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Ukraine to jail people for storing firewood – media

RT | November 4, 2024

The Ukrainian parliament has passed a law introducing criminal liability for storing firewood without proper paperwork about its origin, local media have reported. The country faces an energy crisis in the coming winter, amid the ongoing conflict with Russia.

The Verkhovna Rada, the nation’s legislature, adopted the new rule last month, and it now awaits Vladimir Zelensky’s signature, the outlet Strana said on Sunday.

Ukrainian lawyer Aleksey Kinebas told the public broadcaster Suspilne that once the law comes into force, people could face “either administrative or criminal punishment simply for the storage, transportation or sale of firewood.” Ukraine has criminalized logging without a permit.

“For example, two people, a married couple, store firewood worth over 30,000 hryvnia (around $730) and have no documents showing where they bought it. In this case, they could face from five to seven years in prison,” he said.

The punishment has the potential to be even harsher if the destruction of trees is qualified as leading to severe consequences during wartime, the lawyer said.

According to Kinebas, those storing a smaller amount of firewood without proper paperwork – even if it is just “one trunk, one tree, one stump” – will face hefty fines of up to 34,000 hryvnia (around $825).

The measure will mostly affect the low-income residents of Ukrainian villages, he warned, saying “100% of the population living in rural areas could be indicted” under the new legislation.

Last week, Zelensky said that he is “preparing the country for a winter that will be decisive, which is a big challenge… because this will be the third winter with power outages, with all the difficulties.”

During his speech at the UN General Assembly in September, the Ukrainian leader claimed that 80% percent of the country’s power generation capacity has been destroyed during the conflict with Russia, including all thermal power plants and the largest hydroelectric power plants.

In July, a member of the Ukrainian parliament’s energy and housing utilities committee, Sergey Nagornyak, also predicted a harsh winter and called upon the people to look for homes that they could heat on their own.

November 4, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties | , | Leave a comment

Israel: Justice minister seeks to criminalise calls for sanctions against state

MEMO | November 3, 2024

Israeli Justice Minister Yariv Levin requested on Friday the preparation of a bill that criminalises those calling for imposing international sanctions on his country, including a prison sentence of up to ten years.

This comes following an article by the publisher of the left-wing newspaper Haaretz, Amos Schocken, in which he called for imposing sanctions on Israel due to the genocide it is currently waging in the Gaza Strip, describing what is happening in Gaza as “a second Nakba”.

Minister Levin’s move reflects an authoritarian approach by Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government that aims to silence critical voices and protect the government from any international accountability, even if the calls are directed to pressure Israel to stop the genocidal war in Gaza.

Levin sent a letter on Thursday to Israel’s Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, requesting her to: “Urgently provide me with a draft law stipulating that actions by Israeli citizens to promote or encourage international sanctions on Israel, its leaders, security forces, and citizens shall constitute a criminal offence punishable by ten years in prison.”

“I further request that such an offence during wartime be considered an aggravating circumstance, allowing for the penalty to be doubled,” he added, noting: “Calls for sanctions against Israel … constitute a severe breach of the fundamental duty of loyalty of a citizen toward their country. Such actions promote a course intended to deprive Israel of its right to self-defence.”

November 3, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Full Spectrum Dominance | , , , | Leave a comment

Regarding the WHO ‘Pandemic Agreement’

Negotiating with bullies, liars and thieves is unlikely to be a winning strategy

By Tess Lawrie, MBBCh, PhD​ | November 1, 2024

There is a lot on the go at the moment, so you may have missed that the World Health Organization’s ‘Pandemic Agreement’ is in the process of being finalised. Scheduled to be finalised by November 11, 2024, the aim is to ‘adopt’ it at a special session of the World Health Assembly in December.

Given that the WHO continues to violate its key objective, which is the highest attainable standard of health for every human being, the WHO can no longer be considered an authority on health, except in the matter of ensuring that it and key individuals within it are held liable for the deteriorating health of the world’s people due to its failed Covid policies.

With regard to the WHO Pandemic Agreement to be finalised by November 11, 2024, I encourage you to consider whether this boy’s club agreement pertains to us at all.

Imagine there is a gang in a school. The gang with their own gang rules set themselves up at the school gate and say, We are in charge of this school. You cannot say this or that anymore, you must follow our gang rules, and you have to buy your lunch from us. Be quiet and don’t ask questions. If you don’t do our bidding, the teachers, whom we control, will force you to and/or detain you.

Would you negotiate with this gang of bullies?

Among our choices when confronted by this WHO gang are the following:

  • we can comply and hope they will show mercy;
  • we can ask nicely or beg them to reconsider some of their rules;
  • we can jump over the school fence to avoid them, and live in daily fear of their vindictiveness;

or…

  • we can say to them “This school is a prison, if you like it so much you can keep it!”

Negotiating with bullies, liars and thieves is unlikely to be a winning strategy.

It is time for us to let the WHO and its controllers know that they can make as many agreements as they like, but they are all fake and irrelevant, and have no bearing on us, the people of this beautiful earth.

You can read the document that the WHO aims to ‘adopt’ illegitimately this December here, and read James Roguski’s insights here.

November 2, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties | , | Leave a comment

Euro-Med: International community showed disgraceful failure to stop genocide in Gaza

Palestinian Information Center – November 2, 2024

GENEVA – The Euro-Med Monitor said the foot-dragging by the international community regarding taking decisive decisions towards the massacres committed by the Israeli occupation army in the Gaza Strip, especially in northern Gaza, indicates its complicity in those heinous crimes, gives the Israeli army a green light to escalating its genocidal war, and shows its shocking disregard of Palestinians’ lives and dignity.

The Euro-Med indicated in a statement on Saturday that the international community, including the International Criminal Court, the International Court of Justice, the European Union, and the various UN organizations, showed a 13-month disgraceful failure to protect civilians and stop the crime of genocide committed by the Israeli occupation army against Palestinians in Gaza.

The Euro-Med emphasized that the international community did not deal seriously with the Israeli occupation crimes and ignored its atrocities, which encouraged the Israeli army to expand such crimes with the support and armament from the US and a number of European countries.

The Euro-Med voiced concerns that Israel, despite officially denying it, is implementing a displacement plan in northern Gaza, known as the “General’s Plan” by evacuating shelters in Jabalia and Beit Hanoun by committing massacres, killing, displacing, and starving civilians through blocking the entry of aid or goods into northern Gaza for a whole month.

It called on the International Criminal Court to shoulder its responsibilities to issue arrest warrants and hold accountable the perpetrators of the Israeli crimes.

The human rights group also urged the United Nations and the international community to intervene immediately to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of residents in northern Gaza, stop the crime of genocide, impose a comprehensive arms embargo on Israel, and to take all decisive measures to protect Palestinian civilians.

November 2, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Brazilian journalist fined, ordered to delete posts over criticizing Israeli war in Gaza

Press TV – November 2, 2024

A Brazilian court has ordered renowned journalist Breno Altman, who has frequently denounced Israel’s genocidal war against Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip, to pay a fine and delete a number of his posts on social media platforms.

Judge Paulo Bernardi Baccarat of the Court of Justice of São Paulo said on Thursday that the founder of the independent news portal Opera Mundi should pay a fine of 20,000 Brazilian reals ($3,407) in compensation for collective moral damages, and remove five posts deemed anti-Semitic.

This is yet another lawsuit against Altman, who is facing several cases in São Paulo courts due to his critical stance regarding the Tel Aviv regime’s devastating and bloody onslaught against Gaza.

In this case, the judge considered a request for censorship and compensation filed by the Brazilian Israelite Confederation (CONIB), which is the central organization of the Brazilian Jewish community.

CONIB asked for 80 thousand reals in compensation, the demonetization of Altman’s profile on social media and the payment of a minimum wage to each Israeli in Brazil.

The pro-Israeli lobby group said Altman should be banned from publishing posts about the Gaza conflict, alleging that his conduct exceeded the limits of freedom of expression, and claimed the journalist could incite hatred towards Jews and Israel with his posts.

Baccarat, however, concluded that there was no reason to pay compensation or remove most of the posts, considering that they were not anti-Semitic but rather political comments.

In other posts, however, he purportedly found racist content, such as the use of the term “rats” in reference to the Israeli military offensives against Palestinian Hamas resistance fighters.

The judge considered the reference to be racist, given that the term “rat” has a historical anti-Semitic association. The request for individual compensation for each Israeli in Brazil, however, was dismissed by the judge.

The journalist’s defense, represented by attorneys Pedro Serrano and Anderson Medeiros, said they will appeal the decision.

The objective, according to them, is to “demonstrate the absolute legality of all posts, supported by constitutional rights that ensure freedom of expression and freedom of thought.”

Back in August, Altman was sentenced to three months in prison for insulting Brazilian economist and former Director of International Affairs of the Central Bank of Brazil, Alexandre Schwartsman, and President of the pro-Israel organization StandWithUs Brazil, André Lajst.

The case also involved social media posts about Israel’s atrocious military campaign in Gaza. The sentence was commuted to a fine.

November 2, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Full Spectrum Dominance | , , , , | Leave a comment

A massacre within a massacre: How journalists reporting on Gaza deaths are being targeted

By Eva Bartlett | RT | November 2, 2024

In spite of experiencing two Israeli wars on Gaza, I never imagined the horrific scenes coming out of northern Gaza now: Israel is exterminating the population in broad daylight, broadcast for all the world to see.

And no one is doing a damn thing to stop it.

Israel has besieged northern Gaza for weeks days, preventing most humanitarian aid from entering, putting the population of 400,000 already starving Palestinian civilians in the north at severe risk of full starvation. The Israeli parliament has voted to ban UNRWA, the United Nations agency for humanitarian aid, which has been the sole lifeline for many Palestinians.

Israeli forces have also bombarded water stations and wells, as well as cutting off communications with the outside world, depriving people of access to water, and leaving them trapped and isolated.

According to Euro-Med Monitor, in the last two weeks, 500 Palestinians have been confirmed dead in northern Gaza, “and thousands more have sustained injuries. Many remain unaccounted for, either in the streets or buried under the debris.”

As they have done elsewhere throughout the Gaza Strip during more than one year of genocide, Israeli forces are targeting hospitals in Gaza’s north. Euro-Med reported that, “Israeli army forces surrounded the Indonesian Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahia. They fired two artillery shells at the hospital, cut off its electricity, and targeted anyone moving in the area.”

The army is firing on medics and other rescuers, as they’ve done throughout 2023-2024, and as they did in 2009, when medics I was with came under Israeli sniper fire, and another medic I knew was killed by a flechette (dart) bomb. By killing the rescuers and destroying the hospitals, Israel ensures maimed Palestinians will go without medical care and probably die.

This is, of course, illegal under international law. But as Israel’s genocidal actions have shown the world, the Israeli government, army and settlers believe laws don’t apply to them. Take the horrific video of an Israeli drone precision-targeting a Palestinian child, killing it, and then bombing the civilians who ran to try to rescue the child. Par for the course for the Israeli army. Were the perpetrator one of the United States’ enemies, there would be calls for no-fly zones, sanctions and corporate media howling 24/7.

Not content to merely murder Palestinian civilians by bombing, sniping and starvation, the Israeli army has reportedly been deploying robots with explosives and leaving booby trapped barrels to remotely detonate.

The scenes which journalists have been able to publish are surreal, like science fiction, with quadcopters policing the streets. A week ago, a friend told me in a message that he had to choose between starving or risking being shot dead by Israel soldiers or quadcopters if he tried to get bread.

Some days ago, he messaged me at 4 in the morning: Israeli tanks were outside his home, the audio he sent was terrifying. He chose to stay in his home rather than endure another Nakba.

I don’t know if he is alive now.

War on journalists

Earlier this month, Palestinian cameraman Fadi al-Wahidi was shot in the neck by an Israeli quadcopter, leaving him paralyzed. Aside from Al Jazeera, for which Fadi worked, most Western media and journalist projection organizations are unsurprisingly silent.

Reporters Without Borders, which I previously wrote about for its downplaying the number of Palestinian journalists killed by Israel, has no entry on Fadi. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CJP), at least, does. Its entry notes:

“Al Wahidi was critically injured in the neck by a bullet fired from an Israeli reconnaissance aircraft while Al Wahidi and correspondent Anas Al-Sharif were covering an Israeli siege on northern Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp. Both men were wearing “Press” vests and clearly identifiable as journalists.”

Anas al-Sharif – who continues to courageously report from northern Gaza – told CJP they’d been in an area “completely far from the areas of operations of the Israeli occupation forces,” and full of residents when, “an Israeli reconnaissance drone fired at us. After the shooting, we tried to move to another safer place and hide from any danger, but a bullet from the plane hit our colleague Fadi Al-Wahidi in the neck, which led to his complete paralysis.”

Wahidi has since fallen into a coma. His colleagues and friends are pleading for some sort of international intervention to allow him to be taken abroad for medical care, to save his life.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported, citing the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS), that between 7 October 2023 and 10 October 2024 168 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed in the Gaza Strip, including 17 women, 360 were injured, and 60 were detained.

The extermination campaign continues

It’s absolutely devastating to watch every day pass with alarming new updates from or on northern Gaza. Like Anas al-Sharif, Palestinian journalist Hossam Shabat courageously reports apocalyptic scenes of Israeli bombarding in northern Gaza.

In a live update on X recently, he said:

“We are witnessing genocide and ethnic cleansing in northern Gaza, specifically in Jabalia, which is under siege from all directions. Israeli occupation forces are bombing displaced civilians, detaining them, and attempting to ethnically cleanse them. They are targeting shelters for displaced civilians, and bodies are scattered everywhere in the north, along the roads. Thousands of civilians are being forcefully displaced (ethnically cleansed) from the north.”

Meanwhile, in a bout of meaningless theatrics, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin have “demanded Tel Aviv improves the humanitarian situation in Gaza within 30 days or risk losing US military aid and face possible legal action.”

But clearly Israel’s biggest backer is spouting nonsense: there will be no cut to military aid, there will be no legal action, the US will never take a position to force Israel to cease the massacre in Gaza. In fact, giving Israel one month before any supposed repercussion is, in my opinion, giving Israel a green light to ethnically cleanse northern Gaza as quickly as possible.

Israel seems hell-bent on implementing former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s ‘Five Fingers’ project, which envisioned carving Gaza into segments, all under Israeli security control. If this is Israel’s intent, we will see the same bloody scenes from northern Gaza repeated block by block Israel all over the rest of the already brutalized Strip.

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).

November 2, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Full Spectrum Dominance, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

The Threat to the Existence of Palestinian Refugee Camps

By Diana Khwaelid | International Solidarity Movement | November 1, 2024

Nur Shams – Tulkarm

Has Israel Succeeded in Implementing the Voluntary Displacement Policy in West Bank Camps?

Israeli forces launched another incursion into the Nur Shams camp in the city of Tulkarm. A military operation by the Israeli occupying forces in the camp led to the destruction of infrastructure that had already been damaged during previous incursions.

The presence of Occupation forces mechanisms

Almost a month after the last assault on the camp, the occupation returned to launch another military operation, further destroying infrastructure and the camp’s main entrance. Dozens of shops were damaged again after recent rebuilding efforts following the last assault.

Bulldozer used to destroy store fronts and infrastructures

The camp’s main electricity distribution transformer was targeted, sewage pipes were destroyed, and internet lines were cut during the military operation. The Israeli incursion into the camp and city lasted 13 continuous hours.

The headquarters of the UNRWA office and camp services were also targeted and destroyed just three days after the decision to ban UNRWA offices in Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank was issued.

One of the martyrs was 30-year-old Hossam al-Mallah, a resident of Tulkarm camp. An Israeli special force infiltrated Tulkarm, specifically targeting his workplace in the camp and fatally shooting him on the evening of Wednesday, October 31. On the same night, Israeli forces re-entered Tulkarm around 3:00 AM, with helicopters stationed in Nur Shams camp.

More destruction in the camp

Three Martyrs in Nur Shams Camp The Nur Shams refugee camp has continued to lose young lives, with the occupation repeatedly targeting Palestinian youth in camps across the northern West Bank. The martyrs include Mutassim Aisha, aged 32; Abdulaziz Abu Samin, aged 22; and Ahmad Fahmawi, aged 18. The Israeli forces killed them without warning.

Farewell to martyr Ahmad Fehmawi, 18 years old

Medical and ambulance crews were also prevented from entering the camp to transport wounded Palestinians, some of whom died due to the occupation’s obstruction of medical aid. Displacement of Camp Residents Abu Ahmed, a 61-year-old resident of Nur Shams camp, reported that the entrance to his house was destroyed for the sixth time, and his shops were destroyed for the third time during the recent incursion. He said the occupation aims to displace residents of Palestinian camps in the West Bank, especially in Nur Shams camp. However, he added, “The policy of destruction in the camp will not succeed in displacing us. Where are we supposed to go? There’s nowhere else.”

Israeli forces destroy Nur Shams – Tulkarm

A state of sadness has gripped the city of Tulkarm, especially in the camps, during the funeral of four martyrs who were killed by the occupation in less than 24 hours. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, the West Bank has witnessed 766 martyrs since the beginning of the year, with 177 from the city of Tulkarm.

Funeral of the martyrs

November 1, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Israel has issued 9,500 administrative detention orders since 7 October 2023

MEMO | October 31, 2024

Two Palestinian institutions concerned with prisoners’ affairs said on Wednesday that Israel has increased its issue of administrative detention orders, with nearly 9,500 issued since 7 October last year.

“The huge increase in the number of administrative detainees is mainly linked to the arrest campaigns in the occupied West Bank, including Jerusalem, with more than 11,500 arrests in all groups,” said the Palestinian Authority’s Commission of Detainees Affairs and the Prisoners’ Club civil society group in a joint statement seen by Anadolu.

“The occupation intelligence agency has recently escalated the number of transfers to administrative detention of detainees whose sentences have ended, as well as the number of administrative detention orders issued against prisoners who were released on bail and specific conditions, or without conditions.”

Administrative detention sees prisoners being held with neither charge nor trial for up to six months, renewable indefinitely.

Monitoring of administrative detainees’ has proven that the occupation regime’s military courts have formed and continue to form an essential structure for solidifying its crimes, including the crime of administrative detention, said the Palestinian institutions.

According to the latest data that they supplied, there are currently 3,398 administrative detainees among the 10,100 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons, including 30 women and more than 90 children, one of whom is just 14 years old. “The number of administrative detainees in the occupation prisons is 33 per cent of the total number of prisoners and detainees.”

It is worth noting that the prisoner data is related only to those from the occupied West Bank. The Israeli regime does not disclose information related to prisoners in Gaza.

October 31, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Subjugation - Torture | , , , , | Leave a comment

Genocide is embedded in US diplomacy

By Ramona Wadi | MEMO | October 31, 2024

Israel is only conducting occasional atrocities that do not align with US interests, if we are to believe US rhetoric. The Israeli air strike that killed at least 20 children in Beit Lahiya was “a horrifying incident with a horrifying result,” according to US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller.

“We have reached out to the Government of Israel to ask what happened here,” Miller continued, before adding, “But step back and look at where we are in this campaign.” According to the US State Department, the kill toll in Gaza is merely a result of Israel’s relentless attack on Hamas, its leadership and its weapons. As such, the 20 children killed in Beit Lahiya – indeed all the Palestinian civilians killed – pale into insignificance when compared with Israel’s purported aim.

When questioned about the US supplying Israel with weapons, Miller responded, “It’s something that we have to be very deliberate about and take time to assess the underlying circumstances to decide whether there was any particular potential legal violation and what the implications of that would be.” Ending the war, Miller added, is the US aim.

While still supplying Israel with weapons, one might add.

Miller also said that the US is not calling for a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza to avoid a power vacuum that Hamas may fill again. Hamas did not come to power through a power vacuum, but through a democratic election that the West pushed for, but then adamantly refused to accept the result. If a power vacuum exists in Palestinian politics, it is the West that created it by refusing to recognise a legitimate election result and allowing the Palestinian Authority to rule without political legitimacy.

Mahmoud Abbas’s mandate ended in 2009, in case you have forgotten.

Meanwhile, at the UN Security Council, imperialism wasn’t faring much better in imparting convincing rhetoric. Speaking about starvation in Gaza, US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield blamed Hamas for the lack of food, not Israel’s genocidal plan. Astonishingly, Thomas-Greenfield then proceeded to list many of Israel’s international law violations along with the expectation that Israel complies with international law. The bottom line, according to the US, is that Israel still needs to be protected, while Palestinians do not.

This was made very clear in Thomas-Greenfield’s rhetoric regarding UNRWA. Israel and the UN need dialogue, she stated, “to address the fears that led to the Knesset’s legislation.” What fears, exactly? A premeditated plan to close down UNRWA, a plan built on earlier attempts to discredit the agency as well as the Palestinian right of return, is not built on fear but is part of the settler-colonial framework that paves the way for ethnic cleansing and forced expulsion.

If there was a shard of fairness in this world, Thomas-Greenfield would not be given a platform to speak of her memory of a child dying of starvation, while the diplomats she aligns herself with do the same to Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

Asking Israel to provide humanitarian aid does not stave off starvation.

It merely tells Israel that the US will do nothing but offer mild criticism from compromised international platforms, while weapons transfers continue unhindered.

Between Miller and Thomas-Greenfield, the US is merely stating what is now obvious to the rest of us: feed Palestinians, maybe, but kill them later, definitely. Genocide is embedded in US diplomacy.

October 31, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , | Leave a comment

Texas judge: Enforcing the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism limits speech

Interim decision allows policies to remain in place for now

‘Freedom for Palestine’ protest march that drew thousands of participants on November 4, 2023 in Berlin, Germany. [Sean Gallup/Getty Images]
MEMO | October 31, 2024

A federal court in Texas ruled this week that restrictions imposed by Texas public universities on anti-Israel speech violate the First Amendment. The case, Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of Houston et al v Greg Abbott et al, involves student organisations who argue that Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s executive order, known as GA-44, stifles their ability to engage in constitutionally protected criticism of Israel on campus.

The order, issued by Governor Abbott in March 2024, was framed as a measure against rising anti-Semitism in Texas universities. It mandates all higher education institutions in Texas to update their free speech policies to include a specific definition of anti-Semitism, incorporating the highly controversial, International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism.

Seven of the 11 examples cited in the IHRA conflate criticism of Israel with anti-Jewish racism. It’s widely criticised for having a chilling effect on free speech including by its founder Kenneth Stern. It lists examples of anti-Semitic acts, such as claiming that “the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour” and “drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.”

Student groups argue that these examples restrict their ability to express criticisms of Israeli policies without facing sanctions from the university.

The plaintiffs, including Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at the University of Houston and the Palestine Solidarity Committee at the University of Texas at Austin, said amendments to the speech policy were unconstitutional. They argued that the policies discriminate against their legitimate views, effectively censoring their criticisms of Israeli state policies by labelling them anti-Semitic. The plaintiffs further alleged that the policy changes chill free expression on campus, leading to self-censorship due to fear of punishment. This crackdown on speech was unconstitutional, they added.

Judge Robert Pitman, who presided over the case, noted that the IHRA definition specifically targets expressions critical of Israel, thus chilling a form of “political speech that is fundamental to the university experience.” The judge highlighted that universities, as centres of intellectual debate, are “vital spaces” where students should be able to engage in robust discussions on contentious issues, including foreign policy matters such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

While the court acknowledged that universities have a responsibility to prevent genuine harassment and anti-Semitism, it found that enforcing a definition which includes political criticism of Israel as anti-Semitic oversteps constitutional boundaries. The court’s decision emphasised that the First Amendment prohibits the state from punishing viewpoints it finds disagreeable and that universities cannot impose speech restrictions based solely on anticipated discomfort or controversy.

This ruling is also a significant critique of the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, which has faced growing scrutiny for conflating criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism. Free speech advocates argue that adopting such definitions threaten to limit open discussions on Israel-Palestine issues. Civil rights organisations and free speech groups have long warned that such definitions, when codified into policy, could stifle legitimate political discourse and are particularly problematic in academic settings.

The court’s decision sends a clear signal about the constitutional risks of using the IHRA definition as a basis for regulating speech in academic settings. As Judge Pitman observed, the inclusion of specific IHRA examples within university policies likely infringes upon the First Amendment by “chilling” protected political expression critical of Israel.

The court ultimately denied the plaintiffs’ request for a preliminary injunction, meaning it declined to enforce any immediate changes to the university’s policies while the case continues. Although the court recognised that the plaintiffs could have a strong First Amendment claim, it found that the specific restrictions they requested were too broad to impose right away.

This interim decision allows the policies to remain in place for now, but the court’s findings suggest that any restrictions on political speech at public universities will undergo rigorous First Amendment scrutiny. The case will continue as the plaintiffs seek a resolution, which could further clarify the limits of permissible restrictions to free speech in academic institutions across the US.

October 31, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance | , , , | Leave a comment

Concerts, restaurants, nightlife – Kiev regime hunting for conscripts

By Ahmed Adel | October 30, 2024

Ukraine is struggling to recruit troops to reinforce its front lines amid thousands of casualties in nearly three years of conflict. Under these conditions, the Kiev regime is hunting for recruits in places that were once off-limit, such as “upscale venues,” whilst also becoming increasingly reliant on foreign mercenaries to perform special operations.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the Kiev regime has expanded its search network for military recruits to include “upscale venues” and “nightlife spots,” which is creating more social tension.

Even as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tries to secure more weapons and security guarantees from the US government, the “biggest immediate problem” in Ukraine is recruiting more soldiers, the US outlet said. To deal with this issue, the Kiev regime recently lowered the age of compulsory military service to 25 and imposed additional penalties for draft dodgers, seeking to bring more soldiers to the front lines in the face of advancing Russian forces.

However, the newspaper said that most of the men who wanted to join the Ukrainian armed forces had already done so, while others had fled the country or were in hiding to avoid being drafted. Some prominent figures, including state prosecutors, are also avoiding joining the military by claiming medical exemptions.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the military is stepping up its recruitment campaigns in public places in the capital and other major cities. Military agents check concert halls, grocery stores, and even luxury restaurants in the port city of Odessa.

Mathieu Boulègue, a researcher at the Transatlantic Defence and Security Programme at the Centre for European Political Analysis, believes “there is no easy solution” to Ukraine’s troop shortage.

“That is unfortunately a critical issue that you cannot solve by sending stuff over, short of sending Western troops,” the researcher told the American outlet.

Some Ukrainian officials, cited by the outlet, said they were building up reserves of conscripts to replace those who had lost their jobs. However, they warned that mobilising new troops would not be effective without “more Western supplies to arm new recruits properly.”

The deployment of new Ukrainian troops is not just a military problem for Kiev, the Wall Street Journal noted, but also a growing social and political issue for Zelensky.

“Among soldiers who have been serving on the front line for nearly three years, resentment is building against men avoiding military service,” while scandals continue to emerge involving officials who allegedly accept bribes to grant exemptions.

For this reason, the Kiev regime is increasingly reliant on foreign mercenaries to perform military operations since the citizenry does not provide enough soldiers. In effect, the presence of foreign mercenaries demonstrates the extreme shortage of experienced troops in Ukraine.

In the latest example, foreign mercenaries from the US, Canada and Poland, likely on a sabotage mission or raid, attempted to breach Russia’s Bryansk Oblast on October 27. The special operations mission the mercenaries were assigned required highly skilled operators capable of sabotage or reconnaissance, so given the lack of such people in the Ukrainian military, it is reasonable that they would turn to foreigners.

Emphasising this point is the fact a tattoo was discovered on the body of one of the eliminated foreigners, indicating that he was a member of the elite 75th Ranger Regiment of the US Army.

The discovery of the mercenary group makes a mockery of the West’s claim that soldiers from North Korea are fighting in Ukraine since it is Ukraine suffering from a shortage of troops and relying on foreigners. In fact, it is clear that the West planned the operation rather than Ukraine.

While South Korea and the Kiev regime spread fake news that North Korean troops are fighting in Ukraine, about 15,000 mercenaries from more than 100 countries have arrived in the country since February 2022 to join Ukrainian forces.

According to a Russian Defence Ministry report, Western secret services recruit mercenaries through the US private military companies Academi (formerly Blackwater), Cubic, Dark Horse Benefits, Dean Corporation, Forward Observations Group, Hyperion Services, and Sons of Liberty International, as well as the Polish ASBS Othago and the European Security Academy. At the same time, mercenaries are recruited by neo-Nazi and right-wing organisations from Germany, Italy, Portugal and other countries.

With Ukraine’s best troops dead, wounded or exhausted, the Kiev regime is now hunting for recruits all over the country, including in places that were once considered off-limits. This only deepens Kiev’s reliance on foreign mercenaries and, more importantly, demonstrates the hopeless position that the regime is in.

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

October 30, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Corruption, Militarism | , | Leave a comment

Canada’s ‘New Red Scare’ is profoundly undemocratic

By Paul Robinson – Canadian Dimension – October 28, 2024

In the past decade, a disturbing phenomenon has arisen in the Western world. One might call it the “New Red Scare.” According to many, the West is the target of a highly sophisticated, professional, and dangerous campaign of foreign subversion, coming mainly from the Russian Federation. Accusations abound against “Russian agents,” “Kremlin influencers,” “Moscow proxies,” and the like. Don’t like someone, call them “pro-Russian;” dislike what they say, call it “Russian disinformation;” want to silence them, call them a “Russian agent.” And so on. Increasingly, reasoned debate is being replaced by silencing and name-calling.

Speaking on Thursday to a parliamentary committee, former diplomat and Member of Parliament Chris Alexander painted a picture of Canada as the victim of an extraordinarily successful malign Russian operation. “Far from being marginal players, Russian information assets and active measures are often kingmakers in our elections,” he declared—a truly remarkable claim that will probably have many wondering how they had failed to notice the dominant role that Russia plays in our political life.

But that wasn’t all. According to Alexander, the leaders of “The People’s Party of Canada, the yellow vest movement, trucker protests, and Wexit [i.e. Western Canadian separatism]” were “radicalized online by Moscow’s active measures” and their funding “had all the hallmarks of Russian influence.” The convoy protests of 2022, Alexander claimed, were designed by the Russians “to distract a country with a huge Ukrainian diaspora as it launched its war of aggression [against Ukraine].” Who knew? And who knew that Russian secret services were so devastatingly efficient as to be able to manipulate a political party and a separatist movement, and to engineer the occupation of the national capital? Frankly, it beggars belief.

In my opinion, there’s a serious problem with threat inflation of this sort. It distracts from real problems and prevents a proper analysis of the causes of those problems by blaming them all on outside actors. When “Blame Russia” is the response to any difficulty, proper solutions are unlikely to be found.

But the statements above weren’t even the most striking bit of Alexander’s evidence to Parliament. For Alexander then submitted documents to the committee that he said showed that a journalist codenamed “Stuart,” whom he identified as the Ottawa Citizen’s defence correspondent David Pugliese, had been recruited by the Soviet intelligence service, the KGB, in the 1980s. He said that the journalist had demonstrated “long-running covert ties to Moscow” and had written divisive articles about “Ukraine’s Nazi links, Nazis in Canada, defamatory pieces about the family of deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland, provocative takes on [defence] procurement and other issues at the Department of National Defence,” and so on. According to Alexander, “These are themes that Moscow would be delighted to promote.”

In response, Pugliese has called the accusation “total fabrication. … It’s just ridiculous.” He has pointed out that some of the information in the documents presented by Alexander does not fit him. For instance, one of the documents lists the journalist codenamed “Stuart” as having been in Ottawa in 1984, but Pugliese did not live in Ottawa at that time. In a statement on X, Pugliese remarked that “Individuals linked to Mr. Alexander’s false claims have also stated I play hockey on the Russian embassy hockey team in Ottawa. That is a total fabrication and shows the ridiculousness of this campaign to undercut my journalism. I have never played hockey and can barely skate.”

In any event, it seems that the documents don’t actually say that “Stuart” (whoever he might be) was ever recruited by the KGB. Global News reports that “Several experts on KGB documents said the papers appeared to be legitimate but did not suggest the reporter was ever a Russian agent, only that the Soviets looked at him.” According to one expert, “All [the documents] say is that an individual by this name came to the attention of KGB officials, not even necessarily very senior ones, and that they were interested in exploring him as a potential target of recruitment … So nothing in these documents clearly says that this individual was even approached, or certainly says that that approach was successful. All they do is say this is something worth exploring.”

Pugliese commented that “I get that I piss off a lot of people with my articles … I understand that not everybody appreciates my style of journalism.” Certainly, his reporting on issues such as wasteful defence procurement projectssexual assault in the militaryNazi links to the Monument to the Victims of Communism, and so on, does not make certain people and institutions look very good. But the insinuation that if you write such things you are not fulfilling the basic journalistic role of holding those institutions to account, but rather working to divide our society on behalf of a hostile foreign power, is profoundly undemocratic.

Our society is not without faults. Our domestic and foreign policies are also often flawed. To correct failings, we need people who point them out, however unpopular that may be. In my view, we should be enabling the widest possible framework of public discourse, not seeking to silence people. To date, we haven’t quite reached the level of hysteria of 1950s McCarthyism, but as the paranoia over foreign interference ramps up, we are perhaps coming painfully close.

Paul Robinson is a professor in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa and a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Peace and Diplomacy. He is the author of numerous works on Russian and Soviet history, including Russian Conservatism, published by Northern Illinois University Press in 2019.

October 29, 2024 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance, Russophobia | , | Leave a comment