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Dr. Peter McCullough: COVID Shots for Kids ‘the Last Straw’

By Brenda Baletti, Ph.D. | The Defender | August 19, 2024

“A child today faces well over a hundred shots,” cardiologist Dr. Peter McCullough told host Mat Staver on a recent episode of “Freedom Alive.” Many of those shots are for infectious diseases of the past or contemporary illnesses that don’t pose a risk to infants.

McCullough said the “inflection point” was the 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act, which freed vaccine manufacturers from liability for vaccine injuries. “We saw essentially a vaccine bonanza develop,” he said, and “excessive, unnecessary” vaccination could be leading to serious side effects.

Those vaccines start just after a baby is born, he said, when they are given the hepatitis B vaccine.

As a cardiologist, dealing with blood and body fluids, McCullough said the vaccine is appropriate for him, but babies are not at risk for it unless their mother has the illness or is an active IV drug user. For most babies, he said, it is a “completely unnecessary shot on the first day of life.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in October 2023 recommended newborns receive Beyfortus, the monoclonal antibody shot meant to protect babies from RSV-related illness.

“This has no safety track record,” he said. “We’ve never given a synthetic antibody to a baby ever in the history of medicine, and now it’s being given uniformly with no idea of what is going to happen to the baby’s immune system over the next several weeks or months.”

The clinical trials were inconclusive as to whether Beyfortus is safe, and evidence from France shows increased mortality among infants after the shot was introduced, he said.

McCullough said the broader safety concerns stem largely from the fact that so many are given in combination. “For some babies, it’s too much,” he said.

Excessive vaccination, he explained, sends the immune system into overdrive, which can lead a baby to develop a fever and a febrile seizure (convulsion).

Research shows febrile seizures have about a 40% chance of causing permanent neurologic injury, ranging from epilepsy to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder to autism spectrum disorder.

Staver said many parents who saw their children develop autism post-vaccination are told either that it isn’t true or it’s just a coincidence because there is no evidence of such a link.

“The direct observation by a mother and father of their child is the strongest evidence,” McCullough said, citing Dr. Andy Wakefield’s controversial 1998 study.

McCullough also cited a recent study by the Children’s Health Defense science team, which showed that combining multiple vaccines is dangerous. Spacing them out and giving them individually — rather than combining three vaccines into one shot, like the measles-mumps-rubella, or MMR, vaccine — is safer, he said.

And, he said, all children do not need all vaccines. Which vaccines a child gets should be determined on a risk basis. For example, a child with cystic fibrosis might need the respiratory illness vaccines, but healthy kids probably don’t.

Yet these vaccines are given to all children in part, he said, because the people who advise the CDC on which vaccines should be recommended for children have serious conflicts of interest — most take money from Big Pharma. Then schools enact mandates based on those recommendations, leaving parents feeling as if they have no choice.

Vaccine makers lobby state legislators to continually increase the list of mandatory vaccines.

McCullough said:

“Can you imagine if you had a product that treats an illness? You would have to treat a small number of people in a population. But if you have a vaccine, that means the whole entire population has to receive the product.

“A product that must be purchased by the entire population with no liability is an absolute boon to any purveyor of that product.”

McCullough said the CDC has turned a blind eye to vaccine safety. For example, none of the childhood vaccines have been studied for safety when given in combination.

He added that Dr. Paul Thomas reported in The Defender that pediatricians receive substantial incentives from insurance companies to vaccinate certain high percentages of their patients.

For lower-income kids, there is also government financial support to ensure that the vast majority of the population is vaccinated against legacy diseases like diphtheria, tetanus, polio and other diseases that are either no longer commonly circulating or for which good treatments exist.

For many, McCullough said, the recommendation that children take the COVID-19 vaccine, given its alarming safety data, was “the last straw.”

“That act was irresponsible. It triggered the World Council for Health, which is an evidence-based, consensus-driven body to recommend waiting on all the childhood vaccines,” he said.

Vaccines are not safe or effective enough to mandate, McCullough said. “Every parent and child unit should be able to make their own decisions free of any pressure, coercion, or threat of reprisal.”

Watch the interview here.

This article was originally published by The Defender — Children’s Health Defense’s News & Views Website under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Please consider subscribing to The Defender or donating to Children’s Health Defense.

August 20, 2024 Posted by | Science and Pseudo-Science | , , | Leave a comment

A strategic shift: Will Palestinian groups return to ‘martyrdom attacks’ inside Israel?

By Ramzy Baroud | MEMO | August 20, 2024

Yesterday, the Palestinian Resistance Movement Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad warned Israel that they plan to return to ‘martyrdom attacks’ inside Israel.

“The Brigades affirm that martyrdom operations within the occupied territories will return to the forefront as long as the massacres by the occupation, the displacement of civilians and the assassination policy continue,” a joint statement by Al-Qassam Brigades and Al-Quds Brigades said.

Palestinian groups have refrained from using martyrdom attacks, or suicide bombings, as it is often called by mainstream media, as a central piece of their ongoing resistance against Israel.

The warning followed an explosion that rocked Tel Aviv on the evening of Sunday.

Initially, Israeli media conveyed a degree of confusion regarding what had transpired in the Israeli capital, before an Israeli police commander announced that there was a 99 per cent chance that the operation was “an attempted terror attack”.

Later, Israel said that the attacker may have originated from the Nablus area of the southern West Bank.

The attack and the announcement of responsibility by Hamas and the Islamic Jihad the following day are significant and could become the beginning of a strategic shift by Palestinians in their ongoing war against the Israeli occupation.

But why would Palestinians return to such operations?

Since 7 October, the Israeli war on Gaza has expanded to reach other domains, thus complicating the mission of the Israeli army, which has been overstretched to fight on several fronts.

While the war in Gaza itself remains the main battlefield, other war fronts began escalating with time, mainly the border war between the Lebanese Resistance Movement, Hezbollah, and the Israeli occupation army.

To prevent the West Bank from turning into a major front for the resistance, the Israeli army began carrying out bloody, but focused, attacks on Palestinian resistance brigades, which operate mostly in the northern West Bank.

Geographically isolated and operating mostly in small groups, Palestinian fighters underwent a bloody, disproportionate war against the Israeli army.

The Israeli occupation army’s confidence was buoyed by the fact that security forces and intelligence belonging to the Palestinian Authority openly cooperated with the Israeli military in their attempt to crush the resistance.

The degree of cooperation reached its zenith on 26 July, when PA security forces besieged the 26-year-old leader of the Tulkarm Brigades, and other fighters, in the Thabet Thabet Hospital in Tulkarm.

If it were not for hundreds of ordinary Palestinians who rushed to the hospital to rescue their youth, the fighters would have been apprehended, if not even worse.

But Israel’s military campaign to crush the resistance in the West Bank was hardly a success. According to Al Jazeera, 100 Palestinian operations were carried out in the last month alone.

Meanwhile, the resistance in Gaza has proved its durability, moving from the stage of defence to that of counter-attacks on more than one occasion. The operation by Hamas’s Al-Qassam fighters targeting Israeli forces inside the fortified Netzarim area in central Gaza, on Sunday, was a case in point.

These developments have been taking place in the larger context of the widening confrontation between Hezbollah and Israel, with the former extending its pinpointed operations to reach Nahariya, among other areas, in northern Israel.

Despite all the setbacks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has managed to reverse his dwindling numbers among potential voters. According to a poll conducted by the Israeli newspaper Maariv on 9 August, the Likud Party, led by Netanyahu, would be the largest party in the Knesset if elections were held today. This is the first time such results have been seen since 7 October.

A combination of factors led to the resurgence of Netanyahu in opinion polls.

First, the Israeli leader’s main rival, Benny Gantz has failed to galvanize on the anti-Netanyahu and anti-government popular sentiments starting on 7 October.

Second, Netanyahu’s ability to guarantee US support for his aggressive regional policies helped reassure the Israeli public.

Third, the direct involvement of the US-British and other western navies in confronting Yemen’s Ansarallah – Houthis – in the Red Sea has partly downgraded the geopolitical threat of the Yemeni solidarity with the Palestinians.

Fourth, the daring assassination of top Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on 31 July, and the assassination of leading Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr the day before, allowed Netanyahu to sell the idea, however temporary, that Israel has regained its so-called ‘deterrence’.

And, finally, despite the interception of occasional missiles beyond the Gaza Envelope or Israel’s northmost regions, Israeli society in the central areas of the country has learned to adapt to the new reality of the war.

While the Israeli army is losing an unprecedented number of soldiers and equipment on multiple fronts, not all Israelis are experiencing that loss in their everyday lives.

The opposite is true for Palestinians and Lebanese.

For the former, the genocide in Gaza has turned into a daily reality, and the Israeli occupation forces’s war on the West Bank has proved to be the most violent since the Second Intifada or Uprising of 2002.

Meanwhile, in Lebanon, Israel continues to target civilian areas as a matter of course, thus constantly challenging the rules of engagement that have governed the relationship between the Israeli army and the Lebanese resistance for years.

The new status quo may have assured Netanyahu that he might be able to carry on with his war in Gaza, reject any reasonable ceasefire proposal and maintain low-intensity warfare with Lebanon.

Netanyahu would also like to see the US-British war on Yemen escalate into an all-out war against Iran.

The Palestinian warning of their intention to return to striking deep inside Israel is meant to disturb Netanyahu’s calculations.

By denying Israelis any sense of security in major cities inside Israel, the Israeli public could, once more, turn against Netanyahu for failing to deliver on any of his lofty promises.

It remains unclear whether Sunday’s truck bombing was the exception or the start of a new norm. Either way, Netanyahu and his security apparatus must be aware of how such a move could prove equally costly to all of Israel’s losing wars, on all fronts.

August 20, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Soft normalization: Saudi Arabia quietly engages with Israel

By Mawadda Iskandar | The Cradle | August 20, 2024

Despite Israel’s ongoing brutal assault on the Gaza Strip and its 2.4 million Palestinians, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) continues to pursue a controversial deal to normalize relations with the occupation state. Riyadh has persisted in deepening relations with Tel Aviv in multiple sectors despite receiving ‘death threats’ from opponents of normalization in the kingdom.

So why, then, does the crown prince insist on trudging down this unpopular path unless he believes that establishing ties with Israel is crucial for securing his ascendency to the Saudi throne?

Earlier this week, Politico revealed new details about these secretive negotiations, including multiple US commitments to Riyadh. These US assurances range from security guarantees through a treaty to assistance with a civilian nuclear program and economic investments in technology.

However, Tel Aviv remains resistant to including a credible path for establishing a Palestinian state as part of a deal, a key demand from the Saudis.

A history of quiet diplomatic moves

Normalization with Saudi Arabia is no less important for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has considered the deal a major diplomatic goal since before his re-election in 2022. Prior to last year’s Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, Netanyahu believed the deal was imminent.

Today, the situation remains complex, with the deal’s fate hanging in the balance due to conflicting conditions and demands set by Saudi Arabia, the US, and Israel.

The roots of normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel stretch back several decades, with a history of covert diplomatic dealings often referred to as ‘soft normalization.’

Since his appointment as Riyadh’s ambassador to Washington in 1983, Prince Bandar bin Sultan Al-Saud laid the groundwork for this gradual rapprochement, meeting with Israeli political and security leaders over the years. His successor, Turki al-Faisal, continued these efforts, becoming a key point man in Saudi–Israeli contacts.

Anwar Eshki, who served as his predecessor and was an adviser to Prince Bandar, participated in seminars promoting normalization and paid his first visit to the occupied territories in 2016.

A pivotal moment in this covert relationship took place in 2019 when MbS hosted a delegation of evangelical figures supporting the Zionist project led by Joel Rosenberg. The meeting, along with subsequent secret talks between MbS and Netanyahu in NEOM in 2020, marked a notable step toward open normalization. Over time, such meetings and visits became routine, with Saudi officials and citizens increasingly engaging with Israel, including making public visits to the occupied territories.

Repressive measures and strategic interests

The two states share several strategic goals. Saudi Arabia is opposed to the regional Axis of Resistance, which includes Iran, Syria, Hezbollah, Ansarallah, Hamas, and other non-state actors, and has implemented repressive measures against the Palestinian resistance. The kingdom has for years targeted supporters of Hamas and individuals funneling funds to the Palestinian territories. This includes the arrest of more than 60 Palestinians in 2019, some of them Hamas officials and Saudi nationals who received lengthy prison terms.

As recently as May, Saudi Arabia stepped up its campaign to arrest social media users in the kingdom who attacked Israel online – this after more than 34,000 Palestinians had been killed in relentless Israeli airstrikes on population centers.

From the sidelines, Saudi Arabia has also supported the normalization efforts of Bahrain and Sudan while offering the occupied West Bank-based Palestinian Authority (PA) economic incentives to collaborate further with Israel.

Since its inception, the kingdom has utilized Islam to legitimize its political actions, and this Saudi soft normalization with Israel is no exception, with Muhammad bin Abdul Karim bin Abdulaziz Al-Issa, Secretary General of the Muslim World League, playing a key role in promoting religious normalization.

Since 2017, Al-Issa has championed the cause of interfaith dialogue as a gateway for furthering religious ties with Israel. His 2020 visit to Auschwitz and subsequent meetings with Israeli and Jewish leaders were part of this broader strategy.

US Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Anti-Semitism, Deborah Lipstadt, also met with Saudi officials in the kingdom, and a delegation of American Jewish leaders visited to promote normalization. Areas of soft normalization included Saudi Arabia’s hosting of Rabbi Yaakov Herzog, a former Israeli artillery soldier and an extremist Zionist advocate of the demolition of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The rabbi seeks to stir controversy through his activities, including a visit to the mosque and the cemetery of martyrs of Uhud in Medina.

Security and economic ties with Israel 

Unsurprisingly, Riyadh and Tel Aviv have worked to enhance their security cooperation – a significant aspect of their relationship today. As the world’s largest arms importer, Saudi Arabia has sought to enhance its military capabilities through deals with the occupation state, including acquiring Israel’s flawed Iron Dome air defense system. Security relations have included joint military exercises and cooperation on cybersecurity, with Saudi Arabia relying on Israeli spyware to monitor and control opposition within the kingdom.

Speaking to The Cradle, dissident Saudi author and political analyst Fouad Ibrahim says:

Saudi Arabia views normalization as more than just a political project, as it also includes an economic project and a strategic project related to the future of the throne in Saudi Arabia.

Economic normalization is crucial for MbS’s coveted Vision 2030 project, which aims to transform the kingdom’s economy and institute social liberalization. The deal with Israel includes opening Saudi airspace to Israeli flights and encouraging Israeli investment in Saudi heritage sites. Jared Kushner, the architect of the 2020 Abraham Accords, has played a prominent role in these efforts, working to establish an investment corridor between Riyadh and Tel Aviv.

Among the most ambitious projects is the fiber optic cable linking Tel Aviv to Persian Gulf countries, as well as a planned railway expansion that would connect Saudi Arabia to Israel via Jordan. Ibrahim contends that the Palestinian resistance’s Al-Aqsa Flood operation last October disrupted these plans, placing a whole host of these economic projects in jeopardy:

The Al-Aqsa Flood came and thwarted this project and disrupted it for an unknown period. Therefore, the Saudi regime, along with the US and the Israeli entity, was the first to feel that the Al-Aqsa Flood was directed primarily at the normalization project in the region.

Softening stance leading to soft normalization 

Cultural and media strategies have played an advanced role in acclimating Saudis to normalization with Israel. Since the events of 11 September 2001, Saudi Arabia has worked on revising its education curricula, gradually removing references to Israel as an enemy and promoting a more neutral stance on the occupation state. Art and media have also played a role, with Saudi TV channels airing programs that subtly promote peace with Israel.

The media, in particular, has been a powerful tool in shaping public perception, with Saudi outlets often hosting Israeli officials and broadcasting reports from within the kingdom. This propaganda campaign has aimed to create a climate conducive to normalization, although public support for such a move has fluctuated, especially after the events of 7 October.

At the heart of the crown prince’s Vision 2030 is his desire to position Saudi Arabia as a global sports hub. The Public Investment Fund, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, leads this expansive project by purchasing major foreign sports franchises and hosting international sporting events in the kingdom.

The sports sector has been yet another tool of soft normalization, paving the way for official Israeli teams to appear in Saudi Arabia, where they raise the occupation state’s flag and sing its national anthem. Official matches and competitions are held between Saudi and Israeli players, and the Saudi national football team has even participated in matches held in the occupied West Bank.

As is now glaringly evident, Riyadh’s efforts toward normalization with Tel Aviv have been multifaceted, involving diplomatic, religious, security, economic, cultural, and media strategies. While these efforts have made significant progress over the years, the future of this delicate relationship remains uncertain, especially with rapid developments in the region-wide resistance against the occupation state in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

The underlying strategic interests that drive Riyadh’s approach to Israel – security, economic growth, and regional influence – suggest that these efforts will continue, albeit with tweaks and adjustments, so as not to invite reprisals from the Resistance Axis, not least the Yemeni Armed Forces on Saudi Arabia’s restive southern border.

August 20, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , | 5 Comments

A new leader for the next phase of Palestinian resistance

Yahya Sinwar, head of the Palestinian Islamic movement Hamas ,in Gaza City on 14 April 2023 [Yousef Masoud/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images]
By Sayid Marcos Tenório | MEMO | August 20, 2024

The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, announced on 6 August the election of Yahya Sinwar as the new head of the movement’s Political Bureau, succeeding Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in an Israeli terrorist attack in Tehran. Haniyeh was in the Iranian capital to attend the inauguration of President Masoud Pezeshkian.

Sinwar is one of the most prominent figures in the Hamas political sphere, known for his heavy hand and for making big changes. His unanimous election is a strong message that Hamas has become stronger and more resilient despite the severe blow it received from the political murder of Haniyeh. The movement expressed its confidence in Sinwar, known as Abu Ibrahim, to lead this new delicate phase in a complex local, regional and international context.

Known for his steadfast leadership style and his resistance-focused approach to the occupation state, Sinwar has played a crucial role in shaping the resistance movement’s strategies and managing Gaza’s complex political and social relations.

Hamas wanted a replacement for Haniyeh who would send strong messages to the enemies of the Palestinian people.

Sinwar was elected head of the Hamas Political Bureau in Gaza in February 2017, also succeeding Ismail Haniyeh. He was re-elected for a second term in 2021. He led the Great March of Return in 2018, a peaceful attempt to break the siege of Gaza, as well as the Sword of Al-Quds campaign in 2021. He has also played a prominent role in strengthening relations with the axis of resistance.

The new political bureau head was the mastermind and commander of the epic Al-Aqsa Flood, which has lasted more than 300 days. In a speech at the commemoration in Gaza on 14 December 2022 of the 35th anniversary of the creation of Hamas, he foreshadowed the events of 7 October when he declared: “We will come to you [Israel], God willing, in a thunderous flood. We will go against you with endless rockets, we will go against you in an endless onslaught of combatants, we will go against you with millions of our own, like an endless tide.”

The other Palestinian factions and leaders of the axis of resistance expressed their support for Sinwar’s election, demonstrating confidence in his ability to overcome the loss of Haniyeh and to continue his legacy and that of all the martyred leaders, especially those who fell during Al-Aqsa Storm.

Yahya Sinwar was born in 1962 in the Khan Younis refugee camp in the Gaza Strip after his family was ethnically cleansed from the city of Majdal Asqualan (“Ashkelon”) by the Zionists in the 1948 Nakba. He completed his secondary education at Khan Younis Boys Secondary School. He then earned a bachelor’s degree in Arabic from the Islamic University of Gaza, where he was one of the leaders of the Student Council for five years, serving as Secretary of the Artistic Committee, then of the Sports Committee, Vice-President, President of the Council, and then Vice-President again from 1982 to 1987.

He began his political activity in his youth, leading numerous popular clashes against the Zionist occupation state between 1982 and 1988. His participation was instrumental in the founding of Majd, the Hamas internal security apparatus tasked with exposing Israeli spies. Along with Salah Shehada, he was one of the founders of the Hamas military wing, the Izz Ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, in 1991.

Arrested by Israel in 1982, Sinwar spent six months in Fara’a Prison for his resistance activities. In 1988, he was arrested again and given four life sentences, serving 23 consecutive years in the enemy’s prisons.

He spent four years being held in solitary confinement.

In prison, he repeatedly assumed leadership of the Hamas prisoners’ High Command, leading a series of hunger strikes, with significant examples in 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004. He learnt and still speaks fluent Hebrew and has numerous writings and translations related to political and security issues.

He translated the books Shabak Among the Remains and Israeli Parties in 1992, for example, and authored Hamas: Experience and Mistakes and Al-Mayd, which documents the work of the occupation state’s Shin Bet internal security agency. He is also the author of a novel, Thorns and Carnations, which covers the experience of the Palestinian struggle from the 1967 Naksa to the First Intifada (1987-1993).

After his release in 2011 under the prisoner exchange deal which saw 1,027 Palestinian prisoners freed in exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, he was elected to the Hamas political office in Gaza and assumed responsibility for the security cabinet in 2012. He was later elected to the general political office and assumed responsibility for the military cabinet in 2013.

Now, the legitimate resistance for the liberation of the historic land of Palestine from occupation, with Jerusalem as its capital, continues under the leadership of Yahya Sinwar, a selfless anti-colonial, anti-occupation fighter.

August 20, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Timeless or most popular | , , , | Leave a comment

Iran Hawks’ Hacking Claims Designed to Distract Americans, Set Stage for New Regional War

By Ilya Tsukanov – Sputnik – 20.08.2024

After nearly a year of efforts to taunt, provoke and intimidate Iran into a full-on regional war in the Middle East amid the Gaza crisis, Iran hawks in Washington have turned to a new strategy, accusing Tehran of interfering in the upcoming US presidential election. A respected Middle Eastern affairs scholar explains what’s behind the new approach.

The FBI, the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence formally accused Iran of attempting to hack the Trump and Biden-Harris presidential campaigns on Monday.

The new allegations, which came weeks after a series of reports in US media citing “anonymous intelligence sources” claiming that Iran was plotting to assassinate Donald Trump, or to hack his presidential campaign, were not accompanied with any evidence.

“As the lead for threat response, the FBI has been tracking this activity, has been in contact with the victims, and will continue to investigate and gather information in order to pursue and disrupt the threat actors responsible. We will not tolerate foreign efforts to influence or interfere with our elections, including the targeting of American political campaigns,” the US intel agencies said in a joint statement.

Iran calmly rejected the US’s “unsubstantiated” and evidence-free claims.

“Such allegations are unsubstantiated and devoid of any standing. As we have previously announced, the Islamic Republic of Iran harbors neither the intention nor the motive to interference with the US presidential election,” the country’s permanent mission to the United Nations said in a statement.

“Should the US government genuinely believe in the validity of its claims, it should furnish us with the pertinent evidence – if any, to which we will respond accordingly,” the mission added.

Dangerous Distraction Action

“There is little doubt that the rhetoric itself has more impact than the substantiation of these accusations,” Dr. Mehmet Rakipoglu, a political scientist and international affairs observer and assistant professor at Turkiye’s Mardin Artuklu University, told Sputnik.

“Creating artificial agendas such as [the Iran hacking claims] intensifies hostilities between the parties involved. This accusation seems to be aimed at diverting attention from Israel’s actions in Gaza and refocusing it on the US election process,” Rakipoglu added, pointing out that Tel Aviv has been bogged down by accusations of engaging in genocide against Gaza’s civilian population, while proving unable to defeat Hamas militarily.

“It is already clear that the American public is deeply divided, regardless of whether there is an alleged Iranian attack. It is not Iran or any other external actor that is responsible for these divisions, but rather the US administrations themselves,” the academic said.

Rakipoglu stressed that, conveniently for the accusers, there’s virtually no way to verify the US intelligence agencies’ allegations, or conversely, prove that or Iran, or any other country, has interfered in the US election.

In some sense, the claims against Iran this election cycle are reminiscent of similar allegations made against Russia ahead of, during and following the 2016 vote, Rakipoglu said.

“While the US propagated a narrative of Russian interference during the 2016 elections, it continued to lose influence over time. It seems that the current accusation against Iran serves the same purpose as the allegations against Russian interference in 2016,” the observer said.

If that’s the case, it could signal a dangerous turn for Iran, and the Middle East in general. The 2016 Russian meddling allegations sparked a deep downturn in Russia-US relations, with the Russiagate conspiracy hounding Donald Trump throughout his term in office, blocking his ability to restore any semblance of normal ties with Moscow, and ultimately manufacturing consent among a substantial portion of the US electorate for the NATO-Russia proxy conflict in Ukraine which began in 2022.

August 20, 2024 Posted by | Deception, Mainstream Media, Warmongering, Wars for Israel | , , | Leave a comment

Democratic Party platform lacks call for US arms embargo on Israel

Press TV – August 20, 2024

The US Democratic Party has unveiled its party platform ahead of the 2024 presidential race, laying out 92 pages of policy priorities with no mention of halting weapons sales to Israel amid the regime’s genocidal war in the besieged Gaza Strip.

The platform which was approved by delegates at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago a day earlier lacks a call for curbing arms sales to Israel despite a demand by pro-Palestinian demonstrators for an arms embargo on the occupying regime in the US city.

The platform, rather, announces that the 2016 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) reached with Israel under former President Barack Obama “is ironclad”. The memorandum which runs until 2028 gives Israel $3.8bn in US military aid each year.

The platform also lists examples of US President Joe Biden’s unwavering support for Israel’s war on Gaza, including the sending of arms shipments and providing a diplomatic shield for Israel at the United Nations during votes for a ceasefire.

The latest development comes a week after Biden’s administration approved more than $20 billion in weapons sales to Israel.

The new US military aid comes despite claims by Washington that it is supporting a ceasefire in Gaza where Israel has been waging a genocidal war since early October last year.

Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas waged the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.

Since then, the United States has supplied the Tel Aviv regime with more than 10,000 tons of military equipment and used its veto power against all United Nations Security Council resolutions that called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

The occupying regime has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, since the start of the barbaric campaign of death, destruction and genocide. And more than 1.7 million people have been internally displaced.

August 20, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Progressive Hypocrite, War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

Lithuania Begins Building Base to House German Soldiers

By Kyle Anzalone | The Libertarian Institute | August 19, 2024

Vilnius started construction on a military base that would house over 4,000 German soldiers. The facility will be located just miles from the border shared with Belarus.

Lithuanian Defense Minister Raimundas Vaiksnoras described the construction as a “huge investment” that will cost over $1.1 billion. He said the German deployment represents “deterrence, to push the Russians out.” However, it is unclear where Lithuania plans to push Russia from as Moscow has not invaded the Baltic state.

At least two dozen German soldiers are already stationed in Lithuania. The German troop deployment, which is scheduled to surge to 4,800 troops by 2027, is Berlin’s first permanent garrison of soldiers deployed to Lithuania since World War 2. From 1941-1945, Nazi Germany occupied Lithuania. Under Hitler’s control, nearly Lithuania’s entire Jewish population was wiped out.

The deployment will provide a significant military surge to Lithuania, which has only 15,000 active duty soldiers. The base is located just 12 miles from the border with Belarus. Germany plans to deploy over 100 Leopard Tanks to the base.

Since the end of the Cold War, Washington has facilitated the expansion of the North Atlantic alliance up to the Russian border. Additionally, Brussels has increased military deployments to new members in Eastern Europe.

The Kremlin has consistently complained that the Eastward expansion of the bloc is a threat to Russian security. Russia has been invaded through its European borders multiple times. Prior to the Ukrainian invasion of Kursk, the last power which invaded Russia was Nazi Germany.

August 20, 2024 Posted by | Militarism, Russophobia | , , | 1 Comment

Starmer calls for comprehensive assistance to Ukraine despite the decline of Britain

By Ahmed Adel – August 20, 2024

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer asked the country’s National Security Council to consider giving more support to Kiev, the British newspaper The Times reported on August 18. Starmer’s request comes as half of British citizens believe their country is heading in the wrong direction, according to a recently published survey.

“Starmer has also asked the National Security Council to draw up plans to provide Ukraine with a broader range of support,” The Times reported, adding that foreign policy adviser to the last three Tory prime ministers, John Bew, went last week to Kiev as part of this effort.

At the same time, a military source told the outlet that Starmer’s policy of supporting Ukraine would be comprehensive.

“It’s not just about the military support, but it’s about the industrial, economic, and diplomatic support,” the defence source said.

The Times added that a special group was created with the participation of the UK’s defence and foreign ministries to build a unified UK policy towards Ukraine.

This comes as the British newspaper The Independent reported on August 17 that the UK Ministry of Defense did not deny information that the Ukrainian Armed Forces had used British Challenger 2 tanks in the attack on the Kursk region, which Russia described as a terrorist act and called a provocation following the deaths of civilians.

The report quoted a Defense Ministry spokesman as saying that Kiev could use the supplied weapons in the attack on the Kursk region. However, this did not apply to the Storm Shadow cruise missiles, which London allowed to be used only inside “internationally recognised” Ukrainian territory.

In January 2023, the UK also announced the transfer of 14 Challenger 2 main battle tanks to Ukraine. At least two of them were destroyed by Russian troops in Kursk. It can be expected that Starmer’s new military package to Ukraine will face the same fate as the Challenger 2 battle tank – Russian forces destroying them.

Yet, despite British military equipment sent to Ukraine being destroyed effortlessly by Russian troops, in addition to the impossibility of Ukraine winning the war, Britain insists on maintaining a policy of trying to prolong the war despite massive domestic issues.

According to a survey by Ipsos published on August 19, 52% of citizens interviewed expressed a negative opinion about the direction the United Kingdom is taking, more than double the number who see the situation improving.

“22% said that they think things in Great Britain are heading in the right direction (-3 from Jul ’24), 52% wrong direction (+3), and 19% neither (N/C). This gives a net right direction of the country rating of -30, which is down from -24 last month,” Ipsos said of the survey results.

The poll found that the number of Britons with a favourable view of Keir Starmer has fallen to 38%, the same proportion as those without sympathy. Although Britons now view him with greater affinity, the article stresses that this is only the “honeymoon” period for the British leader.

Former Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak only garnered the support of 20% of those interviewed, behind Nigel Farage, leader of the right-wing Reform UK party (25%), and Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats (22%). Respondents also ranked the Labour Party first, with 40% giving it a positive rating and 37% a negative rating. The Conservatives received 21% support, the Liberal Democrats 24%, and Reform UK 23%.

Britain’s economy has performed lacklustrely over the past decade. High living costs, elevated interest rates, and faltering productivity gains have particularly affected citizens, causing the British economy to enter recession in the second half of 2023 as households cut back on spending. Although the Bank of England earlier this month raised its growth forecast from 0.5% to 1.25% for 2024, it warned of a weaker medium-term outlook as high interest rates hit activity.

As Simon Pittaway, a senior economist at the Resolution Foundation, explained: “Britain’s medium-term record is far less impressive, and has been driven by a growing population rather than rising productivity. Without a return to productivity growth, living standards will continue to stagnate and Britain will continue to fall behind its peers.”

Yet, despite the grim economic situation, with most citizens believing the country is heading in the wrong direction and Starmer very far from enjoying popular support, the British prime minister has instead prioritised figuring out how to continue assisting Ukraine despite already providing support to the tune of £12 billion, rather than serving the interests of Britons and alleviating the growing poverty in the country.

Ahmed Adel is a Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher.

August 20, 2024 Posted by | Economics, Militarism | , | Leave a comment

Zelensky lashes out at West

RT | August 20, 2024

The West should agree to Ukrainian requests for long-range weapons without concern for Russia’s potential reaction, Vladimir Zelensky has said. The Ukrainian leader claimed that Kiev’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region proves that Moscow has no “red lines.”

According to the Defense Ministry in Moscow, Russian forces have killed more than 3,400 Ukrainian troops and destroyed around 400 pieces of military hardware in Kiev’s ongoing cross-border attack. The assault began on August 6 and is the largest of its kind on Russian territory since hostilities erupted between Moscow and Kiev in February 2022.

Russia has alleged that Ukrainian troops have been using Western-supplied weapons in their operation – claims that have seemingly been supported by reports in the Western media. A number of Kiev’s backers have also publicly given it the green light to use weapons they have provided on Russian soil.

In an address to Ukrainian ambassadors on Monday, Zelensky urged them to “continue convincing our partners to support Ukraine – to the maximum” to make sure they are “in sync with us in their determination.”

“If our partners lifted all the current restrictions on the use of weapons on Russian territory, we would not need to physically enter particularly the Kursk region to protect our Ukrainian citizens in the border communities,” the Ukrainian leader insisted.

He went on to lament that “for now, we cannot use all the weapons at our disposal and eliminate Russian terrorists where they are.”

Zelensky also called on Kiev’s Western backers not to fear a potential escalation from Moscow. He cited Russia’s supposed inability to defend its territory after Kiev crossed the “strictest of all the red lines that Russia has.” According to the Ukrainian leader, this proves that all of Moscow’s other “red lines” are also “illusory.”

Last Friday, Zelensky took the UK to task for supposedly failing in its support. According to media reports, London has refused to allow Kiev to use Storm Shadow missiles in its offensive in Kursk.

Speaking the same day, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told journalists that “for the first time, Kursk Region was hit by Western-made rockets, most likely from an American HIMARS.”

On Monday, Moscow’s top diplomat, Sergey Lavrov, claimed that “Zelensky would never have decided [to attack Russian territory] if the United States had not instructed him to do this.”

August 20, 2024 Posted by | Militarism | , , | 2 Comments

Independent Journalist Arrested Under Terrorism Act in UK

By Ian DeMartino – Sputnik – 20.08.2024

Independent Journalist Richard Medhurst was arrested in the UK on Thursday under the UK’s Terrorism Act 2000, according to a video he posted Monday on X recounting the experience.

“On Thursday, as I landed in London’s Heathrow airport, I was immediately escorted off the plane by six police officers who were waiting for me at the entrance of the aircraft. They arrested me – not detained – they arrested me under Section 12 of the Terrorism Act of 2000 and accused me of allegedly ‘expressing an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed organization’ but wouldn’t explain what this meant,” Medhurst says in the video.

Section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000 has a clause that was added in 2019 that made it illegal to “expresses an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed organization” if “in doing so is reckless as to whether a person to whom the expression is directed will be encouraged to support a proscribed organization.”

Medhurst’s reporting has focused heavily on the Israeli-Gaza war and has spoken out against funding Ukraine. He also posted about the very act that he was arrested for.

“The fascist ‘terrorism act’ being used to hold activists without charge or trial because they tried to stop actual terrorism and genocide by the IDF,” Medhurst posted the same day he was arrested. Medhurst was referring to Palestinian activists who have been detained recently under the Terrorism Act.

Medhurst says he was then handcuffed and transferred to a police station where he was searched and his electronic devices seized.

“I was placed in solitary confinement, in a cold cell that smelled like urine. There was barely any light and the bed, if you can even call it a bed, was simply a small concrete ledge with a paper-thin mattress. The cell had no windows, no heating, no toilet paper. I was recorded 24/7 with audio and video, even when going to the toilet. I had to eat food with a piece of cardboard you’re supposed to fold in two in order to scoop up the meal,” Medhurst said, describing the conditions he was held in.

He was then held for nearly 24 hours without being allowed to contact his family and his attempts to speak to a solicitor (UK legal advisor) were hindered and possibly monitored.

“The police said that I have the right to inform someone that I’m locked up. So I said okay, I want to call my family, then they go ‘Well, your calls are withheld due to the nature of the alleged offense’ I tried to ask well, what’s the point of a right if you can just randomly withdraw it? Why tell me that I have this right at all? And one of them said something along the lines of ‘Well, it’s not an absolute right, it can be waived,’” Medhurst described.

“For many hours, no one in the world knew what had happened to me or where I was. Only the police could call a solicitor for me. I had to ask four or five different guards for several hours before I finally received a call. Some of my solicitor’s calls did not get through or were not answered. One of the calls -my solicitor was told- would be monitored, and so they simply refused to take it. I asked to speak to the solicitor afterwards when that happened but I was not allowed to.”

“In total, I spent almost 24 hours in detention. At no point whatsoever was I allowed to speak to a family member or friend. After waiting 15 hours, I was finally interviewed by two detectives,” Medhurst says the interview lasted 60 to 90 minutes.

Medhurst emphasized that he denies all accusations by the police, noting that his parents held Nobel Peace Prizes for their work as UN peacekeepers and he “categorically and unequivocally” condemns terrorism.

“Those like myself, who are speaking up and reporting on the situation in Palestine are being targeted. I had booked my ticket to London on the same day and yet an entire team of police were mobilized to arrest and question me. This is why I felt this was a preplanned, coordinated arrest. Many people have been detained in Great Britain because of their journalism, sometimes under the Terrorism Act, sometimes not. I think of Julian Assange, Craig Murray, Kit Klarenberg, David Miranda, Vanessa Beeley. As far as I am aware, I am the only journalist, however, to have been arrested and held for up to 24 hours under section 12 of the Terrorism Act.”

Medhurst said that he now feels he has a “muzzle” put on him, and does not know if he will be charged with the crime he was arrested for or if he will be put in jail in a few months, something that makes his work more difficult. “I simply do not know if or how I can work at all during the next month.

Former UN weapons inspector and geopolitical analyst Scott Ritter, whose house was raided by the United States FBI earlier this month for alleged violations of the Foreign Agents Registry Act, called the arrest “political persecution” designed to “hamper [Medhurst’s] important work as a journalist.”

“Freedom of the press, freedom of speech really are under attack. The state is cracking down and escalating to try and stop people from speaking out against our government’s complicity in genocide, please do not just stand with me, but with the others who are still inside,” Medhurst concluded.

UK authorities have not commented on Medhurst’s arrest. His website currently displays an error page but it is not clear if Medhurst removed it voluntarily, at the direction of UK authorities, or if the site was taken down by service providers. Sputnik has reached out to Medhurst for clarification and will update this space if he replies.

 

August 20, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance, Video | , , | 1 Comment

Germany about to decrease its aid to Kiev

By Lucas Leiroz | August 20, 2024

Support for Ukraine is increasingly showing signs of being reduced. The productive capacity of European countries no longer seems sufficient to meet Ukraine’s constant demand for weapons and military equipment, which is why a serious drop in supplies is likely to occur soon. Germany, which is currently experiencing an energy crisis and deindustrialization, seems to be one of the first countries to fail to fulfill its military aid agreements.

The German newspaper Bild recently reported that the “continuous supply” of weapons to the Kiev regime is at risk. The main reason for the production problems is the policy of budgetary restrictions. The article cites sources in the Ministry of Finance and communications between officials from different ministries and the German parliament. The sources state that there is no longer enough budget to continue supporting Ukraine, which is why a change in the military support policy is urgently needed.

According to the newspaper, Finance Minister Christian Lindner recently contacted Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock to discuss the issue. He emphasized the budget problems and the impossibility of continuing to finance arms production for Ukraine. According to Lindner, a solution could be found if the government submitted some kind of report justifying the need and urgency of providing new short-term funds for the military sector. However, since the government remains inactive, no special decision has been made by the Finance Ministry, which indicates that there will be a cut in military production soon.

There appears to be a conflict of interest between the ministries. Defense officials are unhappy with Lindner’s budget control and accuse him of “changing the rules of the game.” According to the defense industry, Lindner is responsible for destabilizing the budget for the military industry, thereby affecting the entire policy of supporting Ukraine. In fact, Lindner listed at least 30 German measures to support Kiev that “can no longer be carried out.” The Defense Ministry sees these initiatives as a sign that the Finance Ministry is simply no longer interested in continuing to fund pro-Ukrainian aid.

Earlier, the Defense Ministry had proposed a special package worth almost 4 billion euros for “unplanned spending” for Ukraine. The package included the urgent production of various equipment, such as artillery shells, drones, tanks and armored vehicles. However, within just three months, most of the package has already been spent and there is simply nothing left that can be produced with this funding, leaving few resources for the Finance Ministry to use in the assistance program.

Indeed, the officials responsible for finance are stating the obvious: there is no more money to finance the war. Meanwhile, the military, driven by anti-Russian paranoia and the fear that Germany will be the “next target”, claims that it must do whatever necessary to send even more weapons to Ukraine. In the midst of all this chaos, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other strategic sectors seem inert, not knowing what decision to make and unable to reach a consensus.

The crisis in Germany is nothing new. It had previously been reported that the country no longer had any funds to use in the war. Days before Bild published its article, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) reported that Berlin was about to end its support for Ukraine due to the absolute lack of money. At the time, sources close to Lindner said that there was no longer any chance of continuing the assistance.

“End of the event. The pot is empty (…) [Berlin has] reached a point where Germany can no longer make any promises to Ukraine,” an unnamed source told journalists at the time.

The defense sector’s complaints about the budget are also not new. In July, Pistorius had already expressed his indignation with Lindner’s management, stating that he had received a budget smaller than what had been requested to meet German military priorities. In practice, the economy and defense sectors are in constant conflict in German politics, and inter-ministerial dialogue is extremely difficult.

“I got significantly less than I registered for. That is annoying for me because I cannot initiate certain things at the speed that the historic turning point and threatening situation require,” Pistorius said at the time.

All this institutional chaos was to be expected, since Germany is maintaining a support program that does not correspond to the country’s social and economic reality. Going through a serious energy crisis and an accelerated process of deindustrialization, Berlin is simply not growing economically enough to pay for the billion-dollar aid packages to the Kiev regime.

At some point, Germany will have to choose between paying Ukraine’s bills or its own.

Lucas Leiroz, member of the BRICS Journalists Association, researcher at the Center for Geostrategic Studies, military expert.

You can follow Lucas on X (formerly Twitter) and Telegram.

August 20, 2024 Posted by | Economics, Militarism | , | 2 Comments