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By Jacob Crosse

On Wednesday, the US Senate affirmed its support for the Israeli genocide in Gaza, which has killed and injured over 300,000 people since October 7, 2023, and roundly rejected a series of resolutions aimed at blocking a fraction of a $20 billion war package the Biden administration approved for Israel in August.

The resolutions, spearheaded by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, are known as the Joint Resolution of Disapprovals, or JRDs. Wednesday’s vote, while a foregone conclusion, was the first time the US Senate has ever considered blocking arms transfers to Israel in over 76 years of political, military and economic support.

Not a single one of the resolutions garnered more than 19 votes, with a majority of Democratic senators and every single Republican voting overwhelmingly against all of the resolutions presented.

Underscoring the Democratic Party’s resolute support for ethnic cleansing, the day before the votes were held the Biden administration sent out a memorandum urging senators not to block the weapons sales, with the implication that voting in favor of the resolutions was tantamount to supporting terrorists. “Disapproving arms purchases for Israel at this moment would … put wind in the sails of Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas at the worst possible moment,” the document read, according to a report from the Huffington Post.

Refuting months of lies from Biden, Harris and New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez that the Democratic administration was working “tirelessly” towards a ceasefire, the document continued, “Now is the time to focus pressure on Hamas to release the hostages and stop the war. … Cutting off arms from Israel would put this goal even further out of reach and prolong the war, not shorten it.”

Under the Arms Export Control Act, any US senator can submit a JRD to block the transfer of already approved weapons sales if the weapons are being sent to a country that is engaged in war crimes or blocking the transfer of US humanitarian aid to civilians. Earlier this year, in between campaigning for Vice President Kamala Harris and defending President Joe Biden’s record of war and austerity, Sanders began the process of issuing the JRDs. He was supported in these efforts by Democratic Senators Jeff Merkley (Oregon), Chris Van Hollen (Maryland) and Peter Welch (Vermont).

Prior to the vote, all of the senators backing the JRDs, including Sanders, were very clear that the resolutions would not prevent the transfer of so-called “defensive” weapons systems to Israel, such as air-to-air missiles for the Iron Dome and David’s Sling missile systems. Similarly all of the senators, including Sanders, that spoke in favor of the resolutions made clear their support for the Israeli government and its alleged “right to defend” itself from Hamas.

“As I have said many many times,” Sanders stated, “Israel had the absolute right to respond to that horrific Hamas attack as any other country would. I don’t think anyone here in the United States Senate disagrees with that.”

According to the United Nations, since 1947, Israel has illegally annexed and occupied Palestinian lands, forfeiting any right to “self-defense.”

In his remarks Wednesday, Sanders never once referred to the Israeli’s military campaign as a genocide or ethnic cleansing. Like the other senators who supported the measure, he exclusively blamed the “Netanyahu government,” while ignoring the Biden administration and his own role in perpetuating the slaughter. In an attempt to present the current Zionist regime as an aberration from previous Zionist leaders, Sanders declared, “The Israel of today is not the Israel of Golda Meir…”

Speaking as agent of imperialism, the Vermont senator observed that US complicity in Israel’s military campaign undercut “humanitarian” arguments advanced by US politicians to justify military interventions around the globe.

“I’ve heard well-founded concerns about China’s brutal reception of the Uyghur ethnic minority,” Sanders said. “I’ve heard rightful outrage about Putin’s brutal attacks against Ukraine and bombing of civilian installations. I’ve heard genuine concerns about Iran’s outrageous crackdown on peaceful protesters.

But what I want to say to all those folks, nobody is going to take anything you say with a grain of seriousness. You cannot condemn human rights around the world and then turn a blind eye to what the United States government is now funding in Israel. People will laugh in your face. They will say, ‘You are concerned about China, you are concerned about Russia, you are concerned about Iran, well, why are you funding the starvation of children in Gaza right now?’

“So,” Sanders concluded, “we must pass the resolutions from a legal perspective … for our own best foreign policy interests. We will lose our credibility on the world stage.”

Senator Peter Welch, also spoke in favor of the resolutions as a means of advancing US geopolitical interests in the region. He said that blocking them would “harm our goals for the Jewish democratic state … a secured democratic independent Israel” and a “disarmed Palestinian state.”

The three Senate resolutions 111, 113 and 115 under consideration Wednesday would only block under $1.1 billion of the $20 billion package. Each of the resolutions focused on so-called “offensive weapons.” These include tens of thousands of tank rounds, mortar shells and joint direct attack munitions (JDAMS), which convert unguided “dumb” bombs into so-called “precision” munitions.

Resolutions focused at blocking transfer of tactical vehicles ($583.1 million), F-15 fighter aircraft and upgrades ($18.82 billion) and anti-jamming technology for GPS receivers were not considered.

During the debate session, several Democrats spoke in opposition to all of the resolutions. Nevada Senator Jacky Rosen (Democrat) claimed that if the US did not provide the GPS-guided bombs, more civilians would be killed. “By providing Israel with these weapons which are more precise and more accurate,” she claimed, “you can reduce civilian casualties.”

Chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Ben Cardin (Democrat-Maryland) lamented, “Why isn’t there more focus on the terrorists?”

Republican warhawk and Trump ally, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, joined the majority in voting against the resolution and blamed Hamas for using “their own people as human shields.”

The same day the Senate rejected any slow-down in weapons shipments to Israel, the US also vetoed a resolution at the UN calling for an “immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire.”

Both votes demonstrate that American imperialism’s support for the ongoing genocide is absolute and unconditional. The Biden administration, with the support of both the Democrats and the Republicans, has armed and financed the genocide as part of an escalating global war, in the Middle East and beyond.

Sanders’ shabby maneuver in the Senate was aimed at providing cover for this bipartisan ruling class policy.

21 November 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

By Quds News Network

Gaza (Quds News Network)- A few hours following an American veto against stopping the genocide, an Israeli airstrike on a residential neighborhood near Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza has killed 66 people, most of them children and women, and left over 100 injured.

The massacre is part of an intensifying Israeli assault on northern Gaza, marked by heavy shelling and starvation in areas like Beit Lahia and Jabalia Refugee Camp.

The Gaza Ministry of Health stated that Israel has committed a new massacre in northern Gaza, pointing to the systematic targeting of civilian areas.

Rescue efforts have been severely hindered as Israeli forces continue to block access for medical teams and prevent the retrieval of victims’ bodies or the evacuation of the wounded.

Dr. Hussam Abu Safiyya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, told Al Jazeera:

“As I speak to you, I see the body of a baby whose hand is severed, still clutching a milk bottle… We received mutilated body parts, all belonging to children who were sleeping when the strike hit. We are attempting to transport and treat injuries ourselves because there are no rescue teams. The scenes are harrowing. Children, women, and the elderly—many of whom were asleep—are among the victims. Our resources are extremely limited; there are no medical teams or equipment. We, the doctors, are manually pulling out and treating the injured. We have repeatedly appealed to the world, but no one is responding. It is evident there is deliberate obstruction to deny us the tools we need, leaving the wounded to die. Most of our medical staff have been arrested or killed, but we will continue our humanitarian mission no matter the cost.”

The neighborhood destruction follows days of intensified Israeli shelling and gunfire targeting areas such as Beit Lahia and Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza. The region remains under relentless bombardment as Israel’s military operation continues unabated, despite international outcry over the mounting civilian death toll.

American Veto Enables Continued Genocide

The bloodbath comes in the wake of the US veto, which blocked a Security Council resolution supported by 14 member states. The resolution called for a halt to hostilities, the release of Israeli prisoners, and unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid.

It also emphasized compliance with international law and condemned any measures leading to the starvation of civilians, particularly the vulnerable, including women and children.

This veto has been widely criticized as a green light for Israel’s ethnic cleansing of northern Gaza, with the United States enabling further war crimes as global leaders fail to intervene effectively.

21 November 2024

Source: countercurrents.org

By Rayhan Uddin

Soon after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued its arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, the EU’s foreign policy chief issued a reminder.

“These decisions are binding on all states party to the Rome Statute, which includes all EU member states,” Josep Borrell posted on X.

The Israeli prime minister and former defence minister are accused of “the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts”.

All 124 members of the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC, are now compelled to arrest the two Israelis and hand them over to the court.

It is likely that both leaders will restrict their travel so as not to be detained – something Russia‘s Vladmir Putin has done since being indicted by the ICC in March last year.

Some member states have previously flouted their obligation: both South Africa and Jordan failed to arrest Omar Hassan al-Bashir when the Sudanese autocrat visited them, drawing the ire of human rights groups and the ICC.

Many of the states that will be compelled to hand over Netanyahu and Gallant are allies of Israel, including the UK, France, Germany and Hungary.

Ramallah /PNN/

The Palestinian Liberation Organisation’s Department of Refugee Affairs has condemned Israel’s bombing of the Abu Asi School, operated by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), in Al-Shati Refugee Camp in Gaza City.

The attack, along with an airstrike on a home in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza, resulted in the deaths of over 60 people and injuries to dozens, most of whom were women and children. Israel also carried out two additional massacres today, targeting homes in the Bureij and Nuseirat refugee camps in central Gaza, leaving dozens more dead or wounded.

Dr. Ahmed Abu Houli, member of the PLO Executive Committee and head of the Department of Refugee Affairs, described the attack on Abu Asi School, the airstrikes on densely populated homes in Beit Lahia, and the raids in Bureij and Nuseirat as further evidence of systematic war crimes and genocide perpetrated against the Palestinian people since October 7 of last year. He noted that the deliberate targeting of civilians and displacement shelters has caused over 146,000 casualties, including a majority of women and children, alongside more than 10,000 missing persons, amid widespread destruction and famine that has already claimed the lives of many children.

Abu Houli criticised the international community for its silence and leniency, as well as U.S. support for Israel’s actions, which he argued provides a green light for the continuation of violations of international humanitarian law, the United Nations Charter, and its resolutions. He warned that such inaction emboldens Israel in its efforts to forcibly displace Gaza’s residents.

“There is no safe place in Gaza from Israeli crimes,” Dr. Abu Houli stated.

He highlighted the dire situation in northern Gaza, where civilians are enduring famine, mass killings, and forced displacement as Israel’s military continues to block international aid organisations from operating and prohibits the delivery of food, medical supplies, and humanitarian aid for the 45th consecutive day. He warned that the impending famine in northern Gaza could spread to the south due to severe shortages, as Israel restricts the entry of aid to limited quantities.

Dr. Abu Houli stressed that the ongoing massacres clearly demonstrate Israel’s intent to annihilate and forcibly displace the population of Gaza.

He called on the United Nations Security Council to take immediate responsibility by enforcing an end to the starvation, genocide, and displacement of Palestinians, and to compel Israel to adhere to Resolution 2735, which mandates a ceasefire in Gaza. Furthermore, he urged international action to provide protection for Palestinians and to rescue more than 100,000 individuals trapped and under siege in northern Gaza.

Abu Houli emphasised the need for the international community to adopt a deterrent strategy against Israel, starting with the imposition of sanctions, to force an end to the ceasefire violations, massacres, and acts of genocide against civilians in Gaza.

17 November 2024

Source: english.pnn.ps

The NGOs want the Netherlands to ban the export and transit of weapons, weapon parts, and dual-use items to Israel.

Pro-Palestinian organisations have taken the Dutch state to court, urging a halt to arms exports to Israel and accusing the government of failing to prevent what they termed a “genocide” in Gaza.

They argue that the Netherlands, a staunch ally of Israel, has a legal obligation to do everything in its power to stop violations of international law and the 1948 United Nations Genocide Convention, in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank.

“Today, the plaintiffs are here to hold the Dutch state accountable for failing to comply with international law by failing to intervene against violations of the rights of the Palestinian people committed by the state of Israel,” Wout Albers, a lawyer representing the coalition, said at a civil court in The Hague on Friday.

“Israel is guilty of genocide and apartheid” and “is using Dutch weapons to wage war”, Albers added.

The plaintiffs comprise a coalition of Dutch and Palestinian organisations working to defend human rights in the Palestinian territory, with three of the groups in Palestine.

In October, the groups requested the court to “include a ban on the export and transit of weapons, weapon parts, and dual-use items to Israel as well as a ban on all Dutch trade and investment relations that help maintain Israel’s unlawful occupation of Palestinian territory”.

Reporting from The Hague, Al Jazeera’s Step Vaessen said while the court is “looking into whether the [Dutch] state should be obliged to stop sending weapons, the state says that this decision is not up to the court to decide and is foreign policy”.

Judge Sonja Hoekstra noted: “It is important to underline that the gravity of the situation in Gaza is not contested by the Dutch state, nor is the status of the West Bank.”

But she said it was about “finding out what is legally in play and what can be expected” of the government.

She acknowledged it was a “sensitive case”.

Albers said, “today is not about judging political choices, but about ensuring fundamental respect for the international rule of law and protection against violations of international law.”

According to Vaessen, the groups’ demands build on previous decisions by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which earlier this year ruled that the occupation of Palestine is illegal.

On Thursday, the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague issued arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas’s military commander Mohammed Deif for alleged “war crimes and crimes against humanity”.

Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp said his country “respects the independence of the ICC”.

“We won’t engage in non-essential contacts and we will act on the arrest warrants. We fully comply with the Rome Statute of the ICC,” he added.

It is unclear how far the case brought by the pro-Palestinian groups will go, as the Supreme Court has dismissed several earlier attempts to hold the Netherlands to its obligations to prevent alleged violations of the Genocide Convention.

This suit also builds on the outcome of an earlier case which saw a court ordering the government in February to block all exports of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel over concerns they were being used to violate international law.

Israel’s war in Gaza has killed at least 44,056 Palestinians and wounded 104,286 since October 7, 2023. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led attacks that day, and more than 200 were taken captive.

22 November 2024

Source: aljazeera.com

By Islam Elhabil

Israel’s onslaught since October 2023 has made the densely populated territory of Gaza – only 25 miles long and six miles wide – unlivable.

Despite the profound environmental impact and the implications for global climate stability, the destruction of Gaza’s environment, ecosystems and food production systems has not been answered with international action.

Independent experts have defined ecocide as “unlawful or wanton acts committed with knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment being caused by those acts.”

From the start, Israel was honest about its goal: the destruction of Gaza.

Israel’s indiscriminate attacks and use of weapons with wide-area effects are aimed at causing as much damage as possible. This has led not only to significant civilian casualties but the annihilation of entire ecosystems.

Israel has destroyed or damaged all five of Gaza’s wastewater treatment facilities, “contaminating beaches and coastal waters, soils and potentially the groundwater,” according to a UN environmental assessment published in June. Untreated sewage released into the Mediterranean Sea pollutes the marine environment and coastal habitats. It also will likely cause harm to Gaza’s fishing industry – fish being a key source of food and fishing a traditional vocation in the territory, where rates of food insecurity and unemployment are catastrophically high.

“Marine pollution can impair the nutrition and quality of waters, thus restricting the growth of fishes and thus impact fish production and catches,” according to the UN assessment.

“Pollution can also impact food safety, as fish in the inshore areas (which are currently the only areas Palestinians can fish) can become contaminated,” the UN adds.

The Wadi Gaza wetlands, an internationally important refuge for migratory birds and other wildlife where ecological restoration was underway before October 2023, have been damaged by military operations and pollution, threatening its biodiversity. Some 25 to 50 percent of Wadi Gaza is believed to have been destroyed as of June, “and with it the ecosystem services it provides,” the UN states.

Additionally, freshwater sources like wells and groundwater reservoirs have been contaminated, affecting people’s access to safe drinking water and harming essential ecosystems reliant on these resources.

Contaminated debris, decomposing bodies

Israel’s attacks have resulted in the accumulation of more than 42 million metric tons of debris throughout Gaza, much of it likely contaminated with asbestos, unexploded ordnance and other toxic pollutants. Israel’s severe restrictions on the import of fuel and a lack of proper equipment have also hindered the recovery of thousands of decomposing bodies underneath the rubble, exacerbating the humanitarian and environmental crisis.

The collapse of solid waste management systems due to Israeli destruction has also led to the formation of approximately 225 makeshift waste disposal sites across Gaza, some stretching for hundreds of meters, as reported by the Dutch organization PAX in July this year. UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestine refugees, reported in June that more than 330,000 tons of solid waste had accumulated in populated areas of Gaza – enough to fill more than 150 football fields, according to PAX. These sites have become breeding grounds for pests, rodents and diseases among Gaza’s displaced population.

Satellite imagery analyzed by the BBC shows that more than half of Gaza’s water and sanitation facilities have been damaged or destroyed. Most wastewater treatment and desalination plants have ceased operations entirely, leading to the discharge of untreated sewage into the sea, streets and camps sheltering internally displaced people. This poses a severe threat of groundwater contamination, compounding the crisis of waterborne diseases, especially among vulnerable populations including children, women and people with chronic illnesses.

The agricultural sector has also been heavily targeted.

As of March, nearly half of Gaza’s tree crops – including olive groves – had been destroyed, as have nearly one-third of Gaza’s greenhouses, according to a report in The Guardian based on satellite imagery. Ninety percent of greenhouses in northern Gaza “were destroyed in the early stages of the ground invasion,” according to the UK research group Forensic Architecture.

A study by Samer Abdelnour and Nicholas Roy estimates that some 80,000 tons of carbon emissions are expected during the rubble removal process in Gaza. It would take around 3.3 million trees an entire year to absorb this amount of carbon dioxide, based on the average absorption rate of a single mature tree, which is about 22 kilograms of carbon dioxide (roughly .024 tons) annually.

This is on top of the carbon emissions from the continuous flow of heavy weapons from the United States to Israel during the past year of ecocide. Another study conservatively estimates that “the climate cost of the first 60 days of Israel’s military response was equivalent to burning at least 150,000 tons of coal,” The Guardian reports – almost half of those carbon dioxide emissions resulting from US shipments of supplies to Israel.

A 2022 study estimating global military emissions found that militaries account for almost 5.5 percent of carbon dioxide emissions annually.

“If the global militaries were a country, they would have the world’s fourth largest footprint, one larger than [the] whole of Russia,” the study states. “Only the nations of China, the US, and India would have larger carbon footprints.”

Carbon emissions associated with Israel’s genocide in Gaza are contributing to climate change, extreme weather events, rising sea levels and harmful effects on global ecosystems and human health, including air pollution, respiratory diseases and disruptions to food and water supplies.

Despite constant warnings of a climate emergency, there has been very little coverage of the catastrophic and long-term environmental consequences of Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza, or other wars around the world.

Israel has increased the budget for its Environmental Protection Ministry to fund projects aimed at reducing the environmental impact on itself while it inflicts immense damage on Gaza and the broader region.

Words versus action

There is a massive gap between global environmental rhetoric and the utter failure to address the environmental harm of military conflicts and hold belligerent violators to account.

We cannot claim progress is being made towards sustainability through annual gatherings, climate movements and global peace efforts so long as blatant violations of environmental laws are taking place with zero repercussions.

Global frameworks addressing the challenges facing humanity must ensure that the law applies to everyone without exception. This is the only way that societies will take critical environmental issues like microplastics, water and soil pollution seriously, let alone the devastating impact of war on the environment.

Israel’s military actions in Gaza have likely breached several legally binding international environmental treaties it has committed to, including the Paris Agreement, the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Mediterranean Action Plan under the Barcelona Convention.

The use of heavy artillery and explosives in densely populated areas releases greenhouse gases and toxins, undermining emissions reduction goals under the Paris Agreement. The destruction of farmland, wetlands and marine areas harms biodiversity, contradicting the Convention on Biological Diversity’s objective to protect ecosystems.

The bombing of Gaza’s wastewater treatment plants – resulting in untreated sewage flowing into the Mediterranean, polluting marine environments – breaches the Barcelona Convention’s commitment to protect Mediterranean waters.

Additionally, hazardous debris and contaminants, including asbestos and unexploded ordnance, remain unmanaged – contradicting the Basel Convention’s principles on safe waste disposal.

That convention, which Israel has ratified, does include an exemption from liability for parties in the event of armed conflict. While this provision addresses uncontrollable circumstances, it may also hinder accountability for hazardous waste management in conflict zones. Supplementary frameworks or revisions are needed to address the unique environmental challenges posed by armed conflict – as is plainly evident in Gaza.

Israel has brazenly violated the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law, also known as the laws of war, with very little consequence. And it has also flagrantly flouted its environmental legal obligations, with severe consequences for both local and regional ecosystems and global efforts to curb climate change.

The ongoing genocide in Gaza epitomizes the utter failure of global institutions and the lie of the rules-based order. The ongoing ecocide amid international silence has weakened the credibility of global environmental organizations, highlighting the persistent inability to enforce international laws and halt ecological destruction.

If humanity cannot tackle these challenges in tiny Gaza, what hope is there for the planet as a whole?

Islam Elhabil is Palestinian from Gaza, a Malaysia-based microplastics specialist, PhD researcher and engineer specializing in engineering solutions for pressing global environmental issues.

21 November 2024

Source: electronicintifada.net

By Michael Welch, Dmitry Orlov, and Matthew Ehret-Kump

“Look, mother nature is making it undeniable that climate change has kicked in. The consequences are going to be enormous.”

– David Suzuki [1]

***

LISTEN TO THE SHOW

This writer spent about two thirds of his life concerned about the Earth in crisis due to global warning.

Scientists on television, some of which I looked up to as role models were telling me that carbon dioxide was a greenhouse gas. In small amounts it was responsible for keeping the Earth at a temperature stable enough to support life as we know it. But after the Industrial Revolution, we were delivering more of these microscopic shields keeping infra-red energy from escaping back into space. [2]

But more of this compound was dumped into the atmosphere than could be absorbed by oceans and plant life via photo-synthesis. With more CO2 shielding us, the planet would normally heat up, and as it heated up, life would be effected…for the worst. [3]

Today, science, as explained by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and the huge volume of studies in the refereed journal literature has indicated that if humanity is to sustain itself and the multiple life forms with whom we share this planet, then we must return our civilization back to lower levels. Significant reductions of CO2 to 45 percent levels below 2010 levels are in order if we are going to reduce hurricanes, floods, heat waves, forest fires and other disastrous events that have been plaguing humanity in recent years. [4]

This writer upheld that belief for decades. But after the science surrounding the COVID-19 “pandemic” proved to be faulty, I began to ask questions rather than blindly genuflecting to the legacy of “science.” I discovered a lot of what they were saying on reflection didn’t make sense.

But another staggering problem is the extent to which we ignore other causes, most notably, Environmental Modification techniques (ENMOD) which allows humans to affect the weather. The U.S. military experimented with these efforts since the late 1940s! And there was an international convention ratified in 1977 regulating the use of ENMOD techniques which also applied to hurricanes. [5]

Such phenomena are not mentioned at all in international climate gatherings, including the one taking place this week in Baku, Azerbaijan.

And what of the solutions being brought forward? Carbon markets? The closing down of farmers in the Netherlands to limit other greenhouse gases like ammonia and nitric oxide? Green New Deals?

Bill Gates is grabbing land like crazy! Characters like Trump-lover Elon Musk are supporting the new carbon market system, and getting in on the new Lithium “gold rush.” Once we get past the usual excuses of drastic means to prevent climate change from killing us all, you begin to sniff the world-wide equivalent of another major powers scam.

On this week’s episode of the Global Research News Hour, we will endeavour to explore the issue broadly, as we get a look behind the curtain concealing the true players behind the COP29’s much ado about nothing.

In our first half hour, after a discussion about the use of ENMOD in steering hurricane Helene toward the lithium-rich community of King Mountain in North Carolina, we discuss more of the flaws in modern “anti-carbon” scientific studies with Writer-blogger Dmitry Orlov. And in our second half hour, Matthew Ehret targets the role of Mark Carney, the economist and former head of both the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England in climate financing. He discusses a bit of who he works for and his intentions to replace Justin Trudeau as prime minister of Canada.

Dmitry Orlov emigrated from Russia where he was born to the United States in the mid-1970s. He has degrees in Computer Engineering and Linguistics and has worked in the fields of high energy physics, internet commerce, advertising and network security. He has now moved back to Russia. He is the author of numerous articles. His books include: Shrinking the Technosphere: Getting a Grip on the Technologies that Limit our Autonomy, Self-sufficiency and Freedom (2016), The Five Stages of Collapse: Survivors’ Toolkit. (2013) as well as  Reinventing Collapse: The Soviet Experience and American Prospects (2011). Dmitry Orlov blogs at https://boosty.to/cluborlov.

Matthew Ehret is the Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Patriot Review , and Senior Fellow at the American University in Moscow. He is author of the‘Untold History of Canada’ book series and Clash of the Two Americas. In 2019 he co-founded the Montreal-based Rising Tide Foundation . Consider helping this process by making a donation to the RTF or becoming a Patreon supporter to the Canadian Patriot Review.

(Global Research News Hour episode 449)

LISTEN TO THE SHOW

The Global Research News Hour airs every Friday at 1pm CT on CKUW 95.9FM out of the University of Winnipeg.

By Prof Michel Chossudovsky and Matthew Ehret-Kump

[This was first published by GR in March 2024.]

“The world is at the crossroads of the most serious crisis in modern history.

The US has embarked on a military adventure, “a long war”, which threatens the future of humanity.” —Michel Chossudovsky

“Connecting the Dots: interview with Matt Ehret:

• The Criminalization of International Justice
• The Broader Middle East War
• The History of World War II and the Role of Wall Street
• The Cold War and the Arms Race
• America’s Preemptive Nuclear War Doctrine
• The Geopolitics of China-US Relations

Video: Connecting the Dots, Michel Chossudovsky with Matt Ehret

18 November 2024

Source: globalresearch.ca

By Dr. William Makis

It has been two years now, with unprecedented censorship from Lancet and another Elsevier Journal which pulled this paper at the last minute.

This has never been seen in scientific publishing before!

325 AUTOPSIES of recently COVID-19 vaccinated people who “DIED SUDDENLY” (largest autopsy series in the world),

“mean time from vaccination to DEATH was 14.3 days”

“73.9% of deaths were independently adjudicated as directly due to or significantly contributed to by COVID-19 Vaccination.”

Yes, COVID-19 vaccines result in SUDDEN DEATHS early after vaccination (they also do it over the long term too).

Thanks to @P_McCulloughMD and @NicHulscher for the countless hours of hard work it took to get this published.

Congratulations to all my co-authors!

This is a monumental achievement in the face of historically unprecedented scientific censorship.

Yes, COVID-19 mRNA vaccines cause SUDDEN DEATH and most are within the first two weeks – that’s why they were labeled UNVACCINATED.

This paper proves WHY THEY DID IT.

They hid the deaths.

But we got them.

Finally!

Click here to read the full report.

Dr. William Makis is a Canadian physician with expertise in Radiology, Oncology and Immunology. Governor General’s Medal, University of Toronto Scholar. Author of 100+ peer-reviewed medical publications.

18 November 2024

Source: globalresearch.ca

By Dr. Ramzy Baroud

13 Nov 2024 – Francesca Albanese did not mince her words. In a strongly worded speech at the United Nations General Assembly Third Committee on 29 October, the UN Special Rapporteur deviated from the typical line of other UN officials. She directed her statements to those in attendance.

“Is it possible that after 42,000 people killed, you cannot empathise with the Palestinians?” Albanese said in her statement about the need to “recognise (Israel’s war on Gaza) as a genocide”. “Those of you who have not uttered a word about what is happening in Gaza demonstrate that empathy has evaporated from this room,” she added.

Was Albanese too idealistic when she chose to appeal to empathy which, in her words, represents “the glue that makes us stand united as humanity”?

The answer largely depends on how we wish to define the role being played by the UN and its various institutions; whether its global platform was established as a guarantor of peace, or as a political club for those with military might and political power to impose their agendas on the rest of the world?

Albanese is not the first person to express deep frustration with the institutional, let alone the moral collapse of the UN, or the inability of the institution to effect any kind of tangible change, especially during times of great crises.

The UN’s own Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, himself had accused the executive branch of the UN, the Security Council, of being “outdated”, “unfair” and an “ineffective system”.

“The truth is that the Security Council has systematically failed in relation to the capacity to put an end to the most dramatic conflicts that we face today,” he said, referring to “Sudan, Gaza, Ukraine”. Also, although noting that “The UN is not the Security Council”, Guterres acknowledged that all UN bodies “suffer from the fact that the people look at them and think, ‘Well, but the Security Council has failed us.’”

Some UN officials, however, are mainly concerned about how the UN’s failure is compromising the standing of the international system, thus whatever remains of their own credibility. But some, like Albanese, are indeed driven by an overriding sense of humanity.

On 28 October, 2023, mere weeks after the start of the war, the Director of the New York office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights left his post because he could no longer find any room to reconcile between the failure to stop the war in Gaza and the credibility of the institution.

“This will be my last communication to you,” Craig Mokhiber wrote to the UN High Commissioner in Geneva, Volker Turk. “Once again we are seeing a genocide unfolding before our eyes and the organisation we serve appears powerless to stop it,” Mokhiber added.

The phrase “once again” may explain why the UN official made his decision to leave shortly after the start of the war. He felt that history was repeating itself, in all its gory details, while the international community remained divided between powerlessness and apathy.

The problem is multi-layered, complicated by the fact that UN officials and employees do not have the power to alter the very skewed structure of the world’s largest political institution. That power lies in the hands of those who wield political, military, financial and veto power.

Within that context, countries like Israel can do whatever they want, including outlawing the very UN organisations that have been commissioned to uphold international law, as the Israeli Knesset did on 28 October when it passed a law banning UNRWA from conducting “any activity” or providing services in Israel and the Occupied Territories.

But is there a way out?

Many, especially in the Global South, believe that the UN has outlived its usefulness or needs serious reforms.

These assessments are valid, based on this simple maxim: The UN was established in 1945 with the main objectives of the “maintenance of international peace and security, the promotion of the well-being of the peoples of the world, and international cooperation to these ends.”

Very little of the above commitment has been achieved. In fact, not only has the UN failed at that primary mission, but it has become a manifestation of the unequalled distribution of power among its members.

Though the UN was formed following the atrocities of WWII, now it stands largely useless in its inability to stop similar atrocities in Palestine, Lebanon, Sudan and elsewhere.

In her speech, Albanese pointed out that, if the UN’s failures continue, its mandate will become even “more and more irrelevant to the rest of the world”, especially during these times of turmoil.

Albanese is right, of course, but considering the irreversible damage that has already taken place, one can hardly find a moral, let alone rational justification of why the UN, at least in its current form, should continue to exist.

Now that the Global South is finally rising with its own political, economic and legal initiatives, it is time for these new bodies to either offer a complete alternative to the UN or push for serious and irreversible reforms in the organisation.

Either that or the international system will continue to be defined by nothing but apathy and self-interest.

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Dr. Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and editor of The Palestine Chronicle.

18 November 2024

Source: transcend.org