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NBC News Admits ‘Deep State’ Exists… To Save Us From Trump’s Return

By Tyler Durden | Zero Hedge | January 15, 2024

The last time Donald Trump got within striking distance of the Oval Office in 2016, the Clinton campaign, the Obama administration, and various foreign accomplices invented a hoax accusing the real estate tycoon of being a secret Russian agent, who would use the power of the United States to do Vladimir Putin’s bidding (Which begs the question; why wouldn’t Putin have just invaded Ukraine when his ‘puppet’ Trump wouldn’t have waged a proxy war?).

And when Donald Trump asked Ukraine about obvious corruption by the Biden family, one of the key ‘deep state’ players in his impeachment behind the scenes was none other than Mary McCord – who went from taking down Michael Flynn after the FBI set him up, to helping Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) to peddle a “whistleblower” complaint about Trump’s Ukraine call.

McCord is back with a new hoax to peddle, telling NBC News that the Deep State is preparing for Trump’s return – and is taking action to limit his ability to ‘become a dictator’ and use the military to those ends.

“We’re already starting to put together a team to think through the most damaging types of things that he [Trump] might do so that we’re ready to bring lawsuits if we have to,” McCord – executive director of the Institution for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at Georgetown Law – told the outlet.

The quotes from this fine piece of yellow journalism from NBC are simply hilarious…

  • “Donald Trump is sparking fears among those who understand the inner workings of the Pentagon that he would convert the nonpartisan U.S. military into the muscular arm of his political agenda as he makes comments about dictatorship and devalues the checks and balances that underpin the nation’s two-century-old democracy.”
  • “A circle of appointees independent of Trump’s political operation steered him away from ideas that would have pushed the limits of presidential power in his last term.”
  • “In a new term, many former officials worry that Trump would instead surround himself with loyalists unwilling to say no.”
  • “He’s a clear and present danger to our democracy.“
  • “His support is solid. And I don’t think people understand what living in a dictatorship would mean.”
  • “There are an array of horrors that could result from Donald Trump’s unrestricted use of the Insurrection Act.”
  • “The military is hundreds of thousands of people strong, and ultimately Trump will find people to follow his legal orders no matter what … The Insurrection Act is a legal order, and if he orders it there will be military officers, especially younger men and women, who will follow that legal order.”

This one might be the best: “We’re about 30 seconds away from the Armageddon clock when it comes to democracy,” said William Cohen, a former Republican senator from Maine and defense secretary in the Clinton administration. “I think that’s how close we’re coming to it when you have a presidential candidate who can be indicted on 91 counts, who can be [found liable for] sexual aggression, who we have seen lies pathologically, who has flouted every rule in the book.”

Wow!

Narrative: Trump is going to appoint loyal peons to subvert democracy and declare himself a dictator.

But wait, the deep state cavalry is here!

“Now, bracing for Trump’s potential return, a loose-knit network of public interest groups and lawmakers is quietly devising plans to try to foil any efforts to expand presidential power, which could include pressuring the military to cater to his political needs.”

Part of the aim is to identify like-minded organizations and create a coalition to challenge Trump from day one, those taking part in the discussions said. Some participants are combing through policy papers being crafted for a future conservative administration. They’re also watching the interviews that Trump allies are giving to the press for clues to how a Trump sequel would look.

Other participants include Democracy Forward, an organization that took the Trump administration to court more than 100 times during his administration, and Protect Democracy, an anti-authoritarian group. […]

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., is crafting a bill that would clarify the act and give Congress and the courts some say in its use. Its chances of passage are slim given that Republicans control the House and are largely loyal to Trump.

You tell us what that sounds like…

deep state
noun

  • a body of people, typically influential members of government agencies or the military, believed to be involved in the secret manipulation or control of government policy.

“We are preparing for litigation and preparing to use every tool in the toolbox that our democracy provides to provide the American people an ability to fight back,” according to Skye Perryman, president of Democracy Forward. “We believe this is an existential moment for American democracy and it’s incumbent on everybody to do their part.”

Ah yes, another ‘existential moment.’

Remember, the first rule of ‘Deep State’ is you do not talk about ‘Deep State’.

January 15, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Progressive Hypocrite | | Leave a comment

Germany: Scholz’s ‘green’ government wants to buy 3 VIP helicopters for €200 million

By Denes Albert | Remix News | January 15, 2024

At a time when farmers are staging mass national protests over austerity measures that they say will put them under tremendous financial strain, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his ministers are aiming to purchase three new, luxury VIP helicopters that will cost €200 million.

However, the budget cuts for farmers are just one austerity measure, with the total budget cut expected to be €17 billion. The opposition is reacting with outrage over the news of the helicopter purchases, with the luxury helicopters designed for Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Defense Minister Boris Pistorius to attend appointments in Germany.

The German armed forces are supposed to replace the aging Cougar helicopters currently stationed in Berlin, which have a range of 850 kilometers and a cruising speed of up to 315 kilometers per hour. The VIP helicopters became famous when the former Social Democrat (SPD) Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht took her son on holiday in one of them.

The German newspaper Bild says that government officials probably suspect that citizens will not be happy about spending taxpayers’ money in a time of crisis, which is why they wanted to hide the €200 million expense.

German MPs do not recall this type of spending ever being discussed in the budget committee, and the helicopters were not included in the December budget proposal. The news is especially surprising considering German police still have so-called VIP Super Puma helicopters, which government representatives can fly in to emergency meetings.

The opposition is stunned, with Christian Democratic Union (CDU) budget expert Ingo Gädechens telling Bild that the government has lost touch with reality. He points out that the government wants to take €176 million from farmers this year, almost as much as the new helicopters cost.

“All of Germany is suffering from the collapse of fiscal policy. Austerity is everywhere,” the politician said. He added that it is obvious that Scholz’s travel convenience is the reason for the purchases and that ministers are more important than budgetary discipline.

However, Scholz may never get to experience the joy of riding a brand-new luxury helicopter, as the government cannot buy new helicopters without parliamentary approval. Now, it is up to the budget committee.

January 15, 2024 Posted by | Malthusian Ideology, Phony Scarcity, Progressive Hypocrite | | Leave a comment

UK to send 20,000 troops to NATO exercise

RT | January 15, 2024

The UK is set to deploy around 20,000 service members – as well as modern warships and fighter jets – to Europe to take part in a major NATO exercise amid rising tensions with Russia, the Defence Ministry has announced.

In a statement on Monday, the ministry, citing excerpts from a speech to be delivered by Defence Secretary Grant Shapps, said that some 16,000 army troops – along with tanks, artillery, and helicopters – will join other bloc members on the continent to participate in Exercise Steadfast Defender 24, scheduled to take place in the first half of this year.

The effort will be supported by eight warships and submarines, as well as 2,000 Royal Navy sailors. The UK will also deploy a number of aircraft, including F35B Lightning fighters and Poseidon P8 surveillance aircraft, the ministry said.

Meanwhile, Shapps is expected to call the drill “one of NATO’s largest deployments since the end of the Cold War,” adding that the UK and its allies have found themselves “in a new era” and “must be prepared to deter our enemies,” according to the statement. The statement specifically referred to the threat from the Russian “menace.”

NATO began reinforcing its military footprint in Europe first after a Western-backed coup in Kiev triggered hostilities in Donbass, which is now part of Russia. However, the most drastic build-up occurred after Russia launched its military campaign against Ukraine in February 2022. In June of the same year, the US-led military bloc agreed to put 300,000 troops on high alert, up from 40,000, to deter Moscow.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously said that Moscow has no plans to attack NATO, arguing that there was “no geopolitical, economic … or military interest” in waging war against the bloc. Still, Moscow has also repeatedly warned that the alliance’s military activities close to its border warrant additional security measures. Putin has also said that Ukraine’s desire to join NATO was one of the key reasons for the current conflict.

January 15, 2024 Posted by | Militarism, Progressive Hypocrite, Russophobia | , | Leave a comment

Pointing out the horrors of Gaza at politicians’ doorsteps

By Yves Engler | January 14, 2024

Bravo to those who braved the cold to rally in front of the foreign minister’s house. Shame on the NDP MPs who echoed the genocide lobby’s faux outrage.

On Saturday 100 or so rallied in front of foreign affairs minister Melanie Joly’s home in the Plateau Mont Royal neighborhood of Montréal. Their promotional material declared “Mourn the Dead, and Fight Like Hell for the Living. End Canadian Support for Genocide”. They reportedly read poems, played music and shared food in what spokesperson Eli Tareq El-Bechelany Lynch called “an affirmation and honouring of Palestinian life, creativity, and resistance against the Canadian-backed Israeli death machine.”

Predictably, pro-genocide voices flew into a moralizing rage. They denounced it as “intimidation” and “harassment”. Uber Zionist Toronto MP Kevin Vuong proclaimed, “If you’re going to protest in front of the legislature or city hall, go ahead. If you’re going to protest our offices, have at it. But your right to peaceful assembly does not include protesting at Minister Melanie Joly’s home. Leave her family—and our families—out of it.”

A week ago, the apartheid lobby claimed a rally in front of Vuong’s constituency office was intimidation. The same voices criticizing the protest at Joly’s home have spent weeks condemning rallies on an overpass over Highway 401 in Toronto. Before that they denounced anti-genocide rallies at the Eaton Centre and at municipal politician’s fundraiser. When university was in session, they were deploring protests on various campuses. They essentially believe all manifestations of opposition to Canada’s complicity in genocide is illegitimate.

Amidst the faux outrage, ‘pro-Palestinian’ NDP MPs joined the attacks. On the left of the party Leah Gazan posted “this is appalling full stop!”. For her part, NDP foreign critic Heather McPherson posted, “This is appalling. People do not have to agree with politicians and elected representatives, but to harass them at their private homes is completely and utterly unacceptable.” (I don’t think McPherson has yet referred to Israel’s mass slaughter and famine campaign in Gaza as “appalling”.) Then the party foreign critic retweeted her NDP colleague Alistair MacGregor claiming: “I love listening to my constituents. At my office. On the phone. Over Zoom. On Twitter. On Facebook. On Instagram. Not at my home.” (Gazan also re-posted MacGregor.)

But protests at politicians homes are not particularly uncommon. In recent weeks there have been anti-genocide protests at a number of politicians’ homes in the US. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and Democratic Party Senate leader Chuck Schumer are among those whose homes have been targeted by Gaza protesters. Over the years there have been protests at many Canadian politicians’ homes, including a famed one by Joly’s cabinet colleague.

Three years ago, activists supporting the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs’ campaign against a pipeline rallied in front of BC Premier John Horgan’s home. During the 2012 Quebec student strike protesters marched on Premier Jean Charest’s Westmount mansion on multiple occasions. In 2007 Greenpeace organized an action at Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s house while in 2002 current environment minister Steven Guilbeault was among a handful of Greenpeace activists who put solar panels on the roof of Alberta premier Ralph Klein’s home.

Whether you support the tactic or not, protesting at politicians’ homes is not particularly uncommon. The NDP MPs immediate and harsh condemnation reflects two dynamics. MPs obviously have a collective self-interest in deterring this type of protest since they could be on the receiving end of what most would consider annoying. So, in that sense the MPs criticism is likely genuine.

The second dynamic is that the genocide lobby’s constant attacks and smears prime politicians to want to throw a bone to the apartheid lobby by condemning Palestine solidarity activists or echoing them in some way. It’s not a coincidence that the NDP MPs who immediately condemned the Joly protest have recently been the targets of pro-genocide forces for (considering the state of Canadian politics) relatively good statements on Palestine/Middle East affairs.

It’s two steps forward one step back dynamic. But the NDP MPs were under no compulsion to comment on the Joly protests. They shouldn’t have bolstered the genocide lobby’s outrage against those who braved the cold to protest Canada’s role in enabling unimaginable horrors in Gaza.

January 14, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Progressive Hypocrite, Solidarity and Activism | , , , | Leave a comment

Is China hatching a sinister plot regarding the Israel-Gaza war?

Gaza Strip. © MOHAMMED ABED / AFP
By Timur Fomenko | RT | January 13, 2024

A recent Foreign Affairs article purports to expose “China’s game in Gaza,” accusing Beijing of “Exploiting Israel’s War to Win Over the Global South.”

The author alleges that “in calling for a two-state solution, refusing to condemn Hamas, and making symbolic efforts to support a ceasefire, [China] has taken advantage of global anti-Israeli sentiment in a bid to elevate its own standing in the Global South.”

This argument is interesting, because it is premised on the logic that the war on Gaza can end quickly if Beijing simply supports the US position, which the article claims is “to reconcile public support for Israel with private pressure to more carefully target its attacks in Gaza and to be more open to a political settlement with the Palestinians.” So let’s get this right, it’s the US that wants to end this conflict fairly and China is exacerbating it and therefore is at fault?

This kind of analysis is farfetched at best and outright dishonest at worst, and overall an insult to every observer’s intelligence. It really shows the lengths to which the mainstream cycle of journalists and think-tankers will go in order to not place any blame on Israel whatsoever, but to scapegoat third parties who do not in fact have a hand in the conflict. China has always taken a neutral position on the Israel-Palestine issue, though it recognizes the State of Palestine’s sovereign existence, and therefore advocates a two-state solution.

However, the situation really doesn’t need China at all in order to ferment an anti-Israeli and anti-US backlash across the Global South. The US and its allies have managed to do that all by themselves. China’s rhetoric on the issue has been inconsequential and certainly hardly provocative.

First of all, the Foreign Affairs article takes the misleading State Department position that the US is some kind of honest broker and mediator in the Israel-Palestine conflict that just wants the two sides to make up and get along. This is an absolute lie. All the US has offered is unconditional, uncritical and blanket support to Israel which Benjamin Netanyahu has calculated allows him to do whatever he wants, effectively consequence-free. Will the US actually sanction Israel? Will the US condemn Israel at the UN? Will the US stop arming Israel? Absolutely not, and he knows this, therefore anything Washington might claim in regards to sparing civilians or talking about a ceasefire is hollow because it is not backed up by any substance. Israel is allowed to do whatever it sees fit, because placing any restraints on it is domestically politically untenable in the US, as well as in allied countries such as the UK.

Therefore, even if it wanted to, how could China possibly end the conflict, let alone be responsible for it? It is the scenes of unprecedented, Western-backed slaughter and carnage in Gaza that are provoking outrage in the Global South, and the reality that Israel is a law unto itself. This backlash is entirely and exclusively Western-generated and there is no conspiracy nor agenda by China as a neutral player to exploit it. In fact, if China were serious, it would be actively whipping up anti-Israeli sentiment, but it is not doing so because Beijing for the most part is restrained and has little to say on third-party issues.

Rather, China’s alignment with the Global South is a historic trend given Beijing itself is a part of the Global South from the days of its revolutionary heritage, the common experience of colonialism, and therefore the desire to sustain sovereignty and independence from Western domination. This forms a common position with the states of the Middle East, Africa and Latin America on Palestine, with the latter being the most prominent example of Western-led colonial oppression in the world. The situation in Gaza is a Western-backed injustice and set of atrocities, which in turn reveals the double standards of these countries who purport to be the champions of freedom and human rights.

In this case, China doesn’t need to say anything regarding Gaza to inflame the Global South because the situation really is quite self-explanatory. The US is costing itself support throughout the Global South by showing that it is an enabler of genocide through the unconditional political and military backing it grants the Israeli state, yet here in Foreign Affairs we have the lopsided rendition that really it’s just all China’s fault, as usual.

January 13, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Progressive Hypocrite | , , , , | Leave a comment

Israel staring at Paris Olympics ban for killing Palestinian athletes

By Reza Javadi | Press TV | January 11, 2024

The Palestinian football fraternity is mourning the loss of Hani Al-Mossader, a veteran player and coach of the Palestinian Olympic football team, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza last week.

Known as Abu al-Abed in the football circles of Palestine, he became the latest victim of the occupying regime’s genocidal war, which has not even spared athletes.

“Abu al-Abed rose (to martyrdom – PC) due to the occupation aggression on the Gaza Strip for the third month, joining the constellation of football martyrs and martyrs of the Palestinian sports movement,” the Palestinian Football Association said in a statement.

According to Palestinian media, since October 7, at least 88 Palestinian athletes have been killed in Israeli airstrikes, with 67 football players among them.

“At least 88 athletes in team and individual sports, including 67 football players were killed. Additionally, 24 officials from managerial and technical staff also lost their lives in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza,” read a statement posted on the official PFA website.

The association said it has sent “urgent letters to the International Olympic Committee and all international, continental and regional federations (including FIFA) calling for an urgent international investigation into the crimes of the occupation against sports and the in Palestine.”

Sports infrastructure in the besieged coastal territory has also come under devastating Israeli aerial blitz in the past three months, resulting in widespread destruction.

Condemning the Israeli army’s actions, the Gaza-based Supreme Council for Sports said the Israeli army has killed hundreds of sports figures and destroyed dozens of playfields.

Playfields turn into torture chambers

The council said stadiums and sports clubs have turned into torture and execution centers, including the Yarmuk Stadium in Gaza City.

Images and videos showing young Palestinians being stripped down to their underwear and held in large numbers at gunpoint by the Israeli army in the Yarmuk Stadium, in northern Gaza, came as a shock to many football fans worldwide.

The Gaza-based council urged international authorities to take decisive action and hold the regime forces accountable for inhumane activities inflicted upon athletes.

In mid-December, a PFA report highlighted the destruction of at least nine sports facilities, four in the occupied West Bank and five in the Gaza Strip.

It also sounded alarm over the detention of athletes in the occupied West Bank towns, and injuries they sustained during Israeli military raids.

In Late December, a prominent Palestinian footballer, Ahmed Daraghmeh, 23, was killed by Israeli forces when they entered the city of Nablus to escort Jewish settlers to a site known as the biblical Joseph’s Tomb in the occupied West Bank city.

Local Palestinians say stories of many Palestinian athletes killed since October 7 remain untold amid the information blackout.

Palestine in Olympics

Despite heavy odds, Palestinian athletes have not lost hope and are confident to compete in international sporting events this year, including the AFC Asia Cup and 2024 Summer Olympics to be hosted by Paris.

So far, two Palestinian athletes, Ahmed-al-Zahhar and Wasim Naief, have expressed their intention to compete in the Archery event at the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Amid the massive anti-Israel sentiment sweeping the world, there is a likelihood of athletes refusing to compete against their Israeli opponents in international events.

Palestinian wrestler Rabbia Khalil, who trains in Germany and aspires to compete in Paris, has already declared his unwillingness to compete against Israeli athletes.

He anticipates that more Arabic or pro-Palestine athletes may boycott competitions if required to compete against Israeli athletes, as athletes may become increasingly prepared to accept the associated consequences.

In the past, many international sports stars have refused to turn up against their Israeli opponents in international sporting events, including the Olympics, as a mark of protest against the apartheid entity’s war crimes against Palestinians.

Iranian athletes, for example, have been leading this anti-Israel boycott.

Exclusion of Israel from Paris 2024 Olympics

In light of the Israeli regime’s continued aggression against Palestinians in Gaza, calls to bar Israel from the 2024 Paris Olympics have gained momentum, reflecting a growing global concern over the humanitarian crisis unfolding in the territory.

Recently, a US-based magazine delved into the prospect of Israel’s participation in the Paris Olympics next year, asking whether it should face penalties or outright exclusion.

“​Israel’s attacks on Gaza raise a question that Western powers in the world of sports would like to avoid: Should Israel be penalized or even barred from competing in the Paris 2024 Olympics?” The Nation wrote in a report.

A prominent football journalist, in an interview with Press TV on Wednesday, decried the “hypocrisy” of international sports organizations for their failure to ban Israel from global sporting events over its ongoing genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.

Nima Tavallaey Roodsari, endorsing a petition run by the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25), said Israel also must be barred from international sporting events if Russia was barred over the Ukraine war.

“This hypocrisy just cannot continue to stand, and if it does I fear that’s the beginning of the end of international sporting organizations as we know it,” he said.

The petition states that Western governments continue to toe the official line of Israel, ignoring the genocide unfolding in Gaza, with over 23,000 killed so far.

“The International Olympic Committee, FIFA, UEFA, FIBA, and other sports organizations are complicit as they allow continuous participation of the occupying apartheid regime in their events. Following a swift response and an instant suspension of Russia, it is now difficult for them to justify turning a blind eye to the Israeli government’s actions,” it stated.

Tragedy of Gaza

According to rights groups, a Palestinian is killed every four minutes in Gaza, mostly children and more than 80 percent of the population is on the brink of starvation.

Shockingly, the [civilian] death toll in Gaza within the first 25 days of the war surpassed the [civilian] casualties in the war in Ukraine, which has been going on for over a year and a half.

The numbers paint a grim picture—more than 23,000 Palestinians, the majority of them women and children, have lost their lives, with nearly 59,000 injured.

The Zionist regime’s targeted strikes have crippled medical facilities, rendering more than 25 hospitals out of service and endangering millions of lives.

Reports indicate that the power of Israeli bombs in Gaza exceeded that of the Little Boy nuclear bomb used in Hiroshima, with an equivalent of 10 kilograms of explosives for each Palestinian residing in the Gaza Strip.

Tragically, within three weeks of the war, the number of Palestinian children martyred surpassed the global count for children killed in all parts of the world since 2019.

Experts believe banning Israel from the Paris Olympics is the least the international sports fraternity can do to hold the regime accountable for its genocide in Gaza.

January 11, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Progressive Hypocrite, Solidarity and Activism, War Crimes | , , , | Leave a comment

Yemen slams UN Security Council resolution on Red Sea operations

Press TV – January 11, 2024

Yemen has condemned as a “political game” a resolution adopted by the United Nations Security Council on naval operations in the Red Sea, saying the US is the side that is violating international law.

In an X post on Thursday, Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, head of Yemen’s Supreme Revolutionary Committee, emphasized that the actions of the Yemeni armed forces in support of the Gaza Strip fall within the framework of legitimate defense.

The remarks came hours after the Security Council approved a resolution, backed by the US and Japan, which demanded an immediate end to attacks by Yemeni forces on Israeli-owned or Israeli-bound ships in the Red Sea.

The resolution, passed 11-0 with four abstentions, also called on Yemen to release the Galaxy Leader, an Israeli-linked cargo ship that was confiscated on November 19.

“We inform the people of the world that the decision adopted regarding the security of navigation in the Red Sea is a political game, and that the United States is the one violating international law,” Houthi said.

Any act the Yemeni armed forces face “will have a reaction, and any state that attacks bears the responsibility for aggression and the protection of the usurping entity which commits massacres under American and British protection,” he warned.

Houthi also urged the Security Council to immediately release 2.3 million people from the “Israeli-American siege” on Gaza.

‘Unjust resolution comes amid UN failure to stop Gaza war’

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Mujahideen resistance movement condemned the Security Council resolution and said that the Yemeni operations are aimed at reducing oppression against the people of Gaza and ending the Israeli genocide.

“This unjust resolution comes amidst the Council’s inability to issue a resolution condemning the brutal war against the Palestinian people in Gaza due to American hegemony, confirming the international system’s failure to protect human rights,” it said in a statement.

Israel waged the genocidal war on Gaza on October 7 following a historic operation by the Palestinian Hamas resistance group against the occupying entity. The US has offered untrammeled support for Israel during the devastating onslaught.

In solidarity with the Palestinians in blockaded Gaza, the Yemeni armed forces have targeted ships in the Red Sea with owners linked to Israel or those going to and from ports in the occupied territories.

In response, the US has formed a multinational military coalition against Yemeni forces in the Red Sea and endangered maritime navigation in the strategic waterway.

January 11, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Progressive Hypocrite | , , , , | Leave a comment

Reporters without shame: Top ‘media rights’ organization ignores rampant killings of Gaza journalists

By Eva Bartlett | RT | January 7, 2024

At the end of 2023, Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans Frontieres, RSF), the international organization ostensibly advocating for freedom of information, released its annual report. The paper massively downplays the widespread and deliberate targeting of Palestinian journalists in the Israel-Gaza war.

The report’s announcement, titled, “Round-up: 45 journalists killed in the line of duty worldwide – a drop despite the tragedy in Gaza,” excludes most of the Palestinian journalists killed by Israel in 2023, particularly in the past few months. It claims 16 fewer journalists were killed worldwide in 2023 than in 2022. This doesn’t reflect reality.

The report claims that (as of December 1, 2023), only 13 Palestinian journalists were killed while actively reporting, noting separately that 56 journalists were killed in Gaza, “if we include journalists killed in circumstances unproven to be related to their duties.”

Other sources put the overall number of Palestinian journalists killed in the enclave much higher. The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported on December 1 that 73 journalists and media workers had been killed, citing to the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate (PJS).

While The Committee to Protect Journalists’ (CPJ) December 20, 2023 numbers are lower (at least 61 Palestinian journalists killed since October 7), CPJ at least didn’t disregard dozens of slain Palestinian journalists like RSF did.

In fact, in contrast to RSF’s cheerful “things are much better for journalists than previous years” tone, CPJ emphasized that in the first 10 weeks of Israel’s war on Gaza, “more journalists have been killed than have ever been killed in a single country over an entire year.” It voiced its concern about, “an apparent pattern of targeting of journalists and their families by the Israeli military.”

It isn’t clear how RSF discerns which circumstances were “unproven to be related” to the duties of slain Gazan journalists, nor who is “actively reporting” when Gaza is under relentless Israeli bombardment and suffers frequent internet cuts. In fact, given the nonstop Israeli bombing (and sniping) throughout the strip, it would be nearly impossible to discern whether journalists were reporting (including from their homes) at the time of their death.

However, in the methodology section near the end of its more detailed report, RSF notes it “logs a journalist’s death in its press freedom barometer when they are killed in the exercise of their duties or in connection with their status as a journalist.”

Many Palestinian journalists in Gaza have received death threats from officers in the Israeli army precisely due to their status as journalists. And many of those threatened have subsequently been killed, along with family members, when Israeli airstrikes targeted their homes or places of shelter.

We also have the precedent in prior wars (in 2009, 2012, 2014, and 2021) of Israel bombing Gazan media buildings (including one I was in in 2009) with varying severity, damaging and finally destroying two major media buildings in 2021. This is clearly intended to stop the flow of reports from Gaza under Israeli bombs, and so is the killing of journalists.

On December 15, the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate criticized the RSF report, going as far as accusing RSF of complicity with Israel’s war crimes against Palestinian journalists through whitewashing.

This is the same PJS whose statistics the UN’s OCHA cites, statistics which PJS says are “accurate and based on professional and legal documentation that follows the highest standards in documenting crimes against journalists.” This documentation includes journalists who Israeli airstrikes targeted in their homes, killed precisely because they are journalists.

In response, RSF claimed it, “did not yet have sufficient evidence or indications,” to state that any more than 14 journalists in the Gaza Strip (as of December 23, the date of its response) “had been killed in the course of their work or because of it.”

RSF called the PJS accusations “inane,” complaining that they “damage our organisation’s image,” and chastised the PSJ to not “impugn our motives,” or “quarrel” over numbers. “Quarreling over numbers” is a pretty cavalier objection from an organization espousing concern over journalists being targeted.

At least three journalists were shot dead, at least three killed by an Israeli airstrike on media outlets in central Gaza City, and many more were killed by Israeli airstrikes on “safe” areas – areas south of Wadi Gaza, which Israel had commanded civilians to flee to for their “safety.” In spite of this command, Israeli bombings continued all over the strip, including all the way south to Rafah.

Still many more – in Gaza City, as well as to the north and to the south of it – were killed at home with their families, including one journalist in Khan Younis, killed along with 11 members of his family when an Israeli airstrike targeted his home on November 2. On November 23, a journalist was killed in an Israeli airstrike on his home in Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, along with 20 family members.

The Cradle reported that, “The Israeli army sent a letter to legacy news outlets, Reuters and AFP.” The letter said, “The [Israeli Army] is targeting all Hamas military activity throughout Gaza. Under these circumstances, we cannot guarantee your employees’ safety.”

One Israeli bombing of a journalist’s home on November 7 killed him and 42 family members. Like many of his slain colleagues, he was a journalist for Palestinian Authority-run Wafa news. Many of the other murdered journalists worked for: Palestinian Authority-run Palestine TV, independent news agencies, local TV and radio programs, and larger outlets like al Jazeera. Others worked with Hamas-affiliated media and radio. Still others were freelancers.

On November 5, PJS reported that at least 20 of the journalists killed (since October 7) “were intentionally targeted by strikes on their homes or during their work covering Israel’s attacks.” This tally is already greater than RSF’s reported total of 13 journalists killed at work or because of their work, even though the RSF report covers a period of almost a month more.

Israel threatens journalists, kills family members

Many Gaza journalists report being threatened by the Israeli army. CPJ noted it is “deeply alarmed by the pattern of journalists in Gaza reporting receiving threats, and subsequently, their family members being killed.”

One such incident followed a threat to Al-Jazeera Arabic reporter Anas Al-Sharif. CPJ noted he had received multiple phone calls from officers in the Israeli army instructing him to cease coverage and leave northern Gaza. Additionally, he received voice notes on WhatsApp disclosing his location. His 90-year-old father was killed on December 11 by an Israeli airstrike on their home in the Jabalia refugee camp.

On November 13, CPJ noted, “eight family members of photojournalist Yasser Qudih were killed when their house in southern Gaza was struck by four missiles. Qudih survived the attack.”

On October 25, an Israel airstrike on the Nuseirat refugee camp in the center of Gaza killed the wife, son, daughter, and grandson of Al-Jazeera’s bureau chief for Gaza, Wael Al Dahdouh.

The popular young independent journalist, Motaz Azaiza, reported receiving multiple threats from anonymous numbers urging him to cease his coverage, CPJ reported, noting that another Al-Jazeera correspondent, Youmna El-Sayed, said her husband received a threatening phone call from a man who identified himself as a member of the IDF and told the family “to leave or die.”

RSF bias: Not only in Palestine

Whereas RSF only reluctantly, as an afterthought, mentioned Palestinian journalists killed in “circumstances unproven to be related to their duties,” in a 2021 report on Syria, it stated, “at least 300 professional and non-professional journalists have been killed while covering artillery bombardments and airstrikes or murdered by the various parties to the conflict,” since 2011, going on to say, “this figure could in reality be even higher.”

It cited a report by the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) claiming the number could be up to 700. While endorsing these numbers, the RSF also gave a caveat, albeit a much meeker one than the one about Gaza journalists: “Confirming such estimates is not currently possible because of the difficulty of accessing information.”

Aside from reporting numbers it could not confirm, RSF cited a body in no way impartial or credible. As an investigative article noted, the SNHR is “based in Qatar… funded by foreign governments and staffed by top opposition leaders,” and “has openly clamored for Western military intervention.”

In 2017, Stephen Lendman wrote of RSF’s attempt to shut down a panel sponsored by the Swiss Press Club in which British journalist Vanessa Beeley would be participating. “An organization that defends freedom of information is asking me to censor a press conference,” the club’s executive director Guy Mettan said at the time. He refused to cancel the event.

RSF’s 2023 roundup also didn’t include two Russian journalists killed this year, one by a Ukrainian cluster bomb strike and the other by a Ukrainian drone attack (targeting journalists).

Sputnik pursued the matter and reported that RSF, “refused to give any comments to Sputnik ” citing “editorial policy.”

Journalist Christelle Neant likewise noted RSF’s glaring omission of the Russian journalists. She wrote about the body’s funding from various governments, and more notably from regime change agencies: the Open Society foundation, The Ford Foundation, and the National Endowment for Democracy, funded by the US Congress.

RSF’s notorious funders explain why it cherry picks or inflates its reports. The borderless organization has lines it won’t cross. It reports a grain of truth but otherwise whitewashes the crimes of Israel and Washington.

Eva Bartlett is a Canadian independent journalist. She has spent years on the ground covering conflict zones in the Middle East, especially in Syria and Palestine (where she lived for nearly four years).

January 7, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Full Spectrum Dominance, Progressive Hypocrite | , , , | Leave a comment

‘Ballot Cleansing’: How Democrats are pushing US to political chaos

By Ekaterina Blinova – Sputnik – 07.01.2024

Democrats have resorted to nothing short of “ballot cleansing” as they try to bar Republican candidates for Congress under the 14th Amendment theory, writes renowned American legal expert Jonathan Turley, warning against placing the US on a slippery slope to political chaos.

Several US voters in Illinois and Massachusetts have filed motions seeking to remove former President Donald Trump from each state’s primary ballot for the 2024 election. Earlier, Colorado and Maine moved to disqualify the ex-president.

Jonathan Turley, a renowned US legal scholar, raised the red flag over Colorado’s Supreme Court decision to bar Trump from the 2024 election last month, stressing that the state’s justices “put this country on one of the most dangerous paths in its history.”

The unusual initiative is driven by Democrat politicians who decided to utilize Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which says that any candidates who have engaged in acts of insurrection after vowing to defend the US Constitution should be barred from holding political office. The amendment was ratified in 1868. Now, the Dems are arguing that the January 6 riots were a full-fledged “insurrection” and that the law could be applied to the former president.

“In December 1865 many in Washington were shocked to see Alexander Stephens, the Confederacy’s onetime vice president, waiting to take the same oath that he took before joining the Southern rebellion,” Turley wrote on December 22. “So Congress declared that it could bar those ‘who have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.’”

According to the legal expert, the January 6 events – no matter how bad they were – cannot be compared to the US Civil War (1861-1865) and qualified as an “insurrection.”

“It was a protest that became a riot, not a rebellion,” Turley highlighted, arguing that the Civil War-era amendment should not be used in this case.

He warned that the Colorado court’s undemocratic decision and clear defiance of the First Amendment could result in a domino effect “where red and blue states could now engage in tit-for-tat disqualifications.”

Turley’s concerns aren’t unjustified given that Democrats have decided to bar not only Trump, but all Republican candidates for Congress who have dared to question the fairness of the 2020 elections. Some Democratic lawmakers have called for the disqualification of up to 126 Republican colleagues as “insurrectionists.” What is especially chilling is that many have supported them.

Thus, on December 11, US Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ) called on House leaders to remove congressional lawmakers who were “supporting Donald Trump’s efforts to invalidate the 2020 presidential election.”

“Stated simply, men and women who would act to tear the United States government apart cannot serve as Members of the Congress. These lawsuits seeking to obliterate public confidence in our democratic system by invalidating the clear results of the 2020 presidential election undoubtedly attack the text and spirit of the Constitution, which each Member swears to support and defend,” claimed Pascrell, citing Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.

Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) introduced a similar initiative which was supported by 63 Democratic co-sponsors, including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jamaal Bowman, Ritchie Torres, Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib.

Meanwhile, Turley drew attention to an obvious double-standard approach exercised by Democrats: previously, some of them have openly challenged and even sought to block certification of election results.

“Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) praised the effort then-Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) organized to challenge the certification of President George W. Bush’s 2004 re-election,” the legal scholar recalled on January 5, adding that Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) sought to block certification of the 2016 election result.

According to Turley, Democrats are increasingly using labels of “insurrectionists” and “Putin lovers” to cancel their political rivals, opponents, and even journalists. However, if the trend turns into some sort of a legal precedent, nothing would stop overzealous lawmakers from expanding this cancellation spree, according to the expert.

“That is why the [US] Supreme Court needs to take up this issue and put this pernicious theory to bed once and for all,” Turley concluded.

January 7, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance, Progressive Hypocrite | | Leave a comment

Amal Clooney Accuses a French Company, but Ignores the Crimes of the US and UK

By Steven Sahiounie | Strategic Culture Foundation | January 5, 2024

Amal Clooney, the international human rights lawyer, is representing victims of mass atrocities, including genocide and sexual violence, from the Iraqi Yazidi community who are seeking accountability for crimes perpetrated by ISIS.

The case alleges French conglomerate Lafarge SA conspired to provide material and funds to support ISIS terrorist campaigns against the Yazidis.

“Lafarge has admitted to a conspiracy that aided ISIS by providing millions of dollars in cash to ISIS, and is alleged to have provided ISIS with cement to construct underground tunnels and bunkers used to shelter ISIS members and hold hostages, including captured Yazidis,” a news release stated.

Clooney has focused on the French cement company which supported ISIS in Syria in order to remain in business during the war.

The crime committed by Lafarge is serious, but it is just one small incidence of western entities supporting terrorists in Syria following Radical Islam. Clooney is singling out a French company, and France is allied with both the U.S. and UK. While the crime affected hundreds of Yazidis, the same crime carried out by the U.S., UK and EU has affected millions of Syrian citizens.

The Free Syrian Army (FSA) forces were caught selling arms to the ISIS.

Weapons sent to terrorists in Syria from the U.S. directly allowed ISIS to obtain substantial amounts of sophisticated supplies which they used against civilians.

A study by Conflict Armament Research found that anti-tank weapons given to the ‘rebels’ in Syria by the U.S. ended up in the possession of the ISIS within two months of leaving the factory.

The U.S. provided extensive lethal and non-lethal aid to many terrorist groups fighting against the Syrian government. The CIA ran a covert program Timber Sycamore to arm, fund and train terrorists in Syria. U.S. President Trump shut the program down in 2017.

ISIS, Al Qaeda, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, Jabhat al-Nusra and the FSA fighting in Syria all shared the same political platform: to remove the Syrian government in Damascus, and replace it with a Islamic governing system. In March 2011, the U.S. and NATO began a war in Syria for the purpose of regime change. It was not successful, and the same government in Damascus has remained. However, the U.S.-NATO war was very successful in destroying the country, ruining the economy, killing thousands and sending the largest Syrian migrant wave to Europe in history.

U.S. President Barak Obama praised the FSA as ‘moderate’ rebels fighting for freedom and democracy. But, early on the FSA demonstrated that they were fighting to kill Christians and non-Sunni Muslim minorities, and had no interest in lofty ideals of freedom and democracy. They wanted to over throw the Damascus government with the support of the Obama administration, and realize the dream of a Sunni Muslim governing system which was based on Islamic Law, not civil codes.

In April 2014, investigative journalist Seymour M. Hersh exposed the Obama-Clinton “Rat Line”, which was a CIA weapons highway into Syria, serving the terrorists fighting for Obama’s regime change goal. Weapons and ammunition was sent from Libya to Syria via southern Turkey, and the terrorists on the receiving end were affiliated with Al Qaeda, and later aligned with ISIS.

Hersh revealed a 2012 agreement by Obama, and supported by the UK spy agency, MI6, which was responsible for getting weapons from Libya into Syria.

In 2013, Clooney was appointed to a number of United Nations commissions, including as adviser to Special Envoy Kofi Annan on Syria. The U.S. and UK involvement in supporting the terrorists who would later fight alongside ISIS was not any secret.

In 2016, Obama signed into law a defense policy bill which led to U.S. weapons provided to ‘rebels’ ending up in the hands of terrorists following Radical Islam, who became brothers in arms on the Syrian battlefields.

The Yazidis have suffered greatly and should receive justice. Clooney has focused on this one small incidence of ISIS benefiting from a French business. Clooney has ignored that the U.S., UK and their western democratic allies supported, funded, trained and weaponized terrorists in Syria which directly benefitted ISIS.

Where is the international court case to serve justice for the hundreds of thousands of Syrians dead, maimed, raped, kidnapped and made homeless by the FSA and their allies Al Qaeda and ISIS?

Clooney chose an easy win with the case against Lafarge. Clooney said she hopes to get a financial award for the Yazidis from her case so they can rebuild their lives.

The U.S. has prevented the Syrian people from rebuilding any hospital, school or home because of the U.S. imposed sanctions which prevent importing any products for reconstruction. The U.S. sanctions against Syria prevent any wealthy Arab country, or investor, from developing any reconstruction project to benefit the Syrian civilians, such as the repair of the water infrastructure in Aleppo. Last summer, Aleppo suffered cholera because the water plant is in need of repair.

The Syrians have no court case pending, and have no hope of any recovery from their suffering caused by the U.S.-NATO attack on the Syrian people for regime change.

January 6, 2024 Posted by | Progressive Hypocrite, Wars for Israel | , , , , | Leave a comment

Britain’s Neocolonial Actions Must End – Russian Foreign Ministry

Sputnik – 06.01.2024

MOSCOW – London, which accuses Moscow of violating UN Security Council resolutions, should remember its neocolonial actions, including aggression against the population of Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, Syria, and military aid to Ukraine, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stressed.

The official made a statement commenting on British Defense Minister Grant Shapps’ assertions that “the world has turned its back on Russia.”

The British minister made the remarks in connection to unsubstantiated allegations regarding the use of “DPRK missiles.” Shapps also accused Russia of violating multiple UN Security Council resolutions, despite Moscow’s stern denial of such innuendos.

“Here is just a short list of London’s neocolonial actions of recent times: the participation of British land and air forces together with the Americans in the aggression against Yugoslavia, in the destruction of Iraq and its population, Libya, Afghanistan, the bombing of Syria, and now – supporting the Kiev regime, which in violation of all resolutions on non-delivery of weapons to conflict zones the Anglo-Saxons are supplying with lethal weapons. But Shapps is right about one thing: ‘This must end,'” Zakharova wrote on her Telegram channel.

Earlier, Pyotr Ilyichev, the director of the Department of International Organizations of the Russian Foreign Ministry told Sputnik that UN experts monitoring possible violations of Security Council sanctions refute the allegation that Moscow is violating these restrictions.

According to Ilyichev, Russia treats its international obligations responsibly, while accusations are being made by those who are fixated on the task of discrediting Russia.

Russia launched its special military operation in Ukraine in February 2022, with Russian President Vladimir Putin noting the goal is to ensure “the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years.”

According to the Russian president, the “demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine” is of utmost importance in order to bring to justice all war criminals responsible for “bloody crimes against civilians” in the Donbass.

January 6, 2024 Posted by | Progressive Hypocrite | , , | Leave a comment

More discomfort awaits the West in 2024 if it doesn’t adapt to new reality

Illustration: Liu Rui/GT
Global Times | January 1, 2024

What kind of experience did 2023 bring to Western countries? According to mainstream Western media, the most apt term to encapsulate the Western sentiment is “uncomfortable.”

An article from the BBC suggests that the past 12 months have seen a number of setbacks for the US, Europe and other major democracies on the international politics stage. Although none has been disastrous for now, they point to a shifting balance of power away from the US-dominated, Western values that have held sway for years, the article claimed. The mentioned setbacks include regional conflicts such as the Russia-Ukraine war and the Israel-Palestine conflict. Challenges posed by countries perceived as adversarial by the US and the West, such as China, Iran, and North Korea, were also highlighted.

The Ukraine crisis has continued on, and the Israel-Palestine conflict has reignited, while the responses from the international community don’t align with the preferences of the US and its Western allies. All of this has made them feel “uncomfortable.”

When it comes to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, despite receiving support from the West, Ukraine has faced difficulties and failed to progress as expected in its conflict with Russia. This has led to Western fatigue and frustration. Due to partisan divisions in the US, providing aid to Ukraine has become problematic. In contrast, Russia has managed to stabilize its frontlines and handle the prolonged war effectively, Lü Xiang, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times. He noted that sanctions against Russia, with only around 30 countries participating in condemning Russia’s actions, have failed to significantly impact the Russian economy, instead, Russia has demonstrated remarkable resilience, contrary to Western expectations.

In the case of the Israel-Palestine conflict, most developing countries held positions inconsistent with those of the US. Many countries expressed disappointment and regret over the US veto of the Gaza-related drafts demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, distancing themselves from the US pro-Israel stance.

The BBC states that Arab ministers believe there are double standards in Western approaches to the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the Israel-Palestine conflict, accusing the Western governments of hypocrisy. This reflects a growing opposition from Global South and developing countries against the values advocated by the US and the West in various events, and the Western influence is diminishing, said Yang Xiyu, a senior research fellow at the China Institute of International Studies.

Issues such as the Ukraine crisis and the Israel-Palestine conflict increasingly demonstrate that the West, particularly Europe and the US, can no longer bring positive values to the world. More and more countries and their people in the Global South have become aware of this and refuse to accept Western double standards.

Today, an increasing number of developing countries are expressing clear opposition to irresponsible actions by the US and Europe. The major demand of these countries is to have a peaceful and stable international environment for national development. However, Western countries, the US in particular, are acting as the world’s largest disruptor of peace and creator of conflicts. In the cases of the Ukraine crisis and the Israel-Palestine conflict, the US not only fuels the flames but also opposes proposals for peace talks raised by other countries. In pursuit of its selfish interests, the US has caused suffering to the people of Ukraine and the Gaza Strip, hindering the resolution of other urgent global issues. In such circumstances, more and more developing countries are becoming courageous enough to say no to the US and the West.

In 2024, the influence and dominance of the West, whether in the Russia-Ukraine conflict or the Israel-Palestine conflict, will continue to decline. If 2023 did not unfold according to their expectations, 2024 is likely to deviate even further. This will bring more discomfort for them. Washington now has to adapt to a new reality: Global South countries are becoming more mature and gaining more decision-making autonomy. US politicians, who are used to dictating terms to countries worldwide and expecting developments to revolve around US interests, must reflect on and adapt to this new change. Otherwise, when the media summarizes 2024, it may not be as simple as just feeling uncomfortable; the experience might be more agonizing.

January 1, 2024 Posted by | Militarism, Progressive Hypocrite, Russophobia, Wars for Israel | , , , , | Leave a comment

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