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By Uriel Araujo

On Tuesday, Paris lifted a state of emergency it had declared two weeks ago in its overseas territory of New Caledonia. France, however, is maintaining a night curfew and is also reportedly sending another 480 paramilitary gendarmes, in a development that is not getting that much press coverage internationally. Restrictions are being eased on the main pro-independence FLNKS party. This was a response to about two weeks of unrest and riots, with food shortages and millions of dollars’ worth of damage. Last week, French President Emmanuel Macron flew to the archipelago in an attempt to diminish the turmoil, much to no avail.

The Melanesia archipelago of Nouvelle-Calédonie or New Caledonia (native pro-independence groups prefer to call it Kanaky), located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, about 1,200 east of Australia, is part of the so-called Overseas France or France ultramarine (France d’outre-mer), which is a generic term for about 13 French territories outside of Metropolitan France (and outside of Europe). Those are basically the remains of the French colonial empire, which remained part of France after decolonization, in different ways and under various statuses.

New Caledonia is an interesting case of its own. It was annexed by Paris in 1853. Since the 1998 Nouméa Accord, it has been a “statut particulier” (or sui generis) collectivity. Although it is one of the EU’s Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs), it is not part of the European Union itself. It has a population of about 270 thousand people. According to the 2019 census, about 40% of its population is part of the Kanak people, an indigenous Melanesian ethnic group. Only 24% report belonging to the French European community, while other (minority) groups, such as the Javanese, Algerian, and others, also make up the archipelago’s diverse population.

The political unrest was mostly triggered by a complicated and controversial voting reform which would grant voting rights to over 12,000 people belonging to the local population and more than 13,000 French citizens who have lived there for at least 10 years. Since the aforementioned 1998 Nouméa Accord, over 40,000 European French nationals have moved to New Caledonia. Even though the reform was supposedly intended to grant the Kanaks better political representation, with its intricacies, it could result in almost one in five voters becoming disenfranchised, some claim. With the new law, the total number of voters could increase by 14.5%, but such a scenario troubles many Kanak groups, most of which support independence. They worry about losing electoral weight with a reform they see as an ethnopolitical maneuver to further marginalize them.

Such reasoning makes sense, after all, there have been thus far three recent referendums on independence in the archipelago. At the first two, Paris loyalists won by a tiny margin, whereas the 2021 referendum was boycotted by the Kanaks due to pandemic restrictions. Politically speaking, the future of that territory remains debated, with a new referendum being discussed.

Macron has halted the reform which triggered what he described as an “insurrection”. Reportedly, over 2,700 gendarmerie and police authorities will be employed in the archipelago to maintain order, in any case.

Now, one can try to imagine for a moment how much different the Western press coverage and Western leaders’ reactions would be if a similar crisis were to unfold involving not Paris, but, say, Beijing or Moscow dealing with ethnopolitical unrest over voting rights in some “overseas territory” (if such analogous situation existed at all –  a few short-lived settlements aside, Russia for instance never had ultramarine colonies).

One does not need that much imagination: sure enough, already in 2022, the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, a US government agency, part of the part of the US Helsinki Commission, published a report called “Decolonizing Russia: a moral and strategic objective” – the title is quite self-explaining: it is about dismantling the Russian multinational federation (Article 3 of the Russian Constitution) for geopolitical purposes. That in itself was not new in fact:  the late Zbigniew Brzezinski, influential diplomat and national advisor, famously called for the further fragmentation of Russia (after the collapse of the Soviet Union). In his 1997 Foreign Affairs piece, he called for a “loosely confederated Russia – composed of a European Russia, a Siberian Republic and a Far Eastern Republic.” Brzezinski advocated all this while also speaking about “America’s global primacy”, of course.

Back to France, it currently faces its own geopolitical crisis in Africa today, as exemplified by the recent disasters in Niger, Mali and Chad. Five military agreements with France were revoked by the Nigerien military government in August last year, and the last contingent of the 1,500 troops Paris deployed in Niger left in December.

Military presence in Africa and voting rights of native ethnic groups in the Pacific are not the only political issues haunting Paris. Both the West African CFA franc, and the Central African CFA franc are colonial currencies issued by Paris to this day –  CFA standing for “Communauté Financière Africaine” (French for “African Financial Community”). Since 1945, the notes have been produced by the Bank of France at Chamalières.

As I wrote before, this monetary situation, with a fixed exchange rate, has affected Central African and West African economies, according to Landry Signé, a senior fellow in the Global Economy and Development Program and the Africa Growth Initiative at the Brookings Institution. And it has sparked demonstrations and anti-French sentiment in various African countries. In this context, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is planning to introduce its own common currency for its members by 2027.

Today, discourses on “decoloniality” and “woke” agendas are increasingly part of the (US-led) Euro-Atlantic alliance’s soft power, which is quite ironic. It is hard to imagine a US Commission report calling for the “decolonizing” of France as a “moral objective”, for that matter. It would not be too far-fetched, however, to describe Paris today as an increasingly aggressive neocolonial power. The crisis in New Caledonia is a clear example of a French colonial Empire’s contested legacy that remains unresolved – and thousands of gendarmerie are not going to solve it.

Uriel Araujo is a researcher with a focus on international and ethnic conflicts. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

31 May 2024

Source: globalresearch.ca

By John Perry

When Nicaragua accused Germany of aiding and abetting Israel’s genocide in Gaza at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) last month, readers of corporate media might have seriously wondered whether Nicaragua’s case had any legitimacy. 

The case targeted Germany as the second biggest supplier of arms to Israel, because the US, Israel’s biggest supplier, does not accept the court’s jurisdiction on this issue. The object (as Nicaragua’s lawyer explained) was to create a precedent with wider application – that countries must take responsibility for the consequences of their arms sales to avoid them being used in breach of international law.

Many in corporate media took a more jaundiced view. The Financial Times led by telling readers, “The authoritarian government of Nicaragua accused Germany of ‘facilitating genocide’ in Gaza at the opening of a politically charged case.” The second paragraph in a New York Times article cited “experts” who saw it “as a cynical move by a totalitarian government to bolster its profile and distract attention from its own worsening record of repression.” The Guardian qualified its comment piece by remarking that “Nicaragua is hardly a poster child when it comes to respect for human rights.”

Double standards are evident here. If the US government were to do what it has failed to do so far, and condemn Israel’s genocidal violence, Western corporate media would not remind readers of US crimes against humanity, such as the Abu Ghraib tortures, extraordinary renditions or the hundreds imprisoned without trial at Guantánamo. It’s hard to imagine Washington would be accused of “hypocrisy” (Guardian) for calling out Israel’s crimes. Any condemnation of Israel by the US or one of its Western allies would be taken at face value—in clear contrast to the media’s treatment of such action by an official enemy country like Nicaragua.

Of establishment media, Spain’s El Pais was perhaps the most vitriolic in its portrayal of Nicaragua. Its piece on the court case was headlined “The Worst Version of Nicaragua Against the Best Version of Germany.” “The third international court case on the Gaza war pits a regime accused of crimes against humanity against a strong and legitimate democracy,” the piece explained. “It may be a noble cause, but its champion couldn’t be worse.”

The paper commented rather oddly that Germany was “at its finest” arguing the case, and that its “defense against Nicaragua’s charges is solid and its legitimacy as a democratic state is unassailable”—a comment presumably intended to contrast its legitimacy with “the Nicaraguan dictatorship.”

In addition to its article cited above, the New York Times had a report more focused on the case itself. However, it was CNN and Al Jazeera that stood out as covering the case on its own merits rather than being distracted by animosity toward Nicaragua.

The negative presentation in much of the media was repeated when, later in April, they headlined that Nicaragua’s request had been “rejected” by the ICJ, with the New York Times again remembering to insert a derogatory comment about Nicaragua’s action being “hypocritical.” These followup reports largely overlooked the impact the case had on Germany’s ability to further arm Israel during its continued assault on Gaza.

Nicaraguan ‘Nazis’

Corporate media had been gifted their criticisms of Nicaragua by a report published at the end of February by the UN Human Rights Council. A “group of human rights experts on Nicaragua” (the “GHREN”) had produced its second report on the country. Its first, last year, had accused Nicaragua’s government of crimes against humanity, leading to this eyebrow-raising New York Times headline: “Nicaragua’s ‘Nazis’: Stunned Investigators Cite Hitler’s Germany.”

The GHREN’s leader, German lawyer Jan-Michael Simon, had indeed likened the current Sandinista government to the Nazis. Times reporter Frances Robles quoted Simon:

“The weaponizing of the justice system against political opponents in the way that is done in Nicaragua is exactly what the Nazi regime did,” Jan-Michael Simon, who led the team of U.N.-appointed criminal justice experts, said in an interview.

“People massively stripped of their nationality and being expelled out of the country: This is exactly what the Nazis did too,” he added.

It’s quite an accusation, given that the Nazis established over 44,000 incarceration camps of various types and killed some 17 million people. Robles gave few numbers regarding the crimes Nicaragua is accused of, but did mention 40 extrajudicial killings in 2018 attributed to state and allied actors and noted that the Ortega government had in 2023 “stripped the citizenship from 300 Nicaraguans who a judge called ‘traitors to the homeland.’”

Robles also quoted Juan Sebastián Chamorro, a member of the Nicaraguan oligarchic family who are among the Sandinista government’s fiercest opponents; Chamorro claimed there was evidence of “more than 350 people who were assassinated.” Even if true, this would seem to be a serious stretch from “exactly what the Nazis did.” 

Like most Western reporters, Robles—who also wrote the recent ICJ piece for the Times—gave no attention to the criticisms of the GHREN’s work by human rights specialists who argued that the GHREN did not examine all the evidence made available to it and interviewed only opposition sources. For example, former UN independent expert Alfred de Zayas castigated its first report in his book The Human Rights Industry, calling it a “political pamphlet” intended to destabilize Nicaragua’s government. 

Even if one takes the GHREN account at face value, the Gaza genocide is at least 100 times worse in terms of numbers of fatalities, quite apart from other horrendous elements, such as deliberate starvation, indiscriminate bombing, destruction of hospitals and much more. It’s unclear why the accusations against Nicaragua should delegitimize the case against Germany.

Hague History

Many media reports did mention Nicaragua’s long history of support for Palestine—which undermines the accusation of cynicism underlying the case—but few noted the Latin American country’s history of success at the Hague. As Carlos Argüello, the Nicaraguan ambassador to the Netherlands who took the lead at the ICJ, pointed out, Nicaragua has more experience at the Hague than most countries, including Germany. This began with its pioneer case against the US in 1984, when it won compensation of £17 billion (that was never paid) for the damage done to Nicaragua by the US-funded Contra war and the mining of its ports.

One notable exception to that historical erasure came from Robles at the Times, who did refer to the 1984 case. But the point was clearly not to remind readers of US crimes or to demonstrate that Nicaragua is an actor to be taken seriously in the realm of international law. The two academics she quoted both served to portray the current case as merely “cynical.”  

The first, Mateo Jarquín, Robles quoted as saying that the Sandinista government has “a long track record…of using global bodies like the ICJ to carve out space for itself internationally—to build legitimacy and resist diplomatic isolation.” Robles didn’t disclose Jarquín’s second surname, Chamorro. Like her source in the earlier article, he is a member of the family that includes several government opponents.

Robles also quoted Manuel Orozco, a former Nicaraguan working at the Washington-based Inter-American Dialogue, whose major funders include the US Agency for International Development and the International Republican Institute, notorious for their role in promoting regime change, including in Nicaragua. Orozco told Robles that “Nicaragua lacks the moral and political authority to speak or advocate for human rights, much less on matters of genocide.”

“Effectively Siding with Germany”

On April 30, the ICJ declined to grant Nicaragua its requested provisional measures against Germany, including requiring the cessation of arms deliveries to Israel. Headlining this outcome, the Associated Press said the court was “effectively siding with Germany.” The outlet did, however, continue by explaining that the court had “declined to throw out the case altogether, as Germany had requested” and will hear arguments from both sides, with a resolution not likely to come for years. 

That was better than NPR’s report, which only mentioned that the court was proceeding with the case in its final paragraph.  

But German lawyer and professor Stefan Talmon clarified that the court’s ruling “severely limits Germany’s ability to transfer arms to Israel.” 

“The court’s order was widely interpreted as a victory for Germany,” Talmon commented. “A closer examination of the order, however, points to the opposite.” He concluded that although the ICJ did not generally ban the provision of arms to Israel, it did impose significant restrictions on it by emphasizing Germany’s obligation to “avoid the risk that such arms might be used to violate the [Genocide and Geneva] Conventions.” 

And Talmon pointed out that the court appeared to make its decision that an order to halt war weapons shipments was unnecessary based on Germany’s claim that it had already stopped doing so. 

“By expressly emphasizing that, ‘at present’, circumstances did not require the indication of provisional measures, the Court made it clear that it could indicate such measures in the future,” Talmon wrote. 

Establishment media, seemingly distracted by the “hypocrisy” of Nicaragua challenging a country whose “legitimacy as a democratic state is unassailable,” mostly failed to notice that its legal efforts were therefore at least partially successful: It forced Germany to back down from its unstinting support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza, and alerted German politicians to the fact that they are at risk of being held accountable under international law if they transfer any further war weapons. 

John Perry is based in Masaya, Nicaragua and writes for the London Review of Books, Covert Action, Global Research, The Council on Hemispheric Affairs, Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting, Counterpunch, The Grayzone and other publications.

31 May 2024

Source: globalresearch.ca

By Philip Giraldi

The Jewish Virtual Library asserts that

“The US-Israel relationship is based on the twin pillars of shared values and shared interests. Given this commonality of interests and beliefs, it should not be surprising that support for Israel is one of the most pronounced and consistent foreign policy values of the American people.”

That is, of course, the big lie among the many that constitute the tie that binds the two countries together.

The back-up lies, regularly spouted in Congress, are that Israel is a democracy and an ally. It is, of course neither, as it is a Jews-only apartheid regime that has no fixed borders and no reciprocal security arrangements with the US. Israel and its promoters never tell the truth, particularly when they are conning the United States government into providing more money and more weapons, as has been occurring both openly and secretly over the past eight months during the horrific ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians.

So how does it happen, particularly as Israel is manifestly evil in terms of its treatment of the Palestinians as well reckless in its aggression directed against neighbors like Lebanon and Syria. That it is not also bombing Egypt and Jordan is largely attributable to the billions of dollars in aid that the US gives to those countries conditional on their maintaining a wobbly modus vivendi with the aggressive and nuclear armed Zionists.

Given the wonderful comfort zone that Israel has established largely due to US protection in international bodies like the United Nations and the UN Security Council as well as vis-à-vis the several international courts and humanitarian aid agencies, Israel has been regularly attacking and otherwise killing its neighbors without ever being held accountable for anything. It is a pattern that is particularly visible now as the slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza approaches the 50,000 mark, consisting mostly of women and children. The recent outrageous assault on the Tal al Sultan neighborhood refugee camp near Rafah, which killed at least 45 and included graphic photography of a burning child’s body without a head as well as other still flaming and smoking corpses, was directed against homeless Gazans living in tents who had previously been driven from their destroyed homes in the northern part of the country. And to the eternal shame of Biden and company, the slaughter used US-made and supplied weapons.

Add to the carnage the famine that is now threating to kill tens of thousands more Palestinians due to the Israeli government and its extremist settlers blocking the entry of food supplies and the scale of Israel’s chosen genocidal actions can be appreciated. Netanyahu’s claim that the army only used small munitions in Rafah and was targeting two Hamas officials hiding among the civilians was as usual a lie and the camp otherwise had no significance as a military target. Israel has followed up on the attack with another bombing run on nearby al-Mawasi the following night which killed more than twenty and the Jewish state’s tanks are now penetrating deep into the city no doubt preceding an infantry assault that could kill tens of thousands more. One senior Israeli government official is now predicting that the war will continue until the end of the year, another seven months, success apparently being measured by arriving at a point when Hamas and all other hostile Palestinians will be either killed or deported.

Following the Rafah slaughter, there no doubt occurred the mandatory phone call exchange between a sneering Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the grinning mental giant President Joe Biden, no doubt including Bibi’s expressing thanks for the American weaponry reportedly used in the killing. It’s really great when you don’t even have to pay for the weapons used to murder someone. To show his appreciation of the Israeli gratitude Biden no doubt muttered a phrase engraved on his prefrontal lobes, i.e. “Israel has a right to defend itself!” The transnational interaction presumably also produced the typical flatulence that emerges from the White House propaganda machine. Biden, in a bid to make it look like he was actually pressuring Israel to reduce civilian casualties, had previously warned that a full-scale invasion of Rafah would be hard to support and would be considered a “red line” issue, but it was a political stunt that he never intended to carry out apart from one delayed arrival of a shipment of the super heavy 2000 pound bombs. Many Americans, indeed a majority, are rightly deeply upset about the support of the US military and government for Israel’s latest war and an addled Biden is now counting votes while pretending to have humanitarian concerns.

Biden’s America Surrenders to War Criminal Netanyahu

Even so, the White House did not go so far as to blame the Israelis for their overreach. At a press conference, Biden’s National Security communications officer John Kirby, who reportedly was an Admiral once upon a time, possibly on the Good Ship Lollypop, articulated how

“You’ve all seen the images, they’re heartbreaking, they’re horrific. There should be no innocent life lost here as a result of this conflict. Israel, of course, has a right to go after Hamas… As a result of this strike on Sunday, I have no policy changes to speak to. It just happened. The Israelis are going to investigate it. We’re going to be taking great interest in what they find in that investigation.”

Image: Rachel Corrie was an American member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). She was crushed to death in the Gaza Strip by an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) bulldozer when she was kneeling in front of a local Palestinian’s home. Photograph by Denny Sternstein. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Sure you are John, and it will be a great and thorough investigation by Israel just like it was in the cases of the dead Americans on board the USS Liberty, peace activist Rachel Corrie, journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and, most recently, the 80 year old American citizen Omar Abdalmajeed As’ad who was beaten to death by elements in Israel’s “most moral army in the world” after being detained for the crime of having been walking in his West Bank village.

Why are Joe and company such dedicated dissimulators of the truth when it comes to Israel and all its malignant works? It is because of an entity known euphemistically as the Israel Lobby but which I much prefer to describe more accurately as the Jewish Money In Politics Entity (AIPAC, ADL and others) supported by the Scofield Bible Zio-Christian Crowd headed by clowns like House Speaker Mike Johnson. I know it’s a mouthful but that is what it is. Israel does not obtain US uncritical and overwhelming support because its behavior deserves it or because it serves American interests but rather because of all that money judiciously applied to corrupt the government at all levels and to buy and control the message of the media and entertainment industries. Professor John Mearsheimer, co-author of 2007’s The Israel Lobby, has long claimed that “Israel’s backers will go to silence anyone who challenges their narrative.” But according to Mearsheimer, something changed because of October 7^th:

“The big difference is that the lobby’s activities are completely out in the open today. I think few people knew much about the lobby back then. And very few people knew much about the lobby’s influence on American foreign policy, especially as it applies to the Middle East. And I think that we helped to expose that and now more people understand what’s going on. The lobby is now forced to operate much more out in the open.”

Pari passu, all that corruption judiciously applied is serving to strip Americans of their fundamental rights, particularly freedom of speech, as it will soon by illegal to criticize either Jews or Israel. And don’t expect any relief coming from the national election in November if there is a GOP victory in the form of Donald Trump and possibly Nikki Haley or some creature like that as a Ziocon replacement part. Trump sold out on every conceivable issue for Israel back in 2016-20 and would do it again. The Republicans have been striving to become the new party of “Israel First” as they want to steal away all that cash and media support from the Democrats. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina has been calling for nuking Gaza while Nikki has been in Israel signing on bombs to be dropped on the Pals with a purple marker: “Finish Them! America [Loves] Israel.” Her urging of a foreign military funded and armed by the US government to kill refugees living in tents after the destruction of their homes might be considered the cruelest way to endorse mass murder, but hey, Israel always comes first in the thinking of most Congressmen and those who are unfortunately sitting in the White House.

There is also legislation in the pipeline being pushed by the Republicans opposing any attempts by the White House to try to condition behavior by suspending weapons shipments to good friend and ally Israel, not that Biden would really go that route. The Congress has also been putting intense pressure on universities to clamp down on Pro-Palestinian groups on campus by claiming they are antisemites while not doing the same vis-a-vis the sometimes violent supporters of Israel, and the universities are obliging, canceling the graduation of protesters or even expelling them.

Donald Trump has recently told a largely Jewish audience that he will deport any anti-Israel protesters if he becomes president, an interesting proposal as most of those demonstrating are native born American citizens and many of them are Jewish. He has also called on Israel to “finish” what it is doing to the Palestinians, clearly meaning that they should be exterminated or forced to emigrate, and has also told Jewish donors that today’s atmosphere in the US is very much like “before the holocaust.” No longer the loudmouth who called for an end to foolish wars, Trump has now in addition said that if he had been president when the Russian intervention into Ukraine had taken place, he would have bombed them. Likewise for China if it were to attack Taiwan. Either move would almost certainly start World War 3 even though neither Ukraine nor Taiwan is a vital security interest of the US but Trump is too stupid to know that. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is, for his part, urging that the US release for deployment in Ukraine advanced missile systems that would be able to strike deep into Russia. As dumb ideas go that it about as dumb as it gets, as the Russians have already indicated that they would respond with everything they have, meaning US military targets worldwide would be considered fair game for retaliation possibly using nuclear weapons.

We have truly been entering into something that might be entitled the Psycho Zone if it were to be made into a movie. War is being treated by the sociopaths in Washington, Israel and parts of Europe as if it something to be casually entered into in one’s spare time. There is even talk in both the US and UK as well as in some other European capitals about initiating active conscription at a close to war level so we freedom lovers can sock it to those Russkies and Chinks good and proper. And as for the Palestinian trash, the Biden pontoon bridge that cost $320 million appears to be broken but it can still be used to carry out Netanyahu’s plan to push a bunch of screaming Ay-rabs into the Mediterranean Sea to get rid of them for once and for all. Hopefully they can’t swim and the Chosen ones will again be able to take possession of what was given to them by Yahweh. Or something like that.

*

Philip M. Giraldi, Ph.D., is Executive Director of the Council for the National Interest, a 501(c)3 tax deductible educational foundation (Federal ID Number #52-1739023) that seeks a more interests-based U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East.

30 May 2024

Source: globalresearch.ca

By Michel Chossudovsky

An earlier version of this article was published by Global Research.

The substack text was revised and expanded on May 25-26, 2024

Introduction

There is a complex history behind Israel’s October 2023 plan to “Wipe Gaza off the Map”. It’s “an ongoing genocide”, an absolute slaughter, coupled with atrocities.

It’s a criminal undertaking based on Israel’s doctrine of “Justified Vengeance” which was first formulated in 2001.

The “Justified Vengeance” doctrine propounds in no uncertain terms that Palestine (despite its limited military capabilities) is “the Aggressor” and that “Israel has the right to defend itself” which since October 7, 2023 consists in the conduct of a carefully planned genocide against the People of Palestine. 

Paul Larudee begs the question:

“Is there a point at which the genocide in Gaza becomes egregious enough to provoke other countries to directly intervene in the Gaza Strip to prevent further genocide?

Can Israel exterminate the entire population without anyone stopping them?”

The answer to that question is provided by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the form of a despicable set of accusations directed against Palestinians who are the victims of  “An Act of Genocide” instigated by Israel with the unbending support of most Western governments.

False Flag. “Palestine Attacks Israel”

Below is the statement of the ICC Prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan (KC) which accuses Hamas of committing crimes against humanity as well as war crimes, while carefully ignoring the evidence pertaining to Israel’s “false flag” operation which has resulted quite “deliberately” —on behalf of the Netanyahu government— in deaths of innocent Israeli civilians.

Palestinian Children: The Victims of Israeli atrocities

It Was Not a “Surprise Attack”

Military operations are invariably planned well in advance.  The October 7, 2023 “Operation Al-Aqsa Storm” was not a “surprise attack”.  It was a False Flag operation carried out by a “faction” (intelligence assets) within Hamas, in close liaison with Mossad and U.S. intelligence. 

According to Dr. Philip Giraldi, a renowned analyst and former CIA official:

As a former intelligence officer, I find it impossible to believe that Israel did not have multiple informants inside Gaza as well as electronic listening devices all along the border wall which would have picked up movements of groups and vehicles.

In other words, the whole thing might be a tissue of lies as is often the case. (October 8, 2023)

According to  Efrat Fenigson, former IDF intelligence official (published on October 7, 2023)

There’s no way Israel did not know of what’s coming.

How come border crossings were wide open?

Something is VERY WRONG HERE, something is very strange, this chain of events is very unusual and not typical for the Israeli defense system.

To me this surprise attack seems like a planned operation. On all fronts. 

The Features of the Gaza Fence largely confirm the above statements by Giraldi and Fenigson:

According to Israel’s defence ministry “the barrier includes hundreds of cameras, radars and other sensors, it spans 65km

The ministry said the project’s “smart fence” is more than six metres high and its maritime barrier includes means to detect infiltration by sea and a remote-controlled weapons system.

See also the following article:

Section Commander of the Gaza Fence: “The obstacle is built so that even a fox cannot pass it”. They Let It Happen. The Hamas Attack Was Allowed to Close the Book on Palestine.

By. Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, General Herzl Halevi, and Prof Michel Chossudovsky, October 9, 2023

MICHEL CHOSSUDOVSKY – MIDDLE EAST WAR: A FALSE FLAG LEADING TO MORE FALSE FLAGS?

It should be understood that the implementation of the False Flag was carefully coordinated with Israel’s “Act of Genocide” directed against the People of Palestine.

On that same day of October 7, 2023 Netanyahu launched a military operation against the Gaza Strip entitled “State of Readiness For War”.  

Had  “Operation Al-Aqsa Storm” been a “surprise attack” as parroted by the media, Netanyahu’s “State of Readiness For War” could not have been carried out (at short notice) on that same day, namely October 7, 2023.

There is A Long History of Israeli False Flags

The late  Prof Tanya Reinhart confirmed the formulation in 1997 of a False Flag Agenda entitled “The Green Light to Terror” which consisted in promoting (engineering) suicide attacks against Israeli civilians, citing “the Bloodshed as a Justification” to wage war on Palestine:

“…This is the “green light to terror” theme which the Military Intelligence (Ama”n) has been promoting since 1997, when its anti-Oslo line was consolidated. This theme was since repeated again and again by military circles, and eventually became the mantra of Israeli propaganda… (See Chossudovsky, October 23, 2023)

There is continuity: Israel’s Military Intelligence remains in charge of implementing false flag operations coupled with “Acts of Genocide” directed against Palestine.

For details and analysis on False Flags, See:

Is the Gaza-Israel Fighting “A False Flag”? They Let It Happen? Their Objective Is “to Wipe Gaza Off the Map”?

By Philip Giraldi and Prof Michel Chossudovsky, May 24, 2024

“Israel is the Victim of Palestinian Aggression”. The International Criminal Court (ICC) Accuses Palestine

In a bitter irony, the ICC Prosecutor’s accusations against Hamas (representing the People of Gaza) which include alleged acts of “Extermination”, “Murder” and “Torture” suggest that the State of Israel rather than Palestine is the victim of Genocide. 

According to the ICC Statement, Palestine’s alleged “Act of Aggression” against Israel consists in:

• Extermination as a crime against humanity, contrary to article 7(1)(b) of the Rome Statute;
• Murder as a crime against humanity, contrary to article 7(1)(a), and as a war crime, contrary to article 8(2)(c)(i);
• Taking hostages as a war crime, contrary to article 8(2)(c)(iii);
• Rape and other acts of sexual violence as crimes against humanity, contrary to article 7(1)(g), and also as war crimes pursuant to article 8(2)(e)(vi) in the context of captivity;
• Torture as a crime against humanity, contrary to article 7(1)(f), and also as a war crime, contrary to article 8(2)(c)(i), in the context of captivity;
• Other inhumane acts as a crime against humanity, contrary to article 7(l)(k), in the context of captivity;
• Cruel treatment as a war crime contrary to article 8(2)(c)(i), in the context of captivity; and
• Outrages upon personal dignity as a war crime, contrary to article 8(2)(c)(ii), in the context of captivity.

What  these insidious legal statements imply is that the ICC has de facto given “its stamp of approval” to Israel’s “Justified Vengeance” against the People of Palestine, which is currently ongoing. The atrocities committed against Palestinians are beyond description:

”burnt alive after Israeli forces bombed tents”

Accusations against Hamas

‘Inasmuch as the issue of the False Flag (despite extensive evidence) has been casually dismissed by the ICC, as well as by Western governments and the media, the accusations against Hamas are meaningless. They should be withdrawn.

The ICC has also denied “Palestine’s Right to Resist Israeli Occupation” under the Fourth Protocol of the Geneva Convention.

International law is unambiguous in its endorsement of “armed struggle” for peoples who seek self-determination under “colonial and foreign domination.”

United Nations resolution 37/43, dated 3 December 1982, “reaffirms the legitimacy of the struggle of peoples for independence, territorial integrity, national unity and liberation from colonial and foreign domination and foreign occupation by all available means, including armed struggle.” Palestine Chronicle (emphasis added)

The Endgame is the Exclusion of Palestinians from their Homeland.

The Lie has become the Truth

Amply documented Israel is involved in acts of “Extermination” against Palestinians.

Yet it is Israel which is described by the ICC as the “Victim of Palestinian Aggression.” 

Genocide and False Flags

While the ICC fails to acknowledge the conduct of a “False Flag”, numerous documents, witnesses and statements, confirm Israel’s False Flag initiative.

In a bitter irony, the False Flag Attack Strategy had been acknowledged by Netanyahu in consultation with the Likud Party. It comes from the Horse’s Mouth:

“Anyone who wants to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state has to support bolstering Hamas and transferring money to Hamas,” he [Netanyahu] told a meeting of his Likud party’s Knesset members in March 2019. “This is part of our strategy – to isolate the Palestinians in Gaza from the Palestinians in the West Bank.” (Haaretz, October 9, 2023, emphasis added)

Moreover, “Transferring Money by the Netanyahu government to Hamas intelligence assets” was confirmed in a Times of Israel October 8, 2023 Report:

“Hamas was treated as a partner to the detriment of the Palestinian Authority to prevent Abbas from moving towards creating a Palestinian State.

Hamas was promoted from a terrorist group to an organization with which Israel conducted negotiations through Egypt, and which was allowed to receive suitcases containing millions of dollars from Qatar through the Gaza crossings.” (emphasis added)

The False Flag operation was used to justify the conduct of a carefully planned “Genocide”.

The Evidence

There are numerous government documents which describe in detail the planning and conduct of the genocide.

What we have on record (which is the object of our analysis) is:

 An official  memorandum –released and declassified (made public) on October 13, 2023– by Israel’s Ministry of Intelligence, which confirms Israel’s planning of a Genocide against the People of Palestine.

This intelligence memorandum was prepared well in advance of October 7, 2023.

It was available to the ICC Team.

The thrust of the document describes what is currently unfolding, namely the Exclusion of Palestinians from Their Homeland.

This is Israel’s Plan (Before our Very Eyes)

“The forcible and permanent transfer of the Gaza Strip’s 2.2 million Palestinian residents to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula”.

It’s a longstanding and carefully prepared initiative by Israel’s Ministry of Intelligence, which was declassified on October 13, 2023, namely one week after the commencement of the invasion of the Gaza Strip.

Concurrently, Israel’s Ministry of Intelligence was responsible for the implementation of the False Flag.

Option. C. The Evacuation of the Civilian Population from Gaza to the Sinai

click here or below to access complete document (10 pages)

The Option C Blueprint: A Criminal Endeavour

Destroy Palestine as a Nation State and Exclude Palestinians from their Homeland.

The Overthrow of Hamas is contemplated, which if carried out would no doubt result in the implementation of the three ICC Hamas Arrest Warrants.

Option C. calls for:

“The Evacuation of the civilian population from Gaza to Sinai”

See details below (emphasis added)

“Israel is to act to evacuate the civilian population to Sinai. In the first stage, tent cities will be established in the area of Sinai.

“The next stage includes the establishment of a humanitarian zone to assist the civilian population of Gaza and the construction of cities in a resettled area in northern Sinai.

A sterile zone of several kilometers should be created within Egypt, and the return of the population to activities/residences near the border with Israel should not be allowed.

In addition, a security perimeter should be established in our [Israel’s] territory near the border with Egypt. (Option C)

There are various military and operational dimensions which are currently being implemented.

Whereas the killings, destruction and the engineered famine are not acknowledged in the official government document, they are an integral part of the Option C. Agenda:

“Hunger is a creeper. People will survive for months on their bodily reserves and on the little food they can scrape together.

But suddenly, people get under the absolute minimum in bodily assets and mass deaths will start on an industrial scale.

Once erupted, hunger and disease deaths will be enormous.

Holocaust – death brought by Israel on civilians on industrial scale will erupt, if this is not reversed NOW. (Karsten Riise)

With regard to propaganda, lobbying and public relations, the focus is on:

“harnessing the support of the United States and additional pro-Israeli countries for the endeavor”. (Text of Option C)

The role of Egypt in Option C is of course crucial:

“Egypt has an obligation under international law to allow the passage of the  population.

Israel must act to promote a broad diplomatic initiative aimed at countries that will support assisting the displaced population and agree to absorb them as refugees.(Option C)

Solidarity with Palestine

It is important as part of the Palestine solidarity movement that Option C be fully understood. It is a criminal endeavor. It is part of Israel’s “Act of Genocide”.

The State of Israel is in blatant violation of the Genocide Convention.

For further details and analysis: click here to access complete document (10 pages).

See also:  “Wiping Gaza Off the Map”: Israel’s “Secret” Intelligence Memorandum “Option C” by Michel Chossudovsky

The ICC Prosecutor is a “Double Speak”.

We are dealing with an absurd “upside down rhetoric” “Mundus inversus” on the part of the ICC Prosecutor.

While the ICC Prosecutor accuses Palestine, he rightfully acknowledges the crimes committed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, specifically with regard to the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare.

This issue is fundamental. Starvation in the Gaza Strip is ongoing. It’s a crime against humanity. It’s Genocide.

“For nearly 8 months, Israel still chokes off nearly all food and other vital supplies to Gaza.

Gaza needs 500 trucks of supply every day, and near-nothing is coming through.

The US pier supplies 25-50 trucks per day, and everything else is closed.

With irregular intervals, reports have come the past months, but never about more than some 100 or 150 trucks on a few days.

Reports about starvation are made public, and this is obviously getting worse. (Karsten Riise, communication to the author)

ICC Prosecutor Karim A. A. Khan’s presentation is cautious.

He essentially contends that “crimes have been committed by both sides” while intimating that “The Fourth Military Power” on the Planet, “Has a Right to Defend Itself” (in the words of Joe Biden on October 7).

The False Flag which constitutes a crime against humanity, is not addressed by the ICC, nor is the issue of the Genocide against the People of Palestine.

Netanyahu and Gallant are “The Fall Guys”

“ICC prosecutor Karim Khan KC issued a statement [on May 20] proposing that arrest warrants are issued for Mr Netanyahu, Israel’s defence minister Yoav Gallant, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed al-Masri, Hamas’s military chief, and Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s political leader. (Independent)

Karim Khan’s allegations directed against Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant which are fully corroborated, coupled with arrest warrants, are intent to:

—reach out and mislead the anti-Zionist peace movement,

—provide a sense of (fake) “legitimacy” to the ICC’s far-reaching accusations against Palestine (“extermination and murder”).

—provide a “human face” to Karim Khan KC

Nowhere in the ICC Prosecutor’s report is the issue of “Israel’s genocide directed against the People of Palestine” mentioned.

In this regard, the Arrest Warrants directed by the ICC against the three Hamas leaders serve to:

1. “Side Track” the Strategic Role of the “False Flag Operation“
2. Refute the very existence of a Genocide,
3. Endorse Israel’s “Act of Self Defense” against Palestine.

In regards to the arrest warrants directed against Netanyahu and Gallant, it is highly unlikely that they will be carried out.

(Netanyahu already has a criminal record. In November 2019, he was officially “indicted for breach of trust, accepting bribes, and fraud”)

Of relevance, the CIA has been operating in the background in collaboration with Israeli intelligence.

There are unspoken strategic objectives.

In mid-May 2024, CIA Director Bill Burns was in Cairo for negotiations behind closed doors with both Israeli and Hamas officials, regarding a possible ceasefire.

The three arrest warrants directed against the leaders of Hamas are intended to “confirm” that the alleged October 7, 2023 Act of “Aggression” against Israel was NOT (despite evidence) part of a “False Flag” (i.e. inside intelligence op. carefully coordinated by Israeli and U.S. intelligence).

The ICC Arrest Warrants directed against Netanyahu and Gallant (which will never be carried out), serve the useful purpose of placing the blame while at the same time deflecting our understanding as to who from a strategic standpoint is behind the conduct of the Genocide directed against the People of Palestine. 

What this does is to distract public opinion. It misleads the peace movement. It creates divisions within the solidarity movement with Palestine.

Big Money Economic Interests

Bear in mind there are powerful economic interests which are supportive of the Genocide. They have their eyes on Gaza’s Multibillion Offshore Maritime Gas Reserves.

Video: “Wiping Gaza Off The Map”: Big Money Agenda. Confiscating Palestine’s Maritime Natural Gas Reserves

By Felicity Arbuthnot and Prof Michel Chossudovsky, April 23, 2024

Anglo-America Controls the ICC and the ICJ

The U.N based judicial system is composed of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court (ICC), both of which have deliberately ignored the issue of Genocide against Palestine.  

The False Flag issue –which constitutes a crime against humanity on the part of Israel and the U.S. has been  has been casually ignored:

By the International Court of Justice (ICJ): Chief Justice Donahue, former adviser to Hillary Clinton (January 2024)

By the International Criminal Court (ICC). Prosecutor, Karim Khan, K.C. (King’s Counsel). (May 2024)

The Mandate of the International Criminal Court (ICC)

Click to access the ICC Website

Visibly the stated mandate of “Trying Individuals for Genocide” on the ICC’s top banner does not apply to “individuals” including government officials of the State of Israel.

—Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research, May 24, 2024

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ANNEX

Statement of ICC Prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan KC:

Applications for arrest warrants in the situation in the State of Palestine

link to the ICC

20 May 2024

Today I am filing applications for warrants of arrest before Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court in the Situation in the State of Palestine.

(link to the ICC)

On the basis of evidence collected and examined by my Office, I have reasonable grounds to believe that Yahya SINWAR (Head of the Islamic Resistance Movement (“Hamas”) in the Gaza Strip), Mohammed Diab Ibrahim AL-MASRI, more commonly known as DEIF (Commander-in-Chief of the military wing of Hamas, known as the Al-Qassam Brigades), and Ismail HANIYEH (Head of Hamas Political Bureau) bear criminal responsibility for the following war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on the territory of Israel and the State of Palestine (in the Gaza strip) from at least 7 October 2023:

• Extermination as a crime against humanity, contrary to article 7(1)(b) of the Rome Statute;
• Murder as a crime against humanity, contrary to article 7(1)(a), and as a war crime, contrary to article 8(2)(c)(i);
• Taking hostages as a war crime, contrary to article 8(2)(c)(iii);
• Rape and other acts of sexual violence as crimes against humanity, contrary to article 7(1)(g), and also as war crimes pursuant to article 8(2)(e)(vi) in the context of captivity;
• Torture as a crime against humanity, contrary to article 7(1)(f), and also as a war crime, contrary to article 8(2)(c)(i), in the context of captivity;
• Other inhumane acts as a crime against humanity, contrary to article 7(l)(k), in the context of captivity;
• Cruel treatment as a war crime contrary to article 8(2)(c)(i), in the context of captivity; and
• Outrages upon personal dignity as a war crime, contrary to article 8(2)(c)(ii), in the context of captivity.

My Office submits that the war crimes alleged in these applications were committed in the context of an international armed conflict between Israel and Palestine, and a non-international armed conflict between Israel and Hamas running in parallel. We submit that the crimes against humanity charged were part of a widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population of Israel by Hamas and other armed groups pursuant to organisational policies. Some of these crimes, in our assessment, continue to this day.

My Office submits there are reasonable grounds to believe that SINWAR, DEIF and HANIYEH are criminally responsible for the killing of hundreds of Israeli civilians in attacks perpetrated by Hamas (in particular its military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades) and other armed groups on 7 October 2023 and the taking of at least 245 hostages. As part of our investigations, my Office has interviewed victims and survivors, including former hostages and eyewitnesses from six major attack locations: Kfar Aza; Holit; the location of the Supernova Music Festival; Be’eri; Nir Oz; and Nahal Oz. The investigation also relies on evidence such as CCTV footage, authenticated audio, photo and video material, statements by Hamas members including the alleged perpetrators named above, and expert evidence.

It is the view of my Office that these individuals planned and instigated the commission of crimes on 7 October 2023, and have through their own actions, including personal visits to hostages shortly after their kidnapping, acknowledged their responsibility for those crimes. We submit that these crimes could not have been committed without their actions. They are charged both as co-perpetrators and as superiors pursuant to Articles 25 and 28 of the Rome Statute.

During my own visit to Kibbutz Be’eri and Kibbutz Kfar Aza, as well as to the site of Supernova Music Festival in Re’im, I saw the devastating scenes of these attacks and the profound impact of the unconscionable crimes charged in the applications filed today. Speaking with survivors, I heard how the love within a family, the deepest bonds between a parent and a child, were contorted to inflict unfathomable pain through calculated cruelty and extreme callousness. These acts demand accountability.

My Office also submits there are reasonable grounds to believe that hostages taken from Israel have been kept in inhumane conditions, and that some have been subject to sexual violence, including rape, while being held in captivity. We have reached that conclusion based on medical records, contemporaneous video and documentary evidence, and interviews with victims and survivors. My Office also continues to investigate reports of sexual violence committed on 7 October.

I wish to express my gratitude to the survivors, and the families of victims of the 7 October attacks, for their courage in coming forward to provide their accounts to my Office. We remain focused on further deepening our investigations of all crimes committed as part of these attacks and will continue to work with all partners to ensure that justice is delivered.

I again reiterate my call for the immediate release of all hostages taken from Israel and for their safe return to their families. This is a fundamental requirement of international humanitarian law.

Benjamin Netanyahu, Yoav Gallant

On the basis of evidence collected and examined by my Office, I have reasonable grounds to believe that Benjamin NETANYAHU, the Prime Minister of Israel, and Yoav GALLANT, the Minister of Defence of Israel, bear criminal responsibility for  the following war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on the territory of the State of Palestine (in the Gaza strip) from at least 8 October 2023:

• Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare as a war crime contrary to article 8(2)(b)(xxv) of the Statute;
• Wilfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health contrary to article 8(2)(a)(iii), or cruel treatment as a war crime contrary to article 8(2)(c)(i);
• Wilful killing contrary to article 8(2)(a)(i), or Murder as a war crime contrary to article 8(2)(c)(i);
• Intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population as a war crime contrary to articles 8(2)(b)(i), or 8(2)(e)(i);
• Extermination and/or murder contrary to articles 7(1)(b) and 7(1)(a), including in the context of deaths caused by starvation, as a crime against humanity;
• Persecution as a crime against humanity contrary to article 7(1)(h);
• Other inhumane acts as crimes against humanity contrary to article 7(1)(k).

My Office submits that the war crimes alleged in these applications were committed in the context of an international armed conflict between Israel and Palestine, and a non-international armed conflict between Israel and Hamas (together with other Palestinian Armed Groups) running in parallel.

We submit that the crimes against humanity charged were committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack against the Palestinian civilian population pursuant to State policy. These crimes, in our assessment, continue to this day.

Click here to read the full text.

Michel Chossudovsky is an award-winning author, Professor of Economics (emeritus) at the University of Ottawa,Founder and Director of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG), Montreal, Editor of Global Research.

24 May 2024

Source: michelchossudovsky.substack.com

By  Junaid S. Ahmad

Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Shahbaz Sharif, declared 28 May to be a public holiday. The House of Sharif, the family in control of one of the two dynastic political parties (the PML-N) of Pakistan, chose to remind the population that this was the day, in 1998, when Pakistan openly launched tests of its nuclear weapons. This was done in response to India’s nuclear test which was undertaken a few weeks before. Although the prime minister of the time, Nawaz Sharif, the current prime minister’s brother, wanted to remain in Washington’s good books, Pakistan’s rulers, especially the military top brass, felt it was absolutely essential to respond in kind to New Delhi’s brazenly dangerous act.

Islamabad was willing to face the repercussions of its nuclear tests, and the US duly slapped devastating sanctions on the Islamic Republic immediately. Pakistan’s ruling elite employed a nationalist narrative that attempted to affirm the country’s sovereignty. The reality was that — as is the case of most of these imperialist sanctions — the only people who would have to endure and survive (or not) such Western economic warfare were the already disenfranchised and exploited vast majority of ordinary Pakistanis. The political and business elites would continue to enjoy lavish lifestyles. The rulers deployed rhetoric about “Pakistanis willing to eat grass” in order to defend the country’s nuclear programme. What this camouflaged and obfuscated was the fact that those already so impoverished were already on the brink of “eating grass”, and that they would be the people who would continue to do so with US sanctions on the country.

“The already well off would continue to eat their five-course meals, on the backs and blood of the social majorities.

Nevertheless, the hoo-ha about this day is just one more attempt by the prime minister to obtain a minimal level of legitimacy in a country that mostly detests the regime installed by Pakistan’s generals. This sentiment is not only found in ousted and jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s political party, the PTI, but also across society and among those of varying ideological orientation. The population at large has had enough of the political musical chairs of both the House of Sharif and the House of Bhutto-Zardari, the latter being the family controlling the other major dynastic political party in the country, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).

The celebration of “nuclear test day” by Sharif and the generals is meant to be a “show of strength” by a country whose rulers are desperate to demonstrate how they can stand up to any power trying to interfere in and violate Pakistan’s sovereignty. At least, that’s what they want the country’s people to believe. In reality, such asinine theatrics conceal the colossal cowardice of the country’s military and civilian elite.

The fact that this clownish military-civilian regime prioritises its “military prowess” because of its nuclear tests in 1998 is not only absurd, but also scandalous and even criminal at this juncture. Pakistan has the world’s fifth largest population, and sixth largest — and nuclear armed — military. It seems that this regime, like others before it, loves to showcase its ostensibly strong military via such meaningless gestures. And in this period of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, having a public holiday to celebrate the Pakistani armed forces’ capabilities and gallantry reveals the shameful and tragic embarrassment which characterises the country’s rulers.

There has been a serious and necessary question mark over the past few months about what concrete actions countries, particularly those in the Muslim world, can undertake to help stop Israel’s savage assault against the Palestinians in Gaza. The legitimate popular criticism and condemnation of Muslim rulers’ unwillingness to act beyond mere rhetorical flourishes is palpable throughout the world of Islam.

Putting aside the valid claims of the pre-existing criminality of the Pakistani military top brass, the nation’s — and indeed, the world’s — people are livid that the whole weight of the armed forces are not deployed by the generals, even as a warning that Islamabad will confront Tel Aviv in some way if the genocide continues. How difficult would it be for Pakistan’s armed forces, perhaps joined by others in a coalition, merely to announce that they will be leading a protection force for the suffering people of Gaza?

“Even the hint of such a force would surely make Zionists think twice before continuing their butchery.

Alas, Pakistan’s generals remain fairly consistent in their worldview: facilitate imperial hegemony as best as possible at any given time, and be more than willing to position and utilise the country’s troops to murder its own population, which is done abundantly in provinces such as KPK and Balochistan. The military high command had few qualms about submitting to the “War on Terror” and losing tens of thousands of its own soldiers within the country’s own borders.

When one indulges in an even cursory and preliminary conversation with ordinary Pakistanis, it becomes obvious how incensed they are at Israel and the spineless rulers of Pakistan. In fact, the indignation — even among those sections of the population that face repression inside the country — is reaching levels whereby many are speaking of a “people’s army” to defend the Palestinians from Israelis.

Until the generals and their civilian pals in the House of Sharif and House of Bhutto-Zardari use the country’s armed forces for something useful, like protecting a besieged population, they will be ridiculed, and rightly so. However, even a minimal moral-ethical impulse may be too much to ask of the nation’s vicious elites. Pakistan is now seen as a “paper tiger” that has miraculously been degraded to the status of a banana republic. The supposed Islamic Republic has become the “Imbecilic Republic” for many.

By Dr. Firoz Mahboob Kamal

No red line for the Israelis

The awful helplessness of the people of Gaza now needs little description. They are the perfect lame ducks at the mercy of the Israeli war criminals. None of the world powers is coming to their help. More than thirty six thousand Palestinians are killed and more than 70 thousands are maimed. The Israeli war criminals have no red lines. They enjoy full freedom to go to any extent to kill and torment any number of people of Palestine. The killing is not confined within Gaza, it is going non-stop in the occupied West Bank, too.

The whole world community also shows its own inabilities and failures. The UN can only hold some talk-shows and issue some press releases. Nothing more than that. The Muslim World can only show their customary silence and inaction. Those who show some courage face some Western curse. The whole world now lacks any effective authority to control the heinous war criminals. Indeed they are let loose to enjoy full freedom to go to any extent to commit any crimes. For the Israelites, it is like a lawless jungle. So, after destroying most of the residential installations in Gaza, Israel is now firing missiles to kill people taking shelter in tents in the sands of Rafah -the last resort for the refugees. On 26 May, 35 people were burnt to death in tents and hundreds were injured. No safe place exists in the entire Palestine. Even hospitals are common targets.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) and International Criminal Court (ICC) have no power to punish these war criminals. Israel considers itself above any international laws and doesn’t recognise ICJ and ICC. The USA supports such an Israeli position. Recently, the ICC issued an arrest warrant against Prime Minister Netanyahu and his defence minister. President Biden got furious on that. He said that the ICC has no jurisdiction to issue any arrest warrant against Prime Minister Netanyahu and his defence minister. But he didn’t explain, if the ICC has no jurisdiction to arrest and punish the war criminals, then why such a court should exist? Why was such a court created? Biden doesn’t want his criminal friend to face any punishment. But the same President Biden eulogised the ICC decision when it issued an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The USA, the UK and Germany show their full complicity in the war crimes by giving weapons to the Israeli war criminals. So they are deadly against any ICC efforts to put their friends in crimes to put behind bars. This is why President Joe Biden became furious when the ICC prosecutor issued an arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and his defense minister. The USA and its allies think they,too, are above international law. These imperialist supremacists think that they are the only civilised people on the earth and the ICC is created for third world criminals.

Where there is any crime, there are always some criminals behind that. And it is the worst crime to allow these criminals to go unpunished. The US, the EU and the UK are complicit in that crime. Because,they stand on the side of the Israeli war criminals.

ICC has also its own failures. Since the US is a partner in war crimes for supplying weapons and money, the ICC should have issued an arrest warrant against President Biden. He is no less a war criminal than President Putin of Russia. Putin didn’t kill 36 thousands in Ukraine, but Israel killed. And Biden is fully complicit in that Israeli killing.

The bias against the Palestinians

Any bias against any people is itself a huge crime. It is an explicit immorality. With a bias, one can’t deliver sound justice. Hence, any bias against any people is a crime against the rule of law, morality, humanity and basic human values. Because of such a bias, the USA, the EU, the UK could continuously commit crimes against the delivery of justice for the people of Palestine.

There is a historical context of such a Western crime. It is a fact that the Western imperialists like the British, the French and the Americans jointly fathered the illicit Israel in the land of Palestine. Before the British occupation in 1917, the Jewish population was less than 5 percent. But their number was increased through planned migration from East Europe, Russia and other states. After the creation of Israel in 1948, they recognised it and made it a member of the UN. Now, they are united to protect their illicit baby.

Israel was implanted in the Muslim heart land with a political and military purpose. It was created only to work as the military and political outpost for the West. Now it is playing its role as a bully against all Muslim countries in the Middle East. To ensure its defence, the US, the EU and the UK give all necessary weapons. They have also supplied nuclear technology -so it is the only nuclear country in the Middle East. Israel stays there to prevent any resurgence of Islamic civilisational state in that area.

The bias against the Palestinians and the selective love for the Israelis are very robust among the US politicians and the media gurus. They are ready to do everything for the security of Israel; but they stay deaf and dumb on the security of the Palestinians. They condemn the killing of 7 October -as if the atrocity started only on that day in Palestine. But they stay silent on the killings of Palestinians and destruction of their homes during the last 75 years.

They don’t condemn the Israeli brutality of nakba –the catastrophe. In the days of nakba in 1948, more than 500 villages were destroyed in a few days and 750,000 people were evicted. Most of them are still living as refugees in neighbouring countries. They condemn the hostage taking of the Israelis by Hamas, but they don’t condemn the full hostage-state of the whole Palestinians. They don’t even condemn the killing of 36 thousands Palestinians and destruction of more than 80 percent of the houses in Gaza. They don’t even call for a ceasefire. They show their interest only for the release of Israeli hostages.

Shame on the UN and its Security Council

Any occupation of a foreign land is utterly illegal. Any ethnic cleansing and any colonisation is also illegal. It is a great shame on those who gave recognition to a state like Israel that was built illegally by means of ethnic cleansing and settlers’ colonisation in an occupied land.

It is a great shame on the UN and its Security Council for recognising such an illegal state as its member. Only those who are complicit in the crimes of ethnic cleansing and colonisation, can prefer to stay silent when they watch the same Israeli crimes with their own eyes. Such genocidal crimes were committed by the European colonial nations like the British, the French, the Spanish, the Dutch and others against the Red Indians and Ancas in the Americas, against the Aborigines in Australia, against the Maoris in New Zealand and against the Black inhabitants in South Africa.

The Israelis are the perfect ideological cousins of the Western imperialists; hence they could commit the same crimes with full Western support and impunity against the Palestinians. This is why the Western countries stand side by side with the Israelis to block the recognition of an independent state for the Palestinians on their own ancestral land. Such an immoral position of the Western nations is indeed an explicit sign of their moral death and robust political perversion.

27 May 2024

Source: drfirozmahboobkamal.com

By Jay Janson

U.S. Memorial Day, originally intended as a solemn day of mourning for families of dead veterans has long become an opportunity for jingoistic war celebration, deceiving politicians and recruiting officers to parade and glorify warfare as a means to entrap young volunteers for future wars.

Instead of solemn mourning, on Memorial Day, war promoting corporate media, having tricked so many Americansinto fighting and dying in unjust, murderous wars based on lies, now hypes our loved ones’ inglorious death as beautiful military service to entice recruits for their continuing wars.

We need a memorial day to commemorate all victims of war, especially the civilians. That way people will become aware of the true effect of war and be more ready to oppose war when politicians call for it.

How many tens of thousands of conscience stricken veterans of US wars in small countries can forget faces of ‘enemy’ dead? – finding smiling photos of beautiful children and wives in the caps or pockets of their clothes? How many American veterans were ashamed to be murdering guys defending their country against our bombing and invasion. Remembering them with love officially on Memorial Day would shake up the war mongers and challenge lies past and present about our wars.

Let’s not limit those Memorial Day moments of silent mourning solely for Americans, who ‘gave’ their lives in far away places like Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia just to name a few of the nations invaded by Americans.

To honor only US military dead is to glorify the military mindset. Not only that, but all around the world via satellite TV, families still mourning their children’s deaths or maiming, watch clips of Americans publicly honoring US military who fell attacking their countries.

A pretty slick suckering-in, that military use of the word “honor.’ as indiscriminate praise for killing designated enemies of the corporatist governed US, as if they were enemies of the American people. Honoring them as heroes draws a boy in to prove his manhood. Mourning dead military is a turn-off for boys considering enlisting. Mourning is anti-war! Bad for war profits. “Honoring’ is pro-war! War is good for the stock market and the profit margins of U.S. weapons manufacturing corporations, conversantly profitable for the American war investing community suspected of criminal insanity.

The U.S. corporation Lockheed Martin is the world’s largest arms-producing and military services company, with arms sales of nearly $60 billion. Raytheon Technologies, Northrop Grumman Corp., Boeing, and General Dynamics Corp. are the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th largest in the world.[1]

Let’s have U.S. Memorial Day become ‘War Victims Day’ to foster war prevention

Americans should no longer participate in selective mourning only America’s war dead, and instead mourn all victims of war, the millions of civilians, the hundreds of thousands of our designated enemies fallen in their motherlands, and only then, having put others first, as in common humility, will we have the right to mourn the tens of thousands of our very own fellow citizens who sacrificed their lives for, or thinking it was for, the good of our nation.

Mourn Not Honour Americans Who Died in Dishonourable ‘Mistaken’ Wars for GOP, DEMS and Wall Street Deep State.

Humankind is in an ugly period of suffering in the bloody hands of imbecilic investors in war, who own the American government and media and who cannot stop themselves from planning war, even terminal nuclear war, since they know that wars make money. Their funded elected politicians and media praise war on Memorial Day.

Memorial Day! Mourn US Soldiers Killed in Criminally Dishonorable Wars in Other Peoples’ Countries! Imagining What Many GIs Who Lost Their Lives Might Be Saying On Memorial Day If They Could Speak From Their Graves: ‘While our family and friends mourn our absence, conglomerate owned media, after having used our patriotism to have us fight criminally unjust wars based on lies, now hypes our inglorious death as beautiful military service, blacking out our senseless massacres of millions over the last 60 years.’

Knowledgeable, informed, really patriotic Americans Mourn Firstly the Millions Americans Have Slaughtered and Only Then Mourn U.S. Soldiers.

A Veterans For Peace Memorial Day Press Release might say that VFP, or at least many if not all VFP, first mourn the patriots of US invaded countries that fell fighting against overwhelming odds, and their civilian countrymen and children who fell in harms way of those US invading forces. Nothing less than this can dent the Memorial Day adulation for dying for what Martin Luther King called “atrocity wars to maintain predatory investments.”[2]

What Dead GIs Would Say To the World on Memorial Day About Being Praised as Heroes. If they could speak from their graves, GIs who died shamefully killing, maiming and destroying within innocent populations, would appeal to Majority Humanity in the ever targeted and plundered Global South, to effect the same level of solidarity that the racist neocolonial investment banker driven imperialists of the 1st World of mostly Caucasian population display, and bring their five centuries of brutal genocidal Western domination to an end.

A growing number of Americans are now able to include mourning the billions who have suffered under U.S. led permanent war hegemony, and this writer agrees with those peoples historians who understand that America has become weakened by having self-destroyed it’s economic advantage through spending wildly, unintelligently and massively on its military,* and China will come to be in financial position to offer U.S. a deal better than war, and bring about war investors’ military industrial complex failure to keep power in a war weary U.S.A.

• U.S. military spending is more than the next ten countries combined  National Priorities Project [3]

Post Scrip:

This encouraging the honouring and remembering all victims of war on Memorial Day is not new idea. Its long been the hope, plan and fervent desire of peace activists.

…as in 2022, the Memorial Day Massachusetts Peace Action Society announced, “Today, Memorial Day, activists will gather to honor and remember all victims of war.”

End Notes

1. The SIPRI Top 100 arms-producing and military services companies in the world, 2022 STOCKHOLM INTERNATIONAL

PEACE RESEARCH INSTITUTEhttps://www.sipri.org/visualizations/2023/sipri-top-100-arms-producing-and-military-services-companies-world-2022

2. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Beyond Vietnam — A Time to Break Silence

Delivered 4 April 1967, Riverside Church, New York City   https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkatimetobreaksilence.htm

3. U.S. military spending is more than the next ten countries combined  National Priorities Project

https://www.nationalpriorities.org/blog/2023/05/04/us-still-spends-more-its-military-over-144-countries-combined/Jay Janson is an archival research peoples historian activist,  musician and writer; has lived and worked on all continents; articles on media published in China, Italy, UK, India, in Germany & Sweden Einartysken,and in the US by Greanville Post, Dissident Voice; Global Research; Information Clearing House; Counter Currents; Minority Perspective, UK,and others; now resides in NYC; First effort was a series of articles on deadly cultural pollution endangering seven areas of life emanating from Western corporate owned commercial media published in Hong Kong’s Window Magazine 1993; Howard Zinn lent his name to various projects of his; Weekly column, South China Morning Post, 1986-87; reviews for Ta Kung Bao; article China Daily, 1989. Is coordinator of the Howard Zinn co-founded King Condemned US Wars International Awareness Campaign, and website historian of the Ramsey Clark co-founded Prosecute US Crimes Against Humanity Now Campaign, https://prosecuteuscrimesagainsthumanitynow.blogspot.com/which contains a history of US crimes in 19 nations from 1945 thru 2012.

26 May 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

By Frank Huzur

Rahul Gandhi’s emphasis on saving the Constitution in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections has worked wonders for the Indian National Congress. By organizing seminars alongside rallies, first in Delhi, second in Lucknow and the third in Chandigarh over the past three weeks.

Rahul Gandhi has shown this is a serious ideological movement and not just electoral politics.

Making the polls a referendum on Constitutional values was a masterstroke that has framed the entire debate. It put Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his BJP on the back foot.

Rahul successfully checkmated Modi’s communal polarisation agenda by shifting focus to social justice and governance issues. Small surprise, PM Modi felt nervous and launched into a series of communal jibes, such as Mangalsutra, Musalman and Pakistan. Especially, Modi became a shadow advertiser of the Congress manifesto, Nyay Patra, as he belted out lie after lie for public distraction on reservation and Constitution. By doing so, Mr Modi triggered a mass frenzy in the Congress manifesto and over 30 million people downloaded the 48-page document in less than a week of its release.

As a result, marginalized groups that were swayed by divisive rhetoric are regaining confidence in Congress. This visible consolidation of Dalit-OBC votes under Rahul’s progressive leadership has clearly unnerved the Modi campaign.

It reflects Rahul’s ability to articulate an aspirational, inclusive vision that resonates beyond traditional party lines.

He has been able to steer public discourse away from hate to hope, and establishment of India as a constitutional democracy.

His leadership has energized large sections of youth, women, farmers as well who see their future and rights safe in his hands.

Rahul has indeed set the benchmark for these polls through his brilliant concept of Nyay Yatra for the Constitution.

Rahul Gandhi makes it a point to attend every  social justice conference. He was in his elements at Chandigarh too.

It was likely the largest such event so far, reflecting the growing momentum of Rahul’s message. The Indradhanush auditorium with a capacity for 1800 people was buzzing with excitement on a hot summer afternoon.

Having prominent intellectual activists and political figures on stage reinforced the seriousness of purpose. Issues of representation, affirmative action, developmental rights dominated discussions.

Rahul stressed how the Constitution and social justice are under attack currently. He compared the Congress vision of inclusive development with BJP’s divisive rhetoric.

Interacting with attendees from marginalized communities also helps Rahul understand grassroots issues.

Promoting a progressive versus conservative ideology is important to win over youth and subaltern votes. The diverse crowd signaled Rahul’s appeal beyond traditional Congress support bases.  Regional coverage in media expands the outreach of such conferences nationally too.

It bolsters Rahul’s stature as a champion of equal rights rallying like-minded progressive sections. Regular direct contact keeps up momentum and organizational efforts on social justice.

-Samruddh Bharat Foundation playing the role of organizer lends credibility, bringing intellectual voices on a common platform.

Veteran Congress leader Gurdeep Singh Sappal’s speech highlighted how the Constitution ensures dignity for all. Drawing from medieval bhakti tradition, he contextualized inclusion & equality as the roots of our democratic principles. Contrasting BJP-RSS obsession with pride and prestige, he underscored the need for ‘garima’ or dignity of the underprivileged.

His emphasis on protecting Constitutional values from Hindutva forces resonated with the audience.

In fact, such discourse expands Rahul’s support base among socially disadvantaged groups being empowered.  This in turn strengthens Rahul’s credentials as the flag-bearer of saving India’s pluralist, liberal-democratic fabric.

The Chandigarh conference was called Samvidhan Samman Sammelan. It was an important platform to discuss upholding constitutional values of equality, justice and fundamental rights. The presence of prominent social justice advocates like Dr. Anil JaiHind, Kancha Ilaiah, Dr Ratan Lal and Subhashini Yadav lent credibility.

-Dr. JaiHind’s speech contextualized Congress’ historic role in framing the liberal, egalitarian Constitution of India.

Praising Rahul for infusing courage and raising voices against injustice positioned him as a leader of the oppressed.

Describing Rahul as ‘Nyay Yoddha’ fighting for the downtrodden amplified his image as a champion of constitutional morality.

-Rahul listening with rapt attention and applauding showed his commitment towards safeguarding constitutional guarantees. It was a strategic move to assemble supportive intellectuals endorsing Rahul’s credentials ahead of polls.

The conference enabled Rahul to project himself as a worthy custodian of India’s secular, democratic values in contrast to the ruling dispensation.

Kancha Ilaiah, a renowned author and professor, took a jibe at the Assamese BJP leader and CM Hemant Vishwsharma for his ridiculous insinuation that the red book Rahul carries is a Chinese constitution.

He pointed out the illogicality of associating anything red with China, like tagging Sikhs with their red turbans as Chinese.

This was a subtle yet effective rebuttal that highlighted the CM’s cheap rhetoric and lack of substance. Getting the large audience, including Rahul, to laugh at the funny rebuttal undermined the seriousness of the allegations.

It ridiculed the CM and BJP’s pet narrative of branding the opposition as anti-national in a light-hearted manner.

Rahul’s joining in the laughter endorsed Kancha’s spin that gave confidence to others present.

Of course, it boosted the momentum of the conference by exposing irrational propaganda in an entertaining way. Kancha’s signature style of critique through humour added levity to an otherwise serious discussion on safeguarding democracy.

So in sum, the repartee was a crowd-pleasing highlight that stole the show at the conference.

Subhashini Sharad Yadav moderated the programme of discourse. Being Sharad Yadav’s daughter, she brought authority and nostalgia in recalling his fight for social justice. Highlighting how Rahul has bravely taken up the responsibility enhanced his credentials as a genuine leader on such issues.

Describing social justice as the soul of Indian Constitution emphasized its significance in protecting marginalized sections. Expressing pride of OBCs, SCs, STs in Rahul’s leadership suggested he has their trust in guarding rights enshrined.

Her balanced moderation facilitated insightful discussions on complex socio-political matters.Drawing parallels between Sharad Yadav and Rahul’s leadership established continuity and strengthened Rahul’s support base.

It reminded people of stalwarts who shaped the discourse while motivating new leaders like Rahul Gandhi.

Overall, her endorsement added gravitas to Rahul’s pro-Constitution, pro-social justice narrative being projected. It exemplified Rahul’s cross-community appeal on issues not defined by narrow identity politics.

So her address reinforced solidarity for constitutional democracy and equality.

In the valedictory session, Rahul Gandhi’s concluding remarks cleared many confusions on the traditional stance of the Congress Party over social justice and diversity.

Rahul contrasted Modi’s rhetoric of giving ‘respect’ to OBCs with the actual need of guaranteeing their ‘rights’. This differentiated between BJP’s tokenistic gestures and Congress’ material commitment to social justice.He confessed that the grand old party (GOP) had made several mistakes in the past and the Congress Party has to change now.

Rahul emphasised the importance of concrete political and economic empowerment, not empty sloganeering.

His assertion about ensuring 90% marginalized communities get proper representation through a caste census shows tangible plans. It addresses a long-standing demand and boosts trust in Rahul among these constituencies.

Describing it as a ‘life mission’ rather than politics underscores Rahul’s personal conviction on the issue. This resonates strongly as people compare it with BJP’s polarizing propaganda.

Rahul affirmed that after forming the government at Centre, uplifting backwards, dalits and tribals from poverty will be a key priority. It encapsulated Rahul’s transformative, inclusive vision versus BJP’s hollow sloganeering on social justice.

The forceful comments capped the successful Chandigarh conference on a high note.

Frank Huzur is an author and journalist.

24 May 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

By Nick Turse

There are constants in this world — occurrences you can count on. Sunrises and sunsets. The tides. That, day by day, people will be born and others will die.

Some of them will die in peace, but others, of course, in violence and agony.

For hundreds of years, the U.S. military has been killing people. It’s been a constant of our history. Another constant has been American military personnel killing civilians, whether Native Americans, Filipinos, Nicaraguans, Haitians, Japanese, Koreans, Vietnamese, Cambodians, Laotians, Afghans, Iraqis, Syrians, Yemenis, and on and on. And there’s something else that’s gone along with those killings: a lack of accountability for them.

Late last month, the Department of Defense (DoD) released its congressionally mandated annual accounting of civilian casualties caused by U.S. military operations globally. The report is due every May 1st and, in the latest case, the Pentagon even beat that deadline by a week. There was only one small problem: it was the 2022 report. You know, the one that was supposed to be made public on May 1, 2023. And not only was that report a year late, but the 2023 edition, due May 1, 2024, has yet to be seen.

Whether that 2023 report, when it finally arrives, will say much of substance is also doubtful. In the 2022 edition, the Pentagon exonerated itself of harming noncombatants. “DoD has assessed that U.S. military operations in 2022 resulted in no civilian casualties,” reads the 12-page document. It follows hundreds of years of silence about, denials of, and willful disregard toward civilians slain purposely or accidentally by the U.S. military and a long history of failures to make amends in the rare cases where the Pentagon has admitted to killing innocents.

Moral Imperatives

“The Department recognizes that our efforts to mitigate and respond to civilian harm respond to both strategic and moral imperatives,” reads the Pentagon’s new 2022 civilian casualty report.

And its latest response to those “moral imperatives” was typical. The Defense Department reported that it had made no ex gratia payments — amends offered to civilians harmed in its operations — during 2022. That follows exactly one payment made in 2021 and zero in 2020.

Whether any payments were made in 2023 is still, of course, a mystery. I asked Lisa Lawrence, the Pentagon spokesperson who handles civilian harm issues, why the 2023 report was late and when to expect it. A return receipt shows that she read my email, but she failed to offer an answer.

Her reaction is typical of the Pentagon on the subject.

A 2020 study of post-9/11 civilian casualty incidents by the Center for Civilians in Conflict and Columbia Law School’s Human Rights Institute found that most went uninvestigated. When they did come under official scrutiny, American military witnesses were interviewed while civilians — victims, survivors, family members — were almost totally ignored, “severely compromising the effectiveness of investigations,” according to that report.

In the wake of such persistent failings, investigative reporters and human rights groups have increasingly documented America’s killing of civilians, its underreporting of noncombatant casualties, and its failures of accountability in Afghanistan, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, and elsewhere.

During the first 20 years of the war on terror, the U.S. conducted more than 91,000 airstrikes across seven major conflict zones and killed up to 48,308 civilians, according to a 2021 analysis by Airwars, a U.K.-based air-strike monitoring group.

Between 2013 and 2020, for example, the U.S. carried out seven separate attacks in Yemen — six drone strikes and one raid — that killed 36 members of the intermarried Al Ameri and Al Taisy families. A quarter of them were children between the ages of three months and 14 years old. The survivors have been waiting for years for an explanation as to why they were repeatedly targeted.

In 2018, Adel Al Manthari, a civil servant in the Yemeni government, and four of his cousins — all civilians — were traveling by truck when an American missile slammed into their vehicle. Three of the men were killed instantly. Another died days later in a local hospital. Al Manthari was critically injured. Complications resulting from his injuries nearly killed him in 2022. He beseeched the U.S. government to dip into the millions of dollars appropriated by Congress to compensate victims of American attacks, but they ignored his pleas. His limbs and life were eventually saved by the kindness of strangers via a crowdsourced GoFundMe campaign.

The same year that Al Manthari was maimed in Yemen, a U.S. drone strike in Somalia killed at least three, and possibly five, civilians, including 22-year-old Luul Dahir Mohamed and her 4-year-old daughter Mariam Shilow Muse. The next year, a U.S. military investigation acknowledged that a woman and child were killed in that attack but concluded that their identities might never be known. Last year, I traveled to Somalia and spoke with their relatives. For six years, the family has tried to contact the American government, including through U.S. Africa Command’s online civilian casualty reporting portal without ever receiving a reply.

In December 2023, following an investigation by The Intercept, two dozen human rights organizations — 14 Somali and 10 international groups — called on Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to compensate Luul and Mariam’s family for their deaths. This year, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Representatives Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), and Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) have also called on the Defense Department to make amends.

A 2021 investigation by New York Times reporter Azmat Khan revealed that the American air war in Iraq and Syria was marked by flawed intelligence and inaccurate targeting, resulting in the deaths of many innocents. Out of 1,311 military reports analyzed by Khan, only one cited a “possible violation” of the rules of engagement. None included a finding of wrongdoing or suggested a need for disciplinary action, while fewer than a dozen condolence payments were made. The U.S.-led coalition eventually admitted to killing 1,410 civilians during the war in Iraq and Syria. Airwars, however, puts the number at 2,024.

Several of the attacks detailed by Khan were brought to the Defense Department’s attention in 2022 but, according to their new report, the Pentagon failed to take action. Joanna Naples-Mitchell, director of the nonprofit Zomia Center’s Redress Program, which helps survivors of American air strikes submit requests for compensation, and Annie Shiel, U.S. advocacy director with the Center for Civilians in Conflict, highlighted several of these cases in a recent Just Security article.

In June 2022, for instance, the Redress Program submitted requests for amends from the Pentagon on behalf of two families in Mosul, Iraq, harmed in an April 29, 2016, air strike reportedly targeting an Islamic State militant who was unharmed in the attack. Khan reported that, instead, Ziad Kallaf Awad, a college professor, was killed and Hassan Aleiwi Muhammad Sultan, then 10 years old, was left wheelchair-bound. The Pentagon had indeed admitted that civilian casualties resulted from the strike in a 2016 press release.

In September 2022, the Redress Program also submitted ex gratia requests on behalf of six families in Mosul, all of them harmed by a June 15, 2016, air strike also investigated by Khan. Naples-Mitchel and Shiel note that Iliyas Ali Abd Ali, then running a fruit stand near the site of the attack, lost his right leg and hearing in one ear. Two brothers working in an ice cream shop were also injured, while a man standing near that shop was killed. That same year, the Pentagon did confirm that the strike had resulted in civilian casualties.

However, almost eight years after acknowledging civilian harm in those Mosul cases and almost two years after the Redress Program submitted the claims to the Defense Department, the Pentagon has yet to offer amends.

Getting to “Yes”

While the U.S. military has long been killing civilians — in massacres by ground troops, air strikes and even, in August 1945, nuclear attacks — compensating those harmed has never been a serious priority.

General John “Black Jack” Pershing did push to adopt a system to pay claims by French civilians during World War I and the military in World War II found that paying compensation for harm to civilians “had a pronounced stabilizing effect.” The modern military reparations system, however, dates only to the 1960s.

During the Vietnam War, providing “solatia” was a way for the military to offer reparations for civilian injuries or deaths caused by U.S. operations without having to admit any guilt. In 1968, the going rate for an adult life was $33. Children merited just half that.

In 1973, a B-52 Stratofortress dropped 30 tons of bombs on the Cambodian town of Neak Luong, killing hundreds of civilians and wounding hundreds more. The next of kin of those killed, according to press reports, were promised about $400 each. Considering that, in many cases, a family’s primary breadwinner had been lost, the sum was low. It was only the equivalent of about four years of earnings for a rural Cambodian. By comparison, a one-plane sortie, like the one that devastated Neak Luong, cost about $48,000. And that B-52 bomber itself then cost about $8 million. Worse yet, a recent investigation found that the survivors did not actually receive the promised $400. In the end, the value American forces placed on the dead of Neak Luong came to just $218 each.

Back then, the United States kept its low-ball payouts in Cambodia a secret. Decades later, the U.S. continues to thwart transparency and accountability when it comes to civilian lives.

In June 2023, I asked Africa Command to answer detailed questions about its law-of-war and civilian-casualty policies and requested interviews with officials versed in such matters. Despite multiple follow-ups, Courtney Dock, the command’s deputy director of public affairs, has yet to respond. This year-long silence stands in stark contrast to the Defense Department’s trumpeting of new policies and initiatives for responding to civilian harm and making amends.

In 2022, the Pentagon issued a 36-page Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response Action Plan, written at the direction of Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. The plan provides a blueprint for improving how the Pentagon addresses the subject. The plan requires military personnel to consider potential harm to civilians in any air strike, ground raid, or other type of combat.

Late last year, the Defense Department also issued its long-awaited “Instruction on Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response,” which established the Pentagon’s “policies, responsibilities, and procedures for mitigating and responding to civilian harm.” The document, mandated under the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, and approved by Austin, directs the military to “acknowledge civilian harm resulting from U.S. military operations and respond to individuals and communities affected by U.S. military operations,” including “expressing condolences” and providing ex gratia payments to next of kin.

But despite $15 million allocated by Congress since 2020 to provide just such payments and despite members of Congress repeatedly calling on the Pentagon to make amends for civilian harm, it has announced just one such payment in the years since.

Naples-Mitchel and Shiel point out that the Defense Department has a projected budget of $849.8 billion for fiscal year 2025 and the $3 million set aside annually to pay for civilian casualty claims is just 0.00035% of that sum. “Yet for the civilians who have waited years for acknowledgment of the most painful day of their lives, it’s anything but small,” they write. “The military has what it needs to begin making payments and reckoning with past harms, from the policy commitment, to the funding, to the painstaking requests and documentation from civilian victims. All they have to do now is say yes.”

On May 10th, I asked Lisa Lawrence, the Pentagon spokesperson, if the U.S. would say “yes” and if not, why not.

“Thank you for reaching out,” she replied. “You can expect to hear from me as soon as I have more to offer.”

Lawrence has yet to “offer” anything.

Nick Turse is the managing editor of TomDispatch and a fellow at the Type Media Center.

24 May 2024

Source: countercurrents.org