Archives: Articles

By Dr. Ramzy Baroud

Let’s be clear: the forced displacement of Palestinians is not a new idea. US President Donald Trump’s latest proposal to take “long-term ownership” of Gaza, to “clean out” the “mess”, and to turn it into a “Riviera of the Middle East” is just the latest iteration of efforts aimed at ethnically cleansing Palestinians from their homeland.

What makes Trump’s comments dangerous is not the immediate threat of US military intervention in Gaza followed by the expulsion of its 2.2 million residents. The real danger lies elsewhere.

First, Israel may interpret Trump’s words as a green light to push Palestinians out of Gaza or the West Bank. Second, the US could tacitly endorse another Israeli offensive under the guise of fulfilling the president’s wishes. Third, Trump’s remarks suggest his foreign policy on Palestine will remain largely unchanged from his predecessor’s.

Some Democrats have seized this moment to criticize Arab and Palestinian Americans who voted for Trump or abstained from supporting Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris in the last elections. However, the idea of ethnic cleansing was already being floated during the Biden administration.

While then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated that “Palestinian civilians… must not be pressed to leave Gaza,” Biden created the conditions for displacement through unconditional military support for Israel. This allowed one of the most devastating wars in modern Middle Eastern history to unfold.

Just days into the war, on October 13, 2023, Jordan’s King Abdullah II warned Blinken in Amman against any Israeli attempt to “forcibly displace Palestinians from all Palestinian territories or cause their internal displacement.”

The latter displacement became a reality as most of northern Gaza’s population was crammed into overcrowded refugee encampments in central and southern Gaza, where conditions have been and remain inhumane for over 16 months.

At the same time, another displacement campaign is underway in the West Bank, particularly in its northern regions, accelerating in recent weeks. Thousands of Palestinian families have already been displaced in the Jenin governorate and other areas.

Despite this, the Biden administration has done little to pressure Israel to stop.

Arab concerns over Palestinian expulsion were real from the war’s outset. Almost every Arab leader raised the alarm, often repeatedly.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi addressed the issue multiple times, warning of Israeli efforts—and possibly US involvement—in a “population transfer” scheme.

“What is happening now in Gaza is an attempt to force civilian residents to seek refuge and migrate to Egypt,” Sisi stated, insisting that such an outcome “should not be accepted.”

Fifteen months later, under Trump, he repeated his rejection, vowing that Egypt would not participate in this “act of injustice.”

The Saudi statement was issued almost immediately after Trump doubled down on the idea during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on February 4. The Saudi foreign ministry went further than rejecting Trump’s ‘ownership’ of Gaza but articulated a political discourse that summarized Riyad’s, in fact, the Arab League’s position on Palestine.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs affirms that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s position on the establishment of a Palestinian state is firm and unwavering,” the statement said, adding that the Kingdom “also reaffirms its unequivocal rejection of any infringement on the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, whether through Israeli settlement policies, land annexation, or attempts to displace the Palestinian people from their land”.

The new US administration, however, seems oblivious to Palestinian history. Given the mass displacement of Palestinians in 1948, no Arab government—let alone the Palestinian leadership—would support another Israeli-US effort to ethnically cleanse millions into neighboring states.

Beyond the immorality of expelling an indigenous population, history has shown that such actions destabilize the region for generations. The 1948 Nakba, which saw the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, ignited the Arab-Israeli conflict, whose repercussions continue today.

History also teaches us that the Nakba was not an isolated event. Israel has repeatedly attempted ethnic cleansing, starting with its intense attacks on Palestinian refugee camps in Gaza in the early 1950s, and ever since.

The 1967 war, known as the Naksa or “Setback,” led to the ethnic cleansing of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, both internally and externally. In the years that followed, various US-Israeli initiatives throughout the 1970s sought to relocate the Palestinian population to the Sinai desert. However, these efforts failed due to the steadfastness and collective resistance of the people of Gaza.

Trump’s so-called ‘humanitarian’ ethnic cleansing proposal will similarly go down in history as another failed attempt, particularly as Arab and international solidarity with the steadfast Palestinian people is stronger than it has been in years.

The key question now is whether Arabs and other supporters of Palestine worldwide will go beyond merely rejecting such sinister proposals and take the initiative to push for the restoration of the Palestinian homeland. This requires a justice-based international campaign, rooted in international law and driven by the aspirations of the Palestinian people themselves.

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

17 February 2025

Source: countercurrents.org

By Chris Hedges

First we got a mafia economy. Then we got a mafia state. We must rid ourselves of the ruling criminal class or become its victims.

Kiss the ring. Grovel before the Godfather. Give him tribute, a cut of the spoils. If he and his family get rich you get rich. Enter his inner circle, his “made” men and women, and you do not have to follow rules or obey the law. You can disembowel the machinery of government. You can turn us and the natural world into commodities to exploit until exhaustion or collapse. You can commit crimes with impunity. You can make a mockery of democratic norms and social responsibility. Perfidy is very profitable at first. In the long term it is collective suicide.

America is a full blown kleptocracy. The demolition of the social and political structure, begun long before Trump, makes a few very, very rich and immiserates everyone else. Mafia capitalism always leads to a mafia state. The two ruling parties gave us the first. Now we get the second. It is not only our wealth that is being taken from us, but our liberty.

Since the election of Donald Trump, Elon Musk, currently worth $394 billion, saw his wealth increase by $170 billion. Mark Zuckerberg, worth $254 billion, saw his net worth increase by nearly $41 billion.

Tidy sums for kneeling before Moloch.

At least 11 federal agencies that have been affected by the slash and burn campaign of the Trump administration have more than 32 continuing investigations, pending complaints or enforcement actions, into Musk’s six companies, according to a review by The New York Times.

The mafia state ignores legal constraints and regulations. It lacks external and internal control. It cannibalizes everything, including the ecosystem, until there is nothing left but a wasteland. It cannot distinguish between reality and illusion, which obscures and exacerbates gross incompetence. And then the hollowed-out edifice will collapse leaving in its wake a shell of a country with nukes. The Roman and Sumerian empires fell this way. So did the Mayans and the sclerotic reign of the French monarch Louis XVI.

In the final stages of decay for all empires, the rulers, focused exclusively on personal enrichment, ensconced in their versions of Versailles or The Forbidden City, squeeze the last drops of profit from an increasingly oppressed and impoverished population and ravaged environment.

Unprecedented wealth is inseparable from unprecedented poverty.

The more extreme life becomes, the more extreme ideologies become. Huge segments of the population, unable to absorb the despair and bleakness, severs itself from a reality-based universe. It takes comfort in magical thinking, a bizarre millennialism — one embodied for us in a Christianized fascism — which turns con artists, morons, criminals, charlatans, gangsters and grifters into prophets while branding those who decry the pillage and corruption into traitors. The rush towards self-immolation accelerates intellectual and moral paralysis.

The mafia state makes no pretense of defending the common good. Trump, Musk and their minions are swiftly repealing executive orders regarding health, environmental and safety regulations, food assistance, as well as child care programs such as Head Start. They are fighting a court order to halt their dismantling of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which has ensured that Americans have been reimbursed with more than $21 billion due to cancelled debts, financial compensation and other forms of consumer relief. They are abolishing the U.S. Agency for International Development. They are closing federal defenders’ offices, which provide legal representation to the poor. They have cut billions of dollars from the budget of the National Institutes of Health jeopardizing biomedical research and clinical trials. They have frozen permits for solar and wind projects, including sign-offs needed for projects on private land. They fired more than 300 staffers at the National Nuclear Security Administration, the agency that manages our nuclear stockpile. They are gutting the workforce of the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service and the United States Geological Survey.

The mafia state, its blueprint contained in Project 2025, ignores the dire lessons from history of extreme social inequality, political disintegration, wanton ecological plunder and the evisceration of the rule of law.

We are, of course, not naturally destined for freedom. It was two millennia before democracy reappeared in Europe after its collapse — largely because Athens became an empire — in ancient Greece. The mafia state, not democracies, may be the wave of the future, one where the wealthiest one percent of the globe owns some 43 percent of all global financial assets – more than 95 percent of the human race — while 44 percent of the planet’s population lives below the World Bank’s poverty line of less than $6.85 per day. These calcified regimes endure solely because of draconian systems of internal control, wholesale surveillance and the evisceration of civil liberties.

We have at the same time wiped out 90 percent of the large fish such as cod, sharks, halibut, grouper, tuna, swordfish, and marlin and degraded or destroyed two thirds of the mature tropical forests, the lungs of the planet. Lack of access to safe drinking water, and the resultant spread of infectious diseases, kills at least 1.4 million people annually — 3,836 per day — and also contributes to 50 percent of global malnutrition, according to the World Bank. Between 150 and 200 million children are impaired by malnourishment. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is well above the 350 parts per million that most climate scientists warn is the maximum level for sustaining life as we know it. By May of this year, atmospheric CO2 levels are forecast to reach 429.6 ppm, the highest concentration in over two million years. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that the measurement could reach 541 to 970 ppm by the year 2100. At that point huge parts of the planet, beset with high population density, droughts, soil erosion, freak storms, massive crop failures and rising sea levels, will be unfit for human existence.

Clans, in the later period of the Easter Island civilization, competed to honor their ancestors by constructing larger and larger hewn stoner images, which demanded the last remnants of the timber, rope and manpower on the island. By the year 1400 the woods were gone. The soil had eroded and washed into the sea. The islanders began to fight over old timbers and were reduced to eating their dogs and soon all the nesting birds.

The desperate islanders developed a magical belief system that the erected stone gods, the moai, would come to life and save them from disaster.

The belief by Christian nationalists in the rapture, which does not exist in the Bible, is no less fantastic. These Christian fascists — embodied in Trump appointees such as Russell Vought, head of Trump’s Office of Budget and Management, Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Mike Huckabee, nominated to be the ambassador to Israel — intend to use schools and universities, the media, the judiciary and the federal government as platforms to carry out indoctrination and enforce conformity.

The followers of this movement defer to a leader they believe has been anointed by God. They embrace the illusion that the righteous will be saved, floating naked upwards into heaven, at the end of time and the secularists they despise will perish. This retreat into magical thinking, which is the foundation of all totalitarian movements, explains their suffering. It helps them cope with despair and anxiety. It gives them the illusion of security. It also ensures retribution against a long list of enemies — liberals, intellectuals, gays, immigrants, the deep state — blamed for their economic and social misery.

Our millennialism is an updated version of the faith in the moai, the doomed Taki Onqoy revolt against the Spanish invaders in Peru, the Aztec prophecies of the 1530s and the Ghost Dance, which Native Americans believed would see the return of the buffalo herds and slain warriors rise alive from the earth to vanquish the white colonizers.

This retreat into fantasy is what happens when reality becomes too bleak to be absorbed. It is the appeal of Trump. Of course, this time it will be different. When we go down the whole planet will go with us. There will be no new lands to pillage, no new peoples to exploit. We will be exterminated in a global death trap.

Karl Polanyi in “The Great Transformation” writes that once a society surrenders to the dictates of the market, once its mafia economy becomes a mafia state, once it succumbs to what he calls “the ravages of this satanic mill,” it inevitably leads to “the demolition of society.”

The mafia state cannot be reformed. We must organize to break our chains, one-by-one, to use the power of the strike to cripple the state machinery. We must embrace a radical militancy, one that offers a new vision and a new social structure. We must hold fast to moral imperatives. We must forgive mortgage and student debt, institute universal health care and break up monopolies. We must raise the minimum wage and end the squandering of resources and funds to sustain the empire and the war industry. We must establish a nationwide jobs program to rebuild the country’s collapsing infrastructure. We must nationalize the banks, pharmaceutical corporations, military contractors and transportation and embrace environmentally sustainable energy sources.

None of this will happen until we resist.

The mafia state will be brutal with any who revolt. Capitalists, as Eduardo Galeano writes, view communal cultures as “enemy cultures.” The billionaire class will do to us what it did to the radicals who rose up to form militant unions in the past. We had the bloodiest labor wars in the industrialized world. Hundreds of American workers were killed, tens of thousands were beaten, wounded, jailed and blacklisted. Unions were infiltrated, shut down and outlawed. We cannot be naïve. It will be difficult, costly and painful. But this confrontation is our only hope. Otherwise, we, and the planet that sustains us, are doomed.

Chris Hedges, who graduated from seminary at Harvard Divinity School, worked for nearly two decades as a foreign correspondent for The New York Times, National Public Radio and other news organizations in Latin America, the Middle East and the Balkans.

16 February 2025

Source: countercurrents.org

By Dan Corjescu

1

Logos is Life

2

Logos is the argument of the universe; its divine message to Man.

3

Logos is not speech; although God is talking

4

Logos is not Reason, although God is thinking

5

Logos is the evolution of materiality itself culminating first as Life and then as self-reflecting Life able to ask a question of it

6

Logos is the divine decision to let it be

7

What does it mean when God hath said: let it be? That what is, is holy. A gift.

8

It is no accident then that the Creation was not created all at once but in steps. The last step being the creation of a creature who seeks to know and thereby falls

9

Yet Man’s Fall was only temporary. For Logos contains within it the secret of the return

10

What is this secret? That the purpose of materiality is Life and its flourishing

11

Man, like the animals, although surrounded by life; did not, at first, understand its divine meaning

12

Logos is Life. And as life first began in pools of water spreading through the seas and then onto the land and through the air; so, too, came Man to insure its continuance and eventual spread beyond this planet and into the stars

13

If Logos is the step-wise argument of life, then our task as a species is clear: protect life make it flourish

14

What then is sin? Those thoughts and deeds which diminish the vitality of life

15

Logos does not ask Man to suffer or to sacrifice or to deny his material self needlessly. Rather, Logos asks of us to do these things if and when they will further the flourishing of Life

16

Man must come to Eden twice. The first time unknowingly. The second time with knowledge and with belief

17

My brothers and sisters a great faith calls to you: serve Life, serve God

18

She is beautiful. He is beautiful. But nothing is as beautiful as Life

19

A little girl once came to me in tears. Her beloved dog had died. We sat down together and I said to her: Do you see these flowers in front of us? Where did they come from? From the ground she said. And before that? I asked. I do not know she said. But surely they somehow were there; they could not have simply emerged from nothing? She smiled and said: yes, perhaps that’s true. And when they fall back into the ground have they disappeared? I don’t know she said. No, they have not gone I said they have only returned to where they were before you first saw them. And my dog? she asked. He, too, has returned to his origins and waits for you to join him there as well. And then? she asked. And then you two shall begin a new journey together; forever changing form forever playing wonderful new games. The little girl got up and hugged me.

20

As ancient forests from time to time require a fire; so, too, does Man today need a new faith

21

It has been said: thou shalt not kill. Now it must be said: thou shalt spread and strengthen life

22

It has been said: thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Now it must be said: thou shalt plant the tree of Life together

23

It has been said: thou shalt submit to God. Now it must be said: thou shalt be the champion of Life

24

The greatest passion is a steady and quiet one: serving Life

25

When you have understood that Life is both the question and the answer; you will have understood all

26

Do not treat sex without reverence for it is the divine path of life

27

It is not important how or with whom you have sex; what is important is how much meaning you bring to the act

28

Strive for sex to be a deep expression of love and you will find happiness. The opposite will only bring misery

29

The body can be a prison. The mind can be a prison. Yet, serve Life, and you will always be free

30

Do not listen to the noise of greed, power, and corruption. Look up at the sun and believe

31

It has been created. What more do you wish of God?

32

The philosophers have focused on reason. The ancient religions on love and charity and submission. We focus on Life Itself as the divine key

33

You are: no more beautiful words of love have ever been spoken

34

Place your hands in the waters. Run your fingers through the grass. Bury your legs in the sands. Truly, now, have you touched God.

35

Logos was made flesh: it is the open hand of God

36

Fear not your enemies. They cannot escape existence

37

Logos is Life. It is the fundamental logic of our lived situation

38

Feed Life; starve Death

39

Before you act and with every thought ask: how does this further Life?

40

Creation is vast and intricate and so too shall be your joy in serving it

41

There is only Creation; destruction is illusion

42

The greatest leaders think in terms of forests and not needless conquests and other vain glories

43

Respect and tend the Earth and she shall give

44

Know the Earth; love her

45

Our planet has had life upon it for four billion years: what greater monument? What greater patrimony?

46

All knowledge should serve Life

47

The mystic is he or she who has touched Life at its mysterious source

48

Beware the Artists of Death for they shall lead you astray and destroy you

49

Once you have thoroughly understood the sacredness of life; you will have found God in every flower and in every forest and in every drop of water

50

The mystery of Logos: the meaning and purpose of life is life itself. All Joy lies in accepting this

Dan Corjescu teaches at the University of Tübingen’s “Studium Professionale” Program

16 February 2025

Source: countercurrents.org

By Dr. Mahboob A. Khawaja

Leaders Who could not Lead

Naive egoism and favourite perversion unleash new window of working liberal democracy to make insane cruelty as a value to torture and murder innocent people and occupy foreign lands by force as a Reviria for the American leadership. President Trump is no stranger to being delusional and inconsistent in pronouncements and actions. Ralph Nader (“Underestimating Americans: A Coming Plunge of “Dictator Donald” D.D. Ralph Nader” Global Research: 01/31/2025): https://www.globalresearch.ca/underestimating-americans-coming-plunge-dictator-donald/587912,an American political activist of global fame and integrity describes President Trump as:

 Convicted felon Donald Trump has declared war on Americans….He is using illegal executive orders as poisoned spears against just about every program the federal government administers to advance the health, safety, and economic well-being of all Americans…..Trump’s abuses of power can be divided into three categories:Driving to destroy the historic safety net leads to a collective homicide. …Americans will die or get sick, whether they voted for Trump or not;… Genocide by continuing Biden’s co-belligerency with mass killer Netanyahu and adding support for the expulsion of the remaining survivors in Gaza to their death in the desert. Add these criminal mayhems to the censorship or persecution of anyone who opposes Trump…..Right now, Trump, the failed gambling czar in the White House, and his minions think they are invincible.

There are no intelligent Arab leaders having any moral and intellectual capacity to distinguish between foes and friends except neo-colonial tribal agents living in palaces. Crises are knocking at their door, yet most would prefer a free outlooklacking responsibility and courageous performance. King Abdullah of Jordan was the first to see President Trump and kneeled to coercion agreeing to take two thousand stranded Palestininans to his Kingdom. Trump claims to have Egyptian leader General Sissi willing to consider the besieged masses of Gaza to shelter in Egypt. This is not going to be a reasoned and honest remedy to an already volatile political situation prevalent in Gaza. Hamas claims Israel is not honoring its commitment to the ceasefire terms and would postpone freeing more hostages come saturday. With mediators, it appears to have been avoided. Netanyahu, emboldened by Trump’s statement to take over Gaza and turn it into a Reivira stuns the public consciousness keen to see the ceasefire fully implemented in all phases. Leaders of vision and integrity share candid hopes and strength in their thoughts and practices to conform to reality and sustainable future-making. His first foreign visiting leader happens to be PM Netanyahu of Israel – a person wanted by the ICJ-ICC for “crimes against humanity” and “genocide” in wars on Gaza.

President Trump and PM Netanyahu are No Exceptions to Trivility

Edward Curtin (“Palestine Hijacked: How Zionism Forged an Apartheid State from River to Sea by Thomas Suárez-A book review” Global Research: 02/12/25), points out the facts of current affairs: https://www.globalresearch.ca/palestine-hijacked-how-zionism-forged-an-apartheid-state-from-river-to-sea-by-thomas-suarez/5879755:

The Zionist Trump is stating baldly the ultimate goal of the ethnic cleansing of all non-Jews from Palestine, which has been the Zionists’ goal from the beginning and lies behind Biden, who considers himself a Zionist, and Trump’s recent support for Israel’s genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank……Treachery of this nature defines the history of all those arrayed against the Palestinians from the start – as today, with Trump being no exception…..

Ralph Nader tells lot more:Trump knows no boundaries, no self-restraint and has often declared that he will do whatever he wants, meaning operating in massive violation of the laws of our land.He is now ruling by dictates that are getting more sweeping and penetrating by the day. He should read a history book. In a letter to the members of the US Congress on “RE: Hamas-Israel-Gaza-Genocide” Nov 28, 2023, he brings histroy to light: https://www.globalresearch.ca/open-letter-members-united-states-congress-hamas-israel-gaza-genocide-ralph-nader/5841682: The Nazis in World War II attempted to conceal the Holocaust fearing legal accountability. Israel’s genocide is unfolding in plain view confidant of impunity, including unconditional callous congressional support and gross misdirection of taxpayer dollars for violence, in lieu of satisfying the critical needs of the American people.

Ethnic cleansing of Palestinains and taking Gaza by force and forcible displacement of 2.5 million people by Trump make media headlines across the globe. It should be a wake-up call to critical thinking and action but most Arab scholars and imams are well paid and well fed and their conscience is deaf silent to support an Islamic humanitarian cause of utmost urgency. Affluent oil exporting Arab monarchs of Arabia fear neither God nor people and have no public institutions of accountability to realize the facts of life. There are no Arab leaders having moral and political integrity to represent the masses and no Arab armies to defend Islam. Simply put, they are puppets and hired agents of Western imperialism.The Saudi, the UAE and others stooges kept silent profile while massacres of innocent embolden Israel to put finishing end to Gaza. The Divine Revelation warned the Israelities-  in the Ten Commandments (Torah): Thou shalt not kill’ (Exod. 20:13; also Deut. 5:17). Jewish law views the shedding of innocent blood very seriously, and lists murder as one of three sins (along with idolatry and sexual immorality), that fall under the category of yehareg ve’al ya’avor – meaning “One should let himself be killed rather than violate it.

The world needs America for a balancing act but is there a future for democracy in America? History is living and offers lessons for change and reformation of thoughts and practices to those who are open to listening and learning and becoming effective leaders. It does not look much encouraging when you watch President Trump and Netanyahu speaking at the White House. Dr. Binoy Kampmark (“A Thief’s Mentality: Trump, Real Estate and Dreams of Ethnic Cleansing.” Global Research: 02/11/2025), shares his critical insight: https://www.globalresearch.ca/trump-real-estate-dreams-ethnic-cleansing/5879642:

President Donald J. Trump likes teasing out the unmentionable, and the Israel-Palestinian situation was hardly going to be any different.With a touch of horror and the grotesque, he offered a solution to the issue of what would happen to Gaza at the conclusion of hostilities.In a White House press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he declared that the United States “take over and own the Gaza Strip”, in the process promising to “create an economic development that will supply an unlimited number of jobs and housing for people of the area.”The strip, one of the most densely populated stretches of territory on the planet, would be reconstructed, redeveloped and turned, effectively, into a beach resort, “the Riviera of the Middle East…..

Was the “Ceasefire” a Pause for the Continuing War on Palestine?

Cynicism about politicians is always endemic and part of the seamless democratic cultures constantly progressive and often rebuked by social and political entertainment as an after dinner joke.There is always much evil and much good in every society but evil cannot diagnose political tyranny, falsehood and resentment, the cure to evil is honesty, equal justice, freedom of expression, moral values and righteousness to lead and serve the people.

If President Trump had a vision for change, global peace and “make America Great again”, he should know his strengths and weaknesses and be cautious not to foresee the world through the eyes of Netanyahu but come out of the forged perplexities with clarity of his own mind to co-exist with the larger global community. If he believes in making America great again, it would be through peace and not intransigence against Panama, displacenment of Palestinains or occupying Canada or Greenland. He would have to rebuild his own credibility as a leader who can lead despite perpetuated ignorance and rejection of learning from history. Professor Michel Chossudovsky (“Israel’s “Fake Ceasefire.” A “Pause.” Genocide, Exodus of Palestinians From Their Homeland”, clarfies that “In the case of Gaza, the objective is “a pause” in what constitutes a carefully planned genocide of which the “End Game” is the Exodus of Palestinians from their Homeland. US-NATO are indelibly behind the genocide project. https://www.globalresearch.ca/israels-fake-cease-fire-a-pause-in-a-criminal-endeavour-a-carefully-planned-genocide-against-the-people-of-palestine/5877453?

It is irrational and repulsive to imagine global brotherhood, peace and happiness to be defined and projected by profligacy, horrors of war, forcible displacement of indigenous people in Gaza and miseries of innumerable multitiudes as the US leadership tends to portray. The Divine message (The Quran: synopsis Chapter 124:26-50), warning to intelligent people is self-explanatory as the life is a trial of human behavior and earth is a trust to human beings to protect its sanctity for all living beings:

In all ages wicked people tried to plot against God’s Way, but they never  Succeeded, and were covered with shame, in ways unexpected. The righeous see good in God’s Words and their goal is the Good. Great teachers were sent to all nations to warn against Evil and guide to the Right. The penalty for evil comes in many unexpected Ways; for Evil is against Nature. And all Nature proclaims God’s Glory. And humbly serves Him, the Lord Supreme.

Netanyahu and his extremist ministers want perpetuated animosities to continue under a false pretext of blaming Hamas and people of Gaza for violations of the ceasefire agreement. Despite sketchy illusion of political cohesiveness in his Government, Israeli is a highly paralyzed society fatigued with war and socio-economic crises and according to media, 500,000 Israeli citizens have left Israel since the October 2023 war. The warmongers do not seem to think as normal human beings or to respect the rights and dignity of Palestinian people for a two state solution.Those bombing and causing the catastrophic events to destroy the planet Earth and mankind and all of its treasures and enrichments are not normal human beings. In chaos and delusion, there is always inconsistency and turbulent aspirations to deal with the unknown for security and sustainable future-making. But if the Palestinians and Israelis realize their common goal of peace, security and co-existence, surely respect for equal rights and freedom and tranquility of foresight could be hallmarks and characteristics of God-given natural wisdom for a just peace and conflict management to both parties. There is no time for surprises but opportunities for reasoned dialogue to manitain ceasefire and move forward to peacemaking and reject all vices of intransigence for war and killing of innocent people in Gaza. Viewing objectively the Israel-Palestinian public horizons, masses do not rejoice cruelty, evil, war and bombardments but feel tranquility in friendly neighbourly relations, freedom, human dignity, peace and co-existence.

Dr. Mahboob A. Khawaja specializes in international affairs-global security, peace and conflict resolution and has spent several academic years across the Russian-Ukrainian and Central Asian regions knowing the people, diverse cultures of thinking and political governance and a keen interest in Islamic-Western comparative cultures and civilizations, and author of several publications including: One Humanity and the Remaking of Global Peace, Security and Conflict Resolution, 2019; and Why Wars on Gaza and Ukraine? We, the People Search for Peace and Conflict Resolution, 2025.

14 February 2025

Source: countercurrents.org

By Quds News Networ

Gaza (Quds News Network)- The death toll from Israel’s genocide in Gaza has reached 48,239, with 111,676 others injured, according to the Health Ministry on Thursday. Many bodies remain trapped under rubble and in the streets, with rescue teams unable to reach them due to ongoing Israeli restrictions.

In the last 24 hours, 17 more bodies arrived at hospitals, including 14 recovered from the rubble and 3 killed or succumbed to injuries.

“The toll includes those killed in direct attacks, succumbed to their injuries, or lost their lives in the explosion of unexploded ordnance,” Gaza’s Health Ministry Director-General Munir al-Bursh noted.

The Ministry of Interior and National Security announced on Thursday that a 14-year-old boy was killed east of the Al-Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip due to an unexploded ordnance.

The ministry warned that many bodies remain trapped under debris and in the streets, where rescue teams cannot reach them due to ongoing Israeli restrictions.

Dead bodies and skeletal remains have been discovered in the besieged strip since the Israeli forces’ withdrawal. Gaza’s Civil Defense said that the “bodies of thousands” of people are still buried under rubble, adding that crews faced difficulties in finding and recovering them because of a lack of resources, including a lack of “heavy equipment and machinery.”

The Israeli army completed its withdrawal from the so-called Netzarim Corridor as part of the ceasefire agreement. However, Gazan authorities stated that movement restrictions remain in place. Vehicles can only pass through Salah Al-Din Street after inspection, while Al-Rashid Street remains off-limits to vehicles and open only for pedestrians.

Despite the ceasefire, Israel continues attacks on Palestinians using drone strikes and live fire, resulting in more deaths and injuries. At least 92 people have been killed in direct attacks by Israeli forces since the ceasefire agreement took effect on January 19.

14 February 2025

Source: countercurrents.org

By Bernie Sanders

We we are living in an extremely dangerous time. Future generations will look back at this moment – what we do right now – and remember whether we had the courage to defend our democracy against the growing threats of oligarchy and authoritarianism. They will remember whether we stood with President Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg who in 1863, looking out at a battlefield where thousands died in the struggle against slavery and stated that; “this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that a government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.” Do we stand with Lincoln’s vision of America or do we allow this country to move to a government of the billionaires, by the billionaires and for the billionaires?

But it’s not just oligarchy that we should be concerned about, and the reality that the three richest people in America now own more wealth than the bottom half of our society – 170 million people. It’s not just that the gap between the very rich and everyone else is growing wider, and that we have more income and wealth inequality today than we’ve ever had.

It is also that we are looking at a rapid movement, under President Trump, toward authoritarianism. More and more power resting in fewer and fewer hands.

Right now, Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, is attempting to dismantle major agencies of the federal government which are designed to protect the needs of working families and the disadvantaged. These agencies were created by the U.S. Congress and it is Congress’ responsibility to maintain them, reform them or end them. It is not Mr. Musk’s responsibility. What Mr. Musk is doing is patently illegal and unconstitutional – and must be stopped.

Two weeks ago, President Trump attempted to suspend all federal grants and loans – an outrageous and clearly unconstitutional act. As I hope every 6th grader in America knows, under the Constitution and our form of government the president can recommend legislation, he can support legislation, he can veto legislation, but he does not have the power to unilaterally terminate funding passed by Congress. It is Congress, the House and the Senate, who control the purse strings.

But it’s not just Congress that’s under attack. It’s our judiciary.

This weekend, the Vice President, a graduate of Yale Law School, who clerked for a Supreme Court Justice, said that: “judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power.” Really? I thought that one of the major functions of the federal courts is to interpret our Constitution and, when appropriate, serve as a check on unconstitutional executive power.

Mr. Musk, meanwhile, has proposed that “the worst 1% of appointed judges be fired every year,” and demanded the impeachment of judges that have blocked him from accessing sensitive Treasury Department files. No doubt, under Mr. Musk’s rule, it will be him and his billionaire friends who determine who the “worst” judges are. And no, Mr. Musk, you don’t impeach judges who rule against you. You may or may not know this, but under the U.S. Constitution, we have a separation of powers, brilliantly crafted by the founding fathers of this country in the 1770s.

So, we are seeing an organized attack on Congress and the courts.

But Trump and his friends aren’t just trying to undermine two of the three pillars of our constitutional government – Congress and the courts. They are also going after the media in a way that we have never seen in the modern history of this country.

Every member of Congress will tell you that people in the media, and media organizations, are not perfect. They, like everyone else, make mistakes every day. But I hope that every member of Congress understands that you cannot have a functioning democracy without an independent press – non-intimidated journalists who can write it and say it the way they see it. And in that regard, I want to remind my colleagues what this president has done in recent months.

President Trump has sued ABC and received a $15 million settlement. He has sued Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, and received a $25 million settlement. He has sued CBS, and its parent company Paramount, is apparently in negotiations over a settlement. He has sued the Des Moines Register, and his FCC is now threatening to investigate PBS and NPR.

In other words, we have a President of the United States who is using his power to go after media in this country who are saying and doing things he doesn’t like. How are we going to have an independent media if journalists are looking over their shoulders, fearful that their reporting will trigger a lawsuit from the most powerful man in the world?

Now is the time to ask a very simple question. What do Mr. Musk, Mr. Trump and their fellow billionaires really want? What is their endgame?

And in my view, the answer is not complicated. It is not novel. It is not new. It is what ruling classes throughout history have always wanted and have always believed is theirs by right: more power, more control and more wealth. And they are determined to not allow democracy and the rule of law to get in their way.

For Mr. Musk and his fellow oligarchs, the needs, the concerns, the ideas, the dreams of ordinary people are simply an impediment to what they, the oligarchs, are entitled to. That is what they really believe.

This is not the first time we’ve seen this in our country’s history.

In pre-revolutionary America, before the 1770s, the ruling class of that time governed through a doctrine called the “divine right of kings,” the belief that the King of England was an agent of God, God appointed him, and he was not to be questioned by mere mortals.

In modern times we no longer have the “divine right of kings.” What we NOW have is an ideology being pushed by the oligarchs which says that as very, very wealthy people – often self-made, often the masters of revolutionary new technology and as “high-IQ individuals,” it is THEIR absolute right to rule. In other words, the oligarchs of today are our modern-day kings.

And it is not just power that they want. Despite the incredible wealth they have they want more, and more and more. Their greed has no end. Today, Mr. Musk is worth $402 billion, Mr. Zuckerberg is worth $252 billion and Mr. Bezos is worth $249 billion. With combined wealth of $903 billion, these 3 people own more wealth than the bottom half of American society — 170 million people.

Not surprisingly, since Trump was elected, their wealth has soared. Elon Musk has become $138 billion richer, Zuckerberg has become $49 billion richer and Bezos has become $28 billion richer – since Election Day.

Meanwhile, while the very rich become much richer, 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, 85 million are uninsured or under-insured, 25% of seniors are trying to survive on $15,000 or less, 800,000 are homeless and we have the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth. And real, inflation adjusted wages for the average American worker have been stagnant for 50 years.

Do you think the oligarchs give a damn about these people? Trust me, they don’t. Musk’s decision to dismember U.S. AID means that tens of thousands of the poorest people around the world will go hungry or die of preventable diseases.

But it’s not just abroad. Here in the United States they’ll soon be going after the healthcare, nutrition, housing, and educational programs that protect the most vulnerable people in our country – all so that Congress can provide huge tax breaks for them and their fellow billionaires. As modern-day kings, who believe they have the absolute right to rule, they will sacrifice, without hesitation, the well-being of working people to protect their privilege.

Further, they will use the enormous media operations they own to deflect attention away from the impact of their policies while they “entertain us to death.” Mr. Musk owns twitter. Mr. Zuckerberg owns Meta – which includes Facebook and Instagram – and Mr. Bezos owns the Washington Post. Further, they and their fellow oligarchs, will continue to spend huge amounts of money to buy politicians in both major political parties.

Bottom line: The oligarchs, with their enormous resources, are waging a war on the working class of this country, and it is a war they are intent on winning.

Now, I am not going to kid you — the problems this country faces right now are serious and they are not easy to solve. The economy is rigged, our campaign finance system is corrupt and we are struggling to control climate change — among many other important issues.

But this is what I do know:

The worst fear that the ruling class in this country has is that Americans — Black, White, Latino, urban and rural, gay and straight, young and old — come together to demand a government that represents all of us, not just the wealthy few.

Their oligarch’s nightmare is that we will not allow ourselves to be divided up by race, religion, sexual orientation or country of origin and will, together, have the courage to take them on.

Will this struggle be easy? Absolutely not.

And one of the reasons that it will not be easy is that the ruling class of this country will constantly remind you that THEY have all the power. They control the government, they own the media.

But our job right now, in these difficult times, is to not forget the great struggles and sacrifices that millions of people have waged over the several centuries to create a more democratic, just and humane society. Think about what people THEN were saying.

+ Overthrowing the King of England to create a new nation and self-rule. Impossible.

+ Establishing universal suffrage. Impossible.

+ Ending slavery and segregation. Impossible.

+ Granting workers the right to form unions and ending child labor. Impossible.

+ Giving women control over their own bodies. Impossible.

+ Passing legislation to establish Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, a minimum wage, clean air and water standards. Impossible.

In other word, as Nelson Mandela told us, everything is impossible until it is done.

Bernie Sanders is a US Senator, and the ranking member of the Senate budget committee.

13 February 2025

Source: countercurrents.org

By Pieter Friedrich

Gabbard’s service to India’s Hindu nationalist movement didn’t block her as Director of National Intelligence

Last month, I sat with two FBI agents in Washington, DC for at least two hours to discuss my experiences as a victim of transnational repression by India’s Hindu nationalist (“Hindutva”) government. Along the way, I also mentioned that I was there in DC to visit U.S. Senate offices and advocate against the confirmation of former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard as the Director of National Intelligence.

I did do that. I visited 25 Senate offices, and spoke at length with many staffers specializing in national security and intelligence areas. Every one of them was fascinated and disturbed by what I shared: that the foundation of Tulsi Gabbard’s national political career was support from U.S. affiliates of the Hindutva movement.

One staffer suggested that Gabbard’s intimacy with Hindutva ought to be examined from a counterintelligence perspective.

I failed. Gabbard was confirmed on 12 February 2025 by a Senate vote of 52-48. Only one Republican Senator, Mitch McConnell, broke party ranks to vote against her. Others who were considered “swing votes,” such as Senators Todd Young and Lisa Murkowski, offered their “ayes.”

Both had stood on principle to vote against Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense. What bought Murkowski’s vote is anyone’s guess, but Elon Musk denouncing Young as a “deep state puppet” before having a private call with him was undoubtedly the key factor in his pro-Gabbard vote.

Gabbard’s confirmation was on the rocks for much of the time leading up to the final vote. Senators were upset about a wide range of far more mainstream issues than the Hindutva allegiance which I discussed. Most of these issues — Assad, Putin, Snowden, and more — were raised on the floor by multiple Democratic senators in the hours before the vote.

Senators Elissa Slotkin, Dick Durbin,  Chris Coons, Chuck Schumer, and others all pleaded with the Senate to vote “no” on Gabbard. Unfortunately, none of them raised the issue on which Gabbard is most vulnerable: the issue of Hindutva.

For the past six years, I have been reporting on Hindutva influence in U.S. sociopolitics, especially elections. I reported on:

• Sri Preston Kulkarni’s campaign for U.S. Congress. He lost, catastrophically.
• U.S. Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi. He has faced strong opposition since for his Hindutva ties.
• Ambassador (acting) Atul Keshap’s meeting with India’s RSS, the paramilitary that serves as the fountainhead of Hindutva. He resigned, prematurely.
• Michigan State Assemblywoman Padma Kuppa. She lost her campaign for Michigan State Senate.
• Ohio State Senator Niraj Antani. He lost his campaign for U.S. Congress.

I’ve reported on much more, but the very first Hindutva-tied politician I ever reported on was Tulsi Gabbard, in a cover article for India’s Caravan magazine in August 2019. Titled “How The American Sangh Built Up Tulsi Gabbard,” it referenced the “Sangh Parivar” or “Family of Hindu Nationalist Organizations” spearheaded by the RSS, to discuss in depth how Gabbard owes her political career to them.

As Congressman Ro Khanna, himself a Hindu, commented at the time: “Important article. It’s the duty of every American politician of Hindu faith to stand for pluralism, reject Hindutva, and speak for equal rights for Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhist(s) & Christians.”

My article was 18,000 words, all about Tulsi Gabbard and her ties to Hindutva. As I repeatedly said during my Senate visits last month, “Gabbard’s interactions with Assad are problematic. But if you asked me to write an article using hard facts describing her relationship with Assad, I’d be hard-pressed to give you 1,000 words. That I can give you 18,000 words on Tulsi’s relationship with Hindutva says a lot.”

Since then, Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard lost office as she dedicated herself to a failed campaign for the U.S. presidency. Her bizarre political gymnastics — which I recently called those of a “chameleon” — were recently summarized as the “mystery of Tulsi Gabbard” in The New Yorker:

“She comes from Hawaii, where she served in the state legislature and the National Guard; in those years, she campaigned against “homosexual advocacy organizations” and in favor of environmental protections. Gabbard was elected to Congress in 2012, running as a Democrat, and was made a vice-chair of the Democratic National Committee. Since then, she has left the D.N.C., because she wanted to endorse Bernie Sanders; left Congress, because she wanted to run for President; and left the Democratic Party, because she had become convinced that it is, she says, ‘led by an élitist cabal of woke warmongers.’ In August, she endorsed Donald Trump, later saying, ‘A vote for President Trump is a vote to express our deep love for our country, and our appreciation for our God-given rights and freedoms enshrined in the Constitution.’”

These unpredictable flip-flops are best explained, in the words of The Atlantic, as a “dogged pursuit of power, or at least of proximity to power.” They represent a constant attempt to shift with the political winds, to stay relevant, and to keep close to power.

Such desperation can only be explained by what I’ve uncovered: that Gabbard’s political career was created by U.S. affiliates of Hindutva. That Hindutva in America wants politicians in their pocket. And that, in the words of key Hindutva advocate Dr. Bharat Barai, who has given tens of thousands of dollars in campaign donations to Gabbard, “It doesn’t matter to me whether it is a Republican or Democrat.”

Gabbard donning the colors of a foreign political party at events hosted by what would become a registered foreign agent didn’t faze those who voted for her. Gabbard’s justification of Hindu nationalism — a chauvinistic, misogynistic, xenophobic ideology — as merely “expressing pride in one’s religion” didn’t faze her Republican backers. Gabbard taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from donors who also helped to elect India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, then turning around and arguing, in India, that “there was a lot of misinformation that surrounded the event in 2002,” referring to the Gujarat Massacre of Muslims which Modi is accused of orchestrating and which got him banned from America, no, that did not faze anyone in the Senate from confirming her.

Gabbard was first introduced to India’s RSS by a family friend named Michael Brannon Parker. Parker was hired by the RSS to write a book whitewashing the RSS’s 2008 massacre of Christians in the Indian state of Odisha. Asked by RSS leader Ram Madhav to introduce him to Gabbard in 2008, Parker did so.

Then Gabbard became a member of U.S. Congress, ran for U.S. President, and eventually was confirmed as the Director of National Intelligence.

In the meantime, Modi’s regime started assassinating critics in North America. One, successfully, in Vancouver, Canada. One, unsuccessfully, in New York City.

Where does all of this take us?

I remember when Tulsi Gabbard was repeatedly protested in the streets during her presidential campaign over her ties to the RSS. “The princess of the R$$,” read signs.

Today, she controls my country’s intelligence services.

For 20 years, I have joined my life with the Indian diaspora to take up concerns about the dismal human rights situation in India, especially that facing religious minorities. Under the past 10 years of Modi’s reign, India has moved from the world “largest democracy” to the world’s largest autocracy or, as some might phrase it, the world’s largest fascist nation.

For those 20 years, I have been deeply concerned on behalf of another community about the trajectory of their nation. Today, I am deeply concerned by the direction that my own country is headed, and Tulsi Gabbard exemplifies that.

The greatest struggle against the influence of Hindutva — a fascistic movement that has overwhelmed India — in the U.S. has failed. Hindutva is now in the innermost circles of the U.S. presidency.

As we are led by people who insist on putting “America First,” those same people have put into power figures who will destroy America.

As someone who intentionally made myself the most vocal opponent of Tulsi Gabbard since 2019, I am concerned but I am also doing what I can to watch my back. As a patriot, I am terrified by what her control of our nation’s intelligence means, especially when her oldest, biggest, most faithful political supporters are affiliates of the very same Hindutva movement that tried to murder American citizens on American soil. As a believer, I pledge to continue the struggle.

And as a realist, I have hope that President Trump’s habit of repeatedly turning his back on those who were once his closest allies will soon include Tulsi Gabbard.

Pieter Friedrich is a freelance journalist specializing in analysis of South Asian affairs.

13 February 2025

Source: countercurrents.org

By Lee Morgenbesser

Many Americans have watched in horror as Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, has been permitted to tear through various offices of the United States government in recent weeks. Backed by President Donald Trump, and supported by a small team of true believers, he has successfully laid siege to America’s vast federal bureaucracy.

On Tuesday, Trump signed an executive order giving Musk even more power. It requires federal agencies to cooperate with his “Department of Government Efficiency” (known as DOGE) in cutting their staffing levels and restricting new hires.

In his first comments to the media since joining the Trump administration as a “special” government employee, Musk also responded to criticism that he’s launching a “hostile takeover” of the US government.

The people voted for major government reform, and that’s what people are going to get.

Are Musk’s actions akin to a “hostile takeover” of government, or a coup? I argue it’s more a form of “state capture”. Here’s what that means.

Why it’s not a coup or self-coup

Under the pretence of maximising government efficiency and productivity, DOGE has amassed quite a bit of power. It has:

• penetrated the massive system responsible for virtually all government payments
• breached sensitive databases and private medical records
• circumvented routine conflict of interest and transparency requirements
• dismantled the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
• gained access to the computer systems of a number of federal agencies.

Musk’s blitzkrieg across Washington – carried out in apparent violation of numerous federal laws – has not only stirred confusion, but defied explanation.

A popular argument, supported by some historians and commentators, is that Musk’s actions amount to a coup. They argue this is not a coup in the classic sense of a takeover of the physical centres of power. Rather, it’s a seizure of digital infrastructure by an unelected group seeking to undo democratic practices and violate human rights.

This term, however, is not technically correct. The most widely accepted definition of a coup is:

an overt attempt by the military or other elites within the state apparatus to unseat the sitting head of state using unconstitutional means.

Since Musk and Trump are bedfellows in this plot, the tech billionaire is clearly not trying to violently unseat the president.

Another possible explanation: this is a self-coup. This describes a situation in which

the sitting national leader takes decisive illegitimate action against countervailing institutions and elites to perpetuate the incumbent’s power.

In December, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol attempted a self-coup when he declared martial law in order to ostensibly protect the country from opposition forces. He quickly reversed his decision amid elite defections and mass public demonstrations.

Though self-coups are becoming more common, Musk is doing the dirty work in the US – not Trump. Also, Musk’s chief target – the bureaucracy – does not nominally offset presidential power (except in conspiracy theories).

[https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2025/02/elon-musk-power-grab-trump-coup.html]

What is ‘state capture’?

More accurately, Musk’s siege amounts to a form of “state capture”. This refers to:

the appropriation of state resources by political actors for their own ends: either private or political.

By this logic, Musk’s aim could be to capture different pieces of the US government and turn the state into a tool for wealth extraction.

State capture is a relatively simple but extremely destructive process. This is how it has played out in countries like Indonesia, Hungary, Nigeria, Russia, Sri Lanka and South Africa (Musk’s birthplace):

First, political and corporate elites gain control of formal institutions, information systems and bureaucratic policy-making processes.

Then, they use this power to apply rules selectively, make biased decisions and allocate resources based on private interests (rather than the public good).

In captured states, strongman leaders often use economic policy and regulatory decisions to reward their political friends. For instance, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Russian President Vladimir Putin and former South African President Jacob Zuma have helped their allies by:

• making government anti-trust decisions
• issuing permits and licenses
• awarding government contracts and concessions
• waiving regulations or tariffs
• conferring tax exempt status.

State capture is fundamentally a predatory process.

By taking over how the American government does business, Musk could be seeking to enrich a small but powerful network of allies.

The first beneficiary would be Trump, who is no stranger to using his office to expand his family’s business empire. With a more fully captured state, Trump can take an active role in determining how public wealth is dispersed among corporate and political elites. This decision-making power often goes hand-in-hand with “personalist” regimes, in which everything is a transaction with the leader.

The second beneficiary would be Musk himself and other Silicon Valley mega-billionaires who have bent a knee to Trump. By positioning their tech companies as the solution to what allegedly ails the federal government, particularly when it comes to the use of artificial intelligence, they stand to secure lucrative contracts handed out by the “new” state.

The third beneficiary would be the small army of engineers and technicians working with Musk to upend the American government. As loyal foot soldiers, these individuals will be compensated with career advancement, financial gains and networking opportunities, while also enjoying legal impunity. This kind of quid pro quo is how authoritarian regimes work.

[https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1889424736301486506]

What this could mean for the US

As Musk continues his assault on the federal bureaucracy, the American people will suffer the consequences.

The most immediate impact of state capture: worse decisions are made. By purging experienced civil servants, cancelling government contracts and accessing sensitive information systems, Musk’s actions will likely degrade the standard of living at home and endanger American lives abroad.

State capture also means there would be less accountability for the Trump administration’s public policy decisions. With a lack of congressional and independent oversight, key decisions over the distribution of economic benefits could be made informally behind closed doors.

Finally, state capture is inseparable from corruption. Doing business with the US federal government could soon require one to pass a loyalty test rather than a public interest test.

Trump’s enemies will encounter more hurdles, while his allies will have a seat at the table.

Lee Morgenbesser is an Associate Professor, School of Government and International Relations, Griffith University

13 February 2025

Source: countercurrents.org

By Quds News Network

New York (Quds News Network)- Karim Khan, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), is the first individual to face sanctions authorized by former US President Donald Trump. These sanctions target the war crimes tribunal for its investigations into US citizens and allies, including Israel.

Khan, who is British, was named on Monday in an annex to an executive order signed by Trump last Thursday imposing sanctions on the ICC for targeting the US and Israel, Reuters reported.

Trump’s Order

Trump’s order places financial and visa sanctions on individuals and their family members who assist in ICC investigations of US citizens or US allies.

Actions may include blocking property and assets and not allowing ICC officials, employees, and relatives to enter the US.

Genocide Case

The order accuses the ICC of engaging in “illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel” and of abusing its power by issuing “baseless arrest warrants” against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Chief Yoav Gallant.

In November, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, accusing them of war crimes and crimes against humanity related to the Gaza assault launched in October 2023, which lasted for 15 months.

Neither the US nor Israel is a member of or recognizes the court.

“The ICC has no jurisdiction over the United States or Israel,” the order states, adding that the court had set a “dangerous precedent” with its actions against both countries.

The order comes after a visit to the White House by Netanyahu, who is wanted by the ICC.

ICC Response

In response, the ICC condemned the order as an attempt to “harm its independent and impartial judicial work.”

“The Court stands firmly by its personnel and pledges to continue providing justice and hope to millions of innocent victims of atrocities across the world, in all Situations before it,” a statement by the court read.

The International Criminal Court, which opened in 2002, has international jurisdiction to prosecute genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in member states or if a situation is referred by the U.N. Security Council.

Under an agreement between the United Nations and Washington, Khan should be able to regularly travel to New York to brief the U.N. Security Council on cases it had referred to the court in The Hague.

Not First Sanctions

The first Trump administration imposed sanctions on the ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and her deputy in 2020 when the court investigated US war crimes in Afghanistan. This time, the sanctions are linked to the court’s investigation into Israel.

Trump’s 2020 sanctions were reversed under the presidency of Joe Biden, who conditionally backed ICC investigations into Russian war crimes in Ukraine.

On his first day back in the Oval Office last month, Trump reversed Biden’s ending of the 2020 sanctions.

The US is not a party to the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC and has had a rocky relationship with the court since its establishment in 2002.

Condemnations

“We trust that any restrictions taken against individuals would be implemented consistently with the host country’s obligations under the U.N. Headquarters Agreement,” deputy U.N. spokesperson Farhan Haq said on Friday.

Agnes Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, said the order “suggests that President Trump endorses the Israeli government’s crimes and is embracing impunity.”

Callamard said the sanctions will harm the interests of victims in countries where the court is investigating atrocities, not only in Palestine but also in Sudan, Libya, the Philippines, Ukraine, and Venezuela.

“Governments around the world and regional organizations must do everything in their power to mitigate and block the effect of President Trump’s sanctions. Through collective and concerted actions, ICC member states can protect the Court and its staff. Urgent action is needed, like never before.”

“Victims of human rights abuses around the world turn to the International Criminal Court when they have nowhere else to go, and President Trump’s executive order will make it harder for them to find justice,” said Charlie Hogle, staff attorney with American Civil Liberties Union’s National Security Project.

“The order also raises serious First Amendment concerns because it puts people in the United States at risk of harsh penalties for helping the court identify and investigate atrocities committed anywhere, by anyone.”

Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, said on X that the ICC “must be able to freely pursue the fight against global impunity”.
“Europe will always stand for justice and the respect of international law,” she said.

The Netherlands, which hosts the court, said it “regrets” Trump’s order.

“The court’s work is essential in the fight against impunity,” Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp said on X.

Last month, the US House of Representatives voted to sanction the ICC, but the bill foundered in the Senate.

In response to efforts to what they described as attempts to challenge the ICC’s authority, nine nations – including South Africa and Malaysia – launched the ‘Hague Group’ last month to defend the court and its rulings.

13 February 2025

Source: countercurrents.org

By Andre Damon

US President Donald Trump said in an interview over the weekend that the Palestinian people he is seeking to ethnically cleanse from Gaza would not be allowed to return to their homes. “I’m talking about building a permanent place for them,” Trump said.

Trump’s statement contradicted claims last week by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt that the relocation of the Palestinians from Gaza proposed by Trump would be temporary. Secretary of State Marco Rubio likewise claimed last week that the displacement of the Palestinians would be an “interim” measure, and the population would be allowed to “move back in.”

In his weekend interview, Trump, speaking as a king, referred to Gaza as his personal property. “I would own this. Think of it as a real estate development for the future. It would be a beautiful piece of land,” Trump said.

He continued, “There won’t be anybody there. … Hamas won’t be there. … We’ll be building through other of the very rich countries in the Middle East.”

Trump raised the prospect of relocating the Palestinians to Jordan and Egypt, declaring, “I think I could make a deal with Jordan. I think I could make a deal with Egypt.” Trump threatened to withhold aid from countries that refuse to construct concentration camps to hold the Palestinians.

Last week, Trump declared that the Gaza Strip “should not go through a process of rebuilding and occupation by the same people that lived a miserable existence there.” Trump called for “other countries” to “build various domains that will ultimately be occupied by the 1.8 million Palestinians living in Gaza.”

Within days of the announcement, Israeli officials moved to follow Trump’s lead, which conforms to their long-held plans. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Thursday that he had instructed the military to prepare to put Trump’s plan into action. “I welcome President Trump’s bold initiative, which can create extensive opportunities for those in Gaza who wish to leave,” he said.

He added, “I have instructed the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) to prepare a plan” that would include “exit options via land crossings, as well as special arrangements for departure by sea and air.”

In separate remarks to the press on Monday, Trump gave an ultimatum to Hamas to release all Israeli hostages or “Saturday all hell is going to break out.” He added, “If all of the hostages aren’t returned by Saturday at 12 o’clock … I would say, cancel it and all bets are off and let hell break out.”

Trump’s threat makes clear that the “ceasefire” agreed to by Israel, as the World Socialist Web Site warned, is a complete fraud, aiming only to allow Israel to rearm for a new, even more violent phase of genocide and ethnic cleansing against the population of Gaza.

On Monday, the Israeli military announced plans to “significantly reinforce” its positions around Gaza. “It was decided to raise the level of readiness and postpone leave for combat soldiers and operational units in the Southern Command,” the IDF said in a statement. “Additionally, it was decided to significantly reinforce the area with additional forces, for defensive missions.”

In other words, Israel is making plans to renew its onslaught against Gaza in order to implement Trump’s plan for the ethnic cleansing of the territory.

This onslaught will be facilitated by the continued flow of US weapons to Israel. On Friday, the US State Department approved the sale of over $7 billion in missiles and bombs to Israel.

Last week, Trump signed an executive order sanctioning the International Criminal Court (ICC), accusing it of having “engaged in illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel.”

In a statement, Margaret Satterthwaite, the UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, warned that she is “gravely concerned” by Trump’s sanctions against the ICC.

“By hindering investigations into war crimes and crimes against humanity—including those committed against women and children—the US undermines judicial independence and emboldens perpetrators of atrocity,” she said. “This order strikes at the very foundation of international justice, eroding the ‘never again’ legacy of Nuremberg and possibly violating Article 70 of the Rome Statute,” she added.

Satterthwaite was referencing the 1945 Nuremberg tribunal of Nazi leaders which convicted over a dozen leading Nazi officials of war crimes, crimes against humanity and waging aggressive war. The tribunal set the basis for the current functioning of the International Criminal Court, whose role is to criminally prosecute the perpetrators of war crimes.

Israel, meanwhile, is continuing its offensive throughout the West Bank, which has now lasted three weeks and has forcibly displaced 40,000 Palestinians.

On Monday, Secretary of State Rubio defended Trump’s plan for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza. “Someone’s got to go in … you’ve got to clean it up. You’ve got to clean all that out of there even before you begin the process of removing rubble and debris and rebuilding housing, like permanent structures. Who’s going to do that?” Rubio said in a radio interview. “Right now, the only one who’s stood up and said I’m willing to help do it is Donald Trump.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu likewise praised Trump’s plan on Monday, calling it “much better for the State of Israel, a revolutionary and creative vision, which we are discussing,” adding that Trump “is very determined to carry it out.”

To date, 47,583 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli attacks, according to official death tolls, with a recent study published in The Lancet estimating the death toll could be 70,000 or more.

11 February 2025

Source: countercurrents.org