereby international students are socially constructed as “bodies of out of place” and while they are formally invited and integrated into Canadian society and institutions such as university through immigration policies, they continue to experience feelings of isolation, silencing, erasure of multiple histories, cultures and identities, social marginalization and labour exploitation because of the values that underpin Canadian state formation, national identity, and foreign policy coordination, domestically and internationally. I also think this article opens important avenues for international/ transnational dialogue about considerations for Canadian policy makers to engage in transformative public policy on international education. 

For international education to fulfill a sustainable development imperative, policy objectives and actions need to go beyond simply attracting an influx of international students because of Canada’s race in the global competition for international students and instead shift focus on making immigration policy more equitable. Already the Government of Canada has made an important stride in this area by removing limitation of working hours for international students through Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), but more can be done as the years, progress.

I am recommending lowering the threshold of proof of financial status for international students from low-income backgrounds and countries and Canada increasing financial aid for international students in the form of partial, full scholarship and student funding programs for a variety of programs of studies at different levels (undergraduate, Masters and Ph.D.).

I am also aware that the Government of Canada has invested heavily in equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) programming especially at the university level where there are a number of high academic positions that are dedicated to centralized responsibilities but nevertheless problems of underrepresentation of racialized faculty and students persist as well as feelings of isolation and exclusion. Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) needs to have a stronger anti-racism and anti-colonial focus for it to be more effective because equity, diversity inclusion (EDI) currently stands, this regime is a “containment zone” for broader transformational changes.

I also suggest greater collaboration between Canadian employers and Canadian academic institutions along with support from the Government of Canada to enforce stronger labour regulations that protect the rights of international students as student-migrant workers and alleviate labour exploitation in precarious industries such as the services sectors, which they are heavily concentrated in, according to institutional reports and academic journals on Canadian international education. 

*

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 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).

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”

***

American imperialism is almost as old as the United States itself and one of the first obvious symptoms of this was the infamous Monroe Doctrine. This controversial foreign policy framework was adopted two centuries ago and has since served as the blueprint of Washington DC’s aggression against the world. Under the guise of suppressing European colonialism, the US effectively proclaimed that the “New World” is solely its geopolitical backyard, plunging both Americas into centuries of imperialism, colonialism and oppression. Needless to say, this has had disastrous consequences for Latin America. Washington DC engaged in carving up new states whenever this was in its interest, resulting in the near-constant fragmentation of almost any potential adversary.

Mexico was the first of the Latin American nations to experience the full spectrum of the “blessings” that later became known (or rather infamous) as “freedom and democracy”. Through coercion, blackmail, covert undermining and direct aggression, America occupied the entirety of former northern Mexico, with these territories becoming what today is known as the southern/southwestern US. And while Washington DC’s direct expansionism largely ended with the occupation and annexation of these Mexican territories, its power projection south of the Rio Grande never stopped. The goal was to turn Mexico, once a major power in the Americas, into a failed state that could be destabilized at any given moment, all in order to prevent it from ever becoming a contender to unchecked US power.

One of the unintended (or perhaps intended) results of this was the constant flow of Latino migrants into America, serving as cheap labor for US business interests. In recent decades, the Democratic Party has been using these immigrants, both legal and illegal, for political purposes, aiming to change the demographics of entire counties and even states in order to secure power in these areas. Expectedly, this was always extremely unpopular with the Republicans, as well as the more conservative parts of American society. In recent years, it resulted in absolute chaos on the southern border, with hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of largely undocumented migrants flooding Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and California, albeit to a somewhat lesser extent than the previous three.

The border crisis has only exacerbated President Joe Biden’s already atrocious reputation with the voters. However, even his unpopularity can hardly be measured with that of some GOP neocon warmongers such as the infamous Lindsey Graham. In March last year, the bellicose Republican senator from South Carolina threatened Mexico with military action after four US citizens were taken hostage (two of which were later killed) by members of the CDG (short for Gulf Cartel). Graham stated he would “go tough” on the cartels, blaming Mexico for the incident and threatening the US would launch a military intervention in the country.

“I would put Mexico on notice. If you continue to give safe haven to drug dealers, then you are an enemy of the United States,” he stated during an interview with Fox News host Jesse Waters, further adding: “I’m going to introduce legislation … to make certain Mexican drug cartels [are listed as] foreign terrorist organizations under US law and set the stage to use military force if necessary to protect America from being poisoned by things coming out of Mexico.”

Back in January 2023, Republicans Mike Waltz and Dan Crenshaw called for an Authorization for Use of Military Force against Mexican cartels for drug trafficking “that has caused destabilization in the Western Hemisphere.” Graham, along with 16 Republican cosponsors, supported the bill and criticized the Biden administration for the deteriorating situation at the southern border, claiming that “up to 100,000 people have died from fentanyl poisoning coming from Mexico and China, and this administration has done nothing about it.”

“I would tell the Mexican government if you don’t clean up your act, we’re going to clean it up for you,” he threatened.

Such threats certainly didn’t sit well with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), who finally got the chance to get back at Washington DC. Namely, the troubled Biden administration is forced to beg for his help to “stem the tsunami of illegal immigrants entering the US”, as the reputable Zero Hedge put it recently. According to their report, in late December, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who has repeatedly maintained that the “border is secure”, traveled to Mexico with Secretary of State Antony Blinken to beg for assistance in what officials called “preliminary” discussions with AMLO. However, this comes with a price.

AMLO laid out the following conditions:

• US approval for a plan to deploy $20 billion to Latin American and Caribbean countries
• Suspend the US blockade of Cuba
• Remove all sanctions against Venezuela
• Grant at least 10 million Hispanics living in the US the right to remain and work legally

The very fact that these demands have more to do with Latin America as a whole rather than Mexico alone shows that they are finally making a united stand against US imperialism. Washington DC would certainly refuse at any other time. However, with less than eleven months left until the 2024 presidential election, the troubled Biden administration needs to act fast. The southern border saw a record 300,000 migrants processed by CBP in December alone, meaning that the GOP stands to win a lot of points if the crisis isn’t averted or at least put under control.

“The two countries are expected to continue talks in Washington DC later this month. Mexico brings significant leverage to the negotiations,” three US and Mexican officials were quoted by NBC News, which also added: “López Obrador’s administration would prefer that President Joe Biden win re-election in November, given Donald Trump’s rhetoric and actions during his time in office. But Biden is quickly running out of options to fix a problem that is driving down his poll numbers without increased support from Mexico.”

It can be argued that the belligerent thalassocracy’s attempts to revive the Monroe Doctrine are failing for the very first time in centuries, as 650 million Latin Americans are finally getting the chance to push back against it as part of an increasingly united front. And while the US might have scored a small victory by having Argentina pull out of its BRICS+ membership bid at the very last moment, the admission of new members on January 1 will certainly encourage Latin America to seek closer ties with either BRICS+ itsel for at least its individual founding members.

*

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.

This article was originally published on InfoBrics.

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

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

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”

***

A member of the Israeli Knesset has doubled down on comments he made in November when he called to “burn Gaza now” and is now claiming there are “no innocents” in areas where the Israeli military ordered evacuations.

“I stand behind what I said. It is better to burn, to take down buildings, than that our soldiers should be harmed,” said MK Nissim Vaturi, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party.

“I said to ‘burn Gaza.’ What does it mean to burn? To go in and rip them apart. There should be no thoughts, no considerations. The soldiers of the IDF should not think for one second and be hurt because we need to be humane,” Vaturi added.

Discussing the areas where the Israeli military ordered evacuations, Vaturi said,

“We evacuated them all – we succeeded in evacuating 1,900,000 in an organized fashion, and there are 100,0000 left. I don’t think that there are any innocents there now – not now, and not when I made my statement.”

Many Palestinian civilians stayed in northern Gaza and other areas following evacuation orders from the Israeli military for a multitude of reasons, including the fact that many of the so-called “safe zones” were still being bombed.

Vaturi’s comments come a day before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) will hold its first hearing on South Africa’s genocide case that it has brought against Israel. The 84-page filing submitted by South Africa cites genocidal rhetoric from Israeli officials as evidence of Israel’s intent to commit genocide against Gaza’s Palestinian population.

*

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.

Dave DeCamp is the news editor of Antiwar.com, follow him on Twitter @decampdave.

Featured image is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

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”

***

Eudravigilance – first teenager death of 2024 – Myocarditis

 

 

• EU-EC-10016565056, Jan.3, 2024, girl age 12-17 years
• “influenza like illness”
• “malaise”
• “myocarditis – fatal – results in death”

According to EudraVigilance, Pfizer COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine has harmed 39,015 children in Europe ages 0 to 17, 70% of them were girls!

According to WHO VigiAccess – Over 180,000 pediatric adverse events have been reported with COVID-19 vaccines, 65% were girls.

Japanese authorities admit 1st teenage death from COVID-19 Vaccines – it’s a 14 year old girl who had 3rd Pfizer mRNA and died in her sleep 45 hours later.

Read this article from The Asahi Shimbun.

My take on this story: The paper by Nushida et al is well known and was published in July 2023.

Malaysia – Kuala Lumpur – 10 year old Bridget Ho had Pfizer COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine on Feb. 4, 2022 and died on Nov. 26, 2023 from what appears to be cardiac arrest.

Malaysia, Johor Baru – Oct. 23, 2021 – 14 year old girl Noor Hayati Nabila Abdullah had 1st Pfizer COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine on Oct. 3, 2021 and 5 days later she was found dead by her mother in their living room.

Taoyuan, TAIWAN – Feb. 9, 2023 – Taiwan Government compensates 1st victim of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, a girl 5-11 who died after 2nd Pfizer mRNA dose and myocarditis.

AIPEI (Taiwan News) — The board overseeing the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s (MOHW) Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) made public the rulings on nine cases involving COVID-19 jabs on Sunday (Feb. 26).

Vietnam – 2nd child to die in Vietnam after Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccination was a grade 9 girl (age 14) from Hanoi (Nov. 2021).

• After Vietnam started vaccinating with Pfizer COVID-19 mRNA vaccines on Nov. 23, 2021, within two weeks, 5 children were dead
• Child #1: 16 yo boy (Bac Giang, vaxxed Nov. 24, died Nov. 28, 2021) (click here)
• Child #2: 14 yo girl (Hanoi, vaxxed Nov. 27, died Nov. 28, 2021) (click here)

Vietnam (Jan. 17, 2022) – Grade 9 girl (age 14) died less than half an hour after she received her second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Jan. 17, 2022 (received 1st dose on Dec. 3, 2021).

 

 

Thailand – 16 year old girl (daughter of Thanphit Sakunmat, from Lampang) died as a result of blood clots in lungs three days after taking 2nd Pfizer COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine on Oct. 27, 2021.

 

 

Brazil – 16 year old Isabelli Borges Valentim, student at a private Christian school had 1st Pfizer mRNA on Aug. 25, 2021, developed blood clots and died 8 days later on Sep. 2, 2021 (click here) (click here).

 

Brazil – 18 year old model Valentina Boscardin developed clots and died suddenly after 2 doses of Pfizer COVID-19 mRNA jab, on Jan. 9, 2022 (click here).

 

 

Ararangua, Brazil – 13 year old Vanessa Martins Figueiredo had Pfizer vaccine on Nov. 9, 2021, symptoms started 5 days later with vomiting, paralysis, she died on Jan. 10, 2022 (click here) (click here).

 

Brazil – 16 year old Anite Vitoria Ribeiro Bentivoglio had 2nd Pfizer COVID-19 mRNA vaccine on Oct. 20, 2021, became ill, fatigue, vomiting, died Jan. 20, 2022 (click here).

 

 

Brazil – 5 year old girl Helena DeMarco Lavalle had 1st dose of Pfizer COVID-19 mRNA vaccine on Feb. 18, 2022 and died 8 days later in her sleep.

 

 

 

Germany (Hollfeld, Bavaria) – 15 year old Cheyenne Braun had 2nd Pfizer mRNA on Nov. 1, 2021, suffered a massive heart attack on Nov. 4, 2021 and died on Nov. 17, 2021.

 

 

Germany, Cuxhaven: A 12 year old girl died shortly after Pfizer COVID-19 mRNA vaccine in Oct. 2021 (click here). 

The preliminary autopsy protocol suggested that the child’s death had occurred as a result of the vaccination.

Due to this temporal connection, the district health department commissioned the body to be autopsied, which was then carried out in the Hamburg University Hospital.

“We are faced with a particularly tragic case here”, said the head of the health department, Kai Dehne.

France – 16 year old Sofia Benharira, student at Lycee Valabre de Luynes-Gardanne, had 2nd Pfizer mRNA jab on Sep. 14, 2021, chest pain on Sep. 20 and died suddenly on Sep. 21, 2021 after 2 cardiac arrests & clots (click here).

France – 16 year old Melanie Macip died of cardiac arrest 5 days after her 2nd Pfizer COVID-19 mRNA vaccine she took on Aug. 2, 2021 (click here).

Italy (Rufanno) – 14 year old girl Majda El Azrak got her 2nd Pfizer COVID-19 mRNA on Aug. 17, 2021, was hospitalized & went into a coma on Aug. 19, and died on Sep. 13, 2021 (click here).

 

 

Italy – 16 year old girl Giulia Lucenti died less than 24 hours after 2nd Pfizer mRNA jab on Sep. 8, 2021 (click here).

My Take…

This crime is taking place on a global scale.

Who is protecting these young girls? No one.

It didn’t take long for the first 2024 child death from Pfizer COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine to be announced, on Jan.3, 2024.

This substack article, written to honor the first child Pfizer mRNA death of 2024, is a reminder that children continue to be killed by these toxic, failed mRNA products.

*

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.

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

---

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

by Michel Chossudovsky

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

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

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”

***

A key aspect of Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit and press conference in Israel on Tuesday was to make a strong show of condemning South Africa’s genocide case against Israel, set to start at The Hague this week.

The US top diplomat blasted the case filed at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) as “meritless” and described the whole initiative as “galling” – also saying that it will be a distraction while world powers need to be focused on achieving lasting peace in Gaza.

“The charge of genocide is meritless,” he said. But then in the same press conference he admitted that the “daily toll on civilians in Gaza, particularly children, is far too high.”

The first hearing in the case will be held Thursday, focused on South Africa’s 84-page application to the ICJ , which describes Israel’s military campaign as “genocidal in character because they are intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part” of the Palestinian population of Gaza.

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby last week said initially, “We find this submission meritless, counterproductive and completely without any basis in fact, whatsoever.”

Israel has gone on a full-court diplomatic press pushing back against the case. There’s not much that the court can enforce in terms of action regardless, but a ruling against Israel would be a huge reputational black eye.

Starting last month, Israel’s Foreign Ministry issued a blistering rebuke in response, rejecting the filing “with disgust” and called Pretoria’s accusations a “blood libel” – essentially saying the South African government’s charge is being fueled by antisemitism.

Israel had also blasted Pretoria for sympathizing with terrorists who massacred civilians:

“South Africa’s claim has no factual and judicial basis and is a despicable and cheap exploitation of the court,” the ministry says in a statement. “South Africa is collaborating with a terror group that calls for the destruction of the State of Israel.”

The ministry blames Hamas for the suffering of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip by attempting “to carry out genocide” on October 7, when terrorists from the Strip killed some 1,200 people and took around 240 hostages after invading southern Israel.

“We call on the International Court of Justice and the international community to reject the baseless claims of South Africa out of hand,” the response statement said further.

Below: Israel is now tailoring its messaging in response to growing outrage and pressure…

Our war is against Hamas, not against the people of Gaza

IDF Spokesperson explains the steps that we’re taking to help international organizations distribute humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/0T71gRkUQi

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) January 9, 2024

But Global South countries in particular are likely to support the case. Russia and China too have been deeply critical of Israel’s large-scale bombardment of densely populated civilian areas of the Gaza Strip. The death toll has soared past 23,000 killed, according to Palestinian sources.

*

Below is a note and review on the ruling African National Congress’ (ANC) long-running ties with the PLO…

South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) has deep ties to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), stretching back to its former leader and South Africa’s first post-apartheid president, Nelson Mandela. The ANC aligned itself with the PLO and other revolutionary causes while Mandela was in prison; after his release, Mandela was a vocal supporter of the PLO and its leader Yasser Arafat, saying in 1990 that “we identify with the PLO because, just like ourselves, they are fighting for the right of self-determination.”

Decades later, that sentiment remains in the South African government, and for many ordinary South Africans who see their struggle against colonialism and apartheid in the Palestinians’ plight and decades-long struggle for self-determination. That’s particularly salient in an election year for South Africa as the ANC and its leader, President Cyril Ramaphosa, struggle to stay the dominant power there.

*

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.

Featured image: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv, Oct. 12, 2023. – Secretary Antony Blinken on X

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”

***

Prime Minister Albanese, “don’t wait 200 years to apologise for the brutality of a coloniser, be on the right side of history now, today.”

I am not in the habit of publishing or forwarding work by other writers, but in this case I am making an exception. This is not written by a journalist, but from a young, compassionate woman; a wife, a mother and a thorough human being who calls herself ‘ordinary’. I totally disagree. She is anything but ordinary. Every syllable, every word, every paragraph of her despairing cry for help should be read far and wide, in the hope that western politicians will heed her call and find their moral compass. Here it is, totally unedited.

– Jafar Ramini

***

Letter from Yasmin Petrucci:

Dear Senator Penny Wong and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese,

The first thing that you should know about me is that I am an ordinary person. I am not a law maker or CEO of a multinational. I am merely a mother, wife, and taxpayer- one of millions in this country. I am also like hundreds of thousands of ordinary people across the globe who, at night, are unable to sleep. I am traumatised and haunted by the brutal images out of Gaza and the West Bank; a country I have never visited and have no blood ties to. First-hand accounts of the depravity and violence inflicted on a people with no means to escape, no weapons to fight back and no shelter to hide. Thousands of men, women and children starved, dehydrated, and braving the cold, the floods, and the unrelenting onslaught of a colonising power bombarding them from all sides in full view of the world and with the complete support of the US and some members of the Australian parliament. Their only crime is to be Palestinian.

Each morning I wake up to tell my husband that I have seen the most disturbing video to only lie awake that same night and see something even worse. Babies with half their bodies blown off, blood-soaked children shell shocked and trembling, fathers wading through waist deep flood waters carrying their dead children, men and young boys dehumanised, blindfolded and semi naked lined up near ditches and the screams of mothers as white phosphorous rained down on them and burned the flesh off their children. When will this end? How much more can we expect them to take? For how long can the Israelis’ act with such impunity? They have committed the most heinous war crimes this generation has seen, fully sanctioned by this government with insurmountable evidence and with full admission from their own officials. They have butchered, lied, and committed open acts of perfidy without consequence. They have massacred entire families at point blank and thrown Palestinians out of their own homes. They have decimated entire neighbourhoods and imprisoned and abused innocent children. Yet there has not been a single sanction. Not a slap on the wrist. Not even a raised eyebrow and a pursed lip. But what is most painful to know is that we support this attack by sending arms, aid and allowing shipping routes to use our ports. Tell me, would you support ISIS like this?

Last night, I saw a video that will be tattooed into my memory. If you are brave, a simple online search will help you find it. It is of a young boy, no more than five, lying on a gurney with a catheter attached. The doctor lifted his legs to show the flesh and skin that had burned away from his body all the way to the bone. He was still alive, and doctors have run out of anaesthetic. This level of suffering is unfathomable. How can we call ourselves a civilised society and yet turn a blind eye to the immeasurable pain innocent children are forced to endure? I will never be able to unsee this image. Nor will this generation of young people with access to social media, who for the first time in history, have a front row seat to genocide in all its ferocity. This generation will remember. They will also remember how we acted and how we reacted. What legacy are we to leave? One that creates more hate or one that is committed to humanity and abides by international law?

Like this boy in the video, my children are five. I see their faces when I see these images and I hold them tighter and closer. But if you don’t see the children of Gaza as humans, how can I trust that you will see my children as humans? How can I trust this government to see my brothers as humans if you don’t see the men of Gaza as humans? How can I believe you care about women’s rights when you don’t care if the women in Gaza are receiving caesareans without anaesthetic? Because of the stain of this government’s slow reaction to the terror and your unwillingness to condemn this ethnic cleansing, all I see when you appear on TV is the video of that child on the gurney. Anthony Albanese and Penny Wong, I only see that child when I hear you speak. That is the memory you have created in the minds of so many of us. I am sick to my stomach knowing that I voted for you in the last election, believing we shared the same values. We do not.

I implore you to take a stronger stance to prevent any further human suffering for the sake of humanity, morality, and common decency. Palestinians are humans like me, like my children, like my husband and my brothers. They deserve to be safe and free with a right to self-governance in the land that has homed them for generations. Don’t wait 200 years this time to apologise for the brutality of a coloniser, be on the right side of history now, today.

Thank you for your time.

Yasmin Petrucci

*

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.

Featured image is from P&I

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”

***

The New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times’s coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza showed a consistent bias against Palestinians, according to an Intercept analysis of major media coverage. 

The print media outlets, which play an influential role in shaping U.S. views of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, paid little attention to the unprecedented impact of Israel’s siege and bombing campaign on both children and journalists in the Gaza Strip. 

Major U.S. newspapers disproportionately emphasized Israeli deaths in the conflict; used emotive language to describe the killings of Israelis, but not Palestinians; and offered lopsided coverage of antisemitic acts in the U.S., while largely ignoring anti-Muslim racism in the wake of October 7. Pro-Palestinian activists have accused major publications of pro-Israel bias, with the New York Times seeing protests Opens in a new tab at its headquarters in Manhattan for its coverage of Gaza –– an accusation supported by our analysis.

The open-source analysis focuses on the first six weeks of the conflict, from the October 7 Hamas-led attacks that killed 1,139 IsraelisOpens in a new tab and foreign workers to November 24, the beginning of the weeklong “humanitarian truce” agreed to by both parties to facilitate hostage exchanges. During this period, 14,800 Palestinians, including more than 6,000 children, were killed by Israel’s bombardment of Gaza. Today, the Palestinian death toll is over 22,000.

The Intercept collected more than 1,000 articles from the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times about Israel’s war on Gaza and tallied up the usages of certain key terms and the context in which they were used. The tallies reveal a gross imbalance in the way Israelis and pro-Israel figures are covered versus Palestinians and pro-Palestinian voices — with usages that favor Israeli narratives over Palestinian ones.

This anti-Palestinian bias in print media tracks with a similar survey of U.S. cable news that the authors conducted last month for The ColumnOpens in a new tab that found an even wider disparity.

The stakes for this routine devaluing of Palestinian lives couldn’t be higher: As the death toll in Gaza mountsOpens in a new tab, entire cities are leveled and rendered uninhabitable for years, and whole family lines are wiped out, the U.S. government has enormous influence as Israel’s primary patron and weapons supplier. The media’s presentation of the conflict means there are fewer political downsides to lockstep support for Israel. 

Coverage from the first six weeks of the war paints a bleak picture of the Palestinian side, according to the analysis, one that stands to make humanizing Palestinians — and therefore arousing U.S. sympathies — more difficult. 

To obtain this data, we searched for all articles that contained relevant words (such as “Palestinian,” “Gaza,” “Israeli,” etc.) on all three news websites. We then parsed through every sentence in each article and tallied the count of certain terms. For this analysis, we omitted all editorial pieces and letters to the editor. The basic data set is available hereOpens in a new tab, and a full data set can be obtained by emailing [email protected]Opens in a new tab.

Our survey of coverage has four key findings.

Disproportionate Coverage of Deaths

In the New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times, the words “Israeli” or “Israel” appear more than “Palestinian” or variations thereof, even as Palestinian deaths far outpaced Israeli deaths. For every two Palestinian deaths, Palestinians are mentioned once. For every Israeli death, Israelis are mentioned eight times — or a rate 16 times more per death that of Palestinians. 

Graphic: The Intercept

“Slaughter” of Israelis, Not Palestinians

Highly emotive terms for the killing of civilians like “slaughter,” “massacre,” and “horrific” were reserved almost exclusively for Israelis who were killed by Palestinians, rather than the other way around. (When the terms appeared in quotes rather than the editorial voice of the publication, they were omitted from the analysis.)

The term “slaughter” was used by editors and reporters to describe the killing of Israelis versus Palestinians 60 to 1, and “massacre” was used to describe the killing of Israelis versus Palestinians 125 to 2. “Horrific” was used to describe the killing of Israelis versus Palestinians 36 to 4. 

Graphic: The Intercept

One typical headline from the New York Times, in a mid-November story about the October 7 attack, reads, “They Ran Into a Bomb Shelter for Safety. Instead, They Were SlaughteredOpens in a new tab.” Compare this with the Times’s most sympathetic profile of Palestinian deaths in Gaza from November 18: “The War Turns Gaza Into a ‘Graveyard’ for ChildrenOpens in a new tab.” Here “graveyard” is a quote from the United Nations and the killing itself is in passive voice. In its own editorial voice, the Times story on deaths in Gaza uses no emotive terms comparable to the ones in its story about the October 7 attack. 

The Washington Post employed “massacreOpens in a new tab” several times in its reportingOpens in a new tab to describeOpens in a new tab October 7. “President Biden faces growing pressure from lawmakers in both parties to punish Iran after Hamas’s massacre,” one reportOpens in a new tab from the Post says. A November 13 storyOpens in a new tab from the paper about how Israel’s siege and bombing had killed 1 in 200 Palestinians does not use the word “massacre” or “slaughter” once. The Palestinian dead have simply been “killed” or “died” — often in the passive voice. 

Children and Journalists

Only two headlines out of over 1,100 news articles in the study mention the word “children” related to Gazan children. In a notable exception, the New York Times ran a late-November front-page storyOpens in a new tabon the historic pace of killings of Palestinian women and children, though the headline featured neither group. 

Despite Israel’s war on Gaza being perhaps the deadliest war for children — almost entirely Palestinian — in modern history, there is scant mention of the word “children” and related terms in the headlines of articles surveyed by The Intercept. 

Meanwhile, more than 6,000 children were reported killed by authorities in Gaza at the time of the truce, with the number topping 10,000 today.

Despite Israel’s war on Gaza being perhaps the deadliest war for children in modern history, there is scant mention of the word “children” in headlines.

While the war on Gaza has been one of the deadliest in modern history for journalistsOpens in a new tab — overwhelmingly Palestinians — the word “journalists” and its iterations such as “reporters” and “photojournalists” only appears in nine headlines out of over 1,100 articles studied. Roughly 48 Palestinian reportersOpens in a new tab had been killed by Israeli bombardment at the time of the truce; today, the death toll for Palestinian journalists has topped 100. Only 4 of the 9 articles that contained the words journalist/reporter were about Arab reporters.

The lack of coverage for the unprecedented killing of children and journalists, groups that typically elicit sympathy from Western media, is conspicuous. By way of comparison, more Palestinian children died in the first week of the Gaza bombing than during the first year of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, yet the New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times ranOpens in a new tab multipleOpens in a new tab personalOpens in a new tab, sympatheticOpens in a new tab storiesOpens in a new tabhighlightingOpens in a new tab theOpens in a new tab plightOpens in a new tab ofOpens in a new tab childrenOpens in a new tab during the first six weeks of the Ukraine war. 

The aforementioned front-page New York Times report and a Washington Post columnOpens in a new tab are rare exceptions to the dearth of coverage about Palestinian children.

As with children, the New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times focused on the risks to journalists in the Ukraine war, runningOpens in a new tab severalOpens in a new tab articlesOpens in a new tab detailingOpens in a new tab theOpens in a new tab hazardsOpens in a new tab ofOpens in a new tab reportingOpens in a new tab onOpens in a new tab theOpens in a new tab warOpens in a new tabin the first six weeks after Russia’s invasion. Six journalistsOpens in a new tab were killed in the early days of the Ukraine war, compared to 48 killed in the first six weeks of Israel’s Gaza bombardment.   

Asymmetry in how children are covered is qualitative as well as quantitative. On October 13, the Los Angeles Times ran an Associated Press report Opens in a new tab that said, “The Gaza Health Ministry said Friday that 1,799 people have been killed in the territory, including more than 580 under the age of 18 and 351 women. Hamas’s assault last Saturday killed more than 1,300 people in Israel, including women, children and young music festivalgoers.” Notice that young Israelis are referred to as children while young Palestinians are described as people under 18. 

During discussions around the prisoner exchanges, this frequent refusal to refer to Palestinians as children was even more stark, with the New York Times referring in one case to “Israeli women and children” being exchanged for “Palestinian women and minors.” (Palestinian children are referred to as “children” later in the report, when summarizing a human rights groups’ findings.) 

A Washington Post reportOpens in a new tab from November 21 announcing the truce deal erased Palestinian women and children altogether: “President Biden said in a statement Tuesday night that a deal to release 50 women and children held hostage by Hamas in Gaza, in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners detained by Israel.” The brief did not mention Palestinian women and children at all.

Coverage of Hate in the U.S.

Similarly, when it comes to how the Gaza conflict translates to hate in the U.S., the major papers paid more attention to antisemitic attacks than to ones against Muslims. Overall, there was a disproportionate focus on racism toward Jewish people, versus racism targeting Muslims, Arabs, or those perceived as such. During the period of The Intercept’s study, The New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times mentioned antisemitism more than Islamophobia (549 versus 79) — and this was before the “campus antisemitism” meta-controversy that was contrived by Republicans in CongressOpens in a new tab beginning the week of December 5.

Despite many high-profile instances of both antisemitism and anti-Muslim racism during the survey period, 87 percent of mentions of discrimination were about antisemitism, versus 13 percent mentions about Islamophobia, inclusive of related terms. 

When Major Newspapers Fail

Overall, Israel’s killings in Gaza are not given proportionate coverage in either scope or emotional weight as the deaths of Israelis on October 7. These killings are mostly presented as arbitrarily high, abstract figures. Nor are the killings described using emotive language like “massacre,” “slaughter,” or “horrific.” Hamas’s killings of Israeli civilians are consistently portrayed as part of the group’s strategy, whereas Palestinian civilian killings are covered almost as if they were a series of one-off mistakes, made thousands of times, despite numerousOpens in a new tab pointsOpens in a new tab of evidenceOpens in a new tab indicating Israel’s intent to harm civilians and civilian infrastructure.

The result is that the three major papers rarely gave Palestinians humanizing coverage. Despite this asymmetry, polls show shifting sympathy toward Palestinians and away from Israel among DemocratsOpens in a new tab, with massive generational splits driven, in part, by a stark difference in news sources. By and large, young people are being informedOpens in a new tab of the conflict from TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter, and older Americans are getting their news from print media and cable news. 

Biased coverage in major newspapers and mainstream television news is impacting general perceptions of the war and directing viewers toward a warped view of the conflict. This has led to pro-Israel punditsOpens in a new tabandOpens in a new tab politiciansOpens in a new tab blaming pro-Palestinian views on social media “misinformation.” 

Analysis of both print media and cable news, however, make it clear that, if any cohort of media consumers is getting a slanted picture, it’s those who get their news from established mass media in the U.S.   

*

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.

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”

***

As Secretary of State Antony Blinken jets across West Asia and North Africa holding talks with various government leaders, the threats by the United States, Britain and the State of Israel have accelerated against the people of Palestine and other neighboring territories.

It has never been clear what real objectives the State Department has in West Asia and North Africa other than supporting the State of Israel, undermining the Palestinian liberation struggle and securing western hegemony in these geopolitical regions.

A key component of U.S. foreign policy as it relates to Palestine is to minimize the level of solidarity with the oppressed people who have been occupied since 1948. Even after 75 years, Washington and Wall Street maintain the same position which views Tel Aviv as an outpost of imperialism in West Asia and North Africa.

More than 23,000 people have been killed in Gaza since October 7 when the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) began a bombing campaign which continues after three months. A ground invasion of more than two months has still not ended the resistance by Hamas and other organizations.

Across Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America and North America, millions are rallying and demonstrating against what is largely perceived as a genocidal war by Israel. The U.S. is the largest contributor to the Zionist state and consequently the administration of President Joe Biden has been blamed for coordinating and enabling the mass slaughter of the Palestinians which also is being extended to Lebanon and Syria.

The Republic of South Africa has launched a legal claim against the State of Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) charging violations of the Genocide Convention. This lawsuit has already won the support of well over a thousand prominent individuals, civil society and mass organizations along with several governments in Africa, Asia and South America as well as regional groupings such as the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

In response to the solidarity measures with the Palestinians taken by the resistance forces in Yemen, the White House has ordered the Pentagon to assemble a “coalition of the willing”, harkening back to the invasion of Iraq, to repel attacks on ships which are linked to Tel Aviv or conducting trade with the settler-colonial state. Despite the repeated claims by Biden and his White House that it is trying to avert a regional war, military and diplomatic activities by Washington are resulting in greater hostilities and instability throughout West Asia.

The Operation Protect Prosperity announced late last year by the now beleaguered Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is ostensibly designed to build a naval force to repel the solidarity actions of the Yemeni Ansar Allah resistance movement. Several imperialist states and their surrogates have given their approval to some form of an alliance aimed at reinforcing the supremacy of the West over the seas and oceans surrounding Africa and West Asia.

In response to ongoing attacks against those business and military interests supporting Israel, the White House stepped up its rhetoric on January 10. The New York Times reported that:

“[T]he Biden administration has said it will hold the Houthis (Ansar Allah) responsible for the attacks, a warning that suggested the government may be considering retaliatory strikes in Yemen. ‘We’re going to do everything we have to do to protect shipping in the Red Sea,’ the U.S. national security spokesman, John Kirby, said at a news conference on Wednesday. Like the secretary of state, Mr. Kirby did not describe what the White House was considering, saying instead that it would coordinate with allies and that ‘the United States does not seek conflict.’” 

Gaza Siege Has Prompted Expanded Military Clashes

However, what the White House does not acknowledge is that the source of the escalating war in the Arabian and Red Sea areas is the genocide taking place in Gaza. If there had been a ceasefire and serious discussions on the need for the creation of a viable Palestinian state, the burgeoning military resistance from the Ansar Allah would not have reached the present level.

Widespread opposition to the Biden administration’s policy towards Palestine and West Asia as a whole, has further devastated the electoral prospects for the president’s reelection. Since October 7, there have been unprecedented Palestine solidarity rallies, demonstrations and other forms of opposition to the White House within the U.S. and internationally.

Media outlets, both private and public, are pressured to walk in lock step with the White House, both Houses of Congress and Tel Aviv while thousands are dying in Gaza and other neighboring states. Targeted assassinations by the IDF and the Pentagon in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Yemen indicates clearly that it is the imperialist states which are escalating the war on a regional level.

Yemen Remains Steadfast in Solidarity with Palestine

On January 10, the U.S. sponsored a resolution in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to halt the Yemeni attacks on vessels in efforts to impose a blockade against Israeli ports. The resolution passed with the abstentions of Russia, China, Mozambique and Algeria. (See this)

However, the passage of such a resolution before the UNSC does not effectively alter any of the objective conditions facing the Palestinians in Gaza, the other occupied territories along with the most severely impacted regional states. Lebanon’s resistance movement Hezbollah have been targeted by the IDF in the assassinations of some of its leadership.

In Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Iran, the threat of IDF and Pentagon strikes are constant while the propaganda in defense of Israel is being consistently streamed by western news agencies in order to prepare people in the imperialist states for an expanded and extended military conflagration. The resistance forces in Yemen are defying the existing threats by the U.S. and Israel by applying military and economic pressure on the world capitalist system.

In a report published by Al Mayadeen, a Yemeni military official Yahya Saree was quoted as saying:

“The spokesperson for the Yemeni Armed Forces (YAF) announced that the Navy, the Missile Force, and the Drone Air Force in the Yemeni Armed Forces, ‘executed a joint military operation involving a large number of ballistic and naval missiles and drones, targeting an American ship that was providing support to the Zionist entity.’ According to the spokesperson, the operation also marked the ‘initial response’ of the Yemeni Armed Forces following the U.S. attack on Yemeni Forces, earlier, which resulted in the martyrdom of 10 members of the Yemeni Navy.” 

Therefore, the YAF are responding to the already escalating military situation in the region which is being carried out by Washington and Tel Aviv. Britain and the U.S. issued a joint statement on January 10 calling for a halt to the solidarity campaign being waged by the Yemen resistance.

Britain, the former colonial power in South Yemen, has maintained an interest in developments surrounding the Red Sea. The shipping lanes in this area are some of the most lucrative in the world as large-scale vessels transporting energy resources, military hardware and consumer goods rely on the Bab el-Mandeb straits to reach the Suez Canal.

Since the conclusion of World War II, the U.S. has become the undisputed dominant imperialist power in the West Asia, North Africa and Horn of Africa regions. Challenging the flow of trade in the Red Sea has prompted the suspension of several shipping firms from utilizing the waterways. Consequently, the costs for transporting cargo have sharply risen due to the threats of seizure by the Yemen resistance.

In the same Al Mayadeen article quoted above it notes:

“Saree stressed that ‘the Yemeni Armed Forces affirms that they will not hesitate to appropriately deal with all hostile threats under the legitimate right of defending our country, our people, and our nation.’ To conclude the press briefing, he reminded the world that the Yemeni Armed Forces would continue to stand with Palestine and ‘prevent Israeli ships or those headed to the ports of occupied Palestine from navigating in the Arabian and Red Seas until the aggression stops and the siege on our steadfast brothers in the Gaza Strip is lifted.’”

Any aerial attacks by the U.S. and Britain would be met with retaliation by the YAF. The increased insecurity in the Red Sea area is bound to weaken the economic status of the State of Israel along with commercial interest dependent upon the Bab al-Mandeb straits.

Moreover, an expanded U.S. and British military engagement in the Red Sea and its contiguous states would only fuel greater opposition to the foreign policy of imperialism. Undoubtedly, the battle for the liberation of Palestine and the entire West Asia region is far from being resolved.

*

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.

Abayomi Azikiwe is the editor of the Pan-African News Wire. He 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).

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”

***

In the wake of its invasion of Ukraine, Russia is now the most-sanctioned country in the world, with 16,077 sanctions on Russian individuals and entities currently in place, nearly six times the amount compared to before it recognized the Luhansk and Donetsk regions as independent states on February 22, 2022.

As Statista’s Florian Zandt shows in the chart below, based on data aggregated by Castellum.AI, Putin’s invasion has pushed Russia past one of the United States’ biggest nemeses in Western Asia.

You will find more infographics at Statista.

Before the invasion of Ukraine, Iran was by far the most-sanctioned state in history, with 3,616 active sanctions by the United States, the United Nations, the EU and countries like Australia, Canada, India and Israel. The relationship between the latter and the Islamic Republic has been especially fraught, with disputes surrounding Iran’s atomic arsenal and its general hostile stance towards Israel threatening to escalate regularly.

The majority of the sanctions imposed on Syria, which ranks third on Castellum.AI’s list, stem from the events surrounding the Syrian civil war starting in 2011. Following civil unrest in connection with the Arab Spring movement, clashes between President Bashar al-Assad’s forces and an unlikely coalition of foreign and domestic actors often opposed on critical issues led to a humanitarian crisis and the internal and foreign displacement of more than half of Syria’s 22 million inhabitants over the years.

Leading the current round of sanctions against Russia are the United States, Canada, Switzerland and the United Kingdom with 3,551, 2,765, 2,225 and 1,749 restrictions, respectively.

The majority of those sanctions target individuals (11,462), while entities have 4,344 sanctions against them, vessels have 169 and aircraft 102. Not included in these figures are sectoral sanctions like general trade embargos on gas or oil.

On top of the sanctions put in place by nation-states and governing bodies, over 1,000 companies have in some capacity withdrawn from the Russian market, according to researchers at the Yale School of Management, among them industry heavyweights like Adidas, Google, Disney, Exxon or Volkswagen.

*

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.

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”

***

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is set to hold public hearings today and tomorrow on an urgent case submitted by South Africa charging Israel with the crime of genocide against the Palestinians of Gaza. South Africa has called on the ICJ, also known as the World Court, for an emergency order declaring that Israel is violating the terms of the 1945 Genocide Convention to which all members of the United Nations are obliged to subscribe. The court normally takes one or two weeks to decide on provisional measures but does not have the means to enforce its ruling.

South Africa has accused Israel of killing Gazans at a high rate without distinction, of cruel and inhuman treatment, bombing areas meant to be safe zones, deprivation of food and water and health-care, and destruction of homes, infrastructure, schools, and universities which provide Palestinians with life and a decent way of life. Senior Israeli figures have spoken of Palestinians as “human animals” and a nation which is responsible for Hamas’ sudden attack which killed 1,139 on October 7th. Others have expressed the determination to drive Palestinians from Gaza.

South Africa has asked the Court to order an immediate suspension of Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip until the ICJ rules on the substance of the South African case, presented in an 84-page document. A ruling can take years. ICJ final judgements are obligatory but, here also, the Court does not have the means to enforce its rulings unless UN members are prepared to assume this responsibility.

Israel has called the application “blood libel” and plans to be represented at the hearings by at least three lawyers.

South Africa argues Israel’s three-month military operations in Gaza are “genocidal in character because they are intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part of the Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group”. 

The South African document said Israel’s actions include “killing Palestinians in Gaza, causing them serious bodily and mental harm, and inflicting on them conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction”.

The current membership if the Court is interesting: the president is from the US and the vice president from Russia, and there are three justices of Arab background, one each from Morocco, Somalia and Lebanon. The others are From France, Slovakia, China, Uganda, India, Jamaica, Japan, Germany, Australia, and Brazil. Several have served multiple five-year terms.

South Africa has appointed former deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke as its addition to the panel. Under the Court’s rules a state involved in the case can appoint a judge of its nationality. Former Israeli Supreme court president Sharon Barak has also been chosen by Israel as an ad hoc judge on the panel. While Barak is regarded as a liberal on internal Israeli politics, he has a reputation for ruling against Palestinians fighting expulsion from their homes and lands and supporting Israeli Jewish superiority.

John Dugard is one of the senior South African lawyers representing their country. He is a former UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and served as an ad hoc ICJ judge during the 2000s. Adlia Hassim and Tembeka Ngcukaitobi have led the anti-corruption drive in South Africa.

British human rights lawyer Malcom Shaw is one of the four lawyers who will defend Israel at the ICJ hearings. He has apparently been selected instead of controversial US Harvard professor and strong Israel supporter, Alan Dershowitz, as he defended the late Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted and imprisoned trafficker of teenage girls.

Jordan, Palestine, Malaysia and Turkey are among the countries backing the South African application. Human rights organisations began calling for action against Israel’s “genocidal policies” almost as long as Israel’s war has lasted. In mid-November, 36 UN experts called upon the international community to “prevent genocide against the Palestinian people”, as Israel’s actions constitute a “genocide in the making.”

Having backed Israel with bombs and shells to kill Gazans, the Biden administration could be charged with complicity in the genocide of which Israel stands accused. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller stated, weakly,

“Those are allegations that should not be made lightly … we are not seeing any acts that constitute genocide. That is a determination by the State Department.”

It would be interesting to know if the accusation of genocide has been raised by regional leaders who met US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who has contributed to the deadly and destructive policy on Gaza, during his whirlwind tour of the region this week.

Established in 1945 in association with the UN, the Court, which has a panel if 15 judges, has ruled on 91 cases, including five on genocide, between 1947 and 2023. In 2004, the Court issued a non-binding opinion saying that Israel’s West Bank wall violated international law as it was largely built in occupied territory, illegally annexing to Israel areas west of the wall. Israel ignored the opinion.

Israel cannot afford to ignore the Court when charged with genocide. The accusation alone deprives Israel of highly valued impunity for whatever it has done to the Palestinian people now and during the past 75 plus years. Israel has relied on being regarded as a special case, free of accountability and untouchable. The Gaza war has finished off Israeli impunity.

If and when the ICJ issues an emergency order for Israel to ceasefire, pressure should be stepped up on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to tackle Israeli individuals and their US collaborators over their participation in genocide. So far, the ICC prosecutor British judge Kerim Khan has done his utmost to avoid investigating Israel’s current flagrant violations of international law in Gaza, but he could be compelled to stir his stumps.

*

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.

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”

***

The presence of harmful pesticide mixtures in wine has increased more than threefold since 2016, official statistics analysed by Pesticide Action Network UK (PAN UK) have revealed. 

Findings from the testing programme conducted by the UK government indicate a significant rise in the percentage of wine with multiple pesticide residues, surging from 14 per cent in 2016 to 50 per cent in 2022.

The analysis of 72 wine samples in PAN UK’s report reveals residues of 19 pesticides, nine of which are linked to cancer. A single wine sample was discovered to contain six different pesticides.

Excessive

Nick Mole, PAN UK’s policy officer, said:

“This massive rise in ‘pesticide cocktails’ should be of grave concern because we know that chemicals can become more harmful when combined, and yet we continue to set safety limits for just one chemical at a time. 

“Wine lovers shouldn’t have to risk exposure to an array of hazardous pesticides when they fancy a tipple. The organic wine sector is flourishing, proving that it is entirely possible to produce wine without relying on toxic chemicals.”

The excessive use of pesticides in the production of wine not only poses a threat to the health of consumers, but also endangers the wellbeing of individuals living and working in wine-producing regions.

In a study conducted in France in October, it was found that children living near vineyards had a higher likelihood of contracting leukemia. Additionally, a Canadian research revealed that individuals employed in the wine industry were at a higher risk of developing illnesses, attributed to their exposure to elevated levels of pesticides.

A French nationwide study published in the Environmental Research journal suggested that agricultural practices and pesticides used in vineyards could have been linked to the occurrence of Parkinson’s disease. 

Dirty Dozen

There seems to be a rising trend in the occurrence of pesticide combinations in the food consumed in Britain, according to PAN UK’s findings. The total percentage of fruit and vegetables with residues from multiple pesticides has consistently stayed below 48 per cent but this year it unexpectedly spiked to an astonishing 53 per cent.

Mole added:

“This year’s results show that, just like our rivers, much of our food is increasingly contaminated with pesticide cocktails. We have no idea what his ongoing exposure to tens – or even hundreds – of different chemicals is doing to our health over the long term.”

In a report by PAN UK and the Soil Association, it is highlighted that despite the prevalence of pesticide cocktails and the evidence pointing to their potentially greater harm compared to individual pesticides, the UK’s regulatory system continues to assess the safety of each chemical independently. Safety evaluations for pesticide residues in our food are conducted based on the analysis of individual chemicals. 

Today, PAN UK launched its yearly ‘Dirty Dozen’ list, identifying the fruit and vegetables with the highest likelihood of being contaminated by multiple pesticides.

Source: data presented based on PAN UK analysis of the UK Government’s Expert Committee on Pesticide Residues in Food (PRiF) four quarterly data spreadsheets for 2022.

Analysis

PAN UK’s analysis revealed that among 134 different pesticide residues found in all produce, 50 per cent fall under the category of ‘highly hazardous pesticides.’ Furthermore, 45 of these are carcinogens, 25 act as endocrine disruptors, impacting hormone systems and leading to birth defects, developmental disorders, and infertility. 

Additionally, 14 are considered developmental or reproductive toxins, affecting sexual function, fertility, and potentially causing miscarriages, while 10 are cholinesterase inhibitors capable of impairing the respiratory system.

“Rates of chronic diseases such as cancer and Parkinson’s are rising”, added Mole. “We urgently need to take a precautionary approach and do everything we can to tackle pesticides in our food chain. But the UK government’s key strategy on pesticides is almost six years late now, and their proposal to introduce pesticide reduction targets never happened.

“Our new environment secretary, Steve Barclay, must do better than his recent predecessors and finally make good on the government’s promise to better protect human health and the environment from pesticides.”

Ambition

Pesticides have to be approved by the Chemicals Regulation Directorate (CRD), and authorised by the Health and Safety Executive before they can be sold, distributed, stored or used in the UK.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) spokesperson said: “In Great Britain, we set strict limits on the pesticides residue levels that are allowed to remain in both food for consumers and feed for animals. 

“These limits are set to protect public health and are set below the level considered to be safe for people to eat. The limits apply to both food produced in the UK and those imported from other countries.” 

In 2018, the UK government committed in its 25 Year Environment Plan to decrease pesticide usage and reassess the UK National Action Plan for the Sustainable Use of Pesticides (NAP) by the year’s end. However, the publication of the NAP is still pending.

“In line with Defra’s 25 Year Environment Plan, the forthcoming National Action Plan on the Sustainable Use of Pesticides (NAP) will see out our ambition to support pesticide users to maximize non-chemical control approaches. The NAP will be published in due course,” added the Defra spokesperson.

*

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.

Monica Piccinini is a freelance writer, focused on environmental, health and human rights issues.

Featured image is from UNDP Climate/ Flickr/ Creative Commons 2.0

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”

***

The role of the US State Department regarding Israel’s continued obliteration of Gaza is becoming increasingly clear. As the actions of the Israeli Defence Forces continue, the Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, is full of meaningless statements about restraint and control, the protection of civilians, the imperatives of humanitarianism in war. As the war continues, so do those statements.

As the new year began, an official from the White House expressed satisfaction at what appeared “to be the start of the gradual shift to lower-intensity operations in the north that we have been encouraging”. But the revised Israeli approach did not “reflect any changes in the south”. The monstrous death toll, in short, would continue to rise.

As Washington feigns a reproachful attitude to the IDF’s grossly lethal tactics, claiming success in restraining them, another, failing front is also being pursued in the Arab world and beyond. As Israel’s great defender, the US is attempting to hold back fury and consternation as the dirty deeds by their favourite ally in the Middle East are being executed.

Blinken’s latest round of travelling has the flavour of swinging by tetchy neighbours to see how they are faring in the sea of blood and acrimony. The itinerary includes Istanbul, Crete, Amman, Doha, Abu Dhabi, Al-’Ula, Tel Aviv, the West Bank, Manama and Cairo. The State Department’s media release on January 4 outlines the obsolete agenda any sensible diplomat would do best to discard. 

“Throughout his trip, the Secretary will underscore the importance of protecting civilian lives in Israel and the West Bank and Gaza; securing the release of all remaining hostages; our shared commitment to facilitating the increased, sustained delivery of life-saving humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza and the resumption of essential services; and ensuring that Palestinians are not forcibly displaced in Gaza.”

So far, Palestinians are being massacred by the IDF in Gaza, forcibly deprived of life-saving humanitarian assistance and essential services in a sustained act of strangulation while being forcibly displaced. They are being oppressed, harassed and murdered by vigilante Israeli settlers in the West Bank, even as the army looks the other way.

It follows that Blinken is telling tall stories and hoping that legs carry them far. They are also being told as proceedings before the International Court of Justice instituted by South Africa commence to determine whether Israel’s conduct in Gaza satisfies the definition of genocide in international law.

The strategy becomes clearer in the second part of the disingenuous traveller’s agenda. Blinken “will also discuss urgent mechanisms to stem violence, calm rhetoric, and reduce regional tensions, including deterring Houthi attacks on commercial shopping in the Red Sea and avoiding escalation in Lebanon.”

The Houthi attacks and the increasingly violent situation in Lebanon serve as golden distractions for Washington, since they give the Biden administration room to simultaneously claim to be preventing a widening of the conflict while permitting Israel’s butchery to continue.

Corking the conflict, however, is not proving such a success. The war is widening, even if reporting on the subject remains sketchy in the negligently lazy news outlets of the Anglosphere. In addition to the bold moves of the Houthis and escalating violence on the border between Israel and Lebanon come ongoing, harrying efforts from the Islamic Resistance in Iraq. An Al-Mayadeen report on January 7 took note of an announcement from the group, also known as the Iraqi al-Najuba Movement, that it had fired an al-Arqab long-range cruise missile at Haifa “in support of our people in Gaza and in response to the massacres committed by the usurping entity against Palestinian civilians, including children, women, and the elderly.”

A spokesperson for the Iraqi Resistance, Hussein al-Moussawi, was bullish in claiming that the group had the capacity to strike targets beyond Haifa. Conditions to develop the group’s weapons had also been “favourable”.

In a separate statement, the Islamic Resistance also revealed that its fighters had targeted an Israeli base on the occupied Golan Heights, using drones. To this can be added drone attacks on the US army base of Qasrok, located in the countryside of Hasakah in northeastern Syria, and the Ain al-Asad airbase in western Iraq. The base continues to host US forces.

Perhaps the greatest canard of all in this briefest of trips by Blinken is the continued, now absurd claim, that Washington is committed “to working with partners to set the conditions necessary for peace in the Middle East, which includes comprehensive, tangible steps towards the realization of a future Palestinian state alongside the State of Israel, with both living in peace and security.”

In his remarks to President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, Blinken showed the hardened ignorance that will ensure the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will continue in some form. In his mind, a “reformed” Palestinian Authority will take over the reins of a ruined Gaza (“effective responsibility”) whatever the residents of Gaza think.

Palestinians will never, given current conditions, be permitted sovereignty and anything remotely resembling a thriving, viable state. Israel, whose very existence is based on predation, dispossession and war, will never permit a Palestinian entity to be given equal standing at the diplomatic or security table. The US, in the tatty drag of an independent broker, will go along with the pantomime, promoting, as Blinken is, a sham, counterfeit form of autonomy, one forever subject to conditions, demarcations and restraints. And one thing is almost certain about any future rump Palestinian entity: it will be deprived of any right to defend itself.

*

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.

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

Featured image: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meet in Ramallah, West Bank on January 10, 2024. [Palestinian Presidency – Anadolu Agency]

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

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”

***

By the time I studied broadcasting and journalism in the mid-1960s, newspaper sales were already dropping, even though people were being more, if not better educated. Local newspaper competition had disappeared in most major cities. Between 1965 and 1980, mass media in the US came under greater control by national and multinational corporations. As Ben Bagdikian noted in The Media Monopoly, distant ownership need not have alienated readers. But corporate owners also “changed the form and content, the strategies of operation, and the economics of newspapers.”

Pressure to maximize profits increased as huge parent companies competed for investments and higher dividends in international markets. This hastened the conversion of newspapers into primarily carriers of advertising, and eventually led to deep staff cuts.

In those days, Walter Cronkite was known as the most trusted man in America.

That is, if you believed Reader’s Digest, which provided a glimpse behind the curtain in June 1980. “We have to set ourselves up as judges of the news,” Cronkite proudly told the Digest. “A good journalist doesn’t just know the public, he is the public.” It was a monument of self-righteous entitlement.

His pretense of identification with the masses masked Cronkite’s role as the ultimate “insider” mouthpiece, one who often reflected the consensus of the electronic establishment. In 1980, for example, when he noted every night how many days Americans had been held hostage in Tehran, it wasn’t just because he and The People felt strongly. It was corporate policy at CBS.

At the time CBS was in the top five of about 50 corporations that controlled most daily newspapers, magazines, television stations, publishing houses, and major movie companies; in short, the pre-digital media-scape. By the end of the 1980s, that 50 corporations was reduced by at least half, some of them more dominant in a specific medium. But the highest levels of world finance had become intertwined with the highest levels of media ownership, which produced greater control over the systems on which the public depended for news and information. 

At the top of the list were Capital Cities, which had absorbed ABC; Cox Media, then a newspaper powerhouse; CBS; Disney; Gannett; General Electric; Paramount; Harcourt Brace; and Bertelsmann. Old empires like Hearst and Knight Ridder had begun to fall. New empires like Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. were beginning to rise.

By the time Ronald Reagan became president and Bernie Sanders was Burlington’s mayor, the Gannett Corporation owned over 90 daily newspapers and USA Today, plus dozens of TV and radio stations.

One of those newspapers was the Burlington Free Press, Burlington’s only daily, which dominated local print in my hometown until the rise of alternative weeklies. At the time Gannett was positioning itself to combine print, data and the emerging video market. But its vision and influence were dwarfed by News Corp., which not only acquired newspapers, 20th Century Fox and its archives, but also TV Guide and the Annenberg empire. 

An equally awesome merger was that of Time. Inc. and Warner Communications. Then Time-Warner merged with America Online, the leading Internet company at the turn of the century. This $350 billion deal set off speculation that the world’s largest media and entertainment entity could revolutionize communication. The forecasters were at least partly right. 

By the end of the 20th century, consolidation had boiled down major media ownership to less than ten corporations at the top. Legacy giants General Electric, Disney and Bertelsmann maintained their spots, joined by News Corp., Time Warner, Viacom, Sony, AT&T, and Seagram. Together they owned most of the world’s TV stations, newspapers, magazines, and recording and film companies. Broadcast and cable channels were multiplying, but this obscured the increasingly centralized ownership.

Take General Electric, which owned NBC and its cable division. It also had investments in Bravo, AMC and the Independent Film Channel (IFC), and was a partner in the PrimeStar satellite system. 

A prime example of the consolidation process involved CBS, Paramount, Viacom, and MCA, one of the giants purchased during the 1990s by the Japanese and Gulf + Western, which listed Paramount Pictures and Simon & Schuster among its holdings. In 1989, G+W changed its name to Paramount Communications and shed its non-media businesses. The idea was to concentrate on the global communications race. But Viacom stepped in. Already owner of movie houses, Blockbuster, Spelling Entertainment, and networks like Showtime, Comedy Central, MTV, VH-1, USA, Lifetime and Nickelodeon, Viacom bought Paramount for $10.4 billion. In May 2000, it merged with CBS, a $45 billion deal that involved 38 TV stations, 162 radio stations, movie studios, publishers, theme parks, and more. Meanwhile, MCA merged with WorldCom and paid $122 billion for Sprint.

Before the emergence of the Internet, the most dynamic sector of broadcasting was the expansion of cable television. In 1980, less than 15 million homes were “wired.” Within ten years, the number jumped to 54 million subscribers, almost two thirds of all homes with TV sets. But aside from C-SPAN and CNN’s war coverage, the proliferation of channels mainly brought more of the same — TV reruns, home shopping, movie channels, televangelism, and commercials posing as programs.  

By 1998, there were already 120 million Internet users, and it was obvious that digital media would transform mass communications. At first it reached only a few percent of the world’s population, and took about a decade to become truly global. But as the “information superhighway” was built, the same corporations began to vie for access to this enormous new market. 

In 2006, The Nation’s periodic review of what it called “the national entertainment state” listed just six top members — Disney (including ABC), CBS, General Electric (NBC), News Corp. (Fox), Time Warner (CNN), and Viacom (Paramount, MTV, and Dreamworks).

But consolidation still continued. In 2016, Comcast merged with GE.

Two years later, AT&T absorbed Time Warner for more than $85 billion, as Viacom lost ground under the aging mogul Sumner Redstone. In terms of global advertising, the list differed a bit. Google was number one, followed by Comcast, Fox, and Facebook. 

By 2023, the big six movie studios were down to just two — Disney and Netflix. But due to streaming services, combined with the decline of cable and major film studios, these two faced competition in a landscape increasingly dominated by Apple and Amazon. “These behemoths have the corporate muscle to influence not just what gets made but also how it gets distributed and marketed … even how (or whether) it gets reviewed,” The Nation concluded.  

Today information comes to us faster, and at greater volume, than ever before in human history.

But from the telegraph to television, and on to the Internet, mass communication has long been a double-edged sword, especially when it comes to what is true.

In the current era, as facts have been greatly devalued, it has become more difficult to tell the difference between truth and opinion, and also between unintentional errors (misinformation) and purposeful lies (disinformation). 

There are so many possibilities, yet reliable standards of proof are hard to find. Theories evolve, expand and mutate rapidly in unexpected ways as they circulate through cyberspace. Speculation, conjecture or outright falsehoods become accepted as “true” with constant repetition.

Compounding the problem, search engines use algorithms to keep us engaged. Even without the additional manipulation of marketing and consultants who may influence listings, over time our searches are shaped to fit our profiles. Information is prioritized to reinforce previous choices, influenced by suggested assumptions and preferences. As Eli Pariser argued in The Filter Bubble: What the Internet Is Hiding from You, environmental activists and energy executives get very different results when they inquire about climate science. It looks and feels “objective,” but they are mainly offered data that fits with their existing view – and not much that conflicts.

One study discussed in Sociological Quarterly looked at this by following attitudes about climate science over a decade. Although a consensus emerged among most scientists over the years, the number of Republicans who accepted their conclusion dropped. Why was that? Because the Republicans were getting different information than the Democrats and others who embraced the basic premise. In other words, their viewpoint was being reflected back at them.

Is reinforcement through search engines leading to inadvertent self-indoctrination? For democracy to function effectively, people need exposure to various viewpoints. “But instead we’re more and more enclosed in our own bubbles,” Pariser warned. Rather than agreeing on a set of shared facts we’re being led deeper into our different worlds.

*

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.

Greg Guma is author, historian, and former CEO of Pacifica Radio. He chronicled Vermont history in The People’s Republic: Vermont and the Sanders Revolution and Restless Spirits & Popular Movements. His recent book, Prisoners of the Real, looks at the costs of expedient answers, authoritarian strategies, and a preoccupation with control and toward liberated groups that offer new opportunities and real choice.

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”

***

On January 11th, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague is holding its first hearing in South Africa’s case against Israel under the Genocide Convention. The first provisional measure South Africa has asked of the court is to order an immediate end to this carnage, which has already killed more than 23,000 people, most of them women and children. Israel is trying  to bomb Gaza into oblivion and scatter the terrorized survivors across the Earth, meeting the Convention’s definition of genocide to the letter.

Since countries engaged in genocide do not publicly declare their real goal, the greatest legal hurdle for any genocide prosecution is to prove the intention of genocide. But in the extraordinary case of Israel, whose cult of biblically ordained entitlement is backed to the hilt by unconditional U.S. complicity, its leaders have been uniquely brazen about their goal of destroying Gaza as a haven of Palestinian life, culture and resistance.

South Africa’s 84-page application to the ICJ includes ten pages (starting on page 59) of statements by Israeli civilian and military officials that document their genocidal intentions in Gaza. They include statements by Prime Minister Netanyahu, President Herzog, Defense Minister Gallant, five other cabinet ministers, senior military officers and members of parliament.

Reading these statements, it is hard to see how a fair and impartial court could fail to recognize the genocidal intent behind the death and devastation Israeli forces and American weapons are wreaking in Gaza.

The Israeli magazine +972 talked to seven current and former Israeli intelligence officials involved in previous assaults on Gaza. They explained the systematic nature of Israel’s targeting practices and how the range of civilian infrastructure that Israel is targeting has been vastly expanded in the current onslaught. In particular, it has expanded the bombing of civilian infrastructure, or what it euphemistically defines as “power targets,” which have comprised half of its targets from the outset of this war.

Israel’s “power targets” in Gaza include public buildings like hospitals, schools, banks, government offices, and high-rise apartment blocks. The public pretext for destroying Gaza’s civilian infrastructure is that civilians will blame Hamas for its destruction, and that this will undermine its civilian base of support. This kind of brutal logic has been proved wrong in U.S.-backed conflicts all over the world. In Gaza, it is no more than a grotesque fantasy. The Palestinians understand perfectly well who is bombing them – and who is supplying the bombs.

Intelligence officials told +972 that Israel maintains extensive occupancy figures for every building in Gaza, and has precise estimates of how many civilians will be killed in each building it bombs. While Israeli and U.S. officials publicly disparage Palestinian casualty figures, intelligence sources told +972 that the Palestinian death counts are remarkably consistent with Israel’s own estimates of how many civilians it is killing. To make matters worse, Israel has started using artificial intelligence to generate targets with minimal human scrutiny, and is doing so faster than its forces can bomb them.

Israeli officials claim that each of the high-rise apartment buildings it bombs contains some kind of Hamas presence, but an intelligence official explained,

“Hamas is everywhere in Gaza; there is no building that does not have something of Hamas in it, so if you want to find a way to turn a high-rise into a target, you will be able to do so.”

As Yuval Abraham of +972 summarized,

“The sources understood, some explicitly and some implicitly, that damage to civilians is the real purpose of these attacks.”

Two days after South Africa submitted its Genocide Convention application to the ICJ, Israeli Finance Minister Smotrich declared on New Year’s Eve that Israel should substantially empty the Gaza Strip of Palestinians and bring in Israeli settlers.

“If we act in a strategically correct way and encourage emigration,” Smotrich said, “if there are 100,000 or 200,000 Arabs in Gaza, and not two million, the whole discourse on “the day after” will be completely different.”

When reporters confronted U.S. State Department spokesman Matt Miller about Smotrich’s statement, and similar ones by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, Miller replied that Prime Minister Netanyahu and other Israeli officials have reassured the United States that those statements don’t reflect Israeli government policy.

But Smotrich and Ben-Gvir’s statements followed a meeting of Likud Party leaders on Christmas Day where Netanyahu himself said that his plan was to continue the massacre until the people of Gaza have no choice but to leave or to die.

“Regarding voluntary emigration, I have no problem with that,” he told former Israeli UN Ambassador Danny Danon. “Our problem is not allowing the exit, but a lack of countries that are ready to take Palestinians in. And we are working on it. This is the direction we are going in.”

We should have learned from America’s lost wars that mass murder and ethnic cleansing rarely lead to political victory or success. More often they only feed deep resentment and desires for justice or revenge that make peace more elusive and conflict endemic.

Although most of the martyrs in Gaza are women and children, Israel and the United States politically justify the massacre as a campaign to destroy Hamas by killing its senior leaders. Andrew Cockburn described in his book Kill Chain: the Rise of the High-Tech Assassins how, in 200 cases studied by U.S. military intelligence, the U.S. campaign to assassinate Iraqi resistance leaders in 2007 led in every single case to increased attacks on U.S. occupation forces. Every resistance leader they killed was replaced within 48 hours, invariably by new, more aggressive leaders determined to prove themselves by killing even more U.S. troops.

But that is just another unlearned lesson, as Israel and the United States kill Islamic Resistance leaders in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen and Iran, risking a regional war and leaving themselves more isolated than ever.

If the ICJ issues a provisional order for a ceasefire in Gaza, humanity must seize the moment to insist that Israel and the United States must finally end this genocide and accept that the rule of international law applies to all nations, including themselves.

*

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.

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

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

Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies are the authors of War in Ukraine: Making Sense of a Senseless Conflict, published by OR Books in November 2022.

Featured image: The International Court of Justice. Photo credit: ICJ

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”

***

What  everyone with open eyes and a cell phone witnessed  24 x7 for 3 months as Israel massacred  Palestinians of Gaza is now being  adjudicated in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague under the Genocide Convention brought into law by the United Nations in 1948. This case has been brought to this highest Court by South Africa, with a detailed application, where each point is substantiated with recorded and indisputable evidence.[i]

The stakes in this case are high and include:

(i) The right of the Palestinian people to exist as a nation as opposed to the right of a racist colonial state of Israel backed by the great hegemon the United States to exterminate them.

(ii) The legitimacy of the ICJ to fulfill its mandate and therefore the very relevance, fairness, standard of this institution. This is because under the very definitions of the Convention on Genocide of the ICJ, the Palestinian people constitute a national group.

Article II of this Convention outlines specific acts that constitute genocide, which include: the intent to destroy in whole or part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, by killing members of the group; inflicting conditions for the physical destruction of the group; forcible transfers. All of which have been carried out in full public view by Israel in Gaza.

(iii) The legitimacy of the those supporting and aiding Israel to carry and therefore complicit in this genocide by providing arms, bombs and material aid to destroy the people of Gaza; who call themselves the protectors of a ‘rules-based order’; who claim those outside this ‘order’ as barbarians and ‘uncivilized’; who militarily intervene to protect democracy, human rights, and take a high moral ground on their constant interventions with the narrative of protecting universal (Western) values.

The Cause in this case are:

(i) The very existence of the Palestinian nation and its recognition.

(ii) Whether a publicly watched ongoing genocide can be stopped by a legitimate international legal entity versus the right of a sovereign state to indulge in collective punishment to massacre its citizens, kill women and children as ‘collateral damage’, target hospitals, medical professionals, journalists, writers, bomb residential buildings, destroy public institutions at will.

(iii) Whether a state and its regime who officially declare intent to destroy a peoples, as when the Israeli Defense Minister dehumanize Palestinians as ‘human animals be treated as such’, order the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to go for “a full scale response” saying “We will eliminate everything”  and then call it ‘moral’ and a ‘right to self-defense’. When Israel’s Prime Minister declares that they will turn parts of densely populated urban Gaza “into rubble” versus the right of the international community and its legal institutions to uphold that every sovereign state has the responsibility to protect its citizens, treat all its citizens as equal under law and constitution. Ensure human rights, especially the right to life and bodily protection.

(iv) Whether a state in revenge and following a criminal act (by Hamas) against a privileged section (12,000 or so) of its citizens and armed forces match its intent into orders of incessant, indiscriminate, disproportional bombings; deny this minority basic life necessities like water, adequate food, deny medical assistance, any aid, make conditions unlivable, force the transfer to citizens from homes into transit camps miles away and still declare itself as responsible democratic state with all international privileges versus responsibility of the ICJ to activate its Article 41 of the Statute to order provisional measures to protect rights invoked from imminent and irreparable loss.

The parties to this case:

The principle petitioner South Africa as the plaintiff is backed by Turkey, Malaysia, Jordan, Bolivia, the 57 member bloc The Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC), then the Maldives, Namibia, Pakistan, and other countries follow. Moreover thousands of advocacy and civil society groups have joined South Africa’s call, including Physicians against nuclear war, the Asia Europe Peoples Forum, the Transnational Institute, Focus on the Global South, the International Peace Bureau.

The defendants of genocide are obviously Israel and not surprisingly the US whose spokesperson John Kirby calls the South African submission “meritless, counterproductive and completely without basis”. Many Western states have showed their support in different ways but fear the polarization and upsurge in their own societies so remain silent because they generally associate countries outside the West as barbaric and genocidal, like Myanmar against the Rohingyas; the Serbs, the Hutus vs the Tutsis and so on. So their silence here is telling, even as much of the global majority, (many of whom have not spoken out) including Russia and China, hope for a favorable decision from the ICJ.

As far as morals, values, civilizational values are concerned, this is a case for freedom versus colonialism, neo-colonialism and imperialism; tolerance versus racism and white supremacy; oppression versus resistance; morality versus duplicity, hierocracy, double standards. The ICJ holds the key to these choices.

South Africa stands morally, politically and historically tall, and the real conscience of the international community lies with civil society and the millions who support the resistance and rightful justice for the Palestinian people.

*

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.

Note

[i] South Africa’s Application to ICC on Genocide At:  https://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/192/192-20231228-app-01-00-en.pdf

Featured image: Never Again and Again and Again – by Mr. Fish

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”

***

If the International Court of Justice, AKA the World Court, convicts Israel of genocide or enjoins it from committing acts that contribute to genocide, it will not be on the basis of evidence or law.

There will be deliberation before the 15 judges announce their decision, but it will have little to do with the reason South Africa is requesting a judgment.  

The 15 judges that will meet in the Hague are eminent jurists, but their role is political, not legal.

---

VIDEO. ICJ Hearings in The Hague

Click Screen to View the ICJ Hearings, January 11, 2024

---

They will vote the way their country tells them to vote, not upon conclusions drawn from the proceedings. They were selected by their respective countries on that basis, and elected by a majority vote of the UN General Assembly and Security Council.  

That’s an odd combination. In the General Assembly, each member has one vote, and in the Security Council, each member also gets one vote. But since all the countries on the Security Council are already represented in the General Assembly, when they vote for judges in the ICJ, they get two votes. And since five members of the SC are permanent, they permanently have two votes.

In addition, the absolute majority requirement means that only the most powerful and influential nations can cajole, influence, threaten or bribe enough votes to meet the requirement. Generally speaking, this means that the US can command enough votes in the court to control most of the decisions of consequence. The haggling is almost certainly taking place right now, before the court has even heard the case.  

Of course, the US doesn’t control every vote. The judges from China, Russia, Slovakia, Lebanon, Somalia and Morocco, for example, are unlikely to take orders from the US on this issue. But neither are they likely to vote on the basis of law or evidence. They will vote according to what they believe to be in their country’s interest. If it happens to accord with the evidence, so much the better for justice. But, barring one or more renegade votes, justice will be coincidental.  

Following is an analysis of the probable votes of the judges, based in part on the opinion of Norman Finkelstein as well as views expressed directly by government figures in the countries that nominated the judges. 

Judge Joan E. Donoghue of the United States: A no-vote is almost certain to come from Donoghue, given the United States’ long and unwavering support for Israel’s actions. United States officials blame the large numbers of civilian casualties on Hamas’s supposed usage of civilians as “human shields” and have adamantly denied that Israel’s actions constitute genocide.

Judge Kirill Gevorgian of the Russian Federation: While the Russian government has shown sympathy for the Palestinian cause and spoken against excessive civilian casualties, they may be wary of the potential consequences of such a landmark genocide ruling that could be used against them in the future regarding their military actions in Ukraine. Even so, showing support for the Palestinian people and taking a stand against America and its allies could be advantageous to Russia’s image. For this reason, a yes vote from Russia is possible but uncertain.

Judge Peter Tomka of Slovakia: Slovakia has enjoyed friendly relations with Israel and has refrained from criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza. However, Slovakia has voiced concern over illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank and supports a two-state solution. Slovakia abstained in a recent UN General Assembly vote calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. For this reason, it is difficult to predict how the Slovakian judge may vote, but constituting Israel’s actions as a genocide would be a leap in Slovakia’s foreign policy regarding the matter. Therefore, such a ruling appears more unlikely than likely to come from Judge Tomka. 

Judge Ronny Abraham of France: France has remained a strong supporter of Israel and its policies throughout the years, and the two enjoy a friendly and cooperative relationship. However, French President Emmanuel Macron has harshly criticized Israel’s recent military actions in Gaza, saying there is “no justification” for the bombing campaign and urged Israel to cease its hostilities. The ruling from Judge Abraham could go either way, with significant evidence backing either possibility. 

Judge Mohammed Bennouna of Morocco: The Moroccan population has shown unwavering support for the Palestinian cause, with tens of thousands of Moroccans marching in the streets to protest Israel’s bombardment of Gaza. Although Morocco’s government adopted a policy of normalizing ties with Israel in return for recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over the disputed territory of Western Sahara, Moroccan authorities continue to voice support for Palestine’s struggle for human rights and statehood. Hence, a yes vote is highly likely to come from Mohammed Bennouna, and the alternative would cause widespread anger and discontent among Morocco’s population.

Judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf of Somalia: The nation of Somalia unwavering supports the Palestinian cause and the liberation of its people. Somalis took to the streets to stand with Gaza and protest Israel’s bombardment of the strip. Somali Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre condemned international silence on the Israeli occupation and praised Hamas for fighting for liberation. A yes vote is highly likely to come from Judge Yusuf. 

Judge Xue Hanqin of China: The Chinese government has been a strong critic of Israel’s actions in Gaza and supports an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital. However, China may be hesitant to set a precedent regarding violations of the Genocide Convention for similar reasons as Russia. Some accuse China of committing genocide against the Uyghurs, a Muslim minority in China. For this reason, a yes vote from China is possible but not assured. 

Judge Julia Sebutinde of Uganda: Uganda’s position regarding the situation in Palestine is nuanced and not apparent. Uganda has tentatively friendly relations with Israel and supports a two-state solution. However, during a visit to Uganda from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni repeatedly referred to the land as Palestine, including describing relations between “Palestine and Africa.” Uganda’s Minister of State for International Affairs confirmed that Uganda supports Palestine and its right to an independent State. Uganda’s votes in the UN General Assembly regarding conflicts in Palestine have been inconsistent, with the Ugandan representative voting no on resolutions critical of Israel in several cases. However, Uganda recently voted for a resolution calling for a ceasefire of hostilities in Gaza. Judge Sebutinde’s ruling is somewhat unpredictable, but either decision is possible. 

Judge Dalveer Bhandari of India: While in the past India has shown support for the Palestinian cause, the modern Hindu-majority government has shifted India to a nation described as pro-Israel. India views Israel’s actions in Gaza as a “counterterrorism operation” but called for international humanitarian law to be maintained in the strip. India was one of the first to condemn Hamas’s October 7th attack on Israel and banned protests in support of Palestine. Therefore, a no-vote is a probable ruling to come from India.

Judge Patrick Lipton Robinson of Jamaica: Jamaica’s history of oppression at the hands of the British has caused them to be a defender of resistance against unjust governments. They were the first nation to issue sanctions against the apartheid state of South Africa, paving the way for others to follow suit. However, the Jamaican government’s silence on Israel’s bombardment of Gaza has drawn criticism from the Jamaican population, who generally support the Palestinian cause. A yes vote from Jamaica would answer calls to take a clear stance on the conflict, and for that reason, it is the more likely possibility. 

Judge Nawaf Salam of Lebanon: A yes vote is almost certain to come from the Lebanese Judge, as the struggle of the Palestinians is historically intertwined with Lebanon’s struggle against Israel. The Lebanese population staunchly supports the Palestinian cause and views Israel as an occupying and oppressive state. The Lebanese militia Hezbollah has led successful military campaigns against Israeli forces in the past and is currently shelling the northern areas of the territory that Israel controls. Over 270,000 Palestinian refugees reside in Lebanon, and scores took to the streets to protest Israel’s actions in Gaza. Lebanon and Israel have no official diplomatic relations. 

Judge Iwasawa Yuji of Japan: Japan advocates for a two-state solution and maintains a hesitant and tentative foreign policy approach regarding the conflict. Japan unequivocally condemned Hamas’s October 7th attack and voiced support for a cessation of hostilities. Japan is a strong Asian ally of the United States and Western European states, and Japan’s foreign policy often aligns with the positions of those states. Hence, constituting Israel’s actions as genocide would be a large leap from the country’s current position, and a no-vote would be most probable. 

Judge Georg Nolte of Germany: Germany has been a strong supporter of the Israeli government and its actions, and the two maintain a “special relationship” based on Western values and historical perspectives. Some analysts suggest Germany’s unwavering support of the Jewish state is an attempt to make amends for the atrocities committed against the Jewish population by the Nazis during WWII. Following October 7th, German Chancellor Olaf Sholz offered military aid to Israel and dismissed calls for a ceasefire. Germany also banned demonstrations in support of Palestine. As such, a no vote is highly likely to come from Judge Nolte.

Judge Hilary Charlesworth of Australia: Australia supports a two-state solution and often defends Israel’s policies and actions. Australia’s foreign policy is often reflected by its strong relationships with Western states such as the United States. However, the Australian population is split in its stance on the conflict, and large demonstrations have taken place in support of Palestine. Still, a no vote is the most likely ruling to come from Judge Charlesworth.

Judge Leonardo Nemer Caldeira Brant of Brazil: Brazil strongly supports a Palestinian state according to its 1967 borders (including the West Bank and Gaza), and the Brazilian population is split in its support for either side. President Lula has attempted to walk the diplomatic line between either side, emphasizing the need for de-escalation. The potential for a cessation of hostilities in the event of a conviction of Israel violating its obligations may sway the Brazilian judge to rule accordingly. Therefore, a yes vote is a more likely possibility. 

Considerations:

Each of the judges on the court has highly esteemed experiences, academics, and careers, and their knowledge and insights should not be ruled out in predicting their decisions. They do not officially represent their nation and are required to be uninfluenced by politics and policies. However, powerful nations have ways of “persuading” weaker nations and individuals to vote as directed. It is therefore unlikely that evidence and law will be more than window dressing in the outcome of the case against Israel.

*

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.

Paul Larudee is a retired academic and current administrator of a nonprofit human rights and humanitarian aid organization.

Calvin Larudee, Paul’s grandson, is a high school student in Castro Valley, California. He provides international weekly news summaries and analysis at International Informants, to which subscribers are welcome.

The “Silent Cardiac Killer” Fraud: At Least 20 Young People Age 14-35 Drop Dead Each Week. One in 300 Now Carry an “Undetected Heart Condition”

By Dr. William Makis, January 10, 2024

Statistics Canada tells us about 1 in 800 Canadians died as “excess deaths” in 2022. The vast majority of these will be COVID-19 Vaccine deaths. Suddenly, mainstream media is telling us 1 in 300 young people have an “undiagnosed heart condition” that predisposes them to sudden cardiac death.

Criminality in the White House: The Rise of the Political Psychopath

By John W. Whitehead and Nisha Whitehead, January 10, 2024

Psychopaths and politicians both have a tendency to be selfish, callous, remorseless users of others, irresponsible, pathological liars, glib, con artists, lacking in remorse and shallow.

Widespread Famine, Infectious Diseases: Pressure for UK to Shift its Position on Gaza, Parliament Informed of Soaring Hunger

By Lemma Shehadi, January 10, 2024

Pressure for the UK to shift its position on Gaza and call for a ceasefire is mounting, after MPs were told of a huge rise in malnourishment and infectious diseases. Humanitarian aid agencies told MPs on Tuesday that doctors were seeing more malnourished patients, with the risks of widespread famine growing daily.

Neurological Adverse Reactions to SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines. “Affect the central or peripheral nervous system (CNS, PNS)”

By Josef Finsterer, January 10, 2024

SARS-CoV-2 vaccines are not free of side effects and most commonly affect the central or peripheral nervous system (CNS, PNS). This narrative review aims to summarise recent advances in the nature, frequency, management, and outcome of neurological side effects from SARS-CoV-2 vaccines.

Biden Is Trump’s Poodle on Case of Journalist Julian Assange and Bogus Espionage Charges

By Colonel Ann Wright, January 10, 2024

Under the Obama administration in which you, Biden, were Vice President for eight years, journalist and publisher Julian Assange was NOT prosecuted for publishing the Collateral Damage video of the U.S. Army murder by Hellfire missile of Reuters reporters nor the classified Afghanistan and Iraq war files.

Video: Just Murdering a Few More Journalists in Gaza? With the Support of Private Contractors

By Emanuel Pastreich, January 10, 2024

On Monday, January 8, the total number of journalists killed by the Israeli military, often in coordination with the American military and a host of private contractors, contractors who also run the surveillance systems at your high school or shopping mall, the total number of journalists killed in three months of attacks on Gaza reached 111 with the deaths of journalists Abdullah Breis and Mohammed Abu Dayer.

A Crack in a 75-year-old Wall of Impunity: South Africa Challenges Israeli Genocide in Court

By Craig Mokhiber and Phyllis Bennis, January 10, 2024

The horrors of the original Nakba were met with decades of absolute impunity for Israel, feeding further violence. But this time, three decades since the overthrow of apartheid in South Africa, the post-apartheid “Rainbow Nation” is taking the lead in challenging Israel’s genocidal assault.

Australia Must Support South Africa’s International Court of Justice Case Against Israel

By Prof. Stuart Rees, January 10, 2024

Despite Australia’s supposed enthusiasm for the rule of international law, it has shown no intention to support the South African initiative. The Labor government has ignored requests from the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network to intervene on South Africa’s behalf. If Australia did support South Africa, it would aid legal intervention to cease the slaughter and destruction in Gaza and on the West Bank.

String of US and Israeli Assassinations Further Inflame the Middle East

By Steven Sahiounie, January 10, 2024

The US and “Israel” have been recently carrying out political assassinations in Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq. ISIS carried out a massive bombing in Iran during the same period, and there is a connection between ISIS and the US.

New Zealand Fudged the Data on How the Kidneys Fare After the COVID Vaccines

By Dr. Colleen Huber, January 10, 2024

In a January 2023 preprint in The Lancet, the New Zealand government released a study showing a 70 percent increased rate of kidney injury following two doses of Pfizer mRNA vaccines. Even more telling of injury was the dose-dependent effect. That is, one dose of Pfizer showed a 60 percent increased rate of injury within three weeks post-injection, while two doses showed a 70 percent increased rate of injury three weeks post-injection.

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”

***

Channel 4 News presented by Cathy Newman on Nov. 12, 2023: Clarissa Nicholls’ mother talks about the sudden death of her 20 year old daughter.

I reported this sudden death in June 2023 on Twitter:

May 7, 2023 – London, UK – 20 yo Clarissa Nicholls was studying languages at Cambridge University. She went for a trip to France in May 2023. She collapsed & died suddenly from cardiac arrest on May 7, 2023 while hiking in France. It’s virtually a certainty that she was COVID-19 Vaccinated.

They told the mother Clarissa had Arrhythmogenic Cardiomyopathy. She believed them.

However, they lied to her. This is a new fraud that they are now pushing in the UK, Australia as well as the United States (except Canada where doctors insist none of this is happening).

In this Channel 4 Report, they claim at least 1 in 300 young people have this condition. That is also a lie.

*

Jan. 4, 2024 (First Coast News) – University of Washington Center for Sports Cardiology Director Dr.Jonathan Drezner (he/him) – “Any child can be potentially at risk”. “He says about 1 in 300 young people have the heart condition that can lead to sudden cardiac arrest”.

Click here to watch the video.

In this propaganda piece, they are combining two tragic deaths from 2009 and 2016, and trying to like those deaths to the new post COVID-19 Vaccine phenomenon of young people “Dying suddenly.”

The lie: “1 in 300 young people have this condition.”

They’re trying to find an excuse to start cardiac screening in young people 12-22.

*

From 1 in 5000, according to Boston Children’s Hospital, to 1 in 300. 

According to Boston Children’s Hospital:

 

(2017 Corrado et al) Peer reviewed research in 2017 also suggests a consensus among cardiologists of 1 in 5000.

 

 

1998 Dec (Ahmad et al) – Localization of a Gene Responsible for Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Dysplasia to Chromosome 3p23 (1 in 5000).

 

 

According to San Diego healthcare provider “SHARP”, there is a large group of conditions that comprise “1 in 300 young people has an undetected heart condition that puts them at risk of sudden cardiac arrest”:

 

 

Of course the list wouldn’t be complete without “commotio cordis”, which they blamed for the sudden cardiac arrest suffered by NFL football player Damar Hamlin on Jan. 3, 2023.

*

Canadian doctors insist none of this is real and athletes are not dying.

I now take you over to my McGill colleague Dr.Christopher Labos.

• Dr. Christopher Labos is a cardiologist with a degree in epidemiology. He spends most of his time doing things that he doesn’t get paid for, like doing research, teaching, and podcasting. Occasionally, he finds time to practice as a cardiologist so he can pay his rent. He is a freelance contributor for the Montreal Gazette, CJAD, and has also appeared on CBC Radio and CBC Television.

Athletes, Vaccines and Cardiac Deaths by Dr. Labos:

• “It beggars belief, but I still sometimes hear people claim that waves of young athletes have died suddenly after being vaccinated. It is a pervasive hoax and still repeated by people to express doubts about the safety of the COVID-19 vaccines. Fortunately, we don’t have to speculate about whether young athletes are dying or not. We can simply check.”
• “More important, the incidence of sudden cardiac death among athletes has gone down over the past 20 years. It has not been increasing and there was no spike in cases after the introduction of the vaccine.”

Dr. Labos tells us the British and Americans are lying.

“If someone tries to tell you young people are dropping dead during sport events, you should reply that while this has always been true, the rates are going down, not up. Science is on your side with this one.”

Dr. Labos makes no mention of 1 in 300 young people having an “undiagnosed heart condition” that could put them at risk of sudden cardiac death. 

Dr. Labos is a nice guy and a smart individual. But you see, in Canada, there is nothing out of the ordinary. Young people, especially athletes are not dying suddenly, they’re actually healthier than ever before.

Why “Arrhythmogenic Cardiomyopathy”?

It may have to do with the nature of COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine injury to heart cells.

Oct. 12, 2023 (Schreckenberg et al) – “Cardiac side effects of RNA-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccines: Hidden cardiotoxic effects of mRNA-1273 and BNT162b2 on ventricular myocyte function and structure.”

• Germany/Hungary study of Pfizer & Moderna COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine effects on adult rat heart cells
• within 48 hours, Pfizer and Moderna caused abnormalities in adult rat heart cell function but through different mechanisms

 

 

My Take…

Statistics Canada tells us about 1 in 800 Canadians died as “excess deaths” in 2022. The vast majority of these will be COVID-19 Vaccine deaths

(This is some ugly but simple napkin math: 3 years of similar excess deaths (2021, 2022, 2023) would be 3/800, and from our autopsy paper with Dr.McCullough, about 53% of those are cardiac, so 53% of 3/800 is about 1 in 500 Canadians died as excess cardiac deaths over 3 years).

(More ugly math: over 4 years (2021-2024) it would be 4/800 x 0.53 = 1 in 400 Canadians will have died as excess cardiac deaths over 4 years by end of 2024 and it gets to 1 in 300 by end of 2025).

Suddenly, mainstream media is telling us 1 in 300 young people have an “undiagnosed heart condition” that predisposes them to sudden cardiac death.

It’s almost as if big pharma did some napkin calculations of their own and made sure to have an explanation to cover all those inconvenient sudden cardiac deaths in young people and athletes, since COVID-19 Vaccines rolled out. 

Pfizer & Moderna COVID-19 mRNA Vaccines impair cardiac function and cause cardiomyopathy which increases risk of sudden cardiac events. 

Perhaps it is easier for Clarissa’s mom to believe and accept her daughter died from a cardiomyopathy she was “born with”, rather than a cardiomyopathy and sudden cardiac arrest caused by COVID-19 mRNA Vaccines she was pressured to take by her University and forced to take to be able to do what she loved – travel.

*

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.

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 source

---

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

by Michel Chossudovsky

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

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

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”

***

“When the President does it, that means that it is not illegal.”—Richard Nixon

Many years ago, a newspaper headline asked the question: “What’s the difference between a politician and a psychopath?”

The answer, then and now, remains the same: None.

There is no difference between psychopaths and politicians.

Nor is there much of a difference between the havoc wreaked on innocent lives by uncaring, unfeeling, selfish, irresponsible, parasitic criminals and elected officials who lie to their constituents, trade political favors for campaign contributions, turn a blind eye to the wishes of the electorate, cheat taxpayers out of hard-earned dollars, favor the corporate elite, entrench the military industrial complex, and spare little thought for the impact their thoughtless actions and hastily passed legislation might have on defenseless citizens.

Psychopaths and politicians both have a tendency to be selfish, callous, remorseless users of others, irresponsible, pathological liars, glib, con artists, lacking in remorse and shallow.

Charismatic politicians, like criminal psychopaths, exhibit a failure to accept responsibility for their actions, have a high sense of self-worth, are chronically unstable, have socially deviant lifestyles, need constant stimulation, have parasitic lifestyles and possess unrealistic goals.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re talking about Democrats or Republicans.

Political psychopaths are all largely cut from the same pathological cloth, brimming with seemingly easy charm and boasting calculating minds. Such leaders eventually create pathocracies: totalitarian societies bent on power, control, and destruction of both freedom in general and those who exercise their freedoms.

Once psychopaths gain power, the result is usually some form of totalitarian government or a pathocracy. “At that point, the government operates against the interests of its own people except for favoring certain groups,” author James G. Long notes. “We are currently witnessing deliberate polarizations of American citizens, illegal actions, and massive and needless acquisition of debt. This is typical of psychopathic systems, and very similar things happened in the Soviet Union as it overextended and collapsed.”

In other words, electing a psychopath to public office is tantamount to national hara-kiri, the ritualized act of self-annihilation, self-destruction and suicide. It signals the demise of democratic government and lays the groundwork for a totalitarian regime that is legalistic, militaristic, inflexible, intolerant and inhuman.

Incredibly, despite clear evidence of the damage that has already been inflicted on our nation and its citizens by a psychopathic government, voters continue to elect psychopaths to positions of power and influence.

Indeed, a study from Southern Methodist University found that Washington, DC—our nation’s capital and the seat of power for our so-called representatives—ranks highest on the list of regions that are populated by psychopaths.

According to investigative journalist Zack Beauchamp,

“In 2012, a group of psychologists evaluated every President from Washington to Bush II using ‘psychopathy trait estimates derived from personality data completed by historical experts on each president.’ They found that presidents tended to have the psychopath’s characteristic fearlessness and low anxiety levels — traits that appear to help Presidents, but also might cause them to make reckless decisions that hurt other people’s lives.”

The willingness to prioritize power above all else, including the welfare of their fellow human beings, ruthlessness, callousness and an utter lack of conscience are among the defining traits of the sociopath.

When our own government no longer sees us as human beings with dignity and worth but as things to be manipulated, maneuvered, mined for data, manhandled by police, conned into believing it has our best interests at heart, mistreated, jailed if we dare step out of line, and then punished unjustly without remorse—all the while refusing to own up to its failings—we are no longer operating under a constitutional republic.

Instead, what we are experiencing is a pathocracy: tyranny at the hands of a psychopathic government, which “operates against the interests of its own people except for favoring certain groups.”

Worse, psychopathology is not confined to those in high positions of government. It can spread like a virus among the populace. As an academic study into pathocracy concluded,

“[T]yranny does not flourish because perpetuators are helpless and ignorant of their actions. It flourishes because they actively identify with those who promote vicious acts as virtuous.”

People don’t simply line up and salute. It is through one’s own personal identification with a given leader, party or social order that they become agents of good or evil.

Much depends on how leaders “cultivate a sense of identification with their followers,” says Professor Alex Haslam.

“I mean one pretty obvious thing is that leaders talk about ‘we’ rather than ‘I,’ and actually what leadership is about is cultivating this sense of shared identity about ‘we-ness’ and then getting people to want to act in terms of that ‘we-ness,’ to promote our collective interests. . . . [We] is the single word that has increased in the inaugural addresses over the last century . . . and the other one is ‘America.’”

The goal of the modern corporate state is obvious: to promote, cultivate, and embed a sense of shared identification among its citizens. To this end, “we the people” have become “we the police state.”

We are fast becoming slaves in thrall to a faceless, nameless, bureaucratic totalitarian government machine that relentlessly erodes our freedoms through countless laws, statutes, and prohibitions.

Any resistance to such regimes depends on the strength of opinions in the minds of those who choose to fight back. What this means is that we the citizenry must be very careful that we are not manipulated into marching in lockstep with an oppressive regime.

Writing for ThinkProgress, Beauchamp suggests that “one of the best cures to bad leaders may very well be political democracy.”

But what does this really mean in practical terms?

It means holding politicians accountable for their actions and the actions of their staff using every available means at our disposal: through investigative journalism (what used to be referred to as the Fourth Estate) that enlightens and informs, through whistleblower complaints that expose corruption, through lawsuits that challenge misconduct, and through protests and mass political action that remind the powers-that-be that “we the people” are the ones that call the shots.

Remember, education precedes action. Citizens need to the do the hard work of educating themselves about what the government is doing and how to hold it accountable. Don’t allow yourselves to exist exclusively in an echo chamber that is restricted to views with which you agree. Expose yourself to multiple media sources, independent and mainstream, and think for yourself.

For that matter, no matter what your political leanings might be, don’t allow your partisan bias to trump the principles that serve as the basis for our constitutional republic. As Beauchamp notes, “A system that actually holds people accountable to the broader conscience of society may be one of the best ways to keep conscienceless people in check.”

That said, if we allow the ballot box to become our only means of pushing back against the police state, the battle is already lost.

Resistance will require a citizenry willing to be active at the local level.

Yet if you wait to act until the SWAT team is crashing through your door, until your name is placed on a terror watch list, until you are reported for such outlawed activities as collecting rainwater or letting your children play outside unsupervised, then it will be too late.

This much I know: we are not faceless numbers.

We are not cogs in the machine.

As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People and in its fictional counterpart The Erik Blair Diaries, we are not slaves.

We are human beings, and for the moment, we have the opportunity to remain free—that is, if we tirelessly advocate for our rights and resist at every turn attempts by the government to place us in chains.

The Founders understood that our freedoms do not flow from the government. They were not given to us only to be taken away by the will of the State. They are inherently ours. In the same way, the government’s appointed purpose is not to threaten or undermine our freedoms, but to safeguard them.

Until we can get back to this way of thinking, until we can remind our fellow Americans what it really means to be free, and until we can stand firm in the face of threats to our freedoms, we will continue to be treated like slaves in thrall to a bureaucratic police state run by political psychopaths.

*

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.

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.

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”

***

Pressure for the UK to shift its position on Gaza and call for a ceasefire is mounting, after MPs were told of a huge rise in malnourishment and infectious diseases.

Humanitarian aid agencies told MPs on Tuesday that doctors were seeing more malnourished patients, with the risks of widespread famine growing daily.

Infectious diseases such as scabies, typhoid and hepatitis had become widespread, with no services for testing and limited medical supplies.

Labour MP Sarah Champion, who chaired the meeting with aid agencies, said she hoped the government will begin to move on its current position in light of the worsening crisis.

Ms Champion plans to meet UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron privately on Tuesday.

“I know that he is starting to move on the ceasefire and on whether or not Israel is breaching international law, so I hope he moves further on that after our meeting tomorrow,” she told The National.

Ms Champion, who voted for a ceasefire in December, feared Israel’s bombardment and siege of Gaza could leave Palestinians with no hope for the future.

“What I heard today was the psychological warfare going on,” she said.

“People are having their hope taken away from them and the UNRWA [UN Palestinian refugee agency] representative said that she feels like a ghost now.

“That destroys the future for the Palestinian people in Gaza, which I think is a horrific to do.”

Although more aid trucks were entering Gaza, they were subject to extensive delays and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians could not be reached by aid workers, agencies told MPs.

The about 5,600 trucks of aid delivered so far since the conflict began three months ago was the equivalent of 12 days of supplies entering Gaza before the war.

Two thirds of hospitals in Gaza were no longer operational, with supplies needed for field hospitals, and more staff to run them, said Dr Ghada Al Jadba, chief of the health programme at the UNRWA.

Hospitals in Gaza were reporting up to 20 cases of malnourishment a week, with patients initially coming in to treat injuries or infection, said Rohan Talbot, of the British charity Medical Aid for Palestinians.

Mothers were being rolled into maternity wards minutes before giving birth, then ushered out again as soon as possible, owing to a lack of space and services.

Inadequate nourishment meant they struggled to breastfeed, and baby formula was being prepared with unclean water that made the babies ill, Mr Talbot said.

Famine was “months” away, but a significant population were already at critical levels of hunger.

“The food that they do eat is not of sufficient nutritional quality,” Mr Talbot said.

A generation of children would have stunted growth, which could develop into acute malnutrition.

“It won’t be long before this becomes a mortal issue,” Mr Talbot said.

Nine thousand children have lost a limb, with no rehabilitative services, which will take “years and years” to build, he said.

Mr Talbot urged MPs to question whether the UK aid that had entered Gaza had been properly distributed around the territory.

Aid workers were unable to access the 800,000 Palestinians who remain stranded in the north of Gaza, an area designated as a military zone by the Israeli military.

Dr Al Jadba described instances in which shelters marked with a UN flag had become targets for Israeli forces.

The rapid growth of infectious diseases was the result of people overcrowding in shelters, with hundreds sharing a single toilet and shower.

This was compounded by fuel shortages that limited waste disposal and sewerage systems, and the lack of clean water.

“Hygiene is a disaster. The numbers [of infectious disease cases] are increasing dramatically every week,” Dr Al Jadba said.

Medical professionals had lost loved ones and were struggling to keep their own families alive, let alone the scores of patients entering hospitals every day.

“To be a paramedic in Gaza means when you leave emergency services, you will not be sure whether you will be alive to return,” said Nebal Farsakh, spokeswoman for the Palestinian Red Crescent.

“Your mind is exhausted thinking about your family who are under constant bombardment, knowing that they don’t have proper access to food and water,” said Ms Farsakh.

Aid agencies urged the UK government to call for an immediate ceasefire, in addition to relief.

“Stop this madness,” said Dr Al Jadba.

The meeting came as Mr Cameron admitted he was “worried” that Israel had breached international law, when giving his first testimony to the foreign affairs committee on Tuesday.

The UK has called for a “sustainable ceasefire” that could only be implemented once Hamas lays down its arms and hostages are released.

Until then, it is pushing for humanitarian “pauses” that would allow aid into Gaza.

Critics, including the British charity War Child, say the policy supports the “continuation of violence” in Gaza.

Ms Champion echoed the aid agencies’ calls for an immediate ceasefire, deploring the conditions they described in the hearing.

“It is absolutely wicked and immoral that international conventions are not respected. I am disgusted by what I’m hearing in this session,” she told the committee.

“The situation is utterly desperate. It feels totally unnecessary.

“I cannot see why we’re not all calling for a ceasefire. Its deplorable, what’s going on.”

*

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.

Featured image: Displaced Palestinians wait to receive free food from a volunteer-run hospice near Nasser Medical Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, on Tuesday, January 9, 2024. Bloomberg

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”

 

The evidence is overwhelming.

Important article, which adds to the detailed analysis of the Covid-19 vaccine by scientists and medical doctors.

Emphasis added by Global Research

***

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 vaccines are not free of side effects and most commonly affect the central or peripheral nervous system (CNS, PNS). This narrative review aims to summarise recent advances in the nature, frequency, management, and outcome of neurological side effects from SARS-CoV-2 vaccines.

CNS disorders triggered by SARS-CoV-2 vaccines include headache, cerebro-vascular disorders (venous sinus thrombosis [VST], ischemic stroke, intracerebral hemorrhage, subarachnoid bleeding, reversible, cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome, vasculitis, pituitary apoplexy, Susac syndrome), inflammatory diseases (encephalitis, meningitis, demyelinating disorders, transverse myelitis), epilepsy, and a number of other rarely reported CNS conditions.

PNS disorders related to SARS-CoV-2 vaccines include neuropathy of cranial nerves, mono-/polyradiculitis (Guillain–Barre syndrome [GBS]), Parsonage–Turner syndrome (plexitis), small fiber neuropathy, myasthenia, myositis/dermatomyositis, rhabdomyolysis, and a number of other conditions.

The most common neurological side effects are facial palsy, intracerebral hemorrhage, VST, and GBS. The underlying pathophysiology is poorly understood, but several speculations have been generated to explain the development of CNS/PNS disease after SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. In conclusion, neurological side effects develop with any type of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine and are diverse, can be serious and even fatal, and should be taken seriously to initiate early treatment and improve outcome and avoid fatalities.

Click here to read the full article.

*

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.

Featured image source

---

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

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

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”

***

What You Need to Know About South Africa’s Genocide Case Against Israel at the ICJ

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague will hold hearings on Thursday and Friday in response to South Africa’s accusation of genocide against Israel.

More than 23,000 Palestinians have been killed in the ongoing war on Gaza, including more than 9,000 children.

South Africa wants an emergency order calling on Israel to suspend its military campaign, which it launched after an attack by Hamas-led Palestinian fighters on 7 October, which killed 1,140 people, according to Israeli officials.

The state filed the lawsuit at the end of December, citing statements made by Israeli public officials and the actions of its military.

It is the first time Israel is being tried under the United Nations’ Genocide Convention, which was drawn up after the Second World War in light of the atrocities committed against Jews and other persecuted minorities during the Holocaust.

Here Middle East Eye answers some commonly asked questions about the case.

*

Israeli Shelling Near Hospital Kills and Wounds 40: Report

The Israeli army has targeted a residential building only a few metres away from Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital, killing and wounding at least 40 people, according to Gaza officials. 

The Gaza government media office say the area had been deemed “safe” by the Israeli army.

“This is a continuation of the deception and fabrications by the Israeli occupation army to mislead public opinion,” the media office said.

“We condemn in the strongest terms the ongoing massacres and crimes of the occupation against our Palestinian people, and we call on the whole world to stop the genocidal war waged against civilians,” the office added.

*

Opinion: How South Africa’s Genocide Case Is Challenging the Imperial Order

Amid mounting calls for a comprehensive ceasefire in Israel’s onslaught on Gaza, South Africa has invoked the Genocide Convention and lodged a case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague. 

The application, filed last month, delineates the atrocities perpetrated by Israel in Gaza in the wake of the 7 October operation by Hamas.

The application, while acknowledging and unequivocally condemning the actions of Palestinian armed groups on 7 October, emphasises that these acts cannot serve as justification for the crime of genocide. 

The South African document notes that the Genocide Convention states that all parties to the convention have a duty to prevent or punish the crime of genocide, and based on emerging evidence in Gaza, it is South Africa’s view that Israel has contravened the convention both by perpetrating genocide and by not acting to prevent genocide, nor punishing incitement to genocide. 

It argues that Israel’s acts and omissions are genocidal in nature, as it seeks to bring about the destruction of Palestinians as a national, racial or ethnic group. 

*

Israeli Raid on Nablus Injures 12

Israeli forces raided the West Bank city of Nablus and besieged the Old City, injuring at least 12 Palestinians, Al Jazeera reports.

*

Former Shin Bet Chief Calls for Release of Hostages in Exchange for Palestinian Prisoners

Former Shin Bet chief Ami Ayalon said in an interview with Haaretz that the release of all Palestinian prisoners, including Palestinian political figure Marwan Barghouti, in exchange for all the hostages held by Hamas may present a proper peace deal.

To Ayalon, the release of all hostages would be the closest thing to a “picture of victory” that Israel could present in its war in Gaza. Additionally, he believes Barghouti is “the only Palestinian leader who can be elected and lead a united and legitimate Palestinian leadership toward a path of mutually agreed separation from Israel.”

Ayalon also criticised the Israeli government’s policy towards Palestinians, most notably prime minister Netanyahu’s policies.

“The misconception was that the Palestinians aren’t a people, and if we allow them to have economic prosperity, they’ll give up the dream of independence,” he said. “In the end, the Palestinians define themselves as a people. They’re willing to kill and be killed for their independence, and the terrorists who are killed turn into martyrs in their eyes.”

*

Blinken to Make Surprise Visit to Bahrain: US Official

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”

***

Attorney General Merrick Garland Must Tell President Biden that Trump Espionage Charges Against WikiLeaks Journalist Julian Assange Are Without Merit…or Indict New York Times Publisher with Same Charges

*

Biden, you defeated Trump, yet your administration has NOT rolled back all of the evil caused by Trump.

Take the case of journalist Julian Assange. 

Under the Obama administration in which you, Biden, were Vice President for eight years, journalist and publisher Julian Assange was NOT prosecuted for publishing the Collateral Damage video of the U.S. Army murder by Hellfire missile of Reuters reporters nor the classified Afghanistan and Iraq war files. 

However, you and the Obama administration did prosecute and won conviction of U.S. Army PFC Bradley Manning for disclosing those classified materials. 

As you well know from being the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, journalists and publishers are protected by the First Amendment which allows them to publish classified materials given to them by whistleblowers. But, the First Amendment does NOT protect those who release classified information to journalists, like Bradley Manning, whom you prosecuted. 

Fifty years ago, no U.S. publisher, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times or any other newspaper in the U.S. or abroad, was prosecuted for publishing the Pentagon Papers, the classified history of the U.S. war on Viet Nam. 

Daniel Ellsberg, who released the sordid 7,000-page classified tale of U.S. military involvement (3,000 pages of narrative and 4,000 pages of appended documents), fully expected to be prosecuted, as he was the one who gave classified information to the media. The Nixon administration’s attempted theft of Ellsberg’s medical records torpedoed Nixon’s attempt at prosecuting Ellsberg. Nixon continued to rail against Ellsberg as, in Henry Kissinger’s words, “the most dangerous man in America” because he, Nixon, was unable to put Ellsberg in jail.

No publisher in the history of the United States has been prosecuted until the Trump administration came into power. After WikiLeaks and other media published in 2017 “Vault 7,” the most CIA materials about CIA hacking capabilities ever to come into the public domain, Trump’s Attorney General Bill Barr at the command of CIA Director Mike Pompeo, decided to try a new legal theory, one that had never been used in U.S. history. 

CIA Director Pompeo described WikiLeaks as a “non-state hostile intelligence service” and the Department of Justice charged a non-U.S. citizen, Julian Assange, with espionage against the U.S. and demanded his extradition from England. 

A conviction on U.S. charges of espionage could result in Assange being sentenced to 175 years in prison.

At the time of the U.S. charges, Assange had requested asylum from the Ecuadorian government and had been protected by living in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for five years.

With a change in Ecuadorian governments, and under intense pressure from the British and U.S. governments, the new Ecuadorian administration, in April 2019, allowed British police to break the Embassy’s sovereignty and enter the Embassy. London police carried Assange out of the Embassy, put him into a police van and immediately locked him up in the highest security prison in the UK, Belmarsh Prison.

Prior to the police breaching the Ecuadorian Embassy, Assange had been denied his razor for weeks. His haggard appearance as he was carried out of the embassy was part of a negative publicity campaign orchestrated by the British government and, without a doubt, the U.S. government.

Assange Has Been in UK Prison in Solitary Confinement for Almost Five Years with NO CONVICTION on Any Charges

For the past for four years and nine months, Assange has been in Belmarsh Prison, a high security prison for those convicted of violent crimes. He has been in solitary confinement for 22 hours a day, a violation of the right not to be tortured, according to former UN Special Rapporteur Nils Melzer.

Yet, ASSANGE HAS NOT BEEN CONVICTED OF ANY CRIME. Despite no conviction, he has been incarcerated by the British government on behalf of the U.S. government until extradition proceedings to the U.S. are successful. 

Almost three years ago, in January 2021, lower court judge Vanessa Baraitser ruled that Assange should be released from Belmarsh Prison. She denied the U.S. request for extradition based on Assange’s mental health, his propensity to commit suicide and conditions in U.S. prisons.

The U.S. appealed her decision, issuing “diplomatic assurances” that Assange would not be mistreated in a U.S. prison. The High Court, after a two-day hearing in March 2022, accepted those “assurances” and rejected Assange’s appeal and his application to the U.K. Supreme Court to hear the case was then denied. Assange then applied for a new appeal of Baraitser’s legal decisions and the Home Secretary’s extradition order. His 150-page argument was rejected in a three-page ruling. The appeal of that decision will now take place on February 20-21, 2024.

Don’t Trust the U.S. Government’s “Diplomatic Assurances”

As a former U.S. diplomat, I can guarantee Julian that U.S. “diplomatic assurances” mean absolutely nothing. The U.S. breaks its word to individuals and countries frequently…and the U.S. Department of State has no jurisdiction over the Bureau of Prisons which makes decisions unilaterally of how prisoners are treated. 

At the Belmarsh Tribunal held in Washington, D.C. on December 9, 2023, former CIA officer John Kiriakou, who spent nearly two years in federal prison for talking about the CIA’s waterboarding program, the existence of which had been in the public domain for years, said that the guarantees that the State Department had made in court documents were meaningless. He said that the Bureau of Prisons makes its own decisions on whether a person will be in solitary confinement and the recommendations of the State Department and Department of Justice are disregarded. 

The United States has more prisoners in solitary confinement than any other country. In May 2023, the watchdog group Solitary Watch and the advocacy coalition Unlock the Box released a groundbreaking joint report showing that at least 122,840 people are locked daily in solitary confinement in U.S. prisons and jails for 22 or more hours a day.

Pressure on Biden from the Australian Government and Members of the U.S. Congress

In October 2023, a bipartisan group of members of the Australian Parliament traveled to the U.S. and lobbied the U.S. government to drop the charges against Assange.

At the end of October, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited Washington where he raised the Assange issue in a meeting with Biden and repeated his call for President Biden to bring the matter to a close.

On November 8, 2023, 16 Congresspeople from across the political spectrum signed a letter to President Biden, calling on him to drop all charges and withdraw the extradition request. 

In the letter, the members of the U.S. Congress said “We believe the Department of Justice acted correctly in 2013, during your vice presidency, when it declined to pursue charges against Mr. Assange for publishing the classified documents because it recognized that the prosecution would set a dangerous precedent.”

The letter continued, with the Congresspeople stating that they are “well aware that should the US extradition and prosecution go forward, there is a significant risk that our bilateral relationship with Australia will be badly damaged.”

So Why Hasn’t the Biden Administration Dropped the Trump Charges Against Assange? 

What is so ironic is that the Biden administration could immediately withdraw the request for extradition from the UK. It wasn’t Biden’s administration that cooked up the novel legal theory under which Assange is charged–it was the Trump administration.

The Obama administration, for which Biden served as the Vice President for eight years, never charged Julian Assange with a crime.

Is it that Biden fears that right-wing Republican Party members will call him soft on the cooked-up Trump era “non-state actor” legal theory of espionage? 

Surely, the former Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee can see through that smear attempt.

It is long past time for U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to tell President Biden that the Trump charges against Assange, that are the basis for the extradition request, are without merit.

It is long overdue for the United States to cancel its request for extradition of Julian Assange and for Assange to be able to be free from the bogus charges of the past decade.

Call (Comments: 202-456-1111; Switchboard: 202-456-1414)  or write the White House and the U.S. Department of Justice today and demand that charges be dropped.

*

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.

Ann Wright is a retired United States Army colonel and retired U.S. State Department official. She was one of three State Department officials to publicly resign in direct protest of the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. Since that time Colonel Wright has been a dedicated peace activist. Ann can be reached at [email protected].

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”

***

On Monday, January 8, the total number of journalists killed by the Israeli military, often in coordination with the American military and a host of private contractors, contractors who also run the surveillance systems at your high school or shopping mall, the total number of journalists killed in three months of attacks on Gaza reached 111 with the deaths of journalists Abdullah Breis and Mohammed Abu Dayer.

What is happening there? It is most certainly not justified defense of Israel. No one in Israel even believes that any more, now that they are slowly waking up to the deep and painful fraud that was October seventh. It is also not simply the abuse of the much-abused Palestinians, left homeless for generations and subject to the worst restrictions on every aspect of their lives.

Click here to watch the video.

What is done to the Palestinians is horrible, for sure. Yet we Americans should not deceive ourselves about the significance of what is being done over there to those people with names that are hard to pronounce. As horrible as the treatment of Palestinians may be, it bears a similarity to how poor Americans are tortured, bitten by trained dogs, and killed in our private prisons. It is the same systematic abuse by a sick society, America and Israel, steeped in hypocrisy and waddling in depravity.

It is unprecedented in history that so many journalists were tracked by sensors and cameras, that fed data to supercomputers which then systematically ordered them murdered by drones, robots, missiles and bombs for the sin of reporting to the world about the cruel slaughter of civilians in Gaza.

No, the killing of journalists is not about obscure things happening over there in a distant land. No, something entirely different is being rolled out before your very eyes, rolled out so slowly and methodically that you must be very focused in order notice it.

Antony Loewenstein explains in great detail in his book “The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World” the process by which Israeli firms develop new technologies for tracking, identifying, intimidating, and killing people in Gaza and the occupied territories, and then export that technology to the rest of the world, to your neighborhood.

The attack on Gaza is not just about Gaza, and it’s not just about Palestinians. It is a test of new technologies for tracking and killing people that will be sold to the highest bidder—and there are many of them.

So, what does it mean that so many journalists were tracked down and killed in such a short time with such brazen impunity?

The answer is as clear as it is horrifying, terrifying. This is an experiment in ending all reporting, ending all journalism, on a blatantly criminal operation by guaranteeing, via facial recognition software that anyone who tells the truth will be murdered in good time.

When the next stage of the conquest of the earth by the billionaires and their lackeys starts, perhaps even in a few months. When money disappears, when water becomes undrinkable, when access to food ends, when drones, robots, and killer Starlink satellites start to murder at random, when things go over the deep end—as we know they will—I ask you, what new knowhow, what new technology and programs, will the billionaires buy from Israel?

What else but systems for killing journalists and any truthteller.

This is the new reality for them because they know that if they do not kill off journalists and truthtellers fast enough, they will not be able to implement the next stage of the plan.

Thus, what is being done in Gaza today is what will be done in Galveston, Texas, in October; what is done in the West Bank next week will be done in West Bend, Wisconsin, next May.

We must stand together, here, there, and everywhere, to stop this trap that has been set for humanity using cold algorithms on supercomputers.

Stand up and take action today, right where you stand, to shut down this plan, before it shuts all of us down.

*

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

This article was originally published on Fear No Evil.

Emanuel Pastreich served as the president of the Asia Institute, a think tank with offices in Washington DC, Seoul, Tokyo and Hanoi. Pastreich also serves as director general of the Institute for Future Urban Environments. Pastreich declared his candidacy for president of the United States as an independent in February, 2020.

He is a regular contributor to Global Research.