It has been a few days of slaughter-filled accounts. Starting on October 7 on the Jewish day of Simchat Torah, the State of Israel has faced assaults from hundreds of Hamas militants. Directed from southwards in the country, the mayhem has rattled the security and intelligence establishment smugly convinced in their reading of Palestinian motivations and capabilities. But outside the conflict, the commemorations for the dead are to be held according to a specific blueprint.
Across a slew of Western capitals and cities – self-described their presses as The World, blue and white lights have splashed buildings, offering a plaster of …
On February 12, 2002 at a Pentagon news conference, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was asked by Jim Miklaszewski, the NBC Pentagon correspondent, if he had any evidence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and was supplying them to terrorists. Rumsfeld delivered a famous non-answer answer and said:
Reports that say that something hasn’t happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are …
— National Museum of the American Indian (@SmithsonianNMAI) November 23, 2017
No one will dispute that the Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island from Umingmak Nuna (Ellesmere Island) to Tierra del Fuego were here long, long before the White Man arrived. So, if land is to be “owned,” it seems only right that the people who first settled it would become the owners. However, the Europeans who chanced upon Turtle Island claimed it in the name of their God and their rulers. Now, if Martians were to land here and claim the land, would any of the inhabitants of the western hemisphere accept that? No, because the Martians were latecomers, and they …
There was a 196% increase in acts of Israeli settler violence from 2017-2022, with an even more alarming projection of the rise of settler violence in 2023. This visual tells the story of long-running impunity for escalating human rights violations against Palestinians.
At least 90 Palestinian children have been killed by Israel’s assault on Gaza so far. This visual tella the story of Palestinian children in Gaza, who have experienced multiple assaults and multiple types of trauma since 2007, leading to a widespread mental health crisis among youth.
From 2018-2019, Palestinians in Gaza engaged in mass civil resistance, calling for an end to Israel’s blockade and the realization of their right to return. Israel’s response was to open fire on protesters, massacring hundreds and wounding thousands. This visual tells the story of Israel’s repression of Palestinian civil resistance in Gaza.
by Geopolitical Economy Report / October 9th, 2023
International law clearly shows that the Palestinian people have a legal right to armed struggle against Israeli colonialism, just as South Africans did against apartheid. Gaza suffers under an illegal Israeli blockade that even a former British prime minister recognized to be a “prison camp.” Journalist Ben Norton looks over the evidence.
The bold and suicidal actions by Gaza militants defy reason… to the reasonable. To those frustrated by decades of oppression, with no apparent means to alleviate the suffering, the actions become comprehensible. Looking north from the Gaza border, the Gazan people can reconstruct their ancient village, al-Majdal, now called Ashkelon.
The modern Israeli city of Ashkelon, 20 kilometers north of the Gaza border, presents a picturesque setting along the Mediterranean coast.
Sparkling white beaches matched by white-faced apartment buildings, green lawns, and several wide boulevards depict a tranquil and …
Europe’s leaders obediently takes the apartheid state’s side
by Stuart Littlewood / October 9th, 2023
In a surprise move Hamas launched a massive rocket attack on 6 October on various Israeli targets in the illegally blockaded Gaza Strip and made incursions through the border wire into nearby Israeli communities such as Sderot.
Warmonger Binyamin Netanyahu’s response, blurting out “we are at war”, would have been faintly amusing if the situation wasn’t so sickening. And once again we’re treated to the spectacle of senior figures here in our midst desperately defending Israel’s illegal …
CODEPINK strongly opposes Secretary Lloyd J. Austin’s just-announced plan to send troops to the Eastern Mediterranean – including U.S. Navy aircraft carriers and defense munitions. Escalating the violence in Palestine is not the path to peace, it’s the path to destroying any chance the Palestinians have for peace, justice and freedom from Israeli Apartheid.
Our hearts break witnessing both the loss of life and the threats coming from Secretary Austin and Prime Minister Netanyahu. With the assistance of the U.S., Prime Minister Netanyahu has established and enforced an open-air prison for over 2 million Palestinians in Gaza, making it the most …
There was a whiff of Thomas Mann’s ‘The Magic Mountain’ at the 20th Valdai annual meeting this week at a hotel over the gorgeous heights of the Krasnaya Polyana, north-west of the picturesque resort Sochi.
But instead of a deep dive into the lure and degeneracy of ideas in an introverted community in the Swiss Alps on the eve of the First World War, we immersed ourselves in powerful new ideas expressed by a community of Global Majority intellectuals on the possible eve of a psycho neocon-intended …
Shock and horror. But to and for whom? At 6.30 am on October 7, the State of Israel was certainly in shock. From the south, its citizens faced attacks by, as news reports put it, air, sea and land executed by the Islamic militant group Hamas. Within a matter of hours, the death toll of Israelis had jumped by hundreds, complemented by hundreds of deaths in Gaza. Along the way, unspecified numbers of Israeli hostages have been taken and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has issued a declaration of war.
In the short term, the offensive by Hamas …
There will be little sympathy in the West as, yet again, besieged Palestinians are bombed by Israel, their immense suffering justified by the term ‘Israeli retaliation’
by Jonathan Cook / October 8th, 2023
The current outpouring of sympathy for Israel should make anyone with half a heart retch.
Not because it is not awful that Israeli civilians are dying and suffering in such large numbers. But because Palestinian civilians in Gaza have faced repeated rampages from Israel decade after decade, producing far more suffering, but have never elicited a fraction of the concern currently being expressed by western politicians or publics.
The West’s hypocrisy over Palestinian fighters killing and wounding hundreds of Israelis and holding dozens more hostage in communities surrounding and inside besieged Gaza is stark indeed.
Since the beginning of its ‘Iron Swords’ operation on Saturday, Israel has destroyed or damaged more than 400 sites in Gaza. Over 300 Palestinians have been killed, many of whom were civilians. At least 1,990 have been wounded.
Sanaa Kamal, a resident of Gaza who also works as a local reporter, has seen and covered a number of confrontations between Israel and the …
On September 29, the very pro-Biden Mediaite site headlined and reported with hostility toward RFK Jr., “EXCLUSIVE: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Planning to Announce Independent Run”. Then, on October 4, RFK Jr.’s Presidential campaign announced that on October 9 he “will make a historic announcement in Philadelphia, where he will share a vision of a profound realignment of American politics.” On many occasions recently, Kennedy has stated that the Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) are running one campaign — the DNC is effectively being run by Biden — and …
Illustration: Liu Rui/GT
The Philippines is regarded as a key component in the US Indo-Pacific Strategy. But compared to Tokyo and Canberra, which take on more aggressive roles, Manila, in the heart of Washington, is merely a stick used to muddy the waters of the South China Sea. In other words, the US aims to use the Philippines to continue escalating the China-Philippines dispute in the South China Sea and disrupt the friendly atmosphere of consultation between China and Southeast Asian countries on the South China …
Still no sign of sanctions from the self-righteous international community
by Stuart Littlewood / October 7th, 2023
The Guardianreports an increase in the number of young Palestinian demonstrators in hospital with gunshot wounds.
Their protests are in response to the Jewish invasions of the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in East Jerusalem and raids by the Israeli occupation forces into Gaza, as well as the continuing misery and hopelessness caused by Israel’s illegal and brutal blockade of Gaza since 2006.
Several have been admitted to hospital with bullet wounds to the ankle which is a notoriously difficult part of the leg to treat successfully, especially when Palestinian doctors lack the microscopic equipment to carry out such intricate operations. One …
However, this is what the Nobel PEACE Prize shall reward: “the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations and the abolition or reduction of standing armies and the formation and spreading of peace congresses.”
This year’s award reflects none of it. With war and rampant political militarism raging in Europe and Cold …
In 2015 Alex Gibney had an insightful documentary on Scientology, Going Clear. What really got to me was how utterly foolish and chronically masochistic many of those former members of this so called Church were. I have studied various cults, and even dabbled within one myself during my younger days. I have seen, firsthand through my own vulnerability, how the need to either belong to or feel needed by a group of others can drive one to enter into these cults. The sad reality is that few people, and this is key, ever realize that it is …
Black PewAs is common knowledge, hackers rule the digital realm. There’s no room to hide. These subversive geniuses can get into any system, any file, whether it’s protected by encryption, firewalls, or passwords which would stump most supercomputers.
I was doing an internet search and stumbled on an amazing hacker story.
It was a posting put up by a guy who claimed he hacked God’s personal diary.
No, I’m not making this up!
It appeared on the Dark Web, something I have heard about but certainly never have had …
The Trudeau government in Canada is doing the bidding of the World Economic Forum in creating its very own online news registry aimed at “disinformation”. This is code for censorship and control. Canada is also rolling out the Online Safety Act which will protect you from nefarious truth-tellers that speak out against government propaganda.
If only canes, walkers, railings and banisters were sentient, what would their message be to humans on Earth? “Prevention is the Priority, Dummies,” they would exclaim. “Look at how many trips and falls we prevent for our users compared to the enormous costs in pain, suffering, family disarray and economic expenses that would occur were it not for our reliable presence day after day. We get no respect!”
For the most part, prevention of waste, injury, disease, casualties, wars, toxic chemicals and corporate crimes such as massive over-billing are just not profitable for mindless CEOs. However, selling goods and services that …
In April 2021, the Australian billionaire Anthony Pratt had a meeting with Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago club. According to an ABC News report, “Pratt told Trump he believed Australia should start buying its submarines from the United States, to which an excited Trump – ‘leaning’ towards Pratt as if to be discreet – then told Pratt two pieces of information about US submarines: the supposed exact number of nuclear warheads they routinely carry, and exactly how close they supposedly can get to a Russian submarine without being detected.”
The report, citing “sources familiar with the matter,” goes …
And, so, THAT Anniversary too is on my mind: 22 Years Ago, October 7, 2001, US-NATO Invaded Afghanistan: It Was Presented as “Act of Self Defense.” “America Was Attacked by an ‘Unnamed Foreign Power.'”…
The past couple of years in Antarctica have been a rough and tumble affair of erratic climate change with record-high temperatures and totally unexpected ice shelf collapse. The continent is starting to reflect the impact of a warming planet that’s just too hot for icy comfort. So, what surprises will this year’s summer season bring?
At the tail end of Antarctica’s 2022 summer, during the start of autumn/March ‘22, temperatures along the eastern coast spiked 70°F (39°C) above normal. Scientists called it “unthinkable.” According to Edward Blanchard-Wrigglesworth, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington:…
What to do after you’ve masked up, distanced yourself, been jabbed, had six-seven boosters, and swallowed the corporate-government kool-aid unquestioningly. Ask Bill.
New York Times published a news article “Greece, Battered a Decade Ago, Is Booming” by Liz Alderman, with additional reporting from Niki Kitsantonis (Monday, Sept. 25 / in print on Saturday, Sept. 30, Section B, Page 1 with the headline: “A New Era of Prosperity for Greece”).
The article informs us that Greece was hit by an economic crisis a decade ago. It had, then, a load of debt – (doesn’t it now?) – which it could not repay and almost left the eurozone. So far so good.
The newspaper informs that today it is one of the fastest growing economies in Europe. Again, so far …
