‘Seven years after Maidan divided country, Ukraine intensifies shelling of Donbass to sound of deafening silence from Western media’, March 2, 2021, ingaza.wordpress.com
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The Antiwar Movement Must Not Go Back To Sleep During The Biden Presidency
On Saturday, members of the administrative committee of the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC), on which I serve, spoke on a webinar about the importance of building and strengthening the antiwar, anti-imperialist movement during Biden’s presidency. UNAC was founded during the summer of 2010 as it became clear that the antiwar movement in the US was faltering under the nation’s first black president. Peace groups allied with the Democrats were reluctant to criticize the president and donations declined as people wrongly assumed the new Nobel Peace Prize winner was pro-peace.
Posted in empire and war crimes
‘STRATCOM chief claims nuclear war with Russia or China a ‘REAL POSSIBILITY,’ says US can’t assume ‘strategic deterrence will hold’’, 6 Feb, 2021
“The head of US Strategic Command is warning that nuclear war with Russia or China is “a real possibility,” pointing to “destabilizing” behaviors of America’s rivals. He also claims the Pentagon is not “stuck in the Cold War.”
“There is a real possibility that a regional crisis with Russia or China could escalate quickly to a conflict involving nuclear weapons, if they perceived a conventional loss would threaten the regime or state,” STRATCOM chief and Vice Admiral Charles Richard wrote in the February issue of the US Naval Institute’s monthly magazine.
…as his Tweets at the bottom will amply demonstrate; his pleasure is only too evident; i.e.: #MaximumPressureWorks. Stir in the Sunni Ruling class v. the Shi’a nations, and Israel as well. The epic hypocrisy is that the US exports Democracy!
created by anthony freda during the Obomba regime
‘US brands Yemen’s Houthi rebels “terrorists,” paving way for mass starvation’, Bill Van Auken, wsws.org. Jan. 11 2021 (w/ permission)
“Waving aside warnings by humanitarian organizations that his action threatens mass starvation in Yemen, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Monday that Washington will designate the Houthi rebels, who govern territory containing 70 percent of the Yemeni population, as a “foreign terrorist organization.”
This cynical and potentially catastrophic measure is being taken by the ostensibly “lame-duck” secretary of state as part of an unrelenting “maximum pressure” campaign of punishing economic sanctions and continuous military provocations against Iran.
Washington has sought to portray the Houthi movement, which has existed and ruled over parts of Yemen for generations, as a puppet of Tehran, something the Houthis have continuously denied. Claims of substantial amounts of Iranian aid for the Houthis in the nearly five-year-old war launched against them by Saudi Arabia have never been proven.
Posted in empire and war crimes
Mick Wallace MEP Condemns EU Complicity in War Crimes (2:16)
I’d first been introduced to him at the Tehran Times while searching for updates just ahead of the first anniversary of the Jan. 3, 2020 US assassination of Iranian Quds Force Commander Qassem Soleimani.
‘We love human rights when we can Kick China, Iran’s, says MEP’, December 22, 2020, (w/ video 1:28)
I’ve borrowed bits from three pieces at RT.com, plus: the Grayzone, Newsweek, off-guardian.org, yahoo finance, rge Federal News Network, the Chicago Tribune, wsws.org, and the Twitterverse without attribution. Apologies if I double-up on items.
The pdf of the 5593 page full text of H.R. 13 is here
Of the $6.1 billion appropriated for funding foreign militaries, a whopping $3.3 billion — more than half — “shall be available for grants only for Israel,” and must be “disbursed within 30 days of enactment of this Act.”
‘US green lights sale of 3,000 bombs worth $290 million to Saudi Arabia & flurry of other Middle East arms deals’, 29 Dec, 2020, RT.com (the accompanying photo: ‘Fire and smoke billow from an army weapons depot after it was hit by a Saudi air strike in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa’
“The US State Department has approved the possible sale of 3,000 precision-guided munitions to Saudi Arabia, alongside more than $4 billion in arms transfers to other regional states, arguing the deals support “national security.”
The munition sale to Saudi Arabia was authorized by the State Department on Tuesday, according to a Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) notice, giving the go-ahead for a transfer of 3,000 GBU-39 Small Diameter Bombs to the Gulf monarchy, worth some $290 million.
Posted in empire and war crimes
This is a bit of complicated tome, but for me key to understanding who is in charge of US foreign policy, and who (besides Zionist Israel) really rules the Western Empire.
It’s often said that dying Empires, rather than cede some power to other multiopolar nations/nation states, are at their most irrational, and engage in loose cannon command and control wherever they believe they can get away with it.
Additionally, will the New Boss (Biden’s still aiming at China and Russia) look much like the Old Boss come Inauguration Day? Biden’s choice for Secretary of State is Anthony ‘Nice Guy’ Blinken (h/t Alan Macleod) who never met an Imperial war he didn’t love, and apparently the sociopathic Michelle Flournoy for SecDef got a thumbs-down from too many ‘progressives, so he’s going with: ‘Secretary of Defense Lloyd ‘Serial War Profiteer’ (h/t Caitlin Johnstone) Austin’
Posted in empire and war crimes
(all art by Anthony Freda)
‘Killing for optics’? Obama claims he ‘took no joy’ in drone strikes, but ordered them to avoid looking ‘soft on terrorism’, RT.com, 19 Nov, 2020
“The ex-president’s new book ‘A Promised Land’ sheds some light on the Obama administration’s controversial expansion of the US drone program, which was launched under his predecessor George W. Bush.
One of Obama’s original campaign promises was for US withdrawal from middle-eastern conflicts. However, that promise was not fulfilled during his eight years in office, and the Democrat is now often accused of having further escalated violence in the region through his policies in Libya, Syria, and elsewhere.” […]
Posted in empire and war crimes
In Kenya during Al-Shabaab standoff
Another giant global humanist has left us this week, may he rest in power, and he and his works be remembered forever. Allow me to borrow excerpts from several homages by those who knew him and his work, and loved him well.
‘André Vltchek’s Sudden Death’, Robert Hunziker, Sept. 25, 2020, counterpunch.org
EDITOR’S NOTE: CounterPunch received word from Rossi Indira, Andre’s partner who was with him at the time of his death, that Andre died from complications with diabetes. Andre had been very ill for several weeks prior to his death, he could barely walk and one of his legs was paralyzed. Rossi tells us that he also refused medical treatment. Andre’s funeral is being held in Istanbul. For a full list of articles he wrote for CounterPunch, please visit his author page.
(joe and jill nite 4; they put on their masks when joined by kopmala)
Patrick Martin watched so we wouldn’t have to, and reported what he saw on August 21, 2020, bless his pea-pickin’ heart. (w/ the site’s permission) He likens it to a cliché-driven religious revival featuring ‘the Moral Superiority of Biden compared to Trump’, Biden’s ‘deep empathy for children and the downtrodden’ (add identity ___ at will). Hell, Bill Clinton was the master of fake empathy: biting one thumb with ‘sorrow’ in his eyes, and intoning: “I feel your pain.”
“The sheer contempt for the intelligence of the population and the viewing audience was summed up in Biden’s acceptance speech. His speechwriters appeared to have been trying to cram every possible trite phrase into a single 20-minute address.
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Posted in electoral politics, empire and war crimes
Prop or Not? You decide. The story is everywhere, mainly reporting it like this:
‘DOJ confirms ‘largest-ever US seizure of Iranian fuel’ on 4 ships bound for Venezuela’, 14 Aug, 2020
“The US has seized some 1.116 mn barrels of Iranian fuel aboard 4 ships headed for Venezuela, the Justice Department has confirmed, hinting at “assistance” from “foreign partners” and declining to reveal where the grab took place.
The agency hailed what it called the largest-ever US seizure of Iranian fuel in a statement on Friday, revealing Washington had nabbed the sanctions-skirting cargo en route to Venezuela with the assistance of unspecified “foreign partners.”
The US Dept. of Injustice press release actually names it a ‘Second Superceding Indictment’ in this June 24, 2020 Press Release: “WikiLeaks Founder Charged in Superseding Indictment:
New Allegations Assert Assange Conspired With “Anonymous” Affiliated Hackers, Among Others [including LulzSec]
A federal grand jury returned a second superseding indictment today charging Julian P. Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, with offenses that relate to Assange’s alleged role in one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the United States.
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On or about May 17, 5 Iranian tankers, the Clavel, the Forest, the Petunia, the Faxon, and the Fortune began a voyage from the Persian Gulf Star Refinery near Bandar Abbas, Iran, which makes gasoline. The ships then traveled around the Arabian Peninsula and through the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean Sea. They’ve already passed through the Strait of Gibraltar and are nearing Venezuela. The tankers hold about 175,000 tons of gasoline, or 1.5 to 2 million gallons needed by Venezuela due to the egregious sanctions on the Bolivarian nation preventing them refining oil into gasoline. The nation needs refinery parts and chemicals to make gasoline from oil that are not obtainable under Western sanctions.
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Posted in empire and war crimes
‘To Finally Kill The Nuclear Deal With Iran The U.S. Will Try To Rejoin It’, April 27, 2020, moonofalabama.org
“On May 8 2018 the U.S. ceased its participation in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) or nuclear deal with Iran. The New York Times now reports that the U.S. wants to be back in for some nefarious reason:
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…and on (blue bird) Twitter, no less.
‘We don’t take advice from ANY American politician’: Iran’s Zarif rejects Trump’s ventilator offer’, 19 Apr, 2020, RT.com
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Posted in empire and war crimes
From tasnimnews.com: ‘TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani sent a message to the people of the United States of America on Friday, saying the time has come for the American nation to end the “dark chapter” of Washington’s sanctions in the US history to contribute to the global battle with the coronavirus, March 21, 2020 (creative commons)
‘Following is the full text of the Iran president’s message to American people released by his official website on Friday, March 20:
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añez and medina
First: ‘Elon Musk is acting like a neo-Conquistador for South America’s lithium’, Mar 09, 2020 by Vijay Prashad and Alejandro Bejarano (CC non-commercial)
By my lights, the authors have buried the lede.
They first report that Musk wants to build an electric car factory in Brazil, and was supposed to have met with Jair Bolsonaro (who either has or hasn’t tested positive for corona virus depending on which hour of the #FakeNews cycle). As Musk had ended up being too busy, he’ll go to Brazil later this year. Apparently ‘all eyes are on the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina where both BMW and GM already have factories. They provide a list of names that Musk has been in contact with already who are eager for Musk to build a Gigfactory there as well.
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With permission from the editor to use all content, I’ll reblog all of it, as it’s a key moment in history; all bolds are mine.
Via Bill Van Auken at wsws.org, March 6, 2020
ICC Appeals Panel
“An appellate panel of the International Criminal Court (ICC) ruled Thursday that an investigation leading to the potential prosecution of US officials for war crimes during Washington’s nearly two-decade-old war in Afghanistan can move forward.
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Posted in empire and war crimes
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café babylon 