The funnies....

 

 

 

 

Sunday song

 

 

My arrest arraignment April 2 in New Hampshire

 

 

On March 22 I was arrested at Elbit Systems in Merrimack, New Hampshire along with seven others in a non-violent protest against this Israeli-owned company.

Elbit Systems Ltd. is an Israel-based international military technology contractor. Elbit is the primary provider of the Israeli military's land-based equipment and unmanned aerial vehicles.

I will be arraigned in Merrimack District Court on April 2 at 8:15 am. A legal vigil will be held outside the courthouse starting at 7:45 am. 

I have been charged with trespass and resisting arrest (which I did not do). The other seven who were arrested will be arraigned on April 18 and are similarly charged.

(Elbit Systems of America and its subsidiaries have operational facilities in Fort Worth, Texas, San Antonio, Texas, Merrimack, New Hampshire, Talladega, Alabama, Roanoke, Virginia, Boca Raton, Florida and De Leon Springs, Florida. Elbit Systems of America also has a 50% interest in a joint venture with Collins Aerospace, a unit of Raytheon Technologies Corp., which is engaged in the area of helmet-mounted display systems for fixed-wing military and para-military aircraft. In April 2021, Elbit Systems of America concluded the acquisition of Sparton Corporation , a supplier of systems supporting undersea warfare for the U.S. Navy and allied military forces. The company has been divested from by international investment firms due to its involvement in the genocide in Gaza. )

In a recent Gallup poll 55% of Americans said they do not approve of the military action Israel has taken in Gaza.

So no matter what the governor of New Hampshire claims (see above) about 'outside agitators' coming into his state, the facts are that many nations have called for Israel to obey an order by the International Court of Justice to allow the unimpeded delivery of aid into Gaza, where famine has set in, as it continues to flout a United Nations Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in the enclave.

New Hampshire's state motto is 'Live free or die'. Isn't that the very description of what the Palestinian people are saying today? After 76 years of brutal colonial settler occupation of Palestine the people there have had enough of the long genocidal Israeli campaign to remove them from their historic lands. Under international law they have a right to defend themselves.

In 2012 the Times of Israel newspaper reported that 'Israel counted calorie requirements of Gazans during blockage'. 

The Israeli advocacy group Gisha, which waged a lengthy court battle to release the Israeli document, contends that Israel calculated the calorie needs for Gaza’s population in order to restrict the quantities of goods and basic products it allowed in the open-air prison.

In other words, Israel created a program to do a 'slow genocide' of Gaza citizens by quietly reducing their caloric intake which would mean shorter life expectancy for most people.

There is historical precedence for this program.

While a student at the University of Florida in 1977 I got a part-time job working for a disabled woman doing chores around her house. She was writing a book on the 'many forms of genocide' and one day she had me go to the university library and make a copy of a page from a book. I will never forget what I copied.

It was a page with a graph called the 'Caloric Reduction Intake Schedule' inside the Jewish ghetto in Warsaw, Poland during WW2. The slow genocide program was being run by Hitler's Nazi occupation government.

The woman's premise was that Hitler used many ways to genocide the Jews throughout Europe. Gas chambers were just one form. But due to increasing international outcry about the way Jews were being treated by the Nazis they tried to come up with less visible ways to kill the Jewish people.

Some years ago I ran across an Israeli document (which I sadly did not copy at the time) but was the exact same program aimed at Gaza. The Times of Israel story verifies this long sad memory.

So my basic point is that my presence at Elbit Systems on March 22 was motivated by this memory of genocides during WW2 and the present one today in Gaza. Furthermore, the International Court of Justice's demand that Israel cease its blockade of humanitarian aid into Gaza and the UN's demand for an immediate ceasefire all represent an international legal call for the world to take non-violent action to stop Israel's obvious crimes against humanity.

 

Thus we all must do more to stand up for the women and children in Palestine who are taking the brunt of Israel's military madness - supported to the hilt by the U.S. government and many of its EU allies. It's been a big money maker for the warmongers.

My action at Elbit Systems in New Hampshire is truly nothing but a trickle in the global flood that is required by conscience and international humanitarian law. 

Bruce 

PS - For those who might wish to claim I am an anti-Semite I must say that my grandfather was an Italian Jew who hid his past when he came to the US out of fear of possible persecution. I am not anti-Jewish but I am pro-life for the long-suffering Palestinian people.

The truth must be told!

 

 

Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara analyses Ireland's support for South Africa's genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. Ireland's backing signifies a universalised call for justice in Palestine, joining nations with histories of oppression. 

Bishara criticizes the US and Israel's dismissive response to allegations of genocide, highlighting a growing global momentum for Palestinian justice. 

He questions Europe's stance on selling arms to Israel amid accusations of weaponising hunger, urging consistency with universal values. 

East Africa: Millions face starvation

 

By Jose Cabañas Rodriguez
teleSUR Newsletter
 
On March 20, the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) called for urgent support from the international donor community as millions suffer from acute food insecurity in East Africa.

In a statement the WFP said that as of the last quarter of 2023, some 59 million people, or nearly 20 percent of the total population in East Africa, were suffering from acute food insecurity.

According to data from WFP, the level of food insecurity in the eastern Africa region has increased by 95 percent as compared to November 2019, mainly due to the economic fallout of COVID-19 coupled with the ripple effects of the conflict in Ukraine and recurrent drought conditions.

Sudan and Ethiopia account for 20.3 million and 20.1 million food insecure people, respectively, and 5.8 million in South Sudan and 4.3 million in Somalia also suffer from food insecurity.

"Despite the high needs, lack of funds has forced WFP in these countries to re-elaborate its targeting strategy to provide assistance based on the available resources rather than the needs," it said.

The WFP said its country offices in Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda, have all opted to reduce the number of beneficiaries they serve. Only 12.7 million beneficiaries will be reached in 2024 due to prioritization.

"In the most severe cases, when funding cuts heavily impact the ability of WFP to continue its operations, country offices are forced to reduce both the caseload and the rations. Two country offices in the region are currently facing this scenario, Rwanda and South Sudan," it said.

Noting that procurement of food items was slashed in half during 2023, the WFP said the projections for 2024 are not likely to increase considering the lack of funds.

Yugoslavia: The New NATO’s Founding War

 

By Manlio Dinucci (Grandangolo on Byoblu TV, Italy)

Twenty-five years ago, NATO under US command demolished with war what remained of the Yugoslav Federation, the State that hindered its expansion eastwards towards Russia. In the following twenty years, NATO expanded from 16 to 30 countries and, with the war in Ukraine that began in 2014, it expanded to 32. In the 1999 war, the role of the Italian government, chaired by Massimo D’Alema, was crucial. D'Alema and vice-president Sergio Mattarella. As we can hear from the official audio recording, Vice President Mattarella announced the start of the war to the Italian Senate on the evening of March 24, 1999, and explained the reasons according to the official version.

While the United States and other NATO countries’ planes dropped the first bombs on Serbia and Kosovo, Democratic President Clinton announced: "At the end of the 20th century, after two world wars and a cold war, we and our allies will be able to leave our children a free, peaceful and stable Europe”. For 78 days, 1,100 planes took off mainly from Italian bases, and carried out 38,000 raids, dropping 23,000 thousand bombs and missiles. "Of the 2,000 targets hit in Serbia by NATO planes – the Pentagon later documented – the American secret services chose 1,999 and only one by the European ones". The bombings dismantled Serbia's structures and infrastructure causing victims, especially among civilians. The resulting health and environmental damage is not quantifiable. Due to the bombing, thousands of tons of highly toxic chemicals (including dioxin and mercury) leaked from the Pancevo refinery alone, while other damage was caused by NATO's massive use of depleted uranium shells in Serbia and Kosovo.

The D'Alema government placed Italian territory, particularly the airports, at the complete disposal of the armed forces of the United States and other countries, to implement what the Prime Minister defines as "the right of humanitarian interference". Fifty-four Italian planes took part in the bombings, making 1,400 raids, and attacking the targets indicated by the US command. "In terms of the number of planes we were second only to the USA. Italy is a great country and we should not be surprised by the commitment shown in this war" - declared Prime Minister D'Alema during his visit to the Amendola base on 10 June 1999 - underlining that, for the pilots who participated, "it was a great human and professional experience." 

 

 

 NOT TO FORGET! 1999 – 2024

THE BELGRADE DECLARATION

WE, participants of the International Conference held in Belgrade on March 22-24, 2024, on the occasion of marking the 25th anniversary of NATO’s armed aggression against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) dedicated to the theme “From the Aggression to a New Just Order”, gathered from all over the world, hereby declare:

We belong to different countries, nations, ideologies, religions and civilizations, but stand firmly united in our commitment to peace, equality, and prosperity for all peoples, as well as in our condemnation of interventionism, expansion, domination, and hegemonism.

We firmly condemn the unprovoked armed aggression by NATO against the FRY (Serbia and Montenegro) in 1999 as an unlawful, invading and criminal war against a sovereign, peace-loving European country, waged devoid of a UN Security Council mandate, in blatant violation of the United Nations Charter, the OSCE Helsinki Final Act (1975) and the fundamental principles of international law.

We underline:

That the aggression was carried out under false pretexts and that therefore NATO’s responsibility cannot be diminished. It was not state authorities but, instead NATO’s expansionism that actually threatened a ‘humanitarian disaster’. What happened in Rachak was not a ‘massacre of civilians’, but instead legitimate response of the state to terrorism. The ‘Horseshoe Plan’ did not exist. ‘Humanitarian’ wars or interventions do not exist. Prevention of human suffering can hardly be prevented by depleted uranium, cluster bombs and by poisoning air, soil and water.

Back in 1999, NATO reintroduced the war on the European soil, ironically, a war that Europe waged on itself.

It was neither a “little Kosovo war”, but rather a war of these geopolitical goals: a) carving the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija out of Serbia and a full control over the Balkans; b) deployment of the US troops in the Balkans for the purposes of the strategy of Eastward expansion; c) creating a precedent for subsequent interventions conducted in violation of international law and of the inviolability of the UN Security Council; d) justifying the existence of NATO and its acting beyond the area defined in its Founding Act of 1949. “Wherever the law presented obstacle to the policy of expansion, it must be removed” – was yet another NATO new rule.

The NATO aggression embodied the undoing of the legal order of peace and security in Europe and the world, established on the outcome of the Second World War. Today, the Balkans is more unstable, Europe militarized on dangerous tracks, without autonomy, identity and vision.

The aggression took lives of 1,139 soldiers and police officers, about 3,000 civilians also including 89 children, while some 10,000 people were wounded. However, the consequences of prolonged effects of weapons filled with depleted uranium and toxic compounds are by far greater.

NATO, also, bombed the Embassy of the PR of China, in Belgrade, killing three Chinese journalists and destroying the building of the Chinese Embassy.

We pay our highest respect to all the fallen innocent people and express our deepest, sincere condolences to their families.

The aggressor had been systematically destroying or badly damaging civilian infrastructure, such as railways, roads, bridges, airports, energy system, as well as apartment buildings, industrial facilities, schools, hospitals, kindergartens, and many more objects. Over thirty radio and TV stations and transmitters had been bombed including the national public TV RTS killing 16 professional employees on duty. The direct damage totals some USD 100 billion.

We emphasize that NATO and its member states, participants in the illegal act of aggression, are obliged to compensate Serbia for the war damage they have inflicted.

We appeal that special state and expert bodies, tasked with determining the consequences of aggression on the health of people and the environment, resume their work, and that the war crimes against civilians and crimes of non-compliance with the war-related conventions be prosecuted and sanctioned.

We express our strong support and solidarity with Serbia’s efforts to mitigate the consequences of the aggression and her endeavoring to prevent the continuation of NATO’s armed aggression by other means.

We express our full support to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Serbia in her internationally recognized borders within which she continued her membership in the UN, the OSCE, and other universal international organizations.

We are deeply concerned about the mass-scale violation of the basic human rights of the Serbian community in Kosovo and Metohija embodied in continuation of their systematic expulsion from, and in preventing the free and safe return of over 250,000 expelled Serbs and other non-Albanians to, their homes and property.

We firmly believe that the future status of the Province of Kosovo and Metohija may be resolved only in accordance with international law and, in particular, with UN Security Council Resolution 1244 of June 10, 1999, which is lasting, legally binding document. We demand that all provisions of the UNSC resolution 1244 be fully respected and implemented.

We condemn each and all violations of that Resolution and the policy of blackmail and pressuring, and all one-sided steps aimed at legalizing the seizure of state territory and completing the ethnic cleansing of the remaining Serbian population, in preparation to create the so-called Greater Albania.

We oppose the unipolar world order based on the strategy of hegemonism and global domination with NATO as its military feast. The aggression against the FRY in 1999 was speeding up of the strategy of expansion to the East, and a source of danger to peace in Europe and the world. At the time of the aggression, NATO had 19 members, and today counts 32. After the erection of US military base Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo and Metohija, there followed dozens of new NATO bases. Presently, Europe hosts a far larger number of foreign military bases and stockpiles of nuclear weapons than it did during the bipolar world and the Cold War era.

We express our deepest concern about the accelerated escalation of hostilities and conflicts in global relations that add fuel to the fire of conflict, continued provocations, and the looming danger of a global conflict. The world sits on the brink of the abyss. Humanity will either restrain the rampant aggressiveness of the alienated power centers, or fall into that abyss.

This makes us stand unified in the demand for an immediate beginning of the dialogue at the strategic level, under the auspices of the UN, aimed at putting to a halt the escalation, the accumulation of conventional and nuclear weapons, and the breaching of international agreements.  

We demand the closure of foreign military camps, the complete withdrawal from Europe of the US tactical nuclear weapons and installations of the so-called anti-missile defenses that make security more volatile.

We call for an end to war-mongering rhetoric, and invite all responsible statesmen to resort to dialogue and to finding peaceful, just and sustainable solutions to the ongoing conflicts and crises.

We appeal to all peace-loving forces in the world to join forces in the struggle for the observance of international law, sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries, reinforcing the authority and role of the United Nations and other universal international organizations, the observance of principles of equality, sovereignty and territorial integrity, and for cooperation and coordination in the fight against terrorism and separatism as global threats.

We support the process of multi-polarization of global relations and their democratization on the basis of the sovereign equality of all states and peoples.

We support the peace, security and development initiatives that are based on the principle of mutual indivisibility of peace, security and development, and that take note of the root causes of problems. The key roles in that process play BRICS, EAEU, Global Initiative "Belt and Road", Shanghai Cooperation Organization, NAM. We support the abolition of all monopolies, privileges based on ‘exceptionalism’. We refuse unilateral sanctions, erection of new ‘walls’ or divisions. Attempt to divide the world into ‘democracies’ and ‘autocracies’ is a trickery of the power-centers designed to extend the life of the unipolar world order.

The policy of confrontation, interventionism, and interference in internal affairs, backed by the military-industrial complex and large financial capital, must give way to dialogue, partnership, respect for fundamental norms of international law and the multi-polar world order.

Peace, stability, democracy and inclusive development require radical changes in present global relations, observance of sovereign equality, non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries, multilateralism, respect of common interests, and exclusion of any egoism, protectionism and privileges of the past.

The biggest obstacle to the world order of sovereign equal nations is the relics of the Cold War. That is why NATO should be dissolved and the doctrine of hegemonism, expansionism and neo-colonialism consigned to history.

We condemn the mass-scale killing of the innocent Palestinian people, in particular of children, and call for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and other areas inhabited by the Palestinian people, in order to finally stop this human suffering unprecedented in recent history, and for unhindered delivery of food, medicines, water, and other necessities of life to the vulnerable population.  

We support a two-state solution, the free and safe return of all expelled persons, the abolition of the occupation and the establishment of a Palestinian state within the pre-June 4, 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as the capital, all in accordance with the United Nations Resolutions.

We express our solidarity with the people of Cuba who have been suffering the devastating consequences of the unilateral US embargo for many years. The Cuban people have an inalienable right to choose the paths of internal development of their own, without external interference. We demand respect for the UN positions on the lifting of the US blockade of Cuba, and the removal of Cuba from the list of ‘states sponsoring terrorism’ because it was inserted without any bases.

We hold that the Ukrainian crisis is a corollary of NATO’s strategy of expansion to the East, under betrayal of all agreements of the otherwise.  

We believe this crisis can be resolved peacefully, by acknowledging and removing the causes and by guaranteeing equal security for all countries. The common future of humanity excludes egotism and selfish approaches such as the ‘golden billion’ security thesis.

We express our acknowledgment and gratitude to our hosts – the Belgrade Forum for a World of Equals, the Club of Generals and Admirals of Serbia, SUBNOR of Serbia, the Diaspora Fund for Serbia, and the Association of Veterans of the Military Intelligence Service, as well as to the citizens of Serbia – for their hospitality and good organization of the Conference.

The organizers express their acknowledgment to the participants of the Conference, including the World Peace Council and all its members, for their decades long solidarity and support to Serbia and the Serbian people, as well as for their extraordinary contribution to the results of this Conference.

Belgrade, March 23, 2024

STATEMENT OF CONDEMNATION OF THE TERRORIST ATTACK IN MOSCOW

Participants of the International Conference held in Belgrade on March 22-24, 2024, on the occasion of marking the 25th anniversary of NATO’s armed aggression against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia,

- Condemn in strongest terms the heinous, bestial and provocative terrorist attack in Moscow that killed so many innocent people, and express belief that the perpetrators will be quickly apprehended and brought to justice.

- At the same time, express their deepest condolences to the families of the killed and the injured ones, to the citizens of Moscow, and to the entire Russian people, in the moment of their pain and huge grief.

- Call for a determined and coordinated combatting terrorism as a global danger that threatens all the peoples of the world.  

VIPS MEMO: The French Road to Nuclear War

France could be leading the American people down a path toward a nuclear conflict decidedly not in the interests of the American people – or of humanity itself, VIPS warns President Joe Biden.

ALERT MEMORANDUM FOR: The President

FROM: Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS)

SUBJECT: On the Brink of Nuclear War

Mr. President:

France is reportedly preparing to dispatch a force of some 2,000 troops — roughly a reinforced brigade built around an armored battalion and two mechanized battalions, with supporting logistical, engineering, and artillery troops attached — into Ukraine sometime in the not-so-distant future.

This force is purely symbolic, inasmuch as it would have zero survivability in a modern high-intensity conflict of the scope and scale of what is transpiring in Ukraine today. It would not be deployed directly in a conflict zone, but would serve either as

(1) a screening force/tripwire to stop Russia’s advance; or

(2) a replacement force deployed to a non-active zone to free up Ukrainian soldiers for combat duty. The French Brigade reportedly will be supplemented by smaller units from the Baltic states.

This would be introducing combat troops of a NATO country into a theater of war, making them “lawful targets” under the Law of War.

Such units would apparently lack a NATO mandate. In Russia’s view, however, this may be a distinction without a difference. France appears to be betting – naively – that its membership in NATO would prevent Russia from attacking French troops. Rather, it is highly likely that Russia would attack any French/Baltic contingent in Ukraine and quickly destroy/degrade its combat viability.

In that case, French President Macron may calculate that, after Russian attacks on the troops of NATO members – NATO mandate or not – he could invoke Article 5 of the NATO Charter and get the NATO alliance to intervene. Such intervention would likely take the form of aircraft operating from NATO nations – and perhaps include interdiction missions against tactical targets inside Russia.

On Precipice of Nuclear War?

Doctrinally, and by legal right, Russia’s response would be to launch retaliatory strikes also against targets in NATO countries. If NATO then attacks strategic targets inside Russia, at that point Russia’s nuclear doctrine takes over, and NATO decision-making centers would be hit with nuclear weapons.

We do not believe Russia will initiate a nuclear attack against the U.S., but rather would leave it up to the United States to decide if it wants to risk destruction by preparing to launch a nuclear strike on Russia. That said, Russian strategic forces have improved to the point that, in some areas – hypersonic missiles, for example – its capability surpasses that of the U.S. and NATO.

In other words, the Russian temptation to strike first may be a bit stronger than during past crises, and we are somewhat less confident that Russia would want to “go second”.

Another disquieting factor is that the Russians are likely to believe that Macron’s folly has the tacit approval of some key U.S. and other Western officials, who seem desperate to find some way to alter the trajectory of the war in Ukraine – the more so, as elections draw near.

 

What Needs to Be Done

Europe needs to understand that France is leading it down a path of inevitable self-destruction.

The American people need to understand that Europe is leading them to the cusp of nuclear annihilation.

Since Russian leaders may suspect that Macron is working hand in glove with Washington, the U.S. needs to make its position publicly and unambiguously clear.

And if France and the Baltics insist on sending troops into Ukraine, it must also be made clear that such action has no NATO mandate; that Article 5 will not be triggered by any Russian retaliation; and that the U.S. nuclear arsenal, including those nuclear weapons that are part of the NATO deterrent force, will not be employed as a result of any Russian military action against French or Baltic troops.

Void of such clarity, France would be leading the American people down a path toward a nuclear conflict decidedly not in the interests of the American people – or of humanity itself.

FOR THE STEERING GROUP,

VETERAN INTELLIGENCE PROFESSIONALS FOR SANITY

•     William Binney, former Technical Director, World Geopolitical & Military Analysis, NSA; co-founder, SIGINT Automation Research Center (ret.)
•     Richard Black, former Virginia State Senator; Colonel, USA (ret.); Former Chief, Criminal Law Division, Judge Advocate General (associate VIPS)
•     Marshall Carter-Tripp, Foreign Service Officer (ret) and former Office Director in the State Department Bureau of Intelligence and Research
•     Bogdan Dzakovic, former Team Leader of Federal Air Marshals and Red Team, FAA Security, (ret.) (associate VIPS)
•     Graham E. Fuller, Vice-Chair, National Intelligence Council (ret.)
•     Philip Giraldi, C.I.A., Operations Officer (ret.)
•     Matthew Hoh, former Capt., USMC, Iraq and Foreign Service Officer, Afghanistan (associate VIPS)
•     James George Jatras, former U.S. diplomat and former foreign policy adviser to Senate leadership (Associate VIPS)
•     Larry C. Johnson, former C.I.A. and State Department Counter Terrorism officer
•     John Kiriakou, former C.I.A. Counterterrorism Officer and former senior investigator, Senate Foreign Relations Committee
•     Karen Kwiatkowski, former Lt. Col., U.S. Air Force (ret.), at Office of Secretary of Defense watching the manufacture of lies on Iraq, 2001-2003
•     Douglas Macgregor, Colonel, USA (ret.) (associate VIPS)
•     Ray McGovern, former U.S. Army infantry/intelligence officer & C.I.A. analyst; C.I.A. Presidential briefer (ret.)
•     Elizabeth Murray, former Deputy National Intelligence Officer for the Near East, National Intelligence Council & C.I.A. political analyst (ret.)
•     Todd E. Pierce, MAJ, U.S. Army Judge Advocate (ret.)
•     Pedro Israel Orta, former C.I.A. and Intelligence Community (Inspector General) officer
•     Scott Ritter, former MAJ, USMC; former U.N. Weapons Inspector, Iraq
•     Coleen Rowley, FBI Special Agent and former Minneapolis Division Legal Counsel (ret.)
•     Lawrence Wilkerson, Colonel USA, (ret.), Distinguished Visiting Professor, College of William and Mary (associate VIPS)
•     Sarah G. Wilton, CDR, USNR, (ret.); Defense Intelligence Agency (ret.)
•     Kirk Wiebe, former Senior Analyst, SIGINT Automation Research Center, NSA
•     Robert Wing, former Foreign Service Officer (associate VIPS)
•     Ann Wright, retired U.S. Army reserve colonel and former U.S. diplomat who resigned in 2003 in opposition to the Iraq War  
  

Interview: Terror attack in Moscow - New NATO base in Romania - South Korea dragged into U.S. Space war

 

 

 

Finian Cunningham

The terrorist attack near Moscow on March 22 in which 140 people were killed by four gunmen was claimed by a radical Islamist group. But the bigger picture indicates the assault was organized by the United States and its NATO allies. 

For a start, the suspects were caught while fleeing to Ukraine, which implicates the Ukrainian regime and its NATO sponsors as the masterminds behind the atrocity. 

The Western governments and media have been quick (one might add, too quick) to lay the blame entirely on the Islamic State network based in Afghanistan. The shooters may have professed allegiance to this network. But that is a charade to divert attention from the real culprits – the United States, NATO, and the Ukrainian fascist regime. 

In this interview, Bruce Gagnon discusses the long and sordid history of Western states deploying terror groups claiming Islamist tendencies as a proxy for their regime-change operations and other dirty wars. This is despite Western declared aims of "fighting terrorism". 

Gagnon says the terror attack near Moscow was motivated by revenge of the United States and its NATO allies against Russia over the loss of the proxy war in Ukraine. It cannot be overstated how disastrous that defeat is for the NATO axis. 

He points out that the proxy war in Ukraine against Russia is only one part of a bigger, global confrontation by the U.S. for Western hegemony. Ukraine is the most immediate site of struggle. But it is only a battlefield on a global scale. What is going on is an existential struggle for the survival of the Western neocolonialist empire of U.S.-led capitalism against the emergence of a fairer, multipolar world order. 

Defeating Russia in Ukraine is vital for the Western imperialists. Not defeating Russia on this battlefield is forcing the Western imperialists to resort to terrorism and other dirty tricks which they know all too well. 

Gagnon notes that the building of a new NATO base in Romania on the Black Sea which will be the biggest base in Europe as well as the increasing U.S. militarization of the Korean Peninsula are important fronts in a global project of aggression and war by the United States and its imperialist partners towards Russia, China and any other perceived rival. 

The increasing war footing by the United States and its Western partners is consistent with a fascist control of Western states, says Gagnon. 

Bruce Gagnon is the coordinator for the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space. He writes frequent updates on international politics on his site, Organizing Notes.

#nato #ukraineproxywar #moscowterror #USRussiaWar #NATORussia #USRussiaChina #koreanconflict #usmilitarybases

Deterrence by Savagery?

  

Moon of Alabama

“The West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion (to which few members of other civilizations were converted) but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence. Westerners often forget this fact; non-Westerners never do.”

― Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order (1996)

Western colonialism began in the fifteenth century and ended, with a few exceptions, in the mid of the 20th century. It was enabled by the development of technologies and fast population growth. The West then changed to a new model of ruling the world. It talked about human values and human rights and certain rules that would allegedly enable everyone to enjoy those.

The facade did not hold up well. The West, and especially the U.S., abused the 'rules based order' by circumventing international law whenever it did not fit its interests. It continued to apply 'organized violence' under dubious circumstances. The wars against Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iraq were supposed to demonstrate that the West would uphold whatever rules it claimed to exist. But the wars were lost and the U.S. had to retreat from them.

The war in Ukraine is only the latest but most obvious demonstration that the 'rules based order' no longer exists:

 

    Over the past several decades, the United States has continually placed Moscow in a position either to accept the fait accompli of NATO expansion at the expense of Russian security interests, or to escalate with force and suffer the consequences of increased economic and political ostracization. This disincentive to avoid escalation has been effectively removed. Explicating the altered state of international relations is not cheerleading for the Russian position — although it may be treated as such by those who disingenuously present any realistic assessment of the situation as “appeasement” — but rather illustrating how Moscow has insulated itself from Western ostracization, thus changing the entire balance of power in not only Europe, but the world.

    Now, it is Russia that has the West on the horns of a dilemma: It can either watch the Kremlin achieve its strategic objectives, guaranteed in a one-sided negotiated settlement or through the continued attrition of Ukrainian forces, or it can escalate with force. Putin’s statement regarding nuclear weapons was not mere rhetoric—it was the Russian president defining the limits of the current conflict from a position of authority.

    Anything short of total Ukrainian victory is therefore an implicit admission that the “rules-based” economic and political order has been irreversibly altered.

[Yesterday] morning hypersonic weapons destroyed an SBU [Ukraine's version of CIA]  headquarter in Kiev just seconds after the air alarm was activated. Western air defenses had failed. Russia has destroyed the myth of the West's superiority in applying organized violence.

 

Others have taken note. The recent flare up in U.S. relations with Niger is a consequence of this:

    The pressure brought to Niger reveals that Washington is supporting the war against Russia for reasons other than the right of Ukraine to choose its partners and join NATO, or that that right only applies when the partner being chosen is the United States and NATO but not Russia. The core principle, then, is not the right of a sovereign nation to choose its partner, but the right of a sovereign nation to partner with the United States.

    The American attitude toward Niger and Russia reveals a second lesson. A key response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine was to isolate Russia and reinforce the U.S.-led unipolar world. It has not worked.

    The United States has expressed concern that the “Russian Federation is really trying to take over central Africa as well as the Sahel.” Thurston told me that the U.S. is “very worried about Russian influence throughout the Sahel, and it has a particular sting in Niger given the previous closeness of the relationship.”

    He added that the United States “seems to regard competition with Russia in Africa as zero-sum; whereas, most African governments don’t see things that way.” And that is the hallmark of the emerging multipolar world that the U.S. is trying to hold back. Saudi Arabia has said “we do not believe in polarization or in choosing between sides.” India’s Minister of External Affairs, S. Jaishankar, in his book, The Indian Way, describes the new multipolar world as one in which countries deal “with contesting parties at the same time with optimal results” for their “own self-interest.”

Having lost its two main sources of power, the rules based order as a (somewhat) soft power instrument and its military hard power superiority, the West is in need of a new instrument of deterrence, a new tool that allows it to press its interest against the will of other powers.

It found that in demonstrating utter savagery.

The war on Gaza, backed by the West, is a demonstration that the West is willing to cross all lines. That it will discard any nuance of humanity.  That it is willing to commit genocide. That it will do everything to prevent international organizations to intervene against this.

That it is willing to eliminate everyone and everything that resists it.

Those nations who commit themselves to multi-polarity should steel themselves for what might be visited on them.

Palestine solidarity in Rockland, Maine after big storm

 

Our living room window - click on photos for better view

 

 

On Sunday we gathered in Rockland, Maine for a solidarity vigil with Palestine. We had been scheduled to hold this event the day before but had a whopper of a snow-sleet-ice and wind storm that ended up shutting off electrical power to large portions of the state – including at our own home in Brunswick.

In storms like this, we usually put our car in the community garage at our place. When we went to get the car out of the garage on Sunday morning, we remembered that we could not open it because the door is hooked up to an electric door opening motor. So, in a moment of severe disappointment that we might not make it to Rockland we made some calls to friends.

In the end we got two offers of a loaner car and thanks to Eric Herter we took his car to Rockland where 28 people gathered from around the state despite the cold and rough driving conditions.

We got a nice response from the cars passing through the Highway 1 intersection where we stood. Young people were particularly animated with lots of honking and cheering and waving. Older people who showed us support tended to just wave or flash a peace sign or a thumbs up.

In our closing circle at the end, we heard many excellent reflections from those gathered. One young woman had driven by and spotted us and came back to join the circle. Another woman spoke about feeling frozen because of the genocidal actions against the Palestinian people by Israel-US (and their Zionist allies around the world) but she felt being there with us was uplifting and helped her not feel so alone.

After things were over about half the group went to a local bar that served food and we spent another hour or so talking with one another. As it turns out we had a good representation of people from Rockland – some didn’t know one another which was a good sign of growth.

Our next monthly statewide peace protest (we’ve been doing these since February 2022) will be on Saturday, April 13 in Brunswick at 1:30 pm at the intersection of Pleasant Street and Maine Street just in front of the Tontine Mall.

(Each Thursday from noon to 1:00 pm a few of us hold signs in the same spot – we’ve also been doing this since February 2022.)

Terror in Moscow

My heart is additionally sad after the massive terror attack against the concert crowd in Moscow in recent days. It was alarming that immediately after it happened US ‘intelligence agencies’ claimed that ISIS had done the barbaric deed. I was immediately suspicious asking myself, ‘How would they know and so soon’? We soon heard that some of the alleged terrorists were captured trying to sneak into Ukraine. And then we heard that Ukrainian military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov had uttered some really nasty words essentially saying the attack on Moscow was good and that they needed more of the same.

It left me with little doubt that this was likely arranged by the triple terrorist network of the US-UK-Ukraine intel operatives.

Don’t we know by now that Washington and London can’t win wars they start in Afghanistan-Iraq-Syria-Libya-Ukraine? But they are good at unleashing terrorism in order to create chaos and destabilization over a long period. Just witness what is going on in Gaza and the West Bank.

That is the signature of the ‘Empire of Lies’.

Bruce 

~ Photos by MB Sullivan