U.S. routinely violates International Law, with impunity — seeks to replace U.N.

 

SouthFront

Written by Eric Zuesse

The U.S. Government, and its allies, frequently advocate for “a rules-based international order” (or, going even farther, they presume that “the rules-based international order” already exists) and they always avoid stating what its relationship would be (or supposedly is) to international law — the body of international laws that have been established under the authority of the United Nations — and they also avoid saying how such “international rules” would be drafted, or even what organization(s) would be authorized to do that, or even how such an organization would become authorized to do it. They don’t say what these “international rules” are (or would be): none of these “international rules” are described, though some advocates appear to assume that such “rules” already exist. The stupidity that they all assume to exist among the public, who presumably won’t recognize and reject this transparent fraud and won’t reject the blatant grabbing for unauthorized global power by the U.S. regime that is behind it, might be excessive, but they assume it, anyway, in order then to state other frauds, which are based upon that fraud.

The fraud’s objective is to replace the authority of the United Nations, by whatever the U.S. Government will say is an “international rule.” The hope, there, is that the U.S. Government will replace the U.N. and will come to dictate to the rest of the world whatever the U.S. and its allies can agree to label as being an “international rule.” This ‘international rule’ would then become enforced by America’s 900 foreign military bases around the world (plus the 749 U.S. military bases within the U.S. itself).

Increasingly, ever since the U.S. Government, without authorization from the U.N, invaded and destroyed Iraq on 20 March 2003, on the basis of lies that America’s ‘news’-media stenographically reported to the public even though knowing them to be false — and while those media were hiding from the public the proof that they were false —  the U.S. Government has been increasingly brazen in ignoring international law entirely, so as to attain its short-term goals for achieving additional conquests. This is not, at all, surprising, from a Government that even violates blatantly its own Constitution.

Today’s America is a police-state, perhaps more so than any other country on the planet. It has a higher percentage of its residents living in prisons than does any other nation on the planet. Of 62 countries ranked for annual percentage of people killed by police, only 19 were even worse than America, which was the only industrialized country among the worst 20. America spends annually about as much on its military as do all other countries combined, but much of that spending is being paid by federal Departments outside the ‘Defense’ Department in order for the international comparisons falsely to show America as spending only around 36% (rather than the actual 50%) of the global total. And the ‘Defense’ Department is so corrupt so that unlike all other federal Departments, it has never been able to pass an audit, and trillions of dollars in its spending cannot be traced to where it went or to whom received it. America’s military-industrial complex (MIC) — basically its weapons-manufacturers — control U.S. foreign policies, and consume more than half of all of the U.S. federal Government’s discretionary (i.e., congressionally controlled in the budget) spending. The MIC controls this Government, the public do not. This is an empire voracious for constantly acquiring new territories. International law is something for it to violate, not to comply with. And even domestically, the U.S. Constitution is routinely violated with impunity.

~ Investigative historian Eric Zuesse’s new book, AMERICA’S EMPIRE OF EVIL: Hitler’s Posthumous Victory, and Why the Social Sciences Need to Change, is about how America took over the world after World War II in order to enslave it to U.S.-and-allied billionaires. Their cartels extract the world’s wealth by control of not only their ‘news’ media but the social ‘sciences’ — duping the public.  

Who attacked Iran?

 

 

The confrontation between Iran and Israel escalated again after the attack on military facilities in Isfahan. But this time, Ukraine began to appear as one of the parties of the attack on the Iranian military plant. The odious statement by the adviser to the President of Ukraine Mikhail Podolyak was perceived in Tehran as an indirect confirmation of Kyiv's involvement in the incident. 

And if in Israel they are perplexed by the statements of Podolyak, then Tehran is annoyed and clearly furious. And Iran, by the way, is a country that is quite capable of launching a missile attack on Ukraine. 

On Sunday, the Adviser to the President of Ukraine Mikhail Podolyak, circulated a message on Twitter, in which he once again accused Iran of allegedly supplying drones to the war zone in Ukraine and indirectly admitted Kyiv's involvement in the strike on Isfahan. In this regard, the Ukrainian Ambassador to Tehran was summoned to the Iranian Foreign Ministry.

In addition, an unnamed Iranian official told the ''Nur News'' portal that the Iranian authorities called on the office of the President of Ukraine to correct Mikhail Podolyak's statements about the attack on the object of the Republic's Ministry of Defense in Isfahan.  

Talking war with China on FOX News

 

 

It’s rare to hear a genuine, full-throated anti-war message on American television, much less on Fox News, but Tucker Carlson’s audience heard that message loud and clear thanks to the latest appearance by Jimmy Dore. 

Jimmy called out the corruption, the warmongering, the deception and the profiteering as the U.S. military industrial complex and its lackeys in government and media push for war with China. 

Jimmy and Americans’ Comedian Kurt Metzger discuss why Tucker is the only broadcaster open to sharing Jimmy’s anti-war message with his audience.  

Okinawa protests against U.S. bases: Opposing preparation for war with China

 

 

Our Global Network video this month chronicles the sad history of Japanese and U.S. colonization of Okinawa.
 
The U.S. (with full Japanese cooperation) has turned Okinawa into a war base and an obvious target during any conflict with China.
 
Just in recent days a four-star Air Force general sent a memo to the officers he commands that predicts the U.S. will be at war with China in two years and tells them to get ready to prepare by firing "a clip" at a target, and "aim for the head."
 
The memo by Gen. Mike Minihan, head of Air Mobility Command, said, "I hope I am wrong. My gut tells me will fight in 2025."
 
Reports have disclosed that some 50,000 service members and nearly 500 planes are under Gen. Minihan's command.
 
Okinawa, formerly the independent Ryukyu Kingdom, has a history and culture distinct from Japan. This southernmost prefecture represents less than 1 percent of Japanese territory, yet it hosts more than half of the 57,000 active duty U.S. military personnel stationed in the country.  

• Find links to all Global Network social media platforms here
  

UK worried battle tanks promised to Ukraine will be captured by Russian army

 

SouthFront

The British military is putting down emergency plans to recover Challenger 2 main battle tanks if they are damaged in Ukraine in order to prevent them from falling into the hands of Russian troops, the Sun reported on January 27.

Earlier this month, the United Kingdom government announced a breakthrough decision to supply 14 Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine. The tank is protected by a classified armour, dubbed “Chobham,” which is said to be made from a blend of ceramics, steel and shock-absorbing compounds.

According to the Sun, British officers are now working with Ukraine’s high command to ensure that Challenger 2 tanks can be dragged back to safety if one is knocked out of action.

A defense official said: “If a tank is destroyed or disabled the first option is always to try and self-recover. You tow it with another tank or use a specialist armoured repair and recovery vehicle — which looks like a tank with a crane.”

“But the worst-case scenario is that a tank is destroyed when the lines are collapsing and friendly forces are in retreat,” the unnamed official added.

“Step one is the training and working with mission planners to try and ensure the Challengers are not used in scenarios where they think that collapse a realistic possibility … Step two is making sure, at the tactical level, the Ukrainians are trained to recover a tank under fire. They certainly don’t lack the courage.”

One of the plans the British military is currently considering is having private military contractors on standby to recover stricken tanks. This would be a direct involvement in the conflict in Ukraine. [These Brits would also likely be helping to drive and repair the tanks.]

The UK has providing support to Kiev forces since the start of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine nearly a year ago.

The Sun’s report came following talks of a U.S. plan to strip M1A2 Abrams main battle tanks intended to Ukraine from classified depleted uranium armour. The 31 tanks Washington promised to supply will reportedly be equipped with what is called FMS [foreign military sales] armor packages.

The measures the U.S. and the UK are taking to protect the secrets of their tank reflect their very little faith in Kiev forces. Both powers apparently understand that the few dozen tanks they are preparing to supply won’t make a difference on the battlefield. These tanks are only meant to prolong the conflict and drain the Russian military.  

British Public chanting "SHAME ON YOU" to the BBC at a demonstration outside BBC Broadcasting House in London. Hated in their own country & spreading *FAKE PROPAGANDA* in other countries, especially India.https://t.co/iPtl3HTMGR pic.twitter.com/Krc78vUWun

— 🇮🇳Manishika (@Staunch_NaMo) January 28, 2023

National strike: French defend their social security

 

 

Unions and left-wing political parties are calling for the immediate withdrawal of President Macron's pension reforms, which would raise France's retirement age from 62 to 64. 

Ukraine - RAND study sees risks in prolonged war

 

 

 Moon of Alabama

RAND Corp is a government and industry financed large research institute. Founded shortly after the end of the second world war it mostly works for the Pentagon by developing policies and strategies.

In April 2019 RAND published a report about Extending Russia (pdf).

The report summary explained its purpose: 

As the 2018 National Defense Strategy recognized, the United States is currently locked in a great-power competition with Russia. This report seeks to define areas where the United States can compete to its own advantage. Drawing on quantitative and qualitative data from Western and Russian sources, this report examines Russia's economic, political, and military vulnerabilities and anxieties. It then analyzes potential policy options to exploit them — ideologically, economically, geopolitically, and militarily (including air and space, maritime, land, and multidomain options).

RAND developed policy options in those four fields. It then evaluated their benefit, cost and risks as well as their likelihood of success.

Here is their summary table for economic measures:

 

bigger 

The first three measures were implemented when the war in Ukraine was launched.

The geopolitical measures included an option of providing lethal aid to Ukraine. This would create the risk that Russia would respond militarily and eventually take more of Ukraine than the two Donbas republics:

Taking more of Ukraine might only increase the burden [for Russia], albeit at the expense of the Ukrainian people. However, such a move might also come at a significant cost to Ukraine and to U.S. prestige and credibility. This could produce disproportionately large Ukrainian casualties, territorial losses, and refugee flows. It might even lead Ukraine into a disadvantageous peace.

While they at times underestimate Russia's capabilities RAND people are not dumb. They knew of the likely outcome of a war.

Other geopolitical measure RAND evaluated included more support for 'Syrian rebels', regime change per color revolution in Belarus, to exploit tensions in the southern Caucasus and to reduce Russian influence in Central Asia.

RAND's summary for geopolitical measures:

 

bigger 

The Trump and Biden administrations both implemented the measures that seemed to have high benefits as well as high risks.

The use of ideological measures against Russia was seen as having rather low benefits.

 

bigger 

There follow more options, mostly in military categories, that the RAND report developed and evaluated. They emphasize industry pork.

The Trump administration took some of the measures RAND provided but seemed not too enthusiastic about them. Its regime change attempt in Belarus failed. The Biden administration changed tact. He endorsed Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the color revolution candidate that had failed the elections in Belarus. Biden also allowed for the delivery of more offensive weapons to Ukraine. The regime in Kiev was encouraged to retake the rebellions Donbas republics. The green light for that was given in early 2022 even as the White House knew that Russia would respond militarily. The consequences for Ukraine that RAND had predicted in 2019 ensued.

The U.S. aim for the war is, as Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said in April 2022, to 'weaken Russia':

A National Security Council spokesperson said that Austin’s comments were consistent with what the US’ goals have been for months – namely, “to make this invasion a strategic failure for Russia.”

“We want Ukraine to win,” the spokesperson added. “One of our goals has been to limit Russia’s ability to do something like this again, as Secretary Austin said. That’s why we are arming the Ukrainians with weapons and equipment to defend themselves from Russian attacks, and it’s why we are using sanctions and export controls that are directly targeted at Russia’s defense industry to undercut Russia’s economic and military power to threaten and attack its neighbors.”

That, however, will take a very long time.

Letting the conflict extend longer, concludes a newly released RAND report, is itself a danger. The U.S. must avoid a long war:

The authors argue that, in addition to minimizing the risks of major escalation, U.S. interests would be best served by avoiding a protracted conflict. The costs and risks of a long war in Ukraine are significant and outweigh the possible benefits of such a trajectory for the United States. Although Washington cannot by itself determine the war's duration, it can take steps that make an eventual negotiated end to the conflict more likely.

The study (pdf) argues that Ukraine's retaking of territory Russia controls should not be relevant for U.S. plans. It has little benefits but high costs. Prolonging the war, while having some benefits for the U.S., has even more risk and costs attached to it.

 

bigger 

Especially important to RAND seems to be that the war in Ukraine diverts the U.S. from starting a war with China:

Beyond the potential for Russian gains and the economic consequences for Ukraine, Europe, and the world, a long war would also have on sequences for U.S. foreign policy. The U.S. ability to focus on its other global priorities —particularly, competition with China— will remain constrained as long as the war is absorbing senior policymakers’ time and U.S. military resources.

And although Russia will be more dependent on China regardless of when the war ends, Washington does have a long-term interest in ensuring that Moscow does not become completely subordinated to Beijing. A longer war that increases Russia’s dependence could provide China advantages in its competition with the United States.

The U.S., says RAND, can take measures that make a quick end of the war possible. It can press Ukraine to start negotiations and to accept a bad outcome by threatening to stop financing the war. It can encourage Russia to enter into negotiations by offering substantial sanctions relief.

The reports final policy advice concludes:

A dramatic, overnight shift in U.S. policy is politically impossible—both domestically and with allies—and would be unwise in any case. But developing these instruments now and socializing them with Ukraine and with U.S. allies might help catalyze the eventual start of a process that could bring this war to a negotiated end in a time frame that would serve U.S. interests. The alternative is a long war that poses major challenges for the United States, Ukraine, and the rest of the world.

Start working on this now, says Rand.

It is likely not by chance that the previous call for an immediate start of negotiations to end the war came from the U.S. Chief of Staff Mark Milley. That he did so publicly was a sign that he had lost the internal White House debate on that issue. He probably asked for the RAND study to bolster his argument.

But the neocons, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, State Secretary Anthony Blinken and his deputy Victoria Nuland, who together wage their war against Russia, have Joe Biden's ears and can control the information he gets. Milley and other realist will have a difficult stand.

Steady Russian progress in its campaign will be the best argument for them to win the internal war in Washington DC.

Sadness and Solidarity

 

I am gripped by sadness,

clouds

of sea smoke

clinging to me,

waiting for the sun

to return,

bring

life again.

 

It's a sadness

I've long known.

 

First becoming 

recognizable

at a young age

when I read about

Washington's army

slaughtering the Lakota

at Wounded Knee.

Today the sadness

descends on me

as I see Washington's

darkness

illuminate the sky

via HIMARS rockets,

battle tanks being queued up

to be delivered to the front,

like the Hotchkiss guns

sent to South Dakota

in 1890.

 

 

 

The U.S. targets have changed over time.

Ukrainian 'allies' just hit 

a civilian hospital

in Novoaydar, 

(using Pentagon supplied targeting coordinates) 

HIMARS was long-range weapon of choice

killing 14 people and injuring 24.

Nonstop Nazi attacks in the Donbass

since 2014.

All on behalf of the 'defensive' NATO alliance.

 

No anguished cries  

are heard from western media,

nor from those who denounce Putin

for defending

the long-suffering victims

of US client state

Nazi terror along Russia's border.

What comes next 

to the war zone?

F-16's and nukes?

Out of my deep sadness

seeps energy for

solidarity

which I learned to sing about

in my farm worker union days.

 

In current times

I am moved to rail against

Raytheon, Lockheed Martin,

General Dynamics, Boeing

and the rest of the warmongers

(and their puppets in Congress)

making massive profits

by killing the so-called enemies

of the uni-polar pirates.

 

I've lost friends over this solidarity,

as one said to me,

'some people who you thought

were your friends 

never actually were'.

 

Hard to swallow that one.

 

On I trudge

through the deep layers

of sorrow.

My heart beating

so I know I am still alive.

 

As long as I breathe

I'll embrace the sadness

and keep showing

solidarity,

it's all I've ever known.

 

Bruce

Suspension of diplomatic relations with Ukraine demanded in Budapest

 

Hungarian Community for Peace

A demonstration took place in front of the Ukrainian embassy in Budapest on Saturday with the participation of right and left political parties and civil organizations. Regardless of their party affiliation, the demonstrators jointly demanded that the Orbán government take action to protect the Transcarpathian Hungarians and condemned the regime in Kyiv, which disregards the lives of Hungarians.

The president of the Hungarian Community for Peace, Endre Simó said the following in his speech:

I greet you with respect, because you are standing up for the lives of our Hungarian compatriots against the Kiev Nazis!

We have come here, in front of Zelenskyi's Ukrainian representation in Hungary, so that they can hear what we have to say.

Your system must perish because you cannot live in peace not only with Russia, but also with your own peoples. Blood sticks to your hands! The life of 13 thousand Donbas Russians. The lives of at least a hundred thousand Ukrainian soldiers, including many hundreds of Hungarians. They were sent to the meat grinder to protect yourselves and your disgraceful regime. You ooze hatred for anyone who refuses to submit to you and Ukrainians with a superiority complex. It is not enough that a few years ago you classified your peoples into indigenous and non-indigenous categories, declared the Transcarpathian Hungarians a foreign nation, and denied them the opportunity to live as Hungarians, now you are even  exterminating them! The men are rounded up in the street, and bayonets are pointed at them, and they are driven to the front slaughterhouse like animals. The genocidal Kiev regime is trying to save its skin at the cost of Hungarian lives, while trying to convince the world that it is protecting the free world and Christian civilization.

 

We did not come here to demand that those who are waiting for the sinkhole of history to come to their senses and improve. We are not dealing with scoundrels who have sold their souls to the devil to savage their own people and rule over others. They must bear the consequences of their actions! That they became NATO's battering ram to tear apart the country that Hitler failed to bring to its knees. Nothing is dear to Volodymyr Zelenskiy, least of all the lives of Hungarians! They want NATO to send an army to Ukraine. They would benefit if Hungary intervened in the defense of Transcarpathia. In the eyes of America's puppet, the end justifies the means, the preservation of the Nazi system with the help of NATO.

We came here to demand action from the Hungarian government against the Ukrainian leadership. Enough of the words, the cursing! Actions are needed! We demand that Hungary suspend its diplomatic relations with Kiev! The Hungarian government should stop funding the Kyiv regime immediately! Don't give money to the anti-Hungarian Ukrainian leadership! Hungary should not provide financial or armed support to Ukraine until Kyiv stops its aggressiveness against the Transcarpathian Hungarians! (Not even a week ago, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Péter Szijjártó, announced that even though the transfer of arms is against Hungary's interests, the government will not stand in the way of the EU giving Kyiv an additional 500 million euros in arms support.) In short, our government openly admits that it is acting against our national interests! Does he really expect us to applaud him? We will not! Rather, we demand that the restoration of Hungarian-Ukrainian diplomatic relations, which is proposed to be severed, requires the recognition of Transcarpathia's self-determination! In the meantime, let Viktor Orbán make an agreement with Moscow on the provision of asylum for those Hungarian soldiers in the Transcarpathians who are not willing to fight against the Russians, but surrender to them!

 

Don't justify your inaction with the government's commitments to NATO and the EU! No one was authorized by the Hungarian people to give weapons and finance a system that threatens the lives of Hungarians! "The Ukrainian authorities have the right to enlist the Transcarpathians, as Ukrainian laws apply to them," the Orbáns defend themselves. So shall we let their right triumph over our most sacred national interest, our existence, our survival, our lives?

We came here today because for us the lives of the Hungarians come before the rights of the Kiev Nazis!

Kyiv's attack on Transcarpathia is an attack on all Hungarians. With its silence and inaction, the Hungarian government may become an accomplice of the Ukrainian regime, which sooner or later must answer for its war crimes!

Our place is on the Transcarpathian side, not on Kiev!

Long live Transcarpathia and its suffering people! Long live those who fight to free Transcarpathia from the neo-Nazi yoke and to be able to freely decide who they want to live with in the future! Long live the Hungarian people, who want to be in peace and in good relations with both the East and the West, making their historical dream come true: a Hungary outside the bloc, independent and free from foreign interference. 

Addendum:

The situation in Transcarpathia is for Hungarians similar to the situation for Russians in Donbass. Despite being within the Ukrainian territory, the region is marked by very different characteristics from the rest of the country, with a Hungarian ethnic and cultural predominance. For Kiev, this apparently sounds like a threat, as Hungary refuses to support the neo-Nazi regime against Russia and could encourage Transcarpathia’s residents to do the same. Therefore, the Zelensky government is planning a “final solution” for Transcarpathia, in order to avoid Hungarian separatism or annexation. By systematically sending recently mobilized and militarily untrained ethnic Hungarians to the front, Kiev is provoking a true genocide, as virtually all Transcarpathians are dying during the combats.

Croatian President on Baerbock’s ‘Madness’

 

 

Commenting on German Foreign Minister Baerbock’s statements regarding “being at war with Russia,” Croatian President Zoran Milanovic said on Jan. 26 that this was news to him, and sarcastically wished Berlin better luck than in World War II, reported RT. Croatia “should in no way help” Ukraine militarily, Milanovic said. “Do you want us to enter the war?”

Milanovic reminded journalists that he had been criticized for characterizing the Ukraine war as a proxy war between NATO and Russia.

“Now the German foreign minister says we must be united, because I quote, we are at war with Russia. I didn’t know that,” Milanovic said. “Maybe Germany is at war with Russia, but then, good luck, maybe this time it turns out better than 70-odd years ago.”

Milanovic pointed to the irony that there were effectively two governments ruling in Berlin: “If we are at war with Russia, then let’s see what we need to do. But we won’t ask Germany for its opinion. Let them figure out who is the actual chancellor over there. I’ve been in politics for a long time, and our country has been through a lot, but I’ve never seen this kind of madness before,” he remarked.

When it comes to tanks, “Russian or American, they burn just the same,” Milanovic said, warning that weapons deliveries to Ukraine will only prolong the war.

Germans speak out: Peace, Freedom, Self-Determination

 

 

Sunday song

 

Need some more of this spirit now - more than ever.