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By Timothy Alexander Guzman

President-elect Donald J. Trump will hit the ground running on January 21^st, 2025.  Trump has made his choices for the top spots at the Department of State, the Pentagon and the CIA.  Let’s keep in mind that Trump can replace or fire any of his cabinet picks down the road if of course, they are confirmed by the senate.  So far, it seems that Trump has flushed his peace proposals down the toilet with his latest picks.

First and formost, for the state of Israel, it really did not matter who would have won the US Presidential elections, whether it was Donald J. Trump (which they preferred) or Kamala Harris who was just as Pro-Israel as most US politicians who are bought and paid by the American Israel Political Action Committee (AIPAC). The majority of politicians, whether Democrat or Republican believe that Israel has a right to exist on what was once called Palestine, so the reality is that Israel won the election. The one person who is extremely happy that Trump won the election is no other than Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu who recently said that

“In the last few days, I spoke three times with President-Elect Donald Trump. These were very good and important conversations. Talks designed to further tighten the strong alliance between Israel and the USA. We see eye to eye on the Iranian threat, on all its components, and the danger posed by it.”

Trump claims that he wants peace, but his cabinet choices says that he is planning a war against Iran.  So, with Trump resuming office in January, the world is heading into uncertain times.  Iran is about to retaliate for Israel’s latest attack and government officials in Tel Aviv are very concerned. It is certain that Israel will prepare to retaliate once Trump is in office, but what will that look like?  We don’t know, but it is not just about Iran being in Washington’s hit list, because Russia, Belarus, China, North Korea, Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, and the new BRICS alliance will most likely on that same list as well.

Peace is not on the agenda with Trump’s new cabinet picks because they want the US to be ultimate hegemon, the power that rules the world with an iron fist but the times have changed. Trump’s team will push for wars, regime change and economic sanctions, so in other words, nothing will change since his cabinet has been filled with neocons, warhawks and Pro-Israel extremists.

Meet Trump’s New Cabinet, Same as the Old Cabinet

Trump has selected several people for important cabinet positions related to US foreign policy and it does not look good for any sort of peace deal, especially in the Middle East.

Marco Rubio, Trump’s pick for Secretary of State is a senator from Florida and a neocon warmonger, Marco Rubio.  This pick suggests that Trump was looking for another Mike Pompeo and found him.  Rubio is a strong supporter of Israel, so much so that he has an Israeli flag next to the American flag outside of his office.  Rubio has supported Israel’s illegal settlements in the West Bank and other Palestinan territories.  Rubio has shamelessly defended Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza and Lebanon.

In 2003, Rubio supported the US invasion of Iraq, and the US-NATO led war on Libya which was orchestrated by the Obama regime.  Rubio supports harsh sanctions and regime change in Iran and in Syria.  He also supported Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen. Rubio seeks regime change or wars against several Latin American countries including Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia and whoever else opposes US influence on the continent.

Rubio is also a China hawk, so he supports sending more US troops in the Asia-Pacific region to send China a “message.” 

Rubio also got involved in the internal affairs of China.  A report by DW.com, ‘Could Marco Rubio champion human rights in Southeast Asia?’ said that in 2018, Rubio co-sponsored legislation based on “the Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act, which seeks to deny entry into the United States to any Chinese officials who prohibit US citizens from entering Tibet, a territory claimed by China.”  Rubio also “introduced legislation sanctioning China for its repression of the minority Uyghur population and the crackdown on protests in Hong Kong. The Chinese government responded by blacklisting Rubio.”

The bottom line is that Senator Marco Rubio is a neocon warmonger that would advise Trump on going to war rather than seeking a constructive peace deal.  Rubio is a horrible choice that will likely be confirmed by his many friends from both sides of the aisle in the senate.

Elise Stefanik, another pro-Zionist neocon who was nominated by Trump to become US Ambassador to the United Nations. She is a clone of the last US ambassador, Nikki Haley. Stefanik once worked with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD), a pro-Israel neocon think tank.

To understand Stefanik’s stance on the Israel-Palestine conflict, all you need to do is read her statement she posted on her website on September 23^rd, 2024 based on Israel’s “right to defend itself”:

“Last week, the United Nations overwhelmingly passed a disgraceful antisemitic resolution to demand that Israel surrender to barbaric terrorists who seek the destruction of both Israel and America. Once again, the UN’s antisemitic rot is on full display as it punishes Israel for defending itself and rewards Iranian-backed terrorists.

Instead of deplorably targeting the legitimacy of the state of Israel, the UN should be demanding that Hamas release every hostage and start enforcing UN Security Council Resolution 1701 to stop Hezbollah’s endless Iranian-backed terrorist attacks. As the UN’s General Assembly occurs this week in New York, the Biden-Harris Administration must call out the UN’s extreme antisemitism and moral depravity and unequivocally support Israel’s right to defend itself against both brutal terrorists and biased international organizations”

We know where all of this is going.  Stefanik visited the Israeli Knesset in Jerusalem in May and here is just part of what she said:

Today, I stand before you not just as a leader in the United States Congress, but as a lifelong admirer, supporter, and true friend of Israel and the Jewish people.  You see I am lucky enough to have had the privilege of traveling here many times before, but I must confess that this time feels different.

The stakes are higher. Our sense of moral, patriotic duty feels heightened, renewed.

226 days ago, we witnessed the most vicious, brutal attack on Israel and the Jewish people since the Holocaust, a barbaric terrorist attack that claimed more than 1,200 innocent lives. Civilian women, children, and the elderly were ripped from their homes and massacred. Raped — Beheaded — Jewish families were bound together and burned. Babies burned alive. Atrocities of humanity.  We must never forget, and we must never relent

Stefanik repeated Israeli talking points about how the elderly and children were massacred, raped and beheaded which all turned out to be lies. Stefanik is another Nikki Haley, there is no doubt about that, and she will be most likely confirmed by the senate.

Mike Huckabee is Trump’s pick for U.S. Ambassador to Israel is a non-Jewish candidate for the position, but that does not matter because Huckabee, a former Arkansas Governor is an evangelical Christian supporter of Israel and that’s all that matters.

This guy should be in an insane asylum.  The things that came out of this man’s mouth is a sign that the Palestinians will be a major target of the Trump regime.

The Jewish News Syndicate (JNS) “In 2008, Huckabee said:

“There’s really no such thing as a Palestinian. You have Arabs and Persians. And there’s such complexity in that. But there’s really no such thing. That’s been a political tool to try and force land away from Israel.”

Mike Huckabee sounded like what Golda Meir, the former Prime Minister of Israel from 1969 to 1974 who was interviewed by the London Sunday Times on June 15^th, 1969, and she said that

“There was no such thing as Palestinians. When was there an independent Palestinian people with a Palestinian state? It was either Southern Syria, before the First World War, and then it was a Palestine, including Jordan. It was not as though there was a Palestinian people in Palestine considering itself as a Palestinian people and we came and threw them out and took their country from them. They did not exist.”

Al Jazeera reported on what Trump said about Huckabee who has similar beliefs as his former US ambassador from Trump’s first term, David Friedman:

After his appointment, Trump released a statement in which he said Huckabee “loves Israel, and the people of Israel, and likewise, the people of Israel love him. Mike will work tirelessly to bring about Peace in the Middle East!”

His appointment demonstrates a “very hawkish, very pro-right-wing Israel” approach by the Trump administration, Yossi Mekelberg, an expert on Israel at the Chatham House think tank, told Al Jazeera.  He said Huckabee’s appointment is similar to that of David Friedman, who served as US Ambassador to Israel between 2017 and 2021 and supports Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank

Huckabee will also be most likely confirmed for the ambassadorship with the pro-Israel senate.

Rep. Mike Waltz from Florida is a nominee for Trump’s National Security Advisor who served more than 26 years in the Army as a Special Forces officer with tours in Afghanistan, Africa and the Middle East.  Waltz was a defense policy director for secretaries of defense under Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates who both served under former US President and war criminal, George W. Bush.  Walz also served as Dick Cheney’s counterterrorism advisor.

For Trump’s peace plan to end the war between Russia and Ukraine, here is what Waltz said

“I think a second Trump term will be energy policy and the fact is that sanctions haven’t been enforced on Russia. They’re selling more oil and gas through China and India than they ever did even before the war, their war machine is flush with cash. President Trump is, I think going to get him to the table very quickly because if he enforces those sanctions, the old adage, Russia is a little more than a gas station with nukes, absolutely holds true.”

So Waltz is for increasing sanctions on Russia which is a form of economic warfare.

Waltz has called for a “new Monroe Doctrine” to counter the rise of China in Latin America.  He suggests an active role by US officials to counter China’s economic and military presence in Latin America, so Walz wants a US military build-up to confront Beijing’s influence.  Not only does he want to increase US military presence in certain regions to send a message to China, he wants to arm Taiwan to defend itself from China.

Waltz is also a full-fledged supporter of Israel.  In an interview on FOX News, Waltz spoke about a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, and he said that the Biden regime is “focused on the wrong place,”meaning they should be focused on Iran.  Waltz also said that Iran is “flush with cash.”  He also said that neither Hamas nor Iran want peace.

Waltz repeats what other Pro-Israel politicians in Washington have said in the past regarding Israel’s security,

“So, the administration, Biden and Harris, have sold themselves is that once we get to a cease-fire and the hostages are released, which we all want, that everything will be fine,” Waltz said on Fox News’s America Reports. “No. Iran will continue to stoke unrest because they want to destroy Israel, and look, making concession after concession to Iran is actually what is destabilizing the situation.”

Waltz has criticized the International Criminal Court (ICC) over the arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant on charges of intentional starvation of the Palestinian people, crimes against humanity and other charges.  Waltz responded with

“The ICC has no credibility, and these allegations have been refuted by the US government” and that “Israel has lawfully defended its people [and] borders from genocidal terrorists. You can expect a strong response to the antisemitic bias of the ICC [and] UN come January.”

Mike Waltz part of the George W. Bush regime that was filled with neocons and that alone should be a concern for those who desire peace on earth.  Waltz has similar ideas as Trump’s former National Security advisor, John Bolton.

Pete Hegseth is Trump’s pick for US Secretary of Defense.  Now this guy is a loose cannon. A FOX News television host, author, and a former Army National Guard officer.  Listen to Pete Hegseth’s speech at the 2018 Arutz Sheva conference in Jerusalem:

Trump’s next Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth at the 2018 Arutz Sheva conference in Jerusalem

What Hegseth said about Iran tells us that he is another Christian Zionist who supports Israel and that Iran is the evil regime that needs to be stopped:

The minister talked about the head of the octopus talked about Iran and the many tentacles that the Iranian regime has in the world today nefariously both for Israel and for the United States and just all you have to do is look at how the Obama Administration addressed the issue of Iran versus the Trump Administration and of course the Obama Administration did everything they could to strike a horrific deal that is creates an inevitable path to nuclear weapons, funding the tunes of billions of dollars the hateful terrorist is Iranian regime seeking death to America and death to Israel….

Pete Hegseth will push the Trump regime to go to war with Iran and its allies to protect Israel and its interests in the region, there is no other way to describe what he stands for.

Kristi Noem, the former Governor of South Dakota is Trump’s pick for the Secretary of Homeland Security.  As Governor, Kristi Noem presented a statement of support for Israel after the October 7^th attack on Israel by Hamas, and she did not disappoint her Israeli friends and lobbyists:

“Beloved people of Israel: your friends and allies in America stand with you. We support you in defending the homeland given to your people by God. These barbaric actions have shocked the conscience of the world. We share your anger at the viciousness of these attacks and the death, pain, and suffering it has caused, and we support your right to use all measures necessary to prevent future attacks.

During my time on the House Armed Services Committee, I saw what regular violence perpetrated by Hamas terrorists against Israel looks like. This goes so far beyond that – this was an act of war, an invasion of your sacred home.

We are praying for a swift resolution to this war; for safety and peace for the hostages taken by the Hamas terrorists; for comfort to the families who have lost loved ones or whose lives have otherwise been forever changed by this horrific day; for the first responders to act calmly and quickly in their work of healing and repair; for Prime Minister Netanyahu and his armed forces to strike swiftly, truly, and with justice; and for Hamas to be driven from the face of the Earth as a just consequence for their atrocities.  In the coming days, all Americans – and the whole world – must stand firm in our resolve to support the Israeli people. As Prime Minister Netanyahu said, ‘This war will take time. She will be hard. Challenging days are ahead. But… with the help of God… we will win.’ Godspeed to you, my friend Prime Minister Netanyahu, and to your people. You will win, and you have our support every step of the way.”

Kristi Noem has also banned campus free speech zones in her home state so as Secretary of Homeland Security, will she target anti-Israel protesters on college campuses?

John Ratcliffe is Trump’s choice as the new Director for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).  This former Director of National Intelligence (DNI) is another China Hawk and of course, a Pro-Israel supporter.

As DNI, Ratcliffe focused on China’s growing influence on a global scale. Ratcliffe’s commentary for the Wall Street Journal said it all, ‘China Is National Security Threat No. 1’:

“The intelligence is clear: Beijing intends to dominate the U.S. and the rest of the planet economically, militarily and technologically. Many of China’s major public initiatives and prominent companies offer only a layer of camouflage to the activities of the Chinese Communist Party”

Ratcliffe is also a longtime supporter of Israel who helped establish the U.S.-Israel partnership in cyber defense through the US-Israel Advanced Research Partnership Act in 2016.

Ratcliffe who praised Israel’s strikes on Iran told Maria Bartiromo of Sunday Morning Futures on FOX News,

“What Israel has done is essentially employ ‘the Trump doctrine’: a maximum-pressure campaign, understanding the only way to deter terrorists like Iran and their proxies is to put your foot on their throat. Israel has done that; we should be assisting Israel in doing so.”

Ratcliffe is a Trump loyalist, a China hawk and a Pro-Israel supporter which means that he is a qualified candidate, so the US Senate should have no problem confirming John Ratcliffe as the new Director of the CIA.

Tulsi Gabbard is Trump’s choice for the Director of National Intelligence (DIA).  Now this pick is quite interesting, but she has a couple of serious problems.  I know there are people in the alternative media that say Gabbard is “Pro-Peace,” to an extent, is partially true.

So, let’s start with the idea that Tulsi Gabbard is a peace activist.   Tulsi Gabbard is a former Democrat representative from Hawaii who in January 2017 went on a “fact-finding mission” to Syria to investigate if President Bashar al-Assad’s had ordered his forces to use chemical weapons on civilians which turned out to be a false accusation by the West. She also found out that the Syrian opposition were made up of members from Al-Qaeda and ISIS.  Gabbard spoke out against US politicians who accused Russia of invading Ukraine for no apparent reason, only to expand its already vast territory. She is also opposed to US military support for Ukraine.

Gabbard had accused the US government and its NATO allies of being responsible for the war in the first place since one of the reasons was for the possibility of allowing Ukraine to join NATO which is a direct threat to Russia.  She also spoke out on the US government operating secret bioweapons labs in Ukraine.

Yes, Tulsi Gabbard has done great things in efforts to end current wars by investigating the facts of what really happened. She was after the truth which is commendable.

However, there is another side to Tulsi Gabbard when it comes to Israel. You can’t be for peace on one side of the world and then call for war on the other side, it’s hypocritical. Many people portray Gabbard as some sort of anti-war hero, but she has been vocally supportive of Israel’s wars on Gaza and Lebanon.

Gabbard is seen by Trump and his MAGA base as “anti-establishment” but her support for Israel is aligned with both sides of the political circus in Washington D.C.  Gabbard has even criticized pro-Palestine protesters in the US by calling them “puppets” of Hamas.

Gabbard also opposes a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas just like Trump who called on Netanyahu to finish the job before he enters office in January. Gabbard also believes that Israel should continue the war on Gaza “as long as Hamas is in power, the people of Israel will not be secure and cannot live in peace.”

This video was produced by Breakthrough News which exposes Tulsi Gabbard’s position on Israel when it comes to Hamas and the Palestinians:

Gabbard co-opts antiwar rhetoric but her support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza exposes the truth

Tulsi Gabbard said all the right things for Israel and that’s why she was picked by Trump.  Will she get confirmed by the Senate?  It’s hard to say since many Democrats believe she works for Syria and Russia as some sort of agent, so we will see what happens during the confirmation hearings.

Pam Bondi is Trump’s pick for US Attorney General who happens to be another pro-Israel supporter after the US Representative from Florida, Matt Gaetz withdrew his nomination over past legal issues involving a minor had resurfaced.  Matt Gaetz also faced criticism because he invited a Holocaust denier to a State of the Union address which is something that can destroy your political career in United States:

In 2018, the Republican Jewish Coalition and the Anti-Defamation League both criticized Gaetz, then in his first term, for inviting a Holocaust denier as his guest at the State of the Union address. The guest, Charles Johnson, had publicly doubted that 6 million Jews were killed in the Holocaust and suggested falsely that only 250,000 had died of illness

According to Jewish groups and the ADL, Gaetz is an Antisemite:

This past spring, Gaetz, alongside Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, opposed a bill that would codify an official definition of antisemitism because it classified the view that Jews killed Jesus — which Gaetz endorsed — as antisemitic.

“The Gospel itself would meet the definition of antisemitism under the terms of this bill!” Gaetz wrote on X, adding, “The Bible is clear. There is no myth or controversy on this”

It seemed obvious that Matt Gaetz was not going to be part of Trump’s team right from the start since most Democrats and Republicans are in the pockets of the Israeli lobby.  Pam Bondi is on a different level; she believes that university students who protest Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians and others in the Middle East are ignorant people who should be deported.

The Jerusalem Post headlined with ‘Trump’s new A-G nominee calls Palestine supporters “ignorant children.’  The article mentioned “In an interview this year with news host Chris Salcedo, Bondi addressed the pro-Palestinian protests on US college campuses, saying, “The students who protest against our Jewish friends and support Hamas – they should be deported from our country, they are ignorant children.”

The Jerusalem Post article also mentioned that in 2018, Bondi was interviewed by FOX News, and was asked about the Israel-Palestine conflict:

“Israel is one of our greatest allies in the world, if not the greatest,” Bondi said as part of an interview about concerns of escalation in the Middle East. “I visited Israel twice as Attorney-General, and Jerusalem is Israel’s capital”

So, Trump’s pick for Attorney General satisfies the Israeli lobby who wants to stifle free speech or in other words, end free speech when it comes to criticizing the state of Israel.  In fact, Trump did say that those who protest Israel and their genocidal policies should be deported.  The Telegraph headlined with a title that says it all, ‘Pam Bondi: Pick to replace Matt Gaetz wants to deport pro-Palestine protestors’:

The former prosecutor is a firm supporter of Israel and called for a crackdown on pro-Hamas demonstrations that erupted at college campuses last year.

“The thing that’s really the most troubling to me [are] these students in universities in our country, whether they’re here as Americans or if they’re here on student visas, and they’re out there saying ‘I support Hamas.’” she continued, “Frankly they need to be taken out of our country, or the FBI needs to be interviewing them right away”

Will Pam Bondi work with Noem Kristi to deport anti-Israel, anti-genocide Protesters on university campuses?

Trump also picked another far-right neocon, a NewsMax TV host of the The Gorka Reality Check, Sebastian Gorka for the positions of deputy assistant to the president and senior director for counterterrorism. Gorka was part of the first Trump administration and was appointed Deputy Assistant to the President and a strategist in the White House team which was known as the Strategic Initiatives Group.

On an interview with Times Radio, Gorka claims what will Trump say to Putin “I’ll give one tip away that the president has mentioned, he will say to that murderous former KGB Colonel that thug who runs the Russian Federation, you will negotiate now or the aid that we have given to Ukraine thus far will look like peanuts.” So Trump’s claim that he will end the Russia-Ukraine war in 24 hours is not a reality with people such as Sebastian Gorka in his cabinet.

There are other Trump nominees such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr who supports Israel, if confirmed, he will be the Secretary of Health & Human Services (HHS) and there will be others with the same ideologies as mentioned above that will be in Trump’s future cabinet because as we all know, Trump can replace any of his picks on a whim.

What is certain in an uncertain world is that President-Elect, Donald Trump and his choices for his top positions is a recipe for a world war, not peace.  China, Iran, Russia and other countries who are on the US hit list will face a regime full of warmongering extremists and that is not a good start.  For the looks of it, it seems that war is on the agenda once again.

By Philip M. Giraldi

We are possibly witnessing another stealthy move by Washington and Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to enhance the Israeli position in a Middle East at war while pretending to do something else. President Joe Biden and his cast of know-nothings have been bleating for months about their desire to arrange a “humanitarian” ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon while also alternatively whining about the Jewish state’s “right to defend itself,” but somehow the arrangements proposed have never quite satisfied Netanyahu.

Bibi has repeatedly declared that he will not accept any halt to the fighting, presumably until all the Palestinians are dead, but would accept some kind of suspension of the conflicts as long as he has the option to return to unleashing the mass murder whenever it suits him. He deceptively labels that “making sure that the bad guy ‘terrorists’ abide by the agreement.” In that context of everyone lying to everyone else, Genocide Joe has managed to drag his sorry ass over the finish line with a “whereas laced” US endorsed temporary peace formula for Lebanon that suits Bibi just fine. In fact, it suited him so well that he could not resist renewing his attacking the Lebanese last Thursday even before the ink was dry on the ceasefire documents.

The ceasefire, arranged largely by Amos Hochstein, an Israeli who served in the Israeli army and is now Biden’s roving negotiator, was agreed to on November 27^th. Its written provisions include 60 days for Hezbollah to withdraw to the Litani River, 18 miles north of the border, while Israel withdraws from all of south Lebanon that it has occupied. The Lebanese army will occupy the area vacated by Hezbollah and will work with the UNIFIL soldiers to monitor the process and maintain the peace in what will be designated as a weapons free zone. Complicating the agreement, there is a side letter from the United States to Israel confirming American support for Israel to “act in self-defense,” a term that Israel can exploit to reintervene in Lebanon. In the letter, the US also commits itself to share with Israel intelligence on Iran providing any support for Hezbollah. Israel is to be permitted to act “in self-defense” if Hezbollah violates the ceasefire in the area south of the Litani and it is also allowed to conduct reconnaissance flights over Lebanon to monitor developments. As usual, Prime Minister Netanyahu claimed a “win,” stating that he had reached an understanding with the US that Israel would “maintain full military freedom of action” in southern Lebanon. “If Hezbollah violates the agreement and tries to arm itself, we will attack. If it tries to renew terrorist infrastructure near the border, we will attack. If it launches a rocket, if it digs a tunnel, if it brings in a truck with missiles, we will attack.” As 35,000 Hezbollah militants actually live in the disarmed zone and presumably will try to return home, Israel will always have an excuse to resume its offensive.

To be sure, Lebanon was happy to accept any reprieve from the destruction wrought by Israeli bombs and artillery rounds, even if Israeli ground forces had been less than successful. Lebanon’s war losses have been calculated to be upwards of $8.5 billion dollars, together with thousands of civilians killed and injured. That includes Israel’s destruction of 100,000 homes and substantial impacts on health, education, and agriculture, according to the World Bank. But there is nevertheless, of course, a lot of speculation as to why any agreement was reached at all given Netanyahu’s unrelenting demand that he have a free hand to punish his neighbors and Biden’s usual cowardice whenever he is confronted by the Israeli gauleiter. The most interesting theory regarding why Israel has agreed to the US drafted ceasefire with Lebanon is that the Israeli government has finally figured out that it is not exactly winning its two little wars even though it has killed tens of thousands, or possibly even hundreds of thousands, Arabs.

Regarding Israel’s own casualties, one assumes that the US Defense Department knows roughly or even in detail the numbers of dead and wounded that the Israel Occupation Force (IOF) is sustaining in its unconventional warfare in both Gaza and south Lebanon. Some credible analysts even have concluded that the Israeli military is under considerable pressure due to a high casualty rate in ground fighting involving its best soldiers, overreliance on reservists, and shortages of equipment and weapons in spite of the Biden airlifts occurring on an almost daily basis. There are reports that even the Pentagon is now running out of certain types of weapons, including artillery shells and smart bombs. A respite in the fighting against the still formidable Hezbollah enemy would be welcome both to the Israeli government and to the military planners particularly as the ceasefire is drafted to favor Israel, which can intervene in Lebanon at will just by alleging a Lebanese failure to enforce the agreement. Netanyahu may also be looking forward to the Trump factor in seven weeks. Donald Trump has always been a consequence free supporter of Israel and his cabinet is composed of hardcore Zionists. So, there is every reason for Netanyahu to believe that with Trump in power he will be able to manipulate circumstances involving both Gazans and Lebanese to enable a US supported move towards the large-scale attack on Iran that Bibi has wanted for decades.

“Victory” has also become elusive as fighting drags on well into its second year on all fronts and Israel’s “freeing of the hostages” has not only failed to materialize, it has resulted in the actual killing of some prisoners of Hamas by Israeli bombs and gunfire. Israel has failed to establish any of the “realities” it wanted to create by invading Lebanon: there is no buffer zone and instead a full IOF retreat, no Hezbollah disarmament, no Hezbollah withdrawal, and no Hezbollah removal from political power in Lebanon. Publicly, Israel got a decoupling between Gaza and Lebanon, but it also was punished with an international arrest warrant for multiple war crimes and genocide being issued against Israel’s Prime Minister and former Defense Minister. Even though the US has rallied around in defense of Israel, the demands for isolating Israel worldwide due to its clearly demonstrated ongoing genocide will intensify.

The disruption and sinking of the Israeli economy due to the evacuation of the northern tier of the country under Hezbollah pressure, an increasing number of international boycotts, and the closure of many businesses, has been widely observed, as has also been the actual departure of many more educated Jewish Israelis holding US and European passports. There is considerable talk among antiwar Israeli Jews in the diaspora and even in liberal newspapers like Haaretz that Israel is in a very real sense self-destructing.

This all derives from the growing belief that the Israeli leadership has begun to realize that it does not have an effective military solution either to end the war in its favor nor to extend it to include the US as an ally in attacking Iran. If Netanyahu and his generals thought they could continue the carnage for another ninety days until the arrival of Donald Trump in the White House, they almost certainly would have gone in that direction without any talk of ceasefire. Instead, leaked reports suggest that the generals themselves are complaining that the government of Netanyahu “has no plan” and have demanding a cutback due to heavy losses.

There are, to be sure, other theories to explain the surprise development of the so-called ceasefire, particularly as it so closely involves the United States and Israel, neither which can be trusted. The lull in the fighting certainly gives the IOF a break during which time it can regroup and re-equip with the help of Washington. And, as noted above, the concession to Israel that it can re-engage if it determines that Lebanon is not abiding by the ceasefire will be easy to manipulate as Israel is, if anything, a master of deception. So the agreement to down arms benefits Israel with Netanyahu, backed by the US, continuing to be able to call the shots on what comes next on the Hezbollah front.

So will the ceasefire hold or is it another gimmick by the US and Israel? In fact, as noted above, the uneasy truce between Israel and the militant group Hezbollah was violated by Israel on its second day in Lebanon on Thursday, by an airstrike that it inevitably claimed targeted militants violating terms of the cease-fire deal. The Israeli strike was the first of its kind since the US backed ceasefire went into effect before dawn on the day before. In spite of the clear violation, neither of the war’s combatants, Israel or Hezbollah, seemed keen to immediately return to full-scale fighting. The Israeli military said the incident, near the border in southern Lebanon, had targeted two militants entering a Hezbollah rocket facility that had been used to fire into Israel. Lebanon’s army, which is set to play a major role in enforcing the truce, also accused Israel of violating the ceasefire “several more times” on Thursday afternoon. The Israeli military claimed that its soldiers had in fact interdicted other militants attempting to enter into southern Lebanon. “With the same power we used to secure the agreement, we will now enforce it no less so,” Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, the Israeli military’s chief of staff, said in a subsequent video. It is no doubt precisely how Israel will behave in the future and how little the US, as a guarantor of the agreement together with France, will be tempted to intervene to maintain the peace contrary to Netanyahu’s wishes. That partisanship by Washington is precisely the problem and it suggests that the both the integrity and viability of the ceasefire might reasonably be questioned.

*

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.

2 December 2024

Source: globalresearch.ca

By Drago Bosnic and Prof Michel Chossudovsky

Our thanks to Lux media for the production of this video

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First published on November 28, 2024

Pour la Paix à l’échelle planétaire, Towards Peace at the Level of the entire Planet, На пути к миру на уровне всей планеты, На шляху до миру на рівні всієї планети, Por la paz a escala planetaria, من أجل السلام على نطاق عالمي, 世界規模での平和のために, Auf dem Weg zum Frieden auf der Ebene des gesamten Planeten, 为了全球规模的和平, สู่สันติภาพในระดับโลกทั้งใบ, 전체 비행기 수준의 평화를 향하여, Rumo à paz no nível de todo o planeta

Say No to Nuclear War! Peace on the Planet

Drago Bosnic and Michel Chossudovsky

English

SAY NO TO NUCLEAR WAR

Avec  sous-titres en français 

Dites Non à la Guerre Nucléaire!

MICHEL CHOSSUDOVSKY – DRAGO BOSNIĆ – DITES NON À LA GUERRE NUCLÉAIRE

sub-titulos en español

Di No a la Guerra  Nuclear!

MICHEL CHOSSUDOVSKY – DRAGO BOSNIĆ – DI NO A LA GUERRA NUCLEAR

Субтитры на русском языке

Скажи “нет” ядерной войне!

МИШЕЛЬ ШОСУДОВСКИЙ – ДРАГО БОСНИЧ – СКАЖИ НЕТ ЯДЕРНОЙ ВОЙНЕ

1 December 2024

Source: globalresearch.ca

By Nima Tavallaey Roodsari

As Israel’s US-backed genocidal war on Gaza rages on, the death toll of Palestinian footballers has surpassed 320 even as the international governing body of football continues to engage in blatant sportswashing.

On February 24, 2022, FIFA, UEFA, and the IOC issued separate statements condemning Russia just hours after it launched its military operation in Ukraine.

Four days later, the FIFA Council and UEFA Executive Committee banned all Russian teams from participating in international football tournaments.

The IOC Executive Board made similar recommendations on the same day.

Fast forward two years to July 10, 2024, when the US medical journal The Lancet published a report estimating that “up to 186,000 or even more deaths could be attributable to the current conflict (war) in Gaza,” affecting a population where 47 percent are under 18 years old.

The official death toll from the Israeli genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza is nearly 42,400 now, including more than 17,000 children. However, thousands more remain trapped under the rubble and unaccounted for.

Six months before the Lancet issued its report, on January 26, The International Court of Justice issued an interim ruling in a case originally filed by South Africa declaring that there was a “plausible” case against Israel for committing genocide in Gaza.

This is without even mentioning the horrific images of mutilated and slaughtered Palestinian men, women, and children that have circulated on social media daily since October 7, 2023.

What has been FIFA’s response? Under the leadership of Gianni Infantino—who, during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, expressed a wide range of global identities—the world football’s governing body has engaged in one of the largest and most obscene acts of political gaslighting and sportswashing in human history.

On October 3 of this year, FIFA announced that its Disciplinary Committee would “initiate an investigation into the alleged offense of discrimination raised by the Palestine Football Association.”

It further stated that the FIFA Governance, Audit, and Compliance Committee “will be entrusted with the mission to investigate – and subsequently advise the FIFA Council on – the participation in Israeli competitions of Israeli football teams allegedly based in the territory of Palestine.”

This ludicrous language came after the decision to take action against Israel had been postponed at least three times.

Infantino stated, “The ongoing violence in the region confirms that, above all considerations, and as stated at the 74th FIFA Congress, we need peace.”

“As we remain extremely shocked by what is happening, our thoughts are with those who are suffering. We urge all parties to restore peace to the region immediately.”

It is evident that Infantino, who once famously claimed to feel “African, Qatari, disabled, woman,” etc does not extend this sentiment to Palestinians.

Consider the case of Muhammed Bhar, a 24-year-old Palestinian man with Down syndrome and autism, who was killed when Israeli soldiers unleashed a military dog on him.

As the dog attacked, Muhammed tried to comfort it to stop its aggression.

Personally, I doubt Infantino is capable of feeling much at all, except perhaps the sensation of bending over on command, like an obedient Zionist lapdog—after lining his own pockets, of course.

Mark Twain is famously quoted as saying, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.”

Over the past year, amid unrelenting West-backed Israeli aggression in Gaza and now Lebanon, we have witnessed three levels of hypocrisy: hypocrisy, damned hypocrisy, and FIFA hypocrisy.

By doing so, FIFA has paved the way for European football clubs to sportswash Israel’s genocide in Gaza and Lebanon even as innocents continue to die every moment.

A particularly egregious example is that of German football club Borussia Dortmund.

The Bundesliga club faced severe backlash from its own fans when it announced that the German weapons manufacturer  Rheinmetall would be its main shirt sponsor.

On their website, they expressed their “historical responsibility towards Israel,” adding that they are “fully committed” to the Zionist apartheid regime’s “right to exist.”

On October 7, 2024, marking the first anniversary of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, Borussia Dortmund and several other Bundesliga clubs released similar statements.

They condemned the Palestinian resistance but remained silent about the nearly 43,000 Palestinians (official toll) killed in the past year, most of whom were women and children. Many of the victims included young football players, including Dortmund fans.

One day earlier, Gaza-based football journalist and Press TV correspondent Abubaker Abed, along with Spanish-Moroccan journalist Leyla Hamed, published a video from Deir El-Balah, a city in the northern Gaza Strip.

The video was recorded the day after Israeli warplanes bombed a mosque filled with people seeking refuge from the indiscriminate bombing campaign.

Beneath the rubble, a torn Borussia Dortmund shirt was discovered, emblazoned with Marco Reus’s name and number. Neither Borussia Dortmund nor Marco Reus has issued a statement addressing their devoted Palestinian fans, whether dead or alive.

I suppose the gesture of players from the German national team covering their mouths during the FIFA World Cup in 2022 was less a protest and more a confession of their complicity in what has transpired, what is happening now, and what is yet to come.

This brings us to the chaotic UEFA Nations League match where Italy hosted the Israeli team in Udine. Viral social media posts have documented the presence of snipers on the stadium roof before, during, and after the game.

This is all happening because FIFA, UEFA, and the IOC refuse to apply their own rules and principles to Israel, as they did with such urgency when punishing Russia and Belarus because of Western pressure.

None of this is news to anyone. The more pressing question is: Now that we have established that the “I” in FIFA stands for Israel, what should the civilized world do next regarding sport in general and football in particular?

Through its blood-drenched hypocrisy and sportswashing of Israel’s crimes, FIFA has compromised the soul of this beautiful game, at least in the short term.

While the image of 19-year-old Sha’ban Al-Dalou engulfed in flames haunts the conscience of the civilized world, I am left wondering if, as an unintended consequence, FIFA has permanently harmed itself as an international sports organization.

Nima Tavallaey Roodsari is a football journalist and podcast host based in Sweden. He tweets at @NimaTavRood

17 October 2024

Source: presstv.ir

Masar Badil: The Egyptian regime is a collaborator with the Zionist entity against our people in Gaza

The Masar Badil, the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement, emphasizes that the Egyptian regime is actively participating in war crimes against the Palestinian people and in the Zionist-U.S. siege imposed on the Gaza Strip for nearly two decades. The regime of General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi continues to close the Rafah crossing and prevents the entry of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people, who have been facing a continuous genocide for the past 14 months.

Khaled Barakat, a member of the movement’s executive committee, said in a media interview with Yemen’s Al-Masirah channel: “The Egyptian people are well aware of the reality of the fascist and treacherous regime in Cairo. This illegitimate and authoritarian regime has become a primary partner in the genocide against our people in Gaza.” He called on the Egyptian and Palestinian masses to “rebel and resist the Camp David regime.”

We call for an international campaign and various forms of popular pressure on the Egyptian regime to open the Rafah crossing and allow the entry of medicine, food, and water for the Palestinian people, especially during the winter season, when people are being killed by bombs, starvation, and disease. Patients are also deprived of receiving treatment abroad, while the Israeli enemy systematically and daily destroys the health, food, education, and environmental systems in the besieged Gaza Strip.

Barakat added: “The generals’ regime in Egypt violates international law, fails to fulfill its obligations and responsibilities, and does not adhere to the recognized international conventions signed by the Egyptian state. It is complicit in war crimes and treats Gaza as a cash cow, exploiting our people’s needs and stealing large sums of money from Palestinians while suppressing the Egyptian people and preventing them from expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people.”

The Masar Badil Movement calls upon solidarity forces with the Palestinian people to participate in a broad popular and international campaign to be launched in the coming days, aimed at stopping the Israeli genocide and forcing the Egyptian regime to allow the entry of humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza and to open the Rafah crossing without restrictions or conditions.”

To participate in the campaign, please contact the movement via the following email: info@masarbadil.org

1 December 2024

Source: masarbadil.org

Masar Badil movement: The Zionist Enemy Retreats in the Face of the Will of the Resistance and the Steadfastness of its People in Lebanon

The Executive Committee of the Masar Badil, the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement, confirmed in its regular meeting today, Thursday, November 28, 2024, that the heroic Islamic Resistance in Lebanon, supported by its popular cradle and the resistance camp in the region, won the “Battle of the Mighty Ones” when it thwarted the goals of the Zionist-U.S. aggression and forced the enemy army to retreat in the face of the steadfastness and valor of the Mujahideen, and the dedication of the loyal and patient popular cradle that was determined to follow in the path of the martyrs, the wounded and its Secretary-General and leader, the martyr Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. They remained, and remain, confident of achieving the promised victory, the steadfastness of the resistance, and the truth of its honorable compass that points to Jerusalem on the path of liberation and return, and towards a liberated Palestine from the river to the sea.

The Zionist enemy and its allies, which wanted to eliminate and crush the resistance and its leadership in Lebanon, and remove it from its path in order to ensure U.S., Western and Zionist hegemony over the region under the slogan of the “New Middle East,” and to uproot Hezbollah by force, destruction, assassinations and massacres, have not reaped anything but disappointment, defeat and failure, and a handful of dust and illusions,  after their criminal aggression. The reliance on these imperialist powers by some local and regional forces has also failed and their conspiracies have been shattered in the face of the facts on the ground and the steadfastness and strength of the resistance in all arenas of confrontation.

The Masar Badil movement reiterates its respect and highest appreciation for the sacrifices of the Lebanese people, the resistance and its leadership, which has gained the respect of the peoples when it once again presented a living and shining lesson to all liberation movements in the world, and a revolutionary model of the ability of the armed popular forces to seize historical achievements and defeat the forces of colonialism, occupation and fascism, despite all obstacles. It also emphasized the ability of the armed resistance to protect the people’s resources, capacities, dignity and sovereignty over their homeland.

The movement warns of the malicious conspiracies being hatched in secret and in public against the resistance in Palestine, Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and Syria, especially the policies of lies and deception practiced by the war criminal Netanyahu and his criminal racist entity with U.S. cover, and with the complicity of the client regimes and reactionary forces affiliated with Washington inside and outside the Arab nation.

The Masar Badil calls for unity and solidarity of the Arab and Islamic resistance fronts and their popular forces everywhere in the region, and to continue confrontation of the Zionist occupation and the unceasing genocidal aggression of the Zionist enemy against our people in occupied Palestine, especially in the steadfast Gaza Strip. The Masar also calls upon our Arab and Islamic peoples and international solidarity movements to firmly support the Palestinian resistance, which has amazed friend and enemy alike with its steadfastness and creativity, and has protected the Palestinian people, their rights and the Palestinian cause itself from being erased and liquidated.

28 November 2024

Source: masarbadil.org

Myanmar activist finds ICC Prosecutor’s arrest request insufficient for Rohingya Muslims

By Selman Aksünger

Myanmar human rights activist and genocide expert Maung Zarni said the ICC Prosecutor’s request for the arrest of the leader of the Myanmar military government was positive but insufficient for the return of Rohingya Muslims to their homeland.

Myanmar human rights activist and genocide expert Maung Zarni said the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for Myanmar military leader Min Aung Hlaing was a positive step.

Zarni said the arrest warrant for a single general was not enough to ensure the safe return of more than one million Rohingya Muslims to their ancestral lands and the rebuilding of their society.

Three basic conditions of true justice

Zarni, who stated that he does not think that real justice for the Rohingya Muslims will be achieved with just an arrest request, said, “If we are looking for real justice for the victims of genocide, it is not enough to try one, two or even half a dozen military leaders who have command responsibilities. Justice for the Rohingya Muslims is not just about imprisoning a few high-ranking commanders who carried out the genocide.”

Zarni listed three basic conditions for justice for the Rohingya Muslims, saying, “First, the safe return to their ancestral lands in Northern Arakan, then the opportunity to reclaim their lands and then rebuild their communities, lives, schools, hospitals, businesses and mosques in safety. These three basic elements will enable them to rebuild their economies, societies and other cultural and intellectual institutions.”

Zarni, who drew attention to the fact that genocide was carried out by the state, said, “Crimes against humanity and genocides are usually committed by political states and regimes using the army, paramilitary groups, militia groups, law enforcement forces and even the legal system. The situation of the Rohingya Muslims is a situation that could be a textbook example of genocide.”

Zarni assessed the role of the leader of the Myanmar military government, General Min Aung Hlaing, whose arrest request was made by the ICC, saying, “He is the Milosevic of Myanmar, the Netanyahu of Myanmar. In 2017, in the midst of all the killings, mass rapes, massacres and destructions of his army in Rakhine State, he famously addressed the military and the people in his speech saying that the existence of the Rohingya Muslims, their lives and their presence on Myanmar soil was ‘unfinished business’ from World War II. Thus, he clearly gave the signal to finish this unfinished business. The genocide was the means to do this. General Min should be seen as evil, racist, violent and genocidal as Netanyahu.”

“The genocide has been going on since the 1970s”

Drawing attention to the institutional dimension of the genocide rather than the individual accountability of those with command responsibility, Zarni noted the following:

“The mass deportation of one million Rohingya Muslims in six months to two years is a mass crime, but the institutional oppression of Rohingya Muslims dates back to the 1970s. That’s why we call it ‘gradual genocide.’ What the ICC prosecutor did is positive and I sincerely support it, but we should not confuse law with justice.”

Zarni said that genocide crimes are usually committed by states with the support of racist societies, adding, “The Nazi regime’s genocide against Jews and other minorities was carried out with the support of the German people. Myanmar Buddhist society has also entered the realm of genocidal racism. I have not seen any sincere change, even from the so-called democratic revolutionaries, that they are ready to accept Rohingya Muslims as people of Myanmar.”

Zarni, who also criticized the ICC’s approach, said: “It is worrying that the court waited 5 years to request the arrest of a single Myanmar general. It is positive that an arrest warrant was issued for Netanyahu and Gallant 6 days ago. I commend the court and prosecutors for this bold step. I support them trying the Myanmar general as well, but justice for the Rohingya Muslims must go beyond what the court can provide.”

“Social prejudices continue”

Zarni explained the two main obstacles to Rohingya Muslims’ return:

“The first obstacle is Myanmar society. Different ethnic groups, different religions, mainstream Buddhists and even some Myanmar Muslims have been led to believe that Rohingya Muslims do not belong there. They were propagandized that they came as seasonal agricultural workers during the British period and stayed in the country after the British left. This propaganda, produced by the Myanmar military, was accepted by political parties and leaders, including Aung San Suu Kyi, priests and other ethnic minorities.”

Zarni said that some groups that want democracy, federal autonomy and human rights are not ready to accept that Rohingya Muslims are subject to the same rights. He added, “In order for this internal obstacle to change, all Myanmar opinion leaders, journalists, educators and revolutionary leaders need to come together and say, ‘We accept Rohingya Muslims back, they are part of our society, they are our brothers.’ But this is not happening.”

Zarni said that the second obstacle to the Rohingya Muslims returning to their homeland is the lack of an active role by the international community, adding, “Since 2016-2017, one million Rohingya Muslims who were forcibly removed from their country have not been provided with the necessary protection in neighboring countries, including Bangladesh. Bangladesh describes them as ‘forcibly displaced persons from Myanmar’. No, they are victims of genocide and Rohingya refugees under the refugee convention.”

“The Arakan Army is also racist”

Zarni, who explained that the state of Rakhine is under the control of the Arakan Army, one of the armed rebel groups fighting with the army in Myanmar, said, “The lands of the Rohingya Muslims are currently under the control of the armed militia called the ‘Arakan Army’. The Arakan Army has repeatedly shown that it is equally racist, genocidal and violent towards the Rohingya Muslims.”

Zarni stated that as a solution proposal, the Rohingya Muslims should be given refugee status and then an inter-state conference should be held where Turkey, China, India and other regional countries come together. He said, “The sole focus of the conference should be the voluntary return of the Rohingya Muslims to their homes. This should happen with the international protection force to be formed by Bangladesh, India, China, Thailand and other ASEAN countries.”

Stating that the military and administrative situation in Myanmar is suitable for international intervention, Zarni said, “The intervention of not all 198 UN member states but only a few neighboring countries that are important for the Myanmar army is sufficient. India, China, Thailand and Bangladesh in particular should come together. Bangladesh currently carries the biggest burden with one million Rohingya Muslim refugees on its soil.”

Selman is a PhD candidate at Maastricht University. His research concerns the impact of sea-level rise on a displaced nation’s sovereignty rights over natural resources.

29 November 2024

True Solidarity with Palestine Demands Concrete Actions

In 1977, the United Nations declared 29 November to be the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. In doing so, the UN conflated solidarity with Palestinians with the date of the adoption of the UN Partition Plan for Palestine, a colonial resolution that contributed to creating the very reasons why Palestine solidarity is needed in the first place.

The UN Partition Plan, adopted 29 November 1947, aimed to give 56 percent of Mandatory Palestine to Zionist colonizers for a Jewish state, although they made up around 32 percent of the population of Palestine—following decades of illegal migration and implantation facilitated by the British Mandate—and owned 7 percent of the land of Palestine. Thereby, the UN, led by western colonial states, not only endorsed Zionist colonial aspirations in Palestine, but lent “Israel” international legitimacy even prior to its creation in 1948. The Partition Plan disregarded Palestinian self-determination and blatantly demanded that the Palestinian people capitulate to and approve of their own colonization. During the 1948 Nakba, Zionist militias, with the support of colonial states, executed the Partition Plan and beyond, colonizing 78 percent of Mandatory Palestine and forcibly displacing 65 percent of the Palestinian people.

The UN’s actions effectively set the stage for the years of Israeli impunity, global inaction and western colonial complicity that would follow to this day. After the signing of the Oslo Accords, partition morphed into the so-called two-state solution and the accompanying state-building paradigm, which only served to further legitimize and entrench Israeli colonial domination. Furthermore, the failure to properly address the root causes (colonization, apartheid and forced displacement and transfer) has led to the latest manifestation of Israeli colonialism: the genocide of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. This genocide is not an aberration but the continuation of the ongoing Nakba. “Israel” is a colonial-apartheid regime that, by its very nature, requires the elimination of the Palestinian people to sustain itself, as well as ensuring that colonizers maintain privileges at the expense of the native population. The international community was passively and actively liable when Zionist militias carried out massacres and displaced over 750,000 Palestinians to create “Israel”, and remains complicit as “Israel” carries out its ongoing genocide, so far killing at least 43,391 and injuring more than 102,347 Palestinians.

Furthermore, as “Israel” passes two laws banning UNRWA—the only mandated and most capable organization providing aid and support in the Gaza Strip amid a genocide—the UN and states have only responded with weak statements of concern and condemnations. Colonial states, particularly the United States, have taken no steps to end their complicity or pressure “Israel” to stop its campaign against UNRWA. Instead, they persist in reaffirming their unconditional support for the Israeli colonial-apartheid regime. States’ failure to protect UNRWA not only contributes to “Israel’s” aim to liquidate the Palestinian refugee issue, but also violates their obligations to take every practical measure to protect the Agency, and ensure its ability to fulfill its mandate, as per UNGA Resolution 194, until Palestinian refugees return.

77 years since the signing of the Plan, our demands extend beyond a symbolic day of solidarity. Real solidarity requires addressing the root causes, supporting Palestinian resistance and liberation, and ensuring the right to return and to self-determination, in order to achieve the ultimate dismantlement of the Israeli colonial-apartheid regime.

Therefore, we call on the international community—states, international organizations, including the UN, as well as non-profits and the private sector—to take decisive, concrete actions to impose a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon, protect UNRWA and Palestinian refugee rights, and until the decolonization of Palestine. This includes recognizing “Israel” as a colonial-apartheid regime, providing support to the Palestinian liberation movement, and implementing the full spectrum of sanctions against “Israel”, i.e., economic, political, and military. Any other “solution” is insufficient and insulting to the Palestinian people and principles of justice.

28 November 2024

Source: badil.org

By Junaid S Ahmad

November 24th was designated as the global day of protest for the release of former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, who has been imprisoned by the Pakistani military and political elites since August of 2023. It was a day of solidarity with the brutalized, tortured, and imprisoned tens of thousands of Pakistanis associated with Khan’s Movement for Justice (PTI) and those who opposed the current military-with-a-civilian-facade regime. Despite a complete lockdown, with roadblocks being ubiquitous, as well as trigger-happy militarized security forces, there have been massive demonstrations against the regime across Pakistan, culminating in marching towards the capital, Islamabad. Rallies and protests of Pakistanis and human rights activists are taking place in Washington, New York, London, Paris, Barcelona, Istanbul, and many other cities across the world.

The demands of the Movement for Justice are the following:
1) Immediate release of Imran Khan and the end of farcical and politically-motivated charges and cases.
2) Immediate release of the tens of thousands of PTI activists imprisoned.
3) A recognition of the election results of February of this year, wherein Khan’s PTI handily won the most seats in Parliament – so that PTI would get its rightful place of governing the country.
4) The end of interference from the military establishment in the political life of the country

Over the past twenty-four hours, there is a lot to be said and celebrated. Despite severe repression, Pakistanis have exploded in revolt throughout the country. From all corners of the nation, people are all marching towards here in Islamabad. The capital has been converted into an outright fortress with the regime having imported thousands upon thousands of containers and buses to be used as roadblocks. The courage of ordinary Pakistanis in confronting a fascist state with trigger-happy militarized security forces is simply awe-inspiring. We are seeing the only real enemy our pathetic military establishment is willing to confront: its own people.

There is much more to say. But for now, three things:

1) Whether one likes former Prime Minister Imran Khan or not, it’s difficult to think of a contemporary political leader who could mobilize such massive demonstrations in literally every corner of the world. From Tokyo to Kuala Lumpur to Johannesburg to Istanbul to Athens to Barcelona to Manchester to Dublin to New York to Atlanta to Chicago to Houston and to roughly sixty-five other cities in the world (the latest count) – this has really been surreal. When thinking of individual political leaders who would be able to attract such unrelenting global protests of solidarity and support, one thinks of Mandela, Castro, Nasser. Perhaps I’m missing something because of getting caught up in the sheer magnitude of the worldwide scale these protests have assumed.

2) What happened in Pakistan in April of 2022 will go down as one of the most reckless and ill-conceived regime change operations in history. As I’ve stated before in interviews and writings below, it’s probably not a good idea to target the most popular and beloved – for at least the past three decades – national icon. The Biden Administration and the generals in Islamabad have made a martyr out of Khan, have miraculously transformed him from arguably just a moderate reformer to a full-blown revolutionary in the eyes of the people!

3) Can we imagine what the response would be if these were both nationwide and worldwide demonstrations, on this scale, against totalitarian repression of political prisoners and dissidents in Iran, Russia, China, Cuba, Venezuela, etc.? We would be seeing 24-7 coverage on ALL of the major media outlets, probably not even taking a pause to cover an inauguration of a new US President. Here we have the beginnings of a revolution in a country with the fifth largest population in the world, fifth largest military, nuclear-armed, and virtual silence. It can barely elicit a paragraph in Reuters or the AP. If ever there was an example of the skewed – to put it mildly – imperial ideology of the media and the intelligentsia, this is it. Just as with the Zionist genocide in Gaza, they are also complicit in enabling now over two years of one of the most fascistic totalitarian phases in Pakistan’s history.

Below are useful links to some of the scenes over the past 24 hours, to recent (Western media) interviews (on Breakthrough News, Useful Idiots, Flashpoints, etc.), some of my recent articles (for context), and images of the uprising. I’m indebted to my students who are also bravely participating in, and covering, this popular revolt. I had also sent something briefly below to give some context to Nov. 24th being global Khan/Movement for Justice mobilization and solidarity day.

[https://twitter.com/DropSiteNews/status/1860764956993503283]

[https://twitter.com/PTIOfficialUSA/status/1860791219774722429]

[https://twitter.com/TRTWorldNow/status/1860918840580006140]

[https://twitter.com/Ali_Mustafa/status/1860759746568962414]

[https://twitter.com/PTIOfficialUSA/status/1860730315276214543]

[https://twitter.com/HarmeetSinghPk/status/1832411101990158722]

Video:

Pakistan’s Power Struggle, w/ Junaid Ahmad

Pakistan’s Protests for Gaza Are Reigniting Its Fight Against US-Backed Military Rule

Shock in Pakistan: US-Backed Military Losing Grip

Exposed: US Backed regime change in Pakistan

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/watch-former-pakistan-pm-imran-khans-supporters-protest-in-over-60-locations-worldwide/amp_articleshow/115643984.cms
https://apnews.com/article/pakistan-imran-khan-rally-cellphone suspension-415227ef93b710798dedbc6c9f8ac2a5
https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2022/11/08/assassination-imran-khan-pakistan-us-coup/
https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2023/03/15/pakistan-coup-regime-arrest-imran-khan/
https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2023/05/22/arrest-imran-khan-pakistan-regime/
https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/pakistan-imran-khan-shooting-tipping-point-reached
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240202-bidens-generals-in-pakistan/
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240213-khan-v-the-generals/
https://countercurrents.org/2024/09/unworthy-victims-pakistani-women-confronting-state-terror/
https://countercurrents.org/2024/11/antagonistic-and-irreconcilable-contradictions-and-the-future-of-imran-khans-movement-for-justice/
https://muslimviews.co.za/antagonistic-and-irreconcilable-contradictions-within-imran-khans-movement-for-justice/

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

25 November 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

By Vijay Prashad

Between November 15 and 16, 2024, the government of Peru hosted the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. This 21-country gathering that first started in 1989 brings together the major countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) with the major countries that ring the Pacific Ocean, including the United States and China. There was nothing dramatic at the APEC forum itself, whose Machu Picchu Declaration could have been written at any of the previous forums. There is one sentence in the Declaration that was of interest: “Unprecedented and rapid changes continue to shape the world today.” However, the governments could not elaborate on that sentence given their different views on those changes. Even though the meeting itself did not articulate the “rapid changes,” events outside the meeting in Lima made the nature of these changes very clear.

Used Metro Cars

The U. S. President Joe Biden came to APEC with a rather odd selection of offerings. Standing beside Peru’s President Dina Boluarte, Biden announced that the United States is pleased to donate 150 passenger cars and locomotives to the Lima Metro system. This would ordinarily have been a very welcome announcement. However, there was something in that announcement that did not sit well: the cars and locomotives were not new but were used in the Caltrain system. The U.S. government had previously thought of selling them to Peru but then hastened to make this a donation instead.

New goods did come to Peru, but these were not for civilian use. The United States provided Peru with nine Black Hawk helicopters (about $65 million paid to Sikorsky Aircraft by the U.S. taxpayers). These helicopters are to be used against drug traffickers, but there is no guarantee that the Peruvian government will not use them against its citizens. Along the grain of these military helicopters, the U.S. military provided security for the APEC summit, despite the fact that the Peruvian military has shown itself quite capable of managing a summit of this scale.

A Port for South America

Two hours north of Lima, along the wonderful coastline of Peru, sits Chancay, a coastal town famous for being a staging point in the War of the Pacific (1879-1884) between Chile and Peru. What used to be a quiet town is now a major port. In a joint venture, the Peruvian company Volcan Compañí Minera S.A.A. owns 40 percent of the port, while COSCO Shipping Ports of China holds the remaining 60 percent. COSCO is a state-owned enterprise that already owns a part of one port on the Pacific Ocean’s American coastline, in Seattle, Washington.

The Chinese invested $3.6 billion in the Peruvian project, which began in 2021 and is near completion. The deepest part of the port will be 17.8 meters, which will allow it to berth the very large cargo ships that have a capacity of 18,000 TEUs (Twenty-foot Equivalent Units, the standard measurement for the capacity of cargo ships); the largest cargo ship is the MSC Irina, built in China, with a capacity of 24,346 TEUs. During the APEC summit, Presidents Xi Jinping of China and Boluarte of Peru inaugurated the port.

The Chancay port will be complemented by a train line that the Chinese will build that runs from the port into Brazil’s state of Amazonas to the Free Economic Zone within the city of Manaus. Trade between South America and China will be direct and will not need to be transshipped through Central or North America. Shipping time will be drastically reduced, making trade more profitable at both ends. Initially, the port will be a boon for agricultural products (avocados, blueberries, coffee, and cacao). Eventually, though, the Peruvian government hopes to build industrial zones in the hinterland of the port to process these products, including timber, and ensure that value-added gains remain in Peru. One example, the Ancon Industrial Park, is already on the books and will be developed next year. A study of the project by Peruvian scholars expects to see gains for Peru and the rest of South America within a few years.

Investment or Insecurity

The United States tried to shut down Chinese investment in Peru. In 2020, the United States was able to shut out Chinese investment from La Unión port in El Salvador. No such pressure was possible on the Peruvian government, despite its military links to the United States. Last year, retired U.S. General Laura J. Richardson, then head of Southern Command, expressed her views about the Chinese investments to the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington: “I’d like to say what the PRC is doing—the People’s Republic of China—looks to be investment, but really I call it extraction, at the end of the day. And I say that it’s in the red zone, just to use… an analogy there. They’re on the 20-yard line to our homeland. Or, we could say that they’re on the first and second island chain to our homeland. And the proximity in terms of this region and the importance of the region, I think that we have to truly appreciate what this region brings, and the security challenges that these countries face.”

The United States tried to make the investment about security, but for Latin American countries, this was an investment. When asked about the port, Peru’s former finance minister Alex Contreras told the Financial Times that “any investment is welcome in a region which has an enormous investment deficit. If you have to choose between no investment and Chinese investment, you will always prefer investment.”

At the G20 meeting in Brazil after the APEC summit, Xi Jinping returned to the theme of the Belt and Road Initiative. China, he said, “will always be a member of the Global South, a reliable long-term partner of fellow developing countries.” From the standpoint of Peru, the port it built did not look like a security threat. It looked instead like development.

Vijay Prashad is an Indian historian, editor, and journalist. He is a writing fellow and chief correspondent at Globetrotter.

26 November 2024

Source: countercurrents.org