S.T.

March 18, 2024


"This movement must have the courage to take on the greed of the international oligarchy, in which a few thousand billionaires exercise enormous economic and political power."
SNIPPETS:

Sanders' article examines U.S. foreign policy since World War II, underscoring commonalities between the many wars and acts of aggression perpetrated by Washington over the decades.

"Dating back to the Cold War, politicians in both major parties have used fear and outright lies to entangle the United States in disastrous and unwinnable foreign military conflicts," the senator wrote, noting the U.S.-led war in Southeast Asia in which as many as 3 million Vietnamese, Cambodians, and Laotians and more than 58,000 American troops were killed.

Sanders also highlighted the U.S. record of perpetrating or backing coups in Iran, Guatemala, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Dominican Republic, Brazil, Chile, and other countries, "often in support of authoritarian regimes that brutally repressed their own people and exacerbated corruption, violence, and poverty."

"Washington is still dealing with the fallout from such meddling today, confronting deep suspicion and hostility in many of these countries, which complicates U.S. foreign policy and undermines American interests," he wrote.

Sanders then moved on to the 21st century, when the George W. Bush administration responded to the 9/11 attacks by committing "nearly 2 million U.S. troops and over 💰 $8 trillion to a  'Global War on Terror' and catastrophic wars in Afghanistan and Iraq"—the latter "built on an outright lie." ... ...

Meanwhile, the United States is supplying [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu's Israel with billions of dollars in military funding while he annihilates Gaza."


"U.S. policy on China is another illustration of failed foreign policy groupthink, which frames the U.S.-Chinese relationship as a zero-sum struggle," Sanders said. "For many in Washington, China is the new foreign policy bogeyman—an existential threat that justifies 😈🦍 higher and higher Pentagon budgets."

Full article:

  AGelbert NOTE: I understand why Chris Hedges uses the term, but the fact is that the term, "🕊️ Christian 👿 Fascism" is an oxymoron. Fascists are ALL Social Darwinists. Social Darwinism is 100% ANTI-Christian. "Christian" Nationalists are HERETICS to Christianity.   

The Class Struggle

Monday, March 18, 2024


Selected Comment thread:
Just Me
It's fallacious to say that Dems seeing coal as an obsolete (and ultimately expensive) energy source amounts to turning their backs on Mingo County or the working class more broadly.

This is a polluter's manifesto, and it smells like MAGA populism and is downright dangerous:

The ,300 Mingo County coal mining jobs by 2020 had fallen to 300, the largest loss of coal jobs in any county in the country.

The lies of Democratic politicians did far more damage to working men and women than any of the lies spewed by Trump.

Meanwhile, a dispatch from Mingo County, WV:
The [Coalfield Development] program is delivering with the help of roughly $20 million in federal grants. Since being founded in 2010, it has trained more than 2,500 people, and created 800 new jobs and 72 new businesses.

Want to know who secured those funds for his state? That's right, a Democrat.

But Obama and Biden admins both funneled millions into WV to retrain coal miners. All Trump did was try to turn back the clock by rolling back environmental  regulations, but the reality is all the freedom in the world to pollute will not save the coal industry from increasingly cheap, clean energy sources.

Collectivist Action  > Just Me
Some good points, Just Me.

Much of this type of leftism (that my comrade Hedges has promoted for a long time) does smell like MAGA populism - at best class reductionism - and as recently as a year ago I would have never recommended it.

However, that was a year ago. . . before the DP openly declared war on 3rd (electoral) party presidential candidates. . .before Genocide Joe. . .before the fascist cult of Trump personality stood on the threshold of winning the presidency, again.

Mind you, I still maintain strategic differences with the sector of the left which, imo, underestimates the powerful 'pre-existing conditions' of patriarchy/whitenationalism, among other reactionary social phenomena, which provide the fertile soil which (re)produces American fascism.

Nevertheless, the neoliberals PRESENTLY IN POWER could have, least, mitigated the threat.

They can't even charge Trump with instigating a fascist coup!
The 'people-of-color' and women, in prominent positions within the DP leadership are, more often than not, UNABASHED, OPEN ADVOCATES of the prison/military/congressional complex. . .and zionism.

Not unlike their 'conservative' rivals, they hate leftism much more than they do fascism*

As deplorable as the MAGA movement is, it is the neoliberals (fronted by brain-dead Biden) who are most responsible, as Hedges says, for allowing this 'gift' of (more) Christian fascism to emerge as it has.

Trump is the made-for-tv/internet, capitali$t conman taking, advantage of the situation.

Most of the MAGA tin soldiers are, afaics, the usual, useful idiots.

*Despite all the historical evidence that fascists.kill.liberals.too!

AGelbert > Collectivist Action 
Well said.

All this finger pointing about who did what is tiring and continues to serve the heinous purpose of ignoring the ROOT cause at each level of the controversy.

At each level of controversy, there is a root cause that is, unfortunately for most of us, deliberately ignored, or even worse, given zero importance.

Here is a seemingly unrelated, (but actually key to understanding our muddled superficial vocabulary plight) example of this wrong thinking:

In Earth Biosphere Ecology we are taught that 🍀🍃🌿🌾🌼 autotrophs (organisms that 'eat' sunlight, instead of other life forms in our biosphere) are located at the BOTTOM of the pyramid of life forms. They are rightfully depicted as the BASE, because they are sine qua non to the rest of the 😋 trophic pyramid life forms.


The 🦁 predators are located at the TOP of the pyramid. the 🐊 'APEX' predators are, as implied, located at the pinnacle of the pyramid, as they are capable of "eating" (i.e. extracting enough energy to 💫 maintain life and produce offspring) 🐓 life forms 'BELOW' them on the pyramid.


Well, that is EXACTLY UPSIDE DOWN. Apex Predators, from owls to Lions to killer whales to wolves to  humans, etc. et al are the most delicate life forms in the biosphere. Apex Predators require OTHER life forms to survive and thrive. Thus, the record of extinctions among the predators is legion, whereas the autotrophic organisms (e.g. plants, both flowering and not, phytoplankton, etc. et al) rarely go extinct. 🌞

That said, there is an extremely important aspect of life forms on planet Earth that actually gives the trophic pyramid life form positioning from top to base 🕯️ some validity: The higher up on the pyramid, the less efficient the 💫 energy conversion physiology. So, plants are VERY efficient. Apex predators are over 30 times LESS EFFICIENT than autotrophs, as a hard and fast rule of nature. For every predator species, you need several orders of magnitude prey organisms in order for the predators to avoid extinction.


Thus, they are less able to survive when undergoing starvation levels of food sources.
So, why do I bring this up, when the issue is divide and conquer politics and human depravity, not why we need to eat?

Because WE lack a reality based perception of our relationship to the life of everything around us![/b]

Because we are self aware tool makers, we jumped to the hubristic conclusion that we are the "TOP". Nope, we are at the BOTTOM of the food chain. THAT is BIOSPHERE MATH reality.

A proper depiction of the trophic pyramid requires that it be upside down, balancing delicately on it's tip, which is where we arrogant self aware intellimorons are located.


IF humanity could get some humility and SEE what any biologist can explain to even the dumbest MAGA or Neoliberal Social Darwinist greedball Apex (bottom feeder) Predator, we would GET the fact that WE are the ones dependent on all those other life forms, from plants on DOWN in energy absorbing ability, for OUR EXISTENCE.
Many will read this and snicker that  have I have a tremendous capacity for the obvious, but if they do that, they are missing that OTHER KEY significance of the trophic pyramid corrected to stand on its Homo sapiens point; WE, the self aware tool makers, are the only species capable of UNBALANCING that pyramid to the destruction of ALL OF IT.

So, if we do not have the humility to see how abysmally stupid, irresponsible AND self-destructive wrongly viewing ourselves as being at the TOP of a "STABLE" MASSIVE TROPHIC PYRAMID is, then we completely miss the FACT that said actually delicately balanced inverted pyramid/i] CAN EASILY BE DESTABILIZED[/i] BY WE-THE-SELF-AWARE-TOOL-MAKING-INTELLIMORONS.


REALITY BASED ONLY SOLUTION: 👉

Rant over. 🙃

For the latest outrages about the Israeli perpetrated Genocide in Gaza and their latest outrageous request to the ICJ, go see my " art" and news snippets here.

🗽🦅 Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom 321K subscribers March 19, 2024

Prof. Jeffrey Sachs:  The Israeli Government is Criminal

🗽🦅 Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom 322K subscribers March 21, 2024

Scott Ritter:  Russia Beats NATO; Israel Beating Itself

👉 Some graphics and emojies by AGelbert. 👈


MAR 22, 2024 by 🕯️🗽🦅 SCOTT RITTER


Back in the Summer of 1997, at the height of yet another crisis surrounding the seemingly never-ending saga of UN weapons inspection teams led by yours truly trying to gain access to sites considered by Iraq to be sensitive to their national security, I had surrounded the headquarters of the Iraqi intelligence service (the Mukhabarat), and was insisting that I be granted access to specific locations inside the headquarters deemed relevant to the Security Council’s mandate governing the disarmament of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction programs. My chief interlocutor was General Amer al-Sa’adi, the former head of Iraq’s military industry and, at the time, a special advisor to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

I briefed General Sa’adi on my desire to gain access to two specific locations, one in the M-4 (Operations) Directorate, and the other in the M-5 (Counterintelligence) Directorate. General Sa’adi informed me that these were the most sensitive aspects of the Mukhabarat’s work and granting me access would be impossible. I was persistent, however, and at the time I had the backing of the Security Council, which had made it clear in a recent resolution that a denial of access to my team would constitute a material breach of Iraq’s obligations to disarm, paving the way for the US to attack Iraq. This was no empty threat—in the Persian Gulf, the US had deployed an aircraft carrier and missile-carrying ships and submarines, backed up by US Air Force fighter-bombers operating out of bases in neighboring countries.

After denying my team access for several hours, General Sa’adi finally relented, and I took my team to the offices we had singled out as being of interest, where we found documents which furthered our understanding of how Iraq had conducted covert procurement of proscribed items in the early years of our disarmament work in Iraq. When the inspection was finished, I approached General Sa’adi and rebuked him. “We could have been done with this hours ago, and without any drama,” I said.

Scott will discuss this article on Ep. 145 of Ask the Inspector. Watch the first hour live on Rumble, X, Facebook, Twitch or Locals. The second hour (starting at 9 PM ET) will stream only on Rumble, X and Locals, and will feature the music of Bob Dylan. Our special guests Friday night are Malcolm Burn, host of The Long Way Around, who recorded and mixed Dylan’s Oh Mercy album, and Hank Rosenfeld, author of The Jive 95.

Earlier in the day, while my team was parked at the various entrances to the Mukhabarat compound, preventing any exit of personnel, vehicles, and/or documents, the Iraqi security forces responsible for our protection intercepted an enraged Iraqi citizen who, armed with an AK-47 automatic rifle, was planning to carry out a drive-by attack on me and my team. He was stopped less than 50 yards from where my command team and I were standing.

“Mr. Scott,” General Sa’adi replied, “we do not like you sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong.”

“You yourself saw that the information we found was relevant to our mandate,” I replied. “We are simply doing our job.”

“Yes,” Sa’adi noted. “It was relevant. But only as history. We no longer have the weapons you are looking for. We have declared everything. And now you are engaged in an academic exercise that puts our national security at risk.”

I took umbrage at his comments. “We had asked you about the relationship between the Mukhabarat and weapons procurement in the past. You denied there had been a connection. We had information that said there was. As such, we had a duty to assume that your denials were de facto evidence that these procurement activities were continuing.”

I pointed back at the main headquarters building, where we had conducted the searches. “And the documents we discovered proved that we were correct—there was a connection between the Mukhabarat and covert weapons procurement.”

“Yes,” General Sa’adi replied, “you were correct. But so were we. The documents also proved that this procurement activity was stopped years ago. Just like we said it had been.”

“So why not let my team in and close the door on this chapter?  Why delay and harass us?”

General Sa’adi turned to me and smiled. “There is a saying among the Bedouin tribes. ‘If the camel once gets his nose in the tent, his body will soon follow.’ This,” Sa’adi said, gesturing at the Mukhabarat compound, “is our tent. We cannot allow you to put your nose under the tent flap. If we do, you won’t stop until you’re inside. And once inside, you will never leave.”

“But I did get inside,” I said.

“Yes, but we made it as inconvenient for you as possible. And now you are leaving. And if you come back, we will make it even more inconvenient.”

He paused, staring at me. “We do not want the UNSCOM camel in the Iraqi tent. Because with UNSCOM comes America. And with America comes death and destruction.”


I have often reflected on General Sa’adi’s words that day, and their prescience—UNSCOM did, eventually, get our nose under the Iraqi tent.

And with us came America.

And death followed.

The expression “don’t let the camel’s nose under the tent” became part of my personal lexicon, to be uttered anytime I thought an unwelcome presence was trying to winnow its way into my universe.

This past week, French President Emmanuel Macron declared that there we no “red lines” when it came to the prospects of French troops being deployed to Ukraine. Initial reports indicated that the French military was preparing to accelerate the reinforcement of a battalion-sized task force (some 700 men) currently deployed in Romania to a brigade (around 2,000 men). France had been preparing to take this action sometime in 2025, but the precipitous collapse of the Ukrainian army on the frontlines of its ongoing war with Russia compelled Macron to accelerate the operation in anticipation of dispatching this brigade into Ukraine.

In the grand scheme of things, a 2,000-strong French military contingent will not, in and of itself, alter the strategic balance of power on the ground in Ukraine. At best, the French battlegroup would be able to relieve a similarly sized Ukrainian unit serving in a security capacity so that the Ukrainians could be redeployed to the front, where it could be expected to be ground up in a matter of days.

The French have tried to muddy the waters further by stating that a French contingent, if deployed to Ukraine, would do so in the status of “neutral” troops.

The question is to what extent Russia would allow such a deployment of foreign forces onto the soil of Ukraine, even if these troops were not directly engaged in combat.


The answer?

Russia would not allow such a deployment. First, the idea of France assuming a “neutral” posture in a conflict in which they have already labeled the Russians as their “adversary” is laughable. Adversaries, by definition, cannot be neutral.

But the main reason Russia cannot allow even a limited French military deployment in Ukraine is this: “If the camel once gets his nose in the tent, his body will soon follow.”

These 2,000 troops are just the nose of a larger NATO camel. France has already stated that it is prepared to deploy up to 20,000 troops to Ukraine, the vanguard of a coalition of forces drawn from NATO nations that could total up to 60,000 strong.

And once 60,000 troops are deployed to Ukraine, then NATO will inevitably use Article 4 of the NATO Charter to define a situation of grave national security importance to the NATO collective and convert those 60,000 troops into a NATO force backed by the full power of NATO.

The camel will be fully ensconced inside the Ukrainian tent.


And for Russia to remove the camel, it would need to go to war against NATO.

Not a proxy war, such as is currently being waged using Ukraine as a tool of the collective West, but rather a full-scale conflict which will inevitably lead to the use of nuclear weapons, at first on European soil, and then later as part of a general nuclear conflict between Russia and the collective West.

In short, the end of the world as we know it.

The extent to which the United States is involved in the plans of France and its European partners is not fully known. The Biden administration has consistently articulated against any escalation which could result in American “boots on the ground” out of fear of allowing the situation to escalate out of control, resulting in a third world war that would rapidly devolve into nuclear war.

Russia, however, doesn’t differentiate between French boots and American boots—they are all NATO boots.

If Russia lets the French nose of the camel into the Ukrainian tent, then the NATO neck will come next, accompanied by the American body.

And death will follow.

gucci_pineapple 2.58K subscribers Mar 23, 2024

We interviewed Norman Finkelstein 🍉 Full video is out on YouTube!

We recently spoke with Norman Finkelstein, a prominent author and scholar of Palestinian politics, in his Brooklyn apartment. We think it’s imperative to amplify Finklestein’s perspective now more than ever.

He describes Gaza as “a concentration camp,” whose population is nearly half children (47%, according to joint data from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the U.S. Census Bureau, and Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, compiled by NPR.)

Finkelstein is a man of Polish Jewish descent, whose parents were in concentration camps in the Holocaust. He says his mother and father would be appalled by the current Israeli genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza, and by the concentration camp into which Israel has corralled those Palestinians. He has dedicated his life to Palestinian liberation.

A longer edit of this interview can be found on the Dana and Alden YouTube Channel.

Video by wes10b
Editor Jade Yamazaki Stewart
Produced by Alobar Media

"Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body." -- Hebrews 13:3


March 25, 2024 By 🕯️🗽 Palestine Chronicle Staff 



“In light of the chance in stance, Prime Minister Netanyahu has decided to cancel the delegation to Washington”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that we would not send a delegation to Washington D.C. after the United States refrained from using its veto power on a UN Security Council resolution demanding a ceasefire in Gaza.


According to a statement by his office, Netanyahu said that Washington’s failure to veto the resolution was a “clear retreat” from its previous position, and would hurt war efforts in Gaza.

“This withdrawal hurts both the war effort and the effort to release the hostages , because it gives (the Palestinian Resistance movement) Hamas hope that international pressure will allow them to accept a cease-fire without the release of our hostages,” the statement said, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

“In light of the chance in stance, Prime Minister 🦍 Netanyahu has decided to cancel the delegation to Washington,” the statement continued.

Prior to the vote, Netanyahu threatened to cancel the visit of the delegation, which was set to discuss alternatives to the invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

White House Spokesperson John Kirby said that the vote “does not represent a shift in our policy”.

Kirby also stated that the US was “looking forward to having an opportunity to speak to an Israeli delegation later this week” about “exploring alternatives to a major ground offensive in Rafah”.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant arrived in Washington on Monday for talks with the US Administration of Joe Biden.

In a statement, Gallant said that “he would meet with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, national security adviser Jake Sullivan and CIA Director William J. Burns and focus on ‘preserving Israel’s qualitative military edge,’ including ‘our ability to obtain platforms and munitions’.” 

UNSC 🕊️ Vote

The United Nations Security Council adopted on Monday a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, as the United Nations States refrained from using its veto power for the first time, after 171 days of war.

The resolution, which was presented by non-permanent members of the Security Council, calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, stressing the urgent need to increase aid and demanding the removal of all obstacles to its delivery.

Speaking after the vote, US ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that the US “did not agree with everything with the resolution”.

“Certain key edits were ignored, including our request to add a condemnation of Hamas,” Thomas-Greenfield said.

Today’s vote followed several attempts by the UNSC at brokering a ceasefire resolution.
Since the start of the Israeli onslaught on Gaza last October 7, Washington has used its veto 🔨 power against three draft resolutions, two of which called for an immediate 🕊️ ceasefire.

Gaza Genocide

Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.

According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 32,333 Palestinians have been killed, and 74,694 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.

Moreover, at least 7,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.

Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.

The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.

Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire.’

(The Palestine Chronicle)
https://www.palestinechronicle.com/a-clear-retreat-netanyahu-cancels-delegation-visit-to-us-after-ceasefire-vote/



March 25, 2024 The Security Council approved a resolution on Gaza, demanding an immediate ceasefire, and the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages.


The Security Council,

Guided by the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations,

Recalling all of its relevant resolutions on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question,

Reiterating its demand that all parties comply with their obligations under international law, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law, and in this regard deploring all attacks against civilians and civilian objects, as well as all violence and hostilities against civilians, and all acts of terrorism,

Expressing deep concern about the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip,

Acknowledging the ongoing diplomatic efforts by Egypt, Qatar and the United States, aimed at reaching a cessation of hostilities, releasing the hostages and increasing the provision and distribution of humanitarian aid,

1. Demands an immediate ceasefire for the month of Ramadan respected by all parties leading to a permanent sustainable ceasefire;

2. Demands the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, as well as ensuring humanitarian access to address their medical and other humanitarian needs, and further demands that the parties comply with their obligations under international law in relation to all persons they detain;

3. Emphasizes the urgent need to expand the flow of humanitarian assistance to and reinforce the protection of civilians in the entire Gaza Strip and reiterates its demand for the lifting of all barriers to the provision of humanitarian assistance at scale, in line with international humanitarian law as well as resolutions 2712 (2023) and 2720 (2023);

4. Decides to remain actively seized of the matter.

The 10 non-permanent members (E10)-proposed draft was adopted today (25 Mar) in a vote of 14 favour and one abstention (United States).

Speaking after the vote, Algeria’s Ambassador Amar Benjama said that today’s resolution conveys a clear message to the Palestinian people: “The international community, in its entirety, did not abandon you.”

Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations said, “Once such atrocities are being committed in broad daylight against defenceless civilians, including women and children, the right thing to do the only thing to do morally legally, politically, is to put to put an end to it. There can be no justification for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. Accepting any justification for such crimes is renouncing our humanity and destroying the rule of international law beyond repair.”

He also said, “This must be a turning point. This must lead to saving lives on the ground. This must signal the end of this assault of atrocities against our people. A nation is being murdered. A nation is being dispossessed. A nation is being displaced for decades now, but never at this scale since the Nakba.”

Israeli Ambassador Gilad Erdan said, “It should be very clear that as long as Hamas refuses to release the hostages in the diplomatic channels, there is no other way to secure their return other than through a military operation.”

He concluded, “Sadly, it's for the same reason why you can condemn terror attacks in Russia and Iran, but not in Israel. To this council is Israeli blood is cheap. This is a travesty, and I'm disgusted.”

Following the Security Council meeting, Ambassador Pedro Comissario, Permanent Representative of Mozambique to the United Nations, read a joint statement on behalf of the E10 Group (Algeria, Ecuador, Guyana, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, Republic of Korea, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, and Switzerland) regarding the adoption.

He said “We are happy that the council has successfully adopted the much-needed resolution to demand the immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages. It also demands that the parties comply with their obligations under international law in relation to all persons that they detain.”

Also addressing to the press, Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour, stated, “Security Council resolutions are binding and if Israel is not going to implement it, then it is the duty of the Security Council to use chapter 7 to take measures and punitive measures in order to make them obey the resolution of the Security Council.”

Briefing journalists, UK ambassador Barbara Woodward, said, “All barriers to aid delivery need to be lifted. We have not yet seen the improvements that we need to get more aid in. The council's message today is an important one and I reiterate, we call for it to be implemented immediately.”