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Senior UK diplomat resigns over London’s ‘complicity’ in Gaza war crimes

The Cradle | August 17, 2024

Mark Smith, the head of the Africa Programmes and Expertise Department and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO), formally resigned on 16 August, citing London’s continued arms sales to Israel.

In a letter titled “FCDO complicity in War Crimes,” Smith – an expert on the legality of UK arms sales – laments ending his long diplomatic career “in the knowledge that this Department may be complicit in War Crimes.”

“As [a] former penholder on the arms exports licensing assessment in [the Middle East and North Africa Department] MENAD, I am a subject matter expert in the domain of armed sales policy. Each day we witness clear and unquestionable examples of War Crimes and breaches of International Humanitarian Law in Gaza perpetrated by the State of Israel,” Smith writes.

“Senior members of the Israeli government and military have expressed open genocidal intent, Israeli soldiers take videos, deliberately burning destroying, and looting civilian property and openly admit to the rape and torture of prisoners,” the letter continues.

He also highlights that Israel’s wholesale destruction of Gaza’s infrastructure, their continued restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid, plus attacks on ambulances, schools, and hospitals all constitute war crimes.

“There is no justification for the UK’s continued arms sales to Israel yet somehow it continues. I have raised this at every level in the organization including through an official whistle-blowing investigation and received nothing more than ‘thank you we have noted your concerns.’”

Smith also criticizes UK authorities for misrepresenting London’s arms export licensing regimes as “robust and transparent,” saying, “This is the opposite of the truth.”

Although falling well behind Israel’s top suppliers of deadly armament – the US and Germany – the UK granted more than 100 weapon export licenses to Tel Aviv between 7 October and the end of May.

Between 2008 and the end of 2023, London granted export licenses for arms deals to Israel worth 576 million pounds ($740m).

Earlier this month, British news outlets reported that the new Labour government “[appears] to have suspended the processing of arms export licenses for sales to Israel pending the completion of a wider government review into the issue.”

The suspension is reportedly part of a review “of the risk of weapons sales to Israel in light of allegations of breaches of humanitarian law in the Gaza conflict.”

August 17, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , | 1 Comment

Nord Stream 2 bombing and Zelensky’s “three men and a boat” story

By Martin Jay | Strategic Culture Foundation | August 17, 2024

Nord Stream 2 bombing is in the headlines again, with a recent report which appears to come from Kiev claiming that it was the Ukrainians all along who were behind it. The claims, which have been denied by Zelensky naturally, are preposterous as they are ill-timed. But what’s really behind this latest fake news story?

In a nutshell, Joe Biden needs to clean up his backyard to help Kamala Harris get elected and in Ukraine there is quite a bit of tidying up which needs doing – not only for Ukraine itself to sustain relations with a new administration in Washington but also for America’s relations with Germany and the EU.

And so a fable has been invented which both tidies up any loose ends between Washington and Germany – as the U.S. bombing the pipelines creates unease and tensions between the Biden administration and that of Scholz’s – as well as helping the Ukrainians and Harris.

The whole Nord Steam2 pipeline bombing which happened in September 2022, a few months after the Russian invasion, is a clever web of lies crafted by the Americans, when all along it was U.S. special forces with the help of the Norwegians who planted the devices in June of the same year, three months before they were finally detonated.

Initially, it was very suspicious at the speed of how Russia was blamed.

“Everything is pointing to Russia,” blared a POLITICO headline two days after the explosions. Quoted in the piece were a number of foreign commentators including a top German spymaster arguing that only Russia had the means and motives to do it. There is no elaboration however on motive given that it was Russia’s gas supply deal to Germany which was being abruptly halted.

Remarkably, a lie moves so quickly while the truth is still putting its shoes on. Within days, respectable leading analysts were also pointing the finger at Russia without a trace of evidence to support their ludicrous claims.

“We still don’t know 100 percent that Russia was responsible,” said Olga Khakova, deputy director for European energy security at the Atlantic Council. “But everything is pointing to Russia being behind this.” U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told BBC on Sept. 30 that it “seems” Russia was behind the sabotage.

Most western journalists followed the narrative put out by the Americans and chose just simply to not look at it too closely or too sceptically. If any had, they might have simply asked who are the winners and losers?

They would have only needed to look at the gas market in the following weeks and to see that the U.S. firms had new clients in Europe who were paying three times the normal price. That should have been a clue.

Secondly, the geopolitics and Germany. Biden hade it very clear just two weeks before the Ukraine war started when the German chancellor visited the Oval Office in February 2022, what Biden was planning on doing both about the pipelines and Germany itself whose leader Scholz was very reluctant to go to war with Ukraine.

“If Russia invades – that means tanks and troops crossing . . . the border of Ukraine again,” Biden said, “there will no longer be a Nord Stream 2. We will bring an end to it.”

When asked how he could do so as the pipeline was under Germany’s control, the U.S. president spelled it out: “We will, I promise you, we’ll be able to do it.”

Six months later, when the pipelines blew up, Germany quickly came on board with the war plan. Game changer.

Remarkably, Biden is not the first U.S. president to have plans to disrupt the pipeline which could lead some journalists to look at the Ukraine more deeply and wonder whether it was a U.S. plan all along to goad Putin into invading simply for the excuse to blow them up.

As former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice noted back in 2014 when U.S. meddling in the internal affairs of Ukraine had peaked.

“You want to change the structure of energy dependence. You want to depend more on the North American energy platform… You want to have pipelines that don’t go through Ukraine and Russia. For years, we’ve tried to get the Europeans interested in different pipeline routes. It’s time to do that.”

Could there be a better example of a smoking gun that these comments? They’re certainly worth reflecting upon when weighing up who has the fake story, the Ukrainians or Seymore Hersh. The Americans are the only ones who had the longer-term motive, the military capability, the financial incentive and the geopolitical advantage to pull off the Nord Stream sabotage. If you are a journalist and you are ready to indulge yourself with the latest tour de force of fake news about Ukraine pulling it off, then you probably also believe in fairies at the bottom of the garden or toothpaste which claims to whiten your teeth.

August 17, 2024 Posted by | Economics, War Crimes | , , , | 1 Comment

German ministers told there’s no more money for Ukraine — FAZ

RT | August 17, 2024

Germany’s defense ministry has been urged to limit military assistance to Ukraine, as the country’s current budget plan is not capable of allocating funds for the purpose, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) reported on Saturday, citing a written request from Finance Minister Christian Lindner.

The letter, which was addressed to German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, specified that only military aid that has already been approved can be delivered to Kiev, while additional applications from the defense ministry should no longer be accepted, even if issued at the behest of Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

FAZ emphasized that the blocking of newly approved assistance is already in effect, adding that Berlin would halve its military aid to Ukraine next year. In 2027, the assistance is expected to decline to less than one tenth of its current volume.

In particular, €8 billion in aid to Ukraine has been scheduled for 2024, and the planned maximum of €4 billion for 2025 already exceeds available funds, the media outlet noted, adding that only €3 billion is planned for 2026, and €500 million each for 2027 and 2028.

“End of the event. The pot is empty,” an unnamed source in the federal government told FAZ, stressing that Berlin has “reached a point where Germany can no longer make any promises to Ukraine.”

The newspaper noted that the urge comes amid Lindner’s push for harsh austerity measures; these have already been imposed on all German ministries except defense. The finance minister has been resisting intense pressure from Scholz and Economy Minister Robert Habeck to suspend the country’s constitutional limit on debt to allow for the cost of providing military aid to Kiev amid the Ukrainian conflict.

Germany is the second biggest backer of Ukraine after the US. Berlin has provided and committed military aid of at least €28 billion ($30.3 billion) to Kiev in current and future pledges. This includes advanced military equipment such as Leopard 2 tanks, Marder infantry fighting vehicles, and US-made Patriot air-defense systems.

Lindner reportedly doesn’t expect the country’s assistance to Ukraine to drop, as the minister hopes to cover the expenses not with federal budget funds, but through the use of Russian central bank assets that were frozen by Kiev’s Western allies shortly after the conflict escalated.

Nearly $300 billion belonging to Russia’s central bank has been immobilized by the EU and G7 nations as part of Ukraine-related sanctions. In May, Brussels approved a plan to use the interest earned on the frozen assets to support Ukraine’s recovery and defense. Under the agreement, 90% of the proceeds are expected to go into an EU-run fund for Ukrainian military aid, with the other 10% allocated to supporting Kiev in other ways.

August 17, 2024 Posted by | Militarism | , | Leave a comment

Biden’s incriminating admission of U.S. involvement in offensive on Russia

Strategic Culture Foundation | August 16, 2024

It is breathtaking what is going on with the offensive into the Kursk and Belgorod regions of the Russian Federation. This is as close to World War Three taking place as it can get, if not already happening.

This week American President Joe Biden admitted deep U.S. involvement in the invasion of Russia by Ukrainian forces. The complacent, casual admission is shocking. Biden told media that his officials were in “constant contact” with the Kiev regime on the offensive that began on August 6. Biden added with undisguised pleasure that the incursion had created a “real dilemma” for Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

It seems likely that the summer offensive will go the same ill-fated way as last year’s offensive by Ukraine that took place in the main war zone area of Donbass, the region which was formerly eastern Ukraine but is now legally part of the Russian Federation. The offensive last summer turned out to be a disaster for Ukrainian forces as superior Russian defenses decimated them. As with this summer’s offensive, there has been much Western media hyping of the initial gains. But the optimism is giving way to the reality that Russian forces are containing the cross-border foray and will eventually expel Ukrainian troops. There are indications that the Ukrainian side has lost over 2,000 casualties over the past 10 days and incurred heavy losses of destroyed NATO military equipment.

Nevertheless, it is alarming what has been embarked on by the NATO-backed regime. This is the first time that Russia has been invaded by a foreign enemy since the Great Patriotic War when Nazi Germany waged its genocidal war. Ironically, a turning point in that war was in the Kursk region when the Red Army defeated the Wehrmacht.

The symbolism of today’s events in Kursk and Belgorod is horrifying. Here we have Ukrainian militants who glorify the Third Reich wearing Nazi helmets while they terrorize Russian civilians. Video footage shows deliberate shelling of civilian homes and apartment blocks in what can only be described as a scorched earth campaign. Up to 200,000 civilians have been evacuated from the Kursk and Belgorod regions.

The invasion force is equipped with NATO tanks and armored vehicles. This is an incredible echo of history whereby German, British, and American tanks are marauding on Russian soil and terrorizing towns and villages. Furthermore, there is reliable reporting that the enemy infantry is made up of NATO special forces from the United States, Britain, France, and Poland alongside the NeoNazis of Ukraine.

In short and shocking terms: NATO has invaded Russia with a terror campaign replicating Nazi Germany.

The United States and its NATO allies officially maintain that they are not involved and that the Kiev regime embarked on this assault independently.

That innocent pretense is contemptible. This duplicity has been going on for too long. The West has been arming a proxy force to the teeth to attack Russia since the CIA coup in Kiev in 2014 which culminated in open warfare in February 2022. The offensive capability of Western weaponry has increased relentlessly to the point where Washington, London, Paris, and Berlin are supplying long-range missiles to strike deep into Russia. Not only that but publicly permitting the use of these weapons.

The NATO side has delivered main battlefield tanks and in recent weeks F-16 fighter jets that potentially are nuclear-capable. Biden this week is reportedly considering approving the supply of JASSM air-launched missiles with a range of over 350 kilometers. The distance from Sudzha in Kursk, reportedly captured by the NATO side this week, to Moscow, is just over 600 km.

There can be little doubt that the invasion of Russia is an offensive signed off by NATO leadership. We have Joe Biden’s clumsy admission of that.

The Kiev regime also admitted that its Western patrons were involved in the planning of the invasion.

Moreover, Nikolai Patrushev, a top Russian intelligence figure, stated that NATO is participating in the invasion.

Former Pentagon analysts have also concurred that for such an audacious military endeavor to take place, the Kiev regime would have required U.S. and other NATO surveillance intelligence and logistics to implement it.

The strategic objective is dubious. The lightning assault may have gained sensational headlines in the Western media and notions of Ukrainian success. But such notions will be short-lived as Russian forces bear down on the enemy with withering firepower, despite a Ukrainian command center supposedly being set up in Sudzha.

Even Western media reports are conceding that the initial Ukrainian-NATO gains are slowing down. There are also Western reports expressing concern that the futile foray will only weaken the already overstretched Ukrainian lines in the main battle region of Donbass which will accelerate Russia’s advances in Ukraine. Moscow is indicating that it will push on without stopping to defeat the Kiev regime.

As with Nazi Germany’s Kursk offensive, the NATO-backed regime will be seen to have recklessly overplayed its hand. The last reserves of its best battalions are taking severe losses in Kursk.

From Russia’s perspective, the NATO invasion per se is not a serious threat. It is a barbaric violation of Russian territory and its citizens. But the assault in itself does not in any way constitute a national security threat. It will be dealt with harshly. The best way to characterize it is a desperate final roll of the dice by the NATO proxy, as our columnist Finian Cunningham wrote this week.

Legally, under international law and the United Nations charter, Russia has every right to retaliate militarily against all those complicit in the latest attack on its territory. Potentially, that could mean Russia’s military hitting the United States, Britain, France, Germany, and other NATO states.

This is as close to World War Three as it can get. One senses that only the calm discipline and strategic prudence of the Russian leadership are preventing the moment from escalating to a global catastrophe. By contrast, one can imagine how the American and NATO leaders would react if the shoe was on the other foot and Russia was somehow orchestrating offensive attacks on their soil.

It’s as well to keep calm. The Kiev regime is collapsing from internal corruption and despotism and Russian forces are steadily proceeding to take down this regime. Kursk and Belgorod – while abominable – are provocations to escalate the conflict. It is the collapsing Western powers that need all-out war to save their necks from systematic, historic failure.

However, there is a fiendish dilemma. There is a danger that the reckless, desperate, and disconnected Western elites will magnify their irrationality and provoke Russia even more. This is happening because Moscow is being too stoic and restrained.

Typical of the irrationality is this article for the Atlantic Council with the headline: “Ukraine’s invasion of Russia is erasing Vladimir Putin’s last red lines”.

The article, which no doubt reflects factions of Western strategic thinking, mockingly states: “The Ukrainian army’s advance into Russia… exposes the emptiness of Vladimir Putin’s red lines and the folly of the West’s emphasis on escalation management.”

In a chilling conclusion, it adds: “Now that the Ukrainian military has crossed the last of Putin’s red lines and invaded Russia without sparking World War III, there are no more excuses for restricting [Kiev’s] ability to defend itself or denying Ukraine the weapons it needs to win the war.”

Thus, Russia’s containment of the NATO invasion is not seen as a reality check on crazed assault. Rather, it is emboldening Western imperialism to double down on its criminal gambling with world security.

In that case, the moment may have arrived when Russia needs to take retaliation in a way that the NATO enemy understands. Russia’s reasoned restraint is insanely misinterpreted as weakness, thereby inciting more NATO insanity.

Vladimir Putin once remarked how dealing with bullies in his younger days growing up in St Petersburg was best done by punching them in the nose before they got out of hand.

As the impudence of Biden and other Western leaders this week shows, the U.S. and NATO’s malicious arrogance towards Russia is that of an insufferable bully who is acting more and more brazenly because of impunity.

August 17, 2024 Posted by | Militarism | , , , | 1 Comment

US moving towards total censorship – Moscow

RT | August 17, 2024

Freedom of speech in the US is only permitted for those who express pro-American views, while dissenters are subjected to a “political inquisition,” Russia’s ambassador to Washington, Anatoly Antonov, has claimed.

The diplomat was commenting on an FBI search at the home of Russian-born US political analyst and author Dimitri Simes in Virginia, on Tuesday. Simes, a critic of President Joe Biden’s administration, has been co-hosting a geopolitical talk show on Russia’s Channel 1 since 2018.

The targeting of Simes is another example of the “witch hunt” taking place in the US in the run up to the presidential election on November 5, Antonov wrote in a post on Telegram on Saturday.

“Hundreds of people are declared undesirable just because they dare to contradict the policies of the administration. They are forbidden from having their own point of view” and government agents are “breaking into homes, performing searches and seizing documents,” he stated.

According to the ambassador, the situation in the country resembles the “dark times of McCarthyism,” a campaign against suspected communists led by Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s.

“The local ruling circles have decisively embarked on the path of total censorship. Freedom of speech in modern America is sacred only if this speech is pro-American. All dissidents are subject to political inquisition, especially when it comes to those who fight against one-sided and biased views on Russia,” he said.

Antonov accused Washington of double standards when it comes to democracy and freedom of speech. While “easily” neglecting the rights provided by the First Amendment at home, US officials, “at the same time continue to lecture the whole world on democratic values and human rights,” he wrote.

Simes is a naturalized US citizen, who immigrated from the Soviet Union in 1973. He served as an aide to President Richard Nixon and as the publisher and CEO of National Interest magazine, which advocates a realist approach to international relations and geopolitics.

At the height of Russiagate, Simes was among those investigated by Special Counsel Robert Mueller as a suspected contact between Donald Trump and the Russian government. The report by Muller in 2019, which failed to find any evidence of collusion between Moscow and Trump’s 2016 campaign, also vindicated Simes.

FBI agents arrived at his property in Virginia a week after a search took place at the home of former US Marine and UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter in New York state. Ritter, who is now a journalist and commentator, said the US authorities appeared to be “primarily concerned” with his “relationship” with Russian media outlets – RT and Sputnik news agency.

August 17, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance, Russophobia | , , | Leave a comment

Dimitri K. Simes: ‘They Wanted to Block Any Attempt to Have a Russian-American Dialogue’

Dimitri K. Simes – Sputnik – 16.08.2024

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) raided a property in Rappahannock County, Virginia, belonging to Russian-American political analyst Dimitri K. Simes this week.

Russian TV Channel One presenter and founder of the US-based think tank Center for the National Interest, Dimitri K. Simes, shared his thoughts on the current state of the US law enforcement and on how the authorities treat dissenters in the United States nowadays in an interview with Sputnik.

Sputnik: You are a prominent member of the expert community, both in Russia and the US. And still you were subjected to this kind of treatment by the US state. Your home was searched by the FBI, your property rights were violated. And what about an average American who is less of a public figure than you? Isn’t your example supposed to show that he or she can be subjected to the state’s pressure, even for a smaller digression from the mainstream views, not necessarily on Russia?

Dimitri K Simes: You know about what happened to a certain Donald Trump, who was also subjected to searches both at his residence in Florida and in a number of other places. You know about searches made at Rudy Giuliani’s place of residence or Paul Manafort’s. A number of prominent Americans were subjected to searches or even put in jail, or made bankrupt. So, this is the way American law enforcement is working today. If somebody goes against the political mainstream, in particular against the Biden administration, the punishment may be very swift. And, in the case of Donald Trump, for instance, you could see that they were literally creating new laws or new interpretations of existing laws. Interpretations which have never existed before.

My lawyers thought that I was quite safe as far as American law enforcement is concerned, and they did not think that they would run into any kind of trouble [working for me]. You can see that they were wrong. It clearly is an attempt to intimidate, not only somebody from Russia, but just anyone who goes against official policies and particularly against the deep state.

Sputnik: It is obvious that you didn’t do anything legally wrong. So you are being punished for your opinions. What will be your next steps in this situation? Does it make sense to resist, to seek the defense of the law?

Dimitri K Simes: Well, let me start by saying that I do not know what I am being charged with. I don’t even know if I am being charged with anything. Is it the FBI [pursuing me], or am I charged by the Department of Justice or any other US government agency? They did not notify me or my lawyers about what is going on, or about any problems they may have with me.

The only comment we have from them so far is a comment they made to a local paper in Rappahannock County where the house is located and they told the paper that, indeed, they’re conducting a law enforcement investigation, and they are not in a position to say anything more because the investigation is not complete. This is the fourth day of their operations in the house already. We’re being told that they’re moving things out of the house. What are they doing? Which things are they moving? I have no idea. It is suffice to say that I was not in the house. I have not been to the United States since October 2022. So there is absolutely nothing that can be there that is connected to my current professional life or my other activities.

It was reported to me by the neighbors, who were not on my territory themselves, but who observed it from the outside, that there was quite a crowd [during the raid]. About 40 people, perhaps more. And, what was remarkable, many, even most of them, have arrived in private cars, which obviously is against the rules.

Normally you would not have an FBI agent arrive at a [facility] he or she is going to search in a private car. Because if they use private cars, these FBI people would be very easily identified and suffer [the] consequences.

So, I really would be curious to know who these people are. These people could actually be not FBI agents, but some kind of anti-Russian Ukrainian activists. We did have a precedent before when these [so-called activists] tried to enter my property, but because they were not with the FBI, these people were stopped. That happened in the past. If needed, I obviously will defend my interests. I will do it quite aggressively, but I repeat: it will be done if needed.

There were a lot of fairly good paintings. Some of them belonged to my late parents. These were gifts from prominent Russian avant-garde artists. And, obviously, if they were taking them during the search, I would consider it theft. Well, if they just took the paintings for examination, I think it would be totally inappropriate and unnecessary. But if they would try to keep the paintings, most definitely it would be theft, in my view.

As for my bank accounts, it’s an interesting story. They froze my accounts last night but today one of these accounts, which I use to receive my Social Security pension, was, unfrozen. So, I can receive my small Social Security pension. But my main account, which I use to pay for my activities in the United States, the most important account for my family, it stayed frozen. I use it to pay my mortgage.

Therefore I cannot pay for my house. There are a few instances, it happens rarely in the United States and Britain that the authorities would freeze accounts so that people would not be able to pay their mortgages. For that matter, you may become unable to pay for your utilities. When this happens, people’s private house get in total disarray.

This did not happen yet to me. But they clearly are trying to create a situation in which I will be unable to return. They’re not luring me to come back to the United States to face their justice system. But, on the contrary, they’re doing everything possible to make it very difficult or indeed impossible for me to come to the United States. That clearly cannot be right.

Sputnik: For many years, you were an important figure in the Russian-American dialogue. You advised President Richard Nixon on Russia and you were an important voice in the United States advocating negotiations between our two countries. And there are still many people in the US establishment who speak out against the current US policy of burning bridges with Russia. Can we say that Washington wants to intimidate these people? And this action against you – is it a part of that campaign of intimidation?

Dimitri K Simes: There is no question about that. I assume that this is what the whole action is about. If they just wanted to do something against me, they don’t need to move things out in trucks, take my belongings from my property and to create this unsavory spectacle.

But they want to intimidate other people too, not just me. Particularly they want to intimidate the people in the American foreign policy community. You have mentioned my participation in Russian-American dialogue. Yes, I played a certain role in this dialogue before. I received several invitations to have meetings in the United States, to see, whether we could try to create, to establish at least some form of a professional, unofficial dialogue.

At this stage, when there’s almost no official dialogue of any kind. And, my suspicion is, this is what they were doing in my house. I cannot be categorical, but this is my suspicion, that they, instead of trying to get me to come to the United States and to interrogate me or even to arrest me, their real purpose is different. They want to make sure that I would not come to the United States, and they want to block any attempt to have a Russian-American dialogue. At least, that is my strong suspicion.

August 17, 2024 Posted by | Russophobia | , | Leave a comment

Israel expects US and other allies to help bomb Iran

RT | August 17, 2024

Israel’s Foreign Minister, Israel Katz, has stated that his country expects not only the United States but also its allies, including Britain and France, to assist in offensive operations against Tehran in the event of direct conflict.

Katz made these comments during a meeting with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourne in Jerusalem on Friday, according to a Hebrew-language statement from his office.

”Israel expects France and Britain to publicly clarify to Iran that it is unacceptable for it to attack Israel, and that if Iran attacks, the US-led coalition will join Israel not only in defense but also in an attack against significant targets in Iran,” the statement said, as cited by the Times of Israel.

Katz reiterated in a post on X that he made it “clear” to his colleagues that they should publicly announce their countries “will stand with Israel not only in defense but also in striking targets in Iran.”

The French and British diplomats downplayed these assertions, with Sejourne telling reporters that it would be “inappropriate” to discuss any “retaliation or preparation for an Israeli retaliation” amid diplomatic efforts to negotiate a deal to end the Gaza war. A joint French-British statement following the meeting also made no mention of any anti-Iran coalitions.

“We have urged Iran and its proxies to stand down the ongoing threats of military attack against Israel. We have also stressed to all parties that the spiral of escalating reprisals must end,” they said in their only reference to Tehran.

The meeting in Jerusalem occurred shortly before the latest round of indirect ceasefire talks ended without breakthroughs, though there were promises to return to the negotiating table next week. The war between Israel and Hamas has dragged on for 10 months since the militant group staged a deadly incursion, resulting in approximately 1,100 deaths and around 200 hostages. The massive Israeli response has claimed over 40,000 Palestinian lives, according to Gaza health officials.

The risk of wider conflict in the Middle East was drastically exacerbated by the assassination of Hamas Political Bureau Chief Ismail Haniyeh, who served as the Palestinian armed group’s lead negotiator in indirect talks with Israel. He was killed in Tehran on June 31, hours after attending the inauguration of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. Iran promised to inflict a “harsh punishment” on Israel, which has neither acknowledged nor denied any involvement in the killing.

The US has deployed additional warships and a submarine to the Middle East to protect the Jewish state from potential attacks, but it remains unclear whether Washington has agreed to any plans to bomb Iran.

In April, when Iran fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel in retaliation for the bombing of its embassy in Damascus, US fighter jets and warships helped intercept many of the incoming projectiles. However, this was a purely defensive operation, with no direct counterstrike on targets inside Iran.

August 16, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Militarism, Wars for Israel | , , , , , , | 2 Comments

American Bombings of Vietnam during World War II

Tales of the American Empire | August 15, 2024

Americans know about the massive American bombing of Vietnam in the 1960s and 1970s. Few know that thousands of American bombs fell on Vietnam during World War II. The Japanese had occupied some ports in French Indochina in 1940 to support naval and air operations in the region. After the United States entered the war, the US Army Air Corps needed targets to justify strategic bombing since Japan remained beyond range until B-29s arrived in 1944. As a result, many questionable targets were bombed in Vietnam that resulted in thousands of civilian casualties, while a million Vietnamese starved during the resulting famine.

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Related Tale: “The Anglo-American War on France”;    • The Anglo-American War on France  

Related Tale: “American Mass Bombings of Chinese Cities in World War II”;    • American Mass Bombings of Chinese Cit…  

“Bombing of South-East Asia (1944–1945)”; Wikipedia; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing…)

“The OSS in Vietnam, 1945: A War of Missed Opportunities”; Dixee Bartholomew-Feis; The National World War II Museum; July 15, 2020; https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war…

Related Tale: “American Bombings of Allied Cities in World War II”;    • American Bombings of Allied Cities in…  

Related Tale: “The Illusion Called South Vietnam”;    • The Illusion Called South Vietnam  

Related Playlist: “The Vietnam War”;    • The Vietnam War  

August 16, 2024 Posted by | Militarism, War Crimes | , , | Leave a comment

‘Medical Warfare’: Doctors Who Questioned COVID Shots, Promoted Ivermectin Lose Certification

By Michael Nevradakis, Ph.D. | The Defender | August 14, 2024

Two doctors who spoke out about vaccines and alternative treatments for COVID-19 received notice that their medical certifications were revoked, while another doctor said her certification was revoked without her knowledge.

The American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) last week revoked the certifications of Drs. Pierre Kory and Paul Marik, following a two-year investigation into their promotion of ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine as treatments for COVID-19 and their statements questioning the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines.

According to The Washington Post, the two physicians continued “to promote ivermectin, an anti-parasitic medication, as a treatment for COVID long after the medical community found it to be ineffective.”

Kory and Marik are co-founders of the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC), which promotes alternative treatments for COVID-19.

Citing unnamed experts, the Post claimed the FLCCC “spread misinformation about the coronavirus pandemic.”

MedPageToday quoted an ABIM spokesperson, who said the organization “does not comment publicly on the reasons for the revocation of certification.”

However, in a summary of the ABIM’s decision reviewed by The Defender, the organization stated that the doctors’ “conduct poses serious concerns for patient safety and undermines the trust that the public and the medical profession place in the meaning of ABIM board certification.”

In a press release, the FLCCC Alliance said it “categorically disagrees” with ABIM’s decision.

“We believe this decision represents a dangerous shift away from the foundational principles of medical discourse and scientific debate that have historically been the bedrock of medical education associations,” the press release states.

Marik told The Defender :

“The bottom line is we’re disappointed because we stand up for the truth. To censor science is to censor progress. Science is based on dialogue and people can have different points of view. That is the principle of science: it’s people having different points of view.

“We’ve never been in a situation before where physicians who have opposing points of view are silenced … It sets a really bad precedent that you can’t really challenge the status quo, and as we know, in medicine, there have been very dramatic changes based on changing understandings of science.”

In the FLCCC Alliance press release, Kory said, “This fight is about more than just our right to speak — it’s about protecting the future of healthcare. When doctors are silenced for questioning the prevailing narrative, we all lose.”

Kory and Marik participated in an ABIM hearing in May, but internist Dr. Meryl Nass, founder of Door to Freedom, told The Defender that ABIM revoked her certification without her knowledge.

Nass said she was blindsided by ABIM’s decision to revoke her license, which she said she found out about only when she searched for herself in the organization’s database of certified physicians.

Nass told The Defender :

“After the Maine Medical Board suspended my license illegally — even though none of my alleged transgressions met the statutory requirement for an immediate suspension — the board later found me guilty of things I had not done and continued the suspension … All of this with never a single patient complaint.

“Now I learn, by chance, that the ABIM has suspended me without ever informing me I was even under an investigation, which is illegal according to the ABIM’s process.”

Dr. Peter McCullough also faced similar difficulties with the ABIM over his positions on COVID-19 vaccines and treatments. According to MedPageToday, ABIM revoked his certifications in 2022 — although, as of today, ABIM lists him as certified.

McCullough told The Defender, “The ABIM is violating principles of equal protection, due process, rules of evidence and has gone ex post facto to find reasons to attack qualified ABIM-certified doctors who innovated and saved lives early in the pandemic.”

Science based on ‘different points of view’

Kory and Marik held ABIM certifications in internal and critical care medicine, while Kory was also certified in pulmonary disease, according to MedPageToday.

They were initially notified about the risk of losing their certification in May 2022. Last year, ABIM’s Credentials and Certification Committee recommended the revocation of their certification for disseminating “false or inaccurate medical information.” A hearing followed in May.

According to the FLCCC Alliance’s press release, Kory and Marik “tirelessly defended their positions.” However, despite “presenting over 170 references in a detailed 60-page response submitted in January 2023, the ABIM has chosen to dismiss these robust scientific contributions in favor of a narrow, ‘consensus-driven’ narrative.”

According to the summary of ABIM’s decision, Kory and Marik’s “statements about the safety and efficacy of ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine” as treatments for COVID-19 “are false and inaccurate because they are unsupported by factual, scientifically grounded, and consensus-driven medical information.”

The ABIM also addressed the doctors’ positions on the COVID-19 vaccines:

“[The doctors’] statements about the purported ineffectiveness and dangers of COVID-19 vaccines are false and inaccurate because they are unsupported by factual, scientifically grounded, and consensus-driven medical information. …

“There is extensive factual, scientifically grounded, and consensus-driven medical information demonstrating that the COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective, and lead to better health outcomes.”

Marik questioned the board’s assertions regarding ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine and the vaccines.

“What they do is, they cherry-pick articles which support their point of view and then they go on to say the vaccine is safe and effective. We know that’s completely not true. There’s overwhelming data to question both the safety and efficacy of the vaccine,” Marik added.

McCullough said:

“ABIM never updated its members on important risks such as fatal vaccine adverse events, including myocarditis, nor failing theoretical efficacy necessitating boosters that skipped human testing altogether.

“Setting a new dark milestone, ABIM is decertifying highly qualified physicians for nonclinical reasons and ignoring the evidence for early therapeutics and COVID-19 vaccine safety.”

ABIM engaging in ‘medical lawfare’

According to the Post, Kory maintains a license to practice medicine in California, New York and Wisconsin, where “there are no disciplinary actions listed against him.” Marik has retired and his medical license expired in 2022.

Revocation of their ABIM certification “effectively prevents them from practicing at large hospitals and academic institutions,” the Post reported.

Marik and Nass outlined the difficulties of practicing medicine without certification.

“It doesn’t affect us directly, but it affects us indirectly because we’re being accused of committing offenses that are just not true,” Marik said. “The indirect impact to our reputation … it’s a slap in the face, basically, for all the hard work we’ve done.”

Accusing the ABIM of being part of the “medical-industrial complex,” Marik said, “They seem more interested in making money than in protecting physicians. There have been a number of lawsuits against ABIM, so they don’t have the best of reputations. But unfortunately, they are the main certifying organization in the U.S., so they have enormous power and leverage.”

“If I get my license back — a big if, without board certification, I would have great difficulty getting hospital privileges and collecting insurance reimbursements. In other words, I would be unemployable, though I could potentially work on my own if patients paid me directly,” Nass said.

In 2021, ABIM and the Federation of State Medical Boards collaborated to draft the statement used to discipline Nass.

Nass said organizations like ABIM are engaging in “medical lawfare.” She said they are:

“Creating crimes that do not exist, using procedures that do not exist, to try and silence people like me. What did I do wrong? I read the literature and told the truth about what it said, publicly. The COVID vaccines are very dangerous. They don’t prevent COVID. Drugs can effectively treat COVID. And I prescribed those drugs and helped hundreds of Maine citizens. That was my crime.”

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 16, 2024 Posted by | Science and Pseudo-Science | , | 1 Comment

Whistleblower Will Appeal After Federal Court Dismisses Lawsuit Alleging Fraud in Pfizer COVID Vaccine Trials

By Michael Nevradakis, Ph.D. | The Defender | August 13, 2024

For the second time, a federal court in Texas has dismissed a whistleblower lawsuit alleging Pfizer and two of its contractors manipulated data and committed other acts of fraud during clinical trials for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in 2020.

In his Aug. 9 ruling, District Judge Michael J. Truncale sided with the U.S. government, ruling the government had demonstrated “good cause” to intervene and dismiss the case. He wrote:

“The Government’s desire to dismiss the case — because of its doubt as to the case’s merits, differing assessment of the Pfizer vaccine data, desire to avoid discovery and litigation obligations, and belief that it should not have to expend resources in a case that is contrary to its public health policy — constitutes good cause to intervene.”

Whistleblower Brook Jackson filed the lawsuit against Pfizer, Ventavia Research Group — which conducted some of the clinical trials for Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine — and Pfizer contractor ICON PLC in January 2021. Jackson’s complaint was most recently amended in October 2023.

Jackson, a former Ventavia employee, alleged the companies committed numerous violations of the False Claims Act (FCA) during the clinical trials.

According to the lawsuit, the three companies “deliberately withheld crucial information from the United States that calls the safety and efficacy of their vaccine into question,” thus defrauding the federal government, which purchased the vaccines.

The FCA allows the government or a party suing on its behalf to attempt to recover money for false claims made by parties to secure payment from the government.

The FCA also allows whistleblowers to be rewarded for confidentially disclosing fraud that results in a financial loss to the government.

While whistleblowers have the right to sue under the FCA, the federal government can choose to intervene in the case at a later date. In Jackson’s lawsuit, the U.S. government initially declined to intervene in February 2022. However, in March, the government filed a motion to intervene and to dismiss the case.

Attorney Warner Mendenhall, one of the lawyers representing Jackson, questioned whether the U.S. government’s “public health policy” is tolerant toward allegations of fraud during clinical trials for vaccines.

In an interview Monday with Sasha Latypova, a former pharmaceutical industry executive with 25 years of experience in pharmaceutical research and development, Mendenhall said:

“What’s the public health policy of the United States? To kill people and damage people and injure people and make them sick? If that’s the public health policy, well then yes, we’re inconsistent with that.”

Latypova told The Defender she was “not really surprised” by the ruling, noting that drugmakers enjoy legal immunity afforded by emergency use authorization granted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Latypova described this immunity as a “legal cage.”

She said “The court took as evidence an unsubstantiated opinion of two government bureaucrats … published in an editorial article of a medical journal,” but did not consider the extensive evidence of wrongdoing Jackson provided.

The government’s motion to dismiss cited a Jan. 5 JAMA editorial authored by FDA Commissioner Robert Califf and the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research Director Peter Marks, claiming that “data from various studies” show that “tens of millions of lives were saved by vaccination.”

During his interview with Latypova, Mendenhall argued the government failed to demonstrate good cause and that last week’s ruling did not name any specific examples of this. He said:

“If you read the actual document, there’s no cause listed at all. In fact, the judge has a footnote saying, ‘There is no cause here, but I’m going to look at this other motion I think I can find’ … that’s not how courts are supposed to proceed. You look at the motion first to intervene for good cause. If it’s not there, you’re done. You don’t get to go on and look at the motion to dismiss for hints that maybe there is good cause.”

The ruling also stated that Jackson “failed to allege that she complained to Ventavia or the FDA about fraud against the government.” Accordingly, her claims don’t “rise to the level of protected activity” as a whistleblower.

Mendenhall told Latypova this poses “constitutional concerns” and may have “a chilling effect on other whistleblowers.”

Jackson has 30 days to appeal the ruling, and plans to, Mendenhall said.

“I am very confident we’re going to win that case and get, at least, the retaliation [claim] vindicated, and vindicate what she did as a conscientious citizen of the United States,” Mendenhall said.

Jackson fired within six hours of submitting claims to the FDA

Ventavia, which operated several sites where it conducted clinical trials on behalf of Pfizer, hired Jackson in September 2020.

That same month, Jackson reported problems she observed with the Pfizer vaccine trial to the company’s management. When management didn’t respond, she took her claims to the FDA on Sept. 25, 2020. Ventavia fired her later that day.

Jackson, who had over 15 years of experience working with clinical trials, claimed she “repeatedly informed her superiors of poor laboratory management, patient safety concerns and data integrity issues.”

She also gave The BMJ a cache of internal company documents, photos and recordings highlighting alleged wrongdoing by Ventavia.

“Her job was to fix things. They wouldn’t fix them. She reported it to the FDA, and six hours later was fired from her job,” Mendenhall said.

He added:

“There was not informed consent. They were making up records. I mean, it was just endless. They were violating patient privacy, which is critical in a clinical trial because you have to not know who’s getting the shot in order to determine any effectiveness.

“Basically, the allegations that she brought forward show that the clinical trial that she saw, what she saw of it, was essentially worthless. It wasn’t valuable or useful data.”

Jackson filed her qui tam lawsuit under the FCA in January 2021. A qui tam action refers to any legal case where a private citizen initiates legal action on behalf of a state.

Documents released in November 2021 supported Jackson’s claims that she was directly involved in the Phase 3 trials for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.

‘Level of ignorance’ of scientific facts by government officials ‘astounding’

In February 2022, the federal government declined to intervene in the lawsuit on Jackson’s behalf but reserved the right to intervene at a later date.

Later that month, Jackson filed her first amended complaint, while the court unsealed 400 pages of exhibits.

In July 2022, Pfizer asked the court to dismiss Jackson’s lawsuit on the basis that the U.S. government was aware of wrongdoings in the clinical trials but continued to do business with the vaccine maker. In March 2023, Truncale granted the motion to dismiss, ruling that Jackson had not proved the companies violated the FCA.

Jackson appealed the dismissal in April 2023, and in August 2023 submitted a motion to file a second amended complaint, which was granted in September. Jackson filed her second amended complaint in October 2023.

Pfizer and Ventavia filed motions to dismiss the second amended complaint later in October 2023, while the U.S. government filed its motion to intervene and dismiss in March 2024. Oral arguments discussing the motions to dismiss took place on May 1.

“What happened in the interim here while we’re fighting the case and moving forward, apparently the government itself decided that what we were doing in exposing Pfizer and Ventavia and ICON, the three companies involved here, was contrary to the public health policy in the United States,” Mendenhall said.

In ruling in favor of the government, the court cited a 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision that gave the government significant leeway concerning when it could intervene in an FCA case and on what basis.

According to Mendenhall, this occurred despite meetings Jackson and her legal team had last year with representatives of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), during which he said they “were completely unaware” of evidence questioning the safety of the COVID shots, including SV40 DNA contamination and vaccine injuries.

Mendenhall said:

“The level of ignorance about the scientific facts that we have uncovered was astounding to me, for someone who is supposed to be in charge of a major decision on behalf of the United States’ people, whether these shots need to be pulled from the market, whether Pfizer needs to be prosecuted or at least held civilly liable along with the other companies.

“I think that, certainly for some in the government, they just don’t want to face what they’ve actually done … they have hurt, damaged the health of millions of Americans and tens of millions, at least, around the world.”

According to Mendenhall, government attorneys were “actually sitting on the side of the courtroom with Pfizer” attorneys during the May 1 hearing.

“How strange that was to have the defendants sitting with the government who’s supposed to be going after them,” Mendenhall said.

In April, Pfizer submitted a statement to the court in support of the U.S. government’s motion to intervene and dismiss.

Pfizer previously was fined in connection with the FCA. As part of a 2009 settlement, the company paid $2.3 billion in fines — the largest healthcare fraud settlement in the history of the DOJ — stemming from allegations of illegal marketing of off-label products not approved by the FDA.

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 16, 2024 Posted by | Deception, Science and Pseudo-Science | , , , | Leave a comment

Norway closes its Palestine office after Israel revokes status of diplomats

Press TV – August 16, 2024

Norway has announced the closure of its Representative Office in al-Ram, Palestine, after Israel’s “extreme” decision to revoke the diplomatic status of several Norwegian diplomats.

Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said it was an “extreme and unreasonable” decision made by the regime.

“This decision seeks to target the Palestinians and the Palestinian Authority and all those who defend international law, the two-state solution and the Palestinians’ legitimate right to self-determination.”

The minister vowed that his country will continue to support the Palestinian people “with full force.”

“We will do our utmost to ensure that this does not affect our work for Palestine and for a viable Palestinian state. Our commitment will continue with full force.”

He noted that the Israeli decision obviously “has consequences for our work in Palestine.”

“It affects our locally employed staff. Many of them have worked at the representative office for several years. It also affects our diplomats and their families. We are now fully focused on how to safeguard our employees and our work in the best possible way,” Eide said.

Earlier this month, Israel revoked the diplomatic status of eight Norwegian diplomats who had been working in Norway’s representative office to the Palestinian Authority.

Ties between Oslo and Tel Aviv have been deteriorating since Norway recognized the state of Palestine in May.

More than two-thirds of the United Nations, approximately 140 countries, already recognize a Palestinian state.

August 16, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , | Leave a comment

Hezbollah reveals massive underground base, reminds Israel retaliation imminent

The Cradle | August 16, 2024

Hezbollah released a video on 16 August showcasing a highly secretive underground facility, which serves as a missile storage and launch site.

The video is titled “Our mountains are our storage sites,” indicating that the underground facility is part of Hezbollah’s large and sophisticated tunnel network built underneath southern Lebanon’s mountainous terrain.

The facility is named Imad-4, after the late Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyeh, who was assassinated by Israel in 2008.

The video starts by showing motorcycles and trucks equipped with missile launch pads moving through the facility’s long tunnels. Later, one of the trucks is seen positioning to fire missiles out of the facility as a tunnel entrance opens up.

Al Mayadeen said on Friday that the facility’s name, Imad-4, indicates that other sites like it exist.

It sends the message that Hezbollah “is not afraid to go to war, and is prepared for it if [Israel] decides to go too far in escalation and aggression,” the outlet wrote.

It also serves as the “obituary” of Israel’s “battle between wars,” the campaign of airstrikes on Syria which aims to stifle the flow of weapons to Hezbollah.

“The capabilities of the Islamic Resistance, especially missiles, are fully prepared to defend Lebanon … the secrecy of the site allows Hezbollah’s missile capabilities to be immune from any preemptive Israeli strikes,” as well as from Israeli espionage and intelligence warfare, according to Al Mayadeen.

The video is a reminder that “even if the retaliation for the targeting of the southern suburbs and the assassination of martyr Fuad Shukr, and the killing of civilians is delayed for several reasons, it will surely come,” Al Mayadeen went on to say.

In the video, excerpts from speeches by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah are heard. “Our next battle with Israel will span across the entirety of occupied Palestine,” Nasrallah is heard saying in the clip.

Hebrew newspaper Maariv referred to the video as Hezbollah’s “psychological pressure” on Israel.

Israeli journalist for the Ynet news site, Lior Ben Ari, called the video “disturbing” and said it should be “examined in depth.”

“The video revealed an underground facility called “Emad 4” that launches missiles underground, but not only. The video reveals huge tunnels, lit, equipped with computers, which allow motorcycles and trucks to pass easily. Did someone say Philadelphi [Corridor]?” he added sarcastically, referring to Hamas’ tunnel network under the Gaza–Egypt border, seemingly indicating that the Hezbollah facility is much more sophisticated.

Hezbollah is known to have a large and advanced secretive network of tunnels under south Lebanon.

In February, French newspaper Liberation reported that the network is remarkably sophisticated, spanning hundreds of kilometers and even reaching into Syria.

Dr Andreas Krieg, an assistant professor at King’s College London, told The Cradle last month: “There are different types of tunnels: surface-level tunnels used for moving operatives and materials, which can be destroyed from the air; and deeper, concrete-reinforced tunnels that serve as command centers and armories. The deeper tunnels, some up to 60 meters underground, are almost impervious to Israeli airstrikes and were built with support from North Korea and Iran.”

These tunnels constituted a major obstacle for Israel in the 2006 war.

The new video comes as Tel Aviv is in high anticipation over Hezbollah’s promised retaliation to the killing of top commander Fuad Shukr and several civilians, including children, in Beirut late last month – which was followed by the assassination of Hamas chief and lead negotiator Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

The Islamic Republic has also promised to retaliate to Haniyeh’s assassination.

August 16, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism | , , , , | Leave a comment

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