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By Heather Stroud

Israel is very adept at drawing attention away from itself and onto other countries as it carries out its genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. In a recent incident when the ‘Conscience’, an aid boat attempting to reach the starving people of Gaza, was hit by drones (likely fired by Israel) a few miles out of Maltese territorial waters, all attention descended upon the Maltese authorities.

The vessel was flying the flag of the Pacific Island of Palau, however prior to the drone hit, Palau withdrew the registration leaving the crew vulnerable to accusations of being without official papers. Israel had also made accusations of terrorism, claiming that the crew of activists were Hamas militants. There is no basis to the claim that the peaceful activists have any military connections or intentions. The crew are internationals of conscience, who had gathered together from various countries in an attempt to break the blockade of Gaza, carry essential supplies and draw attention to the desperate plight of people in Gaza.

A nearby Maltese tug boat was the first to arrive to the boat’s aid, having been alerted by the authorities to the SOS distress call. The tug boat was equipped with a fire hose and managed to totally extinguish the fire. However, with holes in the boat from the drone attack and extensive damage to the generator, the boat has been slowly taking on water. When the authorities arrived shortly after, the captain of the Conscience’ informed them that the crew would not abandon their vessel or let any of the authorities board it.

The fears by the crew of sabotage from an unknown person or persons boarding their boat, are not unrealistic. Besides incidents of sabotage, activists from the earlier Freedom Flotilla Coalitions, in attempting to break the siege of Gaza, have experienced deaths, arrests, theft and the destruction of vessels. In 2008 the ‘Dignity’, was rammed – with clear lethal intent by the Israeli military. The damage was so extensive the boat was taking on water leaving it totally unseaworthy. Although the authorities in Israel and Egypt ignored the call for help, the Lebanese responded and rescued the sixteen international activists on board. In 2010, ten activists were murdered by the Israeli military. In 2018, Dr. Swee Ang a passenger on the ‘Al Awda’ freedom boat, describes how prior to reaching the Gaza coast line they were boarded by the Israeli military, arrested, humiliated and stripped naked. There boat was confiscated.

The young, well known environmental activist, Greta Thunberg, is already in Malta and along with other internationals hopes to join the ‘Conscience’ as early as possible. However being well known is no guarantee of survival or success as orthopaedic surgeon David Halpin can testify from his experience on the ‘Dignity’. The Israelis have a documented history of committing crimes against anyone – Palestinian or international, if they are perceived to challenge their Zionist aspirations to turn all of Palestine and beyond, into a Jewish State.

The Maltese authorities agreed to allow the boat to come into Malta and to assist with repairs, however they insisted that the boat go through the normal customs procedures of inspection. The Maltese Navy, with concerns for Malta’s security and a responsibility for the security of those on the boat from further attack, blocked all vessels from approaching the Conscience’. Included in those blocked, from the area around the boat, were activists connected with the freedom flotilla. This led to a stand off between the two groups as each tried to express their own security concerns while also addressing the vessel’s evident need for assistance.

All eyes turned away from Israel’s war crime and toward Malta. Sandwiched between Zionist political pressure from Israel on one side, and on the other side, pressure from international humanitarian groups, the Maltese authorities were thrown into the spotlight as the potential villains. The Maltese people, along with the internationals, were ready to hold a protest in the capital city of Valletta in support of the humanitarian venture. However the protest was called off after it appeared that the crew and supporters of the ‘Conscience’ were in genuine negotiations with the Maltese Government.

This is a narrative that is still unfolding. It remains to be seen how the Maltese authorities will respond, however whatever the outcome of the negotiations between the activists and the Maltese Government, we must remind ourselves that the real villain here is, not Malta, but Israel. If justice is ever to be achieved, the Israeli Government must be held accountable for its ongoing theft and coveting of Palestinian land. Only then will Palestinians be free of this hundred year plus catastrophe that has led to displacement, occupation, and genocide.

Heather Stroud is an activist

9 May 2025

Source: countercurrents.org

By Maung Zarni

A book review of an influential report on Eichmann’s trial by Hannah Arendt – slightly older than   me – published in Jan. 1963.  I came out of my mother’s womb 60 days after the review was printed in the NYRB.

I used to have a copy of the book itself.  I moved at least 15 times to about 6 countries in 36 years.   In one of the moves I must have lost some books – including a hard copy of my PhD thesis and Arendt’s classic.

I don’t think I read Death in Jerusalem cover to cover.   But “the banality of evil” continues to be highly contested – its meaning or applicability is far from being settled among those of us who take words seriously.

One of my late teachers at Wisconsin, Bob Koehl was typically keen to point out how adept (and deceptive) his own subjects of study – the SS – were: liquidation, administrative custody, and a whole cluster of euphemisms that concealed their most criminal deeds.

I saw one of the most infamous documents in history – the Final Solution – on display in a dimly lit glass showcase in the Jewish History Museum at the old Warsaw Ghetto.   A copy really.

An English translation of a particular way of killing the Jews stays with me:  “natural or environmental factors” will do their jobs as well, or something to that effect.

I look at the USA, ICE, Trump, Musk, Patel etc.  And I look at Israel in Gaza and Palestine.

Chillingly, I  feel that the Trump gang and Israel are far more evil than the Nazis or individuals like Himmler or Heydrich or Eichman.

The Nazis felt a need to conceal their real intent and euphemisize their crimes or cover their tracks (like burning documents and blowing up crematorium) or making light of their fear and loathing of the European Jews  in their statements to the American psychologists at the Nuremberg (in the case of Goering, for instance).

After I spoke on the Rohingya genocide at the online bi-annual conference hosted by Auschwitz during the Covid lockdown, I flew to the museum in order to explore ways to promote genocide awareness and use the museum’s darkly iconic standing as an instrument for prevention of more genocide.    (Well, the Museum issued a statement supporting Israel’s right to defend a week after October 7 – so much for my grossly misplaced hope or expectations for these Holocaust memorial sites and museums globally.  That’s a story for another day.  The Polish museum  administrators at Auschwitz too live in their own “zone of interest”, no doubt).

At the museum, the deputy archivist gave me a one-on-one talk on how Auschwitz does the documentation.  He said the Nazis destroyed 90+ % of their documentary evidence.

In sharp contrast, both the Trump Inc. American Nazis and Bibi-Gvir-Smotrich Jewish Nazis  don’t feel a need to conceal anything.

That’s why the Jewish American political commentator Katie Halper publicly called Israel and Zionism the greatest threats to the Jewish people around the world.

Watch her here:
https://www.instagram.com/share/reel/BAKYhb0wH3

I am cutting and pasting the full text of this review below.

Warmly,

Zarni
_____________________________________________

“The picture Hannah Arendt paints is extremely depressing with respect to the past, and very alarming for the future. She points out that there is now a historic precedent for genocide, and given the conditions likely soon to confront governments as the result of the population explosion, it is only too possible that excuses will be found to follow the Nazi precedent, covering it over, of course, with the methods of a less primitive bureaucracy, with subtler euphemisms, officialese and new language rules.”

“Eichmann’s mind was ruined by miseducation before it was distorted by politics. And even supposing that a man like Eichmann can get into a powerful position, should not one expect that in a civilized country Eichmann’s clichés, his “language rules,” his evasions and euphemisms would have made him ludicrous to an educated public? Perhaps the greatest delusion of the Germans about themselves is that they are a cultivated, educated people. But then, when it comes to resisting the “language rules” used by politicians (the existence of the H-bomb has created a whole new vocabulary of evasions), who is today resisting?”
“Miss Arendt’s underlying theme is the corruption of individual or personal values by grandiose, perverted social aims which see people not as individuals but as the object of statistical calculations, as disposable, even interchangeable, social units.”

The most deeply distressing pages in this book—pages which will doubtless give rise to the most bitter recriminations—are those in which Miss Arendt discusses the cooperation of the Jewish Councils and of certain Zionist leaders or representatives with the Nazis. Within the context of war and of Nazi corruption, the interests of the officials representing Nazis and Jews could appear to merge and become at some points the same. The one part of Eichmann’s story which he never abandoned in the trial was that in Vienna in 1938 when he had been in charge of “forced emigration” (i.e. expelling the Jews from Austria), “he and his men and the Jews were all ‘pulling together’…. The Jews ‘desired’ to emigrate and he, Eichmann, was there to help them, because it so happened that at the same time the Nazi authorities had expressed the desire to see their Reich judenrein.” So the Jewish leaders would meet Eichmann in a cordial atmosphere (he even shook hands with them, and seemed in his behavior “perfectly correct”) to arrange, sometimes, for the emigration of the “best Jews” to Palestine. The aims of the Jews and the Nazis coincided at a time when both sides could agree that there were “good Jews” who qualified for salvation, “bad” ones who could be disregarded.

The New York Review

Death in Jerusalem

Stephen Spender

June 1, 1963 issue

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today said Trump administration officials must “finally speak out” after Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich reportedly said Gaza will soon “be completely destroyed” and its population “will leave in large numbers to third countries.”

In a statement, CAIR said:

“Trump administration officials, including President Trump himself, must finally speak out against the clear and unambiguous genocidal aims and actions of the Netanyahu regime, which our own government has supported and enabled in the past 19 months and in past decades.

“Benjamin Netanyahu and many other Israeli officials will go down in history as genocidal war criminals. American officials must act to avoid a similarly disgraceful fate.”

CAIR noted that a well-known Israeli TV producer recently called for a “Gaza holocaust, gas chambers.” Elad Barashi post on X: “Good morning, let there be a Shoa (Holocaust) in Gaza.”

Israeli Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu compared Israel’s new war plans in Gaza to the 1948 mass displacement of Palestinians, known as the “Nakba.”

Yesterday, CAIR said President Trump “must stop the Netanyahu regime before it completes the genocide in Gaza” after Israel approved plans to occupy all of Gaza indefinitely, to ethnically cleanse most of the area and to concentrate the population in camps in the south where they would be fed limited rations by U.S. contractors.

Also yesterday, CAIR said Israel’s acts of inhumanity in Gaza must be stopped after video was posted online of Israeli occupation forces in Gaza blowing up a building as part of a “gender reveal” celebration.

Israel has slaughtered more than 52,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children. Since Israel broke the ceasefire in March, its forces have murdered more than 800 Palestinian children.

Amnesty International: Two months of cruel and inhumane siege are further evidence of Israel’s genocidal intent in Gaza

Over the weekend, CAIR said “international law no longer exists” after another Palestinian child reportedly died of Israeli-imposed – and U.S.-supported – forced starvation in Gaza.

CAIR’s mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.

La misión de CAIR es proteger las libertades civiles, mejorar la comprensión del Islam, promover la justicia, y empoderar a los musulmanes en los Estados Unidos.

Do you like reading CAIR press releases and taking part in our action alerts? You can help contribute to CAIR’s work of defending civil rights and empowering American Muslims across the country by making a one-time contribution or becoming a monthly donor. Supporters like you make CAIR’s advocacy work possible and defeating Islamophobia an achievable goal. Click here to donate to CAIR.

You are receiving this email due to your interest selection from commercial media databases. If you would like to join CAIR’s media list, please sign up here: https://action.cair.com/a/newsletters — For more information, email: info@cair.com, CC ihooper@cair.com

END

CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com

6 May 2025

Source: cair.com

By Prof. Junaid S. Ahmad

What was feared has happened. India has launched military strikes deep inside Pakistan, and Islamabad claims to have retaliated in kind. The spark? A terrorist attack over a week ago in Indian-administered Kashmir. As has become tradition, New Delhi wasted no time in pointing the finger at Islamabad, offering no concrete evidence—only the kind of certainty that usually accompanies nationalist fervor, not legal proceedings. Pakistan, for its part, condemned the attack and pledged cooperation in any investigation—knowing full well it would be ignored.

But behind this theatrical display of missiles and national outrage lies something far more cynical: two deeply unpopular regimes, in both India and Pakistan, seizing upon the ever-reliable bogeyman of war to shore up domestic support and distract from the fires burning at home. When bread runs out, regimes turn to circuses—and nothing dazzles quite like the possibility of Armageddon.

Let’s start with Islamabad. Pakistan’s military establishment—those men in khaki suits who’ve mistaken the country for a perpetual garrison—are enduring perhaps their most despised moment in history. The once-loyal Punjab, long the spiritual and electoral base of military chauvinism, now joins other provinces in loathing a military high command that has transformed repression into an art form. The generals have done everything short of banning oxygen to keep Imran Khan and his party out of politics—and one wouldn’t put that past them either.

Censorship, arrests, disappearances—Pakistan has perfected the autocrat’s handbook with a bureaucratic blandness that almost makes the tyranny seem procedural. The result? A nation under undeclared martial law, ruled by a civil-military clique so paranoid and unpopular that only the looming threat of nuclear war could momentarily pull public attention away from their totalitarian grip. If nothing else, Pakistanis may be surprised that the generals finally mustered the courage to fight an external enemy, rather than their favorite punching bag: the Pakistani people themselves.

But don’t let New Delhi off the hook. Narendra Modi, once the unassailable darling of Hindutva nationalists, is now a leader in slow decline. His iron grip on Indian politics has loosened, though not from lack of trying. With elections on the horizon and criticism mounting—from rising unemployment to a backfiring agricultural policy—the Indian prime minister did what all authoritarian populists do when the economy falters or the media turns curious: he found an enemy at the border.

In a ritual that now borders on parody, India claims to have targeted “terrorist training camps” inside Pakistan. These claims have been made many times before, and are typically shown to be fabricated or exaggerated—but they serve a purpose. They allow Modi to appear tough, feed the Hindutva base, and deflect attention from the ongoing brutality in Kashmir, where homes are razed, children jailed, and collective punishment has been elevated to statecraft. New Delhi, it seems, has been taking notes from Tel Aviv’s colonial playbook—and learning fast.

India’s media, meanwhile, has abandoned any pretense of journalism. Television studios have morphed into war rooms, with anchors playing generals and hashtags replacing facts. Debate has been replaced with chest-thumping monologues; dissent, with treason accusations. It’s infotainment for the fascist age, and business is booming.

Of course, when nuclear powers start lobbing missiles and shooting down aircrafts, the stakes rise well beyond cynical domestic theatrics. Pakistan says it downed five Indian fighter jets in response, and India, predictably, denies it. Somewhere between truth and propaganda, two nuclear arsenals inch closer to an exchange that would turn subcontinental politics into radioactive dust.

To make matters worse, India’s rumblings about walking back its commitments under the Indus Water Treaty—a pillar of regional stability since 1960—are nothing short of a death sentence for Pakistan. That treaty isn’t a diplomatic nicety; it’s a lifeline. Pakistan’s agriculture, drinking water, and even electricity generation depend on it. Tampering with it is tantamount to biological warfare via drought.

Yet, amid all this regional madness, the broader geopolitical chessboard looms large. This isn’t just a local blood feud—it’s a subplot in a much grander drama, with Washington, Beijing, and Moscow lurking in the wings.

Sources in Washington—always eager to play puppet-master—have privately admitted they had advance notice of India’s strikes. That’s a diplomatic euphemism. In reality, the U.S. didn’t just nod; it winked, nudged, and handed over the coordinates. Why? Because the Pentagon’s patience with Pakistan has run dry. Once tolerated as a duplicitous “ally” in the War on Terror, Pakistan is now seen as something worse: China’s friend.

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)—that ambitious project linking Xinjiang to the Pakistani port of Gwadar—has become a red flag in Washington. Not just figuratively, but literally. Gwadar isn’t just a trade route; it’s a potential naval base for Beijing. And in today’s rebooted Cold War, that makes Pakistan a problem to be handled, not a partner to be engaged.

The generals in Islamabad, in an almost comedic display of desperation, are reportedly offering Beijing more than just port access—they’re practically renting out the coastline. A few years ago, this would have drawn quiet reprimands from the Americans. Now it elicits overt threats. The message from Washington is clear: you’re either with us or with the Chinese. There is no non-aligned movement in Cold War 2.0.

Meanwhile, the ‘strategic depth’ Pakistan’s generals hoped for in Afghanistan—after years of grooming the Taliban—has vanished. The Taliban now flirts with both New Delhi and, astonishingly, Washington. It turns out you can’t buy loyalty with ideology, especially when there’s money, power, and recognition on the table. Like everyone else in this geopolitical theatre, the Taliban has learned that neutrality is for losers—and cash is king.

So what we are witnessing isn’t just another border skirmish. It’s the convergence of decaying leadership, imperial recalibrations, and regional ambitions—all playing out in a nuclear theatre. It’s reality television for the geopolitically deranged, except this show has no reruns—only fallout.

And amid this grotesque spectacle, who speaks for the people of Kashmir? Thousands remain imprisoned, families mourn their disappeared, and homes continue to be bulldozed into oblivion. Their suffering, once the moral center of the regional discourse, has been reduced to a mere footnote in the war games of old men with delusions of empire. No one listens. No one dares. Kashmir, for all its tragedy, has become too inconvenient for the international conscience.

Yes, we’ve seen these “ego strikes” and retaliations before. But each time, the world inches closer to catastrophe. You can only play chicken with nuclear war so many times before the laws of probability catch up. And this time, the brinkmanship feels less like diplomacy and more like death wish in formal attire.

Still, there’s one thing you can count on in South Asian politics: if things are bad, they can always get worse. And if the generals, strongmen, and foreign powers have their way, they will.

Prof. Junaid S. Ahmad teaches Law, Religion, and Global Politics and is the Director of the Center for the Study of Islam and Decolonization (CSID), Islamabad, Pakistan.

7 May 2025

Source: countercurrents.org

Two Months Under Siege: UN Palestinian Rights Committee Bureau Demands Immediate Lifting of Gaza Blockade and Welcomes Ongoing ICJ Proceedings 

06 May 2025

The Bureau of the UN Palestinian Rights Committee condemns the unfolding events since the collapse of the Gaza ceasefire on 18 March and the illegal blockade and siege imposed since 2 March 2025 by Israel, the occupying power, that has cut off all food, fuel, medicine, and commercial supplies to the Palestinian civilian population and has already taken thousands of lives through bombardment and deprivation since it broke the ceasefire. Since 18 March, more than 2,308 Palestinians have been killed, part of over 52,400 killed and 118,000 injured, the majority of them women and children, since 7 October 2023, amid relentless bombardment and blockade.

It has been two unbearable months of Israeli siege upon more than two million people of the Gaza Strip, children, women, older persons, youth and ordinary people who are being collectively punished. The UN World Food Programme’s announcement on 25 April 2025 of the delivery of its last remaining stocks of food, underscores the life and death urgency of the situation which will silently kill even more children and women. Israel’s punitive action, preventing all humanitarian access to Gaza, has compounded conditions of starvation, spread of diseases and deprivation among a population of more than 1.9 million forcibly and repeatedly displaced. Such measures flagrantly violate international humanitarian and human rights law, defy the most basic principles of humanity, and must end immediately.

The Committee Bureau calls for an immediate ceasefire and permanent ceasefire, in line with Security Council resolution 2735 (2024), and for the immediate, unconditional lifting of the blockade, the sustained flow of food, water, fuel, medicine, and other essentials, and full protection for humanitarian personnel and for the civilian population in accordance with international law.

We reject any proposals to displace Palestinians from Gaza under the guise of so-called “voluntary migration” or “redevelopment” to entrench this unlawful occupation. These proposals are inhumane and illegal. We urge Member States, the Security Council, and all parties with influence to act now before more Palestinian civilians brutally lose their lives.  The catastrophic situation in Gaza highlights the importance of the Committee Bureau-endorsed ongoing advisory proceedings before the International Court of Justice on whether Israel violates international law as it prevents the UN, international humanitarian organization and states from providing humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians under its brutal occupation. We urge the Court to issue its opinion swiftly, as its guidance is indispensable at this critical juncture and will serve as further guidance for Member States to act in line with their legal, political and humanitarian responsibilities.

The upcoming High-Level International Conference in June, co-chaired by France and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, presents a timely and vital opportunity to mobilize renewed international support toward ending the Israeli unlawful occupation, realizing the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people and establishing a viable two-States solution for achieving a just and lasting solution to the Question of Palestine. The UN Palestinian Rights Committee stand ready to contribute actively to this effort and strongly support the objectives of the Conference.

END

****

By Jeffrey D. Sachs

The best strategy for the superpowers is to stay out of each other’s lanes.

21 Apr 2025 – President Donald Trump is again loudly complaining that the US military bases in Asia are too costly for the US to bear.  As part of the new round of tariff negotiations with Japan and Korea, Trump is calling on Japan and Korea to pay for stationing the US troops.  Here’s a much better idea: close the bases and return the US servicemen to the US.

Trump implies that the US is providing a great service to Japan and Korea by stationing 50,000 troops in Japan and nearly 30,000 in Korea.  Yet these countries do not need the US to defend themselves.  They are wealthy and can certainly provide their own defense.  Far more importantly, diplomacy can ensure the peace in northeast Asia far more effectively and far less expensively than US troops.

The US acts as if Japan needs to be defended against China.  Let’s have a look.  During the past 1,000 years, during which time China was the region’s dominant power for all but the last 150 years, how many times did China attempt to invade Japan?  If you answered zero, you are correct.  China did not attempt to invade Japan on a single occasion.

You might quibble.  What about the two attempts in 1274 and 1281, roughly 750 years ago? It’s true that when the Mongols temporarily ruled China between 1271 and 1368, the Mongols twice sent expeditionary fleets to invade Japan, and both times were defeated by a combination of typhoons (known in Japanese lore as the Kamikaze winds) and by Japanese coastal defenses.

Japan, on the other hand, made several attempts to attack or conquer China.  In 1592, the arrogant and erratic Japanese military leader Toyotomi Hideyoshi launched an invasion of Korea with the goal of conquering Ming China.  He did not get far, dying in 1598 without even having subdued Korea.  In 1894-5, Japan invaded and defeated China in the Sino-Japanese war, taking Taiwan as a Japanese colony.  In 1931, Japan invaded northeast China (Manchuria) and created the Japanese colony of Manchukuo.  In 1937,  Japan invaded China, starting World War II in the Pacific region.
Nobody thinks that Japan is going to invade China today, and there is no rhyme, reason, or historical precedent to believe that China is going to invade Japan.  Japan has no need for the US military bases to protect itself from China.

The same is true of China and Korea.  During the past 1,000 years, China never invaded Korea, except on one occasion: when the US threatened China.  China entered the war in late 1950 on the side of North Korea to fight the US troops advancing northward towards the Chinese border.  At the time, US General Douglas MacArthur recklessly recommended attacking China with atomic bombs.  MacArthur also proposed to support Chinese nationalist forces, then based in Taiwan, to invade the Chinese mainland. President Harry Truman, thank God, rejected MacArthur’s recommendations.
South Korea needs deterrence against North Korea, to be sure, but that would be achieved far more effectively and credibly through a regional security system including China, Japan, Russia, North Korea, South Korea, than through the presence of the US, which has repeatedly stoked North Korea’s nuclear arsenal and military build-up, not diminished it.

In fact, the US military bases in East Asia are really for the US projection of power, not for the defense of Japan or Korea.  This is even more reason why they should be removed.  Though the US claims that its bases in East Asia are defensive, they are understandably viewed by China and North Korea as a direct threat – for example, by creating the possibility of a decapitation strike, and by dangerously lowering the response times for China and North Korea to a US provocation or some kind of misunderstanding.  Russia vociferously opposed NATO in Ukraine for the same justifiable reasons.  NATO has frequently intervened in US-backed regime-change operations and has placed missile systems dangerously close to Russia.  Indeed, just as Russia feared, NATO has actively participated in the Ukraine War, providing armaments, strategy, intelligence, and even programming and tracking for missile strikes deep inside of Russia.

Note that Trump is currently obsessed with two small port facilities in Panama owned by a Hong Kong company, claiming that China is threatening US security (!), and wants the facilities sold to an American buyer.  The US on the other hand surrounds China not with two tiny port facilities but with major US military bases in Japan, South Korea, Guam, the Philippines, and the Indian Ocean near to China’s international sea lanes.

The best strategy for the superpowers is to stay out of each other’s lanes.  China and Russia should not open military bases in the Western Hemisphere, to put it mildly.  The last time that was tried, when the Soviet Union placed nuclear weapons in Cuba in 1962, the world nearly ended in nuclear annihilation.  (See Martin Sherwin’s remarkable book, Gambling with Armageddon for the shocking details on how close the world came to nuclear Armageddon).  Neither China nor Russia shows the slightest inclination to do so today, despite all of the provocations of facing US bases in their own neighborhoods.

Trump is looking for ways to save money – an excellent idea given that the US federal budget is hemorrhaging $2 trillion dollars a year, more than 6% of US GDP.  Closing the US overseas military bases would be an excellent place to start.

Trump even seemed to point that way at the start of his second term, but the Congressional Republicans have called for increases, not decreases, in military spending.  Yet with America’s 750 or so overseas military bases in around 80 countries, it’s high time to close these bases, pocket the saving, and return to diplomacy.  Getting the host countries to pay for something that doesn’t help them or the US is a huge drain of time, diplomacy, and resources, both for the US and the host countries.

The US should make a basic deal with China, Russia, and other powers.  “You keep your military bases out of our neighborhood, and we’ll keep our military bases out of yours.” Basic reciprocity among the major powers would save trillions of dollars of military outlays over the coming decade and, more importantly, would push the Doomsday Clock back from 89 seconds to nuclear Armageddon.

Jeffrey D. Sachs, Professor of Sustainable Development and Professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University, is Director of Columbia’s Center for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.

5 May 2025

Source: transcend.org

By Oneindia

25 Apr 2025 – NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte met with President Trump to discuss the upcoming NATO summit. A key topic was the increase in European and Canadian defence spending. Rutte praised Trump for encouraging NATO allies to invest more in their security. He promised that NATO will become stronger and fairer with trillions in defence funding.

Rutte discussed the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict. He noted that the situation is now in Russia’s hands. Trump’s peace deal is still being developed. NATO unity and defence priorities remain important. Rutte expressed optimism about recent progress in peace talks.

He highlighted that NATO has already increased spending by hundreds of billions. This amount is expected to grow to trillions in the coming years. This increase will help ensure safety and strengthen NATO’s defence capabilities.

The meeting included Secretary Rubio, Secretary Hackset, and Security Advisor Mike Wolfson. They all expressed excitement about the increased defence spending. The goal is for European and Canadian contributions to match those of the U.S.

Rutte mentioned a successful meeting in London, but refrained from commenting on specific details. He emphasised that Russia is seen as a long-term threat to NATO and Euro-Atlantic territories.

The focus remains on ensuring that NATO becomes stronger and more balanced in its defence efforts. The increased spending aims to make NATO more capable of defending its territories effectively.

NATO chief Mark Rutte faces the media after meeting with Trump

5 May 2025

Source: transcend.org

By Ghalia Mohamed

Social media users condemned Israel’s drone strike on the vessel and demanded international action.

2 May 2025 – Social media has erupted in anger after Israeli drones struck a ship with 30 rights activists and humanitarian aid headed for the besieged Gaza Strip.

By Palestine Chronicle Staff

Israeli soldiers forced an 80-year-old Palestinian man to walk ahead of them with an explosive-laced strap around his neck—then shot him and his wife as they tried to flee.

3 May 2025 – A senior officer in the Nahal Brigade tied an explosive-laced strap around the neck of an 80-year-old Palestinian man and forced him to walk ahead of soldiers as a human shield for eight hours, according to an investigation by Israeli outlet The Hottest Place in Hell.

The incident reportedly took place in May during an operation by Division 99 in the Zaytoun neighborhood of Gaza City.

According to testimonies from Israeli soldiers present, the officer attached a detonating fuse—connected to an initiating detonator—around the elderly man’s neck as a leash, threatening to blow up his head if he disobeyed orders.

“They explained to him that if he did something wrong or not as we wanted, the person behind him would pull the rope and his head would be severed from his body,” one soldier told the investigative outlet.

“He walked around with us like that for eight hours, even though he was an 80-year-old man and even though he couldn’t escape us. And this was in the knowledge that there was a soldier behind him who could pull the rope at any second—and he would be finished.”

According to the report, the Israeli military refers to this practice as the ‘Mosquito Procedure’, a euphemism for forcing Palestinian civilians to serve as human shields in combat zones.

Forced into Danger, Then Shot by Another Unit 

TO CONTINUE READING Go to Original 

5 May 2025

Source: transcend.org

By Ann Garrison

The U.S. increases pressure on Burkina Faso through military propaganda, as Africans rise to protect the developing project.

30 Apr 2025 – On April 3, US Africa Command (AFRICOM) Commander Michael Langley testified to the Senate Armed Services Committee during an excruciating two hours obsessively devoted to the ill-fated project of preserving US hegemony. Langley’s testimony was all about stopping Russia and China’s advances on the continent. Some Senators expressed concern that Trump had dispensed with the soft power—their term—projected by USAID and worried that China is stepping in to fill the breach.

Alarm bells went off in Africa, the African diaspora, and peace and justice communities all over the world when he turned attention to Burkina Faso and its leader, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, accusing him of using the gold reserves he nationalized “to protect his junta.”

It would be challenging, of course, to come up with a more arrogant, illogical, and downright idiotic assertion.  The head of AFRICOM, a military command openly devoted to securing US interests, with a $2 billion dollar annual budget, accuses an African leader of devoting his own country’s resources to its security?

In a pathetic attempt to give this a bit of humanity or legitimacy, Langley complained that Traoré was using the country’s gold to finance his own security rather than for the benefit of his people, as though there were some universe in which this was a plausible US concern. In the same breath he described North Africa as “NATO’s southern flank.”

Since mid-April a slew of social media posts have reported that the Burkina Faso diaspora, particularly in France, have been protesting and demanding that Captain Traoré step down, accusing him of being a dictator, with some even calling for his arrest. None of these posts are conclusively evidenced, and their scale, sometimes described as “hundreds” or a “small group,” varies across reports. No major news outlets seem to have reported such protests, but real or not, they’re a classic element in the Western regime change playbook.

Human Rights Watch has been playing its usual role as well, reporting that Burkina Faso has cracked down on dissent and that some members of its civilian militia, Volunteers in Defense of the Homeland (VDH), have killed members of the Fulani ethnic minority. It seems likely that there is some incidence of VDH violence against the Fulani, but this is an internal problem for the Burkinabe people and their government, not cause for the “humanitarian intervention” that’s usually on the US/EU/NATO drawing board before these reports are published. Watch out for the emergence of the word “genocide.”

Volunteers in Defense of the Homeland are civilian self-defense militia organized to defend communities against the jihadist violence unleashed by the US/EU/NATO destruction of Libya. In response to Ibrahim Traoré’s mobilization call, the numbers of volunteers increased to 90,000, well beyond the goal of 50,000, according to ACLED .

These are Western playbook moves for overthrowing any government that actually tries to do something for its people in the Global South.

Traoré’s Crimes, in the Eyes of the West

What are Traoré’s crimes in the eyes of the West? As Langley alleged, he nationalized much of the country’s gold reserves. Imagine that. In November 2023, he approved the construction of Burkina Faso’s first refinery to process gold domestically, halting the export of unrefined gold to Europe and advancing the industrialization and skills development needed to create a prosperous domestic economy and lift the Burkinabe people out of the imperialist extractive economy trap.

He suspended export permits for small-scale private gold production to combat illicit trade, such as smuggling, and to regulate the artisanal gold sector.

He renegotiated mining contracts with foreign corporations, demanding greater percentages of ore extracted and favoring local participation, again developing skills needed for a complex, prosperous domestic economy.

He prioritized local processing in other sectors, such as agriculture and cotton. He established two tomato-processing plants and a second cotton processing plant, alongside the National Support Center for Artisanal Cotton Processing, to enhance local value addition and further reduce reliance on exporting raw materials.

In a broader push for economic autonomy, he invested in agriculture to achieve food self-sufficiency, providing farmers with modern machinery and improved seeds, leading to a 2024 harvest of nearly six million tons of cereal.

He expelled French military forces from Burkina Faso. In January 2023, he announced the termination of a 2018 defense agreement with France, giving French forces one month to leave. This followed public protests in Ouagadougou demanding their departure. They’d been stationed in the country for over a decade to combat jihadist insurgencies, which had only gotten worse. By February 2023, French forces had withdrawn , marking the end of their failed Operation Sabre.

He established military sovereignty and diversification of military partnerships, including partnerships with Russia.

Upon assuming the presidency, he announced that he would continue to live on his army captain’s salary.

He appealed to the Pan-Africanist ideals of Burkina’s revolutionary leader Thomas Sankara, who served as its president from 1983 to 1987 before being assassinated in a French-backed coup d’état. He erected a new statue of Sankara on the site where he was assassinated,

Africa, the African Diaspora, and Peace and Justice Communities Rise in Response to Langley’s Threat to Traoré

On April 22, Burkina Faso’s Security Minister Mahamadou Sana told press that security forces had foiled a “major plot” to assassinate Captain Ibrahim Traoré, with the army alleging the plotters were based in neighboring Ivory Coast. He said they had aimed to “sow total chaos and place the country under the supervision of an international organisation.” This is one of many coup plots reported since Traoré assumed the presidency, and heavy security has been instituted around him.

AFRICOM’s annual Operation Flintlock is underway now, until May 14. This year it’s based in Burkina Faso’s Ivory Coast, the alleged site of the foiled coup plot, whose president, Alassane Ouattara, could not be a more dedicated US/EU/NATO collaborator .

Commander Michael Langley arrived for its outset on April 24-25 .

When Commander Michael Langley identified Captain Traoré as an enemy of US interests to the Senate Armed Services Committee, alarm bells went off in Africa, the African diaspora, and peace and justice communities worldwide. There have since been cries that there must never be another Libya all over social media, including countless YouTube channels. A global rally in support of Captain Traoré and Burkina Faso was called for April 30 , the date of this publication. News and video will no doubt be available across the Web.

Long live revolutionary Burkina Faso and its Captain Ibrahim Traoré!

Ann Garrison is an independent journalist based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

5 May 2025

Source: transcend.org