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Jakarta slams Israel for striking Indonesian Hospital in Gaza

Press TV – November 20, 2023

Indonesia’s foreign minister has condemned in the strongest terms Israel’s attacks on Indonesian Hospital in the besieged Gaza Strip as a “clear violation of international humanitarian laws.”

“All countries, especially those that have close relations with Israel, must use all their influence and capabilities to urge Israel to stop its atrocities,” Retno Marsudi stated on Monday.

Israeli forces opened fire and launched artillery strikes on the hospital and the surrounding areas in the early hours of the day.

The Gaza Health Ministry’s General Manager Munner al-Bursh said the regime forces began artillery strikes “in the middle of the night and targeted the surgical department, wounding the doctors working there and killing 12 civilians who were taking refuge.”

Elsewhere in his remarks, Bursh said Israeli forces also targeted people leaving the facility and shot them outside the hospital. “Their bodies are still lying on the ground, and nobody has been able to bury them.”

“We are using a small power generator that runs on vegetable oil, manufactured by some creative individuals who sacrificed some of their food supply to run the generator,” Bursh said.

Ashraf al-Qudra, Gaza’s Health Ministry spokesman, said the situation is “catastrophic” in Indonesian Hospital. “The Indonesian Hospital staff are insisting they will stay to treat the wounded. There are about 700 people, including medical staff and injured people, inside the hospital.”

Reports said Israeli forces are going to repeat what happened at Shifa Hospital and will also occupy the Indonesian Hospital as tanks surrounded the facility.

Meanwhile, Palestinian Prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh has said the Israeli military operation in Gaza “is for the purpose of killing, in the spirit of revenge and with the aim of displacing our people.”

And UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said the number of civilians killed in Israel’s war on Gaza has been “unparalleled and unprecedented” since he took office in 2017.

Children make up virtually 47 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million population. UNICEF has labeled the Gaza Strip “a graveyard for thousands of children.” It has also described the situation in Gaza as “a growing stain on our collective conscience”, calling the rate of children casualties “simply staggering.”

Save the Children says more children have been killed in Gaza than in all other conflicts around the world since 2019 combined.
Israel has killed 13,000 Palestinians in Gaza since October 7.

November 20, 2023 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, War Crimes | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Indonesia rubbishes Pentagon’s ‘joint statement’ on China and Russia

RT | September 1, 2023

Indonesia’s military chief has denied issuing any shared statements with his US counterpart during a visit to Washington last week, after the Pentagon published a “joint” press release attributed to Jakarta which criticized Moscow and Beijing.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto said the US statement does not reflect his country’s positions, stating that Indonesia seeks friendly relations with both Russia and China.

“There is no joint statement and no press conference. What is important for me to underline is that our relationship with China is very good. We respect each other, we already have mutual understanding. I conveyed that in the US,” he said, adding “We are close friends with China, we respect America, and we seek friendship with Russia.”

The official went on to announce plans to visit Beijing and Moscow in the coming months, voicing hopes that Jakarta could serve as a “bridge” between rival states.

The Pentagon missive, published on August 24 was titled ‘United States DoD and Indonesia MoD Joint Press Statement’ and took on a different tone. It claimed that both the US and Indonesia “shared the view that the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) expansive maritime claims in the South China Sea are inconsistent with international law.” It also went on to “jointly” condemn Moscow’s actions in Ukraine, demanding a “complete and unconditional withdrawal” of Russian forces.

Though Indonesia’s Defense Ministry noted Subianto’s meetings with Pentagon head Lloyd Austin, it made no mention of any joint statement with Washington, and offered no comments about Russia or China.

Beijing was quick to jump on the American statement, with China’s embassy in Jakarta claiming the remarks had not been approved by Indonesian officials beforehand.

“We’re informed by the Indonesian side that what the US side described is not true. In fact, no such content can be found in the press release by the Indonesian side at the same meeting,” the embassy told reporters last weekend, slamming US efforts to “to sow discord and stir up trouble.”

During Subianto’s trip to the US, the two countries agreed to boost military cooperation, including joint war games and additional US weapons sales. The Pentagon further said Washington would help Jakarta’s military modernization drive, proposing “fighter aircraft upgrades, new multi-role fighter aircraft, and additional fixed and rotary wing transport aircraft,” among other gear.

Highlighting the growing military ties, Indonesian officials announced a deal to purchase 24 Sikorsky S-70M Black Hawk transport helicopters from US arms giant Lockheed Martin last week, soon after signing a major contract with Boeing for two-dozen F-15 fighter jets. Jakarta is working to revamp its air fleet, which currently operates systems from several different countries, including both US- and Russian-made fighter jets.

September 1, 2023 Posted by | Deception | , , , | Leave a comment

DC Scholars: Ukraine Conflict Shows World Has Grown Weary of US Hegemony

By Ekaterina Blinova – Sputnik – 24.06.2023

Despite having the largest military budget in the world and being the largest operator of military bases abroad, the US is far from being a global hegemon, argues a DC-based think tank Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.

Over the past decades Washington has demonstrated a capacity for mass destruction – in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and elsewhere – but “it has won no more than Pyrrhic victories” which led to the erosion of trust in Pax Americana both at home and abroad, according to Responsible Statecraft scholars.

The US military spending reached $876.9 billion in 2022, while the nation also operates a whopping 750 foreign military bases. Still, Washington is incapable of persuading the Global South to join anti-Russia sanctions over the latter’s special military operation in Ukraine, the think tank remarks. “If hegemony means the capacity to get other countries to comply with one’s demands, the United States is far from being a global hegemon,” the report notes.

Judging from the so-called Pentagon leak, even some US allies and partners demonstrated hesitance and unwillingness to provide the Kiev regime with shells, jets and armored vehicles. Meanwhile, most nations of the Global South shrugged off the US calls for slapping sanctions on Moscow as contradicting their national interests.

US political observers emphasize that six nations in the Global South – namely, India, Brazil, Turkey, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa – are set to decide the future of geopolitics and insist that the Biden administration needs to win their hearts and minds. At the same time, European commentators argue that developing nations have the right to remain neutral and non-aligned.

For instance, in June 2022, India’s External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar shredded the West’s claim that New Delhi was “sitting on the fence.” According to the minister, India is entitled to its opinion when it comes to the Russo-Ukrainian conflict.

Likewise, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has chosen to collaborate with both the US and China, instead of taking sides. Moreover, ASEAN nations are active participants of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) regardless of Washington’s attempts to maintain its dominance in the region and curb China’s influence in the Asia Pacific.

Per DC scholars, the emerging trend was articulated by Brookings Institution fellow Fiona Hill, former Deputy Assistant to the President of the United States, in May 2023:

“The war in Ukraine is perhaps the event that makes the passing of Pax Americana apparent to everyone. … [Other countries] want to decide, not be told what’s in their interest. In short, in 2023, we hear a resounding no to US domination and see a marked appetite for a world without a hegemon,” she said at a conference in Tallinn, Estonia
According to Hill, the Global South’s resistance to the US and the EU’s demands to slap sanctions on Moscow is nothing short of “an open rebellion.” She noted that “this is a mutiny against what they see as the collective West dominating the international discourse and foisting its problems on everyone else, while brushing aside their priorities on climate change compensation, economic development, and debt relief.”

Western observers also acknowledge that the world’s center of gravity is steadily shifting east, adding that the Biden administration has so far sought to avert this trend by trying to establish “a lasting technological lead over China” and beefing up the US military in Western Pacific.

However, “most developing countries, including emerging powers in the Global South, are no longer willing to make zero-sum choices” between Washington and its geopolitical rivals, DC scholars underscore, urging American policymakers to accept the reality that the US is no longer “the indispensable nation.”

June 24, 2023 Posted by | Economics, Russophobia | , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Pentagon ‘Calls the Tune’ in US’ China Policy as Bomber Flight Follows Blinken’s Beijing Visit

Sputnik – June 19, 2023

The US Air Force has dispatched several B-52H Stratofortress bombers to Abdulrachman Saleh Air Force Base in Indonesia from their bases in North Dakota. The bombers are joining US Pacific Air Forces and Indonesian Air Force aircraft in the Cope West exercise, a bilateral air drill, before returning to the US in the coming days.

The B-52 has been in service with the US Air Force since the 1950s, when it was introduced to haul large numbers of nuclear and conventional bombs to its targets. They were used with devastating effect during the Vietnam War, although it only dropped conventional bombs. The US retains a handful of the massive aircraft to use as “missile trucks” and to intimidate “hostile” nations.

The drills come just days after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken paid a visit to Beijing to meet with senior Chinese diplomatic leaders, including President Xi Jinping. The two sides reaffirmed their desire to avoid a new cold war and claimed they do not seek the other’s overthrow or to supplant their positions on the international stage.

Experts told Sputnik that this kind of contradictory messaging is all too common from the West, especially the United States, where war and intimidation have always been the primary tools of diplomacy.

James Bradley, China expert, historian and author of the “The China Mirage: The Hidden History of American Disaster in Asia,” told Sputnik on Thursday that whatever rhetoric the US says at the moment, its long-term strategic concern in East Asia has always been controlling and containing China.

“The US Navy was surveying islands near China as early as the 1850s,” he noted, adding that “1898 saw America grabbing the Philippines, Guam, and Hawaii to construct a sluice for the riches of China to flow to the US. Since 1945, the United States has been trying to contain China. The State Department can talk about dialogue, but the former War Department – currently called the Defense Department – calls the tune.”

In fact, Bradley noted that when journalist John Pilger asked him in 2016 if the US was already at war with China, “I answered yes.” That was even before the official US strategic shift toward “great power competition” that came in 2018.

“Economic war, cyber war, propaganda war. The business of China is business, and the business of America is war,” Bradley told Sputnik.

Jeff J. Brown, author of The China Trilogy, editor at China Rising Radio Sinoland and co-founder and curator of the Bioweapon Truth Commission, told Sputnik that such disjointedness between diplomatic rhetoric and military activity is typical of Western nations, where “in general, politics is individual and self-aggrandizing.”

“It is not unusual for the US Department of State, Department of Defense, the White House and Congresspersons to have conflicting and confusing messages, since each has their own agendas to push,”he said. “Not only are we seeing the Blinken-Indonesia white-hat black-hat routine, but at the same time, Joe Biden just called Chinese President Xi a ‘dictator!’”

“In the West in general, politics is individual and self-aggrandizing, so none of this is surprising that the left hand doesn’t care what the right hand is doing. In China, the government practices Marxist democratic centralism: argue and debate beforehand, but then publicly speak and act in one, unified voice,” Brown noted.

As to why Indonesia would agree to host US strategic bombers amid its attempts to stay neutral on the Washington-Beijing rivalry, Brown noted that the forces in power in Jakarta came to power in a US-sponsored pressure of pro-Chinese forces.

“We cannot forget that today’s Indonesia was born in the US genocide of millions of communists, socialists, leftists and liberals in 1965-66, to depose non-aligned President Sukarno for <…> General Suharto. Since then, the US military naturally pulls a lot of strings with the Indonesian army. We see the same situation in the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan and Japan. Independent-minded presidents, prime ministers and legislatures are always confronted by the Western imperial toolbox: blackmail, bribery, extortion, false flags and fake news,” he explained.

“This is why we can see executives and legislatures cooperating with anti-imperial countries like China, Russia, Iran and Venezuela, while their militaries work with NATO.”

The author predicted that while the US would likely continue to pressure Jakarta to avoid buying advanced military hardware from China or Russia using “negative, reactionary diplomacy,” the inevitable decline of the West and rising of the developing world means its ability to do so is only going to diminish in the future.

“With the West’s continuing decline and the rise of BRICS and SCO [Shanghai Cooperation Organization], Indonesia may want to reorder those Su-35s,” Brown said, referring to a 2018 deal with Russia that the US blocked.

“It might work this go-around. In the meantime, the US will continue to use Western imperialism’s negative, reactionary diplomacy, by heavily playing the Taiwan separatist card, pushing NATO in Japan <…>, patching together hind-end groupings like the Quad and AUKUS, and sanctioning everything that moves,” he added.

“This, while China has masterfully united East and Southeast Asia into the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) free trade agreement, totally outclassing the US’ inchoate, anti-China Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). It’s so much easier to say ‘yes’ to mutually respectful, win-win cooperation.”

June 22, 2023 Posted by | Militarism | , , | 1 Comment

Iranian President: US Claims to Promote Democracy Are ‘Fake’

By Wyatt Reed – Sputnik – 24.05.2023

Claims by the US government that it pursues the promotion of democracy abroad are simply “fake,” Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said Tuesday.

“The United States and [some] Western countries are not after democracy, but domination and plundering of other countries’ wealth,” Raisi said during an official visit to Indonesia, according to Iranian media.

“With the rise of emerging powers, the era of US domination has come to an end, said Iran’s chief executive,” media summarized.

Raisi pointed out that if Western powers are really after democracy and self-determination, they can start by guaranteeing Palestinians the right to choose their own destiny.
“Let the Yemeni and Afghan people decide for themselves,” he concluded, asking: “Why are you interfering in their affairs?”

The statements, delivered during a speech urging unity among Muslims at an Islamic center in Jakarta, came as Raisi seeks to bolster bilateral relations on his first official trip to Indonesia.

During a meeting with Indonesian House Speaker Puan Maharani, Raisi said the “expansion of ties between the Islamic Republic and Indonesia holds great promise for the progress of the two nations, the region, and the broader Muslim community,” state media reported.

“Despite the unjust threats and sanctions, the Islamic Republic of Iran has made significant progress and has achieved capabilities that have created good opportunities for the development of bilateral relations,” Raisi is quoted as saying.

On Tuesday, the two countries’ presidents and high-ranking officials met to sign off on 11 cooperation agreements.

The deals relate to “preferential trade, visa waivers, cultural exchanges, cooperation on supervising the production of pharmaceutical products, collaborations in scientific, technological, and innovative arenas, and bilateral cooperation in oil and gas sectors,” media indicated.

May 24, 2023 Posted by | Economics, Solidarity and Activism | , , | 2 Comments

US Pushes Indonesia to Ramp Up Military Cooperation, Jakarta Pledges Neutrality

Sputnik – 15.05.2023

The US Army’s top general was deployed to Indonesia in an effort to solidify the country’s position in the American orbit this week amid Washington’s ongoing efforts to encircle China militarily and constrain its growth.

On Friday, the Army’s Chief of Staff, James McConville, described his meeting with Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto as a relatively benign effort to bring peace to the Indo-Pacific region.

“We have many friends in the region, and we work closely together,” McConville said. “We all share the same interests for the region: peace, security, stability.”

“That’s why we work together on maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific for everyone,” he insisted.

For his part, Subianto described peace and stability in the region as a “common concern,” but insisted Indonesia would maintain its neutrality, pledging to continue pursuing relationships with all world’s nations – “especially all the major powers.”

McConville touched down in Jakarta on Thursday on the heels of a visit to the Philippines. That trip came shortly after last month’s massive US-Philippine war drills provoked anger among authorities in Beijing, who simulated an encirclement of their own against the renegade island of Taiwan in response.

But it’s unclear that Jakarta’s leaders are as willing to sign up for a battle with Beijing as their counterparts in Manila. Last November, Subianto promised to restore joint military exercises with China following a meeting with the nation’s defense minister.

In 2017, the US embassy in Jakarta released around 30,000 documents showing “the US actively supported the Indonesian military’s killing of as many as 1 million suspected communist sympathizers in the mid-1960s despite concerns about the reasons behind the massacre,” the Financial Times reported.
But the US maintains close relations with Indonesia’s leaders despite its questionable legacy there.

May 15, 2023 Posted by | Militarism | , , | 1 Comment

Indonesia to ditch Visa and Mastercard

RT | March 21, 2023

The Bank of Indonesia is preparing to phase out Visa and Mastercard while introducing its own domestic payment system, Antara news agency reported on Monday, citing the regulator.

Last week, Indonesian President Joko Widodo urged regional authorities to wean themselves away from foreign payment systems and start using cards issued by local banks. He argued that Indonesia needed to shield itself from geopolitical disruptions, citing the sanctions targeting Russia’s financial sector from the US, EU, and their allies over the conflict in Ukraine.

“Be very careful. We must remember the sanctions imposed by the US on Russia. Visa and Mastercard could be a problem,” he said.

Commenting on the initiative, the central bank’s spokesperson, Erwin Haryono, said that the regulator was in talks with local businesses “and the progress is about 90%,” adding that domestic cards will have many advantages, including lower fees. Also, according to him, “offshore settlements and dependence on foreign payment networks such as US Visa or Mastercard will no longer be necessary.”

Board member of the Indonesian Credit Cards Association (AKKI), Dodit Proboyakti, told RIA Novosti that Indonesia would apply the experience of Russia and its Mir payment system to promote the domestic financial network.

Indonesia’s interbank system, GPN, currently supports only local debit cards and requires some adjustments to properly serve credit cards and international transactions, according to AKKI executive director Steve Marta.

Moscow rolled out its own national card system, Mir, soon after the US first targeted the country with sanctions in 2014, and created the domestic National Payment Card System (NSPK) to smoothly take over all Visa and Mastercard transactions should the US-based companies pull the plug.

March 21, 2023 Posted by | Economics | , | Leave a comment

New Asian contracts to double Russian gas project’s revenue – Reuters

RT | January 26, 2023

The Sakhalin-2 liquefied natural gas (LNG) project is expected to generate twice as much revenue in 2023 compared to its earnings before the Ukraine-related sanctions rained down on Russia’s energy sector, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing industry analysts.

The boost is attributed to long-term contracts with clients from the Asian region, along with higher global energy prices.

Renewed deals with Asian buyers are expected to secure demand for up to 6.5 million tons of the super-chilled fuel annually from Sakhalin 2, according to calculations by the agency and contractual volume data provided by the GIIGNL international group of LNG importers.

The contracts could earn up to $4.5 billion in revenue for Sakhalin 2 shareholders, which include state-run energy giant Gazprom and Japanese companies Mitsubishi and Mitsui, according to Masanori Odaka, a senior analyst on Rystad Energy’s gas and LNG team.

The enterprise is expected to generate another $7.45 billion in 2023 if production remains in line with 2022, while its sales on the spot market are retained at 4.9 million tons, Alexei Kokin, chief analyst at Russia’s Otkritie brokerage, told Reuters.

On Thursday, Sakhalin Energy, the operator of the project, said it produced 11.5 million tons of LNG and some 3.7 million tons of its Sakhalin blend crude oil at the Sakhalin-2 facilities in 2022, exceeding its production plan. That is 10% more than the project produced in the previous year.

The company had managed to continue production despite “a period of unprecedented pressure from external factors on production and economic activity,” according to Andrey Oleinikov, Sakhalin Energy’s managing director.

According to the company’s statement, LNG and oil shipments in 2022 were delivered to the buyers on time in full compliance with the terms of Stock Purchase Agreement, while its production remained on schedule. The major markets for exports are Japan, China, South Korea and Indonesia, Sakhalin Energy said.

January 26, 2023 Posted by | Economics | , , , , | Leave a comment

Southeast Asia at Energy-Climate Crossroads

By Vijay Jayaraj | RealClear Energy | August 10, 2022

Southeast Asia is at the crossroads of choosing between a climate agenda hostile to fossil fuels and the energy security its population desperately needs.

Central to the question is the use of coal. The fuel is especially critical in the production of electricity for the 700 million people of the 10 countries making up the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN): Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Electricity demand in Southeast Asia grew by 22 percent between 2015 and 2021, greater than the global average. The International Energy Agency predicts that “energy demand in the region is set to grow by around 3 percent a year to 2030, with three-quarters of the increase being met by fossil fuels…The net oil import bill, which stood at $50 billion in 2020, is set to multiply in size rapidly.”

Contributing to the energy bill is the global phenomenon of inflation. In June, the highest rates of inflation in ASEAN were in Thailand (7.7 percent), Vietnam (3.4 percent), Philippines (6.1 percent) and Indonesia (4.3 percent), mainly due to rising energy and food prices.

Adding to the pressures of higher demand for electricity and more expensive fuel is  growing pressure from international political bodies to reduce fossil fuel consumption. Propositions such as the Paris agreement and the net zero agenda have captured the imaginations of the political elite with ASEAN countries within the grasp of the climate-crazy octopus.

Disregarding fossil fuels’ contribution to its economic growth in the last decade, Vietnam has espoused the net zero pledge. In its new National Power Development Plan, the country indicated its desire to reduce “coal-fired plants to less than 10 percent of the total capacity by 2045,” in addition to halting construction of new coal plants. With nearly 70 percent of all electricity coming from fossil fuels, Vietnam has absurdly declared war on coal.

Vietnam is ranked at a dismal 134th in global ranking for per capita energy consumption. Its “peak demand during 2022 – 2025 will rise by 2,830 megawatts (MW) annually on average while power generation will increase by only 1,565 MW per annum.” The decision to reduce coal consumption at this juncture is suicidal, running counter to the country’s objective of economic growth.

However, not all ASEAN countries have been as irresponsible as Vietnam. Because of the post-pandemic increase in energy demand, many ASEAN members are reversing decisions to reduce fossil fuel consumption.

Among them is Indonesia, one of the biggest producers of coal in Asia and a major exporter to other countries. Indonesia is reporting a 4 percent increase in coal mining during the 2nd quarter of 2022 following a ban on Russian coal. A further increase is expected to be prompted by a broader ban to be instituted by the EU in August. Indonesia’s largest energy infrastructure company has now acquired a Thai state-owned energy firm, expanding its coal mining business to Thailand and ensuring continuous coal production there.

Some in ASEAN are installing innovative fuel-saving artificial intelligence systems in their coal plants to make them more efficient, thus indicating that their reliance on coal power is here to stay.

Perhaps, the ASEAN countries will model neighboring India and China, which continue to increase fossil fuel consumption to meet energy demand. China, for example, approved a coal mine project worth $458 million in the Inner Mongolia region as recently as July.

The worst mistake would be to decommission ASEAN coal-fired power plants. Even the economic powerhouses of Europe like Austria, Germany and the UK have reopened coal plants to ensure energy security.

If common sense prevails, most ASEAN countries will adopt clean-coal technology, which provides remarkably low pollutant emissions and less dust. In fact, its safety and efficiency are so recognized that Japan is exporting its technology to other countries. India, which is the second largest consumer of coal, has opened a National Centre for Clean Coal Research and Development.

A 2020 report by the CO2 Coalition, found that clean-coal technology “virtually eliminates health hazards from sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter,” thus reducing the outdoor pollution problem that is so common in low-income and mid-income economies like those in ASEAN.

Still in the grip of energy poverty, ASEAN countries that deprive themselves of affordable fossil fuels risk becoming the next Sri Lanka.

Vijay Jayaraj is a Research Associate at the CO2 Coalition, Arlington, Va., and holds a master’s degree in environmental sciences from the University of East Anglia, England. He resides in Bengaluru, India.

August 22, 2022 Posted by | Economics, Malthusian Ideology, Phony Scarcity | , , | Leave a comment

‘US-led effort to isolate Russia failed’

Samizdat – August 5, 2022

The US-led drive to isolate Russia through sanctions has not succeeded, as half the countries in the Group of Twenty leading global economies refused to sign on, Bloomberg reported on Friday.

According to the publication, senior officials from leading Western nations are surprised by the lack of support within the wider G20, despite their efforts to make the case for restrictions against Russia.

Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and Turkey have not joined the sanctions that were adopted by the US, UK, EU, and their allies Australia, Canada, Japan, and South Korea. Some nations, like China and South Africa, have openly criticized the restrictions. The G20 nations account for around 85% of global economic output.

According to Bloomberg, the reasons for the lack of support include strong trade ties, historical affinities to Moscow, and a distrust of former colonial powers.

August 5, 2022 Posted by | Economics | , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Dutch military used ‘extreme, widespread violence’ in Indonesia – report

Panel releases findings of historical review into actions of the Netherlands during the Asian nation’s war of independence

RT | February 17, 2022

An historical review has found that the Dutch military “used extreme violence” condoned by the government during the Indonesian struggle for independence in the 1940s, the panel of experts involved in the research said on Thursday.

The Dutch state and military’s behavior throughout the 1945-49 war as Indonesians fought for independence from the colonial power was laid out in a major review that has been conducted over the past few years. Carried out by a panel of academics and experts, the review was funded by the Dutch government in 2017.

Releasing a summary of the findings, the panel said it found that the Dutch military had behaved in a manner that was rooted in a “colonial mentality,” and noted: “It is evident that at every level, the Dutch unquestioningly applied different standards to… colonial ‘subjects’.”

“Dutch armed forces used extreme violence on a frequent and structural basis, in the form of extrajudicial executions, ill-treatment and torture, detention under inhumane conditions,” it stated.

Among the review’s summary findings, the military was accused of “torching” buildings and whole villages, as well as conducting “mass arrests and mass internment” and “disproportionate air raids and artillery shelling.”

The Dutch government had not previously conducted a full assessment of its country’s actions; in 1969 the then-government found that its forces had as a whole behaved correctly in Indonesia – something the new review said was an untenable position to hold.

The Netherlands agreed in 2020 to provide €5,000 ($5,600) in compensation to the descendants of Indonesians who were killed during the independence war, following a 2013 deal with some of the widows of the military’s victims.

Also in 2020, King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands offered an apology for the Dutch military’s “excessive violence” during the conflict. “In line with earlier statements by my government, I would like to express my regret and apologize for excessive violence on the part of the Dutch in those years,” the monarch said at the time.

“The past cannot be erased, and will have to be acknowledged by each generation in turn.”

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s government is set to respond to the review later on Thursday.

February 17, 2022 Posted by | Illegal Occupation, Timeless or most popular, War Crimes | , , | 3 Comments

WHO approves Novavax and COVAXIN

By Steve Kirsch | December 26, 2021

ICYMI: On December 17, the WHO has granted the Novavax vaccine Emergency Use Approval.

The Novavax vaccine was granted emergency use authorization in November in Indonesia, the first country to do so, and was soon followed by the Philippines. The company has also filed with the U.K. and the European Medicines Agency, with plans to apply to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration before the end of this year.

This is good news because this vaccine is a “traditional” vaccine that does not transfect your existing cells, so it “should” have a much better safety profile than any of the three vaccines now available in the US for two major reasons:

  1. No transfection. All of the existing vaccines basically invade your cells and tell them to express a spike protein; your immune system may then start attacking your own organs and kill you as explained here. This doesn’t happen with Novavax because you are injected with the antigen.
  2. A controlled amount of antigen. The other major safety benefit is that a controlled amount of antigen is injected. With the mRNA vaccines, the amount of antigen that is ultimately expressed is a complete crap shoot.

Does this mean that Novavax is “safe.” No, it just means it has the potential to be safer assuming they didn’t screw up anything else. And even if they got everything right, simply injecting particles with the spike protein could be dangerous. In short, it’s possible that there may not be a safe vaccine for this virus.

Certainly Dr. Richard Fleming doesn’t think the Novavax vaccine is safe. One of my followers wrote: “it’s viral like particles (spikes) adhered to plastic inner core, mixed with proprietary saponin adjuvant called Matrix M1.”

Are you feeling lucky?

However, I seriously doubt the FDA will approve it for use in the US since it would take away market share from the other manufacturers

The FDA doesn’t approve things based on science or safety anymore. Those days are gone.

If this vaccine were approved in the US, everyone in the US would want it and avoid the other three existing vaccines like the plague. Their market share would drop to zero. So it isn’t going to be available here. The FDA will make up a reason it isn’t safe. So it will not be accepted in the US (e.g., for satisfying the unethical vaccine mandates) even if it works just as well as the other vaccines. Mandates are not about safety; they are about forcing compliance with what the government wants you to do.

The good news is that other parts of the world will have a safer alternative which is better than what they have now. So in that sense, this is “good news.”

COVAXIN approved on November 3, 2021

COVAXIN is another traditional vaccine that was approved by the WHO on November 3, 2021. Many people believe it is a safer option than any of the alternatives.

The vaccine is formulated from an inactivated SARS-CoV-2 antigen.

What I would do today: avoid all of them

If I were forced to make a choice of vaccine today, and COVAXIN and Novavax were among the options, I would definitely look at the current evidence and make a choice.

However, if I weren’t forced to choose a COVID vaccine now, I would still refuse to be vaccinated because COVID isn’t deadly or dangerous if you know how to recognize and treat it.

Only after the safety profile is well established in large populations, would I even consider it. I’ve learned my lesson never to trust the regulatory agencies and drug companies again.

“In VAERS we trust.”

December 26, 2021 Posted by | Science and Pseudo-Science | , , | 1 Comment

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