The Funnies: Pretentious space stooges

History lesson: US-NATO war on Serbia

 

Negative impact of NATO on Serbia & Montenegro and on the world 

By Batko Milacic  (Independent analyst)

After Yugoslavia’s (Serbia) President Slobodan Milosevic refused to accept the so-called Rambouillet Agreement in 1999, which in reality was NATO ultimatum that demanded from Serbia and Montenegro to allow NATO troops to occupy the province of Kosovo as well as that NATO can build bases in Serbia, and that all NATO personnel have diplomatic immunity, which means that they could not be held criminally responsible in Serbia and Montenegro, NATO aggression was launched without any authorization from the United Nations. 

The intervention was called humanitarian under the pretext of stopping the persecution of Albanians. Western media machine led against Serbs constantly negative media campaign. In media presentations by CNN and the BBC, the Serbs were the modern Nazis and Albanians the Jews. After they successfully presented the Serbs as the bad guys, NATO had a free hand to open aggression and excessive force. Western claims about tens of thousands of killed Albanians later turned out to be completely false. The real death toll in Kosovo before NATO aggression was revealed after the war and it was around 2,000 with the majority of the killings committed by the armed terrorist-separatist group, the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). The KLA, previously classified by Washington as a terrorist organization, was elevated in the run-up to the war as the sole legitimate representative of Kosovo’s Albanian population. The KLA, working in close collaboration with US sponsors, sought to create as much violence and death as possible in order to pave the way to Western intervention.

The war against Serbia and Montenego lasted for 78 days. Hospitals, factories and schools were destroyed, along with bridges, roads and military infrastructure. The airstrikes killed around 2,500 people and wounded another 12,500. The bombing destroyed and damaged 25,000 housing units, 470 km of roads and 595 kilometers of railroad were disabled. 14 airports, 19 hospitals, 20 health centers, 18 kindergartens, 69 schools, 176 cultural monuments and 44 bridges were damaged while 38 were destroyed, according to Serbian estimates. 

During the bombing, 2,300 air strikes were carried out on 995 facilities across the country. NATO launched 1,300 cruise missiles, bombed Serbia and Montenegro with 37,000 “cluster bombs”, using prohibited ammunition with depleted uranium. The decision to bomb Serbia and Montenegro was made for the first time in history, without the approval of the UN Security Council. One of the NATO airstrikes used laser-guided bombs to take out railway bridge in southern Serbia, killing at least 10 people on a passenger train. A deliberate attack on the Serbian TV broadcaster RTS in Belgrade took lives of 16 civilian workers. This was the first case that the media house was declared a legitimate military goal. In one of the most provocative acts of the war, NATO carried out a strike on the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, killing three men. Washington claimed that the bombing was an “accident”. The “humanitarian” intervention to halt “ethnic cleansing” has resulted in massive ethnic cleansing. After NATO arrived, 250,000 Serbs were expelled from Kosovo.

Also, the 2004 unrest in Kosovo is the worst ethnic violence case in Kosovo since the end of the 1998–99 conflict. The violence erupted in the partitioned town of Mitrovica, leaving hundreds wounded and at least 14 people dead. The unrest was precipitated by misleading reports in the Kosovo Albanian media which falsely claimed that three Kosovo Albanian boys had drowned after being chased into the Ibar River by a group of Kosovo Serbs. That is why Albanians are embarking on a coordinated action against Serbs, in which they have committed numerous crimes. Given the magnitude of the action, it is clear that this ethnic cleansing was planned and not spontaneous. Here, too, the question must be asked whether it is possible that NATO intelligence services did not have operational information that Albanians were preparing attacks on Serbs, with the aim of ethnic cleansing of Kosovo. The answer is obvious, especially if we keep in mind that NATO forces have peacefully observed the ethnic cleansing of Serbs, even if their primary task in Kosovo is to maintain peace and order.

Years later, International courts in Pristina have prosecuted several people who attacked several Serbian Orthodox churches, handing down jail sentences ranging from 21 months to 16 years. However, these are extremely small numbers of people and with small penalties. The absolute majority of criminals were not punished. A part of the destroyed churches have since been rebuilt by the Government of Serbia and in cooperation with the Serbian Orthodox Church and the UN mission in Kosovo. However, almost none of the exiled Serbs returned to Kosovo. It is important to note that NATO forces have peacefully observed the ethnic cleansing of Serbs, even if their primary task in Kosovo is to maintain peace and order.  

Bill Clinton visited the new US war base Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo in 1999. The primary purpose of the war against Serbia was to ensure the break-up of the Communist Yugoslavia into smaller nations that would allow US-NATO access to a strategic part of eastern Europe that was never possible during the Cold War with the former Soviet Union. The war was sold as 'humanitarian intervention' just like the US attacks/occupations of Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria. George W. Bush visited Camp Bondsteel in 2001 and then V-P Joe Biden went to the base in 2009 to underscore the bi-partisan support for the break-up and colonization of the nations of the former Yugoslavia.

It is clear to every objective analyst that NATO carried out aggression in 1999 against Serbia and Montenegro. Everything that happened after 1999 proved that NATO’s primary goal was not the protection of human rights, but the abuse of this idea for classical geopolitical possession of strategic space, in this case, the southern Serbian province of Kosovo. [The US created the Camp Bondsteel war base in Kosovo in 1999.] The Serbian army fought heroically in Kosovo and it was not defeated on the battlefield. The withdrawal of the Serbian army from Kosovo was caused by an open threat from the West that it will exert over Serbia humanitarian destruction of the whole country. When the destruction of infrastructure did not gave results, NATO began hitting hospitals, trains full of passengers and throwing away so-called graphite bombs that destroyed the electrical network and left entire cities without electricity. Cluster bombs were thrown in the cities, and bombardment of depleted uranium kills Serbs even today.

 

NATO forces continued aggression on the rest of Serbia, by other means. Immediately after the bombing the regime change operation was supported, after which embassies of Western countries and international organizations that the West controlled began to “reform Serbia”. Shortly after the arrival of pro-Western authorities in Serbia, in October 2000, “the reform of the Serbian army” began. The majority of proven war officers were retired, while the number of soldiers was so low, to the level, at which the security of the country was seriously threatened. Through its agents of influence, the West played a major role in separating Montenegro from Serbia. High and primary education were, and still are literally destroyed, media has been dominated by foreign corporations. Yet again, two decades later, despite its propaganda and corruption of the elite, NATO is still undesirable among the ordinary people. Montenegro became a member of NATO by political violence, against the will of the citizens. Serbia and Republic of Srpska continue to resist. 

Corona sparks flying.....

 

 

Fauci is getting scared and desperate.

Pretty damning information in this video by Jimmy Dore (a comedian who does the news).

As this story unfolds (as it inevitably will) we hear Joe Biden call on social media corporations to deny anyone from sharing this much needed debate. 

More and more evidence emerges that covid-19 was created as a bio-weapon first at Ft. Detrick, Maryland, then passed on to lab at University of North Carolina and then sold to the Wuhan lab in China.

What is Washington afraid of?  

Isn't the US the 'exceptional' democracy?

Let the informed debate continue!

Climate change report: Jeff Bezos & the new wild west show

 

 

Jeff Bezos (the richest man in the world) successfully took his new wild west rodeo show to the edge of space and once returning to Mother Earth had the audacity to lecture us earthlings on a few things.

Yahoo news reported Bezos saying:

“We need to take all heavy industry, all polluting industry, and move it into space. And keep Earth as this beautiful gem of a planet that it is.” 

In this same interview, Bezos discussed his plans to expand Blue Origin's space tourism business over the coming decades, a venture that has the potential to pump massive amounts of carbon and other chemicals into the atmosphere. Unlike ground-based emitters like cars or coal-powered plants, rocket emissions are expelled directly into the upper atmosphere, where they linger for years. 

Dr Stuart Parkinson, Executive Director of Scientists for Global Responsibility, writes:

....the fuel combination used by [Bezos is] a higher carbon fuel. Research by the University of Colorado indicates that this can damage the stratospheric ozone layer – not only leading to higher levels of damaging ultra-violet radiation reaching the Earth’s surface, but also causing a global heating effect likely to be considerably greater than that from the carbon emissions alone. And the aim of these journeys? A few minutes of ‘zero-gravity’ experience and a nice view. It is hard to see this as anything more than environmental vandalism for the super-rich.

As the CEO of Amazon, for years Bezos fought against company efforts to unionize, even amid credible reports of inhumane, exploitative conditions for Amazon delivery drivers and warehouse workers. He said, “I also want to thank every Amazon employee and every Amazon customer because you guys paid for all of this.” 

The truth is that virtually all space technology 'research and development' since the dawn of the space age was done by NASA and the military industrial complex. That means the taxpayers paid for it. And now when it is possible to make gobs of money from space tourism, colonization and mining, the capitalist dominated US government is eager to privatize space operations. They don't care what the rest of the world thinks. America, after all, is the 'exceptional' nation.

It was during the Obama administration that a new law called Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act, sometimes referred to as the Spurring Private Aerospace Competitiveness and Entrepreneurship (SPACE) Act of 2015, was signed by the president.

The UK Independent reported in 2015:

Much of the ownership of space is regulated by the “Outer Space Treaty”, a document that was signed by the US and Russia among other countries in the 1960s. As well as saying that the moon and other celestial objects are part of the “common heritage of mankind”, it says that exploration must be peaceful and bans countries from putting weapons on the moon and other celestial bodies.

The US government has now thrown out that understanding so that it can get rid of “unnecessary regulations” and make it easier for private American companies to explore space resources commercially. While people won’t actually be able to claim the rock or “celestial body” itself, they will be able to keep everything that they mine out of it.

Planetary Resources, an American company that intends to make money by mining asteroids, said that the new law was the “single greatest recognition of property rights in history”, and that it “establishes the same supportive framework that created the great economies of history, and will encourage the sustained development of space”.

 

So Bezos was wearing the cowboy hat as a message to the world that a new 'gold rush' has begun in space and that it will be controlled by rich fat-cat psychopaths like him. They intend to circumvent United Nations space law like the Outer Space and Moon Treaties that state the 'heavens are the province of all humankind'.

Bezos does not care that each and every one of his joy-ride space launches punches a larger hole in the Earth's ozone layer exacerbating our climate crisis. This is all about him, his money, his fame, and his super-sized ego.

If we hope to survive on planet Earth, and give life to the future generations, then the global public must demand that space stooges like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Richard Branson, and the rest of their ilk, are restrained and prevented from playing god.

Bruce 

End the Korean War!

 

Global Collective Action : 

Send Your Photo to End the Korean War 

July 12 ~ 27, 2021

#19530727 #EndtheKoreanWar #KoreaPeaceAppeal 

This upcoming July 27 marks the 68th anniversary of the signing of the Korean Armistice Agreement. For too long, the people on the Korean Peninsula have lived in an unfinished war that has only been paused for a while. We can’t just wait any longer! Let’s end the Korean war with peace-loving people around the world. 

Ahead of July 27, The Korea Peace Appeal Campaign invites you to join the Global Collective Action: Let’s End the Korean War! Sign the Korea Peace Appeal. The action aims to bring together voices of people from all over the world to move from ceasefire to peace by ending the Korean War. 

During the Action Week, we will collect “peace photos” from all over the world, and hold signature campaigns, marches and press conferences in various places in South Korea. 

Wherever you are, please join us for Korea Peace!

HOW TO PARTICIPATE 📸

Step 1: Take a photo holding the sign for Korea Peace 

• Print your choice of sign 👉 here or You can make your own creative sign :) 
• Take a photo holding the sign. You can go to a landmark near you with your friends to take photo! 

Step 2: Post on Facebook, Instagram or any social media platform of your choice with the following caption 

70 years is enough. Let’s End the Korean War! 

Sign the Appeal to end the unresolved War 

👉 en.endthekoreanwar.net

#19530727 #EndtheKoreanWar #KoreaPeaceAppeal 

Step 3: Send the photo to the campaign via endthekoreanwarnow@gmail.com to let the campaign show the collective action of photos on the website 

Step 4: If you have not sign the Korea Peace Appeal yet, please sign it and add your voice 👉 here 

 

 

Step 5: Get your friends, colleagues and family to do the same! 

Your photos from all over the world will be... 

• released to South Korean press
• posted as an advertisement on a subway station in South Korea! 

* Hashtag, #19530727 means 27 July 1953, the date of signing the armistice.

 

 

U.S. pushing Ukraine for membership in NATO

James W. Carden: Isolating Russia, By Land and By Sea


This [past] weekend saw the conclusion of NATO’s Sea Breeze 2021 naval exercise in the Black Sea. According to information released by the Brussels-based alliance, the 13 day exercise included roughly 5,000 troops, 32 ships, 40 aircraft and 18 special operations and dive teams from 32 countries.

The drill commenced only days after the British navy’s HMS Defender was fired upon by Russian aircraft as it made its way through the waters off the coast of Crimea in an ostensible show of support for Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty.

Meantime, Ukrainian, Polish, Lithuanian and American ground forces will convene in western Ukraine for another military exercise. According to Reuters, the drill, “Three Swords-2021,” will involve “more 1,200 servicemen and more than 200 combat vehicles and will last from 17 to 30 July at Yavoriv training ground in Lviv region.”

The center of the action, Yavoriv, is where the US and Ukraine operate a joint military base called the Joint Multinational Training Group-Ukraine base. It might be worth asking: How many Americans know that we have a military base in Ukraine? How many know that American taxpayer dollars account for 90 percent of foreign military aid to Ukraine?

The Ukrainian president  – no doubt at the urging of Washington, DC’s well-connected and well-funded Ukraine Lobby – recently announced that Ukraine would become a member of NATO because the alliance reiterated the language of the 2008 Bucharest summit (“NATO welcomes Ukraine’s and Georgia’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations for membership in NATO. We agreed today that these countries will become members of NATO…”) in its June communique.

Taken together, these seem unnecessary and provocative actions intended to raise the already high level of tension between Russia and the West. These actions are also morally questionable since they raise Ukraine’s (utterly unrealistic) hopes of joining NATO when, in reality, the alliance will not and can not bring them on. As ACURA’s Anatol Lieven recently pointed out in a piece for the Quincy Institute’s Responsible Statecraft, “It has been abundantly clear since 2014 that the United States, NATO and Britain will never in fact fight to defend Ukraine. To suggest otherwise is to engage in public deceit   – and to create the possibility that Ukrainian hotheads may believe this empty suggestion, the way the Georgians did in 2008 when they attacked Russian positions in South Ossetia in the mistaken belief that the U.S. would fight to save them from Russia’s retaliation.” If there is to be a peaceful denouement to the Ukrainian crisis, the US should be putting its weight behind the efforts of France and Germany to resolve the outstanding issues via the Minsk process rather than wasting taxpayer dollars in a futile, and potentially dangerous, show of military might 4,500 miles from American shores.

~ James W. Carden serves as an adviser to American Committee for US-Russia Accord 

UK support for US Space Force

 

The US space-radar facility at Fylingdales in North Yorkshire, England

By Dave Webb

An opinion piece by Prof. Dave Webb in response to speculation over the weekend of another US radar station on UK soil to further US Space Force efforts at space domination (covered on BBC, Guardian, Sky news & The National).

The willingness of the UK to host another US military space facility seems like another ill-informed and short-sighted move in Boris Johnson’s vision of Britain remaining a significant force in the world. Although the proposed high powered radar installation is dressed up as being for our ‘security’ and to keep track of the increasing amount of space objects, it can also be viewed as an escalation of the militarisation of space. It will heighten international tensions and, as space systems are crucial for all US military activity, will make the UK even more of a target in any US military confrontation.

The US has been working to achieve and maintain a dominance in outer space since the launch of the Russian Sputnik in 1957. According to US Space Force, obtaining a full knowledge of all space objects (Space Situational Awareness, SSA), ”enables the continuous preparation of the battlespace in order to fight and win a war in space. Simply put, SSA is Space Battle Management”. The identification and tracking of objects in orbit is carried out by a global system of powerful telescopes and radars. Once orbital characteristics have been obtained their positions can be accurately predicted. However, recent developments in mini satellites which move swiftly in highly elliptical Low Earth Orbits and also of satellites that can be manoeuvred in space are adding to problems. Also, in this time of suspicion and distrust, it has become necessary to be able to study each object in more detail.

The US radar at RAF Fylingdales in North Yorkshire is already part of the US Space Surveillance Network run by the US Space Force. One of its roles is to detect and track missiles targeted at the US for their missile defence system. But missile defence is not purely defensive – it can also be used to reduce or eliminate any retaliation following a nuclear first strike. Menwith Hill, the huge US Spy Base, also in North Yorkshire, is another component of US missile defence, acting as a downlink station for a US space-based missile detection and tracking system.

 

The government is also eager to cash in on the predicted trillion-dollar space industry. Overcome by the possibility of more money for their already rich friends, they are ignoring environmental and other objections and, with the help of Lockheed Martin, are establishing rocket launch sites around the UK. Other states are also getting involved and tens of thousands of satellites are being launched to provide super-fast [5G] wi-fi communications for civilian and military use – with unknown effects on health and the environment.

This dramatic increase in space objects and the dependence on satellite numbers also means that accidents or failures become more likely. Such a failure in vital military space components could lead to catastrophic consequences and instead of blindly following the US line of space domination and control, the UK should explore ways in which an arms race in outer space can be prevented and space can be explored and used peacefully by all nations.

~ Dr. Dave Webb is chair of the UK's Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and also is the board convenor of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space

Where is our freedom of speech?

 

Biden demands censorship aimed against domestic public debate.

Who benefits when the government and corporations collude to control information?

'Robust enforcement strategies' of social media....what does that mean?

Break the silence....

 

Abby Martin's second feature film is an anti-imperialist environmental documentary. Join her on the journey, and help make it possible, at https://earthsgreatestenemy.com

Aerospace industry wants your Social Security

 

Years ago I read in the aerospace industry newspaper Space News that they were sending lobbyists to Washington to 'secure a dedicated funding source' for all of their many plans for space.  

The industry journal reported they had identified the source for future funding for 'everything space' - they called it the 'Entitlement programs' which officially are Social Security, Medicare (for the old), Medicaid (for the very poor) and what little is left of the 'social safety net'.

Medicare will turn 56 on July 30, and Social Security has its 86th anniversary on August 14. These are programs that the ruling corporate oligarchs have always hated and want defunded.

In fact, 85% of Americans 50 and older oppose cutting these vital programs. Republican and Democrat voters feel almost exactly the same in their strong support for these programs which people paid for with their taxes over their working lives.

Social Security is the main source of income for more than 34 million older households. For many, it is nearly all their income. And of the 62 million people covered by Medicare, half have incomes of less than $27,000 a year.

Because the benefits people receive from these programs are so vital, older Americans expect Congress to protect and strengthen them.

Yet a bipartisan bill was recently introduced in Congress to cut these programs. The 'Time to Rescue US Trusts (TRUST) Act' would set up groups of a dozen lawmakers with the power to recommend cuts to these essential programs. (Just the name itself reveals that this legislation is one very bad deal.)

If only seven members of these so-called 'rescue committees' approved of changes, they would be fast-tracked in the House and Senate, with no adequate debate among lawmakers within traditional committees and no amendments permitted on the floor of the House or Senate.

No democracy there - just more dirty tricks.

There is unity among the banksters, the military-industrial complex, and the 1% - they want control of all those accumulated savings that have gone into Social Security and Medicare trust funds for their own devious and selfish purposes.

Don't let them have it. Fight like hell to maintain and expand these very important programs that came out of the vigorous people's struggles for social justice during the Great Depression-era and since.

Bruce

~ Parts reprinted from AARP Bulletin  

Sunday song