Just International

Gaza: Journalist Dies from Injuries After Being Burned Alive in Israeli Attack on Tent

By Quds News Network

Gaza (Quds News Network)- Palestinian journalist Ahmed Mansour, who sustained severe burns in Monday’s Israeli attack on a media tent in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, has died from his injuries, bringing the death toll from the assault to at least three.

Gaza’s Government Media Office issued a statement on Tuesday urging global support for Palestinian journalists following Israel’s deadly raid on a media tent early yesterday morning.

Mansour, who died from severe burns sustained in the attack, is the 211th media worker killed during Israel’s war on Gaza, according to the office.

Israel’s attack also burned Palestine Today reporter Hilmi al-Faqaawi to death along with another man named Yousef al-Khazindar.

Journalists Hassan Eslaih, Ahmed al-Agha, Muhammad Fayek, Abdallah Al-Attar, Ihab al-Bardini and Mahmoud Awad were also injured.

“We call on the International Federation of Journalists, the Federation of Arab Journalists, and all journalistic bodies in all countries of the world to condemn these systematic crimes against Palestinian journalists and media professionals in the Gaza Strip,” the office said.

More than 200 journalists and media workers have been killed by Israeli forces since October 2023, according to the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, making it the deadliest ever conflict for journalists.

8 April 2025

Source: countercurrents.org

An Open Letter to President Macron: Sanctions – not summits – are required to stop the Israeli genocide

Western states have protected the Israeli regime since its inception, and escalated their complicity in its crimes since the beginning of the genocide. France, like others, have pretended to be a neutral mediator while granting impunity and unconditional political, financial and military support to the Israeli regime. Instead of meaningless condemnations and actions – such as the ongoing trilateral summit with Egypt and Jordan – France must uphold its obligations to stop and prevent further Israeli genocide and international crimes through sanctions.

For 18 months, the Israeli regime has continued its genocide and killed 50,523 people, including over 15,000 children, and injured 114,776 people. At least 1.9 million Palestinians, 90 percent of the population, have been forcibly displaced and the entirety of Gaza’s infrastructure – both public (health, transportation, sanitation and education) and private – has been destroyed. France’s complicity in Israeli crimes must be addressed and ended. How many conferences will be organized before France stops actively enabling Israeli crimes, and recognizes and acts to stop the Israeli genocide? How many more discussions will be held before empty statements and actions become tangible and practical measures?

Affirming yesterday that “political initiatives were discussed to revive the peace process and establish a Palestinian state” does not do anything to stop the killing, and nor is it Egypt’s or France’s role to dictate political solutions. Stressing “the urgent need for an immediate ceasefire and the entry of humanitarian aid” is futile while the Israeli regime has been deliberately and ruthlessly preventing any aid from entering since 2 March and resumed bombing the Gaza Strip, in violation of the last ceasefire agreement, since 18 March 2025. Palestinians in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, especially refugee camps, are next, facing an unprecedented suppression campaign. Reaffirming the “rejection of the forced displacement of Palestinians”, while thousands of Palestinians have already been forcibly expelled – and as a so-called “voluntary migration bureau” is established to facilitate further expulsions – once again exposes French complicity in Israeli crimes and the futility of such statements.

Israeli acts of genocide and ethnic cleansing would not continue were states to act in accordance to their obligations under international law. All states must prevent the commission of genocide and international crimes such as the weaponization of aid and forced displacement by imposing the full range of economic, military and political measures against the Israeli regime and its colonial enablers, otherwise their inaction also constitutes complicity.

7 April 2025

Source: badil.org

Francesca Albanese reappointed as Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories for another three years

By Countercurrents Collective

The UN Human Rights Council has reappointed Francesca Albanese as Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories for another three years resisting a coordinated campaign to remove her from her post.

There was sustained pressure from pro-Israel governments and advocacy groups, including the United States.

The decision came on Friday, during the final session of the UNHRC’s 58th meeting in Geneva. Albanese will now continue in her role through 2028.

Her reappointment faced strong resistance from several Western states and lobbying organizations critical of her outspoken stance on Israeli policies. Albanese has repeatedly accused Israel of ethnic cleansing and genocide in her reports and public statements, drawing praise from human rights advocates and ire from Israeli officials and their allies.

One of the most vocal campaigns against her has been led by UN Watch, which released a 60-page dossier accusing her of promoting antisemitism and “terrorism” in her capacity as UN Special Rapporteur. The group also launched a petition urging the Council to block her renewal and demanded her immediate dismissal during a recent session.

Other groups—including the World Jewish Congress and the Zionist youth organization Betar—have also taken aim at Albanese. Betar allegedly issued threats against her during a recent visit to London, invoking Israel’s airstrikes on Lebanon in 2023.

UK Labour MP David Taylor added to the chorus, accusing Albanese of justifying the October 7 Hamas operation and describing Israel as a “settler-colonial invasion”.

Despite the pressure, the Human Rights Council reaffirmed its support, signaling a continued commitment to monitoring the situation in the occupied territories.

6 April 2025

Source: countercurrents.org

After Video Exposes Aid Workers’ Execution, Israeli Army Issues New Dubious Story

By Quds News Network

Gaza (Quds News Network)- The Israeli army released a new and different story of its attack on ambulances in Rafah, following the release of a video that exposed the execution of 14 aid workers and debunked its earlier claims. The new story is inconsistent, lacks evidence, and ignores key facts shown in the footage.

Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported details from the military’s internal investigation. According to the army, Israeli forces opened fire after a “Hamas police car” approached them. Soldiers claimed they felt threatened and fired, killing one person.

Later, ambulances arrived at the scene. The army said soldiers thought they were under attack again and opened fire on the rescue teams. The report claimed medics were “running toward the Hamas police vehicle,” and that the soldiers believed they posed a threat.

The army admitted that emergency lights may have been on but said the lack of visibility wasn’t an intentional lie. It also claimed a bulldozer buried the medics’ bodies and vehicles under sand “to protect them from animals.”

However, the report did not explain how some bodies were found handcuffed, one beheaded, and others executed at close range with bullets to the head. Nor did it address why ambulances were deliberately buried to hide the evidence.

The army’s new version contradicts previous footage published by international media. Videos clearly showed that emergency lights on the ambulances were flashing during the attack, proving the vehicles were visibly marked as humanitarian.

In its initial response, the Israeli military claimed the ambulances lacked lights or clear medical markings. That was quickly debunked.

Now, the army adds a new twist—suggesting that what it described as a “Hamas police vehicle” passed the area an hour earlier and that its presence confused the soldiers. But this explanation lacks logic. Gaza police are known targets for Israeli forces and rarely move during invasions, especially not with flashing lights near tanks.

The claim about “protecting the bodies from animals” also rings hollow. The same army has left hundreds of Palestinian bodies in the open throughout the genocide, often mutilated. In many cases, Israeli soldiers filmed themselves desecrating corpses and shared the videos publicly.

The new version of events leaves many questions unanswered and further undermines the credibility of Israel’s official narrative.

This is not the first time the Israeli army has issued contradictory narratives, only to have each one exposed as a lie.

At the start of the genocide, when the Israeli army bombed Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza and killed around 500 didplaced civilians, the military spokesperson released three different accounts within just a few hours.

First, he claimed, “We warned the hospital and five others to evacuate.” But realizing how disastrous that admission would be on the international stage, he quickly shifted to a second version: that Hamas fighters were operating from the hospital. However, journalists who had been stationed at the hospital for 12 days straight debunked that claim immediately.

By the following morning, the spokesperson settled on a third version: the explosion was caused by a misfired rocket from Islamic Jihad.

With no real evidence supporting any of the claims, each narrative collapsed under scrutiny. One by one, the stories were shown to be false—revealing a pattern, not just a mistake.

6 April 2025

Source: countercurrents.org

Video Found on Phone of Murdered Gaza Medic Refutes IDF Claims

By Jon Queally

A video presented to officials at the United Nations on Friday and first made public Saturday by the New York Times provides more evidence that the recent massacre of Palestinian medics in Gaza did not happen the way Israeli government claimed—the latest in a long line of deception when it comes to violence against civilians that have led to repeated accusations of war crimes.

The video, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), was found on the phone of a paramedic found in a mass grave with a bullet in his head after being killed, along with seven other medics, by Israeli forces on March 23. The eight medics, buried in the shallow grave with the bodies riddled with bullets, were: Mustafa Khafaja, Ezz El-Din Shaat, Saleh Muammar, Refaat Radwan, Muhammad Bahloul, Ashraf Abu Libda, Muhammad Al-Hila, and Raed Al-Sharif. The video reportedly belonged to Radwan. A ninth medic, identified as Asaad Al-Nasasra, who was at the scene of the massacre, which took place near the southern city of Rafah, is still missing.

The PRCS said it presented the video—which refutes the explanation of the killings offered by Israeli officials—to members of the UN Security Council on Friday.

[https://twitter.com/_assaf_ps/status/1908375085380989188]

“They were killed in their uniforms. Driving their clearly marked vehicles. Wearing their gloves. On their way to save lives,” Jonathan Whittall, head of the UN’s humanitarian affairs office in Palestine, said last week after the bodies were discovered. Some of the victims, according to Gaza officials, were found with handcuffs still on them and appeared to have been shot in the head, execution-style.

The Israeli military initially said its soldiers “did not randomly attack” any ambulances, but rather claimed they fired on “terrorists” who approached them in “suspicious vehicles.” Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an IDF spokesperson, said the vehicles that the soldiers opened fire on were driving with their lights off and did not have clearance to be in the area. The video evidence directly contradicts the IDF’s version of events.

[https://twitter.com/DropSiteNews/status/1908419861941727248]

As the Timesreports:

The Times obtained the video from a senior diplomat at the United Nations who asked not to be identified to be able to share sensitive information.

The Times verified the location and timing of the video, which was taken in the southern city of Rafah early on March 23. Filmed from what appears to be the front interior of a moving vehicle, it shows a convoy of ambulances and a fire truck, clearly marked, with headlights and flashing lights turned on, driving south on a road to the north of Rafah in the early morning. The first rays of sun can be seen, and birds are chirping.

In an interview with Drop Site News published Friday, the only known paramedic to survive the attack, Munther Abed, explained that he and his colleagues “were directly and deliberately shot at” by the IDF. “The car is clearly marked with ‘Palestinian Red Crescent Society 101.’ The car’s number was clear and the crews’ uniform was clear, so why were we directly shot at? That is the question.”

The video’s release sparked fresh outrage and demands for accountability on Saturday.

“The IDF denied access to the site for days; they sent in diggers to cover up the massacre and intentionally lied about it,” said podcast producer Hamza M. Syed in reaction to the new revelations. “The entire leadership of the Israeli army is implicated in this unconscionable war crime. And they must be prosecuted.”

“Everyone involved in this crime against humanity, and everyone who covered it up, would face prosecution in a world that had any shred of dignity left,” said journalist Ryan Grim of DropSite News.

Jon Queally is managing editor of Common Dreams.

6 April 2025

Source: countercurrents.org

Statement with Regard to the Recent Atrocities in Gaza

In the shadow of a fragile ceasefire, the cries of Gaza echo with unbearable sorrow, proof of the world’s failure to protect innocent lives. Between March 18 and April 7, 2025, more than 1,200 Palestinians were killed: mothers holding their children, fathers trying to protect their families, and young people dreaming of a future that was taken from them by relentless violence. In just a few weeks, the scale of these horrific and brutal events surpassed our darkest fears, leaving scars on the soul of a people already burdened by over a year of genocide.

On March 21, Israeli forces fired on a humanitarian convoy in Rafah, killing at least 15 Palestinian aid workers—selfless souls fulfilling their sacred duties in line with international humanitarian law. Their bodies, uncovered in a mass grave on March 30 after a nine-day search Evidence confirms a deliberate and unlawful attack on humanitarian personnel, constituting a clear war crime in accordance with Rome statute, in violation of the Geneva Conventions.

Then, on April 1, after Israel unilaterally ended the ceasefire, relentless airstrikes hit Gaza, killing at least 414 people—174 of them children—and injuring over 550 others, most of them civilians asleep in their homes. These brutal attacks are not isolated incidents, but part of the larger pattern of an ongoing genocide.

These immoral and inhuman attacks, has been met with deafening silence from nations that allegedly champion human rights, many of whom have gone further, actively weakening or even sanctioning vital international bodies meant to uphold justice.

The blood of the innocent stains our collective conscience, demanding not just words, but action. We call on governments, international organizations, NGOs, and people of conscience worldwide to join us in condemning these atrocities and defending the people of Gaza and Palestine as a whole.

We call for the enforcement of international law, the safety of humanitarian personnel, and an end to the impunity fueling this violence.

We urge the United Nations bodies, UN member States and Special Rapporteurs to persist in addressing the devastating situation in Gaza. Furthermore, we call upon the members of the Security Council to adopt a resolution demanding that Israel immediately cease these egregious attacks.

Let’s unite in solidarity, giving a voice to the voiceless and working toward a world where justice overcomes silence and hope prevails over despair. Peace be upon the steadfast people of Palestine.

This statement is endorsed by the following NGOs:

1- Organization for Defending Victims of Violence (ODVV)
2- International Movement for a Just World (JUST)
3- The Khiam Rehabilitation Center for Victims of Torture
4- Bahjat Al Fuad Center for Psychological and Medical Rehabilitation for Torture Victims
5- Children’s Right to HealthCare (CRH)
6- Center for Peace and Reconciliation Center Studies
7- The International Commission to Support the Rights of the Palestinian People “Hashd”
8- Amman Center for Human Rights Studies
9- Jordanian Network for Human and Peoples’ Rights
10- Fundación Latinoamericana por los Derechos Humanos y el Desarrollo Social
11- Humanitarian Ambassadors NGO
12- Association of Iranian Short Statured Adults
13- Hazrat-e Fatemeh Zahra Charity Institute
14- Maryam Ghasemi Educational Charity Institute
15- Peivande Gole Narges Organization
16- The Society for Recovery Support
17- International Farda Development Activists Association
18- Network of Women’s Non-governmental Organizations in the Islamic Republic of Iran
19- The Association of Citizens Civil Rights Protection “Manshour-e Parseh”
20- Medical Support Association for Underprivileged Iranian Patients

_______________________

15 April 2025

Here We Go Again – $1 Trillion for US ‘Defense’

By Drago Bosnic

Remember when President Donald Trump promised to make the US military “far more powerful, but for much less money”? Remember when he pledged to end the NATO-orchestrated Ukrainian conflict in 24 hours? Well, me neither. In all seriousness, we can always say that Trump is a politician and that truth or consistency are not exactly the defining qualities of any politician.

On the other hand, the Messianic Complex among many Trumpists is certainly concerning, as there’s little questioning of Trump’s policies. He’s most definitely a very polarizing figure. The vast majority of people are either his staunch supporters or have TDS (Trump derangement syndrome). This prevents a more objective view of his performance, both at home and abroad.

Namely, Trump is exposed to numerous interest groups, many of which have very diverging views on how America should be. The old Deep State sees him as the greatest threat to “Pax Americana” and wants him out at all costs (including through physical removal), while other interest groups think extreme measures are unnecessary and that simply influencing Trump’s decision-making is more than enough.

The latter seem to be leading the charge, while the remnants of the previous administration are engaged in largely pointless protests. However, despite superficial enmity between them, there’s a quite solid continuity in many policies of the two administrations. This is particularly true when it comes to foreign policy and financing the US military.

In the case of the former, the Biden administration’s crawling economic warfare against the European Union (primarily through the destruction of its trade with Russia while the US continued to buy critical commodities from Moscow and even resell them to Europe) has been augmented by Trump’s trade wars.

In the case of the latter, there’s a robust continuity with virtually every US administration in the last 35 years (at the very least). Namely, the consistent increase in American military spending is a clear indicator that the same people are making the final decision on this issue, regardless of who’s in power. The Trump administration’s latest announcement regarding the US “defense” budget effectively proves this is precisely the case.

Namely, on April 7, President Trump and his Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth revealed that the Pentagon will get its first $1 trillion. Interestingly, what should’ve been breaking news was sidelined by global panic regarding the impact of new tariffs. In his usual manner of using superlatives, Trump said that “nobody’s seen anything like it”, adding that “we have to build our military, and we’re very cost-conscious, but the military is something we have to build, and we have to be strong”. It’s certainly commendable to see a government exercise “cost-consciousness”, with Trump employing Musk’s DOGE to be “the ultimate auditing organization”. However, giving a trillion dollars to the unaudited US military sounds like anything but frugality.

On paper, the administration has been adamant about cutting excess government spending, so this move doesn’t make much sense (unless all the auditing was designed to help find the money for the Pentagon). The logical conclusion is that Trump is exposed to the influence of the Military Industrial Complex (MIC) just as much as any other president.

Hegseth was certainly happy with the arrangement, as evidenced by his announcement on Twitter/X where he thanked Trump and presented the development as something “fantastic for everyone”. It would be interesting to see what American taxpayers think about the fact that their money will be invested in more death and destruction instead of restoring America’s crumbling infrastructure.

[https://twitter.com/PeteHegseth/status/1909362824935358610]

As previously mentioned, the first official $1 trillion for the US military was only a matter of time, as the troubled Biden administration announced it two years ago, when it pledged to double the Pentagon’s budget. The latest increase is in line with this plan, as the actual US DoD spending has been well over $1 trillion for years (many of its expenses are distributed to other departments). In addition, the Biden administration’s 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) was officially $895 billion, so the latest increase is nothing out of the ordinary and is in line with regular spikes in military spending with every US government in recent history. This certainly breaks the Trump administration’s attempts to present itself as “anti-establishment”.

In addition, the move can only exacerbate America’s debt crisis, particularly after it reached $35 trillion last yearand is expected to go over $40 trillion next year. Experts are warning that the latest increase in military spending will likely add at least another trillion to the already rapidly growing debt and that budget cuts are yet to affect the Pentagon, adding that the US military “does precisely nothing to defend the USA” and that it “exclusively interferes in other countries”.

And indeed, Trump’s reshuffling at the Pentagon was largely political and never affected its financing. Worse yet, he also supports continued US aggression in the Middle East, where a war with Iran is looming. In addition, the new Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff wants to expand the US nuclear sharing policy.

*

Drago Bosnic is an independent geopolitical and military analyst. He is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG).

10 April 2025

Source: globalresearch.ca

Trump Tariffs Seen from Contradictory Angles. Prof. Patrick Bond

By Prof. Patrick Bond

Donald Trump’s paleo-conservative, isolationist attack on global capitalist trade is already having formidable impacts. If tariff levels and targeted announced on ‘Liberation Day,’ April 2, are sustained, a full-blown economic catastrophe could result, perhaps reminiscent of 1930s-scale Make America Great Depression Again.

Transactional Trump

The worst danger: national elites in victim countries will be divided-and-conquered. Even South African President Cyril Ramaphosa – who 15 months ago had bravely challenged Washington’s ‘rule of law’ fakery by authorising Pretoria’s challenge to Israel’s genocide at the International Court of Justice – apparently feels compelled to dream up utterly irrational deals for Trump, ideally sealed over a game of golf. Ramaphosa’s spokesperson told the NY Times last month that Ramaphosa may soon offer to U.S. Big Oil firms generous offshore leases for methane gas exploration and extraction, in spite of enormous climate damage, Shell Oil’s courtroom setbacks, and widespread shoreline protests.

He’s not alone; more than 50 world leaders have ‘reached out’ to Washington in an obsequious manner, leading Trump to brag,

“They are coming to the table. They want to talk but there’s no talk unless they pay us a lot of money on a yearly basis.”

Even before the April 2 announcements, Trump imposed 25% universal tariffs on imports of steel and aluminium (effective March 12) and on cars (and auto parts) (March 26), radically lowering demand for what are traditionally the three main South African exports to the U.S. under the tariff-free Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).

According to Business Leadership South Africa’s Busisiwe Mavuso:

“Trump has made it clear that he wants concessions from each country if he is going to reduce or drop the tariffs. He emphasised that the tariffs put the U.S. in a position of power in the series of bilateral negotiations that are to come. Given the transactional nature of US politics, we have to think hard on what is commercially available and viable for all parties. The U.S. has exempted many of our key metal exports, including platinum, gold, manganese, copper, zinc and nickel, because these are considered critical to the U.S. economy.”

Twisted Economic Logic

Setting aside the exemptions on raw materials, which makes the whole operation appear as a neo-colonial resource grab that simultaneously stifles poor countries’ manufacturing sectors, what would justify these highest tariffs on U.S. imports in 130 years? Trump’s chief economic advisor (and investment banker) Stephen Miran, who holds a Harvard doctorate in economics, explained the underlying theory in a November 2024 report, celebrating the potential for a:

“generational change in the international trade and financial systems. The root of the economic imbalances lies in persistent dollar overvaluation that prevents the balancing of international trade… Tariffs provide revenue, and if offset by currency adjustments, present minimal inflationary or otherwise adverse side effects, consistent with the experience in 2018-2019. While currency offset can inhibit adjustments to trade flows, it suggests that tariffs are ultimately financed by the tariffed nation, whose real purchasing power and wealth decline…”

This is wishful thinking, most experts believe. Currency adjustments are hard to predict but the dollar’s decline on April 2-3 (about 1%) is already being offset by its ‘safe haven’ status, providing a quick valuation bounce-back. The reason: international financial volatility always encourages global footloose capital’s short-term flight to dollar-denominated assets, no matter how irrational that may be in the medium term.

U.S. consumer inflation will soar, it’s fair to predict. Already, those whose pensions have been invested in the world’s (admittedly way-overvalued) stock markets have suffered major losses, e.g. in South Africa and the U.S., more 10% on April 3-4 alone. As nervous money floods out of vulnerable countries, the interest rates investors demand to fund 10-year bonds are soaring, in South Africa’s case by 2.2%, from 8.9% at the end of January to a painful 11.1% in early April (at a time of long-term average inflation of 5%).

And as a distributional matter, left economist Dean Baker of the Center for Economic Policy and Research points out,

“Import taxes are highly regressive, meaning that tariffs will cost ordinary working people a much higher share of their income than for high income people. This is because working people tend to spend most or all of their income, while high income people save a large portion of their income. Also, working people are more likely to spend their money on the goods subject to tariffs, whereas higher income people spend more money on services.”

Splintered Oppositional Narratives

Beyond Miran’s fantasies, five other narratives are generating anti-Trump ideologies that – without a coherent stitching together – risk splintering critics:

1. mainstream neoliberalism

The corporate and state elites who in most countries typically back neo-liberal trade deregulation are now in shock, as their own personal share portfolios crash. The Economist summed up, “Trump’s mindless tariffs will cause economic havoc.

In alliance with market-friendly ‘bastard Keynesians‘ like Paul Krugman, the neoliberals are expressing utter disgust at Trump because precepts of free trade are being violated in the most primitive manner. The powers and legitimacy of the Geneva-based World Trade Organisation (WTO) to police tariffs and trade are being trampled by Trump – leaving the body’s defense to some of the world’s most aggrieved neoliberal forces, in Beijing.

Because Trump is launching “economic nuclear war on every country,” even Bill Ackman – a strong supporter of the president and a billionaire fund manager – conceded, “we will severely damage our reputation with the rest of the world that will take years and potentially decades to rehabilitate.” Quite right.

(This growing establishment hatred of Washington is extremely useful if progressives want to forge even brief alliances, e.g. to ‘Vote Trump off the G20 Island,’ a true Survivor approach which would be indisputably popular in the bloc’s capital cities, except for Buenos Aires and maybe Rome, and set the stage for the 2026 G20 not to be held in the U.S., but maybe jointly by Mexico and Canada instead, as should the 2026 soccer World Cup and 2028 Olympics.)

2. radical Keynesianism combined with dependency theory

Both these approaches are highly critical of international trade, but not for the reasons Trump is. The last century’s leading British economist, John Maynard Keynes, at one point – in his 1933 Yale Review article – firmly advocated tariffs and other forms of protectionism, so as to support domestic industries and thus achieve much more balanced internal development: “let goods be homespun whenever it is reasonably and conveniently possible, and, above all, let finance be primarily national” (using tightened exchange controls).

As for global economic regulation, Keynes’ last (unsuccessful) major project was to propose penalties for economies that ran trade surpluses: the ‘Bancor’ International Currency Union proposal at Bretton Woods in 1944. His objective was to use trade and currency controls to achieve self-correcting international economic stability, in the wake of a Great Depression and war caused in part by extreme commercial and financial volatility.

From the Global South, a different critique of international trade and an even stronger advocacy of tariffs together aim to promote poor countries’ ‘delinking’ from dangerous international circuits of capital, and to protect infant manufacturing industries. Africa’s main contributor to this dependencia school was Egyptian political economist Samir Amin. He understood the differential labour values and ‘unequal ecological exchange’ (resource looting) that are embodied in South-to-North trade as benefiting transnational corporations, and causing Africa’s underdevelopment.

Amin also criticised trade between impoverished countries and South Africa which – even after apartheid was defeated in 1994 – he viewed (until his death in 2018) as a malevolent capitalist power on the continent: “nothing has changed. South Africa’s sub-imperialist role has been reinforced, still dominated as it is by the Anglo-American mining monopolies.”

Indeed AngloGold Ashanti and many similar Johannesburg firms have benefited from the South African National Defence Force’s ersatz quarter-century-long military presence in the eastern Congo. (Last November, these troops were recognised by the UN not for heroism, but as the peace-keeping force’s worst offenders for sexual exploitation, abuse and paternity lawsuits.) Pretoria’s troops were recently forced out of the DRC by invading Rwandan forces (and also lost battles in Northern Mozambique and the Central African Republic since 2013), but the critique of sub-imperial interests remains intact.

3. climate consciousness

Opponents of ecocide – surely, all of us who aren’t climate denialists – regret the massive greenhouse gas emissions caused by excessive, often pointless international trade: 7%+ of all CO2 emanates from shipping and air transport, according to the International Transport Forum.

And while the International Maritime Organisation has hosted a decade of talks about its members’ dirty bunker-fuel emissions – which for the sake of ‘polluter pays’ policy, should be costed at $1056/tonne (even the World Economic Forum admits) – these have been futile. The modest $150/tonne tax on shipping emissions demanded by increasingly-desperate Pacific and Caribbean small island states is this week being rejected by rich Western countries and also by an alliance centred on four BRICS members: Brazil, China, Indonesia and South Africa.

Moreover, genuine ‘Just Transition’ plans are widely recognised as necessary to wean workers and affected communities off CO2-intensive export production, e.g. the West’s (highly flawed yet necessary) Just Energy Transition Partnerships and Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanisms, but these and other climate obligations Trump has simply walked away from. The Pan African Climate Justice Alliance had already called on the world to impose trade sanctions on the U.S. as a result, a call that now has much more purchase.

Indeed, to that end, many would support a ‘degrowth‘ approach seeking to stabilise and indeed diminish much of the high-carbon industrial output exported by many economies into the U.S. Those include steel, aluminium and automobiles – now 25% tariff victims – due to the vast waste involved in rich-country consumption. And South Africa is one of the worst, with the ‘Energy Intensive Users Group‘ of 27 multinational corporate exporters guzzling more than 40% of the country’s scarce electricity but hiring only 4% of workers in the formal sector.

4. African nationalism

African patriots logically perceive Trump’s hatred of the continent (full of ‘S-hole countries‘) as, in part, behind attacks on its trade-surplus countries. Tiny Lesotho was hit by Trump with the highest new tariff on April 2 mainly because of its $240 million trade surplus with the U.S.: mostly Levi’s and Wrangler jeans and diamond exports, whereas imports from the U.S. are indirect, as they first are cleared by customs in South Africa. Trump also imposed 40%+ tariffs on Madagascar and Mauritius, because of their trade surpluses.

The context for the continent’s (and world’s) rising anti-Americanism is Trump and Pretoria-born Elon Musk’s halt to financial support for African healthcare (especially AIDS-related – which could lead to 6.3 million unnecessary deaths by 2029 – and maternal), climate (mitigating emissions, strengthening resilience and covering ‘loss & damage’ relief), renewable energy and vitally-needed emergency humanitarian food supplies. Some critics here suggest these cuts reflect Trump’s white supremacy, called out by Pretoria’s fired ambassador to Washington, amplified by the fiscal chainsaw wielded by Musk, against whom protest is rapidly rising.

All this means Trump is discarding Washington’s soft power, which notwithstanding the vast destruction in the meantime, could ultimately be very useful for anti-imperialists (in contrast to last November’s internecine squabbling over a controversial National Endowment for Democracy conference held in Johannesburg).

5. Marxist political economy

Readers of Das Kapital understand that capitalist crises and the ‘devaluation’ of ‘overaccumulated capital’ (e.g. deindustrialisation once businesses addicted to exports to the U.S. shut down) reflect the mode of production’s intrinsic contradictions. In reaction, capitalism often degenerates into inter-imperial and imperial/sub-imperial rivalries, generalised trade wars (often based on tit-for-tat tariffs) and stock market turbulence. The conclusion drawn is that eco-socialist planning of the global economy in the public and environmental interest, is the only route out. (Disclosure: that’s my main bias but I’ll travel a long way with advocates of positions 2-4 as well.)

For those outside mainstream, neoliberal logic, can the latter four framings be fused together for not only a coherent analysis but also a clear political response? The danger of not having a strategy linking Keynesians, environmentalists, nationalists and anti-capitalists is four-fold:

1. under a beggar-thy-neighbour ‘reciprocal tariff’ trade war, we all face a new version of a 1930 Smoot-Hawley Act and then a 1930s-style Great Depression (which by the way, was an extremely constructive period for South African capitalism, which grew 8% per year as a result of import-substitution industrialisation);

2. recognising the durable power of U.S. economic imperialism, individual governments will go cap-in-hand to Trump to beg for a bit of relief, offering absurd concessions in the process such as Ramaphosa’s invitation to drill baby drill;

3. surplus countries will redirect already-produced (or in-production) manufactured goods and commodities away from the now shuttered U.S. market, flooding all other potential buyers, thus further deindustrialising South Africa – whose main anti-dumping measures applied by the International Trade Administration Commission are against various ultra-cheap imports from China; and

Naturally the mainstream logic of ‘searching for new markets’ – now that the U.S. is closing its trade doors – won’t get at the root cause of the problem. That cause is sometimes termed ‘uneven and combined development,’ in which over the past 40 years, the global trading system became exceptionally volatile and generative of ever worsening inequalities (especially unequal ecological exchange), i.e., depleting, polluting and emitting against the interests of poor economies and natural environments.

A Long Pattern of Economic Abuse

This extreme abuse of commercial power being exercised with a vengeance by Trump, no matter how self-destructive financial markets have judged his Liberation Day, is only the latest reflection of Western economic chaos. The world has suffered extreme uneven development after the recovery from early-1980s global recession, as ‘Washington Consensus’ liberalisation kicked in everywhere due to debt crises and IMF/World Bank squeezing, and especially via global commerce following the capture by nearly all governments’ policies by the World Trade Organisation after 1994.

The limits of trade globalisation became clear in 2008 – the peak year of world trade/GDP until until 2022 – as did the limits of financialised economies in recent months, in the form of overvalued ‘Buffett Indicators‘ of stock market capitalisation, unprecedented debt loads, currency volatility and recognition of the $’s malevolence after two Fed-led ‘Quantitative Easings’ and interest rate manipulations, etc.

The damage done to South Africa’s industrial economy was amongst the most severe, as we lost most labour-intensive industries – clothing, textiles, footwear, appliances, electronics, etc – which had driven the manufacturing/GDP ratio up to 24%, before the steady decline to less than 13% by the 2010s. So the challenge is reversing that imbalance – i.e. fighting against uneven and combined development – with progressive policies, not merely relying upon the programme of dissatisfied export-oriented capitalists.

Here in South Africa, the de facto retraction of AGOA zero-tariff access for locally-made luxury cars, aluminium, steel, petrochems, vineyard products and plantation nuts and citrus reminds that the main losers are capital-intensive extractive industries, carbon-intensive smelters and super-exploitative plantations, all with mainly white ownership. From Washington, the imperialist Hudson Institute last month even recommended not cutting the tariff-free AGOA trade programme, since “The communities that benefit most from the AGOA largely support South Africa’s pro-American political parties.”

In contrast to Trump’s paleo-con isolationism and to neoliberal trade promotion, the four historically-progressive ideologies of Keynesianism, environmental justice, African nationalism and eco-socialism represent countervailing views. Programmatically, to move in their direction can only be assessed once the dust settles a bit and the distinction between those national leaders who are either fighting or who are obsequious, becomes clear.

So far, South Africa’s leaders, under threat of losing their Government of National Unity related to a budget dispute caused by excessive neoliberalism, are decidedly in the latter category.

In contrast, the potential for China to guide the international fightback is not merely witnessed in its WTO complaint against Trump, quickly filed on April 4. The same day, Beijing’s central bank experimented with a much more rapid, blockchain-secured digital alternative to the dollar-denominated cross-border bank settlement and clearance system, with 10 regional and another six West Asian economies now reportedly able to avoid the Brussels-based SWIFT network, even if merely for cost and speed savings.

There have been far too many false alarms and hyped hopes about de-dollarisation. If it began in earnest thanks to Trump’s misstep, we’d much more likely see the venal, volatile Bitcoin take over, as Blackrock CEO Larry Fink warns, than the renminbi.

All this suggests a far more durable approach is needed, to get out from under Trump’s thumb and then the dollar’s domination, and then escape the tyranny of capital. A series of non-reformist reforms were offered to Democracy Now! by Indian radical economist Jayati Ghosh, worth mulling over for countries like South Africa, and all others, as a last word:

“There’s a silver lining in this for developing countries, which is that for too long, for maybe three decades, we’ve been told that the only way we can develop is through export-led growth. And that’s really — it’s been unfortunate, because we have never seen giving our own workers a fair deal as a good option. We’ve always seen wages as a cost, not as a source of our own domestic demand and market. It’s now time to actually change, to shift gears, to think about different trading arrangements, more regional arrangements, looking at other developing countries as markets, looking at our own population as markets, and thinking about the things we can do to create sustainable production, that’s not ecologically damaging, that actually provides living wages and decent working conditions within our own countries.”

(The University of Johannesburg Centre for Social Change will convene a webinar on Trump tariffs in the G20-from-below series on Tuesday, April 15, 3pm SA time, 9am Washington time, herehttps://us02web.zoom.us/j/84736248638)

Prof. Patrick Bond, distinguished Professor and Director of the Centre for Social Change at the University of Johannesburg, specialising in political economy, political ecology and social mobilisation.

8 April 2025

Source: globalresearch.ca

Temperatures reaching 40 degrees in Myanmar disrupt post-earthquake work

By Salih Okuroglu

Following the earthquakes in Myanmar, which killed more than 3,000 people, search and rescue efforts have been hampered by temperatures reaching 40 degrees Celsius, power outages, limited access to clean water, and attacks by the military.

Ankara

The earthquakes that occurred on March 28 near the Sagaing region in central Myanmar killed 3,145 people and injured 4,589 people.

Myanmar’s approaching monsoon season poses danger for earthquake victims
Myanmar earthquakes turn Ava Ancient City into ruins

The work, which continues with a lack of equipment, human resources and financial support, is made even more difficult by the temperature reaching 40 degrees.

All these problems, along with power outages, limited access to drinking water and the monsoon rains expected to arrive in the coming months, are putting the lives of the locals, who are forced to live in tents, at risk. Authorities are warning that epidemics could break out after the earthquake in the summer.

A week after the earthquake, there are still rural areas that search and rescue teams have not been able to reach, and authorities fear the death toll will rise.

The ongoing conflict in the country also makes it difficult to cope with the destruction left by the earthquake.

Myanmar expert and co-founder of Southeast Asia Innovation Forces (FORSEA) Maung Zarni and Director of Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN) Kyaw Win made assessments to AA correspondent regarding the earthquakes that occurred in Myanmar.

Zarni, who lives in London, the capital of England, said that she was born in Mandalay, one of the cities most affected by the earthquakes, and that she learned the news of the earthquake from social media and her relatives.

Zarni said an estimated 80 to 90 percent of the infrastructure of Sagaing, a city with a history of 500 years, has been destroyed.

“Some of the neighborhoods where I grew up and went to school were completely flattened”

“Downtown Mandalay, some of the neighborhoods where I grew up and went to school, were all flattened,” Zarni said.

On the other hand, Zarni pointed out that the temperature has reached 40 degrees, electricity is not stable, and therefore people cannot operate water pumps to get drinking water.

Zarni also pointed out that epidemics could break out in the region due to current conditions, and said, “Even drinking water is scarce there. This is a country that is completely unprepared for natural disasters such as floods or a major earthquake.”

“Even distant countries like Türkiye sent large amounts of aid supplies”

Zarni said that aid to Myanmar, especially from neighboring countries, has helped search and rescue teams.

Stating that more than a dozen countries supported the work in the region, Zarni said, “Even distant countries like Türkiye sent large amounts of aid materials.”

Calls on US to return $1 billion in frozen Myanmar funds

Zarni pointed out that Myanmar’s $1 billion worth of assets, which were frozen by the government of then US President Joe Biden after the coup in 2021, could be used for the reconstruction of cities affected by earthquakes.

“If the money is going to be used for something like rebuilding earthquake zones, I think that’s a legitimate reason for the US government, (President Donald) Trump, to consider returning the $1 billion to the people of Myanmar. It’s time for the US to show some decency and understanding to allow the people of Myanmar to get this money back,” Maung Zarni said.

Noting that the military government announced a ceasefire on April 2, valid until April 22, but that it was violated by the army again less than 24 hours later, Zarni said, “Most importantly, what is needed is a temporary ceasefire that will lead to a longer-term political negotiation.”

– “67” mosques have been destroyed in the earthquakes so far

Kyaw Win, Director of the Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN), also stated that centuries-old mosques that had been neglected for years were destroyed due to the administration’s attitude during the earthquakes.

Kyaw said that many Muslims were among those who died because the earthquake occurred during Friday prayers, and that according to data they obtained from the field, 67 mosques have become unusable so far.

Kyaw listed the most pressing problems following the earthquakes as the lack of toilets and people’s lack of access to clean water.

The news presented to subscribers via the AA News Feed System (HAS) is summarized and published on the Anadolu Agency website. Please contact us for subscription.

7 April 2025

The Massacre of the Ambulances

By Jonathan Kuttab

On March 23, 2025, Israel committed yet another massacre that seemed to mark a new low in its assault on Gaza. 15 paramedics and first responders, in clearly marked vehicles, were going about their business trying to rescue and save the wounded when they disappeared. Those who attempted to locate them were also fired upon. Eventually, their ambulances were found crushed, together with their bodies, piled and buried in a sandy pit made and covered by Israeli bulldozers. Their mangled bodies showed indications, according to forensic experts, that they had been captured and then killed execution style, one by one. Some were found shackled and tied down, one was beheaded, another was stripped of his upper clothes. The Red Cross and the United Nations concluded that they had been knowingly killed while carrying out their humanitarian duties, precisely because of their work.

Yet in many ways this grizzly event only illustrates a number of features that are now familiar, which seem to distinguish and mark Israeli actions in Gaza:

First is the sense of utter impunity. Israelis and the Israeli army are responsible for their actions. Yet, there is a clear feeling of impunity, the responsibility of which falls on the entire world community, particularly the United States but also Europe, whose actions and inactions implicate them in these atrocities as well. The feeling of impunity is palpable in Israel and is touted by its more aggressive right-wing psychopaths. Ben Gvir, Smotrich and Israeli TV and radio commentators openly declare that this is their moment in history and that President Trump supports and has given them a green light for them to do whatever they want. Crazy fantasies, such as “voluntary deportations,” which Israelis did not dare to openly articulate in the past are now being actively pursued, with American approval and support. International law and world opinion is openly flaunted, and those who even attempt to bring sanctions or censure are themselves targeted and punished.

Second, and closely related, is the absence of any rules, laws, or restraints. In the past, Israel expended great energy and ingenuity in justifying its conduct and circumventing restrictions in International Humanitarian Law. It argued that it was following the “humanitarian” but not the “political” provisions of the Geneva Convention and that it prohibited and actively prosecuted any of its soldiers who violated international humanitarian law or committed gross violations. It represented itself as a democratic nation and boasted that it was “the most moral army” in the world. It claimed it only targeted terrorists and that civilian casualties were unfortunate collateral damage, caused by Hamas’ embedding itself among civilians and using them as human shields. It claimed it only attacked hospitals, churches and mosques, and educational institutions, when they served as command centers for terrorists and that it only restricted food and other supplies when they were being diverted to serve Hamas purposes.

Such pretense is now largely abandoned. While some lip service is paid to them occasionally, Israelis now openly talk of cutting off water, food, medicine and fuel in order to pressure their enemies and convince them to “voluntarily leave” the Gaza strip. Upon renewing the bombardment in March, they openly announced that they were cutting off all food, water, fuel, medicine and other supplies. No longer were they arguing about how many trucks they were allowing in, or whether there was sufficient food. They destroyed hospitals, after they had been fully evacuated and occupied for months. They bombed one hospital openly claiming that they were after a wounded Hamas operative (the head of civilian operations in Hamas, according to them) who was being treated for his wounds at the hospital. The International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice are not only ignored and brazenly defied, but sanctions are threatened against these courts, their judges and prosecutors, and anyone supplying them with information about Israel’s crimes.

Third, by prohibiting international journalists, Israel makes it difficult to verify facts or investigate their claims. International journalists must report from Jerusalem and run their reports through Israeli censors. So, Israel always constructs its own unverifiable narrative of events (as in the case of the paramedics, where it claimed their vehicles had “acted in a suspicious manner in approaching their soldiers”). Local Palestinian journalists, who risk their lives to still send out horrifying video evidence, are hunted down and assassinated, sometimes with their families as well. Over 200 journalists have been killed, more than those killed in both World Wars, the Civil War, the Vietnam War, Afghanistan and Iraq wars combined. Yet, Israel insists that their version of events be taken at face value, and international media often complies. Meanwhile, reports by Palestinian journalists are quoted critically, if at all, as “allegations” and “claims.” Palestinian casualty numbers, for example, are always questioned as being sourced by the “Hamas-run Health Ministry,” even when the figures are painstakingly detailed with names, ages, and ID numbers of the casualties.

Until we address Israeli impunity, the inability and unwillingness to enforce rules and laws, and lack of access and coverage by international journalists, I fear we will see yet even more outrages in the very near future.

4 April 2025

Source: fosna.org