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DoD study: climate change will destroy us … in 2020

By Larry Kummer | Fabius Maximus | December 29, 2019

Summary: In February 2004, headlines in The Guardian and other news media told us of a secret DoD report predicting a climate catastrophe by 2020. Read the study and gain perspective about today’s warnings of a Climate Emergency.

Burning and smoking Earth.

Photo 50590315 © Strahil Dimitrov – Dreamstime.

“Now the Pentagon tells Bush: climate change will destroy us.”

The Guardian | 21 February 2004.

“Secret report warns of rioting and nuclear war. Britain will be ‘Siberian’ in less than 20 years. Threat to the world is greater than terrorism.”

“Climate change over the next 20 years could result in a global catastrophe costing millions of lives in wars and natural disasters. A secret report, suppressed by US defence chiefs and obtained by The Observer, warns that major European cities will be sunk beneath rising seas as Britain is plunged into a ‘Siberian’ climate by 2020. Nuclear conflict, mega-droughts, famine and widespread rioting will erupt across the world. … Randall added that it was already possibly too late to prevent a disaster happening. ‘We don’t know exactly where we are in the process. It could start tomorrow and we would not know for another five years,’ he said. …”

Other journalists gave uncritical coverage to it (e.g., Fortune, Grist ). The secret report is now public. Read it and feel the terror!

“An Abrupt Climate Change Scenario and Its Implications for United States National Security.”

By Peter Schwartz and Doug Randall for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Commissioned by DoD’s Office of Net Assessment. Published October 2003.

Schwartz is a “futurist”, co-founder of the Global Business Network consulting firm and big in the “scenario planning” gig (Wikipedia). Randall also worked at GBN.

Excerpt from the Executive Summary

The research suggests that once temperature rises above some threshold, adverse weather conditions could develop relatively abruptly, with persistent changes in the atmospheric circulation causing drops in some regions of 5-10°F in a single decade. Paleoclimatic evidence suggests that altered climatic patterns could last for as much as a century, as they did when the ocean conveyor collapsed 8,200 years ago, or, at the extreme, could last as long as 1,000 years as they did during the Younger Dryas, which began about 12,700 years ago. {Perhaps caused by an asteroid impact.}

In this report, as an alternative to the scenarios of gradual climatic warming that are so common, we outline an abrupt climate change scenario patterned after the 100-year event that occurred about 8,200 years ago. This abrupt change scenario is characterized by the following conditions.

  • Annual average temperatures drop by up to 5°F over Asia and North America and 6°F in northern Europe.
  • Annual average temperatures increase by up to 4°F in key areas throughout Australia, South America, and southern Africa.
  • Drought persists for most of the decade in critical agricultural regions and in the water resource regions for major population centers in Europe and eastern North America.
  • Winter storms and winds intensify, amplifying the impacts of the changes. Western Europe and the North Pacific experience enhanced winds.

The report explores how such an abrupt climate change scenario could potentially de-stabilize the geo-political environment, leading to skirmishes, battles, and even war due to resource constraints such as {these}.

  • Food shortages due to decreases in net global agricultural production.
  • Decreased availability and quality of fresh water in key regions due to shifted precipitation patters, causing more frequent floods and droughts.
  • Disrupted access to energy supplies due to extensive sea ice and storminess.

From the body of the report

By 2005 the climatic impact of the shift is felt more intensely in certain regions around the world. More severe storms and typhoons bring about higher storm surges and floods in low-lying islands such as Tarawa and Tuvalu (near New Zealand).

In 2007, a particularly severe storm causes the ocean to break through levees in the Netherlands making a few key coastal cities such as The Hague unlivable. Failures of the delta island levees in the Sacramento River region in the Central Valley of California creates an inland sea and disrupts the aqueduct system transporting water from northern to southern California because salt water can no longer be kept out of the area during the dry season.

After roughly 60 years of slow freshening, the thermohaline collapse begins in 2010, disrupting the temperate climate of Europe, which is made possible by the warm flows of the Gulf Stream (the North Atlantic arm of the global thermohaline conveyor). Ocean circulation patterns change, bringing less warm water north and causing an immediate shift in the weather in Northern Europe and eastern North America.   {It lists many many more bad things that happen.}

The Weather Report: 2010-2020

Drought persists for the entire decade in critical agricultural regions and in the areas around major population centers in Europe and eastern North America. Average annual temperatures drop by up to 5°F over Asia and North America and up to 6°F in Europe. Temperatures increase by up to 4°F in key areas throughout Australia, South America, and southern Africa. Winter storms and winds intensify, amplifying the impact of the changes. Western Europe and the North Pacific face enhanced westerly winds. …

2012: Severe drought and cold push Scandinavian populations southward, push back from EU. Flood of refugees to southeast U.S. and Mexico from Caribbean islands.

2015: Conflict within the EU over food and water supply leads to skirmishes and strained diplomatic relations 2018: Russia joins EU, providing energy resources.

2020: Migration from northern countries such as Holland and Germany toward Spain and Italy.

{And many many more bad things happen around the world. It gets even worse after 2020.}

—————– End of excerpt. —————–

Climate scientists leapt into action!

The Schwartz – Randall report is an example of the climate alarmists’ typical exaggeration of scientists’ confidence in unvalidated theories (i.e., theories far out of consensus). So climate scientists responded to misuse of science by condemning it. Just kidding! I cannot find any who condemned it, because alarmists are honorary members of the Climate Science Club – with all sins forgiven.

While climate scientists were MIA, some journalists provided a balanced analysis. Such as this at the NY Times by Andy Revkin.

Notes from the past

A doomster vision of the future was popular back in 1971, just as it is today. On 15 January 1971 Americans watched a TV show by a hot new director, the 24-year old Steven Spielberg: “L.A. 2017.”  We learned that in 46 years pollution would destroy the Earth’s ecology and force the remnants of humanity to live underground.

Before we panic about DoD’s 2003 climate study, remember that they eagerly join every parade that might give them more money. Such as the CIA’s paean to global cooling: “Potential Implications of Trends in Population Growth, Food Production, and Climate“ in August 1974.

“{A} number of climatologists are in agreement that the northern hemisphere, at least, is growing cooler. … According to Hubert Lamb – an outstanding British climatologist – 23 out of 27 forecasting methods predicted a cooling trend through the remainder of this century. … A number of meteorological experts are thinking in terms of a return to a climate like that of the 19th century.”

If you are still calm, remember Peak Oil? DoD’s Office of Force Transformation hired LMI Government Consulting to produce “Transforming the Way the DoD Looks at Energy” (January 2007). Only massive transfusions of cash could save our military from peak oil. The doomsters were ecstatic! To avoid embarrassment, all online copies have been put down the memory hole.

Conclusions

The best guides we have are the reports of the IPCC and major climate agencies. The IPCC’s scientists assign a confidence level to each of their findings. Most are “medium”; few are “very high” (see their recent Special Report) – because we have much to learn about climate dynamics. This is the key fact that alarmists and their journalist enablers conceal from us.

December 30, 2019 Posted by | Mainstream Media, Warmongering, Malthusian Ideology, Phony Scarcity, Science and Pseudo-Science, Timeless or most popular | Leave a comment

The Year of War Against Anti-Semitism

Everyone is doing it

By Philip Giraldi • Unz Review • December 31, 2019

One might think that 2019 was the year war was declared against anti-Semitism judging from the pronouncements of politicians in Washington, London, Paris and Berlin. To be sure, Israel and its diaspora friends have continued to play the “anti-Semitism” card whenever their behavior is challenged but the international passion to extirpate the “new anti-Semitism” to include any and all criticism of Israel is something quite special that is being backed up by punitive legislation.

In one of its more recent victory laps, British Zionists are toasting Mazel Tov in their Hanukkah celebrations over their part in the defeat of Labour candidate Jeremy Corbyn. Corbyn was demonized personally by the British Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis shortly before the December election and was unfairly labeled an anti-Semite by the Jewish media over his antipathy towards Israeli actions and his willingness to recognize the suffering of the Palestinians. From now on, no British politician will be willing to challenge Jewish power in the U.K. Indeed, Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who claims some Jewish ancestry and spent some time in his youth on a kibbutz, has already pledged to make any criticism of Israel illegal in Britain. Moving the British Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem will no doubt soon follow.

Meanwhile, and as a direct result of the unwillingness to confront Israel in any meaningful way, war crimes committed by the Jewish state proliferate. Every Friday there is a shooting gallery along the fence with Gaza, where unarmed Palestinian protesters are targeted by Israeli snipers. And in November, Israel conducted a series of air strikes on the Gaza Strip after its assassination of a senior Islamic Jihad commander and his wife. At least 34 Palestinians were reported killed and more than 100 wounded in the two days of bombardment while no Israelis were killed. An attack on the makeshift home of the al-Sawarka family killed eight members of the family, including children. A week later, a ninth member of the family, Mohammed al-Sawarka, died from from his injuries.

The Israeli army carried out a perfunctory investigation of the deaths and concluded that that the army’s intelligence section had made a mapping mistake that included the family home as part of an Islamic Jihad “compound.” So a filing error led to the deaths of nine innocent civilians in one family and, of course, no one in the Israeli military was in any way punished or even reprimanded. Or even apologized.

And when it is pushed to do so, Israel uses the anti-Semitism weapon to render itself completely unaccountable in spite of its war crimes. The recent announcement by the International Criminal Court (ICC) that it is looking into possible crimes relating to the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict has produced a quick response from Washington and Jerusalem. The Trump Administration, fearful lest one crime lead to investigation of another, is concerned lest atrocities committed by U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq become the fodder for a subsequent inquiry, has reiterated its claim that the ICC has no jurisdiction over it as the U.S. has never recognized its authority. Washington has also revoked a visa held by chief prosecutor of the ICC, has threatened more visa refusals, and is also threatening sanctions as reprisals, claiming that the court is “illegitimate” while also vowing that the Trump Administration would do everything “to protect [American] citizens”.

In Israel meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has sought to shore up his sputtering attempt to remain in office by denouncing the inquiry itself as “anti-Semitism.” He made the claim while using Judaism’s holy Western Wall as a backdrop during a candle-lighting ceremony marking the start of the eight-days of Hanukkah, saying “New edicts are being cast against the Jewish people – anti-Semitic edicts by the International Criminal Court telling us that we, the Jews standing here next to this wall … in this city, in this country, have no right to live here and that by doing so, we are committing a war crime.” He called it “Pure anti-Semitism.”

Back in the United States the war on anti-Semitism initiated by President Donald Trump and endorsed by both parties in Congress is running full speed ahead. The first lawsuit linked to the Trump executive order signed on Hanukkah that creates a mechanism for defunding universities that do not protect the “civil rights” of their Jewish students has been filed by a Israeli student at Columbia University. His lawyer Brooke Goldstein claims that the university is in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for “discrimination against Jews.” He added that “We drafted and filed a complaint with the Office of Civil Rights (OCR), which is, to my knowledge, the first action of its kind since Trump’s executive order.”

Goldstein is the executive director of The Lawfare Project, which has been engaged in Jewish and Israeli advocacy. Her client, Jonathan Karten, a senior at Columbia University, alleges that he was on the receiving end of anti-Semitism on campus. The Trump executive order broadens the definition of discrimination by implying that “Jewish” is a nationality while also accepting that criticism of Israel constitutes anti-Semitism.

Goldstein claims that Karten “has been ridiculed and embarrassed because of his religion and his national identity” on campus, most particularly by members of the group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). Karten claims that he was called “a Zionist pig” and other names. And Karten complains that even a professor was mean to him when he was speaking with other students at an event hosted by the Columbia chapter of Students Supporting Israel. A “Columbia professor of Arabic literature… interrupted the conversation, pointed at Jonathan and yelled, ‘Don’t believe a word he is saying. He is Mossad.’” According to the complaint, “Jonathan felt ridiculed and embarrassed due to someone in authority publicly targeting him, accusing him of being a spy for a foreign government because of his religion and national identity.”

Karten decided to take action after a November 8th speech by a modern Arab politics and intellectual history professor named Joseph Massad. Massad reportedly gave a speech at the annual conference of the Jerusalem Fund and Palestine Center, where he said that “The Oslo Accords inaugurated this process of liquidating the Palestinian national struggle while the ‘Deal of the Century’ plans and hopes to conclude it … The only thing standing in its way is the ongoing Palestinian resistance to Israeli settler colonialism and racism that continues inside Israel and Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza; the ongoing Marches of Return in Gaza; and the armed resistance of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades to Israeli invasions in Gaza.”

The complaint notes that “The Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades is the military wing of Hamas, which is a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization [FTO]” while the “Izz al-Din al-Qassam has killed more than 650 civilians. It is also directly responsible for the kidnapping and brutal murder of Jonathan’s uncle, Sharone Edri. However, according to Professor Massad, this group’s killing of innocent Israeli citizens, like Jonathan’s uncle and countless others, is justified due to Israel’s ‘settler colonialism.’”

Karten and Goldstein maintain that their complaints fell on deaf ears within the Columbia University Administration. Karten had filed a complaint with Columbia University’s Department of Public Safety last year “… after he and his friends were repeatedly called murderers at a BDS [Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions] referendum at the school.”

One might observe that Professor Massad did not say anything that is contrary to a reasonable assessment of what the Israelis and their friends have done to the Palestinians. Under international law, it is perfectly justified for a people under occupation to resist the occupiers, using whatever means are available. And it is not unimaginable that Karten reports to Mossad. One presumes that he has done his military service and perhaps he should explain what that entailed in light of claims that he was or is a “murderer.”

Jonathan Karten appears to be such a sensitive soul that being called names over what is admittedly a red-hot and very controversial political issue needs to be redressed by putting those hurling the epithets out of business permanently. That amounts to a nullification of the First and Fourth amendments to the Constitution of the United States, which guarantees freedom of speech and association. Karten himself felt free to associate with a group of Students Supporting Israel and one might safely bet that some serious invective would flow out of that organization whenever a Palestinian might appear at or near one of its gatherings. And most importantly, one should also note that Karten was not by his own admission in any way threatened. It was only words.

And lawyer Goldstein is not necessarily an objective observer pursuing “justice.” She is nothing more than a professional advocate for Israel and what are perceived as Jewish issues. As it is somewhat unclear what exactly she and her client want the university to do to address the issues they have cited, one can only guess that it would include silencing the critics and possibly even reparations of some kind, a frequent feature in the old “discrimination” game.

None of this agitation occurs in a vacuum. There is extensive advocacy for Israel at all levels, much of it hidden. In 2019 alone the Sheldon Adelson supported Maccabee Task Force “secretly funded over 3,200 pro-Israel events on 112 campuses, and brought over 2,300 student leaders on ‘transformative trips’ to Israel.” Taken all together, every bit of uncritical empowering of the Jewish state now surfacing in London, Washington, New York and in Israel itself is part of a vast international conspiracy to render the Zionist crimes against humanity unobserved and unreported whenever possible as well as always unaccountable. And when all else fails, the Israelis and, to be sure, many diaspora Jews know exactly what to weaponize when they want to win the debate. Former Israeli Minister Shulamit Aloni once explained how it is done: “Anti-Semitic”… ”it’s a trick, we always use it.”

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

December 30, 2019 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , | 4 Comments

Poway Shooting Victim’s New Lawsuit Accuses Synagogue of Using Federal Security Grants Fraudulently

By Eric Striker | National Justice | December 29, 2019

Almog Peretz, a worshipper who was hit in the leg with shrapnel during the Poway shooting, is suing his synagogue for misusing a six-figure federal grant intended for security.

The complaint was filed on December 6th in the Los Angeles Superior Court and was obtained by National Justice through a public record request. It sheds light on the extent of the grift motivating the ongoing “anti-Semitism” moral panic.

In Almog Peretz v. San diego Guns, Chabad of California, Chabad of Poway, et al, it is revealed that in 2014 the Chabad of California had committed fraud with the funds allocated to it by the Department of Homeland Security’s Nonprofit Security Grant program. They received $272,495 in taxpayer dollars to install security cameras at Jewish centers and houses of worship but instead used the money for leisure and utility bills.

Then in March 2019, the affiliated Chabad of Poway was given $150,000 dollars to upgrade its security system, claiming that they were under threat. According to Peretz, Chabad of Poway is liable for his injuries because on the busy day of the shooting these federal dollars were not being used for their intended purpose. During the busy Passover holiday in late April, when John Earnest entered and opened fire, the door of the Synagogue was unlocked, had no new security mechanisms, and no guards.

Jewish groups are known for ginning up anti-Semitism hysteria in order to fill their coffers with public funds they claim they need for “security.” If they really believed anti-Semitic violence was as prolific as they claim, they would be using their state funding appropriately.

While many of the worst attacks on houses of worship in recent years have happened at Christian churches, like the Sutherland Springs attack that killed 27 and injured 20, Jewish groups receive 94% of DHS security grants. From 2005-2015, Jewish organizations were given $110 million dollars from this program. This year, the February omnibus bill earmarked a record $60 million in free money for Jews exploiting the program. It looks and smells like a scam.

Thanks to Jewish media sensationalism, we have been bombarded with stories about the black man who stabbed a few Jews (all who survived), but have heard comparatively little about the deadly shooting at a church in Texas today. This creates the false impression that they deserve this money, while more deserving entities aren’t given any piece of the pie.

Jewish groups also operate above the law. In Rockland County, New York, where open-carrying AR-15s is legally dubious (to say the least) under the SAFE Act, Jewish vigilantes are patrolling the street armed to the teeth like they’re Israeli settlers without a cop in sight.

We will be monitoring developments in Peretz’s lawsuit as they emerge.

December 30, 2019 Posted by | Corruption, Deception | | 1 Comment

Russia & Ukraine strike last-minute gas transit deal to avoid stoppage of energy supplies to Europe

RT | December 30, 2019

Russian and Ukrainian state energy majors Gazprom and Naftogaz have reached a breakthrough agreement to continue the transit of Russian natural gas to European countries using the Ukrainian pipeline network.

The package deal inked between the Russian company and Ukraine has restored the balance of interests between the parties, Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller said, noting that the Russian energy giant “has made everything possible and has proved one more time that it is a responsible supplier and a reliable partner.”

The agreement will ensure the transit of Russian gas through pipelines on Ukrainian territory for the next five years, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has revealed, adding that Kiev is set to receive over $7 billion from Moscow within the deal.

After the current contract expires, the parties will have the option to extend the deal for the next 10 years, Zelensky wrote in a Facebook post late on Monday.

Pursuant to the deal, Ukraine’s Naftogaz will transmit 65 billion cubic meters of Russian gas in 2020 and 40 billion cubic meters annually in the 2021-2024 period, the Ukrainian leader confirmed.

All legal issues that now exist between the two companies have been settled, Gazprom has confirmed in a statement, noting that the parties also agreed not to initiate any lawsuits with respect to the 2009 transit contract that expires in January.

The two sides signed the documents on Monday following a marathon five days of negotiations in Vienna, with the old agreement due to expire on December 31.

Last week, Russia and Ukraine reached an agreement “in principle” to extend the gas contract, and they have been working on the final documents since then. The delegations had to determine how Russia’s Gazprom will cooperate with the Ukrainian operator of the national gas system, and how the transit of the blue fuel will be organized, as well as finalizing an agreement to drop reciprocal claims.

December 30, 2019 Posted by | Economics | , , | 3 Comments

New Financial Crisis Looms as Israel Withholds Millions of Palestinian Tax Money

The Palestine Chronicle | December 30, 2019

Once more, the Israeli government has decided to withhold tens of millions of dollars in tax revenues, collected on behalf of the Palestinian Authority to prevent it from supporting families of Palestinians killed or wounded by the Israeli army.

Reuters news agency reported on Monday that the Israeli government of right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not hand over nearly $43 million in Palestinian taxes over the PA’s “financial support for the families of slain or wounded Palestinian” activists.

The Israeli government had withheld hundreds of millions of dollars from the Palestinian budget in the past in order for Tel Aviv to force Mahmoud Abbas’ Authority to toe the Israeli line. In February, Tel Aviv confiscated PA funds citing Palestinian government’s support for prisoners and their families.

Under the Oslo agreement, Israel is responsible for collecting taxes on behalf of the Palestinian Authority, the current sum of which, according to Reuters, is estimated at $222 million a month.

In a meeting with members of his ruling Fatah party, PA President Abbas admitted that the Israeli decision “will cost us a lot.” “But we have rights and we will not be afraid,” he added.

December 30, 2019 Posted by | Economics, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , | 2 Comments

Israeli war minister defiles Ibrahimi Mosque

Palestine Information Center | December 30, 2019

AL-KHALIL – Israeli war minister Naftali Bennett on Sunday night desecrated the Ibrahimi Mosque in al-Khalil at the pretext of marking a Jewish event called Hanukkah.

According to the Hebrew media, Bennett was accompanied during his tour of the Mosque by senior army commander Itamar Ben-Haim, Kiryat Arba settlement chief Eliyahu Liebman and Jewish religious figures.

Addressing settlers at the Islamic holy site, Bennett claimed that al-Khalil was the heart of Israel and that the Jewish people could not live without this heart.

He vowed to build more settlements and neighborhoods for Jewish settlers in al-Khalil, affirming that he became the minister of the Israeli army in order to achieve that.

December 30, 2019 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , | 2 Comments

Palestinian minor prisoners in Israel jails tortured, humiliated, NGO reveals

MEMO | December 30, 2019

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Commission (PPC) has documented witnesses of Palestinian minor prisoners inside Israeli jails stating that they had been tortured and humiliated when they were arrested and during their investigations, Safa Press Agency reported.

Minor prisoner, Abdul-Min’em Al-Natsha, 17, revealed that Israeli undercover forces kidnapped him from the streets of Shu’fat Refugee Camp along with Usama Taha, 16.

Both boys disclosed that they were taken to an investigation centre and spent four hours being investigated. They were handcuffed, insulted and beaten.

Al-Natsha noted that members of the Israeli army unit, Nahkshon, beat him more than one time on his way to attend the court sessions.

“They beat me just because I spoke with my mother during one of the court sessions,” Al-Natsha added.

Meanwhile, Taha explained that the officers of the Nahkshon unit unleashed the police dog at him on his way to the court.

Another boy, Motasem Sheikha, 17, described his kidnapping by Israeli undercover forces while walking in the streets of Shu’fat Refugee Camp.

He added that he spent 30 days being investigated in Al-Moskobiyeh Detention Centre, where he was tortured after he was incarcerated in a room with no monitoring cameras.

Abdul-Rahman Abu-Laila, 17, was also kidnapped by Israeli undercover forces from his workplace in the city of Akka, Israel.

According to the PPC, Abu-Laila was locked up in Petah-Tikva Detention Centre for ten days. He spent each day handcuffed in an isolated cell.

Raed Rashid, a 16-year-old Palestinian boy from the West Bank of Jenin, told that the Israeli occupation forces broke down the main door of his house at night, broke into his room and arrested him while he was sleeping.

“When they saw my mother screaming as they were aiming their guns at me, they beat me harshly in front of her,” he told the PPC.

Rashid revealed that he was imprisoned in Al-Jalama Detention Centre, while blindfolded and handcuffed, for around 10 hours.

The boys Sheikha, Al-Natsha and Taha are being detained in Al-Damoun Prison and the others, Rashid and Abu-Laila, are being held in Meggido Prison.

December 30, 2019 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Subjugation - Torture | , , , | Leave a comment

Canada Wants to Be an ‘Asset of Israel’ at the UN Security Council

Deputy PM of Canada, Christya Freeland (L), and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu. (Photo: Supplied)
By Hanna Kawas | Palestine Chronicle | December 30, 2019

Canadian activists have compiled a study of Canada’s 2019 voting record at the United Nations on resolutions that document and censure Israeli violations of international law.

There was much fanfare made about Canada’s orphan “yes” vote at the UN General Assembly this year on “The right of the Palestinian people to self-determination” resolution. But in the broader context of the other 17 resolutions calling out Israel’s war crimes, that Canada either voted against (15) or abstained on (2), this lone vote can only be seen as deceptive and hypocritical.

Justin Trudeau, explaining his government’s vote to Canadian Zionists, stated:

“The government felt that it was important to reiterate its commitment to a two-states-for-two-peoples solution at a time when its prospects appear increasingly under threat”.

However, if the Trudeau government was really committed to a “two-states-for-two-peoples solution”, it is inconceivable that at the same time they also voted against:

  1. A resolution to support the work of the “Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People” that affirms the UN “has a permanent responsibility towards the question of Palestine until the question is resolved in all its aspects”;
  2. The “Peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine” resolution that calls “on Member States not to recognize any changes to the pre-1967 borders, including with regards to Jerusalem”;
  3. “The Syrian Golan” resolution that “Demands once more that Israel withdraw from all the occupied Syrian Golan to the line of 4 June 1967 in implementation of the relevant Security Council resolutions”;
  4. “Permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and of the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan over their natural resources” resolution;
  5. The resolution that condemns the “Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and the occupied Syrian Golan” and reaffirms the “inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by force”; and
  6. The resolution concerning “Israeli practices affecting the human rights of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem” that expresses “grave concern about the continuing systematic violation of the human rights of the Palestinian people by Israel”.

And finally, why would Canada vote against a resolution to uphold the rights of “Persons displaced as a result of the June 1967 and subsequent hostilities”, unless it supports Israel’s ethnic cleansing of the West Bank and the “Greater Israel Project”?!

Some observers have speculated that Canada’s lone vote was motivated by Trudeau’s desire to obtain a seat on the UN Security Council. Over a year ago, then Foreign and now Deputy PM Chrystia Freeland was quoted as follows during a visit to Israel:

“She also mentioned Canada’s current bid for one of 10 non-permanent seats on the UN Security Council for 2021-2022, which she hoped would allow Canada to serve as an ‘asset for Israel and… strengthen our collaboration’.”

So, this is what Canada plans to do if it gets sufficient votes for a seat, be an “asset for Israel”?

Canada is relying on the votes, and possible lobbying, of some Arab reactionary regimes to get the backing required for the Security Council seat; one example is Jordan.

Just last month during a visit, “Jordan’s King Abdullah II told Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that the Middle Eastern kingdom supports Canada’s bid for a seat on the United Nations Security Council”. This was according to Jordan’s ambassador to Canada, Majed Alqatarneh, who also said Jordan “believes it is important that Canada have a seat on the Security Council”.

Canada also seems to be counting on the support of certain diplomatic circles from the US; former U.S. ambassador to Ottawa, Bruce Heyman stated:

“For me, today, when the U.N. General Assembly is all together, a Canadian seat on the U.N. Security Council is more important than ever”.

We tell Mr. Trudeau that instead of your objective of getting a seat at the UN Security Council, you may end up with a seat in front of the ICC. If the “two-states-for-two-peoples solution… prospects appear increasingly under threat”, it is because of Canada’s (and others) unconditional support for Israeli occupation, war crimes, and apartheid.

– Hanna Kawas is Chairperson of the Canada Palestine Association and co-host of Voice of Palestine. Visit: http://www.cpavancouver.org.

December 30, 2019 Posted by | Deception, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , , | 3 Comments

Hezbollah Denounces ‘Savage’ Attack on Iraq’s Hashd Shaabi: US Exposed Its True Face

Al-Manar | December 30, 2019

Hezbollah on Monday firmly denounced US aggression on Iraq’s Kata’ib Hezbollah, describing it as savage and blatant assault on Iraq’s sovereignty.

“The savage and perfidious aggression by the US on Kata’ib Hezbollah in Iraq is a blatant attack on Iraq’s sovereignty, security, stability and people, especially the Hashd Shaabi which had the upper hand in confronting the Takfiri terror and defeating it,” a statement released by Hezbollah’s Media Relations Office read, referring to Iraq’s paramilitary force, also called Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), in which Kata’ib Hezbollah is one of its components.

“This aggression affirms again that the US administration wants to strike the power factors within the Iraqi people who are capable of confronting Daesh (ISIL) and other US-backed extremist and criminal groups.”

“The US administration exposes its true face as a hostile power to Iraq and Iraqis’ interests,” the statement added.

Hezbollah offered condolences to Iraqis on the martyrs of the attack, wishing speedy recovery for those who were wounded.

“Those who decided this criminal aggression will find out soon the idiocy of such decision as well as its repercussions,” the statement concluded.

December 30, 2019 Posted by | War Crimes | , , , | 7 Comments

Facebook Blocks State-run Radio Pakistan’s Live Streaming for Highlighting Kashmir Issue

Sputnik – December 30, 2019

For four months, the Pakistani government has been accusing Twitter of suspending hundreds of accounts of Pakistanis for raising issue related to Indian-administered part of Kashmir. The communication blockade entered its 148th day in Kashmir since the revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir by Modi’s government.

Pakistan’s government has criticised the American social media giant Facebook for blocking the live streaming of news bulletins run by state-run Radio Pakistan, terming it a violation of basic human rights.

Special Assistant on Information and Broadcasting Ministry Firdous Ashiq Awan said that government will “make efforts for the restoration of the live streaming of Radio Pakistan’s news on Facebook”.

The minister said every time the state-run radio service tries to highlight “human rights violations” in Kashmir on social media platforms, “the accounts are suspended”.Earlier in the day, Radio Pakistan said its live streaming service of news bulletins was blocked for highlighting “Indian atrocities in Kashmir”.

The news coverage exposing “continued atrocities, curfew and military lockdown” led to the blockage, the statement read.

Radio Pakistan has also shared a screenshot message reportedly sent by Facebook in which the American firm claimed that “your post goes against our Community Standards on dangerous individuals and organisations”.

A huge number of Pakistani nationals have been venting their ire on social media since the Indian parliament revoked the decades-old temporary special status of Jammu and Kashmir State on 5 August and bifurcated it later into two federally-administered Union Territories.

A number of accounts of Pakistani journalists, activists and even some of government officials were suspended in August, triggering outrage among the people.

The Kashmir region has been a bone of contention for India and Pakistan. Both the nuclear-armed neighbours claim Kashmir in full but rule only part of the region.

December 30, 2019 Posted by | Full Spectrum Dominance | , , , , | 1 Comment

Mexico orders ambassador in Bolivia to return after she declared non grata

Press TV – December 30, 2019

Mexico has ordered its ambassador in Bolivia to return to the country in order to ensure her safety.

The Mexican Foreign Ministry said on Monday that the order was issued after Bolivia declared Mexico’s Ambassador Maria Teresa Mercado a “persona non grata.”

Bolivia’s interim leader Jeanine Anez announced Monday that the country has decided to expel Mexico’s ambassador and two Spanish diplomats.

“The constitutional government that I preside over has decided to declare persona non grata the ambassador of Mexico in Bolivia, Maria Teresa Mercado, the charge d’affaires of Spain, Cristina Borreguero, and the (Spanish) consul, Alvaro Fernandez,” Anez said.

The announcement came after Bolivia accused Spanish embassy staff of trying to infiltrate the Mexican mission in the Bolivian capital, La Paz, with a group of masked men to take out former Bolivian president Evo Morales’s aide.

Madrid has strongly denied the accusation.

“The ministry wishes to clarify that the charge d’affaires was purely making a courtesy visit and vehemently denies there was any aim to facilitate the exit of people holed up inside the building,” Spain’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The Mexican embassy in La Paz has become the center of the diplomatic row after it housed nine officials from Morales’s former government.

On Thursday, Mexico said the Bolivian regime is “harassing” and “intimidating” its diplomatic personnel in La Paz in what seems to be retribution for the granting of asylum by Mexico to Morales.

Mexico City said Bolivia has, among other things, boosted police presence outside the Mexican diplomatic mission in La Paz since Monday, intimidating the diplomats.

Last month, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador gave political asylum to Morales, who had been forced to resign under pressure from the country’s military.

Morales has since relocated to Argentina.

Morales, who had already been president since 2006, won his country’s presidential election in October, but the Bolivian military and opposition claimed that the election had been rigged, inciting deadly street protests.

The 60-year-old president, who enjoys a broad popular base both at home and in Latin America, nevertheless decided to step down and go into exile in Mexico amid threats of violence against him and with an apparent intention not to push the country toward further instability.

December 30, 2019 Posted by | Aletho News | , | 1 Comment

Bolivian Vassals Are Merely Aping Their Imperial Masters

By Stephen Karganovic | Strategic Culture Foundation | December 30, 2019

A serious diplomatic row with significant international law implications has erupted between the government of Mexico and the Bolivian coup regime installed by foreign interests in November 2019. Readers will recall that the legal President of Bolivia, Evo Morales, notwithstanding his overwhelming electoral victory in October 2019, was made to resign shortly thereafter under the duress of traitorous elements of the police and military apparatus who were bribed by the ruling imperial power in the Western hemisphere and directed to remove him. The coup was, as usual in these situations, justified by alleged electoral fraud. Morales was replaced by a racist and quasi-fascist de facto regime. The President initially received political asylum in Mexico and since then has moved to Argentina, where he also was granted refuge. Several of his cabinet officials and parliamentarians of his party, Movement Toward Socialism (MAS), took refuge in the Mexican embassy in La Paz, where they still remain.

The coup regime, fearing a groundswell of popular support for Morales and his party, and seeking to detain potential candidates from the MAS leadership who might run in the new elections promised to take place a few months from now, demanded that Mexico hand over the officials (about 20 at the end of November) who had taken refuge in its embassy. They are being pursued on specious charges of “terrorism and corruption,” also fully consistent with the color revolution playbook. The intentions of the usurpers toward the officials of the legitimate government are rather plainly reflected in the ominous terminology they used to denounce Argentina for granting refuge to Morales and Mexico for doing the same for officials who were left behind in Bolivia. According to Roxana Lizarraga, the regime “minister of communication,” both countries “have become a refuge for criminals.” When the Mexican government refused to comply, coup regime forces proceeded to encircle the Mexican diplomatic compound in La Paz and to interfere with its normal operation, brazenly disregarding clear prescriptions of the Vienna Convention, which enshrines the absolute inviolability of diplomatic premises. Mexican President Lopez Obrador very pointedly condemned the conduct of the lawless Bolivian coup authorities as “something that it would not have occurred even to Pinochet to do.”

In Latin American terms, it should be pointed out, the terminology to which the Mexican President resorted is anything but hyperbole. Latin American countries have a long history of coups and revolutions and, quite apart from the prescriptions of the relatively recently adopted (1969) Vienna Convention, they have a lengthy tradition of respecting each other’s diplomatic premises as places of refuge where today’s rulers may end up seeking shelter tomorrow. The siege of Mexico’s diplomatic mission in La Paz is therefore doubly obnoxious. It is a crude infringement of a positive norm of international law, but at the same time also violates a deeply ingrained Latin American tradition.

At a press conference on December 26, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard disclosed that at least 29 countries, most from Latin America but also member states of the European Union, have contacted the Mexican diplomatic mission in La Paz to express their concern for its safety and support for its inviolability. What followed was a truly bombshell announcement of the Mexican Foreign Minister that in response to the abuse and illegal conduct of Bolivian coup regime forces Mexico will file suit at the International Court of Justice to seek a cease and desist order against the Bolivian authorities (also here). To which the coup regime “interior minister” Arturo Murillo laconically responded: “See you in court.”

But it so happens that Murillo’s insolence is not entirely baseless. He is an official of an illegally installed puppet regime, and he is also a sharp student and very mindful of the atrocious example disseminated by his puppet-masters. He is following their obnoxious model to the smallest detail.

Murrillo’s nonchalance is quite understandable, for instance, in light of the 1986 ICJ case where tiny Nicaragua squared off against Murillo’s imperial puppet masters, who were charged with supporting a seditious proxy army and mining Nicaragua’s harbors. Amazingly, the Court ruled in Nicaragua’s favor and even awarded it damages. But the imperial cowboys simply brushed it off on the pretext that they had no obligation to abide by judgments that were “contrary to [their] national interest.” That was effectively the end of the matter, and who can blame Murillo today for being unconvinced that the breach of international law complained of by Mexico will ever be punished, regardless of the way the International Court of Justice might rule in the Mexican lawsuit?

Is there any particular need to recall a more recent outrage in London? Independent journalist Julian Assange was unceremoniously seized by the British police within the premises of the Ecuadorian embassy, with the full connivance of the Ecuadorian puppet regime, and in complete disregard of not just the fact that Assange was a political refugee fully protected by the Vienna Convention, but also of his status as an Ecuadorian citizen?

But for the ultimate model of these lawless operations, we need go no further than the sarcastically named “Operation Nifty Package,” by which Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega was extracted from the Vatican Nunciature in Panama City, where he had taken refuge following the armed invasion of his country by Murillo’s scofflaw imperial mentors. Just like their Bolivian acolytes, the invaders surrounded the Vatican diplomatic mission, resolving to “smoke out” their prey by making life inside it unbearable both for him and the diplomatic staff: “The plan involved music, mostly heavy metal and rock, with a few ballads thrown in. It was blasted on loudspeakers, at deafening volumes, around the clock.” A “nifty package,” indeed, and so in keeping with the dignity of a hyperpower, which impressionable Bolivian janissaries have now updated with dozens of drones intimidatingly overflying the Mexican compound in La Paz and armed goons harassing Mexican diplomatic personnel, including the ambassador, who venture outside.

The emerging pattern of lawlessness in virtually every segment of international affairs is acutely exemplified in this truly postmodern diplomatic row.

December 30, 2019 Posted by | Illegal Occupation | , , | Leave a comment

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