Show support for Julian Assange!

 

 

In just eight days, Julian Assange’s hearing will take place in the UK High Court.

This will determine whether Julian can appeal an earlier decision, allowing the UK Government to extradite him.

If the High Court refuses to allow Julian to appeal, then Julian will have no further legal avenues in the UK.

He could be extradited to the US within 24 hours.

In late January, Julian’s brother, Gabriel Shipton, warned of the urgency of Julian’s case. 

“He’s spent the last 13 years in one form of detention or another, the last five in a maximum security prison [in London],” he said.

“[In the US], he could be put into a supermax prison […] And that is complete isolation. There is no contact with the outside world. Kept in solitary confinement, essentially all the time. Those conditions drive people insane.” 

Please make some noise in your part of the world in support of Julian Assange.

Alastair Crooke: Latest news on Rafah genocide & widening war

 

  

Middle East Eye reports this morning:

• Israeli bombs have hit targets in Gaza just 300 metres from the Egyptian border, according to a Sinai-based rights group. The Sinai Foundation said it obtained photos of the aftermath of strikes on civilian facilities in Rafah. Local sources told the organisation that the Israelis struck areas close to the Egyptian border with the Gaza Strip as well as areas adjacent to the border fence.

• Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has said in a statement that “Israel’s declared ground offensive on Rafah would be catastrophic and must not proceed”. “As aerial bombardment of the area continues, more than a million people, many living in tents and makeshift shelters, now face a dramatic escalation in this ongoing massacre,” it said on X. “Nowhere in Gaza is safe, and repeated forced displacements have pushed people to Rafah, where they are trapped in a tiny patch of land and have no options,” it added. MSF has said that its facilities have come “under fire from tanks, artillery, fighter jets, snipers and ground troops, or being subject to an evacuation order”.

• Israel launched air strikes on Rafah in southern Gaza on Sunday night, killing scores of Palestinians and stoking fears of an imminent offensive on the area densely packed with displaced people. The attacks targeted 14 homes and three mosques in Rafah, Palestinian officials said. Hamas said around 100 people had been killed on the strikes, with the Palestinian health ministry saying at least 67 were slain.
•  Al Jazeera contributor Ahmed Abdullah Mohsen has described the moments Israeli forces launched strikes on Rafah overnight. “The screaming and wailing nearly drowned out the warplanes that covered the sky, dropping barrages in a fiery belt that crushed the bodies of the displaced in their tents. About 20 minutes of explosions lit the night like something from an artificial Hollywood film,” he said. Mohsen said “the displaced and the injured fled en masse to the Kuwaiti Hospital, the only one open in the Shaboura area”. Mohsen said “amidst overwhelming anger and a sense of helplessness, the director of the Kuwaiti Hospital, Dr Suhaib Al-Hams, called out to the world to stop sending medicines to treat COVID, which some countries who want to give the impression they have helped Gaza have done”.

• Thomas White, the Gaza chief of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), has said the agency has seen alarmingly high rates of diarrhoea, which can be deadly if there is not enough clean water, in addition to outbreaks of hepatitis A. “These are the result of a million people jammed into a pretty small area without access to sanitation,” White said, adding that the conditions in Rafah were grim. “Hundreds of thousands of people are digging a hole in the sand adjacent to where they’re living, and that’s where they are defecating,” he said.

• At least 28,340 Palestinians have been killed by Israel since 7 October according to Gaza’s health ministry. More than 67,984 Palestinians have also been wounded the ministry added. 
  

Israel lies as it furthers genocide in Rafah

 

Half of Gaza's remaining population now in Rafah

 

Netanyahu promises ‘safe passage’ to Palestinians ahead of Rafah operation

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised “safe passage” to displaced civilians in Rafah, ahead of an Israeli incursion into Gaza’s southernmost city. 

[Safe passage to where? A burial ground.]

In an interview with ABC News, Netanyahu reiterated his intention to extend Israel’s military operation to the city.

Despite international alarm over the potential for carnage in a city crammed with more than half of the Gaza Strip’s 2.4 million people, Netanyahu said: “We’re going to do it”.

He conceded he agrees “with the Americans” that the operation will need to first plan for the impact on civilians.

“We’re going to do it while providing safe passage for the civilian population so they can leave,” he said, according to published extracts of the interview.

It is unclear where such a large number of people, who are pressed up against the border with Egypt and sheltering in makeshift tents, can go.

When asked, Netanyahu would only say they are “working out a detailed plan”.

As Israeli forces have extended steadily southwards, Rafah has become the last major Gaza city that troops have yet to enter, even as it is bombarded by air strikes almost daily.

Sunday song

 

U.S. wishes to ambush China

 

 

 

CGTN

U.S. CIA Director William Burns recently disclosed that the CIA has significantly increased its budget allocation for China in the past two years, while the Biden administration seeks to stabilize ties with China. 

What does this apparent contradiction signify?

How can China safeguard itself against what some perceive as America's "Orwellian surveillance"?

Israeli's block humanitarian aid to Gaza

 

 

Gaza is on the brink of famine, according to the United Nations as Israelis continue to prevent aid from crossing the border. 

UNRWA is also warning it will be forced to close unless donors who suspended funding resume contributions. 

ICJ Rules Against Ukraine on Terrorism, MH17

 

Gates of the International Court of Justice in The Hague. (Joe Lauria)

In a blow to Ukraine, the World Court ruled Russia didn’t finance terrorism in Donbass and the court refused to blame Moscow for the downing of Flight MH17.

By Joe Lauria
in The Hague, Netherlands
Special to Consortium News

The World Court ruled on Wednesday that Russia did not finance terrorism in its defense of separatists in Ukraine and the court refused to find Russia guilty of downing Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 as Ukraine had asked.   

The case was brought to the ICJ by Ukraine in 2017, three years after the U.S.-backed coup in Kiev overthrew the democratically-elected President Viktor Yanukovych.

When Russian speakers in Donbass rebelled against the unconstitutional change in government that they had voted for, the coup leaders in 2014 launched what it called an “anti-terrorist” military operation to put down the rebellion.   

Russia responded by helping ethnic Russians with arms and other military equipment. Ukraine claimed to the court that that was in breach of a treaty barring terrorism financing.

But the ICJ ruled on Wednesday that the treaty only covered cash transfers made to alleged terrorist groups. This “does not include the means used to commit acts of terrorism, including weapons or training camps,” the Court said in its judgement.

“Consequently, the alleged supply of weapons to various armed groups operating in Ukraine… fall outside the material scope” of the anti-terrorism financing convention, the Court ruled. The Court also said it had no evidence to show that any of the armed militias in Donbass fighting against the government could be characterized as terrorist groups.

The ICJ found only that Russia was, “failing to take measures to investigate facts… regarding persons who have allegedly committed an offense.”  It added that the court “rejects all other submissions made by the Ukraine.”

The ruling is highly significant in undermining Kiev’s claim to be fighting a war against terrorists in Donbass, an essential part of the Ukraine’s and the West’s narrative in justifying its brutal operation that left more than 10,000 civilians dead.

Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 amid indications that Kiev was beginning a new offensive against Donbass. Ukraine and the West had failed to implement two peace agreements negotiated in Minsk and endorsed by the U.N. Security Council.

Western and Ukrainian officials later admitted they never had any intention of implementing the deal and pretended to buy time to build up its forces against Russia.

Rejected MH17 Claim

In its complaint to the Court, Ukraine had also claimed that Russia was responsible for the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in 2014, killing all 298 civilian passengers and crew on board. Kiev wanted Russia to pay compensation to the victims.

But the court refused to rule whether Russia was responsible and to order compensation.  This ruling appears to contradict the results of the official investigation into the incident.

The Dutch Safety Board (DSB) and a Dutch-led joint investigation team (JIT) concluded in 2016 that the plane was shot down by ethnic Russian separatists using a missile supplied by Russia. Moscow has denied involvement in the incident. 

The ruling on MH17 came two weeks after the European Court of Justice decided that the Dutch government was not required to release information it has about the incident.  The Dutch news outlet RTL Nieuws had brought the case before the ICJ.

It wanted to know what reports the Dutch government had received about Ukrainian airspace before the plane was shot down.  The government refused to release that data and the European court ruled it did not have to divulge information regarding aviation safety.

No Discrimination

Ukraine was also denied compensation for what it said was discrimination against ethnic Tatars and Ukrainians in Crimea after Russia annexed the peninsula in 2014.

The court only agreed that Russia failed to adequately protect Ukrainian language education in Crimea. This complaint came as Ukraine passed laws discriminating against the Russian language in the country.

US Judge Votes Against Russia

Joan Donoghue, the American judge who is president of the Court, voted to protect Ukraine against several of the measures of the judgement.

For instance, she voted (in a 10-5 vote) against rejecting “all other submissions made by Ukraine with respect to the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism.” She only voted for the point criticizing Russia for not properly investigating the charge and against rejecting Ukraine’s demands for compensation.  

Donoghue also voted (in another 10-5 vote) against rejecting Ukraine’s charge regarding discrimination against Ukrainians and Tartars in Crimea. 

~ Joe Lauria is editor-in-chief of Consortium News and a former U.N. correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, and other newspapers, including The Montreal Gazette, the London Daily Mail and The Star of Johannesburg. He was an investigative reporter for the Sunday Times of London, a financial reporter for Bloomberg News and began his professional work as a 19-year old stringer for The New York Times. He is the author of two books, A Political Odyssey, with Sen. Mike Gravel, foreword by Daniel Ellsberg; and How I Lost By Hillary Clinton, foreword by Julian Assange. He can be reached at joelauria@consortiumnews.com and followed on Twitter @unjoe

Sweden Stops Investigation Into Nord Stream Blasts

 

 

Sputnik

Sweden's decision to abruptly quit an investigation into the Nord Stream sabotage attack raises new questions about who the real culprits behind the blast are, and turns the spotlight on the German probe. 

Almost a year ago, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh published his bombshell story about the US' and Norway's participation in the September 26, 2022, sabotage attack on Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines. 

To date, none of the Western countries involved in the subsequent investigation - Sweden, Denmark, and Germany – have presented explanations of what happened or named a culprit. Moreover, Sweden announced on February 7 that it would drop its investigation into explosions. 

Sweden and Denmark announced they would conduct an inquiry within days of the attack, Hersh recalled in his Tuesday's piece. Germany followed suit on October 2, 2022. Remarkably, very soon, Sweden said it would not join any joint investigations because "it would involve the transfer of information related to Sweden’s national security," the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist pointed out. 

"Nothing more about the cause of the underwater bombings has been heard since from either Sweden or Denmark, although both nations knew, as I have written, that the US was practicing underwater diving in the Baltic Sea for months before the explosions," Hersh wrote. "The failure of the two nations to complete their inquiry may have stemmed from the fact, as I was told, that some senior officials in both countries understood precisely what was going on." 

For its part, the Kremlin announced on September 28, 2022, that Russia was ready to consider applications from EU countries for a joint investigation into the Nord Stream incident. However, not only did the West reject Moscow's request but also blamed Russia for destroying its own pipelines. On October 12, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin qualified the incident as "an act of international terrorism".

However, it was not only Sweden and Denmark that demonstrated little if any curiosity in digging to the bottom of the incident. The US also seemed uninterested, according to Hersh. 

"After the explosions, which became an international sensation, it took four days for a White House correspondent to bring up the Nord Stream issue," Hersh wrote. 

He particularly cited the White House stating at the time that it would not make a "definitive determination" until its allies in the region concluded their work. 

"There is no evidence that President Biden, in the sixteen months since the pipelines were destroyed, has 'tasked'—a word of art in the American intelligence community—its experts to conduct an all-source investigation into the explosions," Hersh wrote. 

Moreover, "the US has since vetoed at least one attempt by Russia to get an independent United Nations investigation into the explosions," he added. 

The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist pointed out that despite Germany suffering the most from the blast (which deprived its industries of the source of relatively cheap and reliable energy flow from Russia), Chancellor Olaf Scholz or any other senior German leader didn't make any significant push to determine who did what.

 

"A subsequent investigation sought by some members of the Bundestag, Germany’s parliament, was undertaken but its conclusion has been withheld from the public for what are said to be security reasons," Hersh pointed out. 

The investigative journalist pointed out that the US and German mainstream media were circulating the story of "a 49-foot yacht said to be the vessel for the high-risk technical diving involved" instead. 

In his previous articles, Hersh debunked the Andromeda yacht plot, suggesting that the CIA invented the story and fed it to the Western press to distract the public attention from his bombshell. Remarkably, some Western media soon found numerous gaps in the Andromeda story and called them out. 

The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist believes that "the sabotage in the Baltic Sea was the result of a long-standing US policy of driving a wedge between Russia and Western Europe."

He quoted Emmanuel Todd, a French demographer and political scientist, who said in his recent interview that "one of the great goals of American politics, and therefore of NATO, was to stop the inevitable reconciliation of Russia and Germany." Therefore, according to Todd, Washington "blew up the Nord Stream pipeline." 

"At the time Biden ordered the destruction of the pipelines, the American fear was that [German] Chancellor Scholz, who at the request of Washington had shut off 750 miles of Russian gas in the new Nord Stream 2 pipeline that was ready in the fall of 2021 to be delivered to a port in Germany, might change his mind and let the gas flow, easing German economic worries and reinstating an important energy force for German industry. That would not be allowed to happen, and Germany has been in economic and political turmoil since," Hersh concluded. 

Having dropped the probe Sweden is expected to hand evidence uncovered in the probe over to Germany. 

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on February 7 that Russia would watch closely how German investigators proceed with the probe.

"Of course, now we need to see how Germany itself reacts to this, as a country that has lost a lot in relation to this terrorist attack," Peskov said. "Taxpayers in Germany suffer, German firms and companies suffer, lose their competitiveness, lose their profitability without this gas. It will be interesting to see how scrupulously the German authorities will conduct this investigation."

Pick the forbidden fruit

 

Tucker Carlson

Watch Tucker's immediate reaction to the interview here: https://bit.ly/3SxeZBY 

Tucker interviews Vladimir Putin in Moscow, Russia. February 6th, 2024.  

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has revealed on Tuesday why Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to be interviewed by the former Fox host.

Tucker Carlson maintains a position that differs from that of other Western journalists, according to Peskov.

“His stance is by no means pro-Russian and it is not pro-Ukrainian – rather, it is pro-American,” the spokesman said. “But at least it differs from the stance of all these traditional Anglo-Saxon media.”  

 

 

The crime of the century

 

Al Jazeera English

A video of a Palestinian boy drinking from a puddle in Gaza has helped to show the extent of the water crisis created by Israel’s war and blockade of the territory.

Giraldi: 'U.S. has become a war criminal'

 

Former CIA agent Phil Giraldi calls out the Neo-cons who are now running Washington (and NATO) foreign policy. 

He says the Neo-cons and members of Congress are financially rewarded by the war machine and Wall Street for keeping the wars going and the $$$$$$$$$ flowing.

No farms, no food, no future

 

Furious farmers drive their protests home to European Union leaders.

And more demonstrations are planned in their revolt against high costs, EU climate change policies, food imports and support for Ukraine.

There is less funding for farmers and consumers across the EU because of growing fuel prices and war spending for Ukraine in the futile attempt to take down Russia.

It's blow-back on the EU.

Is a new Korean War in the offing?

 

 

By Gregory Elich (Part of a larger article which is available here)

It is no secret that lately, the stance of the United States and South Korea has hardened against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK – the formal name for North Korea). Since the centerpiece for suggesting that war may be on the horizon is Kim’s speech at the 14th Supreme People’s Assembly, its content is worth examining in some detail. What strikes one when reading the text is that mainstream media have taken quotes out of context and ignored much of the content of Kim’s speech, creating an impression of unprovoked belligerence.

Also generally absent from media reporting is the speech’s relationship to the backdrop of events since the far-right Yoon Suk Yeol became president of South Korea in May 2022. Yoon came into office determined to smash every vestige of the improved inter-Korean environment established during his predecessor’s term. Instead, Yoon prioritized making South Korea a subordinate partner in the Biden administration’s hyper-militarized Indo-Pacific Strategy.

To fully understand Kim Jong Un’s speech, one must also consider the nature of the Biden administration’s rapid military escalation in the Asia-Pacific. The United States conducts a virtually nonstop series of military exercises at North Korea’s doorstep, practicing the bombing and invasion of that nation. One South Korean analyst has counted 42 joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises conducted in 2023 alone, along with ten more involving Japan. Those totals do not include exercises that the U.S. and South Korea engaged in outside of Northeast Asia, such as Exercise Talisman Sabre in Australia and Exercise Cobra Gold in Thailand. Moreover, U.S. actions on the Korean Peninsula must also be situated within the broader geopolitical framework of its hostility towards China.

 

Last year, in an act of overt intimidation, the United States conducted seven exercises with nuclear-capable bombers over the Korean Peninsula. Additional flights involved the B-1 bomber, which the U.S. Air Force says “can rapidly deliver massive quantities of precision and non-precision weapons.” Through its actions, the United States sends far more provocative messages than anything that could be honestly construed in Kim’s speech. But then, we are led to see nothing amiss in such aggressive behavior from the United States. Nevertheless, the threat is real and unmistakable from the targeted nation’s perspective.

It also has not gone unnoticed in Pyongyang that U.S. and South Korean military forces regularly conduct training exercises to practice assassinating Kim Jong Un and other North Korean officials. Just this month, U.S. Green Berets and soldiers from South Korea’s Special Warfare Command completed training focused on the targeted killing of North Korean individuals. The Biden administration avers that it harbors no hostile intent toward the DPRK, but its actions say otherwise, loud and clear.

The military section of Kim’s speech was at root defensive, pointing out that North Korea’s “security environment has been steadily deteriorated” and that if it wants to take “the road of independent development,” it must be fully prepared to defend itself. Kim quotes specific threats made by U.S. and South Korean leaders to emphasize his awareness that his nation is in the crosshairs.

~  Gregory Elich is a Korea Policy Institute board member. He is a contributor to the collection, Sanctions as War: Anti-Imperialist Perspectives on American Geo-Economic Strategy (Haymarket Books, 2023). His website is https://gregoryelich.org 

Brain chips? No thanks....

 

Syriana Analysis

Unveiling the Truth about Information Control: Dive into the captivating world of Whitney Webb as she exposes the truth!

In this eye-opening chat with @SyrianaAnalysis, Whitney Webb reveals the hidden mechanisms behind information control. 

Prepare to be amazed as she uncovers the tactics used to manipulate and shape the narratives we encounter every day.

Whitney Webb has been a professional writer, researcher, and journalist since 2016. She has written for several websites and, from 2017 to 2020, was a staff writer and senior investigative reporter for Mint Press News. 

She is a contributing editor of Unlimited Hangout and the author of the book One Nation Under Blackmail. 

You can find Whitney's work at https://unlimitedhangout.com

Washington does not give a damn about Israeli crimes

 

Al Jazeera English

The US State Department says a photo of an Israeli soldier standing over a stripped and wounded Palestinian in Gaza is 'deeply troubling'. 

I don't believe the State Department gives a damn about torture of Palestinian prisoners or the people who are being slaughtered by Israel.

Washington mouths a good game of concern but they have never taken any correct moral/legal step since this war began to restrain Israel. They do nothing to stop the genocidal bombing of Gaza (schools, hospitals, homes, etc) nor do they do anything to force Israel to allow unrestricted humanitarian aid into the war zone.

When it came to the ICJ hearing all the US had to say was that South Africa's case had 'no merit'.

Just this week the US Congress is pressing to send another round of scarce taxpayer dollars to Israel for their war.

Fact are facts. Washington (and its EU allies) are 100% complicit in this genocide of Palestine. They should all be tried by the ICJ as well.

We should all insist on it.

Bruce  

Another run-in with a US Senate (hopeful)

 

Costello (USAID) crossing the Mekong River in Cambodia following an election coordination meeting in Kampong Cham (1993). Bringing democracy to the Cambodian people - American style.

 

Yesterday while entering the post office in Brunswick, Maine I saw a man outside gathering petition signatures. The post office is a popular spot for such petitioning as Maine allows citizen referendums on any issue once thousands of signatures are secured.

I asked the man what he was petitioning for and he said to get on the US Senate primary election ballot as a Democrat. I told him I was not a Dem and went into to check my mail.

When I came out he was gone.

I had time on my hands before my chiropractor appointment downtown (I slipped on the ice last week landing on my back and have a sprain/strain according to my doc) so I walked the big loop thru downtown before my scheduled appointment.

As I approached the health food store I noticed the guy was standing there with his petition in hand. I stopped (mostly out of political curiosity) and asked, 'What is your thing?'

He quickly replied, 'Change. We need systemic change.' 

I knew right away I was going to have to dig deeper to get anything out of him. He was gauging to see if I was a novice.

I then asked, 'What is your position on our two current wars?'

He jumped in with, 'We need to stop Russia and Israel has the right to defend themselves, except they've gone too far.'

Very safe traditional Democratic party answers.

But I was not going to leave it there. I responded with these facts: the US orchestrated coup in Ukraine in 2014, the eight years of US funded, trained, equipped and CIA directed Nazi attacks on the Russian-ethnics in the Donbass.

His response (with a sly grin): 'There was no coup. I know because I worked in the government.'

By now my blood pressure was rising a bit. I needed more info about his 'government job'. So I asked him.

'US AID' he replied. Then he threw in Nancy Pelosi's latest refrain - 'Are you a Russian?'

Once home I tracked down his website and discovered his name is David Costello and he proudly proclaims at the top of his campaign home page - 'Join Us In Fighting For Real Change and Progress.'

On his bio page he shares - 'A Career of Service: David has more than twenty-five years of senior-level state, local, and federal government experience.' 

He also states, 'Between 1993 and 2001, David worked primarily abroad for the U.S. government, responding to political, humanitarian, and economic crises in conflict-torn Cambodia, Haiti, Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, and Kosovo.'

Note that he does not mention the very unpopular USAID which is a CIA-front using humanitarian issues to do the soft intervention work on behalf of Washington.

My parting words to him were, 'Oh yeah, Samantha Powers (the current head of USAID and promoter of humanitarian intervention). She wrote a book about genocide in Africa and now supports genocide in Palestine'.

After that I moved on.

My first thought was how in recent years the Democrats and Republicans are flooding their campaigns with former military personnel, intelligence and spy types, and other functionaries of outfits like USAID. It's a complete takeover of American politics by the national security state.

Mr. Costello, if he wins the Democratic party nomination in the primary, would be matched up against the incumbent Sen. Angus King (Independent) who has been endorsed by AIPAC.

One could say it is a rigged game.

Bruce

Genocide update: On the back streets of Gaza

 

 

Al Jazeera monitors the effects of an IOF shelling that targeted the house of a family and completely exterminated its members in the olive neighborhood.

You don't have to speak Arabic to understand this one.

The martyrs buried in unmarked graves flourish in Gaza.

Israeli army gassed my son, mother of slain Israeli soldier says

 

Sergeant Ron Sherman

Haaretz: Pictures of the bodies showed that the perpetrators were not Hamas, but it was the army that killed the prisoners

A wave of doubts surround the families of the dead Israelis, who constantly demand to know how their sons and daughters were killed. The Hebrew newspaper Haaretz indicates in a report translated by the “Trenches” website that the family of one of the prisoners accused the Israeli army of killing their son: “The results of the investigation: Ron was actually killed... not by Hamas. Not by stray bullets and not in an exchange of fire. This was murder. intentionally by the army.”

A few days before the grim news arrived that her son had died in Hamas captivity, Dr. Maayan Sherman sensed that something bad had happened. “The strange thing is that I had been relatively calm until that moment,” she recalls. “We knew from the videos that Ron had been taken alive and that he was unharmed, and after that we were told that he had shown signs of life.”

However, in an interview on Kan 11 television, which was broadcast on October 31 before she was officially notified of Ron's death, she said: "I fear that they have been abandoned. That a ground operation will be carried out that will end with the deaths of many. What worries me is not Hamas but the government of Israel."

Sherman's gut feeling led her to meet with Gal Hirsch, the prisoner coordinator, and with Varda Pomerantz, the former head of the IDF's casualty division, who now worked with Hirsch. They both tried to calm her fears. “They told me again that the terrorists take care of the captives, that they are a safety net for them and that everything is fine,” Sherman says. “But I had a very strong bad feeling.”

Members of the unit bringing the bad news arrived on December 14: “They told me that Ron had been killed in Hamas captivity, that's the wording of the notice, and they asked us if we wanted to do an autopsy. Because that would mean postponing the funeral until after the weekend, I said no. To finish it already. I also didn't want to know exactly how he died. After all, they said Hamas killed him, and I know how cruel they were, so why did I need to know about the abuse he suffered? Whether they beheaded him or shot him? And they buried him in a regular military burial.”

However, from the moment the horrific news arrived, his mother was constantly haunted by the idea that her son had been killed by terrorists. "When I went to sleep, I saw in my mind how Ron was being abused. When you're told he was killed, and you don't know how, you imagine the worst."

But two weeks later, it became clear that there were no indications that Ron had actually been killed.

Sherman: “The pathologist came to see us. It turned out that although they [the army] did not do an autopsy [after recovering the body], they did do a CT scan of the body, examined it from all directions and found no injuries — no gunshot wounds or knife wounds. "No shrapnel, no fractures or external injuries, no signs of strangulation or blast injury. We received a detailed report, which was really shocking for me as a mother, because by that time the body was a month old, but the cause of death was not found."

On the eve of their demobilization, Israeli soldiers talk about the fighting, the hostages and why they entered Gaza. “We have lost everything. The pain is infinite. Only without Netanyahu will there be hope.”

Sherman was surprised that the Israeli army approached her on its initiative. Regarding whether this was actually the army’s idea or the coroner’s idea, Dr. Alon Crispin, director of the National Center for Forensic Medicine, who signed the report that the family received, answered: “It was an agreement between me and the Israeli army.” He explained to Haaretz: “I contacted the Sherman family because I believed that, as citizens, they deserved to know directly what happened to their son, and not through documents and bureaucracy.” He declined to say more.

Since receiving the news, Sherman has been angry, making accusations and demanding answers. Sherman also accuses the government of abandoning her son twice: once because of its responsibility for the October 7 disaster, and again because it abandoned those being held hostage in the Gaza Strip. Regarding the IDF, she suspects that it was involved in causing the death of her son and two other hostages.

In a Facebook post, Sherman accused the Israeli military of killing her son with poison gas that was pumped into the tunnel. “Investigation results: Ron was indeed murdered,” she wrote. Not by Hamas... not by stray bullets and not in an exchange of fire. This was premeditated murder. Bombardment with poisonous gas.” She added that a source in the Israeli army admitted that this was one of the possible possibilities for the death of the three prisoners.

Tensions with Hungary could destabilize the EU

 

 
By using means of economic warfare, European countries threaten the bloc’s unity.

By Lucas Leiroz

Recently, tensions between Hungary and other EU members have increased significantly. The neutral and sovereign stance of the Hungarian government regarding the Ukrainian conflict has obstructed the European bloc’s plans to continue financing the war on a prolonged basis. To coerce Hungary, EU countries are even willing to use methods of economic warfare – however, instead of simply “convincing” the Hungarians, the Europeans may be heading towards an unprecedented crisis within the bloc.

At the EU summit on February 1, the long-awaited 50-billion-euro package for Ukraine was approved, after Hungarian President Viktor Orban lifted his previous decision to veto the deal. The change in the Hungarian position appears to be the result of a strategy of blackmail and economic warfare adopted by the EU, as recently reported by the Western media itself.

According to the Financial Times, the European bloc was threatening to harm the Hungarian economy if the country did not change its stance regarding the billion-euro pact to support Kiev. The outlet’s journalists allegedly had access to a classified document in which Brussels’ decision-makers exposed a strategy to coerce Budapest, causing an economic crisis in the country and destabilizing the Hungarian currency. The EU apparently planned to cut off all forms of transfer of European funds to Hungary, trying to force the country into collapse.

“In the case of no agreement in the February 1 [summit], other heads of state and government would publicly declare that in the light of the unconstructive behavior of the Hungarian PM… they cannot imagine that [EU’s funds would be provided to Budapest] (…) [Without this funding] financial markets and European and international companies might be less interested to invest in Hungary (…) [These measures] could quickly trigger a further increase in the cost of financing the public deficit and a decline in the local currency,” the document reads.

 

Days before the EU summit, the Hungarian government had spoken out condemning the EU’s aggressive stance and stating that Budapest would not give in to blackmail. The Hungarian Foreign Minister, Janos Boka, said that his country cannot be controlled by “European bureaucrats” and emphasized Budapest’s stance of absolute neutrality regarding the Ukrainian conflict.

“Hungary does not allow blackmail (…) The agreement confirms what the Hungarian government has been saying for a long time: Brussels is using access to EU resources as a means of political pressure (…) Hungary makes no link between supporting Ukraine and access to EU resources and refuses to let others do so. Hungary so far will continue to participate constructively in the negotiations, but it does not allow blackmail,” he said at the time.

However, not even the strong stance of the Hungarian government seems to have been enough to resist European pressure. The sanctions that could be imposed by the bloc would represent a serious threat to the country’s economy, possibly destabilizing the Hungarian domestic scenario and leading to a worrying social crisis. Furthermore, the deterioration of ties with other European countries could lead to other economic problems even more serious than the end of Hungary’s access to EU’s funds. It must be remembered that Hungary is a landlocked country, depending on stable partnerships with other EU members for the functioning of its economy, which is why Budapest can easily be coerced to serve foreign interests.

It is possible to say that, by getting Hungary to re-evaluate its veto, the EU won an important dispute in its struggle to maintain the systematic support for Ukraine. However, the effects of this “victory” could prove devastating in the long term, as the price of approving the billion-euro deal seems to be European unity itself.

It must be remembered that, in addition to economic blackmail, the possibility of invoking Article 7 of the EU Treaty against Hungary was also considered. This article establishes that Brussels has the right to cancel the voting rights of a member which violates the bloc’s elementary principles. In this sense, the argument would be that not supporting Ukraine is sufficient reason for a European state to be prevented from having the right to vote in the EU decision-making process. Despite not being implemented, the mere fact that this measure was considered clearly increased internal EU tensions, further distancing Hungary and the rest of the alliance.

In practice, all these factors contribute to escalating disagreements between the EU and Hungary and thus worsening the bloc’s current situation of internal disunity. Obviously, it does not seem interesting for any state to remain within an economic bloc where the other members have carte blanche to blackmail it and coerce it into making irrational and anti-strategic decisions. This could generate a wave of dissatisfaction with the EU and motivate more countries to assume a sovereigntist stance in the near future. More than that, if tensions escalate, they could even lead to ruptures and exits from the EU in the coming years.

Once again, in order to help the Kiev neo-Nazi regime, Europe harms itself.

~ Lucas Leiroz, journalist, researcher at the Center for Geostrategic Studies, geopolitical consultant

Tough subjects - good sharing of thoughts

 

Alfredo Bolduc

The four of us, all Friends of Crimea-Friends of Russia; are back together for another in-depth and interesting show: Steadfast Defender 2024; Israeli genocide and global fallout; ICJ ruling against both Israel and Ukraine; backlash in EU and USA from sanctions on Russia; complex situation in Ukraine.

Regis Tremblay (originally from Maine and now living in Crimea), Costas Isichos (Greece) , Hendrik Weber (Norway) and Bruce Gagnon (Maine).  

Starving in Gaza

 

 

Al Jazeera English

The longer the war on Gaza continues, the more likely that Palestinians will face famine. 

The UN says people are routinely going without food. And when meals are available at charity kitchens, the wait for a plate of food can last hours. 

Israel regulates the entrance of food with aid trucks lined up and waiting to enter Gaza.

The US and other nations talk a good game about allowing humanitarian aid but do zero/nada/nothing to force Israel to open the gates.

Al Jazeera’s Um-e-Kulsoom Shariff reports

Sunday song

 

 

CNN freaks as Chinese criticize Israel's genocide in Gaza

 

 

Reports on China

CNN has taken a surprising 180 degree turn, and is now upset that Chinese people have too much freedom of speech. 

Reporter Will Ripley is suggesting that anti-Semitism is going unchecked on Chinese social media, and claiming the “evil CCP” might be behind it! 

But, as usual, his “evidence” is extremely lacking.

We’ll take a closer look. This is Reports on China, I’m Andy Boreham in Shanghai. Let’s get reporting.

Portland, Maine: Protest shuts down key interstate ramp

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mary Beth and I drove to Portland early yesterday afternoon to join a large protest in solidarity with Gaza. I was asked to be a police 'liaison' along with one other person. 

The people began arriving at the busy intersection of Franklin Street & Marginal Way just before 1:00 pm. Soon the two sides of the highway closest to the on-ramp for the I-295 Interstate were full of people - about 100 on each side.

At 1:40 the first policeman arrived and about that same time a ceasefire banner was hung from the interstate overpass. That is when people poured out into the four-lane section of road to effectively shut down traffic.

It took the cops awhile to get reinforcements there but eventually about 25 city police began re-routing traffic on the other streets leading to the blocked intersections. Folks were in the road for an hour which meant access on and off the major interstate was shut down at that ramp.

During the first hour of the event speeches and chanting were interspersed as the very loud crowd made eye contact with the passing cars - many of which honked and waved in support of the protest.

One of the things the two of us volunteering as police liaison did was to keep asking the cops to give those blocking more time. And they did that. Several times they gave a 10-minute warning but then nothing happened. (They might have just been waiting on a 2nd paddy wagon to arrive since they were not certain how many would risk arrest.)

Eventually they gave the final warning and arrested 11 activists from throughout the state.

It was a great event - very well organized by the young leadership. In fact I'd say that about 80% of those attending were under 35 years old. The Democrats are losing alot of young voters over Washington's complicity with Israel in the genocide of Palestine.

Sadly our Maine Congressional delegation is worthless on this issue. They've done nothing to help stop this Israeli-US bloodbath in Gaza. We've got to create even more heat on them.

As I was leaving I congratulated the police captain in charge of the operation. I told him they did a professional job and he surprisingly (with out any anger) said 'You all did too'.

Those arrested were Mark Roman, 76, of Solon; Sophia Fuller, 77, of Belfast; Abigail Fuller, 63, of Portland; Jamila Fuller, 69, of Waldo; Paige Milligan, 34, of Brunswick; Lisa Savage, 69, of Solon; Roryalice Hoecker, 29, of Portland; Haley Marchant, 33, of Old Orchard Beach; Hallie Herz, 25, of Portland; Yusef Ebrahim, 27, of Portland; and Natalie Joyce, 25, of Waterville.

It is important to remember that Maine has only 1.3 million people in our very large state located in the northeast. We have alot more trees and lobsters than people. 

It took the corporate media a long time to get to the protest but eventually two TV stations and a newspaper showed up.

Bruce

~ Photos by Mary Beth Sullivan (Click on them for a better view)

Orbán’s concession favors the continuation of Ukraine war

 

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, left, speaks to Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico at an E.U. summit in Brussels on Thursday

Evaluation of the Hungarian Peace Community

Viktor Orbán’s concession in Brussels on the approval of 50 billion euros to be given to Kiev and the acceleration of the delivery of missiles, artillery shells and ammunition intended for the Ukrainian forces favors the continuation of the war in Ukraine, states the Hungarian Peace Community.

We consider it regrettable that our Prime Minister could not resist the allied pressure and made a compromise that did not serve the cause of peace. “The EU is ready to support Ukraine as long as necessary,” says the final statement of the EU summit in Brussels, also signed by Orbán, which also reveals that Hungary also contributed to the continuous donation of military supplies, new military orders and the increase of the capacity of the European military industry.

In exchange, Orbán achieved that the approx. 20 billion euros will not be given to Ukraine, but we can get it if we behave in a way that pleases Brussels. However, in order to raise the 50 billion euros voted for Ukraine, Hungarian taxpayers also have to reach into their pockets.

Because of all of this, our Prime Minister’s statement evaluating the Brussels meeting, according to which “We will not participate in the war, we will not send weapons, we are still on the side of peace” only partially covers the reality.

We really do not participate directly, but indirectly, since we voted for both financial and military support for Ukraine. Orbán bowed to the will of the West and thus did a disservice to peace.

Arab community in Michigan rejects Biden visit

 

Al Jazeera English

Protesters showing their support for Palestinians have been kept away from the US President as he campaigned in Michigan for his re-election bid. 

Joe Biden has already won the support of automobile union workers in the state's many car factories. 

But his support for Israel's war in Gaza could make it hard to win the crucial swing state from his expected Republican rival Donald Trump. 

Al Jazeera’s Patty Culhane has this report from Warren, Michigan, outside Detroit.

France: McDonald's boycot spreading

 

Farmers in France spread animal feed in a McDonald's because of the restaurant's solidarity with the Israeli occupation. 

McDonald's in Israel has been giving free meals to IOF soldiers since the war on Gaza began. As a result boycott of the hamburger joint has spread throughout the Muslim world.

Many other American products and stores around the world are also being boycotted.

Protest at Blinken's home

 

TRT World

Dozens of activists have been camping and protesting in front of the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s house in Virginia state for almost a week. 

They’ve resorted to many measures to deliver their message — fake blood, messages on his door, even morning disturbances. Their determination is clear: End the massacres in Gaza.

Israel must be charged with these crimes

 

Al Jazeera English

The discovery of a mass grave of Palestinian detainees who were handcuffed, blindfolded and thrown in the garbage at a school in northern Gaza is evidence that bolsters the ICJ’s ruling that there is a plausible risk Israel is committing genocide in the besieged strip, says Palestinian human rights lawyer Diana Buttu. 

“This is precisely why Israel was taken to the ICJ,” the Ramallah-based attorney told Al Jazeera, adding that Israel has been committing war crimes against Palestinians since 1948 and nobody has ever held Israel to account. 

This incident, Buttu pressed, is clearly a war crime and the world should do something about it. She said this type of evidence needs to be preserved, but that can only happen under a ceasefire.

Nuclear industry takes control of NASA

 

GNspace4peace

There has long been an attempt by the nuclear industry to move their deadly toxic project into space. The industry drools when it considers the profits by linking the atomic age with the space race.

Early on the Pentagon developed nuclear devices to power military satellites. Accidents happened during those days.

Then in the 1980-1990's NASA put deadly plutonium-238 on interplanetary space missions to provide on-board power sources. The Galileo, Ulysses and Cassini missions were loaded with pu-238. The Florida Coalition for Peace & Justice and the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space organized international campaigns and lawsuits in federal courts to challenge those missions.

Before the Cassini launch from the space center in Florida in 1997 more than 1,000 people joined a protest there to oppose the launch. Even CBS's '60 Minutes' news show covered our resistance to the launch.

The NASA rovers currently driving around Mars taking soil samples for future mining operations are powered by plutonium-238.

In addition the mission is about developing space nuclear power for weapons.

A 1989 Congressional study (endorsed by the likes of former Sen. John Glenn and current NASA administrator Bill Nelson) entitled Military Space Forces: The Next 50 Years concluded that "Nuclear reactors thus remain the only known long-lived, compact source able to supply military space forces with electric power....Larger versions could meet multi-megawatt needs of space-based lasers, neutral particle beams, mass drivers, and railguns. Nuclear reactors must support major bases on the moon until better options, yet identified, become available."

"Safety factors, rather than technological feasibility, will remain the principal impediment to nuclear power in space, unless officials convince influential critics that risks are acceptably low."

 

 

Current space nuke dangers
 
NASA wishes to cut in half the amount of time it takes to get to Mars due to space travel impacts on astronaut bodies from space radiation.
 
Thus they have decided that nuclear reactors should be used as propulsion for these coming missions.
 
First these reactors must be tested but environmental law in the US does not allow land-based testing. So NASA has decided to test just over our heads in Lower Earth Orbit (LEO).
 
The dangers are many as rockets blow up from time to time when taking off.
 
But even the processing of the nuclear payloads at Department of Energy (DoE) labs is problematic.
 
In 1997, just before the launch of Cassini with 72 pounds of deadly plutonium-238 on board, a newspaper in New Mexico reported that while fabricating the generators for that mission at Los Alamos Labs there were 244 reported cases of worker contamination.
 
DoE has a long sordid history of air, water and worker contamination from their nuclear operations.
 
The entire cycle of nuclear space - from mining, fabrication, to launch are all dangers to life on our planet.

Past space nuke accidents
 
The United States has launched at least 22 missions with nuclear power sources. Three accidents have occurred, one resulting in release of radioactive materials.
 
SNAP 9-A, April 1964: Launched aboard a Department of Defense weather satellite that failed to reach orbit. Reactor, as designed, released radioactive contents in upper atmosphere during reentry and then burned. Remnants struck the Indian Ocean. Total of 2.1 pounds of plutonium-238 vaporized in atmosphere and spread worldwide. Studies revealed that many cancers on the planet in years that followed resulted from that accident.
 
SNAP 19, May 1968: Meteorological satellite. Nuclear fuel, 4.2 pounds of uranium-238, stayed intact and was recovered off Southern California coast and reused.
 
Apollo 13, 1970: Nuclear material, 8.3 pounds of plutonium-238, inside lunar module when it was jettisoned before return to Earth. Now at bottom of South Pacific Ocean near New Zealand.

• See more space nuke accident info here  

• Find all GN social media links here 

You mean Israel lied about October 7?

 

 

One Israeli TV channel surprising reported on several key lies told by the IOF and police about what actually happened on October 7?

We understand why they lied - once you put out stories about baby killers and such it is impossible to take them back. This was Tel Aviv's strategy.

It's obvious why the Israel government told many lies about October 7 - they wanted to ramp up rage at home and around the world to JUSTIFY THE SLAUGHTER OF PALESTINIAN PEOPLE.

And to some degree it worked.

But now as the truth slowly leaks out we must all resolve to question everything that Israel says from here on out. 

Warmongers and colonizers must lie. It is the blood that runs through their veins. Their lifeblood. They can only stay in control as long as the public swallows their lies and fabrications which are used to justify genocide.

Bruce