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Under pretexts of reducing social and economic disparities and increasing economic development in East Jerusalem, the Israeli government announcement also made it clear that over $1 billion CAD equivalent investment is focused on strengthening Israeli sovereignty over the city.
The plan is an update of the previous 2-billion-shekel five-year plan (2018-2023). That plan had also focused on strengthening the policy of annexation and so-called integration of Palestinian Jerusalemites into Israeli society.
This new plan will be managed and implemented by the Ministry of Jerusalem Affairs and Jewish Tradition, with annual report-backs around Jerusalem Day. Even the choice of the annual reporting date is an affront. Jerusalem Day is the day that Israel marks the 1967 capture of East Jerusalem, celebrating with provocative flag marches through Palestinian neighbourhoods
Strengthening the Israeli Narrative
In announcing the plan, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated it shows that the Israeli government “attends to the needs of all citizens and residents of Israel and it is strengthening our policy to benefit a united and strong Jerusalem, under Israeli sovereignty.”
In using the word “resident,” Netanyahu refers to those who hold Jerusalem residency but are not afforded Israeli citizenship.
“I am pleased to lead the largest five-year plan for East Jerusalem as someone who believes in strengthening [Israeli] sovereignty over Jerusalem as a whole.”
The mayor of Jerusalem, Moshe Lion, said “the decision that was taken is a sovereign decision.”
The Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, indicated that the Israeli government has allocated 120 million shekels for what he called “strengthening security sovereignty in East Jerusalem.”
He indicated this is “another important step in our relentless struggle to restore personal security in Jerusalem, our capital.”
A Plan to Oppress Palestinians
For Palestinians, this means the money will be aimed at increasing surveillance, militarization, police stations, and security personnel, together with more isolation and racial segregation.
This reality means “Israelization of all aspects of life and obliterating the Palestinian-Arab identity of the city of Jerusalem,” says the Civic Coalition for Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem.
They continued,
“there has always been a clear difference between East and West Jerusalem for the 56 years of occupation of East Jerusalem.”
Budgets, programs and services have been regularly dedicated to West Jerusalem and to the Israeli settlements. They serve the communities’ development and attract more settlers. On the other hand, Palestinian neighborhoods have been deliberately neglected over the decades of the city’s occupation since 1967.
Even though Palestinian residents of occupied East Jerusalem pay taxes to the municipality, the quality of the services they receive is much lower than those in West Jerusalem. Beyond this, the Israeli authorities regularly pursue forced evictions of Palestinian residents, seizing their lands under different pretexts, including so-called public interest and development of the city and law organization, construction, absentee property law and other laws.
Education, Transport, to Serve Israeli State
Education is a key factor in the annexation of the city of Jerusalem. One-third of the new five-year plan’s budget goes toward enforcing the Israeli education system and its curriculum in Palestinian schools in East Jerusalem.
Education is considered the main entrance to obliterating the Palestinian narrative, history and national identity. The Israeli government is intensifying this effort under what they call “reducing the gap.”
Meanwhile, the plan’s funding for transportation infrastructure is not likely to focus on Palestinian communities. Rather, it will likely focus on linking Israeli settlements to each other, through a network of roads, trains, tunnels, bridges, and an air train. This will enable settlers’ movement into the city.
The Civic Coalition notes that “this plan aims, in fact, above all to satisfy the interests and protect the settlers and to increase the isolation and segregation of Arab neighbourhoods.”
Canada’s Silence
So far, Canada’s government officials have remained quiet on this new plan. But this is not surprising. Despite Canada’s official policy that it “does not recognize Israel’s unilateral annexation of East Jerusalem,” it is also evidently not concerned about changing facts on the ground. Canada maintains that “the status of Jerusalem can be resolved only as part of a general settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli dispute.”
This hands-off stance regarding Jerusalem is not new. In fact, Canada’s first vote against a United Nations Resolution associated with Palestine occurred on December 9, 1949. The resolution proposed a permanent international regime for the Jerusalem area and the protection of the Holy Places.
This trend regarding Jerusalem has remained quite consistent over the last 75 years. For example, in 1981, Canada abstained from a UN vote in regard to Israeli excavations in eastern Jerusalem. The resolution indicated that “the excavations and transformations of the landscape and of the historical, cultural and religious sites of Jerusalem constitute a flagrant violation of the principles of international law and the relevant provisions of the Geneva Convention.”
In 1987, Canada voted no to condemning “Israel’s decision to annex Jerusalem and to declare it as its ‘capital’ as well as the measures to alter its physical character, demographic composition, institutional structure, and status.” More recently, in 2016 and 2017, Canada abstained from UN votes on the status of Jerusalem.
But interestingly in 2018, the year that the USA moved its embassy to Jerusalem, Canada switched back to a no vote.
Canada’s Subsidies for Pro-Israel Charities
Canadian charities continue to provide funds to organizations such as Elad/Ir David that use bogus archaeology and delegitimate excavations to advance a colonial narrative – those narratives attempt to erase ancient Palestinian, Muslim, and other non-Jewish heritage in Jerusalem.
There have been about a dozen or so recent complaints to the Canada Revenue Agency about the approximate $100 million out-of-country tax-subsidized funds that have been sent to various pro-Israel charities. Those include several organizations that support the annexation and the so-called “unification” of Jerusalem.
Canada’s stance at the United Nations over the last three-quarters of a century, as with its tolerance for Canadian taxpayers subsidizing Jerusalem’s erasure, reveals its hypocrisy.
Despite a policy that condemns East Jerusalem’s annexation, Canada seems to let the facts on the ground change without any response. Canada fails to uphold international law or even apply its own domestic laws such as the Income Tax Act. As a result, Canadians are inadvertently supporting this erasure of Palestine.
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Featured image: From left to right: Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Jerusalem Affairs and Jewish Heritage Minister Meir Porush, Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion. Credit: Koby Gideon / Municipality of Jerusalem
September 4th, 2023 by Strategic Culture Foundation
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This week saw widespread air strikes on the Russian Federation involving mass aerial drone attacks. Six regions were attacked including the capital, Moscow. Among the targets was the Kursk region where a nuclear plant is located. Several international airports across Russia were temporarily shut down. This is an incredible situation in which Russian territory is being targeted by a military assault not seen since the Great Patriotic War against Nazi Germany.
The U.S. media could barely contain its glee at the surge in air strikes on Russia. The New York Times hailed them as a “morale booster” for Ukraine, while CNN noted cryptically that the Kiev regime was “emboldened” to hit strategic targets inside Russia. The telling question of course not asked by CNN is: emboldened by whom?
Most of the incoming drones were shot down or disabled by Russian air defenses. But that is beside the point that Russian territory is now being targeted by mass attacks. And there can be no doubt that this “emboldened” military campaign is being enabled and directed by the United States and its NATO allies who are arming the Nazi regime in Kiev to the teeth.
The air strike, this week at Pskov airport is particularly revealing. Several Russian military cargo planes were reportedly destroyed. The location is only some 30 kilometers from Russia’s northwestern border with Estonia and over 600 km from Ukraine. It is almost certain that NATO members Estonia and possibly Latvia enabled that attack on Pskov. Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has openly accused NATO of participating in the air assaults on Russian territory. The British publication, The Economist, also reported that NATO hardware, satellite and navigational logistics were vital for the drone campaign.
Dmitry Medvedev, the Deputy Chairman of Russia’s National Security Council, this week stated that Russia now has legal justification for going to war with NATO members directly. He warned that the world is on the brink of a nuclear conflagration.
We need to step back here and see the process of the proverbial boiling-frog scenario. This describes an insidious creeping situation which would otherwise not be tolerated. A frog apparently will jump back from a pot of boiling water but if the frog is placed in the pot of water which is then slowly brought to the boil it will succumb passively to its ill fate.
The process seems apt as a metaphor for the conflict in Ukraine between the U.S.-led NATO bloc and Russia. The Kiev regime was installed in 2014 through a CIA-backed coup against a democratically elected president; it was armed and trained by NATO, despite its vile Nazi battalions, to attack ethnic Russians in Ukraine; when Russia intervened militarily in February 2022 after diplomatic offers were rejected by the U.S. and NATO, the conflict has steadily escalated over the past 18 months to the point where pre-war Russian territory is now coming under mass air strikes.
This mass assault on Russian territory by NATO forces would have been unthinkable only a few months ago. And yet here we are at that astounding point.
There seems little doubt that the air strikes on Russia are a sort of Plan B to compensate for the abject failure of the NATO-backed regime on the battlefields in Ukraine. The much-vaunted “counteroffensive” that started in June has become a debacle for the NATO sponsors. The turn towards drone strikes on Russia appears to be a change in tactic as a way of terrorizing the Russian population and destabilizing the authority of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as distracting from NATO’s military incompetence.
Russia’s defense doctrine mandates the use of nuclear weapons if the state’s existential security is threatened. So far, the NATO-backed drone attacks on Russia have not reached that threshold. But the incremental process is dangerously heading in that dreadful direction.
If we were to turn the tables on the situation, the audacity would become even more apparent. Can anyone imagine for a second how the United States would react if a foreign adversary was enabling the launch of air strikes on Washington DC and other strategic centers, whereby airports were shut down and military infrastructure was being destroyed?
Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News host, said this week that he believed the United States was heading towards a catastrophic hot war with Russia over the coming year. He pointed out that the Biden administration and most of the politicians in Washington are incapable of avoiding such an outcome because of their arrogance, ignorance and irrational Russophobia. The U.S. lackeys in the European Union are also equally pathetic in their acquiescence to such a doomsday scenario.
Russia’s forbearance has been remarkable given the relentless outrageous provocations from the U.S. and NATO. It has reached the stage where Russia has the legal right to defend itself by striking directly at NATO members. World War Three and the end of the planet are all but imminent and only checked because of the immense moral and military fortitude of Russia.
The United States’ incumbent leaders and those of the European Union (with a few honorable exceptions like Hungary’s Viktor Orbán) are showing themselves to the world as the reckless criminals that they are. They are willing to risk the deaths of millions of people and quite possibly planetary extinction.
Russia overcame the existential assault by Nazi Germany. It will do so again against the despicable NATO axis. The formidable strength of the Russian people and its military defenses will ensure that.
However, the ultimate fate of the corrupt Western states is one of definitive, historic failure. The longer this geopolitical conflict in Ukraine persists the deeper will be the fatal damage to Western presumptions of moral authority, governance and its war-driven capitalist economies. The boiling frogs are not in Russia. They are in the endemically corrupt Western regimes.
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This year, we commemorate the 22nd anniversary of the 9/11 WTC bombing. In line with this, we repost this important article by Ae911Truth, first published in 2019.
On September 11, 2001, at 5:20 PM, the 47-story World Trade Center Building 7 collapsed into its footprint, falling more than 100 feet at the rate of gravity for 2.5 seconds of its seven-second destruction.
Despite calls for the evidence to be preserved, New York City officials had the building’s debris removed and destroyed in the ensuing weeks and months, preventing a proper forensic investigation from ever taking place. Seven years later, federal investigators concluded that WTC 7 was the first steel-framed high-rise ever to have collapsed solely as a result of normal office fires.
Today, we at Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth are pleased to partner with the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) in releasing the draft report of a four-year computer modeling study of WTC 7’s collapse conducted by researchers in the university’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. The UAF WTC 7 report concludes that the collapse of WTC 7 on 9/11 was caused not by fire but rather by the near-simultaneous failure of every column in the building.
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To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the other “9/11” —the 1973 Chilean coup, we repost his article by Shane Quinn which was originally published in September 2017.
On September 11, 1973, Salvador Allende’s democratic government in Chile was ousted by United States-backed forces in one of the Cold War’s defining moments. Allende himself was killed during the coup while his presidential palace, La Moneda, was extensively bombed. Many thousands of Chileans were either murdered, “disappeared”, imprisoned, and coerced to emigrate or enter exile. Allende’s widow and family were forced to go into hiding in Mexico for many years.
In replacing Allende the Americans installed General Augusto Pinochet, one of the most notorious of the post-Second World War dictators. During the next 17 years of Pinochet’s dictatorship around 40,000 Chileans were tortured – often under the most sadistic fashion and overseen by doctors in the Josef Mengele style (the Nazi doctor at Auschwitz). The doctors would ensure the victims would remain alive for as long as possible, administer medication to resuscitate them, so the torture could then recommence.
A Chilean who suffered such treatment in these chambers, but survived and later became an international lawyer, was asked where these doctors are today? He replied, “they’re practicing in Santiago”. There have been a number of Mengele-style doctors not only walking free in Chile, but resuming employment unhindered.
There have been no calls from the United States or Israel to bring these Nazi-style physicians to justice. Indeed, the Pinochet regime was already protecting Nazi war criminals such as SS Colonel Walter Rauff, creator of the gas chambers, and Mengele himself.
As the US’s population is approximately 18 times bigger than Chile’s, with an infinitely bigger landmass, the Chilean 9/11 was felt on a far greater scale. Indeed, it was also more destructive. In the US’s 9/11, the White House was not bombed, the President (George W. Bush) was not killed, its people were not imprisoned and tortured en masse after the initial crimes were committed, a brutal dictator and his death squads were not imposed.
Before the Chilean coup in 1973, the country had been a lively, vibrant place where people were welcoming and cheerful. The Pinochet years afflicted upon the population persistent feelings of terror and suspicion.
A few days after the coup was implemented National Security Adviser Henry Kissingerdescribed the situation in Chile as,
Except to the people of Chile that is. Following Allende’s election three years before, Kissinger told CIA director Richard Helms over the phone,
“We will not let Chile go down the drain”, to which Helms responded, “I am with you”.
Kissinger, a future Nobel Peace Prize winner, had been implicated in other war crimes such as an open call for genocide in Cambodia in 1969, “Anything that flies on everything that moves”.
Disturbed by Allende’s election victory in early September 1970, US President Richard Nixon ordered the CIA to, “prevent Allende from coming to power or to unseat him”. Allende was not due to take office until two months later. The US State Department suggested to, “let Allende come in and see what we can work out”, – the words “work out” denoting a sinister undertone judging by the record books.
However, President Nixon rejected the State Department’s proposal, protesting the possibility of,
“Like another Castro? Like in Czechoslovakia? The same people said the same thing. Don’t let them do that”.
President Nixon expressed caution saying that,
“We don’t want a big story leaking out that we are trying to overthrow the government”, before warning Kissinger “to be sure the paper record doesn’t look bad”.
Kissinger forwarded to Secretary of State William Rogers that,
“The President’s view is to do the maximum possible to prevent an Allende takeover”.
The aim of the Nixon administration in attempting to overthrow Allende’s incoming government was to destroy independent nationalism, or what was called a “virus” that might “infect” others – the domino effect. After all Henry Stimson, the US Secretary of War during World War II, described Latin America as “our little region over here which has never bothered anybody”.
Chile obviously came under the auspices of “our little region”, despite the fact its capital Santiago is over 8,000 km from Washington. The rights of nations to manage their own affairs is an unacceptable prospect to US planners. We see examples of this to the present day.
In the meantime, “the maximum possible to prevent an Allende takeover” failed as the former physician successfully assumed office in November 1970. The CIA had been sent to work in building support for Allende’s rival, former President Jorge Alessandri, but to no avail. Instead the CIA exerted covert pressure, including paying millions of dollars to opposition groups to speed up Allende’s ousting.
The four-week tour of Chile by Cuban leader Fidel Castro in late 1971 further alarmed policymakers in the US. Allende himself had visited Cuba about a decade before, and had been impressed by the progress made by Castro’s revolution, before again visiting the island nation in 1972.
By the following year Allende was ousted and killed, with crucial CIA input, as Pinochet went about privatising the Chilean economy to suit American corporate requirements. The “Chicago boys”, neoliberal Chilean economists trained at University of Chicago, were welcomed into the government – and were supported by the IMF and the World Bank.
The Chicago boys’ policies had a disastrous effect on the population as unemployment more than doubled between 1974 and 1975, to over 18%. By 1983 unemployment further rocketed to 34.6%, far worse than the Great Depression in the US.
The population revolted at various stages but this is where Pinochet’s brutal methods of repression came in useful, and was no doubt welcomed by the US government, IMF, and so on. Furthermore, Pinochet was a major drug trafficker who sold cocaine to the US and Europe in the 1980s, amassing a personal fortune in the process, along with his cronies. Pinochet, who also had links to Colombian drug dealers, said
“Not a leaf moves in Chile if I don’t move it – let that be clear”.
Meanwhile, the population continued to slide into poverty and desolation.
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Shane Quinn obtained an honors journalism degree. He is interested in writing primarily on foreign affairs, having been inspired by authors like Noam Chomsky. He is a frequent contributor to Global Research.
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This year, we commemorate the 22nd anniversary of the 9/11 WTC bombing. In line with this, we repost this important article by Stephen Lendman, first published in 2019.
David Ray Griffin’s Legacy Will Live. It Embodies 9/11 Truth
“The Mysterious Collapse of World Trade Center 7: Why the Final Official Report About 9/11 Is Unscientific and False” by the late David Ray Griffin debunked the official account of what happened.
He explained that the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s official findings were fabricated.
He accused NIST of falsifying and ignoring hard evidence, sticking to the official Big Lie about WTC 7’s collapse.
AE911Truth’s Richard Gage said the following about Griffin’s book:
He “provided a comprehensive dismantling of NIST’s theory about WTC 7, according to which it suffered global collapse because of ordinary building fires,” adding:
“Besides showing that NIST committed massive scientific fraud, Griffin also points out that NIST was able to complete its theory only by affirming a miracle: a steel-framed high-rise building coming down in free fall even though explosives had not been used to remove its columns.”
Physics Professor John Wyndham said
“Griffin show(ed) that NIST’s WTC 7 report has no scientific credibility.”
Big Lies take on a life of their own because establishment media report them as facts — serving as press agents for powerful interests inimical to peace, equity and justice.
The official 9/11 story is the Biggest Big Lie of our time — about the mother of all state-sponsored false flags, dark forces in Washington responsible.
Osama bin Laden and so-called “crazed Arabs” had nothing to do with what happened on a day that will live in infamy forever.
It opened the gates of hell for endless US wars of aggression against nonbelligerent states threatening no one — responsible for countless millions of deaths and human misery on an appalling scale.
Seriously ill with kidney disease and other ailments, bin Ladin in mid-2001 was being treated at the American Hospital in Dubai.
On September 10, 2001 (one day before 9/11), CBS News anchor Dan Rather reported his admittance to a Rawalpindi, Pakistan hospital. He was dying.
On July 11, 2002, The NYT said “Osama bin Laden is dead. (He) died in December (2001) and was buried in the mountains of southeast Afghanistan.”
The BBC, Fox News, and other media sources reported the same information.
On December 26, 2001, a leading Pakistani newspaper reported bin Laden’s death. It cited a prominent Taliban official who attended his funeral – witnessing his dead body before it was laid to rest.
Obama didn’t kill Osama, another Big Lie of our time. So-called “Enemy Number One” was an unwitting CIA asset — recruited in the 1980s by Pakistani intelligence against Soviet Russia in Afghanistan.
The official 9/11 account was fabricated to conceal state-sponsored terrorism, dark forces in Washington responsible for what happened.
David Ray Griffin 10 books on the 9/11 Big Lie provide the most detailed account of what happened and its aftermath — including about the 9/11 (whitewash) Commission.
Jet fuel had nothing to do with bringing down the twin towers. The BBC reported WTC 7’s collapse nearly 30 minutes before it happened.
UK activist Tony Rooke refused to pay his BBC license fee — required of all Brits to watch television.
He cited Section 15 of Britain’s 2000 Terrorism Act, stating it’s an “offense for someone to invite another to provide money, intending that it should be used, or having reasonable cause to suspect that it may be used, for terrorism purposes.”
He accused the BBC of reporting the collapse of WTC 7 before it came down. A UK judge agreed with him, his victory unreported by US establishment media — part of their conspiracy of silence about hard truths dark forces want suppressed.
Fires and heavy debris from the twin towers had nothing to do with WTC 7’s collapse — the official Big Lie reported by Western media.
A four-year study by University of Alaska’s J. Leroy Hulsey, South Carolina Department of Transportation bridge engineer Zhili Quan, and Nanjing University of Science and Technology Department of Civil Engineering academic Feng Xiao titled “A Structural Reevaluation of the Collapse of World Trade Center” was in part funded by Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth (AE911Truth).
It provided detailed scientific evidence of what caused WTC 7’s collapse, debunking the official Big Lie.
The study’s “principle conclusion…is that fire did not cause the collapse of WTC 7 on
9/11, contrary to the conclusions of NIST and private engineering firms that studied the collapse.”
The official 9/11 account was fabricated, suppressing hard truths about what happened on that fateful day, changing the course of history.
According to the study, scientific evidence shows that “fires could not have caused weakening or displacement of structural members capable of initiating any of the hypothetical local failures alleged to have triggered the total collapse of the building, nor could any local failures, even if they had occurred, have triggered a sequence of failures that would have resulted in the observed total collapse.”
WTC 7’s collapse “was a global failure involving the near-simultaneous failure of every column in the building.”
No “progressive collapse involving the sequential failure of columns throughout the building” occurred.”
Nothing external to WTC 7 caused its free fall collapse in 2.5 seconds. Debris from the twin towers and building 7 was removed and destroyed to prevent a proper forensic analysis, AE911Truth explained.
On 9/11, remaining remnants of rule of law in the US died. Endless war on humanity at home and abroad replaced it.
Things are worsening, not improving — both right wings of the US war party responsible for an increasingly nightmarish scenario.
US rage for unchallenged dominance risks unthinkable/potentially catastrophic global war by accident or design, including possible use of nuclear weapons for the first time in earnest — a nightmarish scenario if things turn out this way.
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Award-winning author Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at [email protected]. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG)
His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”
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This year, we commemorate the 22nd anniversary of the 9/11 WTC bombing. In line with this, we repost this important article by Dr. Gary Kohls, first published in 2019.
“It is my firm belief that 9/11 skeptics—and true skeptics of any paradigm-shifting and taboo subject—who publicly expose lies and ‘naked emperors’ are heroes …They have suffered the ridicule and wrath of those emperors, their minions, and the just plain frightened…In our American society, many of our authority figures routinely lie to us, but nonetheless, many citizens continue to look to them for truth and safety—especially when fear is heightened.
This strong tendency to believe and obey authority is another obstacle with which skeptics of the official 9/11 account must contend…By unquestioningly believing and obeying authority, we make very bad decisions, which often negatively affect others. This can be equally true for the four human proclivities studied by social psychologists: doublethink, cognitive dissonance, conformity, and groupthink.” – Frances Shure, clinical psychologist and early skeptic of the official 9/11 Conspiracy Theory that two hi-jacked commercial jet planes caused three concrete, steel-reinforced towers to explode into fine dust and collapse into their own footprints in less than 12 seconds.
“One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.” – Carl Sagan
“We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth … For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it might cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it.” — Patrick Henry – March 23, 1775
“It also gives us a very special, secret pleasure to see how unaware the people around us are of what is really happening to them. … “What good fortune for those in power that the people do not think.” — Adolf Hitler
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State. … Propaganda must always be essentially simple and repetitious. The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly… it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over.”– Joseph Goebbels, German Nazi “Minister of Propaganda and Public Enlightenment”
“We’ll know that our disinformation campaign has worked when everything the American public believes is false.” — William Casey, Ronald Reagan’s CIA Director at his first staff meeting, 1981
“Image of the World Trade Center’s South Tower as it explodes, from top to bottom, into fine dust and severed steel columns. Within the next 12 seconds much of the tower blows away and the rest collapses into its own footprint into a relatively small pile of debris. The arrow points to one of the exploding “squibs” from one of the multitude of pre-planted demolition charges that are intended to section all the massive steel 110 story columns (4 inches thick at their bases) which allowed the building to fall straight down rather than falling sideways and causing damage to adjacent structures or people. This image is typical of what it looks like when standard controlled demolitions take down high-rise buildings in the most cost-effective manner possible. In the 100 year history of skyscrapers, the only tall buildings that have ever fallen down without controlled demolitions (allegedly) were the 3 World Trade Center Towers 1, 2 and 7 – and they all happened on 9/11/2001!. ” (Check out www.ae911truth.org for everything you need to know about the many anomalies that conclusively disprove the “official”, CIA-, Pentagon- White House- Mainstream Media-approved conspiracy theories about what happened of 9/11.)
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The question posited by the title of this article, explores the dilemma faced by truth-seekers who have the facts that totally refute the Big Lies about 9/11/2001 about which the mainstream media, their elected representatives in Congress, their presidents and the Deep State refuse to debate.
These “9/11 Truthers” have been unfairly labeled “conspiracy theorists” (a pejorative term invented by the CIA after the John F. Kennedy assassination in 1963 raised all sorts of skepticism doubting the official story blaming “the single shooter”).
This courageous group of truth-seekers have been attempting to inform and enlighten individuals and institutions that have chosen to disregard and/or disbelieve the overwhelmingly documentable evidence that proves that pre-planted controlled demolition charges – and not airplanes – pulverized into fine dust the three WTC towers on 9/11/01.
The corollary of course is that the three towers could not have bee demolished by anybody other than insiders using explosives.
Given that the alleged planes that allegedly hit 2 of the towers were commercial planes (that of course contained no explosives), no other conclusion can be drawn than that the explosives that brought down the three skyscrapers had been pre-planted in the manner of classical controlled demolitions, which are the only way that concrete, steel-reinforced, high-rise buildings can be efficiently demolished.
It is obvious to many folks who were alive and aware in the era of the assassinations of the 1960s (the Kennedy brothers and Martin Luther King) that 9/11/01 was a false flag operation that has seriously (and intentionally, according to the Project for the New American Century – google it) destabilized the Middle East and the world and justified the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan. And, of course the rapid passage of the Patriot Act by the bamboozled US Congress ensured that the United States took another step closer to becoming an armed police state, by seriously curtailing the civil liberties of its citizens.
That series of programmed events started a state of perpetual US-led wars in the Mideast (wars that only benefited our one ally in the area [Israel]. It also ensured the lucrative future of America’s military-industrial-congressional complex and global weapons manufacturers.
These self-perpetuating – and ultimately bankrupting – wars have destroyed and are continuing to destroy the physical and psychological well-being of the tens of thousands of duped patriot soldiers (and their families) as well as the millions of unarmed innocents that were victimized by the lethal, often indiscriminate weaponry of our military. Also victimized forever were their cultures, their religions, their economies and the very planet that militarism is making uninhabitable.
And, it must be mentioned, our illegal and ill-advised military aggressions have raised up billions of mortal enemies all around the world whose enmity and justified desire for revenge will never be quenched until “the Great Satan” is finally beaten.
The dilemma raised by the title question, “Why Do Good People Remain Silent”, has been faced throughout the history of the world by a multitude of truth-seekers and truth-tellers long before the events of 9/11. A short list of American examples that have shaped world history was enumerated in the previous two Duty to Warn columns, which are available at (See this).
The “bamboozle quote” from Carl Sagan above should help any thinking person to understand one of the psychological reasons why both human and inhuman entities (such as corporations and the corporate-controlled press) so readily accept – and even promote – Big Lies; and then, when the truth comes out that thoroughly refutes the lies, these entities refuse to admit that they have been bamboozled.
One expects major corporate media networks like ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, the New York Times, the Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times and the Wall Street Journal (not to mention the Duluth News-Tribune) to refuse to admit that they are shills for the Deep State or their corporate advertisers or just being duped by them, but even the more honorable BBC, PBS, NPR and MPR do the same by continuously using the phrase “terrorist attacks on 9/11” instead of telling the truth. Perhaps, if one could only get through to these unaccountable and unreachable talking heads, they might at least claim that they were unaware of what is blatantly obvious to most unbiased observers.
The quotes from Hitler and Goebbels could have easily been made by J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI, Allen Dulles’ CIA and right-wing politicians like the odious politicians during the McCarthy, leftist witch-hunt era, not to mention any number of the pro-militarization, pro-war, pseudo-patriotic “my country right or wrong” types that profitably occupy Wall Street, War Street and Washington, DC.
Those realities should help us understand how the misleaders of militarily powerful empires are able to manipulate the “Good Germans” of every nationality into believing Big Lies.
Anyone who isn’t a 9/11 Skeptic or a Boeing 737 Skeptic or a Vaccine Safety Skeptic isn’t Paying Attention (or has been Duped by or is a Shill for Corporate Power).
Clinical psychologist Frances Shure, who was an early skeptic of the official White House conspiracy theories has experienced her share of criticism from those who tend to implicitly trust their leaders. Her story, in a 9-part series on the subject, discusses the psychological background about how public opinion and beliefs can be manipulated. The series can be found here.
It is painful being an artificially demeaned and unfairly criticized “conspiracy theorist” about 9/11. Even though the 9/11 Truth-tellers have the scientific truth behind them, they have been mistreated by the mass media as a despised out-group for the past 18 years.
Being a 9/11 truth-teller is like being a black-listed anti-fascist author, writer or musician during Hitler’s thousand-year Reich or during the proto-fascist American McCarthy era of the 1950s.
One has to sympathize with Galileo who was persecuted by the authoritarian church when he proved that the earth revolved around the sun when 99.9% of the world believed that the sun revolved around the earth – because it said so in the bible.
I personally empathize with the Hungarian physician Ignaz Semmelweis who proved in the mid-1800s that washing or sterilizing one’s hands before delivering a baby resulted in a dramatic decrease in post-delivery deaths of new mothers from “child-bed fever”. 99.9% of physicians at the time often delivered babies between performing autopsies without washing their hands. His discovery never caught on with the profession, although midwives understood the wisdom and washed their hands prior to deliveries. The midwive’s patients had 10 times fewer deaths from infection than the doctor’s patients. Dr Semmelweis, just like many other dissident physicians to follow, was ostracized by his arrogant and ignorant profession for promoting such a radical notion and, labeled as being mentally ill, died in disgrace in a mental institution a few years later.
Cognitive Dissonance and 9/11
One major psychological factor that helps explain why the Cheney/Bush White House’s official conspiracy theory has become so ingrained is the concept of cognitive dissonance. A good YouTube discussion of the title question – by a number of psychologist colleagues of Frances Shure – can be seen here. I highly recommend watching it.
I wrote a Duty to Warn column devoted to the subject of cognitive dissonance in 2013. It has been archived here.
Here are a couple of paragraphs from the article:
“Cognitive dissonance refers to the psychological or emotional discomfort felt when one is confronted with new information or a new reality that contradicts one’s deeply held beliefs.
“When there are conflicting, mutually exclusive beliefs, intelligent, open-minded and thoughtful people that have not been victimized by significant psychological trauma during their upbringing, are usually willing to change their minds by re-evaluating their prior stances, looking carefully and honestly at the new evidence, reassessing the credibility of both positions and then making a decision to adopt or reject the new information, depending on the evidence before them.
“Close-minded, distracted, uninformed, addicted, ignorant, too-busy, overly obedient, uber-patriotic, co-opted or radically conservative people may not have the time, inclination, intelligence or political will (or courage) to look at the available new evidence that runs contrary to their old, ingrained beliefs. Therefore, they may unconsciously or reflexively reject the new information, even if the evidence is overwhelmingly and provably true.”
Not too many people that live in punitive, militarized empires have the courage to do what the whistle-blowing boy did when he saw that his emperor had no clothes on. Not too many people want to be truth-tellers in a nation whose governmental bodies imprison, expel, black-lists or bans truth-tellers and their stories and suppresses every truth that threatens national security and corporate security or profitability.
Hitler got his timid or privileged “Good Germans” – who lived outside the concentration camps – to believe the Big Lie that “Arbeit Macht Frei” (“work makes one free” even inside a concentration camp) and that his dictatorship would last a thousand years. Citizens of supposedly democratic societies like America’s are told that “The Truth Shall Make You Free”, that “The Pen is Mightier Than the Sword” and that “The Arc of History Bends Towards Justice”. Don’t believe it, unless lots of courageous citizen take action and demand justice. Otherwise, those noble thought are just cunning lies to calm the people.
Without a body of dissenters, whistle-blowers and courageous people of conscience (like the multitude of banned 9/11 truth-seekers and antiwar, anti-globalist, anti-fascist activists) that are willing to go up against the conscienceless, the profiteers, the globalists, the fascists, the militarists, the racists, the corporate polluters, the economic exploiters, the bankers and the sociopathic corporations those exploiters will continue to grow in power, wealth and influence – fouling our planetary nest as they go. I would hate to see them succeed.
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Dr Kohls writes regularly about a variety of issues that includes corporatism, globalism, militarism, economic oppression, racism and fascism. He is a member of Medical Professionals for 911 Truth. Besides the website for Architects and Engineers for 911 Truth (www.ae911truth.org) the following websites are excellent: this and this.
Lest we forget, one day before the 9/11 attacks [as well as on the morning of 9/11, the dad of the sitting President of the United States of America, George Herbert Walker Bush was meeting none other than Shafiq bin Laden, the brother of the alleged terror mastermind Osama bin Laden.
There’s a lot of trash on the Moon right now – including nearly 100 bags of human waste – and with countries around the globe traveling to the Moon, there’s going to be a lot more, both on the lunar surface and in Earth’s orbit.
In a defiant stand against the suppression of real science and the subversion of medical ethics, Canadian physician Dr. Mark Trozzi has found himself in the crosshairs of a legal battle with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO). Dr. Trozzi, one of the early doctors to challenge prevailing COVID-19 narratives, faces a lengthy and expensive ‘trial’ as he seeks to defend his views grounded in science and genuine concern for patient well-being.
Australia experienced this in February 2021. Facebook had gotten nastily stroppy, wishing to dictate public policy to the Commonwealth government. To teach Canberra mandarins a lesson, it literally unfriended the entire country, scrubbing all news platforms of content and making any posted links through the platform inaccessible.
On September 3, the Russian Federation is marking a memorable date, specifically, the Day of Solidarity in the Fight against Terrorism that became part of Russian legislation in 2005, a year after a horrendous terrorist attack in Beslan that killed over 300 Russian citizens, including children.
I have watched various images and commentary-laced video clips of this strange event and concede that they can be attributed to Directed Energy Weapons (DEW). I was sceptical of DEW capabilities until the Maui incident.
After it was recently announced that the Digital Service Act (DSA) for very large platforms and search engines has come into force, which is supposed to limit the power of internet monopolists and expand possibilities of political censorship, the well-known German business journalist Dr. Norbert Häring has now reported on his blog that the EU project “Jitsuvax” will be funded with 3.1 million euros over a period of four years to develop psychological methods to combat vaccination scepticism.
Potentially 50% of COVID-19 mRNA vaccinated people have spike protein in the blood at least 6 months after vaccination or longer, maybe indefinitely! Potentially 60% of Long COVID-19 patients have spike protein in the blood at least 12 months after infection, or longer, maybe indefinitely!
U.S. banks are again in the crosshairs. Standard and Poor’s has downgraded five new middle-tier banks and put three others on negative outlook. This follows sweeping downgrades earlier in August by Moody’s, which cut credit ratings on 10 banks and placed four of the 15 largest U.S. banks on review for possible downgrade.
Wikipedia is the most biased encyclopedia in history, having been hijacked by U.S. intelligence, industry and the political establishment years ago. According to Wikipedia cofounder Larry Sanger, U.S. intelligence has been manipulating the online encyclopedia since at least 2008, if not longer.
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There’s a lot of trash on the Moon right now – including nearly 100 bags of human waste – and with countries around the globe traveling to the Moon, there’s going to be a lot more, both on the lunar surface and in Earth’s orbit.
In August 2023, Russia’s Luna-25 probe crashed into the Moon’s surface, while India’s Chandrayann-3 mission successfully landed in the southern polar region, making India the fourth country to land on the Moon.
With more countries landing on the Moon, people back on Earth will have to think about what happens to all the landers, waste and miscellaneous debris left on the lunar surface and in orbit.
People think of space as vast and empty, but the near-Earth environment is starting to get crowded. As many as 100 lunar missions are planned over the next decade by governments and private companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin.
Near-Earth orbit is even more congested than the space between Earth and the Moon. It’s from 100 to 500 miles straight up, compared with 240,000 miles to the Moon. Currently there are nearly 7,700 satellites within a few hundred miles of the Earth. That number could grow to several hundred thousand by 2027. Many of these satellites will be used to deliver internet to developing countries or to monitor agriculture and climate on Earth. Companies like SpaceX have dramatically lowered launch costs, driving this wave of activity.
“It’s going to be like an interstate highway, at rush hour in a snowstorm, with everyone driving much too fast,” space launch expert Johnathan McDowelltold Space.com.
The Problem of Space Junk
All this activity creates hazards and debris. Humans have left a lot of junk on the Moon, including spacecraft remains like rocket boosters from over 50 crashed landings, nearly 100 bags of human waste and miscellaneous objects like a feather, golf balls and boots. It adds up to around 200 tons of our trash.
The clutter in Earth’s orbit includes defunct spacecraft, spent rocket boosters and items discarded by astronauts such as a glove, a wrench and a toothbrush. It also includes tiny pieces of debris like paint flecks.
There are around 23,000 objects larger than 10 cm (4 inches) and about 100 million pieces of debris larger than 1 mm (0.04 inches). Tiny pieces of junk might not seem like a big issue, but that debris is moving at 15,000 mph (24,140 kph), 10 times faster than a bullet. At that speed, even a fleck of paint can puncture a spacesuit or destroy a sensitive piece of electronics.
The amount of debris in orbit has increased dramatically since the 1960s.
In 1978, NASA scientist Donald Kessler described a scenario where collisions between orbiting pieces of debris create more debris, and the amount of debris grows exponentially, potentially rendering near-Earth orbit unusable. Experts call this the “Kessler syndrome.”
Nobody Is in Charge Up There
The United Nations Outer Space Treaty of 1967 says that no country can “own” the Moon or any part of it, and that celestial bodies should only be used for peaceful purposes. But the treaty is mute about companies and individuals, and it says nothing about how space resources can and can’t be used.
The United Nations Moon Agreement of 1979 held that the Moon and its natural resources are the common heritage of humanity. However, the United States, Russia and China never signed it, and in 2016 the U.S. Congress created a law that unleashed the American commercial space industry with very few restrictions.
Because of its lack of regulation, space junk is an example of a “tragedy of the commons,” where many interests have access to a common resource, and it may become depleted and unusable to everyone, because no interest can stop another from overexploiting the resource.
The author and his research collaborators argued that U.S. environmental regulations should apply to the licensing of space launches. However, the court declined to rule on the environmental issue because it said the group lacked standing.
The tragedy of the commons asserts that if everyone has unlimited access to a resource, then in the long run it may become depleted and unusable.
National geopolitical and commercial interests will likely take precedence over interplanetary conservation efforts unless the United Nations acts. A new treaty may emerge from the work of the U.N. Office for Outer Space Affairs, which in May 2023 generated a policy document to address the sustainable development of activities in space.
The U.N. can regulate the activities of only its member states, but it has a project to help member states craft national-level policies that advance the goals of sustainable development.
NASA has created and signed the Artemis Accords, broad but nonbinding principles for cooperating peacefully in space. They have been signed by 28 countries, but the list does not include China or Russia. Private companies are not party to the accords either, and some space entrepreneurs have deep pockets and big ambitions.
The lack of regulation and the current gold rush approach to space exploration mean that space junk and waste will continue to accumulate, as will the related problems and dangers.
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Chris Impey is a University Distinguished Professor of Astronomy, University of Arizona.
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(This version contains Robert J Sawyer’s original narration. The previous version (June 17, 2023) was a second take after this version was lost. MW September 4, 2023)
“Should we let machines flood our information channels with propaganda and untruth? Should we automate away all the jobs, including the fulfilling ones? Should we develop nonhuman minds that might eventually outnumber, outsmart, obsolete and replace us? Should we risk loss of control of our civilization? Such decisions must not be delegated to unelected tech leaders…
Therefore, we call on all AI labs to immediately pause for at least 6 months the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4.” – Future of Life Institute (March 22, 2023) [1]
“Wonder is not only a superb conclusion to a tremendous trilogy, but stands alone as one of the best books that Sawyer has ever written.” – Winnipeg Free Press [2]
Imagine a world where you can now take your problems to a computer and found that it is the best therapist you ever had! Where the companion on-line that could well be the love of your life based on your private conversations is in fact not human! Where every professor, every lawyer, every writer, every artist, every detective, physician and architect you ever met cannot match this new program at your finger tips! And how this threatens just about every upper income job in existence!
Ladies and gentlemen, it seems that this moment may finally be upon us…
The Artificial Intelligence research laboratory OpenAI, which ran on a non-profit basis, announced the release of ChatGPT, an AI chatbot on November 30, 2022. Two months later, it was used by 100 million users! And the numbers have continued to expand ever since. [3]
Then in February of 2023, Microsoft announced it was building AI technology on the same foundation as ChatGPT and incorporating it into Microsoft Bing, Edge, and other products. Then in March, the Future of Life Institute has attracted the signatures of several people specializing in Artificial Intelligence in calling for a “ pause for at least 6 months” in the development of post-GPT-4 AI systems. The ability to further inflame our media with mis-information and dis-information, the disruption of the Labour landscape and yes even an attack or subversion against humanity by an artificial system that can out-think us are some of the primary concerns. [4][5]
This episode of the Global Research News Hour takes a deep dive into these various areas and both the opportunities and the perils from which we cannot turn back once we have crossed the first threshold of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
This week’s guests feature individuals fully capable of engaging the host in a fifty minute long conversation: Khal Shariff, head of the Virtual Reality and related Technology company Project Whitecard, and Robert J Sawyer, the acclaimed Canadian Science fiction author and keynote speaker.
Khal Shariff is the founder and CEO of Project Whitecard, a company dedicated to using technology for good. They use game technology for education, and the latest project is all about driver training in BC, where Project Whitecard is using AI extensively during development.
Robert J Sawyer is, according to multiple press organizations, the leading science fiction author in Canada. The only Canadian to receive all 3 of the world’s top science fiction awards for best novel of the year, he is also the first writer to receive the Lifetime Achievement Aurora Award. His now fourteen year old series, Wake, Watch and Wonder (WWW), was his in-depth look at Artificial Intelligence and received the Hugo Award and three Aurora Awards.
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.
Tom Dotan (February 10, 2023)’Microsoft Adds ChatGPT AI Technology to Bing Search Engine’, Wall Street Journal; https://www.wsj.com/articles/microsoft-adds-chatgpt-ai-technology-to-bing-search-engine-11675793525
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The RAIR Foundation Wrote:
Dr. Mark Trozzi’s haunting words, ‘People are being processed as animals with no rights, and when you consider the chilling predictability and the mounting data, it’s a grim reality—hospitals turning into places of harm instead of healing,’
In a defiant stand against the suppression of real science and the subversion of medical ethics, Canadian physician Dr. Mark Trozzi has found himself in the crosshairs of a legal battle with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO).
Dr. Trozzi, one of the early doctors to challenge prevailing COVID-19 narratives, faces a lengthy and expensive ‘trial’ as he seeks to defend his views grounded in science and genuine concern for patient well-being.
Dr. Trozzi’s ordeal symbolizes the larger struggle within the medical community, where divergent perspectives on COVID-19 and vaccine-related issues have led to clashes between medical professionals and regulatory bodies. The CPSO’s tribunal against Dr. Trozzi, rather than focusing on patient safety and the pursuit of medical truth, appears to be driven by a need to protect political authority and state ideology.
Unveiling Insights Through Exclusive Interview
Amidst his legal battle, RAIR Foundation USA had the privilege of conducting an exclusive interview with Dr. Mark Trozzi. In this enlightening conversation, Dr. Trozzi shares his remarkable journey through the pandemic landscape. He candidly discusses the formidable challenges he encountered as a physician, navigating through a landscape where hospitals appeared to exaggerate their strain, narratives were manipulated to shape public opinion, and the pervasive influence of global health organizations cast a shadow over medical decision-making.
In the interview, Dr. Trozzi delves into the significance of treatments like hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin in the battle against COVID-19. He provides critical insights into his departure from the mainstream narrative, driven by research indicating a higher mortality rate among recipients of experimental COVID-19 shots compared to other vaccines. Dr. Trozzi also addresses concerns about the rate of miscarriages observed during Pfizer’s COVID “vaccine” trials.
Dr. Trozzi’s Trial
Central to this conflict is Dr. Trozzi’s steadfast dedication to articulating perspectives that challenge unscientific state mandates, fortified by his reliance on scientific evidence. He is a vocal critic of the mainstream COVID-19 narrative, particularly in relation to “vaccine” mandates. According to Dr. Trozzi, the CPSO’s actions indicate an attempt to silence honest scientific discourse and stifle freedom of speech.
The latest phase of Dr. Trozzi’s trial, which unfolded on July 10, 2023, marked a significant turn of events. Proceedings resumed before the CPSO, but not without a protracted battle over expert witnesses. The CPSO made multiple attempts to disqualify Dr. Peter McCullough, a prominent figure in the medical community, from testifying as an expert witness. Despite their efforts, Dr. McCullough eventually took the stand and provided a compelling defense.
Additionally, Deanna McLeod, a seasoned clinical trials expert with over 20 years of professional experience and a lead investigator at the Canadian Covid Care Alliance (CCCA), was scheduled to testify as an expert witness. She intended to present evidence related to Pfizer’s initial clinical trial data, which can be found here: link. However, the CPSO engaged in lengthy questioning and ultimately disqualified her as an expert witness, a decision that raised questions given her extensive expertise.
Dr. Paul Alexander was also scheduled to testify in Dr. Trozzi’s defense, but circumstances prevented him from doing so. Dr. Alexander, who would have faced rigorous questioning from the CPSO, had to withdraw due to a family emergency, leaving Dr. McCullough as the sole expert witness to testify. The CPSO’s persistent attempts to disqualify expert witnesses, including the abuse endured by Deanna McCLeod, shed light on the contentious nature of the trial and raised concerns about the transparency of the proceedings.
While Dr. McCullough did testify briefly, he effectively demonstrated that there were no issues with Dr. Trozzi’s actions or words, affirming the validity of his position. For a detailed look at the CPSO trial proceedings, including the challenges faced by Deanna McCLeod and the CPSO’s handling of objections from Dr. Trozzi’s legal team, you can view the available recordings on the What’s Up Canada channel. These recordings encompass the entire trial and offer valuable insights into the events that transpired.
Ethical Dilemmas and Upholding Medical Standards
The interview offers a unique perspective on the ethical dilemmas faced by medical professionals who challenge prevailing narratives. Dr. Trozzi reveals the suspension of some of the best doctors, whose commitment to their Hippocratic Oath led them to provide alternative treatments. This commitment eventually led to the suppression of honest medical opinions and the revocation of licenses.
Dr. Trozzi’s insights extend to the shifting dynamics of medical practice, where the role of doctors has transformed from patient-centered care to enforcing state-driven narratives. The interview provides an intimate glimpse into Dr. Trozzi’s unwavering dedication to the pursuit of medical truth and his belief in the power of science to shape a just future.
As the CPSO’s decision looms, the legal battle led by Dr. Trozzi resonates as a reminder of the delicate balance between medical authority, scientific inquiry, and individual rights. The outcome holds far-reaching implications not only for Dr. Trozzi and his colleagues but for the broader landscape of medical discourse and patient care in Ontario. Dr. Trozzi’s steadfast faith in science and the collective conscience shines as a beacon of hope in a polarized medical landscape.
Further Resources for Deeper Understanding
For those seeking to delve further into Dr. Mark Trozzi’s perspectives and insights, here is a collection of essential resources that shed light on the issues he passionately addresses:
Inaugural Publication (January 2021): Dr. Trozzi’s first article and video, published in January 2021, offers a foundational understanding of his concerns. Access it here.
Synergistic Bioweapons (December 2021): In this article, dated December 14, 2021, Dr. Trozzi delves into the concept of synergistic bioweapons. Explore it here.
The Immune System Series (May and August 2023): Dr. Trozzi expands on the intricacies of how the COVID vaccines impact the immune system. Watch the enlightening video series here and here.
Canada’s Cover-up Exposed (July 2022): Dr. Trozzi uncovers a disturbing cover-up within Canada. Read about it here.
The Fertility Crisis (2022-2023): Dr. Trozzi delves into the crucial topic of fertility and its relation to the bioweapons narrative. Explore his insights through articles such as this and this.
Autopsies for Gathering Evidence (December 2022): Dr. Trozzi provides valuable information about autopsies as a means to gather evidence. Read about it here.
Comprehensive Website: Dr. Trozzi’s official website, www.drtrozzi.org, hosts over 700 posts available in 23 languages. The content is fully searchable and offers a wealth of knowledge.
Newsletter Subscription: Stay updated with Dr. Trozzi’s latest insights by subscribing to his newsletter here.
Supporting the Cause: Donations to Dr. Trozzi’s cause are greatly appreciated. The battle against establishment pressures requires continued dedication and support. Contribute here.
Prophetic Warning (June 2021): In June 2021, Dr. Trozzi released a video and article that eerily predicted the dangers of the COVID vaccines, now proven accurate over two years later. Dive into the details here.
World Council for Health: Dr. Trozzi is an integral part of the World Council for Health, an organization dedicated to fostering global health awareness.
These resources provide an opportunity for readers to explore Dr. Mark Trozzi’s extensive body of work, insights, and advocacy for medical ethics and informed decision-making.
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Featured image is from Dr. Mark Trozzi
The Worldwide Corona Crisis, Global Coup d’Etat Against Humanity
by Michel Chossudovsky
Michel Chossudovsky reviews in detail how this insidious project “destroys people’s lives”. He provides a comprehensive analysis of everything you need to know about the “pandemic” — from the medical dimensions to the economic and social repercussions, political underpinnings, and mental and psychological impacts.
“My objective as an author is to inform people worldwide and refute the official narrative which has been used as a justification to destabilize the economic and social fabric of entire countries, followed by the imposition of the “deadly” COVID-19 “vaccine”. This crisis affects humanity in its entirety: almost 8 billion people. We stand in solidarity with our fellow human beings and our children worldwide. Truth is a powerful instrument.”
ISBN: 978-0-9879389-3-0, Year: 2022, PDF Ebook, Pages: 164, 15 Chapters
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Australia experienced this in February 2021. Facebook had gotten nastily stroppy, wishing to dictate public policy to the Commonwealth government. To teach Canberra mandarins a lesson, it literally unfriended the entire country, scrubbing all news platforms of content and making any posted links through the platform inaccessible. It mattered not that the content involved the tawdry details of celebrity love affairs gone wrong or advice on how to respond to a cyclone. The users of an entire country had been cancelled. For a time, a blissful blackhole had appeared at the centre of Australia’s information scape.
Facebook’s parent company Meta had one fundamental problem. The Australian government had proposed a bargaining code that would distribute income from news shared on digital platforms with its providers. The measure was designed to rescue an ailing sector from demise, and ironically served to aid the likes of Rupert Murdoch and such media moguls struggling to keep dying empires afloat. Digital giants such as Facebook and Google were told to swallow a regulatory regime that would force them into income sharing agreements that they deemed illogical and much against the spirit of the internet.
Meta eventually came over to the view that “refriending” Australia was in its best interests. The then treasurer Josh Frydenberg had convinced them that the much detested code could work. In truth, Frydenberg had merely caved in, more or less easing off on most of the demands, such as a full disclosure of algorithms on sharing material. Independent agreements with news outlets were rapidly reached. Everyone came out of it a villain, except small, independent news outlets deemed irrelevant in the negotiations. They were the true victims.
Canada’s Online News Act proposed something similar in regulating “digital news intermediaries to enhance fairness in the Canadian digital news marketplace and contribute to sustainability.” Mimicking the Australian model, digital platforms and news businesses could “enter into agreements respecting news content that is made available by digital news intermediaries.”
In reaching such agreements, factors such as the “significant bargaining power imbalance between [the digital news intermediary] operator and news businesses” would be taken into account. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission was also vested with powers to “impose, for contraventions of the enactment, administrative monetary penalties on certain individuals and entities and conditions on the participation of news businesses in the bargaining process.”
The digital platforms, in turn, took issue: why should they have to pay media outlets for doing their job, having offered them a gratis platform in the first place? Arguments from the Australian example were re-run. Meta, as it outlined in a statement, had “made it clear to the Canadian government that the legislation misrepresents the value news outlets receive when choosing to use our platforms. The legislation is based on the incorrect premise that Meta benefits unfairly from news content shared on our platforms, when the reverse is true.”
In June, Meta announced that it had “begun the process of ending news availability in Canada” as part of its moves to comply with the Act. It was a statement of general smug finality, indicative of the company’s own self-belief as an exclusive platform for news. For media outlets, this meant that links and content posted by news publishers and broadcasters in the country would no longer be available for those in Canada. Content posted by international news publishers and broadcasters outside Canada would also not be viewable by those within the country.
It did not take long for the consequences of such a policy to bear bitter fruit. As summer fires raged in Canada, forcing tens of thousands from their homes and threatening cities such as Yellowknife, the capital of the Northwest Territories, information was meagre on measures and responses from the authorities. “Right now, in an emergency situation where up to date local information is more important than ever, Facebook is putting corporate profits ahead of peoples safety,” the indignant Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeauhuffed at a news conference in Cornwall, Prince Edward Island.
Trudeau thought it “inconceivable that a company like Facebook is choosing to put corporate profits of insuring that local news organizations can get up to date information to Canadians.” British Columbia Premier David Ebyalso found it “astonishing that we are at this stage of the crisis and the owners of Facebook and Instagram have not come forward and said ‘We’re trying to make a point with the federal government, but it’s more important that people are safe’.” These men obviously know little about the workings of this dark entity.
Meta, in response, claimed that those in Canada could still use Instagram and Facebook “to connect with their communities and access reputable information, including content from official government agencies, emergency services and non-governmental organizations.”
The obvious question here was why Trudeau was placing such astonishing reliance on a private corporation’s information sharing services, one with no allegiance to the Canadian government, let alone the citizenry, to do so. The onus should have been on national and local broadcasting outlets to inform the population of the disasters. As always, governments gravitate in low fashion for the cheapest alternative. The payment of peanuts results in a monkey return.
In Australia, for instance, the initial ban imposed by Facebook led to an upsurge of interest in the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, which has its own set of digital sharing tools. It became clear that an information environment without Facebook offered healthier alternatives – without the creepy world of surveillance capitalism.
The Australian and Canadian examples serve as salient lessons to those in government who forget their duties to the public. If you get into the bed of a sociopathic, petulant founder who could only conceive of dating girls through digital networks, using such skin-crawling argot as “the poke”, you are asking for trouble. Even more to the point, you are asking for some share of the blame in forfeiting your duties. Surely it would be more prudent for governments to establish their own information channels in times of crisis, invest in public broadcasters and improve their services to areas of a country, however remote?
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Dr. Binoy Kampmark was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge. He currently lectures at RMIT University. He is a regular contributor to Global Research and Asia-Pacific Research. Email: [email protected]
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***
“The crisis began when a group of armed terrorists occupied School Number One (SNO) in the town of Beslan, North Ossetia.
“On 1 September 2004. The hostage-takers were members of the Riyad-us Saliheen, sent by the Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev, who demanded Russian withdrawal from and recognition of the independence of Chechnya.
On the third day of the standoff, Russian security forces stormed the building.”
Basayev had links to Al Qaeda.
On September 3, the Russian Federation is marking a memorable date, specifically, the Day of Solidarity in the Fight against Terrorism that became part of Russian legislation in 2005, a year after a horrendous terrorist attack in Beslan that killed over 300 Russian citizens, including children. This appalling terrorist atrocity was something unprecedented in terms of its meanness and brutality, and it highlighted the need to rally the entire international community against terrorism.
“We have to state that, in the current international realities, the issue of combating terrorism has long since lost its unifying essence. The collective West that considers itself a beacon of democracy and human rights is openly waging a hybrid war against Russia. Not only is the West using Ukraine as a geopolitical battering ram against our country, but it is brazenly turning a blind eye on the terrorist essence of the Kiev regime and is sponsoring it,” official statement, released ahead of September event, said.
At the same time, the Western line to “isolate” Russia has not been crowned with success even in such a sensitive area as the fight against terrorism.
The opinion of Russia remains significant and weighty during dialogue with friendly states. The Russian Federation prioritises cooperation with friendly states in the current complicated conditions of foreign policy turbulence. For example, we are collaborating rather fruitfully with our partners at various regional associations, including the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the Collective Security Treaty Organisation.
Close contacts between the security agencies of these associations’ member states are taking place under the auspices of the CIS Anti-Terrorism Centre and the SCO’s Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure. As for the CSTO, it can deploy its Collective Peacekeeping Forces in the shortest possible time, and this is an extremely important, effective and essential factor in facilitating counter-terrorism security in the zone of its responsibility.
Additionally, the BRICS Counter-Terrorism Working Group now ranks among the most advanced cross-regional formats. The BRICS Counter-Terrorism Strategy and the Action Plan for its implementation, drafted in 2020 and 2021 when Russia and India chaired BRICS, are the gold standard, reflecting an analytical and well-thought-out perception of real, rather than imaginary, terrorist threats.
The Russian Federation also supports constructive dialogue on counter-terrorism operations with the states of the African continent. The Declaration of the Second Russia-Africa Summit on Strengthening Cooperation in the Fight against Terrorism, signed following the Second Russia-Africa Summit in St Petersburg in July 2023, reflects the common approaches of our countries.
“We will continue to coordinate joint efforts in the above-mentioned multilateral formats, including those aimed at streamlining the existing mechanisms for coping with the security risks of the states involved,” the statement finally said.
The Beslan school siege and the Moscow theater siege were the toughest tests that Vladimir Putin went through during his 20 years in power.
“Major terrorist attacks were the toughest to deal with. The Beslan school siege was one of them. I will never forget it. Another one was the Moscow theater siege,” Putin noted in the Kremlin.
Back in 2019, officers and rescuers who helped to release hostages from Beslan’s School No.1 in 2004 were awarded by Vyacheslav Bitarov in the Caucasus republic of North Ossetia.
More than 1,200 people were taken hostage during the terrorist attack at a school in the North Ossetian city of Beslan, which occurred on September 1, 2004, the first day of the academic year. The tragedy claimed 334 lives, including 186 children. Some 126 of these hostages became handicapped, of them 70 children.
The school, located next to the district police station, housed approximately 60 teachers and more than 800 students. Its gymnasium, where most of the hostages were held for 52 hours, was a recent addition, measuring 10 metres (33 ft) wide and 25 metres (82 ft) long.
There were reports that men disguised as repairmen had secreted weapons and explosives into the school during July 2004, something that the authorities later denied. However, several witnesses have since testified they were forced to help their captors remove the weapons from caches hidden in the school. There were also claims that a “sniper’s nest” on the sports-hall roof had been set up in advance.
The attack at Beslan was met with international abhorrence and universal condemnation. Countries and charities around the world donated to funds set up to assist the families and children that were involved in the Beslan crisis. This School No. 1 was one of seven schools in Beslan, a town of about 35,000 people in the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania in Russia’s Caucasus.
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Kester Kenn Klomegah, who worked previously with Inter Press Service (IPS), Weekly Blitz and InDepthNews, is now a regular contributor to Global Research. He researches Eurasia, Russia, Africa and BRICS. His focused interest areas include geopolitical changes, foreign relations and economic development questions relating to Africa. As a versatile researcher, he believes that everyone deserves equal access to quality and trustworthy media reports.
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“early August 2023, a series of wildfires broke out in the U.S. state of Hawaii, predominantly on the island of Maui. The wind-driven fires prompted evacuations, caused widespread damage, killing at least 115 people and leaving 388 others missing in the town of Lāhainā.”
Residents of Maui are recounting another, more fiendish account altogether. They do not agree with the official casualty toll either.
I have watched various images and commentary-laced video clips of this strange event and concede that they can be attributed to Directed Energy Weapons (DEW). I was sceptical of DEW capabilities until the Maui incident.
“concentrated electromagnetic energy to combat enemy forces and assets. These weapons include high energy lasers and other high power electromagnetics—such as millimeter wave and high power microwave weapons…If a greater amount of force is required, DEWs can also damage or destroy enemy assets. To do this, a high energy laser can emit electromagnetic energy with a wavelength the target material absorbs most effectively, melting the material.” The GAO summary also adds that high energy lasers…are “capable of melting steel”. (bold added for emphasis)
Now that we have broadly established the capabilities of DEW, is there any evidence of its deployment in Maui?
Well, we have seen an uncanny series of fires, explosions and train derailments all across the Western world after the global coronapsychosis had breached its credulous limits and scepticism began to creep in. These strange incidents curiously impacted infrastructures and warehouses (and the materials therein) that are vital to societal survival e.g. fuel, food and medicines. I can’t even begin to recall the number of such incidents that have taken place over the past 12 months alone. Search engines, as we all know, are now solely designed to promote the rancid narratives of the global fakestream media.
When it comes to the anomalies encountered in Maui, Peggy Hall has an excellent post that encapsulates the logic-defying tragedy. I agree with Hall that a lot of things just “don’t add up.”
According to Hall, the
“photographic images depict obliterated structures and molten metal, while the surrounding vegetation, including grass and trees, remains relatively unscathed, and wooden picnic tables are still standing… Strangely, the ships were on fire in the middle of the ocean as well. Images from this fire are mostly in line with what you would expect to see after a bomb or with the notion that a directed energy weapon was responsible.”
But it is not just in Hawaii or the United States where incendiary events have broken out over the past 12 months. And I am not entirely convinced of the theory that an entire enclave on a Hawaiian island was deliberately razed to make way for 15-minute smart cities that align with the White House-World Economic Forum (WEF) agenda of “Build Back Better”. There are enough adjacent spaces around to pull this off. This is the primary reason why I held off from commentating on this subject. Till now, that is…
Maybe, there is another agenda afoot? I needed more anecdotal evidence to support a theory that had been germinating in my mind. Last night, I stumbled upon one such corroborative incident. I am now going out on a limb here.
It seems fires and earthquakes have been breaking out all over China – right after it was subjected to a series of devastating floods. I am still sceptical of a High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) aka “weather warfare” weapon at work here but that scepticism is dwindling by the day.
According to a China Insights video clip, blazing fires have broken out across major cities in the mainland. And when I say blazing fires, I mean they are literally blazing in an eerily artificial manner. New, highrise buildings that are supposedly fire resistant are now behaving like fiery giant concrete candles.
Here I need to propose my somewhat radical hypothesis. The operationalization and deployment of DEW, HAARP and biological weapons – to the extent they are real – are designed to remind US military rivals, namely Russia and China, to remain “within boundaries” while the pillars of global governance are erected on a hellish foundation of scarcities, famines, “natural disasters”, supply chain breakdowns and hunger worldwide.
Incidents like the one witnessed in Maui are not just technological demonstrators but they also serve as an avenue to perfect these weapons systems.
What do you think? Does the US military have the capability to bring Russia and China to keel with their unconventional weaponries?
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Dr Mathew Maavak’s research interests include systems science, global risks, geopolitics, foresight and governance. Follow him on Twitter @MathewMaavak or read his latest articles here: https://drmathewmaavak.substack.com
He is a regular contributor to Global Research.
Featured image: US Navy personnel operate a Directed Energy Weapon aboard the USS Ponce during an operational demonstration in the Persian Gulf in 2014. Photo | DVIDS
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Einführung in Thematik
Die Mitglieder der Europäischen Union leisten „ganze Arbeit“ und wollen wohl nichts dem Zufall überlassen. Andere Organisationen wie die WHO schließen sich an.
Nachdem vor kurzem bekannt wurde, dass der Digital Service Act (DSA) für sehr große Plattformen und Suchmaschinen in Kraft getreten ist, der die Macht von Internetmonopolisten einschränken und Möglichkeiten politischer Zensur erweitern soll (1), hat nun der bekannte deutsche Wirtschaftsjournalist Dr. Norbert Häring auf seinem Blog darüber berichtet, dass das EU-Projekt „Jitsuvax“ mit einer Laufzeit von vier Jahren mit 3,1 Millionen Euro gefördert wird, um psychologische Methoden zur Bekämpfung von Impfskepsis zu entwickeln (2). Der Artikel mit dem Titel „Jitsuvax: Psychologische Kampfkunst gegen Leute, die bei mRNA-Impfstoffen skeptisch sind“ erschien inzwischen auch auf der unabhängigen Internetplattform „apolut“ als Standpunkt (3).
Härings Beurteilung des Projekts hört sich so an:
„‘Wissenschaftler‘, die sich von der Regierung bezahlen lassen, um faule psychologische Tricks zu entwickeln, mit denen die Regierung die Bürger manipulieren kann, sind eine Schande für die Wissenschaft. Sie fügen der Demokratie großen Schaden zu.“ (4)
Persönlich denke ich angesichts der beiden Schock-Erlebnisse nicht nur an die Wissenschaft und Demokratie, sondern auch an die unzähligen Forschungsergebnisse und Artikel über die internationale Corona-Politik und die meist tödlich verlaufenden Covid-Impfungen. Unter anderem denke ich an die engagierten Beiträge des kanadischen Wirtschaftsprofessors Michel Chossudovsky, Herausgeber und Direktor des „Centre for Research on Globalization“ und Betreiber der Webseite „gloabelresearch.ca“ sowie an die neue EU-Verordnung, die ehrliche Aufklärung in naher Zukunft als mutwillige und schädliche Desinformation charakterisieren und ahnden will.
EU-Projekt der Universität Bristol
Die Universität Bristol leitet sein zwei Jahren ein EU-Projekt, das psychologische Methoden zur Überwindung von Impfablehnung entwickelt. Cornelia Betsch, Psychologin und Professorin für Gesundheitskommunikation leitet die deutsche Abteilung des Fünfländerprojekts mit dem Namen „Jitsuvax“.
Für den Publizisten Häring ist das ganze Projekt fragwürdig, weil Menschen, die gegenüber experimentellen mRNA-Impfungen skeptisch seien, als Gegner behandelt und ihnen niedere Motive und unlautere Mittel unterstellt würden. Als Methode setze man auf psychologische Manipulation.
Diese „Manipulationswisse nschaftler“, so Häring, identifizieren elf problematische Persönlichkeitsmerkmale bei Impfskeptikern, auf denen die Impfskepsis beruhe; unter anderem: Verschwörungsglaube, Misstrauen gegen Autoritäten, religiöse Einstellung und Beharren auf Autonomie. Für sie existieren als Gründe für Impfskepsis nur psychische Defekte. Legitime sachliche Gründe für die Ablehnung der Impfung haben diese sogenannten Forscher nicht beschrieben (5).
Zum Inhalt des Projekts schreibt Häring wörtlich:
„Es erforscht und verbreitet psychologische Tricks, die Ärzte anwenden sollen, um Impfzurückhaltung zu überwinden.“ (6)
Vorschlag einer Impfpflicht zur Befriedung der Gesellschaft
Mit Datum vom 15.11. 2022 schreibt Häring in seinem Blog:
„Regierungsnahe ‚Wissenschaftler‘ schlagen allen Ernstes Impfpflicht zur Befriedung der Gesellschaft vor.
Eine allgemeine Impfpflicht würde die Polarisierung der Gesellschaft abbauen helfen, schreiben fünf deutsche Sozialwissenschaftler in einem Aufsatz in der Zeitschrift Nature Human Behaviour. Wie sie darauf kommen? Mit Wissenschaft hat es nichts zu tun, aber viel mit Voreingenommenheit, Tricks und akademischer Lebensferne.“
Häring bringt dazu ein Beispiel:
„Wenn also jemand zu dem Schluss kommt, das eigene Kind nicht gegen Covid impfen zu lassen, weil sich herausgestellt hat, dass die Impfung nicht gegen Ansteckung und Weitergabe hilft, und weil die Gefahr von schweren Nebenwirkungen mindestens für Kinder größer ist als die Gefahrschwerer Gesundheitsschäden durch Covid, dann muss als Ursache einer der elf psychischen Defekte identifiziert werden. Denn die Möglichkeit, dass die Behörden einen Fehler gemacht haben, und die Impfempfehlung für Kinder und Säuglinge falsch war, ist ausgeschlossen. Für die Manipulationswissenschaftler ist die Wahrheit ein flexibles Ding, das sich immer danach richtet, was die Behörden gerade sagen.“ (7)
Weitere namhafte Organisationen schließen sich unheilvollen Plänen an
Unter der Überschrift „WHO-Mitglieder beschließen Resolution zur Manipulation der öffentlichen Meinung“ schreibt Häring auf seinem Blog mit Datum vom 31.05.2023:
„Auf der Weltgesundheitsversammlung in Genf haben die Mitgliedstaaten eine Resolution verabschiedet, die alle Regierungen und die Weltgesundheitsorganisation (WHO) auffordert, die Verhaltenswissenschaften verstärkt und systematischer zu nutzen, um ‚gesundheitsbezogene Fehlinformationen und Desinformationen‘ zu konterkarieren und die Nachfrage nach Impfstoffen sicherzustellen.“ (8)
Am 31.01.2023 schreibt Häring zur Überschrift „WHO rät Regierungen, die alles Vertrauen aufgebraucht haben, Schleichwerber anzuheuern“:
„In einem von der WHO empfohlenen Artikel in Foreign Affairs raten Gesundheitswissenschaftler und -funktionäre den Regierenden, denen große Teile der Bevölkerungen nicht mehr vertrauten, in vertrauenswürdige Institutionen und Personen zu ‚investieren‘, damit diese für Pandemiemaßnahmen werben.“ (9)
Wissenschaftliche Aufklärung als Desinformation: Schöne neue Welt!
Sollten die wertvolle wissenschaftliche Aufklärung in naher Zukunft als schädliche Desinformation charakterisiert und geahndet und Covid-Impfskeptiker als psychische krank diskreditiert werden, dann lässt Aldous Huxleys “Schöne neue Welt“ („Brave New World“) grüßen!
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Dr. Rudolf Lothar Hänsel ist Schul-Rektor, Erziehungswissenschaftler und Diplom-Psychologe. Nach seinen Universitätsstudien wurde er wissenschaftlicher Lehrer in der Erwachsenenbildung. Als Pensionär arbeitete er als Psychotherapeut in eigener Praxis. In seinen Büchern und Fachartikeln fordert er eine bewusste ethisch-moralische Werteerziehung sowie eine Erziehung zu Gemeinsinn und Frieden. Für seine Verdienste um Serbien bekam er 2021 von den Universitäten Belgrad und Novi Sad den Republik-Preis „Kapitän Misa Anastasijevic“ verliehen.
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***
Introduction to the topic
The members of the European Union are doing a “good job” and do not want to leave anything to chance. Other organisations like the WHO are joining in.
After it was recently announced that the Digital Service Act (DSA) for very large platforms and search engines has come into force, which is supposed to limit the power of internet monopolists and expand possibilities of political censorship (1), the well-known German business journalist Dr. Norbert Häring has now reported on his blog that the EU project “Jitsuvax” will be funded with 3.1 million euros over a period of four years to develop psychological methods to combat vaccination scepticism (2). The article titled “Jitsuvax: Psychological martial arts against people sceptical about mRNA vaccines” has meanwhile also appeared on the independent internet platform “apolut” as a viewpoint (3).
Häring’s assessment of the project sounds like this:
“‘Scientists’ who let themselves be paid by the government to develop lazy psychological tricks with which the government can manipulate citizens are a disgrace to science. They do great harm to democracy.” (4)
Personally, in light of the two shock experiences, I think not only of science and democracy, but also of the myriad research findings and articles on international Corona politics and the mostly fatal Covid vaccinations. Among others, I think of the dedicated contributions of the Canadian economics professor Michel Chossudovsky, editor and director of the “Centre for Research on Globalization” and operator of the website “gloabelresearch.ca”, as well as the new EU regulation that will characterise and punish honest enlightenment as wanton and harmful disinformation in the near future.
EU Project of the University of Bristol
For two years, the University of Bristol has been leading an EU project that develops psychological methods to overcome vaccination refusal. Cornelia Betsch, a psychologist and professor of health communication, heads the German section of the five-country project called “Jitsuvax”.
For the publicist Häring, the whole project is questionable because people who are sceptical about experimental mRNA vaccinations are treated as opponents and accused of having base motives and unfair means. The method used is psychological manipulation.
These “manipulation scientists”, according to Häring, identify eleven problematic personality traits in vaccination sceptics on which vaccination scepticism is based; among others: Conspiracy belief, distrust of authority, religious attitude and insistence on autonomy. For them, only psychological defects exist as reasons for vaccination scepticism. Legitimate factual reasons for the rejection of vaccination have not been described by these so-called researchers (5).
On the content of the project, Häring writes literally:
“It researches and disseminates psychological tricks for doctors to use to overcome vaccination reluctance.”(6)
Proposal of Compulsory Vaccination to Pacify Society
Dated 15.11. 2022, Häring writes in his blog:
“Pro-government ‘scientists’ are seriously proposing compulsory vaccination to pacify society.
Compulsory vaccination would help to reduce the polarisation of society, write five German social scientists in an essay in the journal Nature Human Behaviour. How do they arrive at this? It has nothing to do with science, but a lot to do with bias, tricks and academic detachment from life.”
Häring gives an example:
“So if someone comes to the conclusion not to have their own child vaccinated against Covid because it has turned out that the vaccination does not help against infection and transmission, and because the risk of serious side effects at least for children is greater than the risk of serious health damage from Covid, then one of the eleven mental defects must be identified as the cause. Because the possibility that the authorities made a mistake and the vaccination recommendation for children and infants was wrong is excluded. For the manipulation scientists, truth is a flexible thing that always depends on what the authorities are saying at the moment.” (7)
Other Renowned Organisations Join Ominous Plans
Under the headline “WHO members pass resolution to manipulate public opinion”, Häring writes on his blog dated 31/05/2023:
“At the World Health Assembly in Geneva, member states passed a resolution calling on all governments and the World Health Organization (WHO) to make greater and more systematic use of behavioural science to counter ‘health misinformation and disinformation’ and ensure demand for vaccines.” (8)
On 31/01/2023, Häring writes to the headline “WHO advises governments that have used up all trust to hire surreptitious vaccinators”:
“In a WHO-recommended article in Foreign Affairs, health scientists and officials advise rulers who are no longer trusted by large segments of the populations to ‘invest’ in trusted institutions and individuals to promote pandemic measures.” (9)
Science Education as Disinformation: Brave New World!
Should valuable scientific education be characterised and punished as harmful disinformation in the near future and Covid vaccine sceptics discredited as mentally ill, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World sends his regards!
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Dr Rudolf Lothar Hänsel is a school rector, educationalist and psychologist. After his university studies he became an academic teacher in adult education. As a retiree he worked as a psychotherapist in his own practice. In his books and professional articles, he calls for a conscious ethical-moral education in values as well as an education for public spirit and peace. For his services to Serbia, he was awarded the Republic Prize “Captain Misa Anastasijevic” by the Universities of Belgrade and Novi Sad in 2021.
The Worldwide Corona Crisis, Global Coup d’Etat Against Humanity
by Michel Chossudovsky
Michel Chossudovsky reviews in detail how this insidious project “destroys people’s lives”. He provides a comprehensive analysis of everything you need to know about the “pandemic” — from the medical dimensions to the economic and social repercussions, political underpinnings, and mental and psychological impacts.
“My objective as an author is to inform people worldwide and refute the official narrative which has been used as a justification to destabilize the economic and social fabric of entire countries, followed by the imposition of the “deadly” COVID-19 “vaccine”. This crisis affects humanity in its entirety: almost 8 billion people. We stand in solidarity with our fellow human beings and our children worldwide. Truth is a powerful instrument.”
ISBN: 978-0-9879389-3-0, Year: 2022, PDF Ebook, Pages: 164, 15 Chapters
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.
Heavy subsidies and government-money created a few chips factories (still struggling to start) and saved some automobile jobs to make electric vehicles. But these few bright spots won’t help the majority of US industry to blossom again. There simply aren’t government-billions enough – not even in the US deficit-economy – to create enough subsidies to reindustrialize the US. A broad US path of “industry-for-subsidies” would be a kind of state-capitalism in a country with no apparatus, levers, tradition, experience, theories, insights – or even funds – to run such a beast. Such a path, a dreamed up by Jake Sullivan and Joe Biden would never be economically sustainable for US society.
During Biden’s time, the US sees a sharp decline in productivity – precisely the kind of development which destroys industry, not builds it.
The US will never get out of its import-dependency. Yeah, it may shift some imports from China to Vietnam or Mexico (with Chinese sub-suppliers still running much of the show), but the US will never get out of its addiction to imports of “stuff” it cannot produce itself anymore.
And no, India won’t replace China as “factory-of-the-World”. India is doing well, thankfully, but India is far too bureaucratic and self-enclosed to play the global production-role which China plays.
And hardly has the US automobile industry once again been resuscitated from the brain-dead with billions from, government and we see the union problem starting up again. Writes the Wall Street Journal today 2 September 2023 in its daily newsletter summary (forwarded below):
In the five months since Shawn Fain narrowly won a runoff election to become the president of the United Auto Workers, the 54-year-old has tossed out the typical union playbook. Fain is negotiating new labor contracts for about 146,000 hourly workers at General Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis. He has said he’s ready to strike if a deal isn’t reached when contracts expire later this month—potentially with not just one automaker, but all three.
A strike against ALL three major US automakers – Bon Appetit!
US automobiles are so bad for the money that no one will buy them outside of the USA.
The automobile workers union is only part of the problem, however. The managements and owners of US car industries are simply doing a consistently lousy job and have done so for the past half a century. But speaking of US unions, the union of US port workers is also infamous for creating inefficiency in America. The biggest US ports are not conduits for an efficient society, but chokepoints slowing down the whole US Inc.
This is not boding well for US economic competition with China – even is China is slowing down.
US media are salivating for every bit of news that can put a blot on China, but US workers are not doing too fine. Yes – consumption in general is up, but living standards for ordinary Americans have been severely hit by Bidenomics.
The New York Times (NYT) is at great pains to explain that Bidenomics “isn’t so bad after all” and that voters just don’t get how “good” things really are. But at the end of the NYT piece about the blessings of Bidenomics, The NYT suddenly cannot hide the ugly truth anymore – like a Freudian slip of the tongue, even the NYT itself reveals that:
Now he said it was difficult for the Biden administration to take victory laps over slowing inflation because wages haven’t kept pace, leaving a typical worker about $2,000 behind compared with before the pandemic. See this.
Big outburst of inflation created by Biden has hollowed out US real incomes by no less than $2,000! That’s a lot of money for nearly all Americans, and especially for those on low or fixed incomes which used to vote for the Democrats. Obviously, the most recent 1-2 months of a-little-better-than-lower-wage-adjustments aren’t going to reverse that. Biden takes $2,000 from Americans and maybe gives back 50 bucks – how nice is that?
The prospect that a US recession might not happen after all may be celebrated, but truly, the absence of a meltdown doesn’t really show anything great about US economics.
These views on US economy are vital to understanding the whole picture of China-US strategic competition. China has had an enormous export – now Chinese exports are just big, not enormous. China has got a youth unemployment problem. China has got some overheated construction projects and entities. But all this does not mean that China’s growth rate is going to go below that of the US. China is still having a decent growth and look set to continue that. Moreover, China has a lot of unused economic levers and buttons to push.
The US is simply not overtaking China in growth.
The latest World Economic Outlook July 2023 from IMF says that US will in 2023 have a growth of 1.8% against a growth in China of 5.2%. In 2024 the US will be even worse off with a growth of meagre 1.0% in 2024 and China will grow at 4.5% in 2024. In both years, we see China growing by around 3½ % faster than the US.
China will continue for many years to do a lot better than the US.
That puts the gleefulness by which US media describe China’s economic challenges into a more correct perspective.
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Karsten Riise is a Master of Science (Econ) from Copenhagen Business School and has a university degree in Spanish Culture and Languages from Copenhagen University. He is the former Senior Vice President Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Mercedes-Benz in Denmark and Sweden.
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Several recent studies deal with spike protein in the blood and I will briefly review the following:
Aug. 15, 2023 – Brogna et al – Detection of recombinant Spike protein in the blood of individuals vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2: Possible molecular mechanisms
Spike protein is one of 4 major proteins of SARS-CoV2, it enables recognition of host cell receptor and entry into the host cell
Both Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 mRNA vaccines use a modified spike protein – all uridine bases were replaced with methyl pseudouridine (less immunogenic, more stable)
Both Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 mRNA vaccines also use a stabilized spike (different from natural spike) that differs by a double amino acid change at position 986 and 987, K986P and V987P – the amino acids lysine and valine are both replaced by two proline amino acids in order to stabilize the spike confirmation in an inactive prefusion state (PP-Spike).
researchers can differentiate natural SARS-CoV-2 spike which can be broken down by tryptic digestion, from Pfizer/Moderna vaccine spike (PP-spike) which can’t be digested (because the double amino acid change eliminated the tryptic digestion site).
Study: 20 were vaccinated with mRNA vaccine, 20 were unvaccinated and uninfected with COVID-19, 20 were unvaccinated but positive for COVID-19.
Results: 50% of the mRNA vaccinated still have spike protein in the blood 6 months after vaccination (and will continue, possibly indefinitely)
Theories:
1. mRNA integrates into some blood cells and spike is continuously produced
2. mRNA integrates into bacterial cells in the blood and spike is continuously produced
Jan. 17, 2023 – Castruita et al. – SARS-CoV-2 spike mRNA vaccine sequences circulate in blood up to 28 days after COVID-19 vaccination
In Denmark, Hepatitis C patients were monitored for HCV infection
Study: They extracted RNA from patient plasma in 108 Hepatitis C patients who were COVID-19 mRNA vaccinated
Results: 10% had full length or traces of COVID-19 vaccine mRNA sequences in the blood up to 28 days after vaccination
Theory: authors suspect this mRNA is in LNPs which are being slowly released into the blood from the injection site for up to 28 days!
Study: looked at 16 adolescents ages 12-21 (13 men, 3 women) with COVID-19 mRNA vaccine induced myocarditis vs 45 mRNA vaxxed control subjects
Results: full length spike protein (unbound by antibodies) was found in plasma of individuals with vaxx induced myocarditis, but none was found in mRNA vaxxed controls.
elevated spike was seen equally in affected females and males(!!!)
circulating free spike remained detectable at 3 weeks after vaccination
Sep. 2, 2022 – Zoe Swank et al. – Persistent Circulating Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Spike Is Associated With Post-acute Coronavirus Disease 2019 Sequelae
Study: looked at 63 long COVID patients and took blood samples up to 12 months after their 1st positive result
Results: 60% Long COVID patients had detectable spike protein in plasma up to 12 months.
In contrast, COVID-19 patients who did not go on to develop Long COVID had no spike detectable. They only had detectable S1 within 1st week after diagnosis.
Theory: authors theorize that “SARS-CoV-2 viral reservoirs may persist in the body”
Problem: some of these patients were COVID-19 vaccinated and they didn’t account for the vaccine status and its effects.
After COVID-19 mRNA vaccination, circulating spike protein originates from endogenous production and its concentration will be much higher in tissues where production occurs(!)
Roltgen et al.detected vaxx mRNA and spike in axillary lymph nodes up to 60 days after 2nd dose of Pfizer or Moderna vaccines.
circulating S1 subunit levels from those with severe COVID-19 infection are similar to post mRNA vaccine circulating S1 levels.
Theory: severe COVID-19 infection and mRNA vaccination could result in similar total systemic amounts of S protein (about 72 billion spikes estimated)
most virus spike protein remains in respiratory tract while mRNA vaccine induced spike protein production occurs in internal organs and tissues, which can exert more systemic effects (!!!)
Conclusion: COVID-19 mRNA vaccines under some circumstances induce high and possibly toxic amounts of S protein in organs and tissues, in turn leaking into the circulation.
My Take…
There is a very concerning picture emerging.
Potentially 50% of COVID-19 mRNA vaccinated people have spike protein in the blood at least 6 months after vaccination or longer, maybe indefinitely!
Potentially 60% of Long COVID-19 patients have spike protein in the blood at least 12 months after infection, or longer, maybe indefinitely!
Almost all Long COVID-19 patients are also COVID-19 mRNA vaccinated – is the spike protein in their blood coming from a viral reservoir (hiding in the gut or testes) or is it coming from the mRNA vaccine?!
The 50% of COVID-19 mRNA vaccinated who have spike in the blood (possibly indefinitely), are getting spillover of spike into the blood due to much higher concentrations of spike being produced in organs and tissues (causing local damage) – how did the spike get into those organs and tissues?
COVID-19 vaccine Lipid Nanoparticles with mRNA leak into the blood circulation for up to 28 days after vaccination – their circulation allows the vaccine mRNA to get delivered into various organs and tissues where spike gets produced.
COVID-19 mRNA vaccinated with myocarditis have spike circulating in the blood, while those without myocarditis don’t have any!
The vaccine spike is causing the injuries!
This means that spike detoxing is more important than ever for many people (those suffering from Long COVID, possibly 50% of all vaccinated individuals, those who react to external shedding, etc).
In the coming days, I will write a separate substack on the latest on spike protein detoxing.
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Dr. William Makis is a Canadian physician with expertise in Radiology, Oncology and Immunology. Governor General’s Medal, University of Toronto Scholar. Author of 100+ peer-reviewed medical publications.
Featured image is from COVID Intel
The Worldwide Corona Crisis, Global Coup d’Etat Against Humanity
by Michel Chossudovsky
Michel Chossudovsky reviews in detail how this insidious project “destroys people’s lives”. He provides a comprehensive analysis of everything you need to know about the “pandemic” — from the medical dimensions to the economic and social repercussions, political underpinnings, and mental and psychological impacts.
“My objective as an author is to inform people worldwide and refute the official narrative which has been used as a justification to destabilize the economic and social fabric of entire countries, followed by the imposition of the “deadly” COVID-19 “vaccine”. This crisis affects humanity in its entirety: almost 8 billion people. We stand in solidarity with our fellow human beings and our children worldwide. Truth is a powerful instrument.”
ISBN: 978-0-9879389-3-0, Year: 2022, PDF Ebook, Pages: 164, 15 Chapters
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***
U.S. banks are again in the crosshairs. Standard and Poor’s has downgraded five new middle-tier banks and put three others on negative outlook. This follows sweeping downgrades earlier in August by Moody’s, which cut credit ratings on 10 banks and placed four of the 15 largest U.S. banks on review for possible downgrade. As with the banks going into receivership earlier this year, concerns include interest rate risk due to unrealized losses from long-term securities.
Meanwhile, the U.S. government itself has been downgraded by Fitch Ratings, which questions the government’s ability to finance its nearly $33 trillion federal debt. Just the interest on the debt is approaching $1 trillion annually — one third of the government’s federal income tax receipts — while the military budget is closing in on another $1 trillion, devouring over half the discretionary federal budget. That leaves virtually none to cover the nearly $6 trillion that, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers, is needed to repair America’s broken infrastructure, among other neglected service needs.
While economists disagree on the overall economic outlook, conditions seem to be deteriorating across the board. Congress cannot agree on a budget, with threats of another government shutdown October 1 when the new fiscal year begins. The moratorium on student debt also ends on October 1, with 45% of borrowers saying they expect to go delinquent on their student loan debts. Credit card debt is at the highest level ever recorded, surpassing $1 trillion; with the average rate of interest at a new all-time record of 20.63 percent, and delinquencies surging dramatically. One trillion dollars in corporate debt is rolling over at much higher interest rates this year; layoffs and empty offices are decimating the commercial real estate market; and elevated interest rates are jeopardizing the home mortgage market, among other debt crises.
Where North Dakota Shines
One state, however, has escaped all this unscathed. North Dakota has the fastest growing GDP per capita in the country; and North Dakota banks are thriving, backstopped by the nation’s only state-owned bank. (“Who knew?” said Kevin O’Leary in a recent Fox News news clip.) According to the latest annual report of the Bank of North Dakota, “The Bank set a record net income of $191.2 million in 2022, up $47 million from 2021. Our asset size set a record as well — $10.2 billion. The return on investment was a healthy 19%. Standard & Poor’s (S&P) affirmed BND’s credit rating as A+/Stable.”
The BND has been called the nation’s safest bank. Its stock cannot be short-sold, since it is not publicly traded; the bank cannot go bankrupt, because by law all of the state’s revenues are deposited in it; and it will not suffer a run, since the state, being the principal bank depositor, would not “run” on itself. Compare JP Morgan Chase, the nation’s largest bank, considered among the country’s safest because it is “too big to fail.” JPM has over $1 trillion in uninsured deposits, the type most likely to “run” or be pulled in a crisis, and it has total deposits of $2.38 trillion. The FDIC insurance fund now has a balance of only $116.1 billion – only 5% of JPM’s deposits. JPM also has major counterparty risk in the derivatives market, a multi-trillion-dollar global bubble called by the Bank for International Settlements a “ticking time bomb.” JPM has $61 trillion in total derivatives, or $628 billion in netted derivatives, five times those of Credit Suisse which went insolvent last spring. Credit Suisse had to be bought by the giant Swiss bank UBS to avoid a derivatives implosion among “globally systemically important banks,” of which Credit Suisse was one.
Not just the BND but North Dakota’s local banks are very safe. The BND acts as a “mini-Fed” for them, helping with liquidity, capitalization, and regulation. It provides correspondent banking services, an active Fed Funds program, check clearing, cash management services, loan guarantees, and other banker’s bank services. No local banks have been in trouble this year (or in fact during this century), but if they were to suffer a bank run, the BND would be there to help. According to its former CEO Eric Hardmeyer, the BND has a pre-approved Fed Funds line set up with every bank in the state; and if that is insufficient for liquidity, the BND can simply buy loans from the troubled local bank as needed.
Replicating the Model
Advocates in other states are working to replicate the BND model or variations of it, with some very promising business plans forthcoming. One analysis recently published by the Center for New York City Public Affairs at the New School measures the projected economic impact of a local New York City public bank, based on a business model put forth by local advocates. The analysis focuses on job creation, affordable housing development and preservation, and community development lending during the bank’s five-year start-up phase, the time projected to achieve a full lending portfolio. The authors concluded:
In just its five-year start-up phase, a New York City public bank has the potential to create thousands of jobs, while constructing and renovating nearly 20,000 units of affordable housing, directing over a billion dollars to climate infrastructure investments, and expanding the capacity of the city’s CDFI community banks and credit unions to meet the needs of low- and middle-income New Yorkers. …
By partnering with CDFI banks and credit unions and other responsible lenders, the public bank could enable these institutions to increase their lending by over $5.8 billion. Besides financing affordable housing and community development and climate infrastructure, the public bank’s loans would allow CDFIs to increase their capacity with respect to mortgage and consumer lending. … Loans for mortgages and small businesses will build wealth and ensure that a larger share of the City’s money keeps circulating in New York’s working-class communities. Public bank lending of $4.55 billion is estimated to create approximately 70,600 jobs in its start-up phase.
Other states pursuing legislation in 2023 involving the establishment of public banks include California, Oregon, Washington State, New Mexico, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire. At the federal level, a much needed solution to the infrastructure crisis is a national infrastructure bank, proposed in HR 4052. We have faced these crises before and have come out the stronger for them. Alexander Hamilton dealt with what appeared to be an insurmountable sovereign debt crisis by establishing the First Bank of the United States as an infrastructure and development bank in 1791. That model was followed by Roosevelt’s government in pulling the country out of the 1930s Great Depression, and it can help put our economy on a more solid footing today.
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***
Wikipedia is the most biased encyclopedia in history, having been hijacked by U.S. intelligence, industry and the political establishment years ago
According to Wikipedia cofounder Larry Sanger, U.S. intelligence has been manipulating the online encyclopedia since at least 2008, if not longer.
Sanger noticed a bias creeping in around 2006, particularly in areas of science and medicine. Around 2010, he noticed that articles about Eastern Medicine were being changed to reflect blatantly biased positions, using “dismissive epithets” to paint this ancient tradition as quackery
Over-the-top kind of establishment bias includes Wikipedia’s assertion that the Ukraine-Biden scandal is a conspiracy theory designed to undermine Biden, even though evidence of Biden’s corruption has been made public
One explanation for why ideological bias has taken over Wikipedia is that it’s intentionally being used as a propaganda tool by intelligence agencies and the globalist establishment that is seeking to establish a One World Government. To succeed, they can’t allow a multitude of dissenting viewpoints to proliferate, and intelligence agencies are working together to disseminate and uphold the Deep State’s narratives worldwide
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Intelligence agencies have a long history of using propaganda as a tool of war, and the effectiveness of information warfare radically improved with the emergence of the internet, to say nothing of artificial intelligence and social media.
If you’re over 50, you can probably remember a time when your family had a row of encyclopedias on the bookshelf — usually obtained at considerable cost — which were perused whenever you needed to learn more about a particular topic.
Today, you can’t even give a complete set of encyclopedias away because, well, we have Wikipedia. However, Wikipedia has also become a favored propaganda tool, so to call it unreliable would be an understatement.
According to Wikipedia cofounder Larry Sanger — who left Wikipedia in 2002, the year after its inception — U.S. intelligence has been manipulating the online encyclopedia since at least 2008, if not longer. Sanger recently sat down to speak with independent journalist Glenn Greenwald (video above) about the subversion of the site he helped create.1
The Blatant Bias of Wikipedia
Sanger says he noticed a bias creeping in around 2006, particularly in areas of science and medicine. Around 2010, he started noticing that articles about Eastern Medicine were being changed to reflect blatantly biased positions, using “dismissive epithets” to paint this ancient tradition as quackery.
In 2012, evidence also emerged revealing a Wikipedia trustee and “Wikipedian in Residence” were being paid to edit pages on behalf of their clients and secure their placement on Wikipedia’s front page in the “Did You Know” section,2 which publicizes new or expanded articles3 — a clear violation of Wikipedia rules.
“It really got over the top … between 2013 and 2018,” Sanger says, “and by by at the time Trump became president, it was almost as bad as it is now. It’s amazing, you know, no encyclopedia, to my knowledge, has ever been as biased as Wikipedia has been …
I remember being mad about Encyclopedia Britannica and The World Book not mentioning my favorite topics, [and] presenting only certain points of view in a way that establishment sources generally do. But this is something else. This is entirely different. It’s over the top.”
Greenwald agrees, highlighting some recent examples of the “over the top” kind of establishment bias, such as Wikipedia simply declaring that the Ukraine-Biden scandal is a conspiracy theory designed to undermine Biden:
“The very first sentence reads: ‘The Biden–Ukraine conspiracy theory is a series of false allegations that Joe Biden, while he was Vice President of the United States, engaged in corrupt activities relating to his son, Hunter Biden, who was on the board of the Ukrainian gas company Burisma.’
‘As part of efforts by Donald Trump and his campaign in the Trump–Ukraine scandal, which led to Trump’s first impeachment, these falsehoods were spread in an attempt to damage Joe Biden’s reputation and chances during the 2020 presidential campaign,’ the Wikipedia entry still reads.
So, notice: The Biden-Ukraine scandal is — according to Wikipedia — the ‘Biden–Ukraine conspiracy theory’ but the Trump controversy involving Ukraine is ‘the Trump–Ukraine scandal’. Everything is written to comport with the liberal world view and the Democratic Party talking points.”
Wikipedia’s treatment of all things COVID-related is equally skewed. It presents only the establishment’s “truth” across the board, no matter how much evidence there is to refute it.
‘Truth’ Has Been Married to Ideology
“Wikipedia is supposed to be an encyclopedia devoted to truth,” Greenwald says. The problem is that “The premise seems to be that you don’t have truth anymore independent of ideological outlook.”
Indeed, Sanger points out that Wikipedia’s official policy even declares that 80% of Right-wing media is unreliable, and “that really, really colors the articles and what the editors allow the articles to say,” he says. Just how did we get to a point where “truth” is tied to a particular ideology? Common sense tells you it simply cannot be so.
Intel Agencies Control Wikipedia
One explanation for why this ideological bias has taken over Wikipedia is that it’s intentionally being used as a propaganda tool by intelligence agencies and the globalist establishment that is seeking to implement a new global governance, a New World Order/One World Government.
To succeed in that Herculean effort, they can’t allow a multitude of dissenting viewpoints to proliferate, and intelligence agencies are working together to disseminate and uphold the Deep State’s narratives worldwide. Sanger puts it this way:
“I think that the Left … very, very deliberately seeks out to take control. Except it isn’t just the Left. We’re learning that now, aren’t we? No, it’s the establishment, and they have their own agenda.
I’m not going to try to offer any opinions — because it’s not something that I study — as to how they bring that about. But it’s clear that between 2005 and 2015 … Wikipedia moved onto the establishment’s radar, and we … have evidence that … even as early as … 2008 … CIA and FBI computers were used to edit Wikipedia. Think they stopped doing that? No.
And not just them. We know that a great part of intelligence and information warfare is conducted online, and where, if not on websites like Wikipedia?
They pay off the most influential people to push their agendas, which they’re already mostly in line with, or they just develop their own talent within the [intelligence] community. [They] learn the Wikipedia game and then push what they want to say with their own people. So, that’s my take on that.”
Google and Social Media Are Controlled Too
As noted by Greenwald, Google has played a significant role in Wikipedia’s growth and success by algorithmically placing Wikipedia answers at the top of most searches, and, of course — while they don’t discuss this in the interview — Google also has deep and longstanding ties to the military-intelligence-industrial complex and the globalist Deep State.
The same can be said for social media companies like Twitter and Facebook. As reported by Jimmy Dore in the video above, in early 2023, Elon Musk released documents showing Twitter’s former executives censored content at the request of the FBI and assisted the U.S. military’s online propaganda campaigns.
Twitter also censored anti-Ukraine narratives on behalf of several U.S. intelligence agencies. Similarly, Facebook censored accurate information that was damaging to Joe Biden’s presidential campaign at the direct request of the FBI. There’s simply no doubt that intelligence agencies are directly involved in controlling and directing public information flow, and Wikipedia is invaluable in that respect.
Anonymous Writers Have No Credibility
Now, I’d be remiss if I didn’t stress a key feature of Wikipedia that makes it unreliable, no matter what, and that is the fact that contributing authors and editors are all anonymous.
Clearly, the credibility of an author, regardless of the media format, is of importance when trying to determine the veracity of a given topic, keeping in mind that even experts in the same field will often reach different (and perhaps opposing) conclusions.
Not every expert will have read and evaluated the exact same evidence, for example, leading to differences in interpretation of data. This is normal and unlikely to change, as it is human nature to draw conclusions based on our own breadth of experience and knowledge.
It’s then up to the reader to make up their mind about which of the two or more experts they believe is most correct — a choice that in turn is dependent on the reader’s own prejudices and knowledge base. That said, it should be obvious that no one individual, or even group of individuals, can be the final arbiter of which expert opinion is “the truth.”
However, that’s exactly the position that Wikipedia has inserted itself into. They now decide who they think is right and which position is the correct one, and they simply censor opposing views.
Google Must Have Known They Were Promoting Unreliable Info
Considering that one of the primary factors that come into play when determining the credibility of an author is his or her credentials, affiliations and previous writings,4 how is it that Google promotes Wikipedia as an authority for every possible type of information by listing them at the top of its search results?
And how can Google use Wikipedia as a primary tool for its quality raters to establish credibility of other online material?5,6 It doesn’t make sense, unless you realize that neither Google nor Wikipedia are about giving people accurate and unbiased information. Their function is to facilitate the programming of people with a certain set of narratives and viewpoints.
As early as 2011, the fact that Wikipedia editors were being paid by corporations to remove and suppress unwanted information was well known and had been declared scandalous.7 Yet nothing changed. At least not for the better.
A 2014 paper8 titled, “Do Experts or Collective Intelligence Write with More Bias? Evidence from Encyclopedia Britannica and Wikipedia” by Shane Greenstein and Feng Zhu, compared 4,000 articles that appear in both encyclopedias and found 73% of Wikipedia’s articles contained political buzz words, compared to 34% in Britannica, and in nearly all cases, Wikipedia was more left-leaning than the Britannica.
Wikipedia Used to Smear and Defame Truthtellers
A key take-home from all this is that Wikipedia is not a reliable source. It’s a propaganda tool, and relying on it will frequently leave you wearing the dunce hat. Articles on science and medicine are definitely corrupted and biased in favor of establishment views and should never be used to make medical decisions.
According to a 2014 study,9,10 which assessed the veracity of medical claims made on Wikipedia by cross-checking them with the latest peer-reviewed research, reported finding “many errors” in articles concerning the 10 costliest medical conditions. In fact, 9 out of 10 entries — 90%! — contained assertions that were contradicted by published research.
“Health care professionals, trainees, and patients should use caution when using Wikipedia to answer questions regarding patient care,” the authors warned.
That said, articles about historical events, current geopolitical issues and the biographies of public figures are not much better. Greenwald himself has seen his personal page transform from a neutral listing of his work history and accomplishments to an “ideological war” description that paints him in a bad light.
Many excellent scientists and doctors who veered from the establishment narrative on COVID have also been shamefully smeared and defamed by Wikipedia, and anyone who tries to clarify or clear up inaccuracies on the site is simply blocked.
Investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson, for example, has repeatedly tried to “correct provably false facts” about her background on Wikipedia, only to be told she’s “not a reliable source” and having her edits overridden by anonymous editors that guard her page, making sure her award-winning work is kept hushed and her character portrait tarnished.11 Other examples of “sanitizing” certain pages and tarnishing others can be found in a June 28, 2015, article12 in The Epoch Times.
Ditch Wikipedia and Use Other Online Encyclopedias
If you’re interested in learning more about Wikipedia, its history and inner workings, pick up a copy of Andrew Lih’s book, “The Wikipedia Revolution: How a Bunch of Nobodies Created the World’s Greatest Encyclopedia.”13 In it, Lih asks, “If Wikipedia is a minefield of inaccuracies, should one even be tiptoeing through this information garden?” It’s a fair question, for sure.
Similarly, in a 2005 blog post critiquing Wikipedia, Nicholas Carr, author of “What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains,” noted:14
“[A]n encyclopedia can’t just have a small percentage of good entries and be considered a success. I would argue, in fact, that the overall quality of an encyclopedia is best judged by its weakest entries rather than its best. What’s the worth of an unreliable reference work?”
The good news is there are dozens of other online encyclopedias, many of which do not suffer from this entrenched ideological bias. Two great resources are encyclosearch.org and encycloreader.org, which allow you to search for answers across dozens of encyclopedias, including Wikipedia, at once. This way, you can compare a multitude of sources.
Examples of more specialized encyclopedias include Ballotpedia (an explicitly neutral encyclopedia of American politics), Scholarpedia, EduTechWiki, MedlinePlus (a medical encyclopedia), Encyclopedia Mythica (religion, folklore and mythology) and HandWiki (computing, science, technology and general).
Sanger is involved in the creation of encyclosearch.org, which he describes as an effort to “strike a blow against censorship and control of information by simply making it easier to find the all the other encyclopedias that are out there.”
Truth be told, Wikipedia is dependent on your lack of knowledge about how they really operate. Taking advantage of your desire for quick information, their goal is to shuttle your thoughts, opinions and knowledge into a silo that doesn’t allow anything in except what they put in there. And what they’re putting on their site is some of the most biased information you’ll find anywhere in media today.
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First published on June 25, 2020. Revised on September 3, 2023
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This month we are commemorating The tragic events of September 11, 2001 which led to the October 7, 2001 US-NATO invasion of Afghanistan on the grounds that that America had been “attacked by an unnamed foreign power”.
“There is continuity from the colonial style legitimate “drug war” led by the British Empire, to the present drug trafficking structures: Afghanistan under US military occupation, the Narco-State in Latin America.”
Rarely acknowledged by the media, the “Global War on Terrorism” (GWOT) which was launched on 9/11 coupled with an extensive dollarization of the global economy has a bearing on the global trade in narcotics, which is controlled by powerful financial interests, with the support of U.S. intelligence.
The illegal trade in narcotics is conducted in U.S. dollars under a sophisticated money laundering framework which is tacitly supported by the Washington Consensus.
In accordance with Resolution 42/112 of 7 December 1987, the UN General Assembly decided to observe 26 June as the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking as an expression of its determination to strengthen action and cooperation to achieve the goal of an international society free of drug abuse.
Raise awareness?
Rarely acknowledged, (“legal”) drug trafficking was initiated by the British Empire.
There is continuity. The colonial label has been scrapped. Today the (“illicit”) drug trade is a multibillion “neocolonial” dollar operation.
The two main hubs of production today are:
Afghanistan which produces approximately 90% of the illegal World supply of opium (transformed into heroin, morphine and opioid related products). There was a successful drug eradication programme in 2000-2001 which was initiated (with UN support) conducted by the Taliban government. Was conducted in the year prior to the US-NATO led invasion in October 2001. Since the invasion and military occupation, according to UNODC, the production of opium has increased 50 fold, reaching 9000 metric tons in 2017.
The Andean region of South America (Colombia, Peru, Bolivia) which produces cocaine. The drug trade is protected by powerful Big Money interests, which in turn control Latin-American politicians. The illegal narcotics trade is intimately relate to engineered political chaos and “regime change” (e.g. Peru).
Colombia and Peru are currently (2022) the largest producers of cocaine Worldwide (Colombia 1400 tons, Peru 870 tons.)
The Drug Economy is an integral part of Empire Building. Drug trafficking is protected by the US military and intelligence apparatus.
The Role of the British Empire
Historically, drug trafficking was an integral part of British colonialism. It was “legal”.
Opium produced in Bengal by the British East India Company (BEIC) was shipped to China’s Southern port of Canton.
The state-sponsored export of opium from British India to China was arguably the largest and most enduring drug operation in history. At its peak in the mid-19th century it accounted for roughly 15% of total colonial revenue in India and 31% of India’s exports. To supply this trade the East India Company (EIC) – and later the British Government – developed a highly regulated cultivation system in which over one million farmers a year were under contract to grow opium poppies. …
The agency system ensured that farmers did not share in the large profits of the opium trade. Given their monopsony power, the opium agencies were able to “keep the price of crude opium just on the economic edge” (Jonathan Lehne, 2011)
While the share of agricultural land allocated to opium was comparatively small, opium production under colonial rule was nonetheless conducive to impoverishing the Indian population, destabilizing the agriculture system as well as triggering numerous famines.
“The cash crop [opium] occupied between a quarter and half of a peasant’s holding. By the end of the 19th Century poppy farming had an impact on the lives of some 10 million people in what is now the states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
The trade was run by the East India Company, the powerful multinational corporation established for trading with a royal charter that granted it a monopoly over business with Asia. This state-run trade was achieved largely through two wars, which forced China to open its doors to British Indian opium. …
Stiff production targets fixed by the Opium Agency also meant farmers – the typical poppy cultivator was a small peasant – could not decide whether or not to produce opium. They were forced to submit part of their land and labour to the colonial government’s export strategy”.
BEIC Opium Factory and Stacking Warehouse, Patna, 1850s
China and the Opium Wars
When China’s Qing Emperor Daoguang ordered the destruction of opium stocks in the port of Canton (Guangzhou) in 1838, the British Empire declared war on China on the grounds that it was obstructing the “free flow” of commodity trade.
The term “trafficking” applies to Britain. It was condoned and supported throughout the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901). In 1838, 1,400 tons of opium per annum were exported from India to China. In the wake of the First Opium war, the volume of these shipments (which extended until 1915) increased dramatically.
The so-called first opium war (1838-1842), which represented an act of aggression against China was followed by the 1842 Treaty of Nanjing, which not only protected British imports of opium into China, it also granted extraterritorial rights to Britain and other colonial powers leading to the formation of the “Treaty Ports”.
The massive revenues of the opium trade were then used by Britain to finance its colonial conquests. Today it would be called the “laundering of drug money”. The channeling of opium revenues was also used to finance the Hong Kong Shanghai Bank (HKSB) established by the BEIC in 1865 in the wake of the first opium war.
In 1855, Sir John Bowring on behalf of the British Foreign Office negotiated a treaty with King Mongkut (Rama IV) of Siam, entitled The Anglo-Siamese Treaty of Friendship and Commerce (April 1855) which allowed for the free and unrestricted import of opium into the Kingdom of Siam (Thailand).
While Britain’s trade in opium with China was abolished in 1915, Britain’s drug trafficking monopoly continued until India’s Independence in 1947. Affiliate companies of the BEIC such as Jardine Matheson played an important role in the drug trade.
Of significance, in the aftermath of World War II, US financial interests took possession of the drug trade, which became extensively “dollarised”.
Racism, Narcotics and Colonialism
Historians have focussed on the Atlantic Triangular Slave Trade: slaves from Africa exported by colonial powers to the Americas, followed by commodities produced in plantations using slave labour exported back to Europe.
Britain’s colonial drug trade had a similar triangular structure. Opium produced in colonial plantations by impoverished farmers in Bengal was exported to China, the revenues of which (paid in silver coins) were used largely to finance Britain’s imperial expansion including mining in Australia and South Africa.
No compensation was paid to the victims of the British Empire’s drug trade: The impoverished farmers of Bengal, the people of India and China.
Together with the Atlantic slave trade, colonial drug trafficking constitutes a crime against humanity.
Both the Slave Trade and Drug Trafficking were sustained by racism. In 1877, Cecil Rhodes put forth a “secret project” which consisted in integrating the British and US empires into a single “White Supremacist” Anglo-Saxon Empire:
“I contend that we are the finest race in the world … Just fancy those parts that are at present inhabited by the most despicable specimens of human beings… Why should we not form a secret society… for making the Anglo-Saxon race but one Empire…
Africa is still lying ready for us it is our duty to take it. … It is our duty to seize every opportunity of acquiring more territory and we should keep this one idea steadily before our eyes that more territory simply means more of the Anglo-Saxon race, more of the best the most human, most honourable race the world possesses. (emphasis added)
There is continuity from the colonial style legitimate “drug war” led by the British Empire, to the present drug trafficking structures: Afghanistan under US military occupation, the Narco-State in Latin America.
Drug trafficking is a multi-trillion dollar business. The UN office on drugs and crime) estimates the laundering of drug money and other criminal activity to be of the order of 2-5 percent of Global GDP, $800 billion to $3 trillion. Drug money is laundered through the global banking system. (the date of this estimate is not indicated)
Remember the Crack Cocaine scandal revealed in 1996 by journalist Gary Webb. Crackwas sold to the African-American communities in Los Angeles.
Since 2001, the retail sale of heroin and opioids has become increasingly “weaponized” directed against sustaining racism, poverty and social inequality.
While today’s drug trade is the source of wealth and enrichment, drug addiction including the use of heroin, opioids and synthetic opioids has skyrocketed In 2001,1,779 Americans were killed as a result of heroin overdose. By 2016, heroin addiction resulted in 15,446 deaths.
Those lives would have been saved had the US and its NATO allies NOT invaded and occupied Afghanistan in 2001.
Drug Related Mortality. Impacts of the Covid-19 Lockdown (March 2020)
In recent developments, resulting from the Covid-19 lockdown, mortality resulting from cocaine, heroin and opioids has increased dramatically.
The hike starts in February 2020 (coinciding with the financial crash).
Following the mid-March 2020 lockdown, drug overdose deaths go fly high.
In May 2020 the overdose death count was in excess of 3000, i.e. a more than three fold increase in relation to the drug overdose deaths recorded prior to the corona crisis.
In the US, the recorded monthly drug overdose deaths in 2020 have more than tripled.
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You can view this program in the video below (scroll down)
While this show has principally focused on the much more talked about Ukraine during Russia’s offensive, there has been considerably less attention to the turmoil seizing the third largest country in South America.
In the past seven years, the Republic of Peru has undergone six changes in the presidency, which makes it a challenging place to govern. But the most recent, that of the ouster of President Pedro Castillo and implementing Dina Boularte to replace him caused waves of protests that still grip the country. People living in rural regions of the country were most opposed to Castillo’s removal. Protests in the Andean highlands were particularly highlighted, areas where the inital victory of Castillo, being a left-leaning teacher with Indigenous roots, was seen as historic for the impoverished and Indigenous communities. [1][2]
Abroad, there were a considerable number of countries, including Argentina, Bolivia, Columbia, Honduras, Mexico and Venezuela continue to recognize Castillo and not Boularte as the democratically elected President. Brazil, Chile, the United States, and Canada meanwhile support the ousting and Boularte’s continuing to govern until 2026. This is spite of a recent poll by the Institute for Peruvian Studies which found that 80 per cent of the population of the country wants early elections.[3][4][5][6][7][8]
Researching the incident reveals more details of the context for this uprising. Peru is the second largest producer of copper in the world. The communities supplying the mineral are not getting compensation despite sky high international prices. Pedro Castillo was reluctant to impose emergency measures on protests. [9]
As well, there are indications that the ouster in December 2022 was arranged with help from beyond Peru. As Peter Koenig pointed out in a January 2023 essay:
“In the last two to three years, almost all of Latin American countries were turned to the “left” – the apparent left – which looks suspiciously like WEF / CIA-orchestrated elections or coups.” [10]
This week, on the Global Research News Hour, we present a panel discussion presented by The Canadian Foreign Policy Institute. Hosted in February, the panelists described the developments around the population, U.S. and Canadian interests. The speakers were Eliana Carlin Ronquillo, Ben Norton, author and activist Yves Engler and Professor of International Development Studies Kirsten Francescone.
See unabridged video from Canadian Foreign Policy Institute
Eliana Carlin Ronquillo is a Peruvian political scientist. As an activist she advocates for Gender equality and human rights.
Ben Norton is a journalist and analyst focused primarily on geopolitics , international political economy and US foreign policy, and based in Latin America.
Kirsten Francescone is assistant professor in International Development Studies at Trent University and a former Latin America program coordinator at Miningwatch Canada.
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.
December 12, 2022, ‘Colombia, Argentina, Mexico and Bolivia, in favor of Castillo’, Associated Press; https://apnews.com/article/c4152daee74d1e733412ee70386c48a1
January 26, 2023, ‘Peru recalls ambassador to Honduras for ‘unacceptable interference’ as diplomatic spat deepens’, Reuters; https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/peru-recalls-ambassador-honduras-unacceptable-interference-diplomatic-spat-2023-01-26/
Marcelo Rochabrun and Carolina Pulice (April 20, 2022),’Peru declares state of emergency to restore copper production at Cuajone mine’, Reuters; https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/peru-declares-state-emergency-restore-copper-production-cuajone-mine-2022-04-20/
Prof Michel Chossudovsky of Global Research points out, if we ever hope to derail the never-ending war on terror, we must be absolutely clear that neither Al Qaeda nor Saudi Arabia could have pulled off the attacks of that day.
“The tragic events of September 11, 2001 constitute a fundamental landmark in American history, a decisive watershed, a breaking point.
Millions of people have been misled regarding the causes and consequences of 9/11.
9/11 marks the onslaught of the “Global War on Terrorism” (GWOT), used as a pretext and a justification by the US and its NATO allies to carry out a “war without borders”, a global war of conquest.
A far-reaching overhaul of US military doctrine was launched in the wake of 9/11.
9/11 was also a stepping stone towards the relentless repeal of civil liberties, the militarization of law enforcement and the inauguration of “Police State USA”.
Michel Chossudovsky, 22 years later, September 03, 2023
GRTV Video produced by James Corbett, Interview with Michel Chossudovsky
America’s War on Terrorism
by Michel Chossudovsky
ISBN Number: 9780973714715
In this new and expanded edition of Michel Chossudovsky’s 2002 best seller, the author blows away the smokescreen put up by the mainstream media, that 9/11 was an attack on America by “Islamic terrorists”. Through meticulous research, the author uncovers a military-intelligence ploy behind the September 11 attacks, and the cover-up and complicity of key members of the Bush Administration.
The expanded edition, which includes twelve new chapters focuses on the use of 9/11 as a pretext for the invasion and illegal occupation of Iraq, the militarisation of justice and law enforcement and the repeal of democracy.
According to Chossudovsky, the “war on terrorism” is a complete fabrication based on the illusion that one man, Osama bin Laden, outwitted the $40 billion-a-year American intelligence apparatus. The “war on terrorism” is a war of conquest. Globalisation is the final march to the “New World Order”, dominated by Wall Street and the U.S. military-industrial complex.
September 11, 2001 provides a justification for waging a war without borders. Washington’s agenda consists in extending the frontiers of the American Empire to facilitate complete U.S. corporate control, while installing within America the institutions of the Homeland Security State.
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***
Over the weekend, Democrats across the country received a text message “begging” them to sign a petition to “BAN Robert F. Kennedy from the ballot.” Signed “PTP,” the hyperlink leads recipients to the website for the Progressive Turnout Project, where a survey asks a series of politically-charged questions.
Grassroots campaigns like this are not new. However, the attempt to prevent the American people from having the choice to vote for their preferred candidate is. This continues an unprecedented string of attacks on Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the First Amendment itself.
The group behind the campaign is the Progressive Turnout Project, a political action committee (PAC) that has been described as “the largest voter contact organization in the country.” It has a series of sub-organizations operating under different names, two of which are also engaged in the BAN RFK petition: Stop Republicans and Progressive Takeover.
We at The Kennedy Beacon were curious why this pro-Democrat PAC would be pushing for RFK Jr.’s removal from the ballot, so we followed the money.
Using the most recent publicly-available data from OpenSecrets, we discovered that the single largest donation to the PTP came from Dustin Moskovitz.
Moskovitz is most famous for co-founding Facebook alongside Mark Zuckerberg in 2004. Facebook is a co-defendant in a lawsuit brought by Kennedy’s Children’s Health Defense and other plaintiffs censored by the platform in collusion with the Biden administration.
Moskovitz also co-founded a project management application called Asana in 2008. Between these two massively profitable companies, Moskovitz generated so much wealth that he was identified by Forbesin 2011 as the world’s youngest self-made billionaire, even beating out Zuckerberg.
After earning his fortune in big tech, Moskovitz and his future wife, Cari Tuna, signed on to “The Giving Pledge,” committing to give away the vast majority of their money before the end of their lives. The Giving Pledge was the creation of mega-millionaires Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, with co-signatories including Elon Musk, Zuckerberg, George Lucas, David Rockefeller, and Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of the recently-collapsed FTX cryptocurrency trading platform.
To accomplish their goal, Moskovitz and Tuna embraced a philosophy of “effective altruism.” According to its proponents, effective altruists seek to direct funding towards the people and organizations most likely to accomplish a given intended outcome for the betterment of humanity and the planet —often focusing on topics such as artificial intelligence, natural disasters, and combating “misinformation/disinformation.”
In the years leading up to COVID-19, Moskovitz used Open Philanthropy and Good Ventures to provide significant funding toward pandemic preparedness and biosecurity. Open Philanthropy is also listed as the primary sponsor of a series of tabletop pandemic “war games,” during which world leaders practice how they might respond to various scenarios involving outbreaks of novel viruses, whether man-made or of natural origin. Some examples include Clade X (May 2018); A Spreading Plague(February 2019); and of course, the infamous Event 201 (October 2019).
Each of these pandemic war games led to a set of recommendations, all of which emphasized the need to merge the public and private sectors in order to reduce regulatory barriers, combat mis/disinformation, and minimize accountability. (Kennedy provides a comprehensive summary of these war games in his book, The Real Anthony Fauci.)
As the COVID-19 crisis emerged, Open Philanthropy began providing millions of dollars to help shape America’s institutional response. In March 2020, they provided a $250,000 grant to a think tank called the Center for Global Development to support work “developing COVID-19 response guidelines and decision support tools to disseminate to local leaders,” which were “intended to help local leaders take appropriate measures to limit the spread of the virus.”
In our news roundup yesterday, Louis Conte highlighted an interview on The Hill: Rising, with progressive educator and activist Sabby Sabs addressing the “BAN RFK Jr.” petition. Sabs raises the point that a co-founder of Facebook was involved in another attempt to suppress Kennedy’s campaign, after that same social media platform had admitted to censoring political opposition (such as in the case of the Hunter Biden laptop story).
“Here you have social media platforms working hand-in-hand with the Democratic Party, and this is very much a problem,” Sabs said. “I think everybody should be concerned,” Sabs continued. “Whether you support RFK Jr.’s campaign or not, who are they to tell you to kick someone off of the ballot?”
Moskovitz likely no longer holds a formal position with Facebook or its parent company, Meta, but a good chunk of his wealth appears to be from Facebook stock he still owns. Will Moskovitz’s own political and personal interests be jeopardized if Kennedy makes it to the White House?
The Kennedy Beacon reached out to Moskovitz for comment through both Open Philanthropy and the Effective Ventures Foundation. By press time, we did not receive a response.
*
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Liam Sturgess is a Vancouver-based singer/songwriter and music producer, performing professionally since 2013. During the COVID-19 era, he has worked with the Canadian Covid Care Alliance, Rounding the Earth and American Values 2024.
We bring to the attention of our readers the following text of Osama bin Laden’s interview with Ummat, a Pakistani daily, published in Karachi on September 28, 2001. It was translated into English by the BBC World Monitoring Service and made public on September 29, 2001.
The authenticity of this interview remains to be confirmed. It was available in recognized electronic news archives including the BBC.
The interview tends to demystify the Osama bin Laden persona.
Osama bin Laden categorically denies his involvement in the 9/11 attacks. Bin Laden’s statements in this interview are markedly different from those made in the alleged Osama video tapes.
In this interview, Osama bin Laden exhibits an understanding of US foreign policy. He expresses his views regarding the loss of life on 9/11. He focusses on CIA support to the narcotics trade.
He also makes statements as to who, in his opinion, might be the likely perpetrator of the September 11 attacks.
This is an important text which has not been brought to the attention of Western public opinion.
We have highlighted key sections of this interview.
It is our hope that the text of this interview, published on 28 September 2001 barely a week before the onset of the war on Afghanistan, will contribute to a better understanding of the history of Al Qaeda, the role of Osama bin Laden and the tragic events of September 11, 2001.
I should be noted that on the day preceding the 9/11 attacks, Osama Bin Laden had been admitted for treatment in a Military Hospital in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
This was confirmed by Dan Rather in a CBS News Report.
This interview is published for informational purposes only.
GR does not in any way endorse the statements in this interview. Nor are we in a position to confirm its authenticity.
Michel Chossudovsky, September 2, 2023
Full text of September 2001 Pakistani paper’s “exclusive” interview with Usamah Bin-Ladin
translated from Urdu by the BBC World Monitoring Service
Karachi, 28 September 2001, pp. 1- 7.
Ummat’s introduction
Kabul: Prominent Arab mojahed holy warrior Usamah Bin-Ladin has said that he or his al-Qa’idah group has nothing to do with the 11 September suicidal attacks in Washington and New York. He said the US government should find the attackers within the country. In an exclusive interview with daily “Ummat”, he said these attacks could be the act of those who are part of the American system and are rebelling against it and working for some other system. Or, Usamah said, this could be the act of those who want to make the current century a century of conflict between Islam and Christianity. Or, the American Jews, who are opposed to President Bush ever since the Florida elections, might be the masterminds of this act. There is also a great possibility of the involvement of US intelligence agencies, which need billions of dollars worth of funds every year. He said there is a government within the government in the United States.
The secret agencies, he said, should be asked as to who are behind the attacks. Usamah said support for attack on Afghanistan was a matter of need for some Muslim countries and compulsion for others. However, he said, he was thankful to the courageous people of Pakistan who erected a bulwark before the wrong forces. He added that the Islamic world was attaching great expectations with Pakistan and, in time of need, “we will protect this bulwark by sacrificing of lives”.
Following is the interview in full detail:
Ummat: You have been accused of involvement in the attacks in New York and Washington. What do you want to say about this? If you are not involved, who might be?
Usamah [Osama bin Laden]: In the name of Allah, the most beneficent, the most merciful. Praise be to Allah, Who is the creator of the whole universe and Who made the earth as an abode for peace, for the whole mankind. Allah is the Sustainer, who sent Prophet Muhammad for our guidance. I am thankful to the Ummat Group of Publications, which gave me the opportunity to convey my viewpoint to the people, particularly the valiant and Momin true Muslim people of Pakistan who refused to believe in lie of the demon.
I have already said that I am not involved in the 11 September attacks in the United States. As a Muslim, I try my best to avoid telling a lie. I had no knowledge of these attacks, nor do I consider the killing of innocent women, children, and other humans as an appreciable act. Islam strictly forbids causing harm to innocent women, children, and other people.
Such a practice is forbidden ever in the course of a battle. It is the United States, which is perpetrating every maltreatment on women, children, and common people of other faiths, particularly the followers of Islam. All that is going on in Palestine for the last 11 months is sufficient to call the wrath of God upon the United States and Israel.
There is also a warning for those Muslim countries, which witnessed all these as a silent spectator. What had earlier been done to the innocent people of Iraq, Chechnya, and Bosnia?
Only one conclusion could be derived from the indifference of the United States and the West to these acts of terror and the patronage of the tyrants by these powers that America is an anti-Islamic power and it is patronizing the anti-Islamic forces. Its friendship with the Muslim countries is just a show, rather deceit. By enticing or intimidating these countries, the United States is forcing them to play a role of its choice. Put a glance all around and you will see that the slaves of the United States are either rulers or enemies of Muslims .
The US has no friends, nor does it want to keep any because the prerequisite of friendship is to come to the level of the friend or consider him at par with you. America does not want to see anyone equal to it. It expects slavery from others. Therefore, other countries are either its slaves or subordinates.
However, our case is different. We have pledged slavery to God Almighty alone and after this pledge there is no possibility to become the slave of someone else. If we do that, it will be disregardful to both our Sustainer and his fellow beings. Most of the world nations upholding their freedom are the religious ones, which are the enemies of United States, or the latter itself considers them as its enemies. Or the countries, which do not agree to become its slaves, such as China, Iran, Libya, Cuba, Syria, and the former Russia as received .
Whoever committed the act of 11 September are not the friends of the American people. I have already said that we are against the American system, not against its people, whereas in these attacks, the common American people have been killed.
According to my information, the death toll is much higher than what the US government has stated. But the Bush administration does not want the panic to spread. The United States should try to trace the perpetrators of these attacks within itself; the people who are a part of the US system, but are dissenting against it. Or those who are working for some other system; persons who want to make the present century as a century of conflict between Islam and Christianity so that their own civilization, nation, country, or ideology could survive. They can be any one, from Russia to Israel and from India to Serbia. In the US itself, there are dozens of well-organized and well-equipped groups, which are capable of causing a large-scale destruction. Then you cannot forget the American Jews, who are annoyed with President Bush ever since the elections in Florida and want to avenge him.
Then there are intelligence agencies in the US, which require billions of dollars worth of funds from the Congress and the government every year. This funding issue was not a big problem till the existence of the former Soviet Union but after that the budget of these agencies has been in danger.
They needed an enemy. So, they first started propaganda against Usamah and Taleban and then this incident happened. You see, the Bush administration approved a budget of 40bn dollars. Where will this huge amount go? It will be provided to the same agencies, which need huge funds and want to exert their importance.
Now they will spend the money for their expansion and for increasing their importance. I will give you an example. Drug smugglers from all over the world are in contact with the US secret agencies. These agencies do not want to eradicate narcotics cultivation and trafficking because their importance will be diminished. The people in the US Drug Enforcement Department are encouraging drug trade so that they could show performance and get millions of dollars worth of budget. General Noriega was made a drug baron by the CIA and, in need, he was made a scapegoat. In the same way, whether it is President Bush or any other US president, they cannot bring Israel to justice for its human rights abuses or to hold it accountable for such crimes. What is this? Is it not that there exists a government within the government in the United Sates? That secret government must be asked as to who made the attacks.
Ummat: A number of world countries have joined the call of the United States for launching an attack on Afghanistan. These also include a number of Muslim countries. Will Al-Qa’idah declare a jihad against these countries as well?
Usamah: I must say that my duty is just to awaken the Muslims; to tell them as to what is good for them and what is not. What does Islam says and what the enemies of Islam want?
Al-Qa’idah was set up to wage a jihad against infidelity, particularly to encounter the onslaught of the infidel countries against the Islamic states. Jihad is the sixth undeclared element of Islam. The first five being the basic holy words of Islam, prayers, fast, pilgrimage to Mecca, and giving alms Every anti-Islamic person is afraid of it. Al-Qa’idah wants to keep this element alive and active and make it part of the daily life of the Muslims. It wants to give it the status of worship. We are not against any Islamic country nor we consider a war against an Islamic country as jihad.
We are in favour of armed jihad only against those infidel countries, which are killing innocent Muslim men, women, and children just because they are Muslims. Supporting the US act is the need of some Muslim countries and the compulsion of others. However, they should think as to what will remain of their religious and moral position if they support the attack of the Christians and the Jews on a Muslim country like Afghanistan. The orders of Islamic shari’ah jurisprudence for such individuals, organizations, and countries are clear and all the scholars of the Muslim brotherhood are unanimous on them. We will do the same, which is being ordered by the Amir ol-Momenin the commander of the faithful Mola Omar and the Islamic scholars. The hearts of the people of Muslim countries are beating with the call of jihad. We are grateful to them.
Ummat: The losses caused in the attacks in New York and Washington have proved that giving an economic blow to the US is not too difficult. US experts admit that a few more such attacks can bring down the American economy. Why is al-Qa’idah not targeting their economic pillars?
Usamah: I have already said that we are not hostile to the United States. We are against the system, which makes other nations slaves of the United States, or forces them to mortgage their political and economic freedom.This system is totally in control of the American Jews, whose first priority is Israel, not the United States. It is simply that the American people are themselves the slaves of the Jews and are forced to live according to the principles and laws laid by them. So, the punishment should reach Israel. In fact, it is Israel, which is giving a blood bath to innocent Muslims and the US is not uttering a single word.
Ummat: Why is harm not caused to the enemies of Islam through other means, apart from the armed struggle? For instance, inciting the Muslims to boycott Western products, banks, shipping lines, and TV channels.
Usamah: The first thing is that Western products could only be boycotted when the Muslim fraternity is fully awakened and organized. Secondly, the Muslim companies should become self-sufficient in producing goods equal to the products of Western companies. Economic boycott of the West is not possible unless economic self-sufficiency is attained and substitute products are brought out. You see that wealth is scattered all across the Muslim world but not a single TV channel has been acquired which can preach Islamic injunctions according to modern requirements and attain an international influence. Muslim traders and philanthropists should make it a point that if the weapon of public opinion is to be used, it is to be kept in the hand. Today’s world is of public opinion and the fates of nations are determined through its pressure. Once the tools for building public opinion are obtained, everything that you asked for can be done.
Ummat: The entire propaganda about your struggle has so far been made by the Western media. But no information is being received from your sources about the network of Al-Qa’idah and its jihadi successes. Would you comment?
Usamah: In fact, the Western media is left with nothing else. It has no other theme to survive for a long time. Then we have many other things to do. The struggle for jihad and the successes are for the sake of Allah and not to annoy His bondsmen. Our silence is our real propaganda. Rejections, explanations, or corrigendum only waste your time and through them, the enemy wants you to engage in things which are not of use to you. These things are pulling you away from your cause.
The Western media is unleashing such a baseless propaganda, which make us surprise but it reflects on what is in their hearts and gradually they themselves become captive of this propaganda. They become afraid of it and begin to cause harm to themselves. Terror is the most dreaded weapon in modern age and the Western media is mercilessly using it against its own people. It can add fear and helplessness in the psyche of the people of Europe and the United States. It means that what the enemies of the United States cannot do, its media is doing that. You can understand as to what will be the performance of the nation in a war, which suffers from fear and helplessness.
Ummat: What will the impact of the freeze of al-Qa’idah accounts by the US?
Usamah: God opens up ways for those who work for Him. Freezing of accounts will not make any difference for Al-Qa’idah or other jihad groups. With the grace of Allah, al-Qa’idah has more than three such alternative financial systems, which are all separate and totally independent from each other. This system is operating under the patronage of those who love jihad. What to say of the United States, even the combined world cannot budge these people from their path.
These people are not in hundreds but in thousands and millions. Al-Qa’idah comprises of such modern educated youths who are aware of the cracks inside the Western financial system as they are aware of the lines in their hands. These are the very flaws of the Western fiscal system, which are becoming a noose for it and this system could not recuperate in spite of the passage of so many days.
Ummat: Are there other safe areas other than Afghanistan, where you can continue jihad?
Usamah: There are areas in all parts of the world where strong jihadi forces are present, from Indonesia to Algeria, from Kabul to Chechnya, from Bosnia to Sudan, and from Burma to Kashmir. Then it is not the problem of my person. I am helpless fellowman of God, constantly in the fear of my accountability before God. It is not the question of Usamah but of Islam and, in Islam too, of jihad. Thanks to God, those waging a jihad can walk today with their heads raised. Jihad was still present when there was no Usamah and it will remain as such even when Usamah is no longer there. Allah opens up ways and creates loves in the hearts of people for those who walk on the path of Allah with their lives, property, and children. Believe it, through jihad, a man gets everything he desires. And the biggest desire of a Muslim is the after life. Martyrdom is the shortest way of attaining an eternal life.
Ummat: What do you say about the Pakistan government policy on Afghanistan attack?
Usamah: We are thankful to the Momin and valiant people of Pakistan who erected a blockade in front of the wrong forces and stood in the first file of battle. Pakistan is a great hope for the Islamic brotherhood. Its people are awakened, organized, and rich in the spirit of faith. They backed Afghanistan in its war against the Soviet Union and extended every help to the mojahedin and the Afghan people. Then these are the same Pakistanis who are standing shoulder by shoulder with the Taleban. If such people emerge in just two countries, the domination of the West will diminish in a matter of days. Our hearts beat with Pakistan and, God forbid, if a difficult time comes we will protect it with our blood. Pakistan is sacred for us like a place of worship. We are the people of jihad and fighting for the defence of Pakistan is the best of all jihads to us. It does not matter for us as to who rules Pakistan. The important thing is that the spirit of jihad is alive and stronger in the hearts of the Pakistani people.
Copyright Ummat in Urdu, BBC translation in English, 2001
Read about Osama Bin Laden in Michel Chossudovsky’s international best-seller
According to Chossudovsky, the “war on terrorism” is a complete fabrication based on the illusion that one man, Osama bin Laden, outwitted the $40 billion-a-year American intelligence apparatus. The “war on terrorism” is a war of conquest. Globalisation is the final march to the “New World Order”, dominated by Wall Street and the U.S. military-industrial complex.
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We commemorate September 11, 2001. 22 Years
This incisive article by the late Dr. Elias Davidson and Craig McGee was originally published on GR in April 2018. The Legacy of Elias Davidson will live.
Scholars who attempt to elucidate the crime perpetrated on 9/11 – who are commonly referred to as 9/11 truthers – are often criticized for relying on conjecture and speculation in support of their claims. Such criticism may at times be justified, though often made in bad faith.
There is actually no need to resort to speculative arguments that the official account of 9/11 is a fraud since there are hard facts that support this conclusion. Here are 10 such undisputed facts:
1. U.S. authorities have failed to trace, arrest, try (prosecute), and punish anyone responsible for the crime against humanity committed on 9/11.
The mass murder committed on September 11, 2001 represents, under international law, a crime against humanity. The State where it was committed – in this case the United States of America – bears the obligation to the international community to trace, arrest, try, and punish individuals responsible for that crime.
Since 2002, U.S. authorities admit they have detained a handful of persons at Guantánamo Bay who are accused of helping to orchestrate 9/11. Their identities remain in doubt; their alleged confessions were made behind closed doors; and their trial by a military court does not fulfill minimal international norms of due process.
U.S. authorities claim to have sentenced Zacarias Moussaoui to life imprisonment for not having warned the FBI about the preparations for 9/11, an allegation he denied. No evidence was presented that he was involved in the preparations for 9/11 or knew anything about these preparations. No evidence was presented that he even knew the alleged hijackers. U.S. authorities also claim to hold, since 2003, a man by the name of Khalid Sheikh Mohamed (KSM) in Guantánamo who allegedly confessed to have masterminded 9/11 and more than 30 other terrorist operations. He also allegedly confessed to having planned an attack on a bank in Washington State that did not exist until after he was already in Guantánamo. The man, whose identity remains murky and whose connection to 9/11 is limited to what he said in his ludicrous confession, has not been prosecuted, let alone sentenced. No one seriously expects him to be ever brought to trial, let alone a trial fulfilling international norms.
2. When announcing to the United Nations their decision to attack Afghanistan, U.S. authorities failed to provide evidence that the crime of 9/11 was in any way connected to Afghanistan. In fact, such evidence has still not been produced.
See the letter from U.S. Representative John Negroponte to the President of the UN Security Council, October 7, 2001 (mirrored here).
3. The United States government did not authorize an investigation of the events of 9/11 that could have fulfilled minimal international standards: The 9/11 Commission was neither independent nor impartial, and its investigation was neither thorough nor transparent.
Regarding minimal standards of investigation, see Elias Davidsson, “The Events of 11 September 2001 and the Right to the Truth.” (See this or this)
4. Despite vilifying Osama bin Laden as a terrorist leader, judicial authorities in the United States have failed to charge him in connection with 9/11. He was not even wanted in connection with this crime.
The FBI admitted in June 2006 that it possesses no concrete evidence linking Osama bin Laden to 9/11. (See: Ed Haas, “FBI says, it has no ‘hard evidence connecting Bin Laden to 9/11,” Information Clearing House, June 18, 2006, mirrored here)
5. Authorities in the United States have failed to produce clear and convincing evidence that the 19 persons named by the FBI as 9/11 hijackers even boarded aircraft that they are alleged to have subsequently hijacked.
To be precise: U.S. authorities have failed to produce authenticated passenger lists that would include the names of the alleged hijackers; witnesses who saw these alleged hijackers in the airports or boarding the aircraft; authenticated security-camera videos proving their presence in the airports of departure; and DNA identification of these individuals’ bodily remains (see detailed analysis in Elias Davidsson, Hijacking America’s Mind on 9/11 [Algora Publishers, New York, 2013], Chapter 2).
6. U.S. authorities have failed to produce clear and convincing evidence that passenger airliners crashed at the known landmarks on 9/11.
The FBI admitted in a letter to the Nevada District U.S. Court on March 14, 2008, signed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick A. Rose, that records detailing the collection and positive identification of the wreckage of the crashed aircraft do not exist (Letter mirrored here). He thus admitted that the FBI failed to formally identify the wreckage found at the various crash sites as belonging to the allegedly hijacked aircraft. It is, therefore, not established that the allegedly hijacked aircraft crashed at these locations.
7. U.S. authorities have failed to explain why more than 1,100 persons, who were present at the World Trade Center on 9/11, vanished into thin air.
Vast parts of the Twin Towers were literally pulverized as can be seen from video recordings, photos, and testimonies. Of more than 1,100 missing persons, not a single tooth, nail, or bone has been found as of 2011 (See, inter alia, Anemona Hartocollis, “Connecting with lost loved ones, if only by the tips of fingers,” The New York Times, September 11, 2011 [mirrored here]). U.S. authorities have never explained what could have caused more than 1,100 persons to vanish without leaving a trace. They bear the obligation, under human rights law, to determine the reason for such disappearances.
8. U.S. authorities compensated families of 9/11 victims that agreed to waive their right to further court action. The compensation exceeded by at least seven times what was paid to the families of firefighters who died in rescue operations on 9/11.
The families of 9/11 victims received from the U.S. Compensation Fund, established in October 2001, an average of $2.1 million if they agreed to waive their right to engage in civil proceedings (see, inter alia, Brian Bernbaum, “9/11 Fund Chief Faults Payments,” CBS News, 4.9.2003 [mirrored here]). As of 2013, spouses of firefighters who die in line of duty can obtain $333,605 under the Public Safety Officers’ Benefits (PSOB) Act (42 U.S.C. 3796). The figure for 2001 was undoubtedly lower. The 95 families, who did not apply to the Compensation Fund and preferred to let courts determine their rights, obtained an average of $5.5 million in out-of-court settlements (see, Ashby Jones, “The 9/11 Victim Settlements: A Chat with Skadden’s Sheila Birnbaum,” The Wall Street Journal, 13.3.2009 [mirrored here]).
9. U.S. authorities have failed to explain the effect of numerous military drills conducted on the morning of 9/11 – including the simulation of aircraft hijackings – on the commission of the mass murder.
Military drills caused confusion and surprised military and civilian personnel responsible for air traffic, as reported in U.S. media. For example, NORAD Major General Larry Arnold said that, “By the end of the day, we had twenty-one aircraft identified as possible hijackings.” (See, Eric Hehs, “Conversation with Major General Larry Arnold,” One Magazine, January 2002 [mirrored here]). Colonel Robert Marr, NEADS battle commander, said he had been told that across the nation there were “29 different reports of hijackings.” (See, Robert A. Baker, “Commander of 9/11 Air Defenses Retires,” Newhouse News Service, March 31, 2005 [mirrored here]). U.S. authorities failed to explain how these drills affected the commission of the crime, including the apparent failure to intercept hijacked aircraft.
10. U.S. authorities promoted numerous officials who, according to the official account on 9/11, had failed to carry out their duties with regard to 9/11. Not a single person has been held accountable anywhere in government for what went wrong on or prior to 9/11.
Here are few examples: Richard Myers, in charge of the Pentagon on 9/11, was promoted to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on October 1, 2001; Ralph Eberhart, in charge of NORAD on 9/11, was promoted to head the new “Northern Command” a year after 9/11; Captain Charles J. Leidig, acting NMCC Director on 9/11, was promoted in 2004 to the rank of admiral; Brigadier General Montague Winfield, who on 9/11 was in charge of the National Military Command Center (NMCC), was promoted in May 2003 to the two-star rank of major general; Marion (Spike) Bowman, who blocked FBI investigations into the alleged hijackers before 9/11, was given an award for “exceptional performance” after a 9/11 Congressional Inquiry report claimed that his unit gave Minneapolis FBI agents “inexcusably confused and inaccurate information” that was “patently false.”
Conclusion
The above facts are sufficient to reject the official account of 9/11 and consider the administration of President George W. Bush as the main suspect for this crime against humanity. While the facts are not sufficient for leveling criminal charges against specific individuals, they permit general conclusions to be drawn regarding the dangerous nature of the U.S. regime and the complicity of the political class, mainstream media, academia, and the justice system of NATO member states in covering-up the crime of 9/11 and shielding those responsible for that crime.
The United Nations (U.N.) announced in August 2020 that the electric car boom will result in a number of devastating ecological side effects for the planet.
While the shift to electric cars reflects ongoing efforts to reduce the world’s dependence on fossil fuels, the UN warns that the raw materials used to produce electric car batteries are highly concentrated in a small number of countries and their extraction and refinement pose a serious threat to the environment.
The U.N. trade body, UNCTAD, has issued a new report breaking down some of the unintended negative consequences of the shift, which include ecological degradation as well as human rights abuses.
The report notes that metals such as cobalt, lithium, manganese, copper, and minerals like graphite “play a significant role in energy-related technologies such as rechargeable batteries that are used in a variety of applications ranging from electronics to electric vehicles as well as in renewable energies such as nuclear, wind, and solar power.”
Several of these raw materials are quite rare and have few or no substitutes and they come from specific areas of the globe. More than half the world’s supply of lithium, for example, a key component of lithium-ion batteries, comes from beneath the salt flats in the Andean region of Chile, Bolivia, and Argentina.
The production of these raw materials “is often associated with undesirable environmental footprints, poor human rights and worker protection,” the report asserts.
In Chile, for instance, “lithium mining uses nearly 65% of the water in the country’s Salar de Atamaca region, one of the driest desert areas in the world, to pump out brines from drilled wells,” the U.N. notes, because nearly 2 million liters of water are needed to produce a ton of lithium.
This has “contributed to environment degradation, landscape damage and soil contamination, groundwater depletion and pollution,” the U.N. states.
In its report, UNCTAD estimates that some 23 million electric cars will be sold over the coming decade and as a result the market for rechargeable car batteries is forecast to rise by over 700 percent in just four years, from its current level of $7 billion to $58 billion by 2024.
Along with lithium, another key component of electric car batteries is cobalt, and two-thirds of all cobalt production happens in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), The U.N. observes.
The U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reports that about 20 percent of cobalt supplied from the DRC comes from artisanal mines, “where human rights abuses have been reported, and up to 40,000 children work in extremely dangerous conditions in the mines for meagre income.”
The U.N. also fears that cobalt-copper mines in DRC may contain sulphur minerals that contribute to Acid mine drainage (AMD), a phenomenon that causes pollution or contamination of surface water, thereby increasing the toxicity of rivers and drinking water.
“The environmental impacts of graphite mining are very similar to those associated with cobalt mining,” the report adds.
Last December, a prominent professor at the Copenhagen Business School said that attempts to rein in global warming by driving electric cars were nothing other than “pointless virtue signaling.”
“It is absurd for middle-class citizens in advanced economies to tell themselves that eating less steak or commuting in a Toyota TM-0.18% Prius will rein in rising temperatures,” stated Bjørn Lomborg, the director of the Copenhagen Consensus Center and author of The Skeptical Environmentalist.
“Although I am a vegetarian and don’t own a car, I believe we need to be honest about what such choices can achieve,” Lomborg declared.
Although electric cars are “branded as environmentally friendly,” the fact is that “generating the electricity they require almost always involves burning fossil fuels,” he stated.
“Moreover, producing energy-intensive batteries for these cars invariably generates significant CO2 emissions,” he wrote, so that electric cars have a huge carbon deficit when they hit the road, and “will start saving emissions only after being driven 60,000 kilometers.”
Even if the percentage of electric cars in the world were to rise to 15 times their present numbers, electric cars would only reduce global CO2 emissions by 1 percent, he declared, citing a report from the International Energy Agency (IEA).
For his part, IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said that in 2018, electric cars saved 40 million tons of CO2 worldwide, sufficient to reduce global temperatures by a mere 0.000018°C — or a little more than a hundred-thousandth of a degree Celsius — by the end of the century.
“If you think you can save the climate with electric cars, you’re completely wrong,” Birol said.
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***
September 11, 1973.
We are commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Military Coup.
Important testimony of how political prisoners were killed.
Henry Kissinger was behind the coup. “Intimo amigo del General Pinochet”
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Every dawn, during my daily walk to the foothills of the Andes, I pass by the Tobalaba Aerodrome, a facility that caters to a wide variety of private aircraft. For most residents of La Reina, the Santiago neighborhood where my wife and I have a home, this is an attractive and benign open space in a congested city, a guarantee that no skyscraper will blur the skyline. For me, in a year marking the 50th anniversary of the coup against the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende, that airport arouses less affable feelings.
It was from there, just weeks after the military uprising of September 11, 1973, that a huge Puma helicopter took off, crammed with Chilean army officers on a mission entrusted to them by General Augusto Pinochet to ensure that Allende supporters who had already been given light sentences by local military courts in the south and north of the country were summarily executed. Among the 97 political prisoners killed by what came to be called the Caravan of Death was a friend of mine, a young communist named Carlos Berger.
Image: Carlos Berger with his wife Carmen Hertz.
Carlos and I had been colleagues at the state publishing house, Quimantú, which published popular magazines and millions of books at very low prices. I remember him as handsome and serious and sometimes mischievous, but above all I remember his intense commitment to the peaceful revolution that Allende had inaugurated when he won the presidency in 1970. The last time we met, Carlos told me, with overflowing emotion, that his wife, Carmen Hertz, had given birth to a son, Germán, who would grow up, he added, in a country without exploitation, without injustice. Carlos himself was leaving Santiago to run a radio station in Calama, known as the Mining Capital of Chile. He could not have known that this move to the north of the country would mean, at the age of thirty, his death sentence.
Despite not having offered violent resistance to the coup, he was sentenced to 70 days in prison, a sentence that had been commuted to a fine.
He was then about to be released when the Caravan of Death arrived in that Puma helicopter, with a lethal result: on October 19, Carlos and 25 other political prisoners were loaded, hooded, onto a truck that was lost in the wastelands of the Atacama Desert, where their guts were eviscerated with corvos before they were shot at point-blank range. The mutilated corpses were buried under the anonymous sands of that place, the driest in the world.
Years later, this tragedy would claim new victims. Carlos’ parents, Julio and Dora, ended up committing suicide. As for Carlos’ remains, his widow Carmen had to wait until 2014 for a mock funeral to be held, when forensic scientists identified some small human fragments found in a dune as belonging to the missing husband.
Last year, Carmen, a well-known human rights activist and now a member of Congress, co-sponsored a bill that funds the construction in front of the entrance to the Aerodrome of a Memorial commemorating the human rights violated there.
Because it was not only the site from which the Caravan of Death departed. Other Puma helicopters were later used to dispose of political prisoners who had died under torture by throwing them into the sea.
The military tied railroad tracks to the dead, so that they would sink into the Pacific Ocean and their mangled bodies would not be able to accuse the murderers. A cruel and effective way for them to remain eternally “disappeared”. And that is why the monument, austere and imposing, will exhibit in front of the Aerodrome a row of raised branches, crying to the sky against the flights of death. It is expected that the law, already approved in the Lower House (88 in favor, 49 against, 15 abstentions – let’s note these numbers), will soon be ratified by the Senate.
One more way to remember what happened and that it should never happen again.
Not everyone, however, is happy with the Memorial. A group of La Reina residents has started a campaign to prevent the monument from being erected. They are filled with fear, they say, that the site will become a point of conflict and unrest. Social networks warn that it will foment violence, that mobs will come to paint graffiti on the walls, to build barricades, to loot stores. Although there is not a single instance of such violence occurring in front of the many human rights memorials scattered across the country, that has not deterred those who suggest that it would be better to move the monument to another part of the city. Out of sight, out of mind?
Image: Proposed monument for the disappearances
It would not even be worth mentioning such protests in a lonely Chilean neighborhood if it were not representative of something more serious. This attempt to inflame citizens against a memorial for human rights victims is one more skirmish in a larger and more protracted national battle for memory that has been intensifying as the 50th anniversary of the coup approaches. The question Chileans will inevitably have to answer throughout this year is how do we want to remember that day in September 1973 when the Presidential Palace was bombed and Salvador Allende died along with the democracy he defended?
There are two main answers to that question.
The government of President Gabriel Boric, a charismatic thirty-seven year old former student leader and ardent admirer of Allende, is organizing a series of activities and commemorations that will culminate on September 11.
The emphasis will be on Memory and Human Rights as a way of guaranteeing a future where a dictatorship is inconceivable, especially for the new generations who did not live through the endless nightmare of terror suffered by their elders. The key, therefore, is to educate young people who are increasingly skeptical that democracy can respond to their frustrations and anxieties.
The stakes are high.
Like so many countries around the world, Chile is in crisis. Rampant crime, waves of immigrants, economic insecurity, drought and forest fires, political polarization, quasi-environmental hatred, are fertile ground for the rise of authoritarian populism, nurtured by a nostalgia for the days when a strongman ruled Chile and there was order in the streets.
To inoculate against new forms of tyranny, it is not enough to remember the atrocities of the past, the railroad tracks that burden us, but it is equally necessary to encourage anew the popular belief that a different and better Chile is possible, the kind of dream that fueled Allende’s peaceful and democratic revolution.
It is also a way for Boric, whose government has yet to recover from the resounding defeat of a progressive Constitution last year, to change the narrative and retake the initiative, reminding people how many excessively wealthy politicians and businessmen who call themselves democratic benefited from Pinochet’s seventeen years of dictatorship, how many were and remain his accomplices.
Remembering that Pinochet’s roots -say, that original sin- does not suit the right wing that is viciously opposing the leftist Boric. Its leaders prefer the 50th anniversary to be an occasion to leave the past behind -a denialist attitude whose persistence and obstinacy is proved by that 42% of the representatives of the Congress who chose not to approve the Aerodrome memorial. If the past is to be remembered, they say, what must be kept in mind is their trauma, the mistakes and disorder of the Allende years, how the desire for a socialist society led to insurmountable divisions that forced the Armed Forces to act. The “excesses” (the assassination of Carlos Berger?) are to be deplored, but Chile needs to learn once again the basic lesson of the coup: If we persist in demanding too much change, the result will be disastrous. And virulent. Boric must be careful not to try to push for overly radical reforms.
These two visions will clash throughout this year, as they have done for the last five decades.
In Chile, as in the rest of the world, the way a nation understands its most traumatic past is constantly determining its deepest identity, the kind of future it imagines for its children.
I cannot predict how my country will emerge from this search for an elusive unity, a consensus about who we really are.
I hope that, in that process, the dead will not be absent.
I hope that Chileans can hear the voice of Carlos Berger demanding, from the dark night he inhabits, that we remember him and, with that gentle and fierce memory, we can create a world where no child like Germán grows up without a father, no father like Julio and no mother like Dora dies of pain and despair, no widow like Carmen has to remember him through a monument.
It would be the best recognition and legacy of Carlos and so many other brothers and sisters whose lives were cut short after the coup: may his memory be a spur to unite us and not to separate us, may we be able, as a nation, to defeat the fear, hatred and blindness that prevent us from doing justice to the living and the dead.
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Ariel Dorfman was cultural advisor to Salvador Allende and is the author of “Words from the Other Side of Death” and, forthcoming, the novel, “Allende and the Suicide Museum.”
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Twenty-two years ago:9/11 was a criminal undertaking based on countless lies and fabrications. On September 11, 20233, we commemorate 9/11.
In the following weeks, Global Research will be publishing several important articles pertaining to 9/11 and its immediate aftermath, leading to the illegal US-NATO bombing and occupation of Afghanistan.
Below is the carefully documented and incisive video by James Corbett, initially released in 2011
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Transcript
On the morning of September 11, 2001, 19 men armed with boxcutters directed by a man [Osama bin Laden] on dialysis in a hospital halfway around the world using a satellite phone and a laptop directed the most sophisticated penetration of the most heavily-defended airspace in the world, overpowering the passengers and the military combat-trained pilots on 4 commercial aircraft before flying those planes wildly off course for over an hour without being molested by a single fighter interceptor.
These 19 hijackers, devout religious fundamentalists who liked to drink alcohol, snort cocaine, and live with pink-haired strippers, managed to knock down 3 buildings with 2 planes in New York, while in Washington a pilot who couldn’t handle a single engine Cessna was able to fly a 757 in an 8,000 foot descending 270 degree corskscrew turn to come exactly level with the ground, hitting the Pentagon in the budget analyst office where DoD staffers were working on the mystery of the 2.3 trillion dollars that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had announced “missing” from the Pentagon’s coffers in a press conference the day before, on September 10, 2001.
It failed to mention the existence of WTC7, Able Danger, Ptech, Sibel Edmonds, OBL and the CIA, and the drills of hijacked aircraft being flown into buildings that were being simulated at the precise same time that those events were actually happening.
It was lied to by the Pentagon, the CIA, the Bush Administration and as for Bush and Cheney…well, no one knows what they told it because they testified in secret, off the record, not under oath and behind closed doors. It didn’t bother to look at who funded the attacks because that question is of “little practical significance“. Still, the 9/11 Commission did brilliantly, answering all of the questions the public had (except most of the victims’ family members’ questions) and pinned blame on all the people responsible (although no one so much as lost their job), determining the attacks were “a failure of imagination” because “I don’t think anyone could envision flying airplanes into buildings ” except the Pentagon and FEMA and NORAD and the NRO.
The DIA destroyed 2.5 TB of data on Able Danger, but that’s OK because it probably wasn’t important.
The SEC destroyed their records on the investigation into the insider trading before the attacks, but that’s OK because destroying the records of the largest investigation in SEC history is just part of routine record keeping.
NIST has classified the data that they used for their model of WTC7’s collapse, but that’s OK because knowing how they made their model of that collapse would “jeopardize public safety“.
The FBI has argued that all material related to their investigation of 9/11 should be kept secret from the public, but that’s OK because the FBI probably has nothing to hide.
This man never existed, nor is anything he had to say worthy of your attention, and if you say otherwise you are a paranoid conspiracy theorist and deserve to be shunned by all of humanity. Likewise him, him, him, and her. (and her and her and him).
Osama Bin Laden lived in a cave fortress in the hills of Afghanistan, but somehow got away.
Then he lived in Abottabad [Pakistan] for years, taunting the most comprehensive intelligence dragnet employing the most sophisticated technology in the history of the world for 10 years, releasing video after video with complete impunity (and getting younger and younger as he did so), before finally being found in a daring SEAL team raid which wasn’t recorded on video, in which he didn’t resist or use his wife as a human shield, and in which these crack special forces operatives panicked and killed this unarmed man, supposedly the best source of intelligence about those dastardly terrorists on the planet.
Then they dumped his body in the ocean before telling anyone about it. Then a couple dozen of that team’s members [SEAL] died in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan.
If you have any questions about this story…you are a batshit, paranoid, tinfoil, dog-abusing baby-hater and will be reviled by everyone. If you love your country and/or freedom, happiness, rainbows, rock and roll, puppy dogs, apple pie and your grandma, you will never ever express doubts about any part of this story to anyone. Ever.
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First published on May 21, 2023
***
‘Net Zero’, what does it mean? Does anyone know? Who dreamt-up this slogan?
Put together, these two words don’t actually have any meaning. ‘Net’ is usually used as a shortened form of ‘netto’ (netto/brutto) a term used in accountancy describing a sum of money remaining after tax or expenses have been deducted.
So what could ‘Net Zero’ possibly mean? That nothing will be left once zero carbon has been achieved?
The term seems to ape, no doubt for good reason, the one chosen to describe the blackened hole in the ground left after the devastation of 9/11: Ground Zero.
Look at it this way, by reducing carbon dioxide to nil (zero carbon) all plant life dependent for its growth on this natural gas, will die. By extension, all humans and animals dependent upon the oxygen that plants produce, via the conversion of carbon dioxide into oxygen, will also die. Basic biology reveals that is indeed the case.
So what the inventors of ‘Net Zero’ seem to be suggesting is that the objective is to end all plant, animal and human life by 2050. Or have I got something wrong? Have ‘they’ quietly dropped CO2 as the arch baddie of the past three decades – and are now trying to make simple ‘carbon’ the source of all our woes?
This is, after all, what they did by surreptitiously shifting ‘global warming’ into ‘climate change’ a couple of decades ago. A classic slight of hand by the cabal spin doctors.
Let’s scrutinise the history a little more thoroughly. The World Economic Foundation (WEF) is acting as lead player of the project known as ‘Stop Global Warming’. A project which states that a deadly form of anthropogenic ‘warming’ is being caused by the burning of fossil fuels, and that the stated need is therefore to completely dispense with all fossil fuels by 2050.
But doing a little elementary research reveals that what one sees coming out of factory chimneys, in ubiquitous media photographs, is not CO2. It is mostly water vapour, plus nitrous oxides, carbon monoxide, methane, water vapour and various forms of particulates, with noxious CO2 forming less than 5% of these emissions.
This corroborates with scientific tests done on the composition of the upper atmosphere, which find that man made CO2 makes a contribution of just 0.04% above natural atmospheric CO2.
So what the perpetrators of ‘net zero’ are doing is to take an essential component of nature, without which neither we nor plant life could survive, and make it into a demon, responsible for causing catastrophic changes to the world’s climate.
This is, of course, an outrageous conclusion to come to; but should its outrageousness cancel out its logic? Could it be that all two thousand ‘scientists’ employed by the International Commission on Climate Change’ (IPCC) failed to get a pass in biology at secondary school – and then went on to become Emeritus experts on climate change?
The fact is that ‘Net Zero’ is telling us that ‘we the people’ are to be wiped-out, along with the flora and fauna of the planet; while the elite cabal running this deception racket have created their own unique CO2 subterranean storage ecosphere, of thriving plants, pure water and all the nutrients needed to carry on pretty much as before. Maybe better?
If psychopaths form a majority of the cabal that runs this planet – and that looks probable – then announcing that The Great Reset/Green New Deal has adopted ‘Net Zero’ by 2050, has a certain logic. Because to a psychopath, sentient people are strange unreal beings, their emotions and feelings being incomprehensible and alien.
Therefore, looked at from the perspective of the psychopath, among the first thing to be done to ‘save the planet’ would be to find a good reason to get rid of the anthropogenic (human) causal agent behind the ‘destruction of the planet’ wouldn’t it?
But in the meantime, Mr Schwab and his aspiring team of henchmen want us ‘to be happy’, and have therefore found it helpful to remove all our private property and wealth and keep it for themselves – once the depopulation process is well enough advanced and provided there is little or no resistance to their ploy forthcoming.
Our ‘happiness’ will of course, be due to the fact that Herr Schwab and his main advisor Noah Yuval Harari, have studied the bible, and taken note of the words of Jesus Christ “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”
So they will kindly do the removal of the riches job for us, liberating us from our private wealth and therefore releasing us from the material ties that prevent us attaining a higher state of consciousness.
One can see by uncle Klause’s patronising attitude to his hand picked dictators that he is proud of having found such a convenient way of opening heaven’s gates for humanity and thereby simultaneously ‘saving the world from global warming’.
Killing two birds with one stone is a sought after achievement for the soulless psychopath.
Achieving ‘Net Zero’ must be done with a smile. After all, making people believe that ‘to save the world’ they must first of all abandon their accustomed diets and instead chew on greatly superior laboratory raised and processed chicken thighs, garnished with a sprinkling of ground insect bodies and a special side dish of genetically modified hydroponically raised tomatoes – may not be easy. So a big American style smile should do the trick.
However a frown may be necessary to convey the seriousness of the fact that if cows are allowed to remain part of the farm animal kingdom, their survival will depend upon wearing Covid style ‘methane blocking’ masks recently awarded a special environmental prize by King Charles 111 for their contribution to slowing global warming.
But ‘a smile’ may once again be necessary to convey the fact that farmers who tend the fields are to be replaced by armies of robots, leaving the human element to be ‘cared for’ by 5/6G powered Smart Cities. Places in which every need will be catered for, by an all seeing all doing digitalised electro magnetic grid known as the ‘internet of things’. An electro magnetically charged version of Big Brother which will monitor human activities 24’7 and no doubt administer a sharp shock on anyone who steps out of line.
All this, you understand, is just the precursor for we ‘non psychopaths’ to be upgraded into chipped and cloned cyborgs, known as Transhumans.
Selling this one may not be so difficult, as the sales slogan will be “Let us do your thinking for you.” And since a rather significant proportion of mankind seems largely incapable of meaningful thought, it may be quite easy to sell them the added convenience of letting a piece of tech take over what’s left of the onerous task of having to activate one’s brain cells.
By 2050 these Transhumans will be needed as servants in the psychopaths’ underground palaces. The psychos having drained the planet of oxygen and having already killed-off a large percentage of humans via weaponised vaccines and a plethora of special laboratory designed diseases.
Not a pretty tale to tell, I’m afraid. But can anyone categorically tell me I’ve got it all wrong? That it is not the elite cabal dream goal to have a clinically sterilized and ‘purified planet’ by 2050 – in what amounts to a kind of ‘eugenics of man and nature’?
Is this the image that Net Zero is supposed to conjure-up? To sufficiently incite us to give-up our lives for whatever it is supposed to stand for? Ground Zero mark 2?
There are demons on the loose. They thrive on chaos and fear. They muddle-up greenhouse gases, methane, carbon and whatever other elements of nature they can sell as speeding-up the arrival of Armageddon. It’s a sort of game – in which, at any time, any one factor can be pointed-up as the evil agent of planetary destruction.
They get their greatest kicks form subverting the trajectory of human life into becoming the reverse of what evolution intends. They like to distort language and the meaning of words so as to create a twisted version of reality.
Thus, ‘Net Zero’ is a diabolical agenda sold as a saviour formula.
But once we know this, we are more than half way towards defeating it. Awareness is the crucial first step of our collective liberation.
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Julian Rose is an early pioneer of UK organic farming, writer, international activist, entrepreneur and holistic teacher. He is Co-founder of the Hardwick Alliance for Real Ecology HARE https://hardwickalliance.org/ Julian’s latest book ‘Overcoming the Robotic Mind – Why Humanity Must Come Through’ is strongly recommended reading for this time: see www.julianrose.info
Worldwide, people have been misled both by their governments and the media as to the causes and devastating consequences of the Covid-19 “pandemic”.
The unspoken truth is that the novel coronavirus provides a pretext and a justification to powerful financial interests and corrupt politicians to precipitate the entire World into a spiral of mass unemployment, bankruptcy, extreme poverty and despair.
The evidence confirms that there is an insidious and carefully designed project formulated by the upper echelons of the financial establishment.
According to Prof. Michel Chossudovsky’s analysis of the history, estimates and underling scientific concepts, the so-called pandemic is “A Pack of Lies”.
VIDEO
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This video was initially published by Vimeo more than a year ago, prior to launching of the vaccine.
It was taken down on March 5, 2022 as an act of censorship directed against Global Research.
It was reposted on Bitchute. (there is a formatting problem on the Bitchute version)
To view the video on Bitchute and/or enter a comment, click the link to Bitchute
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The Video is produced by Ariel Rodriguez, Global Research
Followup Reading
For an in-depth analysis of the Corona Crisis crisis see Michel Chossudovsky’s E-Book (Ten Chapters) entitled:
Michel Chossudovsky is an award-winning author, Professor of Economics (emeritus) at the University of Ottawa, Founder and Director of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG), Montreal, Editor of Global Research.
He has undertaken field research in Latin America, Asia, the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa and the Pacific and has written extensively on the economies of developing countries with a focus on poverty and social inequality. He has also undertaken research in Health Economics (UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), UNFPA, CIDA, WHO, Government of Venezuela, John Hopkins International Journal of Health Services (1979, 1983)
He is the author of 13 books including The Globalization of Poverty and The New World Order (2003), America’s “War on Terrorism” (2005), The Globalization of War, America’s Long War against Humanity (2015).
He is a contributor to the Encyclopaedia Britannica. His writings have been published in more than twenty languages. In 2014, he was awarded the Gold Medal for Merit of the Republic of Serbia for his writings on NATO’s war of aggression against Yugoslavia. He can be reached at [email protected]
The alleged killing of Osama bin Laden, which fittingly occurred in his “mansion” within 1,000 yards of a Pakistani military training academy, could signal the winding down of the biggest psychological warfare operation ever prosecuted by the global oligarchy.
What follows is a three-part investigation of 911 excerpted from my book, Big Oil & Their Bankers in the Persian Gulf: Four Horsemen, Eight Families & Their Global Intelligence, Narcotics & Terror Network.
The Patsies
In the wake of the 911 terror attacks, Americans everywhere recited the collective mantra, “Things will never be the same”. Actually things had changed very little.
Fifteen of the nineteen alleged hijackers were born in Saudi Arabia, where the House of Saud dictatorship has financed Muslim Brotherhood modern-day Assassins and CIA covert operations since its inception for the benefit of the Eight Families banking cartel and their Four Horsemen – whose ARAMCO oilfields are protected via US military occupation of the Kingdom.
The Assassins this time were members of al Qaeda, the cadre of former Afghan mujahadeen fighters that the CIA trained, then used to carry out proxy wars in Bosnia, Kosovo, Albania, Macedonia, Chechnya, Dagestan, Indian Kashmir, East Turkistan Province in China, Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Somalia, Algeria and Uzbekistan. The CIA brought al Qaeda spiritual leader and Anwar Sadat assassin Sheik Abdul Rahman to the US to recruit Islamic fundamentalists willing to fight in these CIA wars. [1]
Al Qaeda was headed by Osama bin Laden, who built the CIA’s mujahadeen training camps in Afghanistan. Bin Laden was House of Saud point man in recruiting Arab fighters for CIA shenanigans in Central Asia and the Balkans. Bin Laden’s brother Salem was a business partner and good friend of James Bath. His father Mohammed provided seed money for Bath’s good friend George W. Bush’s Arbusto Energy. The bin Laden family fortune was managed by Carlyle Group principal George Bush Sr.
According to a PBS spokeswomen, within three days of 911 both Vice-President Dick Cheney and Queen Elizabeth II called PBS to request copies of two video documentaries the station had done – one on bin Laden and the other on Islam.
Since US intelligence knew all it needed to know of their foot soldier bin Laden, Cheney and Her Majesty were more concerned with what the US public had already been told of the Saudi paymaster so they could factor this into their forthcoming public relations blitz.
Bin Laden’s second in command Ayman al-Zawahiri heads Egyptian Islamic Jihad – a Muslim Brotherhood front whose assassins had help from the CIA in escaping justice in Egypt so they could go to Albania to fight with the Kosovo Liberation Army. Al-Zawahiri’s sidekick Ali Mohammed came to the US in 1984. He trained terrorists in Brooklyn and Jersey City on weekends and instructed US Special Forces at Fort Bragg. [2] He was later involved in the US Embassy bombings in Africa.
According to the FBI, five of the nineteen alleged 911 hijackers were trained by the US military – three at Pensacola Naval Air Station and two at other facilities. [3]
Alleged 911 ring leader Mohammed Atta received the $100,000 he needed to plan and carry out the terror attacks from Standard Chartered accounts in gold bullion haven Dubai – where US Naval vessels often berth. Standard Chartered was founded by the Illuminated Cecil Rhodes. The bank is one of five London “gold-fixers” and prints Hong Kong’s currency. These accounts were controlled by 911 paymaster and UAE citizen Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi.
According to British MP Michael Meacher in an article for The Guardian, M16 recruited up to 200 British Muslims to fight in Afghanistan and Yugoslavia. Meacher says a Dehli-based foundation describes Omar Saeed Sheikh – the man who beheaded US journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002 – as a British agent.
Meacher says it was Sheikh who – at the behest of Pakistani ISI General Mahmood Ahmed – had al-Hawsawi wire $100,000 to Mohammed Atta before 911, a fact confirmed by Dennis Lomel, director of the FBI’s financial crimes unit. [4] An October 11, 2001 article in The Times of India also corroborates this.
At a June 25, 2002 conference in Calgary, University of Ottawa Economics Professor Michel Chossudovsky and former Los Angeles police officer Michael Ruppert further corroborated this information based on ABC News reports.
They added that ISI Chief Ahmad was in Washington on September 4, 2001 meeting with CIA Director George Tenet, Assistant Secretary of State Richard Armitage, Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) and the heads of two Congressional intelligence committees. [5]
The New York Times reported on February 17, 2002 that the two congressmen Ahmed met with were Joint Senate Intelligence Committee Co-Chairs, Florida Senators Bob Graham and Porter Goss. Goss is a former CIA operative and was appointed Bush Jr. CIA Director in 2004.
When President Clinton and Defense Secretary Cohen had earlier pressed UAE officials to crack down on the al Qaeda money shuffle, a senior UAE sheik told them it was difficult to discern between criminal money and that going to fight CIA proxy wars in Bosnia and Chechnya. [6]
Ruppert cited a BBC report by Gregg Palast that details how the Bush Administration ordered curtailment of an FBI investigation of the bin Laden family. Minneapolis FBI whistle-blower Colleen Rowley and Robert Wright – who worked for the bureau in Chicago – described the same unnamed superior who “obstructed”, “deliberately thwarted” and “intimidated” their attempts to track down US-based al Qaeda operatives.
Wright was investigating an al Qaeda money laundering ring based in Chicago that may have been plugged into the Nugan Hand/Bank of Cicero/CIA/P-2 black network based in Chicago – often disguising its dirty transactions via the freewheeling Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
Chossudovsky stated his belief that 911 served the US in its quest to control both Central Asian oil supplies and the Afghan opium trade. He told the Calgary crowd,
“Osama bin Laden is and remains to this day a CIA asset. Even now his al Qaeda operatives are working with the Kosovo Liberation Army who are US allies and with the US-backed forces in Macedonia. Members of al Qaeda have been protected as they moved into Kashmir where they are now fomenting conflict between India and Pakistan.”[7]
Many of the alleged hijackers were in the country on legitimate US visas. Most were issued at the US consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. According to Mike Springmann, Chief of the Visa Section at Jeddah during the late 1980’s, CIA officials ran roughshod over the visa operation, often overruling Springmann’s decisions not to issue visas to people he considered dangerous. Often CIA officials would stamp the questionable applicants’ visas themselves in clear violation of US law. [8]
Bush blocked Secret Service investigations into US-based al-Qaeda terrorist “sleeper” cells while he continued to negotiate secretly with Afghan Taliban officials. The last meeting, headed by Bush NSA and former Unocal official Zalmay Khalilzad, was in August 2001, just five weeks before the terror attacks. [9] The Unocal-led consortium offered the Taliban, through current Afghan President Hamid Kharzai, $100 million to run its natural gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to the Indian Ocean. The Bush team offered additional aid to the Taliban, whom they’d already given over $132 million in 2001, and told them, “You either accept our offer of a carpet of gold, or we bury you under a carpet of bombs.”[10]
Considering the history of CIA/Four Horsemen/Eight Families treachery in the Middle East and the toll these schemes have taken on the Arab world, one could easily interpret 911 as an Arab response to US imperialism. The trouble is that explanation defies the facts.
Mohammed Atta’s father, a prominent Cairo physician, said his son was afraid of flying and insists that he was not a trained pilot. Atta believes his son was kidnapped and made a patsy by the Israeli Mossad. He believes Israelis used his son and the other 18 Arabs’ identities as cover to carry out the 911 plot because this would turn Americans against the Arab world, enhance the Israeli bargaining position vis-à-vis the Palestinians and draw the US further into the Middle Eastern cauldron. Atta’s father stated, “This was done by Mossad using American pilots.”
Lending credence to the doctor’s charges is the assertion that the official passenger flight logs for all four American and United flights that became fuel-air bombs on 911 listed no Arab passengers. [11] The Dallas Morning News reported that in July 2001 a federal task force pulled the plug on over 500 Arab websites in the US when they raided InfoCom Corporation in Texas. Did the Feds want to silence cyber-chat concerning the actual whereabouts of the “hijackers”? Reports emerged from the Arab world that many of them had been sighted after 911.
According to Daniel Hopsicker who wrote, Welcome to Terrorland…, Mohamed Atta began working for the US government in Hamburg in 1992. He was later enrolled in an elite officer training course at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, AL. Hopsicker says Atta had pilot licenses from six countries and wonders why, except to establish a paper trail, he would even have needed to attend flight school. [12]
Atta spoke Hebrew, snorted coke and lived with a stripper. He met with various German and Swiss nationals just prior to 911 and was part of an email discussion on the Middle East that included numerous employees of US defense contractors. Atta and up to seven other 911 hijackers had received flight training at US military facilities.
Most interestingly, Atta was part of an elite international exchange program run by the American/German Congress-Bundestag Program – an organization with close ties to both David Rockefeller and Henry Kissinger. The group funded Atta trips to Istanbul, Cairo and Damascus; where he played the role of Islamic fundamentalist. [13]
Rep. Curt Weldon (R-PA) wrote in his 2005 book that two weeks after 911 he presented a chart to the Bush Administration showing that Atta and other hijackers were being monitored as part of the Pentagon’s Able Danger program. In September 2006 the Pentagon Inspector General put out a statement denying Atta’s existence on this chart. An infuriated Weldon stated, “I am appalled that the DOD IG would expect the American people to actually consider this a full and thorough investigation”. [14]
The Florida flight school where the 911 hijackers trained was Huffman Aviation – co-owned by Bill Clinton chum Wally Hilliard and Rudy Dekkers, who met with Atta less than one month prior to 911. One Huffman employee told Hopsicker, “Early on I gleaned that these guys had government protection…They were let into the country for a specific purpose. It was a business deal.”
Huffman’s hangar at Venice Airport is used to maintain the planes of Caribe Air, a known CIA-front airline which had twenty of its planes seized by federal authorities at Mena, AR after they were found to have curried billions of dollars worth of contra cocaine. Hopsicker says Caribe could also be tied to Enron, since many of that now-defunct company’s Caribbean tax shelters had the word “Caribe” in their name. 15]
The Beneficiaries
While much of the Arab world’s mainstream media echoed Atta’s father’s viewpoint, all US media – corporate and progressive alike – dismissed these claims as “outrageous conspiracy theories”. Yet no one could deny that Israel gained a great deal from the 911 attacks. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon – wanted in Belgium for war crimes – began targeting Palestinian leaders for assassination as soon as Bush took office, causing US public support for Israel to wane.
Sharon used 911 to turn the tide, labeling all Palestinians, “bin Laden terrorists”, and occupying yet more Palestinian territory. Bush sent General Anthony Zinni to Tel Aviv as Middle East envoy to lend legitimacy to Sharon’s aggression, while refusing to deal with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. The Samuel Huntington CFR Clash of Civilizations crowd had their pretext for a global war against Arabs and Muslims.
US defense giants reaped the 911 harvest. In October 2001 Lockheed Martin led a consortium of corporations awarded the largest single defense contract ever – a $200 billion deal to build an F-35 joint strike fighter. The Lockheed-led group included Northrup Grumman and several British companies including British Aerospace and Rolls Royce. [16] Amidst the post-911 flag-waving frenzy, the all-American bidder McDonnell Douglas would have seemed a more discretionary choice.
Defense stocks surged. Raytheon stock was up 36% in the month following 911 while the rest of the stock market crashed. The hawks and their generals pushed for huge Pentagon budget increases, some advocating a $500 billion defense budget by 2005. In January 2002, President Bush approved a defense budget of $317 billion. Three weeks later he increased it to $379 billion, while setting a marker for a $471 billion defense budget by 2007.
The money will line the pockets of the Eight Families banking cartel which owns the defense companies, pockets already deepened by Bush tax cut and the subsequent increase in US debt – which the international bankers make a healthy living financing. Their point man Bush – cousin to the House of Windsor – saw his dismal approval ratings skyrocket to over 80% as a fear-driven US public rallied around the Four Horsemen President.
The Rockefeller-controlled airlines, near bankruptcy before 911, glad-handed their way to a $15 billion taxpayer bailout. The insurance industry, railroads and travel industry soon got in line at the government trough; their phony far-right anti-government venom temporarily muted.
The CIA was a major 911 beneficiary, marching out an array of “old hands” like Richard Armitage, General Barry McCafferty and United Brands grant recipient Major Andy Messing to extol the virtues of dealing with unsavory underworld characters when gathering intelligence. The Clinton Administration had clamped down on this common CIA practice after revelations of CIA involvement in the Guatemalan death squad murders of American citizens. CIA torture chambers were once again open for business.
Global civil liberties were a major casualty of 911. Within a week of the attacks Bush Attorney General John Ashcroft announced plans to unleash the CIA and FBI, expanding and combining their already sweeping powers. With no public debate and near unanimous Congressional approval – despite the fact that not one Congress member read it – Bush gleefully signed the ironically-titled USA Patriot Act into law, suspending big chunks of the US Constitution and bringing the nation a step closer to outright martial law. Similar legislation was passed in numerous other countries.
Section 802 of the Patriot Act designated a federal crime broadly defined as “domestic terrorism”, which cast a broad net over political dissidents and seemed especially targeted at the growing ranks of WTO/IMF protestors who have taken a frontal assault on the Eight Families. Section 411 posed an ideological litmus test for foreigners wishing to come to the US in a direct affront to the First Amendment. Section 215 obliterated the Fourth Amendment, allowing the FBI to obtain a court order to seize a person’s “tangible things”, including books, documents and computer disks; without suspecting that person of wrongdoing and without informing that person of the seizure until well after the fact. Section 218 gave the FBI a green light to spy on domestic “enemies” and threatened to return the US to the dark days of J. Edgar Hoover. [17]
Later Ashcroft marched out his new TIPS program, which encouraged mailmen, utility workers and neighbors to spy on their fellow citizens. In November 2002 the Bush Administration pushed through the new Homeland Security Act, whose name conjures memories of Hitler’s Office of Fatherland Security, which he established within one month of the staged Reichstag fire and later became the SS. [18]
One provision of the act created an Information Awareness Office, which would compile a computer database on every American. The office emerged from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency – a JASON Society affiliate – that earlier spawned both the Internet and stealth technology. Heading the office was Admiral John Poindexter, the five-count convicted felon of Iran/Contra fame.
The Center for Public Integrity revealed an even more draconian version of the Patriot Act being drafted at Georgetown University. Dubbed the Domestic Security Enhancement Act, the draft called for secret arrests – never before allowed in US history – and carte blanche deportation of legal immigrants. Another provision allowed chemical companies to quit disclosing toxic emissions to the communities in which they operated.
As of February 2003 there had been over 300 rollbacks of the Freedom of Information Act. [19] In 2004 Patriot Act II passed. Provisions included a National ID. In 2003 the General Accounting Office dropped its lawsuit against Vice President Cheney, which would have forced him to reveal which energy executives he met with secretly to craft the Bush Energy policy. The right of US citizens to acquire information by which they could hold their government accountable was seriously eroded by the events of 911 and the culture of secrecy that emerged in its aftermath.
But it was the Eight Families banking cartel that had the most to gain from dialing 911. The day of the terror attacks there was an unusually heavy volume of financial transactions being handled at the WTC. The bulk of investment bankers killed in the WTC worked for competitors of the Big Six old money investment banks. Cantor Fitzgerald was particularly hard hit.
Merrill Lynch had its own building nearby, as did Deutsche Bank. Lehman Brothers moved from the WTC to a newly built headquarters just prior 911. Only seven weeks before 911 a group of wealthy oligarch investors terminated their lease on the WTC. Investor Larry Silverstein bought a 99-year lease on the property in July 2001, while the old money slid out from under it. Silverstein filed a $7.2 billion insurance claim after the tragedy. The Eight Families insurance companies involved offered only $3.6 billion.
The President’s brother, Marvin Bush, was on the board of directors at Securacom – now Stratesec – from 1993-2000. The company provided security for the WTC, Dulles International Airport and United Airlines. It had the security contract at Los Alamos Laboratories, when there had been a number of security breaches at that facility. The firm is backed by a Kuwaiti-American investment firm known as KuwAm. Current clients include the US Army, US Navy, US Air Force and Department of Justice. They carry a Blanket Purchase Agreement with the GSA – meaning that no other company can compete for these security contracts.
According to David Icke’s bombshell book Children of the Matrix, Securacom is a subsidiary of Crown Agency- a British Crown entity which Icke says also owns the Agha Khan Foundation. Khan is based in Pakistan and is spiritual torch-bearer for Islamism, from which groups like al Qaeda and the Taliban take their cues. This important fact points to Buckingham Palace involvement in the prosecution of 911.
Marvin Bush also sat on the board at HCC Insurance Holdings until November 2002. That company carried some of the insurance on the WTC. Brother Jeb – Governor of Florida – declared a state of emergency in his state one week prior to 911. He personally escorted the alleged hijackers’ flight school documents to Washington, DC shortly after the attacks. [20]
New York Mayor Rudolf Guliani was portrayed as the hero of 911. Yet on November 2, 2001 Guliani ordered New York firefighters to thin their ranks at ground zero. The day before, 200 tons of gold buried in vaults beneath the WTC belonging to Silver Triangle gold kingpin/drug money laundry Bank of Nova Scotia was recovered. Gold prices soon began their meteoric rise. The Bank of Nova Scotia has extensive ties to both Israel and the House of Windsor.
No one in the fawning corporate media bothered to ask Guliani where that gold went. Nor did they ask him why. According to Internet reports, he had ordered 6,000 gallons of fuel stored beneath WTC #7 to supply his personal bomb shelter. [21]
The explosion of this fuel may have caused WTC #7 – which was clearly not hit by an airplane – to collapse, destroying sensitive Enron-related CIA and FBI documents stored there. The CIA ran an undercover station on the 47th floor of #7. The 23rd and 24th floors of the WTC North Tower housed FBI covert operations and boatloads of agency documents.
Louie Cacchioli, a firefighter with Engine 47 in Harlem said he was in an elevator to the spook-occupied 24th floor of the North Tower, when he heard explosions. His crew – the first in that building – believes bombs were set off inside the towers.
In a statement to the Albuquerque Journal shortly after the disaster, Van Romero, Vice-President for Research at the world-renowned New Mexico Institute for Mining and Technology, agreed. Romero, one of the world’s foremost demolitions experts, stated, “My opinion is, based on the videotapes, that after the airplanes hit the World Trade Center there were some explosive devices inside the buildings that caused the towers to collapse.”[22]
Numerous experts agreed that jet fuel alone burns too fast to have melted the massive steel structure of the WTC on its own. The orderly nature of the collapse of both towers also begged inquiry. The contractor awarded the $7 billion job of cleaning up the WTC rubble was eerily named Controlled Demolition – the same outfit that quickly disposed of the evidence of the Alfred T. Murrah Federal Building after the Oklahoma City bombing.
WTC scrap metal was expeditiously shipped to China. Brigham Young physics Professor Steven Jones, who studied the WTC rubble, says he found traces of thermite explosives all over the stuff. In September 2006, Brigham Young placed Jones on paid leave for his efforts at seeking the truth.
Was Time’s 2001 Man of the Year Rudy Guliani part of a covert operation to consolidate Crown/Eight Families control over Persian Gulf and Central Asian oil? In February 2002 Guliani was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.
Next Week: Part II: Deutsche Bank & the Carlyle Group
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Dean Henderson is the author of Big Oil & Their Bankers in the Persian Gulf: Four Horsemen, Eight Families & Their Global Intelligence, Narcotics & Terror Network and The Grateful Unrich: Revolution in 50 Countries. His Left Hook blog is at www.deanhenderson.wordpress.com
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Many of us are convinced that the twin towers of the World Trade Center were brought down on September 11, 2001 through controlled demolition. But the question at once arises: if this is what happened, would somebody not have noticed?
The answer is that many people did notice. There is a good deal of eyewitness evidence for the demolition of buildings 1 and 2. This paper will give a brief overview of this evidence.
Before we look at the evidence, we must first confront one of the most common objections in response to it. Eyewitness evidence, say the objectors, is “soft,” untrustworthy, and unreliable. According to such critics, it does not matter how many eyewitnesses there are to an event or who these eyewitnesses are or how their accounts relate to each other; the best plan is just to dismiss everything they say. This is an odd view. There is no support for it either in social scientific studies of eyewitness testimony or in the scholarly literature on criminal investigation (255).
Eyewitness evidence certainly has its vulnerabilities: we know that eyewitnesses can misperceive, misremember and deceive. However, as with other kinds of evidence, we have developed ways of checking to see if what the witnesses report is accurate. For example, we look for corroborating evidence – further eyewitness evidence as well as evidence of entirely different kinds.
Moreover, eyewitness evidence is highly relevant to the investigation of explosions. The National Fire Protection Association’s manual on fire and explosion investigations states clearly that in an explosion investigation, “the investigator should take into consideration all the available information, including witness statements” (256).
The present paper offers not only an overview of eyewitness evidence of explosions but also a critique of the handling of this evidence by the 9/11 Commission and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. But both of these organizations make extensive use of eyewitness evidence and obviously consider it valid and important. Therefore, disagreements with NIST and the 9/11 Commission on the legitimacy of eyewitness testimony are not at the level of principle but at the level of application.
One especially important source of eyewitness testimony is the oral histories of the Fire Department of New York (technically, World Trade Center Task Force Interviews), released in 2005 by the City of New York (257). The New York Times had taken the city to court to obtain the release of the documents, and when the material was released the newspaper hosted the oral histories in the form of a series of separate PDF files on its website.
The oral histories were collected by the World Trade Center Task Force of the FDNY after New York City fire commissioner Thomas Von Essen decided it would be important to have a record of what the members of the department experienced on that day. The Task Force interviews comprise 10-12,000 pages of statements by approximately 500 “FDNY firefighters, emergency medical technicians and paramedics collected from early October, 2001 to late January, 2002” (258).
Professor David Ray Griffin, with the help of able researchers, was the first scholar to ferret out fascinating descriptions of explosions from this material (259). The author of the present paper published a subsequent article after reading the oral histories, “118 Witnesses: the Firefighters’ Testimony to Explosions in the Twin Towers” (260).
The presentation and analysis below build on this earlier work. As the evidence is presented, three important points will emerge. First, the conviction that the Towers came down because of explosions was common on 9/11. Second, there is substantial eyewitness evidence supporting this conviction. Third, this evidence has been ignored or suppressed by both the 9/11 Commission and NIST.
The Explosion Hypothesis Was Common on 9/11
In discussions of the events of 9/11, it is often implied that the original, obvious, and natural hypothesis concerning the destruction of the Twin Towers is some variety of gravity-driven collapse. It was obvious to everyone on 9/11, we are led to believe, that the Towers came down because the buildings simply could not withstand the plane strikes and subsequent fires and therefore gave way. Those who say the buildings came down because of explosions – who hold to an “explosion hypothesis” in the broad sense – are, according to this view, late arrivals. They are folks, it is argued, who came along after 9/11 and over-thought an initially simple situation due to a conspiratorial mind-set.
In fact, it is easy to prove that this is a falsification of history. Proponents of the explosion hypothesis were extremely common on 9/11, especially at the scene of the crime. Many people made their judgment on the basis of what they directly perceived while close to the buildings, while others accepted as a matter of course that complete and energetic pulverization of these enormous buildings must have entailed explosions. Below are five of many examples supporting these views.
In a video clip preserved from 9/11, ABC television reporter N. J. Burkett is seen standing close to the Twin Towers. He draws our attention to the firefighters at the scene and to the burning buildings themselves. Suddenly, the South Tower begins to come apart behind him. As the pulverized debris shoots into the air, Burkett says: “A huge explosion now, raining debris on all of us. We better get out of the way!” Mr. Burkett’s statement shows no evidence of over-thinking the situation or of a conspiratorial mindset. He certainly did not come along after 9/11: he expressed his judgment before the debris of the building had even reached the ground. Then he ran for his life. Half an hour later he would run for his life again as the North Tower came down (261).
In CNN’s same-day coverage of the events of 9/11, Mayor Giuliani was asked questions about explosions in the Twin Towers on two separate occasions. The second occasion is a press conference at about 2:39 p.m. A female reporter (off screen) asks the Mayor: “Do you know anything about the cause of the explosions that brought the two buildings down? Was it caused by the planes or by something else?” (262). Notice that she does not ask if there were explosions: she assumes there were. She does not ask if these explosions brought down the Towers: she assumes they did. She merely wants to know what caused the explosions – the planes or “something else.”
In footage known as the “Matthew Shapoff video,” acquired from NIST through a Freedom of Information Act request, there are several people (off screen) chatting while they watch the events at the World Trade Center unfold at a distance and film them with their video camera. Suddenly, through their camera we see the North Tower begin to throw pulverized debris in all directions in huge plumes as it disintegrates. After a horrified, “oh, my God!” we hear a male voice, presumably that of Shapoff, exclaim as follows: “That was a bomb that did that! That was a fuckin’ bomb that did that! There’s no goddamn way that could have happened!” (263). Again, this is a spontaneous reaction to what Shapoff was observing.
New York firefighter Christopher Fenyo, in a passage from the World Trade Center Task Force interviews, speaks of a debate that began among firefighters who were on the scene. The debate started after the destruction of the South Tower but before the destruction of the North Tower – in other words, between about 10:00 and 10:30 a.m. “…At that point a debate began to rage because the perception was that the building looked like it had been taken out with charges.” As with Shapoff, the statement concerns not just explosions generally but the intentional destruction of the building with explosives. That is, people were already debating a subcategory of the explosion hypothesis, the controlled demolition hypothesis, before 10:30 on the morning of 9/11.
The FBI’s name for its investigation of the 9/11 incidents is PENTTBOM, which stands for “Pentagon/Twin Towers Bombing Investigation.” Is it possible that when this name was assigned someone in the FBI thought a bombing had taken place? (Recall that according to the current official narrative there was no bombing at any of the affected locations.) On the day of 9/11, USA Today’s foreign correspondent Jack Kelley was seen telling his TV audience that the FBI’s “working theory” at that time was that “at the same time two planes hit the building…there was a car or truck packed with explosives underneath the building, which exploded at the same time and brought both of them down” (264). Given that Kelley was later shown to have routinely fabricated stories for USA Today, his allegations about the FBI would have to be corroborated. However, the general hypothesis ascribed here to the FBI – the buildings were brought down through the use of explosives – was common on 9/11. For example, Albert Turi, FDNY Chief of Safety, told NBC’s Pat Dawson not long after the destruction of the Towers that, in Dawson’s words, “according to his [Turi’s] theory he thinks that there were actually devices that were planted in the building” (265).
These five examples have been offered in support of the contention that the explosion theory, even in its most robust form (deliberate destruction through explosives), was familiar to eyewitnesses on the day of 9/11. It was widely accepted as a reasonable theory. That many people held this theory does not mean it is correct, but it suggests that if this theory is to be rejected it must be rejected on the basis of evidence, not because it is regarded as late, unnatural, exotic or conspiratorial.
There is strong eyewitness evidence supporting the explosion hypothesis.
The eyewitness evidence is strong in terms of both quality and quantity. The quality of the evidence is found in the richly detailed, mutually corroborating accounts of what was witnessed. At the same time, the quantity of evidence is impressive in both the number and variety of eyewitnesses who discuss explosions in their statements.
Quality
A conversation between Dennis Tardio and Pat Zoda about the destruction of the North Tower was captured on film by the Naudet brothers on the day of 9/11 (266).
Tardio and Zoda repeatedly affirm each other’s accounts, both with words and with hand gestures. The hand gestures are like a series of karate chops starting high and going quickly downward. The witnesses evidently want to suggest that there were many discrete, energetic events that they observed, and that these started high up and then moved rapidly down the building at regular intervals.
Zoda says, as he moves his hand: “Floor by floor, it started poppin’ out.” Tardio concurs and uses the same hand gesture: “It was as if they had detonated, detonated (Zoda: “Yeah, detonated, yeah”), you know, as if they were planted to take down a building: boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.” Zoda adds: “All the way down. I was watching and running.”
These are firefighters and they are used to encountering the standard sorts of explosions that occur in building fires. But they do not talk about smoke explosions, or “boiling-liquid-expanding-vapor” (BLEVE) explosions, or any of the other expected forms of explosion. Instead, they are talking about, and acting out with dramatic gestures, something altogether different. They say that what they saw resembled a controlled demolition.
The next example is Paul Lemos, who, on 9/11, was in the vicinity of the World Trade Center to participate in the filming of a commercial. Lemos was interviewed on videotape on 9/11 near the World Trade Center, with WTC-7 still standing in the distance (267). He was filmed by a different film maker at a different location than the firefighters just described. This footage appears to be entirely independent of the Tardio/Zoda footage just discussed. However, when Lemos begins describing the demise of the North Tower, he uses the same hand gestures as Tardio and Zoda: rapid chops that start high and move at regular intervals down the building.
Here is what he says as he performs his gestures:
“All of a sudden I looked up and about twenty stories below…the fire…I saw, from the corner, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom…just like twenty straight hits, just went down and then I just saw the whole building just went ‘pshew’…and as the bombs were goin’ people just started running and I sat there and watched a few of ‘em explode and then I just turned around and I just started running for my life because at that point the World Trade Center was coming right down…”
Lemos is even bolder than Tardio and Zoda, in that he does not qualify his statement by saying “as if they had detonated.” He refers openly to “bombs” and he says he watched them “explode.” In any case, the Tardio/Zoda footage and the Lemos footage are both rich in detail and mutually corroborating. The rich detail is apparent from the transcript, and the corroboration comes not just from the language used but also the hand gestures. These men clearly perceived the same event and came away with the same idea – that explosive devices in the buildings were used to bring them down.
Lemos also tells an interesting anecdote about a conversation with a person who was introduced to him as an architect, which is relevant to the tampering with and suppression of eyewitness evidence. Lemos states, “…now, they told me afterwards it wasn’t explosions. I was talking to one of the architects that they pulled in.” It is unclear who “they” is referring to in this statement, but a reasonable supposition can be made that “they” refers to the authorities on the scene. Therefore, it appears that the authorities had an architect there on 9/11 telling people like Paul Lemos what they had and had not perceived.
Regardless of whether or not this “architect” had a sinister purpose, we can be sure of the following facts about the architect: (1) unlike Lemos, he was not himself an eyewitness (he had been “pulled in” to the scene); (2) he would not have had time to carry out a thorough canvassing of eyewitnesses; (3) he certainly did not have time to do a comprehensive review of photographs and videos of the collapse; and (4) there is little possibility he could have studied the remains of the building in any detail – either the steel or the dust. Despite all of this, he feels he can tell an eyewitness what that eyewitness did not perceive. Not only is the architect making an unwarranted judgment, his behavior is extremely irregular insofar as it makes conducting an unbiased investigation much more difficult. Homicide investigations, fire investigations, and explosion investigations have strict principles, and in each case it would be unheard of to walk onto a crime scene and taint the evidence by interfering with an eyewitness.
This discussion of the architect is also important because of its wider significance. In the months following 9/11, many eyewitnesses muted, qualified and even rejected their own initial judgments after hearing that authorities had adopted a structural failure hypothesis that had no room for explosions. The structural failure hypothesis that was most common during that period, and that was widely advanced as correct, was the “pancake” hypothesis of sequentially failing floors. The pancake hypothesis has since that time been discredited and abandoned (it was specifically rejected by NIST) but in the early days it did a fine job of weakening the confidence of eyewitnesses who thought they had perceived explosions.
Examples of firefighters revising their judgment of what they had perceived on the basis of what authorities were saying at the time are common in the World Trade Center Task Force interviews.
Dominick DeRubbio says in his description of the destruction of the South Tower: “It was weird how it started to come down. It looked like it was a timed explosion, but I guess it was just the floors starting to pancake one on top of the other.”
James Drury says in his statement about the North Tower:
“…we started to hear the second roar. That was the north tower now coming down. I should say that people in the street and myself included thought that the roar was so loud that…bombs were going off inside the building. Obviously we were later proved wrong…”
John Coyle starts his important statement about the South Tower in a very tentative way:
“The tower was—it looked to me—I thought it was exploding, actually. That’s what I thought for hours afterwards… Everybody I think at that point still thought these things were blown up.”
All of these witnesses recall their initial impressions of what they saw and thought (and in the case of Drury and Coyle the initial impressions of their friends and colleagues who were also on the scene), and then try to back away from these impressions. Thus, we have clear evidence of both how common the explosive demolition theory was on 9/11, and how it was later marginalized – not by sound science but by speculative theories given a stamp of approval by authority figures.
Returning now to the issue of corroboration, there are additional evidentiary sources that corroborate the descriptions given by Zoda, Tardio and Lemos of regular, descending energetic events. First, here are three examples of corroborating eyewitness testimony.
Ross Milanytch, an employee at nearby Chase Manhattan Bank, says of the South Tower: “It started exploding…It was about the 70th floor. And each second another floor exploded out for about eight floors, before the cloud obscured it all.”
John Bussey, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, said this of the South Tower:
“Off the phone, and collecting my thoughts for the next report, I heard metallic crashes and looked up out of the office window to see what seemed like perfectly synchronized explosions coming from each floor, spewing glass and metal outward. One after the other, from top to bottom, with a fraction of a second between, the floors blew to pieces.” (268)
Kenneth Rogers of the New York Fire Department said this about his experience with the South Tower:
“…we were standing there with about five companies and we were just waiting for our assignment and then there was an explosion in the south tower… A lot of guys left at that point. I kept watching. Floor after floor after floor. One floor under another after another and when it hit about the fifth floor, I figured it was a bomb, because it looked like a synchronized deliberate kind of thing.”
Corroboration can be even more impressive when it involves an entirely different form of evidence. Paul Lemos explicitly says that he was watching the North Tower, and, more specifically, a corner of the North Tower, when he saw the explosions. Evidence that corroborates his judgment that there were explosions occurring at a corner of the North Tower is found in high quality footage filmed during its destruction (269). This footage clearly shows a rapid sequence of forceful and focused ejections, apparently explosive, moving down the building. The size and velocity of these ejections can be measured, which means their existence and basic characteristics are not open to question.
Thus, there is a high degree of corroboration among the different eyewitness accounts, and between eyewitness evidence and other evidence.
Some who object to this compilation of eyewitness testimony say that what these witnesses experienced may not have been explosions at all. Falling bodies, crashing elevators, snapping columns and even sonic booms have all been proposed as alternative explanations. These assertions can be addressed by analyzing, quite closely, the statements of another eyewitness.
The witness is Sue Keane. She was, on 9/11, an officer in the Port Authority Police Department (PAPD) where she had been for eight years. Before this she had spent 13 years in the U.S. Army, where she received training on how to respond to explosions.
Listed below are six common characteristics of explosions as described by former FBI explosives expert James Thurman in his book, Practical Bomb Scene Investigation (270). These characteristics are matched to selections from statements Sue Keane gave to the authors of the book, Women at Ground Zero (271). These statements, given within a few months of the 9/11 events, are supported by her separate handwritten submission to the Port Authority Police Department.
1. Sound
Keane: “A couple of minutes later, it sounded like bombs going off. That’s when the explosions happened.”
2. Positive blast pressure phase
“The windows blew in…we all got thrown.” “Each one of those explosions picked me up and threw me.”
3. Partial vacuum during positive blast pressure phase
“There was this incredible rush of air, and it literally sucked the breath out of my lungs.”
4. Negative blast pressure phase
“Everything went out of me with this massive wind… Stuff was just flying past. Then it stopped and got really quiet, and then everything came back at us. I could breathe at this point, but now I was sucking all that stuff in, too. It was almost like a back draft. It sounded like a tornado.”
5. Incendiary or thermal effect
“…he threw me under the hose, which in a way felt great, because I didn’t realize until then that my skin was actually burning. I had burn marks, not like you’d have from a fire, but my face was all red, my chest was red.”
6. Fragmentation and shrapnel
“…there was stuff coming out of my body like you wouldn’t believe. It was like shrapnel. It’s still coming out.”
The handwritten PAPD report of this brave and obviously traumatized individual, which corroborates the above account in several crucial respects, is directly available in the PAPD documents released in 2003 (272). One page of that report is reproduced as follows.
On what reasonable grounds can we exclude Sue Keane’s statements as we attempt to determine the causes of the destruction of the Twin Towers?
In summary, the eyewitness testimony of Tardio/Zoda, Lemos and Keane are examples of “quality,” meaning evidence that is rich in detail. Below, the issue of “quantity” of eyewitness evidence is considered.
Quantity
It is difficult to formulate a complete account of eyewitnesses who describe, expressly or implicitly, explosions near the time of the destruction of the Twin Towers. Neither the FBI, nor the 9/11 Commission, nor the National Institute of Standards and Technology have published a count. I have compiled the most complete known list of witnesses to explosions at the Twin Towers. There are 156 such witness statements. The two graphs presented below summarize certain aspects of the list.
Figure 8-1: Witnesses by Profession/Agency
Of the 156 eyewitnesses, 121 are from the Fire Department of New York. Another 14 witnesses are from the Port Authority Police Department. Thirteen are reporters, most working for major television networks. Eight are listed as “other,” usually people who worked in the vicinity of the Towers.
Members of the FDNY and PAPD are typically referred to as “first responders.” So 135 out of 156 witnesses, or 87% of the total, are first responders. This is significant because these people have much more experience with explosions than most people. Moreover, their statements were given to superior officers as part of their professional duties, and the circumstances in which the statements were collected make this eyewitness evidence very strong.
The reporters also occupy an important position in the list because their accounts in most cases are directly captured on videotape. Their voice inflections and often their body language can be examined in detail. The reporters’ accounts are also important because they are in most cases given spontaneously, with little reflection, very soon— minutes or even seconds—after the event they witnessed. Spontaneous witness statements are widely viewed as credible because there is little time for internal or external filtering of what is stated. In fact, the U.S. Federal Rules of Evidence typically do not admit into court statements made by witnesses outside of court, which are referred to as hearsay. However, one exception to the rule against hearsay is the “excited utterance” exception. The excited utterance exception allows hearsay to be admitted when it is “a statement relating to a startling event or condition made while the declarant was under the stress of excitement caused by the event or condition.” (Fed. Rules Evid. 803(2)). As expected, with respect to 9/11, the distorting tendencies in recollection have worked against the explosion hypothesis, for the simple reason that people progressively adjusted their stories as time went on to better accord with what they were being told by authority figures (273).
Before discussing the next graph, it is appropriate to describe how the list of explosion witnesses was compiled. Eyewitnesses are included in the list if they use, in their statement, at least one of the following terms: “explosion” (or the corresponding permutations of “to explode”), “blast,” “blow up” (or “blow out”) “bomb” (or “secondary device”), or “implosion.” There is also a category called “other CD,” which includes cases that do not use one of these terms, but that are in some respects strongly suggestive of controlled demolition. The point of this method is not merely to be able to quantify explosion reports, but to reduce the list compiler’s role in the interpretive process. Eyewitnesses are included in the list not because an outside observer interprets what they witnessed as explosions, but because the eyewitnesses themselves interpret what they witnessed as explosions.
Additionally, there are processes available to investigators that can help check the quality of the evidence. The witnesses can be closely scrutinized (names, occupations, reliability, experience); motives for deception can be looked at; quality of sources can be examined; chain of custody for all witness accounts can be verified; and, of course, corroboration through other evidence of both similar and dissimilar kinds can be confirmed. Corroboration is so massive in the present case that the other processes have received less attention.
The “explosion” category is by far the largest, with 112 eyewitnesses. However, the “bomb” category, with 32 eyewitnesses, is extremely important as well. Most of the people on this list speaking of bombs are firefighters, and it is clear from their use of the word “bomb” that they are not talking about the sort of explosion they expect to encounter in a high-rise fire.
Now, there are three common objections to the demolition argument as based on eyewitness evidence. Two have been addressed already: eyewitness evidence is “soft” and can be disregarded; and eyewitnesses may have mistakenly reported explosions when, in fact, non-explosive events (such as falling elevators) were at issue. The third objection is the only one that can be taken seriously. It is this: there are many natural forms of explosion that occur in large fires, and the mere fact that there were explosions does not mean that explosives were used. It is an unjustified leap, claim these objectors, to go from eyewitness statements about explosions to the controlled demolition hypothesis.
Figure 8-2: Witnesses by Term Used
The types of explosions that typically accompany a fire are described in detail in various publications, probably most authoritatively in the National Fire Protection Association’s Guide for Fire and Explosion Investigations. There the NFPA describes four types of explosion that would have been expected to accompany the fires in the Twin Towers.
BLEVE (“boiling-liquid-expanding-vapor-explosion,” as with an exploding boiler)
There are three characteristics of the eyewitness statements that rule out all four types of explosion. That is, these four sorts of explosions may well have occurred, but they do not account for the main explosions witnesses say they perceived. Here are the three characteristics that must be explained.
Identification
If the explosions encountered were the type typically encountered in fires, the firefighters would be expected to recognize them as such and name them. There are very few instances where they do so. On the contrary, they clearly feel these were different types of explosion than those they were used to encountering, as evidenced by, for example, the number of references to bombs.
Power
Many eyewitnesses clearly thought they were watching explosions destroy the Twin Towers (“I looked up, and the building exploded…The whole top came off like a volcano”). But none of the common four types of fire-related explosions could accomplish this. Recall that according to NIST, the Twin Towers were essentially intact beneath the point where they were hit by the planes. While BLEVEs and combustion explosions sometimes destroy structures such as wood frame houses, there are no examples of these explosions causing the destruction of such robust steel structures as are at issue here. Also, there is no evidence that the right conditions for such explosions (for example, the necessary quantities of natural gas or jet fuel) existed in the Twin Towers at the time their dramatic destruction began.
Pattern
As described above, many eyewitnesses reported regular, rapid energetic events in sequence down the building, which cannot be explained by any of the four common types of explosion. If these patterned ejections are the result of explosions, they can only be explosions resulting from explosives.
Eyewitness Evidence Was Ignored/Suppressed by the 9/11 Commission and NIST
The discussion above gives a brief overview of the eyewitness testimony available to investigators. The last main point here is that this evidence has been ignored or suppressed by both the 9/11 Commission and NIST.
In its 585 pages, the 9/11 Commission Report contains one partial sentence referring to eyewitness reports of explosions at the time of collapse. The context is a discussion of firefighters who were on upper floors of the North Tower when the South Tower came down. The sentence fragment is as follows: “…those firefighters not standing near windows facing south had no way of knowing that the South Tower had collapsed; many surmised that a bomb had exploded…” (274). In other words, according to the 9/11 Commission, a subcategory of firefighters – those in upper floors of the North Tower with an impeded view—mistook the collapse of the South Tower for a bomb. The implication here is that the explosion witnesses, presumably few in number, made a mistake.
Of course, a careful examination of the available eyewitness testimony, as set forth above, would show that it is categorically false that all or most of the explosion witnesses were in the upper floors of the North Tower, and that only those with an impeded view thought a bomb had exploded. The truth is that witnesses were in a great variety of locations and many of them had an exceptionally clear view of the Towers.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology gave even worse treatment to the eyewitness testimony. One of NIST’s stated objectives is to “determine why and how WTC 1 and WTC 2 collapsed following the initial impacts of the aircraft” (275). But in the 295 pages of this report, there is not a single reference to eyewitnesses who perceived explosions in the Twin Towers.
Some may argue that this is not surprising because NIST deals with hard evidence, not soft evidence. NIST is concerned with things like column size, temperatures reached, and the yield strength of steel; NIST does not deal with eyewitnesses. This is a misconception. The truth is that NIST openly discussed its attention to eyewitnesses.
Very early in its investigation of the Twin Towers, NIST adopted a sophisticated method of collecting eyewitness evidence, and the results can be seen in Chapter 7 (“Reconstruction of Human Activity”) of the NIST final report. Telephone interviews, face-to-face interviews, and focus groups were all used (276). Note, for example, the following statement: “225 face-to-face interviews, averaging 2 hours each, gathered detailed, first-hand accounts and observations of the activities and events inside the buildings on the morning of September 11” (277). Although Chapter 7 is not about the destruction of the Towers, elsewhere NIST explicitly recognizes the relevance of eyewitness evidence to the understanding of how the buildings came down (278). Yet NIST somehow fails to note even one eyewitness reference to explosions or bombs, not only among its interviewees but also in the literature. It misses, for example, all of the 156 eyewitnesses used as the basis of this paper, even though it had access to all of the sources used to compile the list.
The 9/11 Commission and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, apparently following the lead of the FBI, have violated standard principles of investigation. Whether this is evidence of incompetence or of deliberate cover-up is irrelevant to my present argument. Either way, it is obvious that the official investigations carried out to this point have been grossly inadequate and that a new and thorough investigation is essential.
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Prof. Graeme MacQueen, was an author and distinguished professor of religious studies, Hamilton, Ont. Canada. He was a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG).
Graeme MacQueen received his Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies from Harvard University and taught in the Religious Studies Department of McMaster University for 30 years. While at McMaster he became founding Director of the Centre for Peace Studies at McMaster, after which he helped developed the B.A. program in Peace Studies and oversaw the development of peace-building projects in Sri Lanka, Gaza, Croatia and Afghanistan. He was a member of the organizing committee of the Toronto Hearings held on the 10th anniversary of 9/11, was a member of the international 9/11 Consensus Panel, and was co-editor of The Journal of 9/11 Studies.
Reviews:
We have been told that the truth will set us free. Less emphasized is how the truth will stalk, haunt and disquiet us along the way. Few of us really have the tenacity to dwell for any length of time with those sorts of truths. Doing so is like dwelling in deep waters where it’s dark, cold, and the temptation to surface too quickly threatens us with a kind of spiritual bends. Fewer of us still try to give elusive truths their full account under the scrutiny of peers and public. Among these fewest of few, Graeme MacQueen stands out, making this remarkable collection of essays, spanning 15 years of epochal shifts in world affairs, one for the bookshelf of the ages. – Matthew Witt has a Ph.D. in urban studies from Portland State University and since 2001 has been Professor of Public Administration, University of La Verne, California.
As I reflect on how I managed to penetrate the multi-layered shield of propaganda concealing the crimes of 9/11, I realize that two things were most important for me. On the one hand, there was the physical evidence, such as the free fall of Building 7, and, on the other hand, there were the writings and lectures of Graeme MacQueen. Graeme MacQueen clothed the skeleton of physical evidence with a living body. His rigorous approach to evaluating available evidence is an outstanding example of the overwhelming power of science. – Ansgar Schneider, physicist and mathematician, Dr. rer. nat. Universität Göttingen, author of Stigmatisierung statt Aufklärung (Eng) and Generation 9/11(Eng).
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The first meeting between Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and his American counterpart Joe Biden turned out to be a real scandal, reports The Guardian, citing information published in the book ‘The Last Politician’ by the American journalist Franklin Foer.
During the first meeting of politicians in the summer of 2021, Zelensky behaved unprofessionally and “crammed his conversations” with Biden by giving “a long list of demands.”
In particular, the Ukrainian leader called for Ukraine’s entry into NATO but simultaneously expressed his opinion that France and Germany would leave the alliance, calling the bloc “a relic”.
“Zelensky’s frustration occluded his capacity for logic. After begging to join NATO, he began to lecture that the organisation is, in fact, a historic relic, with waning significance. He told Biden that France and Germany were going to exit NATO,” Foer wrote. “It was an absurd analysis – and a blatant contradiction. And it pissed Biden off.”
Foer also claimed that Zelensky considered Biden weak over his decision in early 2021 to waive sanctions against a Russian company building a gas pipeline to Germany, Nord Stream 2, with even the Ukrainian president’s most ardent supporters in the Biden Administration agreeing that he had crossed the line.
According to the author, Biden himself also “didn’t think much” of his Ukrainian counterpart, especially because of his friendly relations with Republican Senator Ted Cruz over the Nord Stream decision. In protest, Cruz blocked the confirmation of State Department nominees.
“Whether he understood this or not. Zelensky was complicit with this stunt. It reeked of what the administration considered amateurism. To be fair, Biden didn’t think much of his Ukrainian counterpart, either,” Foer writes.
Foer also revealed that Zelensky had long sought a meeting with former US President Donald Trump. However, he failed because he refused to help the then-US president “to dig up dirt on rivals including Biden.”
In the journalist’s words, Zelensky felt a “lingering resentments from the episode” and “at least subconsciously … seemed to blame” Biden, Trump’s successor in the Oval Office, “for the humiliation he suffered, for the political awkwardness he endured.”
Yet, two years after the failed meeting between the two presidents, Biden has proved in action that the US will support Ukraine and promised to continue doing so for “as long as it takes.” If taken literally, it would mean that the Biden Administration is prepared to arm and finance Ukraine’s war effort against Russia until the total and complete military victory of Kiev, which will obviously not happen, especially as lofty aspirations are often blunted by cold, hard reality.
Following the start of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, the White House took advantage of the situation to send billions of dollars in military assistance to Kiev. However, a growing group of US legislators, mostly Republican, questions whether Washington can maintain the current level of support in perpetuity. While the Republican congressional leadership remains in line with the Biden administration to oppose Russia, the broader membership wants to end funding or want stricter accountability for additional aid.
According to data from a July poll by CNN, 55% of Americans believe that Congress should not authorise more funding for the conflict.
At the same time, 51% said the US has already done enough for Ukraine. In addition, even though 2022 was a year in which the Ukrainian Army far exceeded expectations thanks to the constant supply of US weapons, 2023 is proving to be much tougher and more complex for Kiev’s forces, as evidenced by the counteroffensive, which after ten weeks can best be described as a failure.
It is recalled that in the first three weeks after the Russian special military operation started, Congress approved $13 billion in emergency aid for Kiev. To date, Congress has appropriated $113 billion in aid to Ukraine in four tranches — about 60%, or $67 billion, is specifically for military assistance. This is an incredible amount of money being wasted on a war that Ukraine has no hope of winning, which is why the spending issue is coming to the fore and challenging Biden’s promise to support Kiev for “as long as it takes.”
Yet, despite the incredible amount of resources spent to prop up Ukraine, Zelensky, just like in 2021, as revealed by Foer, is ungrateful for the support and behaves in a juvenile entitled manner.
In July 2023, a high-level Pentagon official told former Pentagon official, Douglas MacKinnon, “Zelensky is acting like a spoiled, petulant child who gets everything he wants and it’s still not enough. Many in the US government and many of our citizens are growing tired of his act. I can assure you he is burning bridges in Europe as well.”
For all the consistent lambasting and abuse from Zelensky, there is still little indication that Biden will withdraw his support for Ukraine. However, it is doubtful that Biden can maintain a policy of “as long as it takes,” especially when the US election campaign will likely kick off in the winter.
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Ahmed Adel is a Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher.
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As I’ve noted in previous posts–and in my recent books Atomic Cover-up and The Beginning or the End–the U.S. after dropping the bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki was confronted with a unique publicity (not to mention, moral) problem.
Reports from Japan warned of a mysterious new disease afflicting survivors of the twin blasts. Some in Japan were already dubbing it “radiation disease,” which was what Robert Oppenheimer some of our other bomb-makers privately expected (though unmentioned in the Christopher Nolan movie)–but still, officials and most in media in U.S. mocked the idea. No one from the West had yet reached either city.
Seventy-eight years ago this week, however, one of the most horrific, if revealing, conversations of the nuclear era took place.
Gen. Leslie Groves, head of the Manhattan Project, had received a telex the day before from Los Alamos, as scientists asked for information on those shocking reports from Japan. Groves responded that they were nothing but “a hoax” or “propaganda.” The top radiation expert at Los Alamos also used the word “hoax.”
Knowing that the press would be seeking his official response, Groves called Lt. Col. Charles Rea, a doctor at Oak Ridge hospital (part of the bomb project). According to the official transcript, Rea called the reports of death-by-radiation “propaganda,” “hookum,” and “kind of crazy” and Groves joked, “Of course, it’s crazy–a doctor like me can tell that!”
But Groves knew it wasn’t crazy and he grew agitated as he read passages from the Japanese reports. He even asked, seriously, if there was “any difference between Japanese blood and others.” Both men ultimately seized on the idea that everything was attributable to burns–or “good thermal burns,” as Rea put it. “They are getting the delayed action of the burn,” he advised. Groves replied, “Of course we are getting a good dose of propaganda”–and blamed some of our scientists and our media for giving the reports any credence.
Groves even bragged, “We are not bothered a bit, excepting for—what they are trying to do is create sympathy.” Adding: “This is the kind of thing that hurts us.” (See PDF of transcript. click the Memorandum to access complete document)
But Rea hinted that he knew Groves was merely denying reality, admitting finally, “Of course, those Jap scientists over there aren’t so dumb either.” Still, in a second conversation that day with Groves, Rea advised: “I think you had better get the anti-propagandists out.” One of the great quotes of that time. He also advised, “You will have to get some big-wig to put a countet-statement in the paper.” (That big-wig would end up being….Oppenheimer, again not mentioned in the Nolan movie.)
Five days later, on a visit to Oak Ridge, Groves publicly labelled the reports from Japan propaganda and added, “The atomic bomb is not an inhuman weapon.”
Groves’ top aide, Kenneth D. Nichols (featured as a key Oppenheimer antagonist in the Nolan movie), would admit in his 1987 memoirs that “we knew that there would be many deaths and injuries caused by the radiation.…”
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Two fifty-year old documents related to the coup in Chile were released by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the State Department last week. The democratically elected, left wing government of President Salvador Allende was overthrown in 1973 by the Chilean military, with covert CIA backing. A US-supported dictatorship led by General Augusto Pinochet was subsequently installed.
President Richard Nixon’s daily briefs related to the coup on September 8th as well as the 11th – the day the Chilean military seized control of the government – were released. This declassification followed repeated calls for increased transparency by progressive members of Congress, human rights groups, and Santiago.
Nixon and then National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger strongly opposed the leftist Allende government and attempted to prevent its rule. George Washington University’s National Security Archive issued a statement which says
“[the documents] contained information that went to President Nixon as a military takeover that he and [Kissinger] had encouraged for three years came to fruition.”
Nixon’s daily brief for September 8, 1973 reads
“a number of reports have been received… indicating the possibility of an early military coup… Navy men plotting to overthrow the government now claim army and air force support.”
The document – written three days before the coup – continues with a discussion of how a fascist paramilitary group “has been blocking roads and provoking clashes with the national police, adding to the tension caused by continuing strikes and opposition political moves. President Allende earlier this week said he believed the armed forces will ask for his resignation if he does not change his economic and political policies.”
On September 11th, Nixon’s daily brief said
“Plans by navy officers to trigger military action against the Allende government are supported by some key army units… The navy is also counting on help from the air force and national police.”
After Allende’s initial refusal to resign, tanks opened fire, Air Force aircraft launched rocket attacks and bombed the presidential palace. Troops stormed in and Allende shot himself. [He was assassinated, M.C.]
“What followed [the coup] was a vicious, decades-long reign of terror and repression during which tens of thousands of Chileans were killed, tortured, or disappeared by the Pinochet regime, which continued to receive support from the CIA,” as Common Dreams’ Jake Johnson has written.
“many of Pinochet’s officers were involved in systematic and widespread human rights abuses… Some of these were contacts or agents of the CIA or [US] military.”
Peter Kornbluh, a Chile specialist for National Security Archive, said
“I’m happy that the Freedom of Information Act, together with some positive diplomacy by the Chilean government, broke a secrecy barrier that has kept us from knowing this history for 50 years.” He added that he hopes the White House will soon be “releasing all the [US records on Chile relating to the coup and its aftermath] that, inexplicably, remain secret after all this time.”
As the Los Angeles Times noted, the US government “favored Pinochet, who for most of his 17 years of rule had good economic and military ties with Washington as he repressed many of his own people.”
Throughout Latin America, during the Cold War, the CIA was involved in overthrowing governments, while fueling a series of proxy wars and civil wars, as well as waging terror campaigns against others. To this day, the US maintains a more than 60-year old embargo on Cuba as well as a notorious torture prison at Guantanamo Bay.
During recent years, the US has supported coups against governments in Venezuela and Bolivia. The US currently imposes sanctions on Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba. In Venezuela, Washington’s economic war led to tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths between 2017 and 2018 as a result of vital medicines being deprived.
Additionally, among GOP presidential candidates, there is substantial support for a potential military invasion of Mexico to ostensibly counter drug trafficking.
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Connor Freeman is the assistant editor and a writer at the Libertarian Institute, primarily covering foreign policy. He is a co-host on Conflicts of Interest. His writing has been featured in media outlets such as Antiwar.com and Counterpunch, as well as the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity. He has also appeared on Liberty Weekly, Around the Empire, and Parallax Views. You can follow him on Twitter @FreemansMind96
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Matt Roeske from CultivateElevate.com, who has been prolific in putting out Instagram posts regarding information on Nikola Tesla technology, EMF dangers, electroculture, Tartaria, and more, has now been nailing it around the horrific Lahaina attack —because that is what it was — an attack. It becomes more apparent day by day.
In addition to Roeske’s citizen journalism, another internet super-sleuth on TikTok recently uncovered satellite images of the Lahaina devastation that demonstrate “fingerprints” that can only be attributed to DEW.
How else could Lahaina be covered in these large, nearly identical in size, chard pinpoints on the ground?
Undoubtedly, the smoke and chaos were a cover for the advanced weaponry.
Satellite images of Lahaina attack. Note red arrows pointing to the large, nearly identical in size, chard pinpoints across surfaces.
A Tiktoker points out in a satellite image of Lahaina post-event nearly identical chard pinpoints throughout Lahaina.
Was arson involved in the Lahaina fires? Yes.
Is the power company culpable? Yes. Maui officials?
Yes….. the long list goes on.
But now we have clear, definitive evidence that DEWs played a massive role in obliterating the sacred land of Lahaina and its people.
Miles of “dust fence” below surround the crime scene of Lahaina. I saw this in other attempts to keep the public out of the area of “natural disaster” areas.
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Featured image: Lāhainā Lighthouse surrounded by August 2023 wildfire ruins
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In Episode 2 of this docuseries about his presidential campaign, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. travels to the U.S.-Mexico border in Yuma, Arizona to investigate the immigration issue firsthand.
What he discovers is mind-boggling: a dire humanitarian crisis, a border security system crippled by politics and corruption, and people on both sides struggling to end the suffering. On his journey, Mr. Kennedy gathers ideas to help him decide how, as President, he will heal the southern divide.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.:
“I witnessed this dystopian nightmare of this uncontrolled flow of desperate humanity crossing the border and converging here because of misbegotten policies by high leadership of the United States.”
“I’ve come to understand that the open border policy is just a way of funding a multi-billion dollar drug and human trafficking operation for the Mexican drug cartels. When I’m president, I will secure the border, which will end the cartels’ drug-trafficking economy, and I will build wide doors for those who wish to enter legally so that the United States can continue to be a beacon to the world.”
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As a child, I watched the men I loved in my family lift their high-powered rifles and shoot one prairie dog after another and another for fun, and then walk away. They called them “pop-guts.” On the way back to our camp, I stepped over their small blood-soaked, blown-apart bodies left in the matted grasses of their prairie dog town. And then, a single prairie dog raised her head out of a burrow and stood up and faced me. I froze in place, unable to avoid her gaze. She disappeared underground.
On that day, I made a vow, short of standing in front of my father’s rifle, that I would be their ally. I have tried to keep that vow.
I graduated from high school in 1973, the same year the Endangered Species Act was signed into law. At that time only 3,300 Utah prairie dogs remained in 37 isolated colonies. Due to political pressure from ranchers and developers, they were not listed on the original endangered species list. Prairie dogs were seen as vermin.
In 1977, I lobbied the Utah legislature as a graduate student in education from the University of Utah. I had created a Utah Prairie Dog curriculum for the Salt Lake City school district. At the State Capitol, I was met with incredulity and disdain by representatives who insisted on calling prairie dogs “varmints,” the Speaker of the House handed me a recipe for “Prairie Dog Stew.”
Finally in 1984, the Utah prairie dog was added to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife’s Endangered Species List and remains on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
But in 2000, in a special millennial issue of The New York Times Magazine, the Utah prairie dog was featured as one of 10 species most likely to become extinct by the next millennium. Their fate was to become a ghost species. I wrote a book on prairie dogs. Every month I sent a picture of prairie dogs in different poses (one with a helmet and bazooka) to friends at The Utah Nature Conservancy, a playful nudge for protection. Did any of these gestures make a difference? It made a difference to me. This was my wild promise that became a vow I made to the lone Utah prairie dog who survived my family’s massacre.
What is the difference between a promise and a vow? A promise is “a specific declaration or assurance that one will do a particular thing or that a particular thing will happen.” A vow is “a solemn promise” — a deepening gesture that one makes with one’s whole being. Both are nouns. But what if we see them as verbs, as actions that grows out of a commitment?
A promise becomes giving one’s word — “assuring someone that one will definitely do, give, or arrange something; undertake or declare that something will happen.” A vow is an open-ended commitment over time that moves into the realm of a sacred obligation — “dedicated to someone or something, especially a deity.” If one believes, as I do that the Divine resides in all living things, then there are many gods among us, in a myriad of shapes and sizes and forms.
What Wild Promise Will We Make?
Artist Allen Crawford has created A Wild Promise, an illustrated celebration of the Endangered Species Act, vibrant and instructive by featuring 80 vulnerable species. He is a visionary artist who not only cares about the survival and sustaining grace of the “more than human world” but has chosen to put his gifts to use with the intention of inspiring us to care more deeply and act more consciously on behalf of these vulnerable creatures.
Perhaps as you come to know their stories, and others like them, you will be moved to seek out an endangered or threatened species that lives close to you, learn their natural history and give them not only your attention, but your devotion. Or maybe you know of a species in your state or a particular ecosystem that needs federal protection. You can support a specific species campaign addressed to the Fish and Wildlife Service to nominate newly threatened plants and animals to be concerned for protection under the endangered species list.
The Endangered Species Act is an act of love that asks for our engagement, each in our own way with the gifts that are ours in the places we call home. Learn their names. Speak their names. Remember their names. Act.
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Terry Tempest Williamsis an American author, naturalist, and conservationist. Her work ranges from issues of ecology and wilderness preservation, to women’s health, to exploring our relationship to culture and nature.
Featured image is by James Marvin Phelps (CC BY-NC 2.0)
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***
I will briefly review these 4 recent studies on toxic compounds in masks:
Mar. 2022 – Bussan et al – Quantification of trace elements in surgical and KN95 face masks widely used during the SARS-COVID-19 pandemic
heavy metals – observed detectable concentration levels for Cu, Sb and Pb
copper (Cu) was detected in most of the surgical masks
a children’s mask had the 2nd highest amount of Sb (antimony) detected, largest concentrations of Sb (antimony) were in KN95 masks
inhalation of Sb (antimony) can cause pneumoconiosis, chronic bronchitis, chronic emphysema, pleural adhesions and respiratory irritation.
a bestselling children’s mask also had lead (Pb) – inhaled and ingested lead can cause severe brain damage, reproductive system damage and death
Zinc (Zn) was also detected – excess can cause lethargy , respiratory tract problems and neuronal death
different masks of the same brand, in the same box, were found to contain different concentrations of metals – lack of quality control by manufacturer
In a saline solution mimicking saliva, half of the lead (Pb) leached out – exposure could occur in people who may use contaminated masks for extensive periods of time or for children who may chew the mask material.
human saliva contains enzymes that could also enhance metal leaching from masks = additional exposure
May 2022 – Ze Liu et al – Generation of environmental persistent free radicals (EPFRs) enhances ecotoxicological effects of the disposable face mask waste with the COVID-19 pandemic
10 heavy metals identified in disposable face masks: Zn, Sr, Ti, Co, Cu, Mn, Ni, Cd, Pb, Cr
EPFRs environmentally persistent free radicals – in vitro assay confirmed these cause cytotoxicity and oxidative stress
Surgical masks release more heavy metals, organic chemicals, microplastics and free radicals than N95 masks after exposure to water.
bisphenol-A exhibits toxic, endocrine, mutagenic and carcinogenic effects in living organisms (source)
benzothiazoles are “probably carcinogenic to humans” (Health Canada)
DTBP (2,4-di-tert-butylphenol) “exhibits potent toxicity against almost all testing organisms” (source)
April 2023 – Ana Oliveira et al – Current knowledge on the presence, biodegradation, and toxicity of discarded face masks in the environment
face masks are a source of organic and inorganic contaminants including micro(nano)plastics and fibers.
surgical masks are disposable and mostly made of different plastic nanofibers, most common polypropylene (PP). They usually have 3-5 layers.
disposable masks possess a nose wire frame made of metallic compounds (iron constituting 4.58 wt% of the total mass of the face mask, and the trace amount of zinc, calcium, titanium, and manganese)
disposable masks also release hazardous chemical compounds often added during their manufacturing
polar organic species related to polyamide-66 monomer and oligomers (nylon-66 synthesis), polyethylene glycol, and phthalate esters plasticizers also detected
face masks contain metals (such as titanium dioxide – TiO2 in quantities ranging from 100 to 2000 mg/kg) that can induce carcinogenic and mutagenic effects
Bussan et al. reported detectable levels of copper, antimony and lead which implicated a potential for their leaching. Surgical masks had higher heavy metals than N95 masks.
Face masks have a three-dimensional porous structure in which the additives are dispersed but not bounded, which contributes to their release into the environment
inorganic and organic contaminants released from face masks can lead to oxidative stress – for example, phthalates were detected in several disposable face masks which exhibited potential carcinogenic effects on humans
A considerable amount of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), PAHs, and alkanes were also detected on face masks
In addition to the adverse effects of face masks’ chemicals, inhaled microplastics and microfibres can induce lung inflammation – fibers may cause localized responses such as its additives and sorbed contaminants may result in genotoxicity, reproductive toxicity, carcinogenicity and mutagenicity
May 2023 – Hajoo Ryu et al – Measuring the quantity of harmful volatile organic compounds inhaled through masks
volatile organic compounds (VOC) are emitted from many commonly used masks
in KF94 masks, the total VOC (TVOC) released was about 14 times more than that released by the cotton masks
15 types of VOCs were detected released from masks – among these 15 chemicals, DMAc and DMF are known to potentially cause liver and reproductive toxicity, and aromatic compounds such as toluene and xylene are toxic to the nervous system
Acetonitrile is also a harmful substance that can cause inflammation to the skin and eyes, and can cause neurological disorders
n-Hexane is a skin irritant that can cause headaches and pulmonary edema when inhaled.
Simultaneous exposure to n-hexane and 2-butanone can cause severe neurotoxicity
My Take…
There are many toxic compounds hiding in disposable face masks that can be categorized as:
Heavy metals (mainly lead, antimony, copper), one study found 10 heavy metals
All of these leach out of the masks, with surgical masks leaching more heavy metals and chemicals when exposed to moisture and saliva, than N95 masks.
“Face masks have a three-dimensional porous structure in which the additives are dispersed but not bounded, which contributes to their release into the environment”
Some best selling children’s masks have high levels of heavy metals like lead.
Also, if children chew on their masks, they can have additional exposure to these heavy metals and various carcinogenic chemicals.
Several of the organic chemicals released by masks cause reproductive toxicity, neurological toxicity and are carcinogenic.
Microplastics and microfibers released by masks are also toxic to humans.
Quality control of disposable masks is lacking, with different masks from the same box containing different amounts of heavy metals, for example.
Personal comment: The level of contamination of surgical masks and N95 masks is much worse than I had suspected. It might be useful for people to print out these studies and send them to anyone thinking about implementing mask mandates again, advising them that they’re engaging in criminal conduct if they proceed.
That best selling children’s masks have high contamination with heavy metals like lead, actually does not surprise me at all. Our political and healthcare leaders have repeatedly shown a strong intent to harm children throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Dr. William Makis is a Canadian physician with expertise in Radiology, Oncology and Immunology. Governor General’s Medal, University of Toronto Scholar. Author of 100+ peer-reviewed medical publications.
Featured image is from COVID Intel
The Worldwide Corona Crisis, Global Coup d’Etat Against Humanity
by Michel Chossudovsky
Michel Chossudovsky reviews in detail how this insidious project “destroys people’s lives”. He provides a comprehensive analysis of everything you need to know about the “pandemic” — from the medical dimensions to the economic and social repercussions, political underpinnings, and mental and psychological impacts.
“My objective as an author is to inform people worldwide and refute the official narrative which has been used as a justification to destabilize the economic and social fabric of entire countries, followed by the imposition of the “deadly” COVID-19 “vaccine”. This crisis affects humanity in its entirety: almost 8 billion people. We stand in solidarity with our fellow human beings and our children worldwide. Truth is a powerful instrument.”
ISBN: 978-0-9879389-3-0, Year: 2022, PDF Ebook, Pages: 164, 15 Chapters
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***
Incumbent Gabon’s presidentAli Bongo Ondimba, who has been in power for 14 years, has won a third term with 64,27%, according to official results announced on Wednesday (Aug. 30) by the electoral commission. Ali Bongo defeated his main rival Albert Ondo Ossa in a single round of voting. Elections took place last Saturday, 26 August 2023 – curiously the day of the Niger military coup.
Ali Bongo is the son of Omar Bongo, who was president of Gabon from 1967 until his death in 2009. Ali took over at the time of his father’s death. During his father’s presidency, Ali was Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Today, 31 August, General Brice Oligui Nguema, was named Gabon’s new leader. He served the Central African country’s long-time former president Omar Bongo before finally turning on his son, ousting leader Ali Bongo.
The announcement of the voting results on 30 August 2023, they say, prompted the military coup of Gabon, a resources-rich Central African country at the African West Coast. The military claimed electoral fraud – what else is new, just look at elections in the west and around the world.
Gabon is a former French colony – and new economic and monetary colony – for the last 50-plus years. See this and this.
The new Gabonese military junta rejected the election results, dissolved all state institutions, and placed Ali Bongo under house arrest. It looks like this may be the end of a 55-year Bongo-family dynasty. See this from BBC:
Unlike other West- and Central African countries, Gabon has no US military base, but easy access to military advice and training from the US largest African military base in Djibouti.
These are the recent Francophone African military uprisings:
Niger (July 2023);
Burkina Faso (January 2022),
Guinea (September 2021);
Chad (April 2021);
Mali (August 2020);
and now Gabon (30 August 2023).
At the outset, it looks like the former French colonies and present French neo-colonies have had enough of French enslavement and shameless monetary exploitation.
That may be true, though, at the same time, there is a growing US influence visible in West- and Central Africa. Maybe Madame Victoria Nuland’s – Deputy US Secretary of State – recent three visits to the region are indicative. The latest visit to Niger took place on 7 August 2023, under the pretext of the US interest to restore stability in the Region.
It looks quite convincingly like Washington would like to get rid of France in Africa and replace the French with their own style of neo-colonialism.
The 14 West (8) and Central (6) African former French colonial territories may finally get rid of the cursed, French Central Bank controlled CFA Franc which was their French-imposed currency since “independence”, analogous to a highly coercive price for independence.
But, will it be replaced by the US-dollar?
God forgive! May they – all 14 West-and Central African countries – apply for BRICS membership at the next round in 2024. One of the BRICS top-priorities is de-dollarization.
Interests in Gabon?
Other than enhancing the strategic stronghold in Africa – against the potential interests of Russia and China – Gabon has sizable natural resources. It is one of the resources-richest Sub-Sahelian countries.
According to World Bank data, Gabon’s surface is 267,670 sq. km (2020), about half the size of France (547,557 sq. km). Of Gabon’s total surface, some 88% is covered by forest, mostly rain forest. This level of forestation can be maintained thanks to Gabon’s relatively low population of only 2.4 million (World Bank 2023 estimate).
Gabon is situated in a region known for its mineral wealth. Gabon’s minerals include, timber, manganese, diamonds, gold, and uranium. Minerals are so important to the country’s economy that the entire economy revolves around the country’s mining industry, to the detriment of agricultural development.
Mining Industry
Gabon has the second largest deposit of manganese in the world and is currently the world’s third largest producer. From high-grade manganese to minerals, there are over 250 million tons of manganese reserves, and their metal content is between 48% to 52%.
Manganese is Gabon’s second largest export product, accounting for roughly 11% of Gabon’s total exports. La Compagnie Minière de l’Ogooue (COMILOG), a subsidiary of the French company ERAMET, is the largest company currently producing manganese in Gabon.
Mining prospects also exist for iron, copper, diamonds, and other minerals.
Gabon has the sixth largest proven oil deposits in Africa, with an estimated 3.68 billion barrels of oil reserves. The daily production is estimated at 0.244 million barrels, with a minimal local consumption of 0.013 million barrels. The balance is exported. More than 90% of it to the United States.
Gabon, the fourth largest oil producer in Sub-Saharan Africa, posted strong economic growth over the past decade, driven mainly by oil and manganese production. In 2020, the oil sector accounted for 38.5% of GDP and 70.5% of exports despite efforts to diversify the economy.
Gabon also has large deposits of natural gas which are estimated to be over 28.3 billion cubic meters. The production of the natural gas in the country is estimated to be about 0.1 billion cubic meters per year. Unlike the country’s crude oil which is primarily destined for foreign markets, Gabon consumes all the natural gas it produces. See this.
Gabon’s almost exclusive reliance on oil exports is a real danger for her economy and social development, especially given the volatility of hydrocarbon prices. Due to this reliance on petrol income, the agricultural sector has been neglected to the point where, according to government estimates, more than 80% of food is imported – and this given the high degree of fertility of Gabon’s soil. See this.
Food imports make for food price volatility an instability.
Given her resources, Gabon may be one of the most obvious Sahel countries attracting foreign interests. In this case, the US wants to strengthen their foothold in Gabon. Washington controls now almost 100% of the country’s crude oil exports, not to be challenged by other contenders.
The hydrocarbon energy market which is hypocritically being suppressed by the west for the climate change hoax while every western country knows that without hydrocarbon the world economy as it presents itself today would collapse. Today, still about 85% of all energy used in the world stems from hydrocarbons.
Gabon’s hydrocarbon resources might be sought after also by other blocs, like China and Russia. The US will make sure they will not lose out on what they already control. Not to forget all the other natural resources riches Gabon possesses.
Therefore, it is not to be excluded that Washington may have played a role in timing the military coup just coinciding with the Gabonese elections – fake elections, naturally.
Let’s see, if and when Washington’s Madame Nuland will show up and look for order and calming unrest in Gabon – with US assistance, of course.
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Peter Koenig is a geopolitical analyst and a former Senior Economist at the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO), where he worked for over 30 years around the world. He lectures at universities in the US, Europe and South America. He writes regularly for online journals and is the author of Implosion – An Economic Thriller about War, Environmental Destruction and Corporate Greed; and co-author of Cynthia McKinney’s book “When China Sneezes: From the Coronavirus Lockdown to the Global Politico-Economic Crisis” (Clarity Press – November 1, 2020).
Peter is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG). He is also a non-resident Senior Fellow of the Chongyang Institute of Renmin University, Beijing.
Featured image: Satellite image of Gabon (Licensed under the Public Domain)
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Addressing a meeting of government ministers and the press in Havana on Aug. 11, Cuba’s Vice Prime Minister Jorge Luis Tapia Fonseca exploded when discussing the food crisis gripping the nation.
“It takes work to produce food. Everyone wants food deliveries, but we do nothing to produce it. We lack a culture of production … We don’t need all these papers, or words. When do we begin to plant? Who will do it?”
He was reporting on implementation of Cuba’s 2022 law on Food Sovereignty and Food and Nutritional Security. He noted that food self-sufficiency in local areas is disastrously lagging. Crop yields are low; plant diseases and the lack of inputs has hampered grain production.
The food situation in Cuba is growing more desperate by the day. Residents of the island individually consumed only 438 grams of animal protein per month in 2022, and in May 2023, only 347 grams; recommendations call for ingestion of 5 kg monthly. Not enough chickens were raised last year; poultry meat and eggs remain scarce.
Yields of corn, soy, sorghum and other crops have dropped, and animal feed is mostly unavailable. Therefore, pork production is also down, milk is unavailable to adults, and fewer cattle are being raised. Pasturage is poor, due to drought and no fertilizer.
Failures Mount
Tapia pointed to the many failures exacerbating the situation. The output of state-controlled food producers is low. Producers, distributers, and institutional consumers don’t regularly contract with one another to facilitate food distribution. Producers aren’t being paid, because credit isn’t available. Cattle-stealing has reached new heights, 44,318 head so far this year.
The Ministry of Finances and Prices issued a report prior to the National Assembly session that recognized high inflation, widespread popular dissatisfaction, and the need for “concrete solutions.” Minister Vladimir Regueiro Ale indicated prices skyrocketed by 39% during 2022 and 18% more so far in 2023.
Inflation, he explained, varies from province to province and may manifest as abusive price-fixing, especially when agricultural supplies and products are in short supply.
Commenting on the report, National Assembly President Esteban Lazo, reminded delegates that diminished production and inflation were connected:
“If there is no production and supply, we will not achieve effective control of prices.” He complained that “practically 100% of the food basket is being imported.”
The Assembly’s Food and Agricultural Commission analyzed organizational and management problems and reported that only 68% of expected diesel fuel has arrived so far in 2023, 14,700 tons less than in the similar period a year before; 28,900 tons of imported fertilizer were ordered, but only 168 tons arrived. Cuba’s fertilizer production has been nil this year in contrast to 9,600 tons produced in the same months in 2022.
Lazo communicated a message to Cuba’s Minister of Agriculture from the Assembly, whose recent session ended on July 22. The ministry, he said, would be “transforming and strengthening the country’s agricultural production,” to initiate “a political and participatory movement that would unleash a productive revolution in the agricultural sector.”
Nothing Less Than a Revolution Will Do
A revolution appears to be exactly what’s needed. The recent National Assembly session dealt almost entirely with Cuba’s present food disaster. The lives of many Cubans are becoming more precarious due to unending food shortages, high prices, and low incomes.
Information emerging from the Assembly’s deliberations attests to the reality of crisis in Cuba, and it means that urgency is building for Cuba’s friends in the United States to resist U.S. policies in new ways, strongly and assertively. Their own government accounts for new suffering and destitution in Cuba.
President Miguel Díaz-Canel emphasized resistance when addressing the National Assembly. He dedicated his remarks to two revolutionary heroes who were present. Admiring how they kept “their foot in the stirrup of difficulties” and their “rifle pointed at mistakes,” he may have been thinking of hard work ahead.
He mentioned “problems of our difficult daily life, such as food production, electricity generation, water availability, crime, rising inflation, abusive prices.”
The president criticized behaviors “that reinforce the omnipresent blockade through inaction, apathy, insensitivity, incapacity, or simple tiredness and lack of faith.”
Díaz-Canel noted approvingly that delegates discussed “closer ties between deputies and the population,” “better management and allocation of the currency,” “greater direct participation of the non-state sector in national production,” “municipal autonomy,” and “downward pressure on prices.”
But it’s not enough. “Above all,” he said, “we must devote ourselves to creating wealth, first of all, by producing food.”
Trouble in the Countryside
Cuba’s rural communities are troubled—and shrinking. Soon, “we won’t have any people left in the countryside,” one delegate said. Another called for improved “roadways, housing, and connectivity.”
Regarding the low level of agricultural skills among the rural population, someone called for teaching in “agroecological techniques” and “good practices for the producing, processing, and commercialization of food.”
The idea has been circulating for a while now that greater local autonomy might help spur food production, but efforts at prompting that devolution of initiative have seen a slow uptake. As of April 2023, aspiring farmers had not yet taken possession of 258,388 hectares of idle land made available to them without cost under land-tenure reforms in 2008.
Frei Betto, Brazilian friend of revolutionary Cuba and adviser to Cuba’s Food Sovereignty and Nutritional Education Plan, visited Cuba in June. In his assessment, the “current shortages are more severe than in the Special Period (1990-95),” when Cuba’s economy nearly collapsed following the withdrawal of Soviet aid and the contraction of trade with the socialist bloc of nations.
He indicated that Cuba now imports 80% of the food it consumes, up from 70% five or so years ago, and that it costs $4 billion annually, up from $2 billion. For corn, soy, and rice alone, the outlay now is $1.5 billion annually.
He indicated, too, that a ton of imported chicken meat now costs $1.3 million, up from $900,000 a year ago, that “the wheat supply has worsened,” that milk production is down 38 million liters in one year, and that less oil from Venezuela, thanks to U.S. sanctions there, means further reduced food production in Cuba.
Blame the Blockade, But Not Only
The origins of food shortages in Cuba and the mode of U.S. intervention are highly relevant in understanding the current situation, as every Cuban knows.
To be sure, the shortages plaguing the people are not solely due to U.S. policies. Drought, hurricane damage, marabou shrub infestation, soil erosion, high soil acidity, poor drainage, and lack of organic material soil have all contributed.
The still-prevailing bureaucratic and centralizing tendencies of the Cuban government’s economic management also play a role.
The U.S. economic blockade, however, remains central to understanding what’s happening. The creation of a food crisis was among the original proposals put forward by State Department official Lestor Mallory in 1960 for how to overthrow Cuba’s revolutionary government. The program: Use “hunger and desperation” to spark the “overthrow of government.”
Aid from and trade with the socialist world frustrated U.S. efforts and kept disaster at bay for decades, but eventually the Soviet Union and socialist Eastern Europe fell. The U.S. government seized the moment and passed legislation tightening the economic blockade in 1992 and 1996 and, later, designated Cuba a terrorist-sponsoring nation.
Beyond bans on products manufactured or sold by U.S. companies, proscribed categories soon included products manufactured by foreign companies associated with U.S. ones and products containing 10% or more components of U.S. origin. Now, foreign enterprises active in Cuba faced possible U.S. court action.
International loans and international transactions in dollars are usually off-limits. Payments abroad don’t reach destinations. Income from exports doesn’t arrive.
Think imports of seeds, fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, breeding stock, veterinary supplies and drugs, new equipment, spare parts, exports of coffee, rum, and nickel. Think loans for purchasing food and more, loans for agricultural development. Think impediments to restoring rural infrastructure.
The blockade, the U.S. tool of choice, has hit food production in Cuba hard. It is far along in achieving its ultimate purpose. Cuba needs a new order of support from friends in the United States─Marti’s “belly of the beast.”
Cuba Needs Friends More Than Ever
Many have so admired Cuba’s brand of socialism as to assume that Cuba’s social gains and exuberant international solidarity would fire up such enthusiasm that, along with considerations of fairness, legality, neighborliness, and revulsion against U.S. cruelty, would make U.S. policymakers think anew about Cuba. It never happened.
Now at a watershed moment in Cuba, a new direction is necessary, one all about persuading, organizing, and unifying left-leaning political groups and anti-war, anti-empire activists of all stripes. Leadership is needed.
Frei Betto says that, “It is time for all of us, in solidarity with the Cuban Revolution, to intensify the struggle against the U.S. blockade and mobilize international cooperation with the island that dared to conquer its independence and sovereignty against the most powerful and genocidal empire in the history of mankind.”
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W.T. Whitney Jr. is a political journalist whose focus is on Latin America, health care, and anti-racism. A Cuba solidarity activist, he formerly worked as a pediatrician, lives in rural Maine. W.T. Whitney Jr. es un periodista político cuyo enfoque está en América Latina, la atención médica y el antirracismo. Activista solidario con Cuba, anteriormente trabajó como pediatra, vive en la zona rural de Maine.
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***
The Internet just changed forever, but most people living in the United States don’t even realize what just happened. A draconian new law known as the “Digital Services Act” went into effect in the European Union on Friday, and it establishes an extremely strict regime of Internet censorship that is far more authoritarian than anything we have ever seen before. From this point forward, hordes of European bureaucrats will be the arbiters of what is acceptable to say on the Internet. If they discover something that you have said on a large online platform that they do not like, they can force that platform to take it down, because someone in Europe might see it. So even though this is a European law, the truth is that it is going to have a tremendous impact on all of us.
The European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA) has officially gone into effect. Starting on August 25th, 2023, tech giants like Google, Facebook, Amazon, and more must comply with sweeping legislation that holds online platforms legally accountable for the content posted to them.
Even though this new law was passed in the EU, we’ll likely see far-reaching global effects as companies adjust their policies to comply.
Ranging from social media platforms to online marketplaces and search engines, the list so far includes: Facebook, TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Snapchat, Amazon, Booking, AliExpress, Zalando, Google Shopping, Wikipedia, Google Maps, Google and Apple’s mobile app stores, Google’s Search, and Microsoft’s Bing.
But starting on February 24th, 2024, the Digital Services Act will start applying to a much broader spectrum of online platforms that have fewer than 45 million monthly users.
We are being told that this new law will establish clear rules that online platforms must follow.
That will include censoring anything that is deemed “false or misleading” under the Strengthened Code of Practice on Disinformation…
So what kind of speech is the DSA expected to police? Last year’s Strengthened Code of Practice on Disinformation defines disinformation as “false or misleading content that is spread with an intention to deceive or secure economic or political gain and which may cause public harm.” The code has already been put to work during elections and to “respond to crises,” such as COVID and the war in Ukraine.
And it really doesn’t matter if material that European bureaucrats consider to be “false or misleading” is actually “false of misleading” at all.
What matters is that if online platforms do not comply with what they are being told to do, they will pay dearly…
Online platforms that don’t comply with the DSA’s rules could see fines of up to 6 percent of their global turnover. According to the EU Commission, the Digital Services Coordinator and the Commission will have the power to “require immediate actions where necessary to address very serious harms.” A platform continually refusing to comply could result in a temporary suspension in the EU.
Big tech companies will be desperate to avoid such penalties, and so they will obey.
Under this Orwellian regime, a team of hundreds of unelected EU bureaucrats will decide what constitutes disinformation and instruct Big Tech firms to censor it. The firms themselves, faced with reputational risk and financial penalties, will have little choice other than to comply. This can be done in all manner of ways: simply by human moderators removing content, by shadow-banning problematic creators to reduce their reach, by demonetising certain content, and by tweaking algorithms to favour or disfavour certain topics. And though, legally speaking, the DSA only applies in the EU, once installed inside Big Tech firms, this vast content-regulation apparatus will surely affect users in the rest of the world, too.
We are being told that these EU bureaucrats will also be working with “trusted flaggers” to help identify content that needs to be censored…
The DSA’s “trusted flaggers” are entities with proven expertise in flagging harmful or illegal content to platforms. The new regulation provides that their content flagging shall be prioritised by platforms when moderating content.
You might be tempted to think that you will be able to avoid all of this censorship because you do not live in Europe.
Unfortunately, that is simply not true.
If you post something that someone in Europe might see, your content comes under the jurisdiction of this horrifying new law.
So you need to brace yourself for a level of Internet censorship that none of us have ever seen before.
In addition, most of the large tech companies that must comply with this new law are based in the United States.
U.S. Senate Commerce Committee Ranking Member Ted Cruz (R-Texas) today sent letters to Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairwoman Lina Khan and the head of the European Union’s San Francisco office, demanding answers regarding the degree of coordination between the FTC and the EU to enforce the EU’s Digital Services Act (“DSA”) and Digital Markets Act (“DMA”) on U.S. soil. Both foreign laws were written to weaken American tech companies, particularly in Europe. There are no corollary federal laws to the DSA and DMA, making the FTC’s efforts to conspire with foreign regulators against U.S. businesses unprecedented.
The FTC announced in March that it was sending agency officials to Brussels to assist the EU in implementing these laws, while the EU opened a San Francisco office to pressure U.S tech companies to comply with them.
From this point forward, it is going to become much more difficult to share alternative views on the Internet.
Personally, there will be certain things that I will only be able to share in my books or with the paid subscribers of my Substack newsletter.
I am going to need to be more careful about what I share from now on, because if I say something publicly on the Internet that offends the bureaucrats in Europe, I could get into really big trouble.
And that is going to apply to every other independent journalist as well.
For a long time, the Internet allowed ordinary people like you and ordinary people like me to share truth with a world that was desperate for it.
But now the gatekeepers are exerting a draconian level of control, and the Internet will never, ever be the same again.
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Michael’s new book entitled “End Times” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can check out his new Substack newsletter right here.
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***
The US and Israel will simulate striking Iranian nuclear facilities as part of a series of joint military exercises that will be held in the coming months, The Times of Israel reported Wednesday, citing Israeli TV.
Back in January, the US and Israel conducted the Juniper Oak exercises, which were the largest-ever joint drills between the two nations. The Israeli military said Juniper Oak was just the first of a series of drills that the US and Israel will hold this year.
Israel’s Channel 12 reported one of the upcoming drills would simulate Israel facing a multi-front missile attack that will involve the US deployment of Patriot missile systems. Another drill will rehearse a joint US-Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities.
The plan to simulate attacks on Iran has not been publicly confirmed by the US or Israel, but the two nations have previously rehearsed bombing Iran, including during drills that were held over the Mediterranean Sea in November 2022.
While nuclear facilities would be the target in the simulated drills, there’s no sign Iran is looking to build a nuclear weapon, which was affirmed by a recent US intelligence report. Often missing from the conversation about Iran’s civilian nuclear program is the fact that Israel has a secret nuclear weapons program and an arsenal of nukes that the US does not acknowledge exists.
The report comes amid heightened tensions between the US and Iran in the Persian Gulf. The US seizure of a tanker carrying Iranian oil in April provoked two Iranian tanker seizures, and the US responded by beefing up its military presence in the region.
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Dave DeCamp is the news editor of Antiwar.com, follow him on Twitter @decampdave.
Featured image: US and Israeli fighter jets fly alongside a US B-52 bomber over the Mediterranean Sea during the Juniper Oak 2023 drill, January 25, 2023. (CENTCOM)
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***
There are parallels between these Suwayda protests and the 2011 ones that morphed into a countrywide military conflict – namely, the foreign exploitation of sincere grievances strategically aimed at dividing Syria along sectarian and ethnic lines.
Thirteen years after the onset of the war on Syria, a domestic political eruption backed by foreign states has resurfaced, threatening to once again ignite conflict in the country despite years of relative calm.
Economic woes today underpin the public grievances expressed on the street. The much-heralded May 2023 reinstatement of Syria in the Arab League has thus far failed to deliver any significant political or economic relief for the beleaguered Levantine state.
Instead, Syria’s economy continues to deteriorate with the devaluation of the national currency against the dollar. Concurrently, a renewed US initiative to partition and weaken Syria is gaining traction, as Washington strives relentlessly to undermine Damascus’ centrality as a pivotal regional state and geopolitical player.
Underpinning all this is stifling western unilateral economic sanctions imposed on Syria, as well as the territorial encroachments of US, Turkish, and Israeli military forces.
The illegal occupation of Syrian lands, coupled with the loss and theft of vital oil, water resources, and agricultural bounty by foreign occupation troops and their local proxy militias, further compounds the crisis, as does the recurrent Israeli aggression and missile strikes targeting Syrian infrastructure.
Within the context of all this devastation, some tough-love decisions made by the central government in Damascus have unsurprisingly ignited a fresh wave of protests that have now assumed a distinctly “separatist” character.
SDF Backs Suwayda Secession
The initial protests emerged in Syria’s Suwayda governorate following the removal of fuel subsidies, which caused a hike in public transportation costs and raw material prices. These grievances rapidly evolved into political demands, centering on the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2254 and policies of decentralization.
The latter concept implies a form of “self-administration” akin to the separatist Kurdish Autonomous Administration that receives support from the US in the northeastern region of the country.
The Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), representing the political arm of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – bolstered by the US military occupation and the cover it provides – has overtly endorsed the Suwayda protests and their transformation from socio-economic aspirations into calls for secession.
The SDF openly seeks to attract western assistance to replicate its Kurdish self-governance model – but in Suwayda. Importantly, this isn’t the first time the SDF has attempted to exert political influence in Suwayda. In 2019, amidst ISIS assaults on the southern governorate, the SDF pursued relations with Druze leaders, engaging in both public and secret talks to garner support for the self-governance initiative in Suwayda.
The initial protests in Suwayda were modest in scale, and attempts by Syrian government opponents to portray these as a massive uprising fell short. The numbers involved continue to be small in comparison to Suwayda’s total population, and have thus far failed to incite a broader nationwide wave.
Comparisons with the 2011 Uprisings
Others tried to ride the Suwayda momentum. In the north of the country, at the very same time, Al-Qaeda affiliate Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) began to organize large-scale demonstrations in various cities and villages under its control in Idlib province – again, drawing parallels to the 2011 events that led to the Syrian war.
In the southern governorate of Daraa, which borders Jordan, armed individuals took to the streets and launched attacks on a number of army positions, but these were rapidly quelled. In Suwayda, security forces monitored the movements without immediate reaction.
Today, the momentum of the protests has dwindled, and the situation across other governorates remains largely unchanged despite a rush of rumors about a potential reenactment of the 2011 events.
A Syrian security source informs The Cradle that Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijriplayed a pivotal role in Suwayda’s narrative shift from local demands to separatist aspirations. His discord with the Syrian government has led him to establish ties with parties in the Persian Gulf, while internally fostering support for Suwayda’s separation. However, Hijri has since backed off, reiterating the need to preserve the unity of Syria and supporting the legitimacy of the government in Damascus.
According to the source, some local factions in Suwayda support “the process of transforming the protest movement into demands for secession, such as the traditional opposition close to the coalition, the so-called Ahrar al-Jabal movement, the Karama faction led by Sheikh Laith al-Balous and some smuggling gangs.”
After the protests spread in Suwayda and Daraa, participants demanded decentralization and the implementation of UN Resolution 2254 to end the 12-year war in Syria.
Not a Populist Movement
Some clerics and “local factions” in Suwayda have expressed solidarity with the protesters’ demands, and local news outlets have described the protests as “civil disobedience.” But the clerics do not speak with one voice, as some refuse to turn the demands into political ones, a development which reportedly prompted Sheikh Hijri to tone down his separatist rhetoric.
One website quoted an unnamed source as saying that “the slogans raised in all villages and towns of Suwayda carry political ideas far from economic demands, most notably the overthrow of the regime.”
Samira Moubayed, a member of the Syrian Constitutional Committee representing the civil society bloc, told North Press that “the movement will continue until security is achieved in southern Syria. This is part of the process of political change needed and necessary across Syria.”
This narrative introduced a regional aspect, positioning “the security of southern Syria” as distinct from that of Damascus and its surroundings. Riad Drar, co-chair of the SDF, countered this view more explicitly, asserting that Kurdish separatists endorse the popular movement and maintain direct communication with its leadership in the south.
Drar urged protest leaders to safeguard the movement, liaise with Syrian territories outside Damascus’ control, and establish collaborative initiatives with northeastern Syria. He also offered up the US-backed Kurdish administration as a conduit to galvanize international support for a southern secessionist movement.
The HTS-SDF Crossover
The US role in Syria’s southern governorates is still unclear, unlike its overt military and financial roles in the country’s north.
In June, Syrian opposition media outlets aligned with Turkiye disclosed a US-supported plan to integrate areas controlled by HTS in northwestern Syria with territories directly governed by the Turkish occupation army in the north (northern Aleppo countryside and parts of Raqqa and Hasakah countryside), as well as the Kurdish separatist domains in northeastern Syria, all under a single civilian administration.
HTS has shown that it is willing to establish channels of communication with the SDF when common economic interests emerge. Confidential sources told Syria TV at the time that HTS had hosted several delegations from al-Hasakah in recent months, including security leaders from the SDF.
The talks touched on the possibility of forming a joint civilian administration between the two parties, if HTS gains control over areas held by the Turkiye-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) – previously known as the Free Syrian Army. The SDF, for its part, indicated that the US supports the unification of the northeastern and northwestern regions of Syria.
In a revealing investigation for The Grayzone, journalist Hekmat Aboukhater detailed discussions within the Syrian opposition “lobby” in the US, where a former US official discussed the scenario of Syria’s division. This envisaged creating a “canton” in the northwest of the country under the administration of HTS, albeit with a different name to disassociate the group from its Al Qaeda origins.
Earlier this month, HTS accused its second-in-command Abu Maria al-Qahtani, of unauthorized communication with the US-led “International coalition.” Qahtani was purportedly attempting to expand into areas controlled by the so-called SNA and the “eastern sector” within the organization.
Rebranding Al Qaeda, Yet Again
A Syrian security source tells The Cradle that this raised concerns within a faction of Turkish intelligence linked directly to HTS, which seeks to oversee the group’s activities and avoid involvement in US-led projects.
The actual intention, says the Syrian security source, is to rebrand the organization and reshape its structure, potentially for eventual integration into the Turkish-backed “SNA” confab, followed by discussions with the international coalition or other entities. It is worth noting that HTS has undergone several re-inventions, having previously been known as Jahbat al-Nusra, and, before that, Al Qaeda.
Meanwhile, on Syria’s eastern border, the SDF has denied participating in military campaigns targeting the bordering (with Iraq) city of Albu Kamal in cooperation with US forces, but the recent visit of former US Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller to its areas suggests otherwise.
Despite himself being illegally in Syria, Miller called for supporting stability in the region, and discussed with the Autonomous Administration the limitations it faces, the threats against it, and the necessity of supporting it economically and politically, according to a statement by the Department of Foreign Relations.
Dogged Pursuit of De Facto Division
On 27 August, a high-level delegation from the US Congress visited the Turkish-occupied areas in northwestern Syria, particularly the northern countryside of Aleppo. This visit seems to confirm Washington’s intentions to establish a de facto presence in Syrian territory.
Concurrently, the Saudi newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat published a report detailing a Turkish project aimed at the Turkification of northern Syria, which involves teaching the Turkish language to approximately 300,000 Syrian children.
These developments collectively raise the possibility of the US administration supporting efforts to “impose a reality” that could lead to the division of Syria. This prospect could gain traction amid the economic challenges faced by Syria, the waning authority of the central state, and Ankara’s determination to remain in Syrian territory while engineering local demographics.
Turkiye has been constructing cities for refugees with Qatari funding, a move that lays the groundwork for scenarios similar to what’s transpiring in Suwayda – and mirroring the model of the US-funded Kurdish Autonomous Administration.
Given the existing security, military, and political landscape in Syria, it becomes evident that returning to the 2011 model of popular protests, which eventually transformed into an armed rebellion, remains an uphill task for the US and its allies.
Despite their inability to overthrow the government through military means, these actors – comprising the US, its European partners, Turkiye, Qatar, and Israel – remain undeterred in pursuing a de facto division of Syria.
Their strategy entails surrounding and economically strangling key areas under the control of the central government in Damascus. Although this may not immediately threaten the government’s stability, it poses an existential threat to the integrity of the Syrian state itself.
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***
Declassified British files highlight a little known aspect of the joint MI6/CIA coup against Iran’s democratically elected government in August 1953 – UK covert action in support of leading radical Shia Islamists, the predecessors of Ayatollah Khomeini.
In many accounts the CIA is regarded as the prime mover behind the 1953 coup in Iran, yet Britain was in fact the initial instigator and provided considerable resources to the plot, which UK planners named ‘Operation Boot’.
In the early 1950s, the Anglo–Iranian Oil Company (AIOC), or BP as it is now known, was run from London and owned jointly by the British government and private citizens. It controlled Iran’s main source of income, oil, and by 1951 had become, according to one British official, “in effect an imperium in imperio [an empire within an empire] in Persia”.
Iranian nationalists objected to the fact that the AIOC’s revenues from oil were greater than the Iranian government’s.
Britain’s ambassador in Tehran, Sir Francis Shepherd, had a typically colonialist take on the situation. The declassified files show his writing:
“It is so important to prevent the Persians from destroying their main source of revenue…by trying to run it themselves”
He added:
“The need for Persia is not to run the oil industry for herself (which she cannot do) but to profit from the technical ability of the West.”
Of course Iran was perfectly capable of running its own oil industry. In March 1951 the Iranian parliament voted to nationalise oil operations, take control of the AIOC and expropriate its assets.
In May, Mohammed Mossadeq, the leader of Iran’s social-democratic National Front Party, was elected as prime minister and immediately implemented the bill.
Britain responded by withdrawing the AIOC’s technicians and announcing a blockade on Iranian oil exports. Moreover, it also began planning to overthrow Mossadeq.
“Our policy”, a British official later recalled, “was to get rid of Mossadeq as soon as possible”.
‘An Authoritarian Regime’
Following the well-worn pattern of installing and backing compliant Middle Eastern monarchs, British officials were keen on “a non-communist coup d’etat, preferably in the name of the shah”, which “would mean an authoritarian regime”.
The ambassador in Tehran wanted “a dictator” who “would carry out the necessary administrative and economic reforms and settle the oil question on reasonable terms” – meaning reversing the nationalisation.
Image is licensed under the Public Domain
The military strongman chosen to preside over the coup was General Fazlollah Zahedi, a figure who had been arrested by the British for pro-Nazi activities during the second world war, and was by the early 1950s Iran’s interior minister.
Despite British propaganda, Mossadeq’s government was privately recognised by UK officials as generally being democratic, popular, nationalist and anti-communist.
One difference between the National Front and other political groupings in Iran was that its members were, as Britain’s ambassador privately admitted, “comparatively free from the taint of having amassed wealth and influence through the improper use of official positions”.
Mossadeq had considerable popular support, and as prime minister managed to break the grip over Iranian affairs exercised by the large landowners, wealthy merchants, the army and the civil service.
Danger of Independence
The popular nationalist threat posed by Mossadeq was compounded by his alliance of convenience with the pro-Soviet Iranian communist party – Tudeh.
As British and US covert planners met throughout 1952, the former tried to enlist the latter in attempting a joint overthrow of the government by deliberately playing up the scenario of a communist threat to Iran.
One British official noted in August 1952 that
“the Americans would be more likely to work with us if they saw the problem as one of containing communism rather than restoring the position of the AIOC”.
However, neither the British nor US planning files show that they took seriously the prospect of a communist take-over of the country. Rather, both primarily feared the dangerous example Mossadeq’s independent policies presented to Western interests in Iran and elsewhere in the region.
By November 1952, an MI6–Foreign Office team was jointly proposing with the CIA the overthrow of Iran’s democratic government. British agents in Iran were provided with radio transmitters to maintain contact with MI6, while the head of the MI6 operation, Christopher Woodhouse, put the CIA in touch with other British contacts in the country.
MI6 also began to provide arms to tribal leaders in the north of Iran.
Ayatollah Kashani
Image is licensed under the Public Domain
The most important religious figure in Iran was the 65-year-old Shia cleric, Ayatollah Seyyed Kashani. He had helped German agents in Persia in 1944, and a year later helped found the unofficial Iranian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Fadayan-e-Islam (‘Devotees of Islam’), a militant fundamentalist organisation.
The Fadayan was involved in a number of terrorist attacks against Iran’s then ruler, the Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, in the late 1940s, including an assassination attempt in 1949, and killed the Shah’s prime minister, Ali Razmara, in 1951. Around this time, it appears Kashani broke with the organisation.
By the early 1950s, the Ayatollah had become the speaker in the Iranian parliament, the Majlis, and a key ally of Mossadeq.
A US intelligence report noted that, like Mossadeq, Kashani had a large popular appeal and strongly supported the National Front’s policies of oil nationalisation and the elimination of British influence in Iran.
However, by early 1953 relations between Kashani and Mossadeq became strained, notably over the latter’s proposals to extend his powers, and in July of that year Mossadeq dismissed Kashani from the post of speaker.
Tensions between Mossadeq and Kashani and other religious supporters of the ruling National Front were further stirred up by two of the principal British agents in the country: the Rashidian brothers, who came from a wealthy family with connections to the Iranian royals.
Instrumental in securing the Shah’s endorsement for the coup, the Rashidians also later acted as go-betweens among army officers distributing weapons to rebellious tribes and other ayatollahs, as well as Kashani.
Rioting
In February 1953 rioting broke out in Tehran, and pro-Zahedi supporters attacked Mossadeq’s residence, calling for the prime minister’s blood. Stephen Dorril notes in his book, MI6: Fifty Years of Special Operations, that this mob had been financed by Ayatollah Kashani and was acting in collaboration with British agents.
Kashani’s potential for attracting the Iranian street had been noted by the British Foreign Office, which remarked on his “considerable following in the bazaar [markets] among the older type of shop-keeper, merchant and the like. This is the chief source of his political power and his ability to stage demonstrations”.
British pay-offs had also secured the cooperation of senior army and police officers, deputies and senators, mullahs, merchants, newspaper editors and elder statesmen, as well as mob leaders.
“These forces”, explained MI6 officer Christopher Woodhouse, “were to seize control of Tehran, preferably with the support of the shah but if necessary without it, and to arrest Mossadeq and his ministers”.
The British also operated agents inside the Tudeh Party and were involved in organising “false flag” attacks on mosques and public figures in the party’s name.
CIA officer Richard Cottam later observed that the British “saw the opportunity and sent the people we had under our control into the streets to act as if they were Tudeh. They were more than just provocateurs, they were shock troops, who acted as if they were Tudeh people throwing rocks at mosques and priests.”
Black Propaganda
All this was intended to frighten Iranians into believing that a victory for Mossadeq would be a victory for communism and would mean an increase in Tudeh’s political influence.
A secret US history of the coup plan, drawn up by CIA officer Donald Wilber in 1954, and published by the New York Times in 2000, relates how CIA agents gave serious attention to alarming the religious leaders in Tehran by issuing black propaganda in the name of the Tudeh Party, threatening these leaders with savage punishment if they opposed Mossadeq.
Threatening phone calls were made to some of them, in the name of the Tudeh, and one of several planned sham bombings of the houses of these leaders was carried out.
British declassified files show that both the British and US governments considered installing Ayatollah Kashani as a client political leader in Iran following the coup.
In March 1953 Foreign Office official Alan Rothnie wrote how foreign secretary Anthony Eden had discussed with the head of the CIA, General Walter Bedell Smith, the possibility of dealing with Kashani as an alternative to Mossadeq.
Rothnie noted that
“they would be glad to learn whether we have any information which would suggest that the United States and United Kingdom could find a modus vivendi [way of working] with Kashani once he was in power. They feel that Kashani might be bought, but are doubtful, once he was in power, whether he could be held to a reasonable line.”
The British and US consideration of Kashani as a future leader is itself instructive yet the answer that came back both from the US State Department and the British Foreign Office was that Kashani would be a liability: he was seen as far too independent.
‘Complete Political Reactionary’
The Foreign Office stated that Kashani “would be of no use to us, and almost certainly a hindrance, as a successor to Dr Mossadeq, both generally and in an oil settlement”.
It regarded him as even more anti-Western than Mossadeq, describing him as “anti-British” and as nursing a “bitter enmity towards us” after being arrested for helping the Nazis during the war.
The Foreign Office termed him “a complete political reactionary…totally opposed to political reforms”. “He would conceivably…accept Western money”, it noted, but he would not follow “a reasonable line about an oil settlement”.
“If he came to power it would be impossible to reach a modus vivendi with him…We could not count on Kashani giving Persia that minimum of order and stability which is our basic need,” the Foreign Office concluded.
However, written comments appended to this report show other Foreign Office officials pondering the “the idea of Kashani as a stop gap, or a bridge to some more amenable regime”.
One official questioned whether Britain should work to replace Mossadeq with Kashani “before we can expect something better in order to produce the necessary public revulsion”.
The British view was that if Kashani could not be entrusted with power, his forces could still be used as shock troops to change the regime.
The evidence points to British and US support being provided to this “complete political reactionary” both before and after the report noted above was written, in March 1953.
Go-ahead
In late June 1953, the US gave the final go-ahead for the coup, setting the date for mid-August.
The initial coup plan was thwarted when Mossadeq – having been warned of the plot, possibly by the Tudeh Party – arrested some officials plotting with Zahedi and set up roadblocks in Tehran. This caused the Shah to panic and flee abroad where he would stay until the coup restored him as absolute monarch.
In order to trigger a wider uprising, the CIA turned to the clergy and made contact with Kashani via the Rashidian brothers. Footing the bill for this joint Anglo–American operation, the US gave Kashani $10,000 to organise massive demonstrations in central Tehran, together with other ayatollahs who also brought their supporters out onto the streets.
Amidst these demonstrations, the Shah appointed General Zahidi as prime minister and appealed to the military to come out in support of him.
Wider protests developed in which anti-Shah activists were beaten up and pro-Shah forces, including elements in the military, seized the radio station, army headquarters and Mossadeq’s home, forcing the latter to surrender to Zahidi.
The CIA also helped to mobilise militants of the Fadayan-e-Islam in these demonstrations; it is not known if Britain also did.
The Fadayan’s founder and leader, Navab Safavi, is believed to have had associations at the time with Ruhollah Khomeini, a Shia cleric and scholar based at the shrine city of Qom in Iran. According to Iranian officials, Khomeini, then a follower of Kashani, was among the MI6/CIA-sponsored crowd protesting against Mossadeq in 1953.
Fadayan-e-Islam’s members would act as the foot soldiers of the Islamic revolution of 1979, helping to implement the wholesale introduction of Islamic law in Iran.
Thanking Kashani
Image: Mohammad Mosaddegh in court, 8 November 1953. (Licensed under the Public Domain)
After Mossadeq’s overthrow, the British received a report from the new Iraqi ambassador in Tehran, telling how the Shah and Zahedi had together visited Kashani, “kissed his hands, and thanked him for his help in restoring the monarchy”.
The Shah soon assumed all powers and became the “dictator” preferred by the British ambassador. The following year a new consortium was established, controlling the production and export of Iranian oil, in which the US and Britain each secured a 40 per cent interest – a sign of the new order, the US having muscled in on a formerly British preserve.
Kashani, meanwhile, faded from political view after 1953, but he acted as Khomeini’s mentor and the latter was a frequent visitor to Kashani’s home. Kashani’s death in 1961 would mark the start of Khomeini’s long rise to power.
Despite eventual US management of the coup, the British had been the prime movers, and their motives were evident.
As a former Iranian ambassador to the UN until the 1979 Islamic revolution, Fereydoun Hoveyda, claimed years later:
“The British wanted to keep up their empire and the best way to do that was to divide and rule.”
He added:
“The British were playing all sides. They were dealing with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and the mullahs in Iran, but at the same time they were dealing with the army and the royal families.”
Hoveyda continued:
“They had financial deals with the mullahs. They would find the most important ones and would help them…The British would bring suitcases of cash and give it to these people. For example, people in the bazaar, the wealthy merchants, would each have their own ayatollah that they would finance. And that’s what the British were doing”.
‘Made in Britain’
In her memoirs, written in exile in 1980, the Shah’s twin sister, Ashraf Pahlavi, who pressed her brother to assume power in 1953, observed that
“many influential clergymen formed alliances with representatives of foreign powers, most often the British, and there was in fact a standing joke in Persia that if you picked up a clergyman’s beard, you would see the words ‘Made in England’ stamped on the other side.”
Although exaggerating with her ‘Made in England’ claim, Ashraf neatly summed up the British view of the Islamists – that they could be used to counter threats to UK interests.
During the 1951–3 coup planning period, Kashani was seen by the British as too much of an anti-Western liability to be a strategic ally. But his forces could be used to prepare the way for the installation of pro-Western figures, and be dropped as soon as their tasks for the imperial powers had been performed.
Kashani’s successor, Ayatollah Khomeini, took over the country following the 1979 revolution, presiding over an Islamic theocracy until his death a decade later.
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This is an edited extract from Mark Curtis’ book, Secret Affairs: Britain’s Collusion with Radical Islam.
Mark Curtis is the editor of Declassified UK, and the author of five books and many articles on UK foreign policy.
Featured image: Ayatollah Kashani with Iranian police and military officials. (Photo: IICHS)
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The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and Muslim Advocates sued multiple United States government agencies that have refused to produce key information on thousands of Afghan refugees still living in limbo at secretive detention sites.
In August 2021, over 124,000 Afghan civilians were evacuated. Yet as described in a filed complaint [PDF], the “evacuees” were sent to “processing” sites for medical screening and security vetting. They were supposed to receive visas or parole that would allow them to enter the U.S., but numerous Afghans “remain stranded” at sites that are reportedly overseen or controlled by the U.S. government.
CCR filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request on March 31 for records from the Defense Department, State Department, and Homeland Security Department (DHS). The information would include “policies and data about the detained Afghan refugees” as well as the “health and safety conditions” of the camps where they are being held.
All three U.S. agencies failed to respond to CCR’s request, as required by FOIA. DHS and the State Department did not even acknowledge that they received the request for records.
Sadaf Doost, an attorney and Bertha Justice fellow at CCR, told The Dissenter that human rights organizations have spent the past two years “trying to ask for accountability but also at the same time transparency around the process of what Afghan civilians are facing.” Specifically, groups have been concerned with refugees at Emirates Humanitarian City in the United Arab Emirates, Camp Liya in Kosovo, and Camp As Sayliyah in Qatar.
The U.S. government has not provided any “clarity around how long they have to continue waiting,” Doost added. News reporting suggests that “some may be coerced to return back to Afghanistan” if they do not want to continue their lives in limbo.
“The documents that the Center for Constitutional Rights and Muslim Advocates are seeking production of would provide insight as to how many Afghan refugees remain at these sites, the U.S.’s role in maintaining, operating, and facilitating these sites; if people have been denied entry into the U.S. or are under security vetting, what that process entails, and also just the location of these sites so that again those impacted and those working on the rights of Afghan refugees can know what they’re up against,” Doost stated.
As the complaint argues, the public has a “time-sensitive need” for this information about the U.S. government’s “practices, policies, knowledge of, or role in these matters, not only to inform their involvement in advocacy around executive policies on immigration and refugee processing but to meaningfully participate in ongoing discussions regarding the treatment of Afghan civilians.”
Camp Liya, which is located at U.S. Base Camp Bondsteel, has been dubbed “Little Guantanamo” by several residents.
Deutsche Welle reported in 2022 that refugees at Camp Liya are not allowed to leave if they wish to return to the site. They are not allowed to work so they may send money back home to their families.
“A prisoner can have access to his case, and he can ask about his case, why he is here, for how long he will be in detention,” one refugee told DW. “If we ask that, they don’t give us any reason why we are in this camp and for how long.”
The U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants reported [PDF] in June 2022 that the majority of Afghan evacuees were brought to Camp As Sayliyah in Doha, which once was a U.S. army base. They were “warehoused in giant rooms without air-conditioning with few restroom and shower facilities, and without access to sufficient nourishment or water.”
About a year ago, Reveal News reported that the U.S. government had “approved less than 2 percent of Afghan applications it processed for a humanitarian parole program.”
Rape, medical neglect, and human trafficking have been confirmed at several detention sites.
“The U.S. government cannot continue to ignore questions about the legal status and well-being of the Afghan civilians it is detaining around the world while they await immigration determinations,” declared Chris Godshall-Bennett, a staff attorney for Muslim Advocates. “Tired appeals to ‘security concerns’ that seem to only apply to Muslim communities can no longer justify arbitrary detentions and disparate treatment.”
A March 2023 letter from the Office of the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts (CARE) apparently claimed that the U.S. government does not maintain the Emirates Humanitarian City camp. “Emirati officials solely manage, control, and operate the EHC,” CARE wrote to Human Rights Watch.
“This, however, is contrary to reports that U.S. officials visit sites, on average, twice a week,” the lawsuit notes. The State Department also acknowledged in February 2023 that the U.S. government works “closely with UAE partners to address concerns with EHC.”
Doost believes the “documents that we’re requesting would make clear what the U.S.’s role in the facilitation, control, or operation of these sites are,” especially as officials insist on giving opaque or vague answers about Afghan refugees at these camps.
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Featured image: Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who once claimed when United States troops withdrew from Afghanistan that there was “no deadline” for helping Afghans at risk. (Source: The Dissenter)
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This week’s military coup in the Central African country of Gabon against long-serving President Ali Bongo Ondimba, who’s been in office since 2009 after succeeding his father who ruled for 42 years from 1967-2009, is being hailed by many non-Western observers as the continent’s latest anti-imperialist victory. They drew comparisons to the spate of West African coups in Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, and most recently Niger to reach their conclusion that this former French colony is rising up against Paris too.
While it’s true that the optics extend credence this claim, and France does indeed have a wide range of economic interests in Gabon alongside basing several hundred troops there, it’s arguably premature to connect that country’s latest regime change to this trend. There are three reasons to be skeptical:
2) economic factors are more significant than geopolitical ones in Gabon; and
3) the country has close ties with China.
Beginning with the first, reliable Russian telegram channel Rybar cited their French sources to report that the US had been cultivating Oligui to replace Bongo. The timeline was unexpectedly pushed up to seize the political initiative before latent socio-economic processes threatened to spiral into another bonafide anti-imperialist revolution. This aligns with the “Amerafrique” model described here in mid-August and the Associated Press’ report about the flawed elections being a “smokescreen” for the coup.
The aforementioned announcement leads to the last reason since it was prompted by Bongo’s trip to China in April. He and President Xi, who described his Gabonese counterpart as “an old friend”, agreed to elevate bilateral ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership. The Chinese Foreign Ministry published a detailed report about their talks that can be read here and is worth reviewing for those who are surprised at just how close Gabon had grown to the People’s Republic under Bongo’s rule.
These three points cast doubt on the conclusion that Gabon’s latest regime change was driven by anti-imperialist sentiment unless the interim military authorities condemn France and/or take tangible action to disengage from it such as by demanding the expulsion of its armed forces. Until then, it’s plausible that this was either a purely domesticaffair driven by economic factors or an American attempt to preempt a bonafide anti-imperialist revolution, but hopefully average people will benefit in any case.
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Andrew Korybko is an American Moscow-based political analyst specializing in the relationship between the US strategy in Afro-Eurasia, China’s One Belt One Road global vision of New Silk Road connectivity, and Hybrid Warfare. He is a frequent contributor to Global Research.
September 1st, 2023 by UN Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People
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The Legality of the Israeli Occupation
of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Including East Jerusalem
UN Committee on the Exercise of
The Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People
Foreword
It is with a deep sense of responsibility that on behalf of the United Nations Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, I present this groundbreaking Study on the Legality of the Israeli occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem. As the Chair of the Committee, it is my honour to endorse this comprehensive examination, which has been meticulously researched and drafted by the Irish Human Rights Centre of the National University of Ireland in Galway.
The relevance and urgency of this study cannot be overstated. The Israeli occupation which started in 1967 is the only reality generations of Palestinians have grown up with. It continues to have far-reaching implications on the lives and rights of the Palestinian people. It is incumbent upon us, the international community, to deepen our understanding of the legal issues raised by this prolonged occupation and its profound impact on human rights, peace and stability in the region.
Against this backdrop, the study on the legality of the Israeli occupation fills a critical knowledge gap. This thorough legal analysis aspires to contribute to an informed discourse, empowering individuals and institutions with the knowledge and tools to advocate for justice, accountability and the realization of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people. By examining the relevant international legal instruments, conventions and resolutions, the study also provides a comprehensive appraisal of the legal obligations and responsibilities incumbent on the occupying Power and the parties involved.
This study also underscores the pressing need for a just and lasting resolution based on international law of the Question of Palestine in all its aspects. It highlights the imperative of upholding the principles of international law, including respect for human rights, self-determination and the prohibition of the acquisition of territory by force. Such an understanding is crucial for fostering a conducive environment that paves the way for the end of the Israeli occupation and the realization of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people.
Moreover, the timely nature of this study cannot be overlooked at a time when Israel is deepening its colonization and creeping annexation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory. In a rapidly evolving global landscape, where geopolitical dynamics continue to shape the debate on the Question of Palestine, the study offers a frame of reference to anchor policymakers, diplomats, international organizations and civil society actors on a comprehensive and authoritative legal analysis enabling informed decision-making, advocacy and the pursuit of justice.
I extend my heartfelt gratitude to the Irish Human Rights Centre of the National University of Ireland Galway for their unwavering commitment and for the rigorous research that underpins this study.
Finally, I recommend this study to all those dedicated to the realization of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East. It is my hope that the findings and insights presented herein will serve as a catalyst for informed dialogue, effective advocacy and meaningful actions towards a future where the rights and aspirations of both Palestinians and Israelis are realized with full respect for the rule of law.
Ambassador Cheikh Niang
Chair, United Nations Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People and Permanent Representative of Senegal to the United Nations
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Executive Summary
Part I
This study examines two central questions. First, it asks whether Israel’s de facto and de jure annexation measures, continued settlement and protracted occupation of the Palestinian territory – the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip – render the occupation illegal under international law. Second, the study examines the question raised by the implications arising from a finding of illegal occupation. If an occupation can become illegal, what would be the legal consequences that arise for all States and the United Nations, considering, inter alia, the rules and principles of international law, including, but not limited to, the Charter of the United Nations; the Fourth Geneva Convention; international human rights law; relevant Security Council, General Assembly and Human Rights Council resolutions; and the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice of 9 July 2004?
The study establishes that there are two clear grounds in international law establishing when a belligerent occupation may be categorized as illegal. First, where a belligerent occupation follows from a prohibited use of force amounting to an act of aggression, such occupation is illegal ab initio. Second, where a belligerent occupation follows from a permitted use of force in self-defence under Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations but is subsequently carried out ultra vires the principles and rules of international humanitarian law and in breach of peremptory norms of international law, the conduct of the occupation may amount to an unnecessary and disproportionate use of force in self-defence. The study examines Israel’s breaches of peremptory norms of international law, the prohibition of the acquisition of territory through force, the right to self-determination, and the prohibition on racial discrimination and apartheid, as indicative of an occupation being administered in breach of the principles of necessity and proportionality for a use of force in self-defence.
Part II – The nature of belligerent occupation
Part II of the study provides a thematic introduction to the legal nature of belligerent occupation and the divergent approach of Israel to the occupation of Palestine. In doing so, it broadly examines the principles underpinning the laws governing belligerent occupation, presents the theory of belligerent occupation as illegal under the jus bello, and highlights international practice and jurisprudence classifying belligerent occupations as illegal under the jus ad bellum. Further, the study introduces the central tenets of Israel’s official policies and positions on the nature of the belligerent occupation of Palestine, its settlement enterprise and its annexation of Palestinian territory.
The laws governing belligerent occupation establish a number of important principles, including the temporary or de facto nature of occupation enshrined in Article 42 of the Hague Regulations (1907), which finds that “[t]erritory is considered occupied when it is actually placed under the authority of the hostile army”. As such, although governmental authority may be “temporarily disrupted or territorially restricted” during a belligerent occupation, the “State remains the same international person”.1 The occupying Power therefore does not acquire sovereignty over the occupied territory,2 but rather, is obliged to administer the territoryweighing the best interests of the occupied population with those of military necessity, under the limitative conservationist principle.3 Significantly, the present study highlights the positions of leading authorities on international law which consider that the practice of “prolonged occupation” has related to occupations of no more than four or five years in length, such as Germany’s four-year occupation of Belgium during World War I,4 or Germany’s five-year occupation of Norway in World War II.5 Former United Nations Special Rapporteur Michael Lynk observes that modern occupations compliant with the principles of occupation law “have not exceeded 10 years, including the American occupation of Japan, the Allied occupation of western Germany and the American-led occupation of Iraq”.6
That belligerent occupations may be considered illegal is not unique to Israel. For example, in Case Concerning Armed Activities on the Territory of the Congo (2005), the International Court of Justice held that Uganda’s occupation of Ituri “violated the principle of non-use of force in international relations and the principle of non-intervention”.7 Concomitantly, the United Nations Security Council condemned Iraq’s “illegal occupation” of Kuwait,8 and South Africa’s “illegal administration” in Namibia.9 The United Nations General Assembly, meanwhile, called on Third States to not “recognize as lawful the situation resulting from the occupation of the territories of the Republic of Azerbaijan”10 and condemned Portugal for “perpetuating its illegal occupation” of Guinea-Bissau.11 Similarly, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights denounced Vietnam’s “continuing illegal occupation of Kampuchea”.12 In 1977, the General Assembly expressed its deep concern “that the Arab territories occupied since 1967 have continued, for more than ten years, to be under illegal Israeli occupation and that the Palestinian people, after three decades, are still deprived of the exercise of their inalienable national rights”.13 Likewise, the preambles to successive United Nations Economic and Social Council resolutions refer to the “severe impact of the ongoing illegal Israeli occupation and all of its manifestations”.14
Finally, section II concludes with a presentation of Israel’s policies and positions on the nature of its administration of the Palestinian territory, the legality of settlements and its annexation of Jerusalem. For instance, Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs considers there to be “competing claims” over the West Bank which “should be resolved in peace processnegotiations”, including the settlements.15 However, Israel’s High Court of Justice, in Gaza Coast Regional Council v Knesset of Israel, held that “the legal outlook of all Israel’s governments” is that the “areas are held by Israel by way of belligerent occupation”.16 Nevertheless, Israel does not apply the Fourth Geneva Convention (1949) to the occupied territory as it has not been transposed into its domestic law; also, politically, Israel disputes the application of the Convention premised on its theory of the “missing sovereign”. Meanwhile, Israel considers occupied Jerusalem “the eternal undivided capital of Israel”17 and explains that Jerusalem was “reunified” in 1967 “as a result of the six-day war launched against Israel by the Arab world”.18
Part III – Legality of the occupation
Part III presents two separate grounds under the jus ad bellum where a belligerent occupation may be considered illegal, whether from the outset or beginning at some subsequent point in the occupation. First, an occupation arising from an act of aggression is illegal ab initio. Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter requires that “[a]ll Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State, or in any other manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations”. Criminal liability may arise for aggressive acts of occupation; for example, the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg considered Austria to be “occupied pursuant to a common plan of aggression”.19
Second, a belligerent occupation may be conducted in a manner that amounts to an unnecessary and disproportionate use of force in self-defence.20 Here the caselaw of the International Court of Justice provides useful guidance on proportionality. For example, in Nicaragua, the International Court of Justice considered, “the reaction of the United States in the context of what it regarded as self-defence was continued long after the period in which any presumed armed attack by Nicaragua could reasonably be contemplated”.21 Further, in Nuclear Weapons the International Court of Justice suggested that a use of force should meet “in particular the principles and rules of humanitarian law” to be a lawful use of force in self-defence.22 This study suggests that the occupying Power’s breach of the principles and rules of international humanitarian law and peremptory norms of international law provide a strong indicator that a use of force is disproportionate. Such breaches include de facto and de jure annexations of territory, illegal acquisition of territory through use of force, the denial of the right of self-determination, and the administration of the occupied territory in breach of the prohibition of racial discrimination and apartheid.
Having established the two grounds for illegal occupation under the jus ad bellum, the study proceeds to examine, as a separate and subsequent ground of illegality, the occupying Power’s breach of the external right of self-determination of Palestine as Mandate territory. Article 1(2) of the United Nations Charter provides for the right of self-determination of peoples, a jus cogens norm of international law23 which has obligations on States erga omnes.24 The right of self-determination has special resonance for Mandate territories, whose right of self-determination is held internationally as a “sacred trust” until full independence. As such, the colonial process can only be considered to be fully brought to a complete end once the right of self-determination has been exercised by the inhabitants of the colony.25 The South West Africa advisory opinion provides the leading example of an illegal occupation of Mandate territory, considered by the International Court of Justice to be illegal ab initio. However, whereas South West Africa was mandated territory, held under occupation after the termination of the Mandate, it can be distinguished from Palestine, which is mandated territory held under belligerent occupation in the context of an international armed conflict. Nevertheless, if the occupation is administered in a way that denies the exercise of the right of the people to external self-determination and sovereignty, this may similarly be considered in breach of the “sacred trust”. Depending on the circumstances giving rise to the breach of self-determination, the occupation could be illegal either ab initio or at some point thereafter.
This study examines two central questions. The first is whether Israel’s de facto and de jure annexation measures, continued settlement and protracted occupation of the Palestinian territory – the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip – render the occupation illegal under international law. Second, the study examines the question raised by a finding of illegal occupation. If an occupation can become illegal, what would be the legal consequences that arise for all States and the United Nations, considering, inter alia, the rules and principles of international law, including, but not limited to, the United Nations Charter; the Fourth Geneva Convention; international human rights law; relevant Security Council, General Assembly and Human Rights Council resolutions; and the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice of 9 July 2004?
Although the establishment of a belligerent occupation operates as a question of fact, the rationale behind the de facto nature of belligerent occupation was to prevent the disinterested or malevolent occupying Power from reneging on their obligations towards the occupied population.58 For these purposes, international humanitarian law norms continue to bind the occupying Power regardless of the legality of the occupation. However, Giladi observes that “regulating situations of occupation is as much a jus ad bellum exercise as it is one of jus in bello”.59 Jus ad bellum refers to “conditions under which States may resort to war or to the use of armed force in general” while jus in bello refers to the law regulating the conduct of parties engaged in an armed conflict, primarily international humanitarian law.60 Accordingly, this study establishes that there are two clear grounds in international law establishing when a belligerent occupation may be categorized as illegal. First, where a belligerent occupation follows from a prohibited use of force amounting to an act of aggression, such occupation is illegal from the outset. Second, where a belligerent occupation follows from a permitted use of force in self-defence under Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, but subsequently breaches the principles of necessity and proportionality, the resulting occupation may become illegal.
This study foregrounds its analysis on the illegality of the belligerent occupation primarily on Israel’s breach of the law governing the use of force as an act of aggression. There is persuasive documentary evidence to indicate that Israel’s initial invasion of Egypt in 1967 constituted a pre-emptive armed attack against the Egyptian blockade and therefore an unlawful use of force.61 Even assuming arguendo that Israel’s use of force was a legitimate act of self-defence in response to an armed attack, Israel’s continued belligerent occupation of the Palestinian territory for almost 56 years – decades after it concluded peace agreements with Egypt and Jordan, key parties to the conflict, and after multiple Security Council calls for it to end – makes it clear that the belligerent occupation has exceeded the parameters of military necessity and proportionality for a legitimate act of self-defence. The study demonstrates that Israel iscarrying out an indefinite belligerent occupation, with annexationist intent, in violation of the exercise of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and permanent sovereignty over national resources. In doing so, this research broadly examines Israel’s breach of the principles and rules of international humanitarian law, and in particular, the breach of three peremptory norms: (1) the right to self-determination; (2) the prohibition on the acquisition of territory by use of force; and (3) the prohibition of racial discrimination and apartheid, as particularly compelling indicators that Israel is occupying the Palestinian territory in breach of the principles of immediacy, necessity and proportionality, rendering the belligerent occupation an unlawful use of force in self-defence.
Having established that Israel’s pre-emptive use of force against Egypt amounted to an act of aggression, and dispelling Israel’s arguments of self-defence, the study examines the particular consequences of the occupation and its breach of the external right of self-determination of the Palestinian people. It is clearly articulated in the South West Africa advisory opinion that the continued occupation of Mandate territory after the termination of the Mandate is illegal ab initio.62 Nevertheless, the study draws a distinction between the administration of Namibia by South Africa – which had previously been the Mandatory Power and was acting ultra vires international resolutions terminating the Mandate – and the case of Palestine, a Mandate territory which is the subject of an international armed conflict and subsequent belligerent occupation.63 As a “sacred trust” with particular international consequences, Israel’s continued administration of occupied Palestine, as a mala fide illegal occupant, breaches the exercise of the right of the Palestinian people to external self-determination.
The study demonstrates that there are international consequences for Israel’s illegal occupation and its breaches of peremptory norms of international law,64 and that Third States and the international community are obliged to bring the unlawful administration of occupied territory to an end. In doing so, this study underscores the requirements for the full de-occupation and decolonization of the Palestinian territory, starting with the immediate, unconditional and total withdrawal of Israeli occupying forces and the dismantling of the military administration. Critically, withdrawal, as the termination of an internationally wrongful act, cannot be made the subject of negotiation. Full sanctions and countermeasures, including economic restrictions, arms embargoes and the cutting of diplomatic and consular relations, should be implemented immediately, as an erga omnes (towards all) response of Third States and the international community to Israel’s serious violations of peremptory norms of international law. The international community must take immediate steps towards the realization of the collective rights of the Palestinian people, including refugees and exiles in the diaspora, starting with a plebiscite convened under United Nations supervision, to undertake the completion of decolonization.
B. Methodology
The study takes it as a starting point that the Palestinian territory – i.e., the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip – was occupied by Israel in 1967, in the course of an international armed conflict. That the territory is under belligerent occupation is recognized by the International Court of Justice in the Wall advisory opinion:
The territories situated between the Green Line… and the former eastern boundary of Palestine under the Mandate were occupied by Israel in 1967 during the armed conflict between Israel and Jordan. Under customary international law, these were therefore occupied territories in which Israel had the status of occupying Power. Subsequent events in these territories… have done nothing to alter this situation. All these territories (including East Jerusalem) remain occupied territories and Israel has continued to have the status of occupying Power.65
The study also takes it as a starting point that Israel continues to occupy the Gaza Strip.66 While recognizing that Israel is administering the territory occupied in 1967 as an occupying Power under the laws of armed conflict, the study also makes reference to territory held under Israeli control beyond the occupied territory acquired in the 1948–49 conflict. This territory includes both the effectively annexed West Jerusalem67 and the territory demarcated for a Palestinian State under General Assembly resolution 181,68 territory which at a minimum continues to be held as a “sacred trust” for the Palestinian people.69
The study undertakes a comparative analysis of the legal consequences of a number of occupations where the Security Council, the General Assembly and the International Court of Justice have pronounced on the illegality of the occupation. This includes South Africa’s occupation of Angola, Iraq’s occupation of Kuwait, Armenia’s occupation of Azerbaijan, Uganda’s occupation of Ituri in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Vietnam’s occupation of Democratic Kampuchea, South Africa’s occupation of Namibia, and Portugal’s occupation of Guinea-Bissau. Drawing from these case studies, the study concludes with an outline of the requirements for the de-occupation and decolonization of occupied Palestine.
The research draws from the leading international law scholars on the subject of belligerent occupation, broadly analysing the discourse on illegality under three central legal arguments. The first argument provides that belligerent occupations may become illegal premised onbreaches of peremptory norms of international law.70 A second school of thought suggests that the ooccupying Power’s breach of the principles of occupation law in bello taint the occupation with illegality.71 And a third line of arguments posits that an occupation following from an unlawful use of force, in breach of the jus ad bellum, is illegal, or may become illegal should the occupation follow from an act of self-defence that later violates the principles of necessity and proportionality.72 The study provides a substantive overview of the principles governing belligerent occupation. It provides a rationale for proceeding with use-of-force arguments,73 while taking Israel’s violation of the principles underpinning occupation, along with its breach of peremptory norms of international law in administering the occupied territory, as evidence that the continuing unnecessary use of force is disproportionate to its original aim.74
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Featured image: Palestinian residents of Huwara walk among their burned homes, cars, and businesses the morning after Israeli settlers rampaged through their town in the West Bank, Feb. 27, 2023. (Oren Ziv)
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In this insightful interview, Samir Bhattacharya, a research associate at Vivekananda International Foundation, discusses the changing geopolitical situation, how India and Africa are working closely together to support the emerging multipolar world.Kester Kenn Klomegah, the interviewer, further attempted to find out from the academic expert how India and Russia can broad-based collaborate for the betterment of Africa.
Here are the interview excerpts.
Kester Kenn Klomegah (KKK): Do you think there is an increasing need for India and African countries to work more closely, especially in this changing global situation?
Samir Bhattacharya (SB): The world is going through a turbulent time. For about two years, countries across the world suffered from covid and covid-related shutdowns. When the world just started its recovery journey, the war in Ukraine started derailing all the recovery plans. Today, the disastrous impacts of this metastasising conflict have extended beyond the borders of the European continent and are felt throughout the world, even in Africa. Rising food and energy prices, disruptions in the trade of commodities and services, and a sharp humanitarian crisis were brought on by a sharp decline in development funding for Africa.
Furthermore, the continent suffers the most from the detrimental effects of climate change. This crisis also severely impacts the already too-slow, however steady, energy transition program. Given this background, India’s contribution to Africa’s reconstruction effort would be crucial. Over the years, India’s interactions with Africa have grown organically. The key tenets of India’s development partnership with Africa have included capacity-building initiatives, lines of credit, grant financing, small-scale development projects, technical advice, disaster relief and humanitarian support, and military cooperation. There is a strong need for India and Africa to work together in this changing global situation.
KKK: What are some of the areas of collaboration that you think India and Africa should strengthen?
SB: To achieve inclusive growth, Africa requires financial resources. Most small businesses and industries in Africa require urgent access to infrastructure financing, especially in the backdrop of the COVID-19 outbreak and the Russia-Ukraine war. In the absence of adequate local financing sources, the policymakers of the continent are grappling to arrange the finance from different traditional external partners.
Currently, LOCs provided by the Export-Import Bank of India (Indian Exim Bank) is the primary source for India to finance an increasing number of development projects on the African continent. Exim Bank now operates three representative offices in Africa, one each in Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, and South Africa. Over 44 African countries have already been granted an extension of 200 Letters of Credit, totalling about $12 billion up to May 2021. There are $2.2 billion in approved Pipelines and $9.75 billion in active Lines of Credit. Moreover, the Indian Exim Bank recently offered a US$100 million (Rs 730 crore) credit line to the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC). This funding will aid African governments in building the critical infrastructure required to revive their economies after the COVID-19 outbreak.
India has financed several significant infrastructure projects in Africa. Important African infrastructure projects supported by IFC include the construction of a railway line in Ghana, the provision of blast hole drill and mining equipment to Zimbabwe, the city decongestion project in Zambia, integrated LPG facilities at bitumen storage facilities in Mozambique, and the supply of vehicles and spare parts to Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe.
Concerning security, India has always been at the forefront in preparing African countries’ military forces for the twenty-first century’s security problems. These training programs must include counterinsurgency operations, peacekeeping, marine security, and specialised instruction in emerging fields like drone operations and cyber warfare. Mandates for training citizens in fields like disaster management, humanitarian relief, and medical help must also be included. Although some of these are already included in India’s skill development initiatives, they should be pursued more thoroughly and comprehensively.
Furthermore, the continent is lagging in human resource development. As the fourth industrial revolution approaches, skill development in Africa is more important than ever if that continent does not want to fall behind in the new global economy. In fact, if early preparation and a more substantial commitment to its implementation are not made, African countries risk falling behind in the fourth industrial revolution. India’s primary method of interaction with Africa has always been capacity building and skill development. India needs to step up its information diplomacy with Africa.
KKK: Do you think of any new and emerging areas of cooperation?
SB: According to the African Union’s 2050 Africa’s Maritime Strategy, the Africa Blue Economy Strategy (2019), and other continental and regional frameworks, African nations are realising that the blue economy presents an opportunity for Africa to develop new revenue streams that could aid in development and lessen reliance on foreign aid. The SAGAR project and India’s draft policy statement on the blue economy align with the African Union’s (AU) 2050 Africa’s Maritime Strategy and Africa Blue Economy Strategy (2019). India and African nations working together to establish the “Blue Economy” will have both economic and maritime security benefits.
As digitalisation advances and more news and social media outlets, including mobile phones and the Internet, become accessible, Africa is poised for exponential media expansion. There are several print media outlets, radio stations, and roughly 1000 TV channels in Africa. Media connections between Africa and India are essentially nonexistent. There is a significant communication gap here that has to be filled. In order to support the meagre efforts made by a few private TV networks, India could attempt to create a dedicated TV channel that broadcasts content to Africa.
In terms of geoclimatic conditions, biodiversity, physiognomy, people, culture, and family values, India and Africa exhibit significant similarities. Traditional medicinal systems are commonly used to treat patients in India and Africa. India has extensive knowledge, a robust pharmaceutical industry, and a solid industrial foundation. India has one of the most affordable, easily accessible, and high-quality healthcare systems in the world. By 2025, the market for complementary and alternative medicine is anticipated to grow to $70 billion, according to the Ministry of Ayush. Therefore, collaboration between India and Africa on traditional medicine offers an outstanding prospect.
Every year, Africa loses billions of dollars due to illicit trading of natural resources such as minerals, forestry (and its by-products), oil, fisheries and wildlife sectors. A Reuters research found that every year, gold worth billions of dollars is smuggled out of Africa via the United Arab Emirates in the Middle East, which serves as a gateway to markets in Europe, the United States, and other countries. India can help Africa curb this illegal practice by sharing its experiences to improve data quality and infrastructure, skills and resources, as well as provide training to the national statistics office. Thus, some of the above-mentioned requisite finances can be raised by plugging the hole.
KKK: By the way what has been achieved since the last India-Africa summit? Do you also think there have been a number of challenges and setbacks since then?
SB: The aim, methodology, and development cooperation strategies with Africa have drastically changed since the last India Africa summit in 2015. The main modifications are as follows: increased attention paid to Africa’s development agenda; modifications made to the mechanics and procedures for carrying out LoC projects; development of new financing mechanisms; active participation of the private sector; new approaches taken to capacity building programs; increased participation of civil society organisations in capacity building; digital capacity building initiatives; priority given to partnering with multilateral organisations; and trilateral cooperation.
Unfortunately, many ongoing development activities were affected by the COVID-19 epidemic. On the positive side, due to COVID-19, digital initiatives with a particular emphasis on healthcare and education have accelerated. In light of this, India’s Pan African e-Network Project has added a new dimension to make tele-medicine and tele-education accessible in most African nations. In October 2019, it was re-launched as e-Aarogya Bharati to utilise the 15,000 scholarships offered to African students between 2019 and 2024. In order to train African healthcare practitioners, India has uniquely offered COVID-19 management practices and training webinars. Through these projects, India has helped strengthen Africa’s capability in the health and education sectors.
KKK: In your opinion, what can be done to increase trade and economic relations between the two continents?
SB: Trade and investment are the principal tenets of the economic partnership between India and Africa, and over the previous two decades, significant progress has been made in this regard. Indian trade with Africa is valued at USD 98 billion in 2022–2023 compared to USD 89.6 billion the year before. For Indian manufacturers of items like textiles, pharmaceuticals, cars, and light machinery, Africa is a sizable unexplored market. Additionally, it provides potential in the resource and energy industries, which have historically been India’s weak points. Together, India and Africa must develop short- and long-term goals that are in line with the actual needs of the African states.
Under the AfCFTA, local supply chains and regional production networks will emerge as significant markets for Indian investments and exports. By developing a legal system that forges a unique connection between the AfCFTA and India, India should actively investigate how it might benefit from the agreement. A similar structure will benefit Africa and give Indian businesses easy access to a single continental market, broadening India’s economic relationship with Africa.
KKK: Where do you see India-Africa relations, at least, in the next five years? Do India and Africa share common grounds for the emerging multipolar world?
SB: Regarding geopolitics, the world is at a turning point where multipolarity is quickly replacing US unipolarity. Both India and Africa are devoted to their cooperation to establish a multipolar world order in this rapidly changing globe. In truth, both India and Africa are working to create a multipolar world that rejects great power politics, represents contemporary diversity, and depends on broad-based collaboration. India sees Africa’s rise as essential to balance the world’s power structure. Going forward, both bilaterally and in multilateral platforms like the BRICS, the G20, and others, India will collaborate with African nations to promote inclusive and decentralised economic practices to secure global political democratisation.
India is committed to establishing a development alliance with Africa based on the participating nations’ needs and goals. Some of the shared interests include fighting terrorism, protecting the environment, combating climate change, protecting cyberspace, protecting human health and food, protecting energy supplies, and creating resilient supply chains. These are a few areas where cooperation has a lot of potential. In line with the urgent concerns of Africa, India’s development partnership with Africa is anticipated to place a strong emphasis on digital, green, healthcare, food security, and water during the next five to ten years.
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Kester Kenn Klomegah, who worked previously with Inter Press Service (IPS), Weekly Blitz and InDepthNews, is now a regular contributor to Global Research. He researches Eurasia, Russia, Africa and BRICS. His focused interest areas include geopolitical changes, foreign relations and economic development questions relating to Africa. As a versatile researcher, he believes that everyone deserves equal access to quality and trustworthy media reports.
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Because of the organized suppression of facts and because of the campaigns against truth-tellers, it is increasingly difficult and risky to provide truthful accounts.Only writers who support the official narratives are tolerated.
Retribution is becoming commonplace.The level of retribution depends upon the level of threat the writer is perceived to present.
Julian Assange is the top level threat because of his worldwide reach via Wikileaks and his courage to publish leaks revealing war crimes and other criminal actions of the United States government.
Assange has been incarcerated without trial in one form or another for a decade.In recent years Assange has been held in solitary confinement in a British maximum security prison while the corrupt British legal system goes through the motions pretending to comply with British law, but always delivering the result its Washington master demands.This process could not make it more clear that subservience to Washington trumps the integrity of the British judicial system.
Washington’s insensitivity to war crimes, crimes against humanity, and blatant frame-ups of innocents has brutalized the entire world’s respect for moral and ethical behavior.
Independent scientists, experts and journalists who are seen as lesser threats than Assange find themselves cancelled, de-platformed, marginalized, fired, and their medical licenses stolen for refusing to follow the deadly Covid protocols.Just the other day Germany convicted one of the country’s own judges for listening to the expert evidence and ruling against the government’s mask mandate.In other words, evidence that contradicts the narrative has been criminalized by the German judicial system. See this.
We see the same thing in the false indictments of President Trump.What Trump is actually indicted for is questioning on the basis of real evidence the extraordinary overnight reversal in the 2020 election vote count.Trump’s “felony” is that he raised the question of electoral fraud, a question usually raised in every election.Remember, George W. Bush’s election was so questioned by Democrats that it had to be decided by the US Supreme Court.
Glenn Greenwald, Matt Taibbi, and James O’Keefe were fired from the organizations they created or in Taibbi’s case served as the most followed writer.Not content with O’Keefe’s removal from his own forum, a corrupt NY prosecutor is now “investigating” O’Keefe for “mistreating employees and misspending the organization’s funds.” Again, as in Trump’s and Assange’s cases, we see the creation of crimes out of thin air in order to silence a truth-teller dangerous to a corrupt establishment that will not let go of its illegitimate hold on power.
Matt Taibbi reported one year ago that YouTube censored Matt Orfalea’s factually accurate video presentation, “‘Rigged’ Election Claims, Trump 2020 vs. Clinton 2016,” demonized it as “elections misinformation,” and set itself up as legislator, prosecutor, judge, and jury by declaring Orfalea in violation of YouTube’s “criminal organizations policy.”How does social media have integrity when social media declares careful examination of a public issue to be a criminal offense that carries a de-platforming sentence? See this.
Blue pill people might think they are safe as long as they keep their heads in the sand and their mouths shut.But Taibbi says that is not the case and that the noose is tightening on every one:
“Independent media content is increasingly hard to find via platform searches, even when exact terminology, bylines, or dates are entered by users. Social media platforms that once provided effective marketing and distribution at little to no cost are now difficult to navigate even with the aid of paid boosting tools. In other words, even if your business does well enough to pay full retail rates for marketing, a widening lattice of algorithmic restriction across platforms is making distribution for non-corporate media a nightmare anyway.”
And remember Tucker Carlson, the most important and profitable media voice, was fired by Fox News for his relentless exposing of the ruling elite’s false narratives. Fox News took a huge financial hit for itself and its shareholders in its attempt to shut down an effective truth-teller. Obviously, controlling the narrative is more important than profit.
Just as the message has been made clear to Germany’s judges that judges who dispense actual justice will be imprisoned, the message has been made clear to scientists, experts, medical doctors, and independent journalists that if they tell the truth their careers and lives will be ruined.
My level of threat is being dealt with by exclusion and by libel, slander, and ad hominem attacks.Over the weekend I was cleaning out a garage.I came upon boxes of tapes of my television appearances on Good Morning America, the Today Show, the Brinkley show, C-Span, and all the rest.Today I am not allowed on any American TV.
I also discovered boxes of files of my articles published in The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, Business Week, the London Times, the Telegraph, TLS, the leading French and Italian newspapers, where it is impossible for me to publish a word today.
Another way they deal with you is on website comment sections where trolls hiding behind false names and serving a variety of interests ridicule, slander, misrepresent, and demonize you in efforts to damage your credibility and scare readers away. It works on weak-minded people who have never thought independently in their life and are fearful of differing from their blue pill peers.
As unfortunate as it is, many Americans are blue pill people.They prefer the reassurances of a false narrative to the stresses of reality.
Reality is too much for them.It requires more intellectual and emotional strength than they have.They are easily led into the camp that disparages truth as misinformation. As truth is upsetting, they are delighted to have it dispensed with.
Search the Western world for integrity.You cannot find it in any governing party.You cannot find it in any institution, whether educational, justice, corporate, media, medical, legal.
How does the FBI have integrity when the organization frames the President of the United States and his supporters?
How does the CIA have integrity when the organization overthrows foreign governments that do not turn their countries over to Washington and the New York Banks?
How do Tony Fauci, NIH, CDC, FDA, WHO have integrity when they use the inaccurate PCR test to overstate the Covid threat in order to make the people fearful, prohibit the use of known Covid cures such as Ivermectin and HCQ, arrange incentives for hospitals to lie and report every death as a Covid death, lie about the safety and effectiveness of the deadly “vaccine,” deny that there are any adverse reactions to the Covid jab to the extent that the CDC ceases to compile VAERS data (see this), count flu cases as Covid cases (remember the year there was zero flu cases?), and, as there was no accountability, are now in the process of orchestrating another “Covid threat,” a new round of “vaccination,” and the return of masks and lockdowns?
How does Justice Department prosecutor Jack Smith have integrity when a federal judge has to stop him from trying Trump on Florida charges in a D.C. court with an all-Democrat Trump-hating jury?
How does NY prosecutor Alvin Bragg have integrity when he cannot identify the federal charge he has brought against Trump or justify the trial of Trump on a federal charge in a state court?
How does Atlanta prosecutor Fani Willis have integrity when she brings racketeering charges against President Trump for questioning an election outcome?
Prosecutors devoid of integrity are tyrannical.
How does the judiciary have integrity when judges permit such blatantly false prosecutions?
How do law schools, bar associations, and media have integrity when they egg on wrongful prosecutions because they dislike the defendant?
How do school boards have integrity when parents opposed to the brainwashing of their children are arrested or thrown out of the school board meetings?
How do Democrats have integrity when they are removing Trump from the ballot in blue states on the grounds that he is a criminal by their accusation alone prior to his rigged trials?
How do RINO Republicans, who are in open conspiracy with Democrats to prevent Trump’s election as President, have integrity?
Ask yourself, why not allow the American people in place of a tiny biased jury, to decide Trump’s innocence or guilt in a fair democratic election?
Why should a carefully Democrat-selected biased jury be permitted to decide for the American people?
How can a Democrat Party, media, and Justice (sic) Department that tries to pull a fast one like this have any integrity?
Ask the same question about every institution, including your local property owners’ association.
What becomes of a country devoid of integrity?
What does the world think of country that poses as “exceptional and indispensable” while it violates every known moral principle and exploits the rest of the world?
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Paul Craig Roberts is a renowned author and academic, chairman of The Institute for Political Economy where this article was originally published. Dr. Roberts was previously associate editor and columnist for The Wall Street Journal. He was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy during the Reagan Administration. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.
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“We’ve got this group of unelected bureaucrats that are running the healthcare system. They control $23B that gets siphoned off the Albert provincial budget every year and the politicians let them do it; they don’t get themselves involved in anyway.”
Watch the interview of Dr. William Makis with Bob Blayone.
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While the troubled Biden administration keeps parroting the same narrative about the CO2 emissions, even insisting that a ban on gas stoves would “help fight global warming”, it’s also actively working on the return of the ever so “climate-friendly” live nuclear weapons testing.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has been warning about this for months, although this is usually decried as “Russian disinformation” by the mainstream propaganda machine. It’s important to note that thanks to the efforts of the United States, the CTBT (Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty) never entered into force and its implementation is largely dependent on the goodwill of the signatories.
“The situation involving the CTBT is causing increasing concern. The responsibility for the situation in which the treaty has not entered into force over more than a quarter of a century of its existence lies squarely with the United States, which defiantly refused to ratify it and is now demonstrating its clear intention to resume testing,” Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov warned back in early March, adding: “We cannot afford to remain idle spectators to what is happening. If the United States nevertheless decides to take such a step and be the first to conduct nuclear tests, we will be forced to respond proportionately. No one should have dangerous illusions that global strategic parity can be upset.”
However, it seems that’s exactly what the US is trying to accomplish. Its intention to restart nuclear weapons testing isn’t subsiding in the slightest. Quite the contrary it would seem, as the belligerent thalassocracy is now actively working on restoring and improving its nuclear test sites. Andrey Belousov, Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN and International Organizations in Geneva, stated that the US is still engaged in covert activities in Nevada, which shows that it doesn’t intend to stop testing new nuclear warheads. Belousov warned that Washington DC is working to improve and maintain the nuclear test site in a state of full operational readiness.
“The United States does not hide the development of new types of nuclear warheads, the effectiveness of which will sooner or later have to be tested in practice,” Belousov stated.
What the high-ranking Russian diplomat is most likely referring to is the so-called “nuclear super-fuse” technology that the US has been testing for decades, particularly under the Obama administration (and ever since). Investigative historian Eric Zuesse wrote extensively on the topic, warning that the sole purpose of this controversial technology is to exponentially amplify the effectiveness of America’s first-strike capabilities, meaning that the belligerent thalassocracy is contemplating a direct attack on Russia. Zuesse’s warnings are not to be discarded or ignored, as he argues that Finland’s NATO accession is a crucial part of this sinister plan.
The Pentagon believes this would be a “checkmate move” as it would allow a decapitation strike on Russia’s central command so that it doesn’t have enough time to launch retaliatory missiles. The goal is to demand Russia’s surrender on the assumption there would be no way for Moscow to assess the situation within only 7 minutes and respond accordingly. The plan was set in motion no later than 2006 when the relations between Russia and the US were cordial and years before there were major tensions between them.
Namely, at the time, America’s two most prestigious national security academic journals, Foreign Affairs and National Security, both recommended replacing the idea of mutually assured destruction (MAD) with the new strategy of so-called “nuclear Primacy” that involves America’s dominance in first-strike capabilities, all in order to win a nuclear war against Russia. Zuesse argues that positioning missiles in Ukraine was supposed to be the way to achieve “nuclear primacy”, but since that’s no longer a possibility, Finland is to take the central role in this plan. It should be noted that Moscow will certainly know if the deployment of American nuclear weapons in Finland ever takes place.
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Drago Bosnic is an independent geopolitical and military analyst.
ISBN Number: 978-0-9737147-5-3 Year: 2012 Pages: 102
PDF Edition: $6.50 (sent directly to your email account!)
Michel Chossudovsky is Professor of Economics at the University of Ottawa and Director of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG), which hosts the critically acclaimed website www.globalresearch.ca . He is a contributor to the Encyclopedia Britannica. His writings have been translated into more than 20 languages.
Reviews
“This book is a ‘must’ resource – a richly documented and systematic diagnosis of the supremely pathological geo-strategic planning of US wars since ‘9-11’ against non-nuclear countries to seize their oil fields and resources under cover of ‘freedom and democracy’.” –John McMurtry, Professor of Philosophy, Guelph University
“In a world where engineered, pre-emptive, or more fashionably “humanitarian” wars of aggression have become the norm, this challenging book may be our final wake-up call.” -Denis Halliday, Former Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations
Michel Chossudovsky exposes the insanity of our privatized war machine. Iran is being targeted with nuclear weapons as part of a war agenda built on distortions and lies for the purpose of private profit. The real aims are oil, financial hegemony and global control. The price could be nuclear holocaust. When weapons become the hottest export of the world’s only superpower, and diplomats work as salesmen for the defense industry, the whole world is recklessly endangered. If we must have a military, it belongs entirely in the public sector. No one should profit from mass death and destruction. –Ellen Brown, author of ‘Web of Debt’ and president of the Public Banking Institute
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In the article Godless Fake Science and in the book Godless Fake Science I described that much of the scientific narrative we have been taught from our school days onwards, is based on falsehood, and that the institution of ‘science’ itself has in many ways been hijacked by financial interests seeking to advance their own narrative and agenda. Modern science, like economics, banking, and corporate-owned mass media, has become part of a paradigm borne by deceit, and corporate greed; and which paints God out of the picture. The article described fake science in areas including climate science; the fake Covid-19 pandemic; the biopharmaceutical sector; and neo-Darwinian evolution.
In this article, I summarise an investigation of the ‘big bang theory’, with reference to selected books and articles that refer to this contentious subject.
The creation of the universe is explained today in mainstream modern science by the big bang theory, DNA research, and other models. The big bang theory was initially conceived by Georges Lemaitre, a Belgian priest in 1927. The theory proposes that the entire universe exploded from a state of infinite density, temperatures and pressure at extremely high-energy levels and then, expanded (inflated) and cooled.
We are meant to believe that this big bang took place about 13.7 billion years ago, came from nowhere and was caused by nothing, and yet created everything.
This is not only unscientific, it is stupidity, yet, because these ideas are endorsed and promoted by the modern-day institutional orthodoxy of science (the church of godless scientism), and by governments, we are expected to accept them.
The big bang theory has been adopted by mainstream science and has been promoted and taught as fact, as the scientific creation story, in virtually all the schools and universities of the world, and to almost the entire world population via TV programmes and ‘science’ documentaries. The financial and governmental forces behind the promotion of the atheistic ideologies of neo-Darwinian evolution and the ‘big bang’ have tried to convince the masses that these ideologies are scientific facts, but in reality, there is no scientific basis for these atheistic positions.
The ‘big bang theory’ contains untestable assumptions and excludes the existence of God, yet we are asked to accept it on ‘faith’
“Never run after a bus or woman or cosmological theory, because there’ll always be another one along in a few minutes.” – John Wheeler, Theoretical Physicist at Princeton University
Despite all this, many physicists and astrophysicists do not accept the theory and maintain that the big bang simply did not happen.
For example, physicist Eric Lerner published his work on the origin of the universe in his book The Big Bang Never Happened in 1991.
Over 30 significant problems with the big bang hypothesis are analyzed in the book Cult of the Big Bang by William Mitchell. Normally any model with so many problems would be discarded. The Princeton University biologist, Dr Edwin Godwin, has compared the chances of a planet like ours originating from a big bang to the likelihood of a dictionary resulting from an explosion in a printing shop.
Timeline of the expansion of the universe, where space, including hypothetical non-observable portions of the universe, is represented at each time by the circular sections. On the left, the dramatic expansion occurs in the inflationary epoch; and at the center, the expansion accelerates (artist’s concept; neither time or size are to scale). (Licensed under the Public Domain)
For many people the big-bang ‘singularity’ is highly contentious. Could it simply be a another ‘big lie’?
A big lie being defined as a repeated distortion of the truth on a grand scale, especially for propaganda purposes. The renowned American scientist, mathematician, and author Richard L. Thompson (1947 – 2008), succinctly exposed the ridiculousness of the proposition that the big bang arose from a singularity. He stated:
“The big bang theory does not describe the origin of the universe at all, because the initial singularity is by definition indescribable…. And there is a further difficult. Where did the singularity come from? Here the scientist faces the same difficulty as the religionists they taunt with the question, “Where did God come from?” And just as the religionist responds with the answer that God is the causeless cause of all causes, the scientists are now faced with the prospect of declaring a mathematically indescribable point of infinite density and infinitesimal size, existing before all conceptions of time and space, as the causeless cause of all causes… To say that something happens once by chance is in essence no different from simply saying “it happened” or “there it is”. And these statements do not qualify as scientific explanations. In the end you wind up knowing no more than you did before. In other words, by invoking chance or the anthropic principle the scientists have not actually explained anything about the origin of the universe”” – Richard L. Thompson, Scientist and Mathematician, PhD from Cornell University
The author, Pierre St. Clair, author of the book Cosmology on Trial Cracking the Cosmic Code noted that an increasing number of cosmologists and physicists no longer accept the big bang theory, as evidenced by the following quotations:
“Big Bang cosmology is probably as widely believed as been any theory of the universe in the history of Western civilization. It rests, however, on many untested, and [in] many cases, untestable assumptions. Indeed, the Big Bang cosmology has become a bandwagon of thought that reflects faith a much as objective truth.” – Geoffrey Burbridge, Professor of Physics, University of California.
“For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story [of the big bang] ends like a bad dream. For the past three hundred years, scientists have scaled the mountain of ignorance and as they pull themselves over the final rock, they are greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.” – Robert Jastrow, Astrophysicist and Author of the book God and the Astronomers
“The theories we have so far (in physics) are both inconsistent and incomplete.” — Stephen Hawking, Astro-physicist
Despite this, the theory is still taught worldwide to billions of children, students and adults as the scientific creation story. The big bang has evolved into a worldwide belief system – much like a religion! Author, Pierre St. Clair describes the modern big bang creation story that science teaches today as a ‘leap of faith’:
“In the beginning scientists can’t say whether time, space, matter or energy existed. They have various hypotheses… Suddenly, ‘something’ materialized… scientists call that ‘something’ a singularity. It was smaller than atom but it contained all the matter and energy that was to become our universe. Of course, accepting that everything in the cosmos was crushed into a single point smaller than an atom, we admit, requires a huge leap of faith… the singularity didn’t like being crushed. Apparently, it resisted the crunch with a fierce explosion for no reason… We call that massive explosion the Big Bang… The hypothesis of instant expansion, cosmic inflation, defies all known laws of physics… ” – Pierre St. Clair, Author, see Endnote [i].
“Astrophysicists portray their cosmological ideas as scientific (supported by evidence) when they are mostly a cloud of probabilities and caveats. The media presents these explanations as factual science, and the unsuspecting public interprets them as ‘true accounts’” – Pierre St. Clair, Author
Chaitanya Charandas, author of Science and Spirituality makes the following observation:
“Stephen Hawking has stated, “Any theory that predicts a singularity can be said to have broken down.” So, if science necessitates postulating something beyond the realm of science, then an intelligent being is a much more logical candidate for creating the complex world we see around us than a singularity. Both are non-scientific, in the conventional sense of the word ‘scientific’, but we at least have experience of an intelligent being designing something, but we have no experience of a singularity and its explosion leading to design” – Chaitanya Charan das, author
I also note the words of John Horgan, who has written for Scientific American since 1986.
“…I derided inflation as “ironic science,” which can never be proven true or false and hence isn’t really science at all… physicists Anna Ijjas, Paul Steinhardt and Abraham Loeb presented a stinging critique of inflation in Scientific American… The authors assert that inflationary cosmology, as we currently understand it, cannot be evaluated using the scientific method… the expected outcome of inflation can easily change if we vary the initial conditions… these features make inflation so flexible that no experiment can ever disprove it… The persistence of these unfalsifiable and hence unscientific theories is an embarrassment that risks damaging science’s reputation… Isn’t it time to pull the plug?” – John Horgan, writer, see Endnote [ii].
There is also the dubious concept, or conjuring trick. of ‘dark matter’ upon which the theory rests. John Watson describes the problem with dark matter in an article Top Ten Scientific Flaws In The Big Bang Theory, see Endnote [iii], as follows.
“Dark Matter and Dark Energy have never been proven, or observed in any way whatsoever, yet the Big Bang theory depends on the existence of such potentially mythological substances… The “dark” in “dark matter” and “dark energy” doesn’t mean color. It means, “unknown”. In other words, the proponents of the Big Bang theory couldn’t figure out how it could possibly happen so they said, let’s make up some fictional matter and energy that “made it happen”. It’s kind of like me saying I am the most powerful person in the universe. My power is everywhere and can do everything! You just can’t see my power but it’s there!” – John Watson, writer.
Despite all the problems with the theory, Wikipedia makes the bold assertion that
“The Big Bang is a well-tested scientific theory which is widely accepted within the scientific community… abundant evidence has arisen to further validate the model.”
Pierre St. Clair notes that “from an outsider’s point of view the science creation myth sounds bizarre. But for insiders – cosmologists and physicists – this story is a normal as going to a party.” The reality is that pleading the case for the big bang theory is as much in the realm of faith as the traditional creation stories of ancient scriptures – nothing can be validated by ‘material science’ in either case. The rigorous discipline of scientific observation, experimentation and verification do not apply to the big bang theory – one simply has to accept it on ‘faith’. The big bang theory is, therefore, not science, it is religion without God – it seems to be ‘godless’ fake science.
Modern-day Science Excludes the Divine Consciousness of an Intelligent Designer — God
From this perspective, we can see that a fundamental difference between the science creation story and the stories of creation as told by ancient spiritual traditions is whether a cosmic divine consciousness was involved. Modern-day science excludes that divine consciousness.
Atheistic scientists will tell you that God is not accepted as a cause because God cannot be detected by our technology.
Hypocritically, modern astrophysicists tell us that the universe consists mostly of substances called ‘dark matter’ and ‘dark energy’, yet, I note, these substances cannot be detected by their instruments, so why have these unobservable, unknowable, and hypothetical substances been accepted ‘on faith’ by modern ‘science’?
According to St. Clair, the astrophysicists are using these concepts of dark matter and dark energy in an attempt to save the big bang theory. Yet, as they become more invested in the entanglements of the theory, it is likely they will become unable to extricate themselves from the conclusion they are trying to avoid, i.e., that the science story of creation will resemble the traditional spiritual story of creation – that something had to have been created for the universe to exist, which implies a creator. Note also that the scientific creation story also does not explain how the laws of science and the universe came into existence in the first place. Who originally wrote those laws? Did these laws suddenly appear with a big bang also?
The Christian Bible informs us that the Earth was created by God, and it appears that many Christians are skeptical of the theories of evolution and the big bang.
Yet, it also appears that, today, the Judeo-Christian universities are teaching these theories. The ancient spiritual texts of Vedic Vaishnavism inform us that universe was created by God. The following excerpts from the book Life comes from Life by HDG Srila Prabhupada, renowned spiritual leader in the tradition of Vedic Vaishnavism, highlight the problem with the atheistic creation story of a big bang; and of life originating from random chemical interactions rather than a divine source:
“Modern proponents of Darwinism say that the first living organism was created chemically… If life originated from chemicals, and if your science is so advanced, then why can’t you create life biochemically in your laboratories?… Their claim that they will soon prove a chemical origin is something like paying someone with a postdated check… They cannot even produce a single blade of grass in their laboratories, yet they are claiming, that life is produced from chemical. What is this nonsense?” – Quote from Life come from life’ by HDG Srila Prabhupada
“Dr. Singh: The scientists say that at one point the earth was composed of dust particles floating in some gaseous material. Then, in due course, this colloidal suspension condensed and formed the earth.
Srila Prabhupada: … where did the gas come from?
Dr Singh: They say it just existed!…
Srila Prabhupada: “They say, “This existed, and then all of a sudden, by chance, that occurred.” This not science. Science means to explain the original cause.”” – Extract from the book Life comes from Life by HDG Srila Prabhupada
The reality is that despite so-called advancements, modern-day scientists cannot even do what a cow does, i.e., change grass into milk. Scientists cannot produce grass from chemicals either. Yet they still tell us that they can produce life in a laboratory. Note that what is taking place with In vitro fertilization (IVF) is merely manipulation of the matter that God created.
Another, scientist disseminating godless science was Stephen Hawking. Hawking has written “Because there is a law like gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing…”. In the book Krishna, authors Gauranga Premananda dasa and Avadhuta Raya das, counter Hawking’s assertion as follows: “Hawking has said absolutely nothing that proves that “the universe can and will create itself from nothing”. To say that something comes out of nothing, that there is no material cause is simply a statement of faith and doesn’t meet the needs of science and philosophy.”
Furthermore, in contrast, to the science creation story, which tells us there is no meaning whatsoever to the creation of the universe, the traditional spiritual stories are infused with deep meanings and purport for human life; and the reasons why we are here. Could it be that by excluding the possibility that the Earth has a creator, telling us that the Earth and humans were created by random blind chance, that the Earth is just another unimportant part of a random universe, that there is no intelligent designer or God, the atheistic forces have tried to keep us unaware of our individual uniqueness and spiritual potency as children of God?
The Fine-tuning of the Universe Cannot be Explained Away as Mere Chance
So, modern atheistic science asserts that the universe was ‘created’ by blind random chance – if this is the case should not our universe be completely random, unpredictable and chaotic?
In reality, we see that the universe is precisely ordered and conditions are uncannily fine-tuned for life, not at all as if they were at random. Is it not foolishness to believe such precise structure was created by blind random chance?
The book Rethinking Darwin by Lief A. Jensen details multiple parameters about the universe that are so fine-tuned it shows that the universe would not exist if these parameters were even minutely different.
The astounding level of precision indicates to me that the universe is intelligently designed – it appears to be the arrangement of an incredible intelligence. The fine-tuning of the universe cannot be explained away as mere chance. As British astronomer Sir Fred Hoyle remarked:
“I do not believe that any scientist who examines the evidence would fail to draw the inference that the laws of physics have been deliberately designed with regard to the consequences they produce inside the stars.“ – Sir Fred Hoyle, British astronomer
To account for the creation of the universe by random chance, atheists’ resort to ludicrous postulates, such as the ‘infinite number of monkeys’ theory.
The theory has been detailed as followed: if an infinite number of monkeys that were shown how to type were allowed to type for billions of years, they would at some point type the complete works of Shakespeare by random chance. Renowned scientist and mathematician, Richard L Thompson, with a PhD from Cornell University, has stated that the ‘infinite number of monkeys’ theory defies probability theory and is mathematically impossible because randomness does not produce order on any appreciable scale, no matter how long you give it. Despite this mathematical impossibility, biological text books worldwide, refer to randomness as the cause for the existence of the complex universe we live in – thereby completely negating the design within it. The experiment referred to below indicates the reality that randomness as an explanation for the creation of the universe leads to nothing special and is just ‘monkey business’.
“In 2003, lecturers and students from the University of Plymouth MediaLab Arts course used a £2,000 grant from the Arts Council to study the literary output of real monkeys. They left a computer keyboard in the enclosure of six Celebes Crested Macaques in Paignton Zoo in Devon I England for month, with a radio link to broadcast the results on a website… Not only did the monkeys produce nothing but 5 pages consisting largely of the letter S, the lead male began by bashing the keyboard with a stone, and the monkeys continued by urinating and defecating on it.” – Chaitanya Charon Das, Author
State-funded “Atheistic Indoctrination”
Many millions, if not billions, of people believe that God, the Creator, exists, yet schools, universities and TV stations worldwide are teaching nonsensical atheistic theories, such as theory of evolution and the big bang theory as proven facts. If there was indeed a type of big bang from which the ordered universe originated, the atheistic scientists should at least acknowledge that there had to be an original cause, an intelligent designer.
Students worldwide are in essence being force fed dubious unproven atheistic doctrine as the only acceptable worldview. Presenting these theories as indisputable truths amounts to indoctrination plain and simple. Note that this is ‘government-funded’ indoctrination. The governments of the world are teaching our children that they have originated from monkeys. Do you really believe your most ancient grandparents were monkeys? If you think your ancestors were monkeys – will you tend to behave like a monkey or like a God-conscious human?
The Spiritual Origins of the Universe
Modern mechanistic science assumes that we can describe the world independently of the existence of God, and negates the concept of the individual soul. The direction of mechanistic science over the past two centuries has been to see how far this approach can take us – to what extent can we explain nature, the world, the universe and everything whilst completely ignoring any reference to God, the soul and spiritual origins of everything. In 1931 Austrian mathematician Kurt Gödel actually proved that humankind will never be able to describe the universe by a final mechanistic theory.
“the stream of knowledge is heading toward a non-mechanical reality; the Universe begins to look more like a great thought than like a great machine. Mind no longer appears to be an accidental intruder into the realm of matter… we ought rather hail it as the creator and governor of the realm of matter.” – Richard Conn Henry, Professor of Physics, John Hopkins University
“I maintain that the human mystery is incredibly demeaned by scientific reductionism, with its claim in promissory materialism to account eventually for all of the spiritual world in terms of patterns of neuronal activity. This belief must be classed as superstition… we have to recognize that we are spiritual beings with souls existing in a spiritual world as well as material beings with bodies and brains”- John Eccles, Nobel Laureate in Medicine and Physiology
To quote a lyric from the song Colonised Mind by the famous American musician Prince (1958 – 2016):
“Without God its just the blind leading the blind”.
In a book by Stephen Rosen, see Endnote [iv], there is a relevant story about the scientist Sir Isaac Newton. Newton had a mechanical model of the universe in his study. A friend of his who did not believe in God came to visit him and admiring the model asked: ‘Who made it?’. Newton answered: ‘Nobody!’ and assured his friend that it had just happened to assure the form it was in. His astonished friend replied ‘You must think I am a fool! Of course, somebody made it, and he is a genius, and I’d like to know who he is.’ Newton laid his hand on his hand on his friend’s shoulder. ‘This thing is but a puny imitation of a much grander system… I am not able to convince you that this mere toy is without a designer and maker; yet you profess to believe that the original form which the design is taken has come into being without either designer or maker! Now tell me by what sort of reasoning do you reach such an incongruous conclusion?”
One of the fundamental laws of the universe is cause and effect. If the big bang theory has any basis in reality, it is simply a pointer to a moment of creation where the cause exists outside of the matter, space and time of the universe. The universe displays a working complexity infinitely greater than a manmade watch or computer. The incredible arrangement of everything in the universe is based on the one truth of God’s spiritual existence in all things.
The original meaning of the English word ‘universe’ is actually “one truth”. Uni meaning ‘one’ and verse meaning “verified truth”. From this perspective we can see that our universities and science institutions have become muddled with multiple dubious truths/ideologies and are no longer uni-versities of the one truth. With the proliferation of mechanistic science, in particular, over the past 200 years, these centers of education have become de-harmonised from the one truth. We now need a synthesis of mechanistic science with spiritual science to realise and re-establish the one truth. That one truth is God – our father and the Creator of the universe.
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Mark Keenan is a former scientist at the UK Government Dept. of Energy and Climate Change, and at the United Nations Environment Division. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG).
He is author of the following books available on Amazon:
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Notes
[i] Source: Cosmology on Trial Cracking the Cosmic Code by Pierre St. Clair, pg 17. The book also details that the acceptance of scientific theories such as Stephen Hawkings’ general theory of relativity, and The Grand Design theory, also require a huge leap of faith, see pg 125, which describes “the frailties of Stephen Hawking’s grand design hypothesis.
[iv] This story is described in the book Vedic Archaeology and Assorted Essays by Stephen Rosen, on pg 127.
Featured image is from the author
Godless Fake Science
By Mark Keenan
ASIN: B0C9SC6XWQ
Publisher: Independently published (July 2, 2023)
ISBN-13: 979-8850715342
Paperback: 304 pages
The author, a former science advisor at the UK government and at the United Nations, evidences the matrix of fake science that has polluted modern society for decades. Including in the areas of manmade climate change, Covid-19, virology, psychiatry, pharmaceuticals, evolution, the big bang, paleontology, particle physics, and cosmology. By excluding the existence of God in the scientific world, the atheistic manipulators have left themselves in a cul-de-sac unable to explain the scientific puzzle of creation, consciousness, and existence. Civilisation has been misdirected by large-scale lies that advance corporate greed and a godless agenda. The author is also a student of the Christian and Vedic scriptures, and calls for a re-establishment of truth and God-consciousness.
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Africa has witnessed eight coups in the last three years, with the latest military take-over announced in Gabon, Wednesday, only a month after a military intervention in Niger ousted the president.
Senior military officers in Gabon staged a coup in the Central African country on Wednesday, saying they seized power after President Ali Bongo was declared winner in Saturday’s election for a third term in office.
Appearing on national television, the military cancelled the election results that declared Bongo, who has been in power for over a decade, the winner with 64.27 per cent of the votes.
They also announced that the 64-year-old leader was put under house arrest and one of his sons was arrested for “treason.”
Niger
On 26 July, military officers in Niger, led by Gen. Abdourahamane Tchiani, a former Commander of the presidential guard, carried out a military intervention, ousting President Mohamed Bazoum. The military has since held Bazoum hostage, despite international calls for his release.
Sudan
The military in Sudan ousted President Omar Al-Bashir on 11 April, 2019, after months of protests following increased prices of goods – including fuel and bread. Al-Bashir had ruled Sudan for nearly 30 years.
A power-sharing agreement was reached between the Army and civilians, but they later refused to hand over power.
On 25 October, 2021, Sudan experienced another military takeover when Gen. Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, who headed the power-sharing deal, seized power, citing infighting between military and civilians.
Burkina Faso, Mali, Guinea, Chad
In Burkina Faso, the army ousted and detained President Roch Kabore on 23 January, 2022, leading to two other coups.
In neighbouring Mali, the military overthrew President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, 75, before the country witnessed a second coup on 24 May, 2021, when Col. Assimi Goita dismissed the transitional civilian president and prime minister.
There was also a military coup in Guinea on 5 September, 2021, when the army overthrew President Alpha Conde. In April 2021, the Chadian Army installed Gen. Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno as interim president, after the death of his father, Idriss Deby. The opposition said the move was tantamount to a coup.
Sultan Kakuba, a Political Science professor at Kyambogo University in Uganda, told Anadolu in a recent interview that military coups had been common in Africa for many years after independence, but they became increasingly rare in the past two decades.
He said poor leadership and economic hardships in some countries have influenced military leaders to seize power.
Kakuba opined that Africa has been consolidating democracy, but the coups are pushing it behind.
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Featured image: Officers from Department of Public Security (DSP) patrol as supporters of the military administration gather on a street after Gabonese army officers enter the national television building following the announcement of the presidential election results and announce that they take over, in Libreville, Gabon on August 30, 2023 [Stringer/Anadolu Agency]
Perhaps the leading two veteran critics of US policy in Ukraine, Colonel Douglas MacGregor USA and Major Scott Ritter USMC, have said loud and clear that at least from a military standpoint the Ukrainian armed forces have lost the war against Russia.
The European Union is expected to import a record volume of liquefied natural gas from Russia this year, despite the bloc’s intention to wean itself off Russian fossil fuels by 2027. This revelation by the Financial Times comes as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said that he warned Ukraine that any attacks on Hungary’s energy supplies from Russia would lead to war.
Following reports about Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin being killed in a plane crash, a Russian political analyst has alleged that the warlord is still “alive, well and free”, claiming that it was his doppelganger who was actually killed in the accident.
In April, Israeli security forces brutally assaulted Palestinian worshippers inside Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem. In the aftermath of the attack, James Cleverly, Britain’s foreign secretary, called on “all parties to respect the historic status quo arrangements at Jerusalem’s holy sites and cease all provocative action”.
From all indications, China has emerged as the greatest beneficiary at the 15th BRICS summit – a platform hosted by South Africa last August with participation of African leaders. The summit turned out be successful with most of the significant questions put under serious discussions and finally ended with a joint declaration which outlines the necessary strategic pathways into the future.
Some viewers had the impression that DeSantis was a Seal, but he was actually a Harvard Law School graduate who was a Judge Advocate General Corps (JAG) alongside the Seals. DeSantis was deployed to Iraq in 2007 and 2008, during President George W. Bush’s “surge” (intended to postpone the obvious failure of the war until after Bush’s second term ended).
Amid a controversial visit from Vice President William Lai (the front-runner to be his country’s next leader), official documents reviewed by “MintPress News” show that the Taiwanese government is attempting to drum up anti-China hostility, influence and intimidate American politicians and is even working with the FBI and other agencies to spy on and prosecute Chinese American citizens.
Recently articles have appeared on the front page of the New York Times that try to smear Code Pink, The People’s Forum and TriContinental as Chinese agents. The Times article was followed by a statement from Senator Marco Rubio calling for investigation of the people mentioned in the article.
Being a psychiatrist certainly makes me no specialist in areas of immunology, cardiology, surgery or infectious disease. But having earned a doctorate in medicine I was provided an education in reasoning within this extraordinarily complex discipline from first principles. Therefore as an inquisitive physician throughout the covid operation, I could not help but be baffled by the response of institutional authorities.
South Asian media recently reported that India has pushed back against US meddling in Bangladesh through diplomatic channels after Washington imposed a new visa policy ahead of next January’s elections that many regard as aimed at pressuring the ruling Awami League (AL) party.
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The European Union is expected to import a record volume of liquefied natural gas from Russia this year, despite the bloc’s intention to wean itself off Russian fossil fuels by 2027. This revelation by the Financial Times comes as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said that he warned Ukraine that any attacks on Hungary’s energy supplies from Russia would lead to war.
According to an analysis of energy industry data by Global Witness, in the first seven months of this year, Belgium and Spain were the second and third most significant buyers of Russian LNG, behind only China, an increase much higher than the global average of 6% from January to July this year. LNG imports by the EU increased by 40% from January to June compared to the same period in 2021, mainly because the European bloc relied on Russian pipeline supplies before the special military operation in Ukraine started.
“It’s shocking that countries in the EU have worked so hard to wean themselves off piped Russian fossil gas only to replace it with the shipped equivalent,” Global Witness senior fossil fuel campaigner Jonathan Noronha-Gant told the FT. “It doesn’t matter if it comes from a pipeline or a boat — it still means European companies are sending billions to [Vladimir] Putin’s war chest.”
According to the outlet, most Russian volumes come from the Yamal LNG joint venture, mainly owned by the Russian company Novatek. Other stakes are held by TotalEnergies of France, CNPC of China and a Chinese state fund. The development is exempt from export taxes but is subject to income tax.
Senior LNG analyst at consultancy ICIS, Alex Froley, told the FT that “long-term buyers in Europe say they will continue to accept contracted volumes unless banned by politicians,” which he said would cause disruptions to shipping as global trade patterns would need to be rearranged.
EU officials have pointed to a global effort to phase out Russian fossil fuels by 2027 but warned that a complete ban on LNG imports risks triggering an energy crisis like 2022 when gas prices hit record highs of more than €300 per megawatt/hour.
A source heard by the FT said that, although European gas storage containers were more than 90% complete before winter, there was still “a lot of nervousness” in case of further supply cuts.
Russian LNG accounted for 21.6 million (16%) of the EU’s total 133.5 million cubic metres of LNG imports between January and July, according to Kepler data, making it the bloc’s second-biggest supplier behind the US, which rose to the position after the start of Western sanctions against Moscow.
Given how the EU is still heavily reliant on Russian energy, it cannot be discounted that Kiev might try to sabotage supplies, just as it did to Germany when it attacked the NordStream 2 pipeline. It is for this reason that in an interview with US journalist Tucker Carlson, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán recalled that he had immediately qualified the damage to the Russian-German Nord Stream gas pipeline as a terrorist act, calling the absence of a strong reaction on the part of Germany a lack of sovereignty. He then recounted how he and Serbian leaders warned Ukraine, without directly naming the country, of war if energy flows were sabotaged.
“On the TurkStream pipeline, bringing gas from Russia via Turkey, Bulgaria and Serbia, he said that together with the Serbian Prime Minister and the Serbian President, they have made it clear that if anyone did to the southern corridor what they did to the northern, it would be considered a cause for war or a terrorist attack and they would react immediately,” Orbán said.
Given that Ukraine already has a history of sabotaging flows of Russian energy to Europe, and following the report by FT that the EU is expected to import a record volume of LNG from Russia this year, it cannot be discounted that Kiev will plan for more terrorist attacks to disrupt flows. Ukrainian soldiers are already conducting terrorist attacks in the Black Sea and Crimea with speedboats, and tankers could very well be the next target.
In addition, the FT report highlights the impossibility of the EU being able to divorce itself from Russian energy. Attempted decoupling has only led to the further decline of the European economy, and as seen, the difference is now being made up with LNG.
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Ahmed Adel is a Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher.
The New York Times casually acknowledged that it sends major scoops to the US government before publication, to make sure “national security officials” have “no concerns.”
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First published on June 26, 2019
The New York Times has publicly acknowledged that it sends some of its stories to the US government for approval from “national security officials” before publication.
This confirms what veteran New York Times correspondents like James Risen have said: The American newspaper of record regularly collaborates with the US government, suppressing reporting that top officials don’t want made public.
On June 15, the Times reported that the US government is escalating its cyber attacks on Russia’s power grid. According to the article, “the Trump administration is using new authorities to deploy cybertools more aggressively,” as part of a larger “digital Cold War between Washington and Moscow.”
In response to the report, Donald Trump attacked the Times on Twitter, calling the article “a virtual act of Treason.”
The New York Times PR office replied to Trump from its official Twitter account, defending the story and noting that it had, in fact, been cleared with the US government before being printed.
“Accusing the press of treason is dangerous,” the Times communications team said. “We described the article to the government before publication.”
“As our story notes, President Trump’s own national security officials said there were no concerns,” the Times added.
Accusing the press of treason is dangerous. We described the article to the government before publication. As our story notes, President Trump’s own national security officials said there were no concerns. https://t.co/MU020hxwdcpic.twitter.com/4CIfcqKoEl
Indeed, the Times report on the escalating American cyber attacks against Russia is attributed to “current and former [US] government officials.” The scoop in fact came from these apparatchiks, not from a leak or the dogged investigation of an intrepid reporter.
‘Real’ journalists get approval from ‘national security’ officials
The neoliberal self-declared “Resistance” jumped on Trump’s reckless accusation of treason (the Democratic Coalition, which boasts, “We help run #TheResistance,” responded by calling Trump “Putin’s puppet”). The rest of the corporatemedia went wild.
But what was entirely overlooked was the most revealing thing in the New York Times’ statement: The newspaper of record was essentially admitting that it has a symbiotic relationship with the US government.
In fact, some prominent American pundits have gone so far as to insist that this symbiotic relationship is precisely what makes someone a journalist.
In May, neoconservative Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen — a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush — declared that WikiLeaks publisher and political prisoner Julian Assange is “not a journalist”; rather, he is a “spy” who “deserves prison.” (Thiessen also once called Assange “the devil.”)
What was the Post columnist’s rationale for revoking Assange’s journalistic credentials?
Unlike “reputable news organizations, Assange did not give the U.S. government an opportunity to review the classified information WikiLeaks was planning to release so they could raise national security objections,” Thiessen wrote. “So responsible journalists have nothing to fear.”
In other words, this former US government speechwriter turned corporate media pundit insists that collaborating with the government, and censoring your reporting to protect so-called “national security,” is definitionally what makes you a journalist.
This is the express ideology of the American commentariat.
NY Times editors ‘quite willing to cooperate with the government’
The symbiotic relationship between the US corporate media and the government has been known for some time. American intelligence agencies play the press like a musical instrument, using it it to selectively leak information at opportune moments to push US soft power and advance Washington’s interests.
But rarely is this symbiotic relationship so casually and publicly acknowledged.
In 2018, former New York Times reporter James Risen published a 15,000-word article in The Intercept providing further insight into how this unspoken alliance operates.
1. #JamesRisen: "A top CIA official once told me that his rule of thumb for whether a covert operation should be approved was, “How will this look on the front page of the New York Times?” https://t.co/YIUtpTthe8
Risen detailed how his editors had been “quite willing to cooperate with the government.” In fact, a top CIA official even told Risen that his rule of thumb for approving a covert operation was, “How will this look on the front page of the New York Times?”
There is an “informal arrangement” between the state and the press, Risen explained, where US government officials “regularly engaged in quiet negotiations with the press to try to stop the publication of sensitive national security stories.”
“At the time, I usually went along with these negotiations,” the former New York Times reported said. He recalled an example of a story he was writing on Afghanistan just prior to the September 11, 2001 attacks. Then-CIA Director George Tenet called Risen personally and asked him to kill the story.
“He told me the disclosure would threaten the safety of the CIA officers in Afghanistan,” Risen said. “I agreed.”
Risen said he later questioned whether or not this was the right decision. “If I had reported the story before 9/11, the CIA would have been angry, but it might have led to a public debate about whether the United States was doing enough to capture or kill bin Laden,” he wrote. “That public debate might have forced the CIA to take the effort to get bin Laden more seriously.”
This dilemma led Risen to reconsider responding to US government requests to censor stories. “And that ultimately set me on a collision course with the editors at the New York Times,” he said.
“After the 9/11 attacks, the Bush administration began asking the press to kill stories more frequently,” Risen continued. “They did it so often that I became convinced the administration was invoking national security to quash stories that were merely politically embarrassing.”
One year ago: Former New York Times national security reporter James Risen reveals how the paper repeatedly suppressed stories at the request of the Obama and Bush administrations https://t.co/pJ2BAPluqH
In the lead-up to the Iraq War, Risen frequently “clashed” with Times editors because he raised questions about the US government’s lies. But his stories “stories raising questions about the intelligence, particularly the administration’s claims of a link between Iraq and Al Qaeda, were being cut, buried, or held out of the paper altogether.”
The Times’ executive editor Howell Raines “was believed by many at the paper to prefer stories that supported the case for war,” Risen said.
In another anecdote, the former Times journalist recalled a scoop he had uncovered on a botched CIA plot. The Bush administration got wind of it and called him to the White House, where then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice ordered the Times to bury the story.
Risen said Rice told him “to forget about the story, destroy my notes, and never make another phone call to discuss the matter with anyone.”
“The Bush administration was successfully convincing the press to hold or kill national security stories,” Risen wrote. And the Barack Obama administration subsequently accelerated the “war on the press.”
CIA media infiltration and manufacturing consent
In their renowned study of US media, “Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media,” Edward S. Herman and Chomsky articulated a “propaganda model,” showing how “the media serve, and propagandize on behalf of, the powerful societal interests that control and finance them,” through “the selection of right-thinking personnel and by the editors’ and working journalists’ internalization of priorities and definitions of newsworthiness that conform to the institution’s policy.”
But in some cases, the relationship between US intelligence agencies and the corporate media is not just one of mere ideological policing, indirect pressure, or friendship, but rather one of employment.
In the 1950s, the CIA launched a covert operation called Project Mockingbird, in which it surveilled, influenced, and manipulated American journalists and media coverage, explicitly in order to direct public opinion against the Soviet Union, China, and the growing international communist movement.
Legendary journalist Carl Bernstein, a former Washington Post reporter who helped uncover the Watergate scandal, published a major cover story for Rolling Stone in 1977 titled “The CIA and the Media: How America’s Most Powerful News Media Worked Hand in Glove with the Central Intelligence Agency and Why the Church Committee Covered It Up.”
Bernstein obtained CIA documents that revealed that more than 400 American journalists in the previous 25 years had “secretly carried out assignments for the Central Intelligence Agency.”
Bernstein wrote:
“Some of these journalists’ relationships with the Agency were tacit; some were explicit. There was cooperation, accommodation and overlap. Journalists provided a full range of clandestine services—from simple intelligence gathering to serving as go‑betweens with spies in Communist countries. Reporters shared their notebooks with the CIA. Editors shared their staffs. Some of the journalists were Pulitzer Prize winners, distinguished reporters who considered themselves ambassadors without‑portfolio for their country. Most were less exalted: foreign correspondents who found that their association with the Agency helped their work; stringers and freelancers who were as interested in the derring‑do of the spy business as in filing articles; and, the smallest category, full‑time CIA employees masquerading as journalists abroad. In many instances, CIA documents show, journalists were engaged to perform tasks for the CIA with the consent of the managements of America’s leading news organizations.”
Virtually all major US media outlets cooperated with the CIA, Bernstein revealed, including ABC, NBC, the AP, UPI, Reuters, Newsweek, Hearst newspapers, the Miami Herald, the Saturday Evening Post, and the New York Herald‑Tribune.
However, he added, “By far the most valuable of these associations, according to CIA officials, have been with the New York Times, CBS and Time Inc.”
These layers of state manipulation, censorship, and even direct crafting of the news media show that, as much as they claim to be independent, The New York Times and other outlets effectively serve as de facto spokespeople for the government — or at least for the US national security state.
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Ben Norton is a journalist and writer. He is a reporter for The Grayzone, and the producer of the Moderate Rebels podcast, which he co-hosts with Max Blumenthal. His website is BenNorton.com, and he tweets at @BenjaminNorton.
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Introduction
Perhaps the leading two veteran critics of US policy in Ukraine, Colonel Douglas MacGregor USA and Major Scott Ritter USMC, have said loud and clear that at least from a military standpoint the Ukrainian armed forces have lost the war against Russia.
There have been numerous voices calling for an end to the conflict, not least because the more than USD 46 billion and counting in military aid alone, has yet to produce any of the results announced as aims of what has finally been admitted is a war against Russia.[i]
If Mr Zelenskyy, the president of the Ukraine’s government in Kiev, is to be taken at face value, then the hostilities can only end when Crimea and the Donbass regions are fully under Kiev’s control and Vladimir Putin has been removed from office as president of the Russian Federation. To date no commentator has adequately explained how those war aims are to be attained. This applies especially after the conservatively estimated 400,000 deaths and uncounted casualties in the ranks of Kiev’s forces since the beginning of the Special Military Operation in February 2022.
Before considering the political and economic issues it is important to reiterate a few military facts, especially for those armchair soldiers who derive their military acumen from TV and Hollywood films.
As MacGregor and Ritter, both of whom have intimate practical knowledge of warfare, have said. Armies on the ground need supplies, i.e. food, weapons, ammunition, medical care for wounded, etc.
These supplies have to be delivered from somewhere.
In ancient times, armies could live off the land. Essentially this was through looting and plunder—stealing their food from the local population as they marched. To prevent the local population from becoming the enemy in the rear and avoid early exhaustion of local supply, generals started paying for what was requisitioned.
To prevent this defending forces would often withdraw the civilian population and destroy what could not be taken. In fact this kind of rough warfare against civilians still occurs although it has been forbidden under the Law of Land Warfare.[ii]
Naturally the soldier in the field can no longer make weaponry and even less plundered from the local inhabitants—unless one comes across some tribe the US has armed with Stingers perhaps.
All the weapons the Ukrainian armed forces deploy have to be imported from countries with factory capacity.
As the two officers among others have said, the capacity is unavailable for the Ukraine.
Obviously it would also be unavailable to NATO forces were they able to deploy in Ukraine in any numbers.
It is illusory to believe that a NATO army can do what the Wehrmacht could not some eighty years ago with three million men under arms and the most modern army of its day.
This was so obvious from the beginning that one has to wonder why this war ever started.
Is it possible that wars are started without any intention of winning them?
If winning the war is not the objective, then what is?
Forgery and Force: Explicit and Implicit
or Latent and Expressed Foreign Policy
Historical documents are essential elements in any attempt to understand the past and the present. However this is not because they are necessarily true or accurate. Forgeries and outright lies are also important parts of the historical record. Perhaps the most notorious forgery in Western history is the so-called Donation of Constantine. This document was used to legitimate papal supremacy and the primacy of the Latin over the Greek Church. Although it did not take long for the forgery to be discovered, the objective was accomplished. Even today most people in the West have learned that the part of the Christian Church called Orthodoxy is schismatic when the reverse is true, namely the Latin Church arose from a coup d’état against Constantinople.
There is now no shortage of evidence that the British Empire forced the German Empire into the Great War and with US help justified the slaughter of some four million men to expel German forces from Belgium.
There is systematically suppressed testimony by commanders in the field and others in a position to know that the Japanese attack on the US colonial base at Pearl Harbor was not only no surprise but a carefully crafted event exploited to justify US designs on Japan and China.
Yet to this day the myth of surprise attack against a neutral country prevails over the historical facts. Even though there is almost popular acceptance that the US invasion of Iraq was based on entirely fabricated evidence and innuendo, the destruction of the country was not stopped and continues as of this writing.
What does that tell us about historical record and official statements of policy?
Former US POTUS and former CIA director, George H.W. Bush expressed the principle that government lies did not matter because the lie appears on page one and the retraction or correction on page 28.
In short, it is the front page that matters.
That is what catches and keeps the public’s attention. Truth and accuracy are immaterial.
***
Let us consider for a moment one of the most durable wonders of published state policy—the Balfour Declaration. This brief letter signed by one Arthur Balfour in 2 November 1917 was addressed to the Lord Rothschild, addressed in his capacity as some kind of conduit for the Zionist Federation.
On the other hand, Carroll Quigley in his The Anglo-American Establishment strongly suggests that Lord Rothschild, also in his capacity as a sponsor of the Milner/ Round Table group, presented the letter for Mr Balfour to sign. As Quigley also convincingly argues the academic and media network created by the Round Table has successfully dominated the writing of British imperial history making it as suspicious as the Vatican’s history of the Latin Church.
This “private” letter to the representative of the West’s leading banking dynasty is then adopted as the working principle for the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine awarded to the British Empire. From this private letter an international law mandate was created under the League of Nations regime to convert a part the conquered Ottoman Empire into a state entity for people organized in Europe who imagined that some thousand(s) of years ago some ancestors once inhabited the area.[iii]
The incongruence of this act ought to have been obvious—and in fact it was. The explicit policy with which the British Empire had sought to undermine Germany and Austria-Hungary was that of ethnic/ linguistic self-determination of peoples. So by right—even if the fiction of a population in diaspora were accepted—this could not pre-empt the right of ethnic/ linguistic self-determination in Palestine where Arabic was the dominant language and even those who adhered to the Jewish religion were not Europeans.
As argued elsewhere there has been a century of propaganda and brute force applied to render the dubious origins and integrity of the legitimation for the settler conquest that was declared the State of Israel in 1948 acceptable no matter how implausible. Like the Donation of Constantine, the Balfour Declaration served its purpose. No amount of rebuttal can reverse the events that followed.
Motors and Motives
However the question remains what is then the policy driving such acts?
What is the motive for such seemingly senseless aggression against ordinary people?
Why does an institution supposedly based on national self-determination deny it so effectively to majorities everywhere whose only fault appears to be living on land others covet?
By the time the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples was finally adopted in 1960, there was no question of reversing the de facto colonisation practiced by the mandatory powers under the League. The Declaration was only an act of the UN General Assembly any way, a body wholly dominated by the three permanent imperial members of the Security Council, each with their veto powers.
To understand that and perhaps to better illuminate the principal subject—Ukraine—it is helpful to recall that of the five permanent members of the Security Council, the two most powerful are not nation-states at all. The United Kingdom is a colonial confederation as is the United States.
Russia, France, and China are all states derived from historical ethnic-linguistic determination. They were formed into such unitary states through wars and revolutions.
As de Gaulle famously said “France was made with the sword”.
However there is no question that these three countries are based explicitly on ethnic-linguistic and cultural congruity within continental boundaries, in the sense articulated by the explicit text of the Covenant and the Charter.
On the contrary, Great Britain and the United States are commercial enterprises organised on the basis of piracy and colonial conquest. There is not a square centimetre of the United States that was not seized by the most brutal force of arms from its indigenous inhabitants. “Ethnic-linguistic” among the English-speaking peoples is a commodity characteristic. It is a way to define a market segment.
Great Britain gave the world “free trade” and liberalism and the US added to that the “open door”.
Nothing could be more inimical to the self-determination of peoples than either policy.[iv] How can a people be independent and self-determined when they are denied the right to say “no”?
The Great War and its sequel the war against the Soviet Union and Communism, aka World War 2, were first and foremost wars to establish markets dominated by the Anglo-American free trade – open door doctrine. One will not find this explicitly stated in any of the history books or the celebratory speeches on Remembrance Day (Memorial Day in the US) or the anniversary of D-Day to which properly the Soviet Union and Russia ought not to be invited.
After all D-Day was the beginning of the official war by Anglo-America against the Soviet Union after Hitler failed.
More of Italian, French and German industrial and domestic infrastructure was destroyed by aerial bombardment from the West than by anything the Wehrmacht did—since its job was to destroy Soviet industry.
This will not be reported in schoolbooks and very few official papers will verify this open secret. That is because like the Donation much of what counts as history was simply “written to the file”.
The facts however speak for themselves. When the German High Command signed the terms of unconditional surrender in Berlin-Karlshorst, the domestic industry of the West, except the US, had been virtually destroyed leaving it a practical monopoly not only in finance but manufacturing that would last well into the late 1960s.
Only the excess demand of the war against Korea accelerated German industrial recovery. No one can say for sure how much of German, French, Italian, Belgian, or Netherlands capital was absorbed by Anglo-American holding companies.
Hence those that wonder today about the self-destruction of the German economy have to ask who owns Germany in fact. To do that one will have to hunt through the minefield of secrecy jurisdictions behind which beneficial ownership of much of the West is concealed.
It is necessary to return to the conditions at the beginning of the Great War to understand what is happening now in Ukraine. One has to scratch the paint off the house called “interests” and recall some geography. F. William Engdahl performed this task well in his ACentury of War: Anglo-American Oil Politics and the New World Order (2011). It would do well to summarise this here before going further.
Geography and Aggrandizement
Continental nation-states need secure land routes. Pirate states need secure sea-lanes. Britain succeeded in seizing control ruling the waves after defeating the Spanish and Portuguese fleets. It reached a commercial entente with the Netherlands, which helped until the Royal Navy was paramount. The control of the seas meant that Britain could dominate shipping as well as maritime insurance needed to cover the risk of sea transport. So it was no accident that Lloyds of London came to control the financing of maritime traffic.
Geography dictated that the alternative for continental nation-states was the railroad. Germany was building a railroad from Berlin to Baghdad which would not only have delivered oil to its industry but allowed it to bypass the Anglo-French Suez Canal and the British controlled Cape route. Centuries before the predecessors to the City of London financed crusades to control the trade routes through the Middle East, propagandistically labelled the Holy Land, whereby this was wholly for commercial reasons.
The Anglo-American led NATO captured Kosovo not out of any special loyalty to Albanians but because of geography.
Camp Bondsteel lies at the end of the easiest route to build pipelines between Central Asia and the Mediterranean.
In short there is not a single war for “self-determination” waged by the Anglo-American special relationship that was not driven by piratical motives, for which ethnic-linguistic commodities are expendable.
In 1917, the “interests”, for whom Lord Rothschild spoke and no doubt provided financial support, coincided with the pre-emptive control over real estate that had been desired by the banking-commercial cult at least since the establishment of the Latin Church. It is no accident that serious investigations have established that the state created from the British Mandate in Palestine was a commercial venture like all other British undertakings.
Moreover it has been able to use its most insidious cover story to veil itself in victimhood and thus immunity for those criminal enterprises, both private and state, that use it as a conduit: money laundering, drug and arms trafficking, training of repressive forces for other countries on contract, etc. all documented and protected by atomic weapons. Moreover this enterprise has been the greatest per capita recipient of US foreign aid for decades.
Its citizens are able to use dual citizenship to hold high office in the sovereign state that funds it, too. Any attempt to criticize or oppose this relationship or its moral justification by a public official or personality with anything to lose can lead to the gravest of consequences. Its official lobby in the US, the AIPAC, is only one instrument by which any act that could interfere with the smooth flow of cash or influence between Washington and Tel Aviv. It draws on an international organisation that does not even have to be organised. The status of ultimate victimhood combined with mass media at all levels committed to protecting “victims” can summon crowds just as Gene Sharp predicted in his works.[v]
A Business Too Innocent to Fail
Now we come to the issues with which this essay began. What is the aim of the war in Ukraine? Will it end when the military operations have failed?
In April 2022, i.e. just over a month after the Russian intervention, Volodymyr Zelenskyy described “the future for his country”.
He used the terms “a big Israel”. In Haaretz it was reported that Zelenskyy wanted Ukraine to become “a big Israel, with its own face”.
Writing for the NATO lobby, the Atlantic Council, Daniel Shapiro elaborated what Zelenskyy might mean: the main points are security first, the whole population plays a role, self-defence is the only way, but maintain active defence partnerships, intelligence dominance, technology as key, build an innovation ecosystem, maintain democratic institutions.[vi] The stories depict this stance for better or worse as the creation of a state under permanent military control, always giving priority to existential threats—presumably from the East.
But is that really what Zelenskyy means?
Or perhaps that is what he may mean.
What about all those who have directed nearly all of NATO armament and so many billions through the hands of the Kiev regime—one notorious even before 2022 as one of the most corrupt in Europe if not anywhere?
Maybe there is another construction to be applied here.
Perhaps Zelenskyy is talking, like some latter day Balfour, on behalf of his sponsors whose Holocaust piety never prevented them from subjecting nearly the entire population to forced medical experiments starting in 2020.
Perhaps he is talking about the extensive participation in all sorts of international trafficking, either as agent or protection for the principals. Perhaps he is talking about the permanent and undebatable foreign aid contributions from the US and the extortion from other countries, e.g. as Norman Finkelstein documented.[vii]
There is no doubt that Ukraine has become a major hub for human trafficking, arms smuggling, and biological-chemical testing. They have atomic reactors and have asked for warheads.[viii]
Add to this the potential of a large and potentially self-righteous diaspora spread throughout the West, heavily subsidised and already equipped with influence in high places.
A “Ukraine Lobby” was already in preparation in 1944 when the British shipped some thousand POWs from the SS Galicia Division (a Ukrainian force) from Italy to Britain without a single war crimes investigation.[ix] From there they were able to spread throughout the Empire as Canada amply indicates.
If Lord Rothschild’s model for Israel has been so successful to this day, one can scarcely blame a patriot like Volodymyr Zelenskyy for seizing the opportunity of a proven model.
It has been so successful that no one in public dare oppose it.
Why not establish another such parasitic machine? Russians or Arabs provide the permanent enemies with which to sell the permanent victim status at the expense of millions of displaced Ukrainians.
Plunder and Pillage
In other words there is a very successful business model to be implemented wholly consistent with free trade and the open door and all those other slogans, which have anointed plunder and pillage by the occasionally alpine commercial cults in their campaign to assure that:
All of us:
“You’ll own nothing and you’ll be happy”.
***
.
“Own Everything”: “Plunder and Pillage” Implemented by BlackRock, JP Morgan, Et. Al.
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[i] Jonathan Masters and Will Merrow, “How Much as the US Sent to Ukraine Here are Six Charts”, Council on Foreign Relations (10 July 2023). Among those declaring this was Foreign Minister of the German Federal Republic, Annalena Baerbock. Angela Merkel, the former chancellor of the Federal Republic is on record having said that the so-called Minsk Accords were intended to stall the Russian reaction in Donbass until Ukraine could be sufficiently armed to fight against the Russian Federation.
[ii] Principally the Hague (1907) Conventions
[iii] More likely the Eastern Europeans in question were descendent from the Khazar kingdom located far closer to what today is Ukraine. The ruling elite was to have converted to Rabbinic Judaism in the 8th century. The Khazar Khaganate was disbursed by the end of the first millennium CE. This would better explain the hostility toward Russia and myth of a national homeland, displaced in 1917 to Palestine based on contemporary political realities.
[iv] Historian Gerald Horne ascribes “free trade” to the so-called Glorious Revolution, which also abolished the Royal Africa Company, opening “free trade in slaves”, see The Counter-Revolution of 1776 (2014).
[v] Gene Sharp, From Dictatorship to Democracy (1994)
[vi] Daniel B. Shapiro, “Zelenskyy wants Ukraine to be ‘a big Israel’. Here’s a road map”, New Atlanticist (6 April 2022) “By adapting their country’s mindset to mirror aspects of Israel’s approach to security challenges, Ukrainian officials can tackle national security challenges with confidence and build a similarly resilient state”.
[vii] Norman Finkelstein, The Holocaust Industry (2000)
[viii] This notorious request by Zelenskyy at the Munich Security Conference in 2022 for atomic weapons was another reason President Vladimir Putin gave for a military response to Kiev’s attacks on the Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine that Russia had been forced to recognise as two independent republics and grant protection.
[ix] A documentary produced by Julian Hendy (The SS in Britain) contains interviews, e.g. with civil servants who were told by US authorities that no pre-immigration investigations were to be conducted. This film about the 14thWaffenSS Division Galizia division has been effectively scrubbed from the Web. The film, originally to be broadcast by Yorkshire Television (UK) was never shown. Geoffrey Goodman described details after a private viewing in a Guardian article (12 June 2000).
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Following reports about Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin being killed in a plane crash, a Russian political analyst has alleged that the warlord is still “alive, well and free”, claiming that it was his doppelganger who was actually killed in the accident.
Alleging that Prigozhin foiled an assassination attempt sanctioned by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Dr Valery Solovey claimed that the Wagner boss is now plotting his revenge. Solovey is a former professor at Moscow’s Institute of International Relations, which trains spies and diplomats.
“First, the plane in which Yevgeny Prigozhin was supposed to fly was downed by a Russian air defence system,” Daily Mail quoted Solovey as saying. “There was no explosion on board. It was downed from the outside.”
“How did he end up alive while his close people died? This is the choice he [Prigozhin] was faced with. I’m not talking about the moral side of this choice. God forbid any of us face such a choice. He intends to take revenge for having been faced with such a choice. He intends to take revenge on people who were intending to destroy him, and destroyed people close to him,” he added.
Wagner military commander Dmitry Utkin, 53, and flight attendant Kristina Raspopova, 39, were among other who were killed in the crash.
Solovey said Prigozhin who has access to £1.6 billion in bitcoin will use it to strike back.
“That is more than enough for revenge. As for ambition, energy, and courage, he has plenty of that,” he added.
Reports also claimed that the supposed wife of Prigozhin seen at his funeral on Tuesday was actually the spouse of his doppelganger. The woman who was earlier claimed to be Prigozhin’s wife Lyubov Prigozhina, 52, was later identified by Russian media as Irina Krasavina, the spouse of his main body double Leonid Krasavin.
Another video released by the Telegram channel linked to the Wagner Group showed Prigozhin in Africa days before his death. In the clip, Prigozhin is heard talking about his threats to his life. Dressed in camouflage, he says,
“”For those who are discussing whether I’m alive or not, how I’m doing – right now it’s the weekend, second half of August 2023, I’m in Africa.”
THE WEEK cannot independently verify claims made by the analyst or the location and date of the video.
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