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UK special forces had ‘golden pass’ to get away with murder – officer

RT | January 8, 2025

British SAS operatives were given a “golden pass allowing them to get away with murder” in Afghanistan, a former UK Special Forces officer has told a government inquest. Other witnesses described routine executions of unarmed civilians by British forces.

The officer’s statement was given behind closed doors to the UK’s Independent Inquiry Relating to Afghanistan earlier this year, and included in a trove of documents published by the inquiry on Tuesday.

The former officer raised concerns about the killing of unarmed civilians in 2011, claiming that the SAS was covering these crimes up. The officer said that higher-ups within UK Special Forces – which comprises the Special Air Service (SAS), the Special Boat Service (SBS), and four other clandestine branches of the British military – had no interest in investigating the killings, and that SAS operatives had essentially been handed a “golden pass allowing them to get away with murder.”

The Afghanistan Inquiry is probing night raids carried out by British special forces between 2010 and 2013, when the alleged killings took place.

A junior officer told the inquest that “all fighting age males” were killed in these raids, regardless of whether they were armed or not. SAS personnel sometimes carried weapons to drop beside dead bodies after the killings in order to make them appear as combatants.

Prisoners were sometimes executed after they had been restrained, the witness recounted. “In one case, it was mentioned a pillow was put over the head of an individual before being killed with a pistol,” the document noted.

The inquiry is investigating the killings of at least 80 prisoners.

”I suppose what shocked me most wasn’t the execution of potential members of the Taliban, which was of course wrong and illegal, but it was more the age and the methods and, you know, the details of things like pillows,” the officer said, noting that some of the victims were “100%” aged 16 or younger.

The officer said that he was afraid for his own safety after testifying.

”Basically, there appears to be a culture there of ‘shut up, don’t question’,” another officer told the inquiry.

Claims of war crimes committed by British special forces in Afghanistan have surfaced before, with BBC Panorama, the Sunday Times, and other outlets claiming that civilians were routinely killed on night raids. In one case, the American military reportedly had video footage of one massacre, but mysteriously lost the footage when pressed by a British court.

Late last year, the BBC reported that one of the UK’s most senior generals had withheld from the latest inquiry evidence of soldiers executing handcuffed detainees in Afghanistan.

January 9, 2025 Posted by | Illegal Occupation, War Crimes | , | Leave a comment

Keir Starmer’s Censorship Playbook

By Christina Maas | Reclaim The Net | January 8, 2025

At a time when public trust already teeters on a knife’s edge, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has decided that what we really need is a lecture on “misinformation.” Yes, the same Starmer who spent years navigating political quagmires with the dexterity of a politician reading polling data, and someone accused of lying to the public in the manifesto that got him elected, now fancies himself the arbiter of “truth” and “decency.” And what better way to assert moral authority than by weaponizing one of Britain’s darkest scandals—the rape gang crises—and reframing criticism of government failures as the “poison of the far-Right”?

Criticism: The New Extremism

During his January 6 press conference, Starmer ditched accountability in favor of a moral crusade against critics. He accused them of peddling “lies,” “misinformation,” and—brace yourself—aligning with the “far-right.” “We’ve seen this playbook many times,” Starmer said, oozing conviction.

But the public has seen his playbook too.

If you express concern about how successive governments ignored victims, allowed systemic failures to fester, and dragged their feet on justice, you’re basically a neo-Nazi. Starmer’s rhetorical sleight-of-hand here is stunning—turning widespread outrage into something inherently sinister.

By lumping legitimate grievances in with the ravings of extremists, he effectively tars everyone with the same brush. Victims and their advocates? Extremists. Grassroots activists demanding reforms? Extremists. It’s a brilliant move if your goal is to shut down meaningful conversation while appearing noble.

Blaming Musk: A Modern-Day Scapegoat

But Starmer wasn’t done. Enter the obligatory bogeyman of modern discourse: Elon Musk. When the X owner criticized MP Jess Phillips for refusing to support a public inquiry into the grooming gang scandals, Starmer leaped at the opportunity to accuse him of endangering her safety. Musk, Starmer implied, had crossed some vague and undefinable “dangerous threshold” by calling out a politician’s inaction.

There’s no denying threats against MPs are a serious matter, especially in today’s climate, but let’s not pretend Musk was personally drafting hate mail. Criticism of public officials, even harsh criticism, isn’t equivalent to endorsing violence. Yet, Starmer’s play here is clear: frame dissent as inherently harmful and wrap it in the protective cloak of “safety.” It’s a chillingly effective tactic that sets the stage for conflating free speech with hate speech—a distinction that seems increasingly inconvenient for those in power.

The New Gatekeepers of “Decency”

Starmer’s framing of these issues points to a larger, more insidious trend: the slow, deliberate erosion of public discourse under the guise of safeguarding “truth” and “decency.” Dissenting voices are no longer just misguided or even wrong—they’re now dangerous, toxic, and unworthy of a platform.

What makes this particularly egregious is the context. The grooming gang scandals are a grotesque example of institutional failure. Victims were ignored for years as authorities feared accusations of racism, prioritizing optics over justice.

What Starmer presents as a defense of democracy is, in fact, a calculated effort to consolidate narrative control. If criticism can be dismissed as “far-Right poison,” then any dissenting voice—no matter how valid—can be silenced without debate.

Sliding Toward Silence

Starmer’s approach represents the classic slippery slope of censorship. First, the extremists are silenced (fair enough, many argue). Then, the vaguely problematic voices are muted. Finally, anyone who veers too far from the approved script is deemed an enemy of “truth.”

This isn’t only about online discourse or high-profile figures like Musk. It’s about ordinary people—victims, activists, and concerned citizens—who now risk being labeled as agitators simply for demanding accountability.

The Real Threat: Manufactured Consensus

Starmer’s insistence on equating criticism with extremism creates a vacuum where only the government’s narrative is allowed to thrive. And when the only voices left are the ones singing praises of the status quo, we’re no longer talking about democracy; we’re talking about a PR campaign with parliamentary decorum.

James Cleverly, former Home Secretary, didn’t mince words when he weighed in on the fiasco, summing up what many in Britain are quietly, or not-so-quietly, thinking. “Accusing those who disagree with him, or who seek legitimate answers about repeated failures of child protection, as ‘far-Right’ is deeply insulting and counterproductive,” Cleverly said, in a rare moment of plain speaking from a political figure.

As Cleverly pointed out, branding dissent as extremism doesn’t bridge divisions; it widens them, pouring accelerant on an already polarized public square.

Maggie Oliver, the whistleblower who exposed the Rochdale scandal, spoke for many when she called Starmer’s remarks “insulting in the extreme.” Oliver, who resigned from Greater Manchester Police in protest over their inaction, knows better than most how hard it is to get the system to listen. To see campaigners lumped in with extremists, she argued, “sets a terrifying precedent.”

The “Misinformation” Blueprint: Starmer’s New Censorship Arsenal

If Prime Minister Starmer’s handling of criticism over the UK’s rape gang scandal feels less like leadership and more like a prelude to mass censorship, that’s because it likely is. With the newly minted Online Safety Act and provisions under the National Security Act 2023, Starmer’s buzzword-heavy rhetoric about “misinformation” starts looking less like clumsy damage control and more like the calculated groundwork for a chilling clampdown on dissent.

For years, “misinformation” has been a convenient scapegoat for governments worldwide to suppress inconvenient truths. Now, in the UK, the term threatens to become a legal cudgel, ready to pummel any narrative that strays too far from the government-approved script.

Weaponizing the Online Safety Act

Starmer doesn’t need to introduce sweeping new legislation to suppress dissent—his government already has a powerful set of tools at its disposal. The Online Safety Act, sold to the public as a safeguard against harm, contains provisions that are broad enough to suppress not only malicious lies but also legitimate criticism under the guise of protecting the public. Here’s how it could play out:

1. Section 179: False Communications Offense

This is where Starmer’s “misinformation” rhetoric gets teeth. Section 179 criminalizes knowingly false communications intended to cause “non-trivial psychological or physical harm.” The wording here is as vague as it is dangerous. What qualifies as “non-trivial psychological harm”? If the government decides that criticisms of its handling of the grooming gang scandal cause emotional distress to MPs—or, conveniently, to the public—it could label them as harmful misinformation.

Imagine this: a social media user accuses Starmer’s government of ignoring systemic abuse in grooming gang cases. Even if the criticism is grounded in fact, the government could argue that the way it’s framed constitutes psychological harm. Once flagged, tech platforms—obligated under the Online Safety Act to prevent such offenses—could preemptively remove posts or ban users entirely.

The chilling effect is immediate. Knowing the penalties—up to 51 weeks in prison and unlimited fines—citizens may think twice before questioning the government on sensitive issues. And that’s the goal: silence through fear.

2. Schedule 7, Section 37: Foreign Interference

The National Security Act 2023 adds another weapon to Starmer’s arsenal: the foreign interference clause. This provision criminalizes any “misrepresentation” on behalf of a foreign power, even if the information shared is true. While the law ostensibly targets foreign espionage, its scope is alarmingly wide.

Starmer could use this to neutralize high-profile international critics like Elon Musk. If Musk’s tweets about UK safeguarding policies are deemed to influence British political discourse, Starmer’s government could accuse him of “foreign interference.” The penalties? Up to 14 years in prison for violators and mandatory platform censorship of related content.

Any UK citizen amplifying criticism that the government ties to a foreign agenda—whether real or imagined—could face scrutiny under this Orwellian provision.

3. Section 152: Advisory Committee on Disinformation and Misinformation

Perhaps the most insidious element of the Online Safety Act is the creation of a disinformation advisory committee under Ofcom. This unelected body will have the power to define what counts as “misinformation,” aligning platforms’ moderation policies with government narratives.

Given Starmer’s framing of dissent as extremist “poison,” it’s easy to imagine how this committee could become a government lapdog. If dissenting views about rape gang scandals—or any politically sensitive issue—are labeled misinformation, platforms would have little choice but to silence those voices.

4. Section 165: Media Literacy

Ofcom’s mandate to promote media literacy sounds harmless enough, but in practice, it’s a PR goldmine for governments looking to control narratives. Imagine a state-backed campaign equating criticism of the grooming gang scandal to conspiracy theories, painting dissenters as dangerous purveyors of hate. This would prime the public to distrust any view that deviates from the official line, effectively preempting free debate.

Starmer’s Record: A Preview of What’s to Come

Starmer’s embrace of censorship isn’t theoretical—it’s historical. When riots broke out in the summer of 2023, his government oversaw the arrest of individuals for inflammatory social media posts. While some cases involved genuine incitement, others targeted people simply expressing anger at systemic failures or “misinformation.” The precedent was clear: if your post made the government uncomfortable, you were a target.

Fast forward to today, and Starmer’s buzzword-laden rhetoric—“misinformation,” “extremism,” “poison”—looks suspiciously like a blueprint for round two. His invocation of these terms isn’t casual; it’s calculated. Each one is a trigger for the machinery of censorship already baked into British law.

January 8, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance | , | Leave a comment

Zionism: The colonial plague of Western Asia

Zionism is a colonial ideology, enabled through alliances with imperial powers like Germany and Britain, that thrived on suppression of coexistence.

By Alexander Tuboltsev | Al Mayadeen | January 7, 2025 

In August 1914, when the fire of the First World War had already broken out in Europe, a now-forgotten event took place in Berlin. Max Bodenheimer, one of the leaders of the World Zionist Organization, paid a visit to officials of the German Empire. Bodenheimer proposed to Kaiser Wilhelm to create the so-called “League of Eastern European States”.

According to this project, after the occupation by German troops of part of the western lands of the Russian Empire, a new state was to appear on this territory. The Zionist leaders wanted to rule this land and its local population with the forceful support of Berlin (Baltic peoples, Poles, Russians, Belarusians and Jews lived in this territory). To put it bluntly, it was a plan of colonial occupation, fully developed by influential Zionist ideologues.

This project was not implemented because the Kaiser’s government questioned its effectiveness. However, for some time, Bodenheimer received support from both the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the military-political establishment.

What does this historical example say? That Zionism has always been a colonialist ideology. And the Zionists tried to spread their colonial ambitions not only in Palestine. During the First World War, they were ready to participate in joint expansionist actions with the German Empire, which then owned numerous colonies (for example, in Africa and New Guinea) and wanted to seize even more land.

And of course, this is not the only example of the close interaction of the ideologists of Zionism with the colonial powers in the late 19th and first half of the 20th centuries. At the same time, the Zionists actively sought British assistance in obtaining colonial territories for them in Uganda, and negotiated with Portugal on a similar territorial acquisition in Angola.

This is not surprising. Since the Basel program, adopted in 1897 by the First Zionist Congress, territorial conquest has been the main goal of Zionist ideologues. It was in the Basel program that the Zionists directly put forward their claims to the territory of Palestine. They disregarded the fact that this land belonged to the Arab people, the indigenous population. They had already begun planning the occupation of Palestine. Unconcerned with whom they partnered in their colonial ambitions, some Zionist leaders, like Bodenheimer, cultivated relationships with Germany’s political elites, while others lobbied in London, engaging with the British government to advance their goals.

Every colonial policy has its own mythologemes. It is a complex of narratives and verbal manipulations by which colonialists justify their expansion. Belgium in the late 19th and early 20th century is a striking example of this phenomenon. During the seizure of the Congo, King Leopold II tried to justify his colonial conquests with a “civilizing mission”, and also promised to take care of the Congolese people and develop infrastructure, which he declared his “private domain”. In reality, this hypocritical myth of “beneficial colonial influence” turned into a brutal exploitation of the indigenous population of Congo. Not only had the Belgian administration plundered other people’s natural resources, but they also organized brutal persecution against the indigenous people (mass executions, torture, destruction of villages, forced labor).

Zionist colonialism has similar false mythologemes. One such idea is the claim that Zionism aimed to establish a national home for the Jewish people.

Let’s try to reason logically. What is a “national home”? This is a place where a particular nation can live, observing its traditions, culture, and religion, and speak its own language.

Let’s turn to history again. In 1934, the Soviet government created a new region in the Russian Far East. This region was named the Jewish Autonomous Oblast, with the administrative center in the city of Birobidzhan.

Yiddish was introduced as the official language in this region. The Jewish population has received the widest opportunities not only to move to a new area, but also to develop its culture, language, literature, and traditions. Many thousands of Jews moved to the new region, including from foreign countries.

It was a national Jewish autonomy. Jews were invited to live in their own autonomous region in the neighborhood of the rest of the country’s peoples. Preserving their culture, they could live and work in peace. They got their national home, which they talked about so much. However, the Zionists never supported this project and even opposed it.

What’s the matter? Why did the Zionist circles in every possible way prevent the resettlement of Jews to this autonomous region?

The answer lies in their goals. The Zionists were not interested in living peacefully within an autonomous region inside a larger country. They disregarded the fact that such autonomy could offer their people extensive opportunities for preserving and developing their national culture. Instead, their focus was directed elsewhere, driven by a different set of ambitions.

The Zionists initially wanted to create their own colonial center in Western Asia in order to further occupy the territories of Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt. They wanted domination over the Middle East and full control over the local rich natural resources.

Therefore, they considered any alternative project as a threat to their colonial ambitions. They needed hundreds of thousands of loyal supporters willing to participate in their Middle Eastern expansion as settlers and colonizers. Therefore, they were extremely afraid that Jews from different European countries might refuse to participate in the colonial invasion of Palestine.

Let’s recall historical examples again. The famous Jewish philosopher Abraham ibn Ezra, who lived in the 11th – 12th centuries, was born in the Muslim state of Taifa of Saragossa, located on the Iberian Peninsula. He wrote some of his works in Arabic, actively read the works of Muslim scholars, and had the opportunity to travel quietly to many cities, from Zaragoza and Cordoba to Damascus and Baghdad.

Even earlier, in the 10th – 11th centuries, the Jewish philosopher and poet Samuel ibn Nagrillah became a vizier at the court of the Emir of Granada, Qaboos al-Muzaffar.

Another famous Jewish philosopher and translator, Saadia Gaon, in the 9th – 10th centuries lived first in Egypt, then in the Iraqi city of Baghdad. He became famous especially for his translations and works written in Arabic.

What do the above examples reveal? That historically, since the earliest times, the Jewish population has lived peacefully and freely in Muslim countries, having the opportunity to preserve their customs and culture. In the 19th century in Palestine, according to the Ottoman censuses, 95 percent of the population were Arabs. This is a well-known fact. Palestine was, is, and will be an Arab land. However, a Jewish community also lived there, many of whom later actively opposed Zionism and settler colonialism.

The Arab inhabitants coexisted peacefully with the Jewish community, maintaining a harmonious and neighborly relationship. This harmony in Palestine was disrupted with the onset of Zionist expansion. It was the Zionists who began to systematically violate the rights of the indigenous Arab population, unlawfully seizing their land.

Zionism is inherently an aggressive and destructive ideology. We can also recall the campaigns that the Zionist regime staged in the middle of the 20th century against the Yiddish language (restricting the rights of the Jewish population to use this language in public life and literature). This is a typical example that shows that Zionist ideology is a form of racism (including linguistic), tyranny, and mass discrimination.

History confirms that the Palestinian Resistance is a national liberation movement against colonialist, misanthropic, barbaric, hypocritical, bloodthirsty Zionism. That’s why the battle for the freedom of Palestine is legitimate, just, and truly great in the context of historical development.

January 7, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Timeless or most popular | , , | Leave a comment

FBI Is Still Hiding Details of Russiagate, Newly Released Document Shows

By Aaron Maté | RealClearInvestigations | January 6, 2025

As Donald Trump re-enters the White House on a pledge to end national security state overreach, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is still hiding critical details on the Russia conspiracy investigation that engulfed his first term.

In response to a Freedom of Information request filed by RealClearInvestigations in August 2022, the FBI on Dec. 31, more than two years later, released a heavily redacted copy of the document that opened an explosive and unprecedented counterintelligence probe of the sitting president as an agent of the Russian government.

The Electronic Communication, dated May 16, 2017, claimed to have an “articulable factual basis” to suspect that Trump “wittingly or unwittingly” was illegally acting on behalf of Russia, and accordingly posing “threats to the national security of the United States.” The FBI’s “goal,” it added, was “to determine if President Trump is or was directed by, controlled by, and/or coordinated activities with, the Russian Federation.” It additionally sought to uncover whether Trump and unnamed “others” obstructed “any associated FBI investigation” – a reference to Crossfire Hurricane, the initial FBI inquiry into the Trump campaign’s suspected cooperation with an alleged Russian interference plot in the 2016 election.

While Crossfire Hurricane, which was formally opened on July 31, 2016, had by that point focused on members of Trump’s orbit, the May 2017 probe was specifically targeted at the president himself during his fourth month in office. The investigation of Trump was undertaken at the behest of then-acting FBI director Andrew McCabe, one week after Trump had fired his former boss and mentor, James B. Comey.

According to the declassified document, McCabe’s decision was approved by FBI Assistant Director Bill Priestap, who had also signed off on the opening of Crossfire Hurricane; and Jim Baker, the FBI general counsel. Baker was a longtime friend of Michael Sussmann, a lawyer for the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton, and a key figure in the dissemination of Clinton-funded disinformation to the FBI that falsely tied Trump to Russia. In his FBI role, Baker personally circulated the conspiracy theory, manufactured by “researchers” working with the Clinton campaign, that the Trump campaign and Russia were communicating via a secret server. After leaving the FBI, Baker served as deputy general counsel at Twitter, where he backed  the company’s censorship of reporting on the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop, based on yet another conspiracy theory that the laptop files were Russian disinformation.

FBI via RealClearInvestigations
Shown, the first two pages of a newly released document that opened an FBI probe of Donald Trump in May 2017. The remaining four pages are completely redacted, leaving unstated the FBI’s “articulable factual basis” on Page 1.
FBI via RealClearInestigations
FBI via RealClearInestigations
As with Crossfire Hurricane, the May 2017 case was opened as a Foreign Agents Registration Act investigation, and also deemed a “Sensitive Investigative Matter” to reflect Trump’s status as the nation’s top public official. The FBI document indicates that it was launched as a full investigation, which would have granted investigators targeting Trump with sweeping surveillance powers.

While the declassified document records the FBI’s theory that then-President Trump might be involved in illegal – and potentially treasonous – behavior, the “articulable factual basis” for this suspicion is redacted. Only a few paragraphs of the six-page document have not been withheld.

Along with Crossfire Hurricane, the May 2017 counterintelligence probe was folded into the Special Counsel investigation led by Robert Mueller, who was appointed just one day after the FBI began portraying Trump internally as a possible Russian agent or conspirator. Mueller’s final report “did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.”

Asked about his reasoning for opening the probe and related matters, McCabe, who now works as an on-air commentator at CNN, did not respond to RCI’s emailed questions by the time of publication.

Details about the FBI’s motivation can be gleaned, however, from other public disclosures.

According to a January 2019 account in the New York Times, which first revealed the FBI’s decision to investigate Trump, the Steele dossier – a collection of conspiracy theories funded by Trump’s rival, Hillary Clinton – was among the “factors” that “fueled the F.B.I.’s concerns.”

Just two days before McCabe opened the May 2017 probe, the FBI, via Justice Department official Bruce Ohr, renewed contact with dossier author Christopher Steele despite having terminated him as a source back in November 2016. As RCI’s Paul Sperry has previously reported, this sudden outreach to Steele right before the opening of a new Trump-Russia conspiracy investigation indicated that the FBI was seeking to re-engage the Clinton-funded British operative to help it build a case against the president for espionage and obstruction of justice. At the time, the FBI was still relying on Steele’s fabrications for its surveillance warrants against Trump campaign volunteer Carter Page. The following month, the FBI filed the last of its four FISA court warrants based on Steele’s material. The Justice Department has since invalidated two of those warrants on the grounds that they were based on “material misstatements.”

The FBI re-enlisted Steele despite possessing information that thoroughly discredited him. Five months before it newly sought Steele’s help to investigate the sitting president, the FBI interviewed Igor Danchenko, whom Steele had used as his dossier’s key “sub-source.” In that January 2017 meeting, Danchenko told FBI agents that corroboration for the dossier’s claims was “zero”; that he had “no idea” where claims sourced to him came from; and that the Russia-Trump rumors he passed along to Steele came from alcohol-fueled “word of mouth and hearsay.” The FBI had also been unable to corroborate any of Steele’s incendiary claims.

A previously disclosed document also shows that former CIA Director John Brennan – who insistently advanced the Trump/Russia conspiracy theory – informed then-president Barack Obama in July 2016 that the Clinton campaign was planning to tie Trump to Russia in order to distract attention from the controversy over Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while serving as secretary of state. By that point, the Clinton campaign was already paying for the fabricated reports produced by Steele, who made contact with the FBI as early as July 5.

Although the newly declassified document attempts to suggest that the FBI had actionable intelligence to suspect Trump of being a Russian agent, McCabe’s subsequent comments indicate that there was no such evidence on offer. Instead, McCabe has said his counterintelligence probe of Trump was primarily motivated by the president’s firing of Comey. In a February 2019 interview with CBS News, McCabe explained his thinking as follows: “[T]he idea is, if the president committed obstruction of justice, fired the director of the of the FBI to negatively impact or to shut down our investigation of Russia’s malign activity and possibly in support of his campaign, as a counter intelligence investigator you have to ask yourself, ‘Why would a president of the United States do that?’ So all those same sorts of facts cause us to wonder is there an inappropriate relationship, a connection between this president and our most fearsome enemy, the government of Russia.”

McCabe therefore had no evidence that Trump had a “connection” to Russia, and in fact could only “wonder” if there was one. Yet because Trump had fired Comey, whose FBI was already investigating Trump’s campaign for Russia ties and relying on the Clinton-funded Steele dossier in the process, McCabe decided that he had grounds to order an espionage investigation of the commander in chief.

With the official predicate for that May 2017 investigation still redacted by the FBI, McCabe’s public statements offer the only insider window into why it was opened. In all of the investigations related to alleged Russian interference to date, the Justice Department has pointedly avoided the question.

Despite inheriting McCabe’s probe – and debunking claims of a Trump-Russia conspiracy related to the 2016 election – Special Counsel Mueller made no mention of the Trump as Russian agent theory in his final report of March 2019. Without informing the public, the FBI closed down the Trump counterintelligence investigation the following month. The case’s closing Electronic Communication, which has previously been declassified in redacted form, states that the McCabe probe “was transferred to FBI personnel assisting” the Mueller team, and entailed the use of “a variety of investigative techniques.”

An inquiry led by Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz of the FBI’s conduct during Crossfire Hurricane also ignored McCabe’s decision to investigate Trump as an agent of Russia. And in a footnote in his final report of May 2023, John Durham – the Special Counsel appointed to launch a sweeping review of the Russia investigation – claimed that McCabe’s May 2017 probe was outside of his purview.

By contrast, when it comes to Crossfire Hurricane, Durham’s report concluded that the FBI did not have a legitimate basis to launch that investigation, repeatedly ignored exculpatory evidence, and buried warnings that Clinton’s campaign was trying to frame Trump as a Russian conspirator.

While the original Trump-Russia investigation has been discredited, the public remains in the dark about why the FBI launched a follow-up counterintelligence probe that targeted Trump while he was newly in the White House – and what ends it took to pursue it.

With Trump set to be inaugurated this month after vowing to clean up the nation’s premier law enforcement agency, the FBI will have a fresh opportunity to break its longstanding secrecy on the decision to investigate the sitting, and newly returning, president as an agent of Russia.

January 7, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Deception, Russophobia | , , , , | Leave a comment

Europe isn’t the real threat to Ukraine peace but UK

By M. K. BHADRAKUMAR | Indian Punchline | January 7, 2025 

The Biden Administration has not given up on Ukraine war. A meeting of the Ramstein Format Meeting is scheduled to take place in Germany on Thursday, chaired by the outgoing US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, to address Ukraine’s defence needs, which the Ukrainian President Zelensky will also address. 

Meanwhile, Kiev typically launched an attack in the Kursk region on the eve of the Ramstein Format event as the “curtain-raiser”. The operation, although played up in the British press, is spearheaded by just 2 tanks and fifteen armoured carriers and will no doubt be crushed by the Russian drones and its highly lethal Ka high-performance combat helicopters with day and night capability, high survivability and fire power. 

Typically, Zelensky won’t give up on any occasion for grandstanding in front of the Western audience. He hopes to display on Thursday that there is still some spunk left in the Ukrainian armed forces. Tragically, he is sacrificing a few dozen Ukrainian soldiers in this melodrama which may distract some attention from the front-line as Russian forces have entered Chasiv Yar and reached the suburbs of Pokrovsk in an operation to surround that city. 

With the fall of Chasiv Yar and Pokorovsk, the Battle of Donbass is nearing home stretch. It sets the stage for a massive Russian push to the Dnieper River if the Kremlin is left with no other option but to end the war on its terms. (See a recent article on the future map of Ukraine by the top Moscow strategic analyst Dmitry Trenin titled What Ukraine should look like after Russia’s victory.)

Indeed, the hopes of Donald Trump bringing the war to an end in the first day of his presidency on January 20 have withered away. The Ramstein meeting is a defiant act by Zelensky and his European associates, as Trump is set to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin soon.  

On December 18, Zelensky met in Brussels with NATO chief Mark Rutte and huddled with several European leaders to discuss war strategy. His European interlocutors are also seeking to develop their own plans if Trump, who has pledged to bring a swift end to the war, pulls the plug on the Kiev regime or forces it to make concessions. 

The key topic of the Brussels meeting was security guarantees, Zelensky’s office said. Zelensky highlighted his “detailed one-on-one discussion” with French President Emmanuel Macron that focused on priorities to further strengthen Ukraine’s position “regarding the presence of forces in Ukraine that could contribute to stabilising the path to peace.”

Prior to the Brussels meeting, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told reporters that the priority was to secure the “sovereignty of Ukraine and that it will not be forced to submit to a dictated peace.” But, he cautioned, any discussion of boots on the ground would be premature. 

Rutte himself counselled that Kiev’s allies should focus on ramping up arms supplies to ensure Ukraine is in a position of strength. Rutte estimated that Ukraine needs 19 additional  air-defence systems to protect the country’s energy infrastructure. 

Interestingly, Rutte announced that the proposed new NATO command in the German city of Wiesbaden is now “up and running” which will henceforth coordinate Western military aid for Ukraine as well as provide training for Ukraine’s military. Trump is unlikely to preserve the Ramstein Format. 

Simply put, Europe, including the U.K., lack the capacity to replace the US military assistance to Ukraine. For the EU to replace the US, it would need to double its military aid to Ukraine. But the current political situation in Europe, along with the real military capabilities of individual European countries, makes this an impossible objective. (See an analysis, here, by Samantha de Bendern at the Chatham House.) 

Germany, Europe’s largest military donor to Ukraine, has plunged into political chaos with the collapse of the Scholz-led coalition. Macron, a staunch defender of Ukraine, has lost control over France’s domestic politics since the June parliamentary elections, where he lost his majority. Elsewhere in Europe, political parties on the far right and far left, with pro-Russian sympathies, are rising.  

Europeans are running around like headless chickens. The surprise visit of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to Florida to meet Trump and watch a movie with him at this critical juncture of the Ukraine war shows that the smart lady has no confidence in the likes of Macron. 

Meloni has a warm equation with Trump’s close aide Elon Musk and is seeking to strengthen business ties with the US. “This is very exciting. I’m here with a fantastic woman, the prime minister of Italy,” Trump told the Mar-a-Lago crowd and added expansively, “She’s really taken Europe by storm.” 

Italy, an important NATO power that overlooks the Mediterranean is a vociferous supporter of trans-atlanticism, and pursues a nuanced policy on the Ukraine war that may be of use to Trump to build bridges with Europe. Meloni is positioning herself. 

Italy resolutely condemned the Russian annexation of Crimea and Moscow’s subsequent involvement in Eastern Ukraine and joined the EU sanctions against Russia. It demonstrated its military support for Ukraine with significant military aid packages within the framework of an agreement on security cooperation (under a previous government headed by Prime Minister Mario Draghi). 

That said, Rome has often sought to balance EU responses with its national interests towards Russia. Thus, Meloni’s foreign minister reaffirmed recently, even as Biden authorised Ukraine to deploy long-range American missiles against military targets inside Russia, “Our position on Ukraine’s use of (Italian) weapons has not changed. They can only be used within Ukrainian territory.” 

In the final analysis, it is the course of the war that will decide the terms of peace in Ukraine. Europe’s swing toward right-wing governments — Austria is the latest example — may help Russia. However, the crux of the matter is that so long as the spy agencies of Britain and US work in tandem to manipulate the governments in power in White Hall — Labour and Conservative alike — the Trump administration has a serious problem on its hands. 

Of course, Trump is well aware of the UK’s pivotal role in hatching the “Russia collusion” plot, which hobbled his presidency. Downsizing Britain’s role can be a game changer for peace in Ukraine. 

But the MI6’s capacity to influence the Kiev regime is not to be underestimated. Former UK prime minister Boris Johnson played a seminal role in torpedoing the Russia-Ukraine deal negotiated at the peace talks hosted by Turkey in March-April 2022 just weeks into the conflict. Even if Trump strikes a deal with Putin, which in itself is highly problematic as things stand, London is sure to undermine it one way or another at the first available opportunity, given its Russophobic obsession with inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia.  

Possibly, Trump is savouring Elon Musk’s relentless assault on the British government. “America should liberate the people of Britain from their tyrannical government,” Musk wrote on X. But British politicians have the skin of rhino. Sir Keir Starmer is giving as good as he gets. Trump’s challenge lies in mothballing the special relationship with the UK.

January 7, 2025 Posted by | Militarism | , , , , | Leave a comment

The War on Speech Is Turning into a Monty Python Sketch

Truthstream Media | January 3, 2025

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January 4, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance, Video | , | Leave a comment

Radicalization of pupils in UK Jewish schools

Press TV – January 4, 2025

Jewish schools in the UK are abusing children in their care by promoting the racist ideology of Zionism. Pupils have even been encouraged to write supportive letters to soldiers in the Israeli occupation forces who were engaged in genocide.

There is a Jewish school in Birmingham, where more than 80% of the pupils are Muslim. At this school, the pupils sing Hatikvah, the Israeli national anthem, and celebrate the anniversary of the creation of the Zionist entities each year with Israeli flags. Only 8.85% of the pupils at the school are actually Jewish.

In Glasgow, Calderwood Lodge is the only Jewish school in Scotland. It was first set up in 1962 by the Zionist Federation. In 1998 it was reported that approximately 10% of the students were not Jewish. By 2017 a sharp decline in the number of Jewish pupils to 52% was reported. This school also celebrates Israeli Independence Day, including with a Happy Birthday Israel banner.

In Liverpool’s King David High School, as of January 2023, it was reported that only 11% of pupils are Jewish, whilst the majority are Christian or Muslim, yet the school insists on ramming the racist ideology of Zionism down the throat of all the pupils, Jewish and non-Jewish alike.

Until the genocide in Gaza, hardly anyone even noticed that there were Zionist schools in the UK, let alone saying that it was a problem. But how widespread is the problem of Zionist schools?

There are around 140 Jewish schools in the UK, and almost all appear to promote Zionism, either openly or in many ultra-orthodox schools teaching versions of religious Zionism.

The King David Primary School in Manchester says explicitly, it is a Zionist school. The Simon Marks primary is too. It is proud to celebrate the genocidal ethnic cleansing of the Nakba that led to Israel’s independence.

JFS in London says it too is proud of its long-standing and deep connections to the State of Israel. For over 40 years, the school has offered a bespoke residential program in Israel to provide an opportunity for students to immerse themselves in life in Israel.

The JFS program in Israel promotes the values and ethos of JFS, including the ideals of Zionist Modern Orthodoxy.

In October 2023 the school revealed that pupils had been encouraged to write letters to the Israeli soldiers, to support them, and to receive thanks in reply.

In November 2023 students had what the school described as the rare privilege of an audience with Aviv Kohavi, the former General Chief of Staff of the Israel occupation forces. This was posted under the headline, IDF the moral army.

There is a serious problem of radicalization in Jewish schools in Britain. Urgent action needs to be taken to stop the abuse of young school students, Jews and non-Jews alike, by Zionist schools.

January 4, 2025 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Militarism | , , , | Leave a comment

Over 2,600 UK Troops to Take Part in Exercises on NATO’s Eastern Flank

Sputnik – 04.01.2025

More than 2,600 UK troops and 730 vehicles will take part in exercises on NATO’s eastern flank, the country’s Defense Ministry said in a statement.

“Leading from the front, the UK is providing the largest contribution of forces with over 2600 personnel, and 730 vehicles deploying to NATO’s eastern flank,” the ministry said.

According to the statement, the UK’s 1st Division will command all of NATO’s land forces during Exercise Steadfast Dart 25 in Bulgaria and Romania to practice the deployment of the new Allied Reaction Force, which can “rapidly reinforce” NATO’s eastern flank.

Russia has pointed to NATO’s unprecedented activity near its western borders. The alliance is expanding its initiatives and says this is being done to contain “Russian aggression.” The Kremlin has noted that Moscow is not threatening anyone, but will not ignore actions that are potentially dangerous to its interests.

January 4, 2025 Posted by | Militarism | , | Leave a comment

UK doctor suspended over posts praising slain Hamas and Hezbollah leaders as ‘legends’

MEMO | January 1, 2025

Dr Rehiana Ali, a British neurologist, was been suspended last week by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) following complaints about social media posts on Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. The interim suspension, lasting 18 months and subject to review, prevents her from practising medicine pending a full investigation by the General Medical Council (GMC).

The suspension relates to posts praising the martyred leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah as “legends.” On 7 October, the anniversary of the Al-Aqsa Flood resistance operation, Ali referred to Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah as “a legend” and later eulogised Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in similar terms – both were assassinated by the occupation army. “Israel will lose. They’ve just turned Sinwar into a legend. A male role model,” she wrote.

The GMC acknowledged public “concerns” over Dr Ali’s comments. “We will take action where concerns suggest patient safety or public confidence in doctors may be at risk,” said a GMC spokesperson.

Ali, who had aimed to contest the 2024 general election as an independent for Bradford South, described the complaints as politically motivated. In a post on X last week, Ali said she had been “punished for a perfectly legal political comment” and for speaking out against Israeli lobbies and the occupation state’s war crimes.

She also slammed the GMC and MPTS for bowing to Zionist pressure “rather than protect a doctor from vexatious harassment.”

“I stand by my tweets. I will not bow to demons,” Ali affirmed.

Pro-Israel lobbyists UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI), which reported Ali’s posts alongside GnasherJew, another “watchdog” that tries to silence critics of Israel, welcomed the decision. “We are grateful that the GMC has decided on an interim suspension,” said UKLFI director Caroline Turner.

Hamas and Hezbollah are both primarily social movements with political and armed wings and significant popular support bases. Hamas was established during the First Intifada (1987–1993) as a response to Israeli occupation in Palestine, while Hezbollah emerged following Israel’s 1982 invasion of southern Lebanon during the country’s Civil War.

January 1, 2025 Posted by | Civil Liberties, Full Spectrum Dominance | , , , , | Leave a comment

Numerous US-British airstrikes target Yemeni capital Sanaa

Al Mayadeen | December 31, 2024

A US-British aggression targeted Tuesday the capital, Sanaa, amid continuous airstrikes, Al Mayadeen’s correspondent in Yemen reported.

Our correspondent indicated that the US-British airstrikes targeted the September 21st Park, located in the northwestern part of Sanaa, which previously housed the First Armored Division.

He also noted that the aggression targeted, with eight airstrikes, a complex that includes the Ministry of Defense and military administrative offices in the Bab al-Yemen area in central Sanaa, as well as the May 22nd Military Industrial Complex in the al-Nahda neighborhood, northwest of Sanaa.

The spokesman for the Yemeni Ansar Allah movement, Mohammad Abdelsalam, pointed out that the aggression against Yemen represents “a blatant violation of the sovereignty of an independent state” and comes in support of “Israel”.

Abdelsalam affirmed that “Yemen will continue to defend itself against any aggression and remains steadfast in supporting Gaza.”

The latest aggression comes a couple of hours after the spokesperson of the Yemeni Armed Forces (YAF), Brigadier General Yahya Saree, announced that the YAF missile force carried out two top-tier military operations against Israeli targets.

The first targeted Ben Gurion Airport in the city of Yafa (Tel Aviv) in occupied Palestine using a hypersonic ballistic missile of the Palestine-2 type, Saree said, adding that the second operation targeted a power station in southern occupied al-Quds with a Zulfiqar-type ballistic missile.

According to the spokesperson, both missiles successfully hit their targets.

Saree pointed out that the two operations coincided with a joint operation conducted by the YAF’s naval, missile, and UAV forces, targeting the US aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman with a large number of drones and cruise missiles, while US forces were preparing to launch a major aerial attack against Yemen.

He confirmed that the operation successfully achieved its objectives, thwarting the planned American aerial assault on Yemen.

Elsewhere, Saree reiterated that the operations of the YAF will only cease with the cessation of the Israeli aggression against Gaza and the lifting of the blockade imposed on the Palestinian strip.

December 31, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Militarism, Wars for Israel | , , , , , | Leave a comment

US, British jets rain fire on Yemeni capital in new late night attack

The Cradle | December 28, 2024

US and UK warplanes launched a new round of airstrikes on the Yemeni capital late on 27 December, targeting the 21 September park in the Maeen district of Sanaa, according to Yemen’s Al-Masirah TV.

No photos or videos of the attack have been released or circulated on social media. US Central Command (CENTCOM) has not claimed responsibility for the attack.

The latest western aggression came one day after Israeli warplanes launched massive airstrikes on Sanaa and the coastal province of Hodeidah in retaliation for continued drone and hypersonic missile attacks by the Yemeni Armed Forces (YAF) in support of Palestinians in Gaza.

Earlier on Friday, hundreds of thousands of Yemenis marched through the streets of Sanaa, Saada, Hodeidah, Hajjah, and Al-Mahwit, proclaiming, “We firmly stand with Gaza, the glory… without limits and without red lines.”

Demonstrators also called on the YAF to intensify their operations in support of Palestine.

The mobilizations started soon after YAF spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree confirmed that Sanaa conducted drone and missile attacks targeting Israel’s Ben Gurion airport, “a vital target” south of Tel Aviv, and an Israeli-linked ship in the Arabia Sea, in response to Israel’s aggressions on Yemen and Gaza.

At least six people were killed and 40 others injured when Israel bombed Sanaa International Airport, Red Sea ports, and power stations on Thursday.

“[Ansarallah] are more technologically advanced than perceived by many [and should not be] underrated,” an Israeli official told the Washington Post on Friday, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

He claimed that with support from Iran, Yemen has been able to take “practical steps” in fighting a war against Israel and its close allies.

“Because it’s so cheap for them to try to get a drone or a missile every few days or weeks into Israel, they can win this,” Yoel Guzansky, a former official on Israel’s National Security Council and senior fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv told the US daily.

The US and UK launched an illegal war on Yemen at the start of the year, seeking to protect Israeli trade interests and shield the country from the pro-Gaza operations of the Axis of Resistance.

Yemeni operations have been ongoing since November 2023, and Sanaa has vowed not to stop until the genocide in Gaza comes to an end. The daring operations by the YAF against Israel and its allies have forced several US aircraft carriers and European warships out of West Asia.

December 28, 2024 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Militarism, Wars for Israel | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service: US, UK special forces directing attacks on bases in Syria

Press TV – December 28, 2024

Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) says US and British special services are plotting a series of terrorist attacks on Russian military bases in Syria, following the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad’s government by militant groups earlier this month.

“British intelligence agencies are working out plots to stage a string of terrorist attacks against Russian military installations in Syria. The schemes seek the recruitment of Daesh Takfiri terrorists, who new authorities in Damascus have set free in the aftermath of Assad’s downfall,” the press office of the SVR said in a statement on Saturday.

The statement noted that the outgoing administration of US President Joe Biden, and the British leadership intend to prevent the establishment of stability and security across Syria.

“In a broader sense, they are pursuing the goal of maintaining a state of chaos” in West Asia,” the press office stated.

The SVR highlighted that the US and Britain seek to maintain their dominance and achieve their geopolitical objectives in the region “based on the odious concept of a rules-based order.”

“However, the fiendish plot is challenged by the presence of Russian forces on the Mediterranean coast of Syria, which still majorly contributes to the preservation of regional stability,” the Russian intelligence agency said.

The statement also indicated that the United States plans to continue the occupation of Syria’s oil-rich regions east of the Euphrates River under the pretext of fighting Daesh terrorists, emphasizing that Washington has no intention of withdrawing from those areas.

Back on December 13, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said Moscow had established direct contacts with the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in a bid to maintain its military bases in the Arab country despite the fall of the Syrian government.

Russia hopes to keep its military bases in Syria as they are important in the fight against terrorism, Interfax news agency quoted Bogdanov as saying.

The senior Russian diplomat noted that contacts with HTS were “proceeding in a constructive fashion.”

Bogdanov said Russia hopes the group will fulfill its pledges to “guard against all excesses,” maintain order, and ensure the safety of diplomats and other foreigners.

December 28, 2024 Posted by | Militarism | , , , , | Leave a comment

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