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IHR News & Views
Historian Mark Weber and host Fróði Midjord provide informed “big picture” perspective on current events, highlighting the broader trends and crucial factors behind the headlines.
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Zionism and the Third Reich
Mark Weber
A little-known chapter of history is the wide-ranging collaboration between Zionism and Hitler’s Third Reich. During the 1930s, Jewish Zionists and German National Socialists shared similar views on how to deal with the “Jewish Question.” They agreed that Jews and Germans were distinctly different nationalities, and that Jews did not belong in Germany. During the 1930s no nation did more to substantively further Jewish-Zionist goals than Hitler’s Germany.
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… With the aid of the civilian population, mass graves had been discovered, in which thousands of corpses had been buried. These graves were to be opened and the commission was to establish whom the [Soviet] NKVD had murdered … The exhumations in Vinnytsia began on May 25, 1943, and were carried on in three places. The [local] population was of the opinion that there were around 20,000 victims in the war years … I had been a soldier in the Ukrainian army during the First World War and had seen many men killed in battle, but what I had then seen can in no way be compared with what I witnessed in that park … The horror of Vinnytsia I shall never forget, and it is doubtful whether ever a Dante would be able to portray the agony that had taken place.
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Machinations of the Anti-Defamation League
Paul N. (Pete) McCloskey, Jr.
I was in politics for fifteen years, and I think you should start with the assumption: never trust a politician … When people finally learn the truth, they turn against those who have been lying to them. And I think that if the movement of which you people are the cutting edge can retain dispassion in the face of outrages, setbacks and humiliations, the truth can ultimately prevail. You are doing something worse than criticizing the government of the United States; you’re threatening the security of the state of Israel. And the Jewish community is dedicated to preserve that state, and to destroy those who speak against it. Good luck!
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Liberating America From Israel
Paul Findley
Nine-Eleven would not have occurred if the U.S. government had refused to help Israel humiliate and destroy Palestinian society. Few express this conclusion publicly, but many believe it is the truth. I believe the 9/11 catastrophe could have been prevented if any U.S. president in recent decades had had the courage and wisdom to suspend all U.S. aid until Israel withdrew from the Arab land seized in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. The U.S. lobby for Israel is powerful and intimidating, but any determined president could prevail and win overwhelming public support for the suspension of aid by laying these facts before the American people.
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No figure of modern French history is as honored as Charles de Gaulle … In 1940 he refused to accept his country’s defeat by Germany, and from London he founded and led the pro-Allied “Free French” force during World War II. From 1944 to 1946 he headed the provisional government of France. In 1958 he was called from retirement by popular acclaim to resolve the seemingly unsolvable crisis over Algeria … During the years that he dominated his country’s political life – 1958-1969 – he charted an independent foreign policy, tied neither to the US nor the USSR, and strove to make France the preeminent nation in Europe … It’s impossible to read any lengthy biography of this man without admiration for his audacious self-confidence, courage, determination, and cunning.
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The Ethics of War: Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Gregory P. Pavlik
Since the last “good war,” a debate has ensued over the moral legitimacy of the use of nuclear weapons, particularly against civilians. The critics hold that it is a crime to incinerate civilians en masse; defenders commonly claim that the bombing was necessary to bring the war to a close, thereby saving countless American lives. Most of those who make this claim do so in earnest. The problem is that this defense is both historically false, and taken to its logical conclusion, extremely dangerous … The U.S. War Department and related agencies that specialized in producing hate propaganda and lies developed specifically racialist attacks on the Japanese.
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What Christians Don’t Know About Israel
Grace Halsell
American Jews sympathetic to Israel dominate key positions in all areas of our government where decisions are made regarding the Middle East. This being the case, is there any hope of ever changing U.S. policy? … The answer to achieving an even-handed Middle East policy might lie elsewhere — among those who support Israel but don’t really know why. This group is the vast majority of Americans. They are well-meaning, fair-minded Christians who feel bonded to Israel – and Zionism – often from atavistic feelings, in some cases dating from childhood.
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A Straight Look at the Jewish Lobby
Mark Weber
… Jews wield immense power and influence in the United States. The “Jewish lobby” is a decisive factor in US support for Israel. Jewish-Zionist interests are not identical to American interests. In fact, they often conflict. As long as the “very powerful” Jewish lobby remains entrenched, there will be no end to the Jewish-Zionist grip on the US political system and the American media, the Zionist oppression of Palestinians, and the Israeli threat to peace.
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Suggested Reading: A Study Guide
Mark Weber
In an age when vast amounts of information from a wide range of sources are instantly available online, it can be difficult to sort out what’s reliable, useful, and trustworthy. In response to many inquiries over the years, here are recommended books on five important historical topics: The Second World War, American History, International Relations, Communism, Marxism and the Soviet Union, and, Zionism, US-Israel Relations, and the ‘Jewish Question.’ This listing is neither exhaustive nor final. Additional subject categories and titles are planned, and descriptions may be revised or updated.
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The Civil War Concentration Camps
Mark Weber
No aspect of the American Civil War left behind a greater legacy of bitterness and acrimony than the treatment of prisoners of war. “Andersonville” still conjures up images of horror unmatched in American History. And although Northern partisans still invoke the infamous Southern camp to defame the Confederacy, the Union had its share of equally horrific camps. Prison camps on both sides produced scenes of wretched, disease-ridden and emaciated prisoners as repulsive as any to come out of the Second World War … In addition to camps for captured soldiers, the North also established concentration camps for civilian populations considered hostile to the Federal government.
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On the Importance of Revisionism For Our Time
Murray Rothbard
Revisionism as applied to World War II and its origins (as also for previous wars) has the general function of bringing historical truth to an American and a world public that had been drugged by wartime lies and propaganda … Revisionism brings to the artificial frenzy of daily events and day-to-day propaganda, the cool but in the last analysis glorious light of historical truth. Such truth is almost desperately needed in today’s world.
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Was Hiroshima Necessary?
Mark Weber
America’s leaders understood Japan’s desperate position: the Japanese were willing to end the war on any terms, as long as the Emperor was not molested. If the US leadership had not insisted on unconditional surrender — that is, if they had made clear a willingness to permit the Emperor to remain in place — the Japanese very likely would have surrendered immediately, thus saving many thousands of lives … General Curtis LeMay, who had pioneered precision bombing of Germany and Japan (and who later headed the Strategic Air Command and served as Air Force chief of staff), put it most succinctly: “The atomic bomb had nothing to do with the end of the war.”
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Straight Talk About Zionism
Mark Weber
… A Zionist Jew, by definition, owes his primary loyalty to the Jewish community and to Israel. Zionism is not compatible with patriotism to any country or entity other than Israel and the world Jewish community … Zionist Jews and their non-Jewish supporters embrace a blatant double standard. Jewish-Zionist organizations, along with their non-Jewish allies, support one social-political ideology for Israel and the world Jewish community, and a completely different one for the United States and other non-Jewish countries. They insist that ethnic nationalism is evil and bad for non-Jews, while at the same time they vigorously support ethnic nationalism — that is, Zionism — for Jews.
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Collusion: Franklin Roosevelt, British Intelligence, and the Secret Campaign to Push the US Into War
Mark Weber
Secretive and unlawful collusion by an American leader with a foreign power that subverts the US political process is not new. The most far-reaching and flagrant case was by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1940-41. In the months before the US formally entered the war in the wake of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt did everything he could to get America into the global conflict without actually declaring war. The cooperation with British intelligence by the President and other high-ranking US officials during that period was quite illegal. Such collusion by the nominally neutral US to further the war aims of a foreign government was contrary to both US law and universally accepted international norms.
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Zionism’s Violent Legacy
Donald Neff
… The Irgun was not the only Jewish terrorist group but it was the most active in causing indiscriminate terror in pre-Israel Palestine. Up to the time of the Jaffa attack, its most spectacular feat had been the July 22, 1946, blowing up of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, with the killing of 91 people – 41 Arabs, 28 Britons and 17 Jews. The other major Jewish terrorist group operating in Palestine in the 1940s was the Lohamei Herut Israel – “Fighters for the Freedom of Israel,” Lehi in the Hebrew acronym – also known as the Stern Gang after its fanatical founder Avraham Stern.
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Over the centuries, rage and hostility against Jews has repeatedly erupted in terrible violence. Again and again, Jews have been driven out of countries where they’d been living. Why does anti-Semitism exist? And why has furious hostility toward Jews broken out, again and again, in the most varied nations, eras and cultures? … Anti-Semitism is not a mysterious “disease.” As Herzl and Weizmann suggested, and as history shows, what is often called anti-Semitism is the natural and understandable attitude of people toward a minority with particularist loyalties that wields greatly disproportionate power for its own interests, rather than for the common good.
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Why I Survived the A-Bomb
Akira Kohchi
Hiroshima native Kohchi was a 16-year-old schoolboy when his city was devastated by the first nuclear attack in history. He tells the dramatic, personal story of how he experienced and survived the bombing, and provides a moving account of his search for his family through the burning rubble of the doomed city. Then Kohchi recalls how, years later, he forced himself to come to grips with his past and uncover the facts about the bombing and the history the led up to it. The author’s frankness and humane spirit make this a first-hand Japanese account of a war crime that dwarfs almost all others. A unique revisionist classic. Praised by the Japan Times newspaper as a “noteworthy” and “authentic” personal account, and by Bookwatch newsletter as a “moving, gripping account.” With full color dust jacket, photos and notes
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How accurate is this hallowed portrayal of America’s role in World War II? As we shall see, it does not hold up under close examination … The three Allied leaders accomplished what they accused the Axis leaders of Germany, Italy and Japan of conspiring to achieve: world domination … Presidential deception to justify war did not start with George W. Bush. Americans who express admiration for the US role in World War II, and for Franklin Roosevelt’s presidential leadership, have little moral right to complain when presidents follow his example and lead the country into war by breaking the law, subverting the Constitution, and lying to the people.
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The Past Marches On
George Morgenstern (1953)
… Add to these the operations of an organized propaganda capable, apparently, of doping Americans into belief in any myth, and there is formidable reason why public opinion should be so stupefied and stultified that the nation can be led from war to war in pursuit of ever retreating goals. Yet, despite the general numbness, Americans, surveying the results of half a century of intermeddling, dimly perceive that all is not well.
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The Forced War: When Peaceful Revision Failed
David L. Hoggan
Completely reset, expanded and reformatted new IHR edition! In this important, detailed study of the origins of the Second World War, Dr. Hoggan explains why Hitler decided to attack Poland in 1939, and examines the short-sighted policies that made war all but inevitable. The author dismantles the often-repeated charge of sole German responsibility for the war, which for many years has been a centerpiece of the prevailing narrative of twentieth century history. The eminent American historian Harry E. Barnes called this “the first thorough study of the responsibility for the causes of the Second World War in any language … likely to remain the definitive revisionist work on this subject for many years.” With an introduction by Mark Weber, dust jacket, detailed index, source notes, extensive bibliography, map, and 30 photographs. Also available in softcover edition.
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More than once I have come across the view that if British lads of the 1940s could have foreseen the state of their country today, they would never have bothered to fight the Second World War. Few of those who have heard that view may realize that there is empirical evidence to support it … The prevailing tone of their letters is one of bitterness over what had become of the county they once cherished. Of the four or five most often voiced complaints, the most common is over mass migration from other countries and continents, and how that has drastically changed British life, culture and society … “The men who offered their lives have been betrayed and gave their lives in vain. Most of the older people say thank goodness we are ending our lives. It is no longer the Britain that we fought for.”
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Tactics of Organized Jewry in Suppressing Free Speech
Prof. Tony Martin – Institute for Historical Review
… I’m going to try to extract from my experience certain basic sort of tactics that I think the Jewish lobby has used over the years pertaining to my particular situation … The first and major tactic that I discovered in their attack on me was their reliance on lies — just straight-up lies. There’s no other way to describe it, just telling lies. Many of the categories that I will enumerate overlap, and many of them could also come under this general rubric of telling lies. But I think that if one had to isolate a single tactic, it was a tactic of telling lies. I think they’ve elevated telling lies to a very high artistic form.
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In a remarkable but under-reported address, one of America’s most prominent and influential political figures has acknowledged the “immense” and “outsized” Jewish role in the US mass media and cultural life. Joe Biden – now President of the U.S. – said that this has been the single most important factor in shaping American attitudes over the past century, and in driving major cultural-political changes. “Jewish heritage has shaped who we are – all of us – as much or more than any other factor in the last 223 years. And that’s a fact,” Joe Biden told a gathering of Jewish leaders in Washington, DC … “Behind of all that, I bet you 85 percent of those [major social-political] changes, whether it’s in Hollywood or social media, are a consequence of Jewish leaders in the industry. The influence is immense … And, I might add, it is all to the good,” he went on.
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YouTube Censors 'Restrict' IHR Videos
Institute for Historical Review
In line with a recent crackdown policy, YouTube has “restricted” a number of independently produced videos of IHR talks and presentations. To watch a “restricted” video, the viewer must first click through a warning screen. Also, comments on the video are not allowed, and the number of views is not given. Even worse, YouTube will never “suggest” a “restricted” video to viewers, which is how many people find our videos. While YouTube claims that its “restriction” policy is aimed at videos with “inflammatory religious or supremacist content,” applying it to IHR videos is absurd. YouTube restricts our voice not because we have violated any objective standards, or because we have done anything wrong or illegal — but because it doesn’t like what we say.
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Our Job in a Time of Crisis
Institute for Historical Review
Mark Weber explains why the work of the IHR in countering the forces of historical deceit, bigotry and cultural distortion is vitally important. An awareness of factual history is essential to an understanding of ourselves and the great issues of our age, says the IHR director in this five-minute video presentation. Unless and until the interests that have gripped our nation are clearly identified and discredited, he says, there will be no change in basic policies or direction.
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How Hitler Tackled Unemployment
Mark Weber
To deal with the massive unemployment and economic paralysis of the Great Depression, both the US and German governments launched innovative and ambitious programs. Although President Franklin Roosevelt’s “New Deal” measures helped only marginally, the Third Reich’s much more focused and comprehensive policies proved remarkably effective. Within three years unemployment was banished and Germany’s economy was flourishing. And while Roosevelt’s record in dealing with the Depression is pretty well known, the remarkable story of how Hitler tackled the crisis is not widely understood or appreciated.
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The Spanish Inquisition and the Jewish Question
Brian Chalmers
It is nearly impossible to dig into any chapter of Jewish history without uncovering lessons for our own age. Spain during the 15th and 16th centuries is a particularly striking example. Even today, our view of this period, and particularly of the Spanish Inquisition, colors our attitudes regarding relations between Jews and non-Jews. The Inquisition is considered one of Jewish history’s darkest chapters — and one of Christian history’s most shameful.
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Stalin's War Against His Own Troops
Yuri Teplyakov
… In August 1941 Hitler permitted a Red Cross delegation to visit the camp for Soviet POWs in Hammerstadt. It is these contacts that resulted in an appeal to the Soviet government, requesting that it should send food parcels for our officers and men. We are prepared to fulfill and comply with the norms of the Geneva convention, Moscow said in its reply, but sending food in the given situation and under fascist control is the same as making presents to the enemy … How great was Stalin’s hatred for those who had found themselves behind enemy lines. It made no difference: who, where, how and why? Even the dead were considered to be criminals.
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Why Germany Attacked the Soviet Union
Institute for Historical Review
As dawn was breaking on Sunday morning, June 22, 1941, military forces of Germany, Finland and Romania suddenly struck against the Soviet Union. The stunning news of this attack was announced to the world by German radio at 5:30 that Sunday morning, when Reich Minister Joseph Goebbels broadcast the text of a proclamation by Adolf Hitler to the German people that laid out his reasons for the historic offensive. Following that was the broadcast of Germany’s declaration of war against the Soviet Union. This was in the form of a diplomatic note to the Soviet government. Because Hitler’s proclamation and the German Foreign Office declaration explain at some length the reasons and motives for the fateful decision to strike against the USSR, these are documents of historic importance. With a foreword by Mark Weber.
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Abraham Lincoln and the Issue of Race
Robert Morgan
Many Americans think of Abraham Lincoln, above all, as the president who freed the slaves. Immortalized as the “Great Emancipator,” he is widely regarded as a champion of black freedom who supported social equality of the races, and who fought the American Civil War to free the slaves. While it is true that Lincoln regarded slavery as an evil and harmful institution, it also true, as this paper will show, that he shared the conviction of most Americans of his time, and of many prominent statesmen before and after him, that blacks could not be assimilated into white society. He rejected the notion of social equality of the races, and held to the view that blacks should be resettled abroad.
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… Judaism is not just “another religion.” It’s unique among the world’s major religions. The core values and ethos of Judaism are markedly unlike those of Christianity, Islam, and the other great faiths … A core message of the Hebrew scriptures is that Jews are a divinely “chosen” people — a unique community distinct from the rest of humanity … The seemingly intractable Middle East conflict is more than just a problem of Zionism or politics, or a dispute over land. Israel’s often arrogant policies, and especially its inhumane treatment of non-Jews, have roots in centuries-old attitudes that are laid out in ancient Jewish religious writings.
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… While it’s an artistic achievement and grand entertainment, “Darkest Hour” is badly flawed history … “Darkest Hour” reinforces the widespread belief that Churchill’s speeches played a crucial role in sustaining British morale. A scholar who has carefully looked into the matter has found that this view is largely a myth … “Darkest Hour” reinforces the widely held impression, which Churchill himself encouraged, that an honorable or lasting peace with Hitler was simply not possible. But as he himself later acknowledged, that’s simply not true … The British leader’s famous “We shall never surrender” speech was little more than “sublime nonsense,” says British historian John Charmley.
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The Boer War Remembered
Mark Weber
The Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902 was more than the first major military clash of the 20th century. Pitting as it did the might of the globe-girdling British Empire, backed by international finance, against a small pioneering nation of independent-minded farmers, ranchers and merchants in southern Africa who lived by the Bible and the rifle, its legacy continues to resonate today. The Boers’ recourse to irregular warfare, and Britain’s response in herding a hundred thousand women and children into concentration camps foreshadowed the horrors of guerilla warfare and mass detention of innocents that have become emblematic of the 20th century.
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The Origins of the Second World War: A Review
Murray N. Rothbard
It is not often that one is privileged to review a book of monumental import, a truly significant “breakthrough” from obscurantism to historical knowledge and insight. But such a book is the magnificent work by A.J .P. Taylor, The Origins of the Second World War … The central theme of Taylor is simply this: Germany and Hitler were not uniquely guilty of launching World War II (indeed they were scarcely guilty at all) … Basically, Hitler has no “master plan”; he was a German intent, like all Germans, on revising the intolerable and stupid Versailles-diktat, and on doing so by peaceful means, and in collaboration with the British and French … Not only did Hitler do this with insight, he did it with patience, as Taylor excellently shows …
News & Comment
The Top Five Foreign Influence Fails of 2024: Unprecedented Levels of Overt and Covert Ops That the Media Barely Noticed
Responsible Statecraft
2024 was a big year for foreign influence in the U.S., in all the worst ways. Hundreds of millions of dollars poured into the nation’s top lobbying and public relations firms from foreign powers in 2024. The final numbers aren’t in yet, but we’re already seeing 8-figure spending from America’s allies (like Japan and Australia), adversaries (like China), and whatever Turkey and Saudi Arabia are these days … Illicit foreign influence operations, however, really had a banner year (congratulations corruption, you did it!) and garnered immense media attention. There was rampant evidence of attempted foreign meddling in the 2024 elections … The Israeli government ran big, illicit foreign influence campaigns in the U.S … and nobody cared.
Theft of US Mail by Postal Service Employees on the Rise
Western Journal
The theft of mail by staff members within the United States Postal Service is an increasingly severe problem — as some employees infiltrate the agency in order to steal items. A report from the Inspector General of the U.S. Postal Service Office released in October revealed … The office has seen a rapid increase in internal mail theft closed cases in recent years. There was an increase from 1,216 closed cases in fiscal year 2020 to 1,790 closed cases in fiscal year 2023 … That small minority of employees swipes packages suspected to contain “credit cards, checks, cash, gift cards, narcotics, high value articles, and other sensitive items.” Frank Albergo, the president of the Postal Police Officers Association, said in a November interview … “As bad as you think it is, it’s much worse!”
How the Grooming Gangs Scandal Was Covered Up
The Telegraph (Britain)
The child victims of rape were denied justice and protection from the state to preserve the image of a successful multicultural society / … Anxieties over appearing racist saw safeguarding officers waving away concerns simply because the perpetrators were Asian … A total of 7,365 sexual grooming offences were recorded by forces in 2023/24, more than any other year, and up 10.1 per cent on the previous financial year … The rule of law was abandoned to sustain the myth that diversity is our strength, destroying the lives of thousands of working class white girls in the process. This scandal starts with the onset of mass migration. This appalling affair is the final nail in the coffin for liberals who cling to the argument that Britain is an integration success story. Mass migration must end immediately …
Why World War II Was Not the `Good War’
Video
Historian Mark Weber speaks with Manuel, a libertarian podcaster in Canada, about the importance of World War II in shaping our lives and our world today, and why the widely accepted view of the global conflict as the “Good War” is a dangerous myth. In this lively, wide-ranging discussion the two men present an informed, “revisionist” view of the war’s origins, the Soviet Stalin regime, Third Reich Germany, the British empire, “Holocaust remembrance” and the “lessons of the Holocaust,” and how popular attitudes about history and the world are sharply shifting. The two men conclude by discussing specific books that provide especially illuminating perspective on the Second World War. Runtime: one hour, 28 mins.
Israel Has Spent Millions Trying Win Hearts and Minds Abroad. It’s About to Spend 20 Times More.
JTA
The Israeli government plans to offset wartime spending and an economic slowdown tax hikes and deep cuts to public services. But the proposed budget for 2025 also includes a massive new allocation: toward pro-Israel advocacy efforts abroad. Under the new budget, Israel’s Foreign Ministry will receive $150 million, on top of what it gets for its existing activities, for what’s officially known as public diplomacy, or in Hebrew, hasbara. That sum is more than 20 times what such efforts have typically been allotted in past years … The news comes as public opinion about Israel in the United States and elsewhere around the world has been intensely battered … It would be used to influence sentiment in the foreign press and on social media. Saar’s statement also said he foresees a focus on American college campuses …
Leaked Emails Expose ‘Collaborative Efforts’ Between Israeli Govt and Center for Countering Digital Hate
Max Blumenthal – The Grayzone
Emails obtained by The Grayzone reveal how leading “anti-hate” campaigner Imran Ahmed collaborated with Israeli embassy officials to censor pro-Palestine social media accounts — and courted them for donations to his censorship-obsessed Center for Countering Digital Hate … The Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) has become one of the trans-Atlantic establishment’s most effective tools for censoring online speech. Its founder, Imran Ahmed, has nurtured close ties with the Biden White House since moving to Washington DC, targeting its political enemies with calls for their removal from social media. Back in his hometown of London, Ahmed was an influential advisor to the neoliberal wing of UK Labour, helping sabotage the leftist insurgency of Jeremy Corbyn and place his ally, Keir Starmer, in charge of the party.
Deadly USS Liberty Attack Records Remain Secret – For Now
Michelle J. Kinnucan – Antiwar. com
… On June 8, 1967 – three days after Israel initiated the Six-Day War by attacking Egypt – Israeli forces launched a combined aerial and naval assault on the USS Liberty. Lasting over an hour, the unprovoked attack killed 34 Americans and wounded more than 170 others … Despite the heavy casualties and the crew’s heroic performance during and after the attack, the US government, evidently, has never investigated the responsibility of Israeli civilian leaders and military officers for ordering the unprovoked assault … The second of the three information reports correctly reported that Israeli forces had identified the Liberty prior to the attack … Kinnucan v. National Security Agency et al. has demonstrated that there is still a substantial body of documentary evidence concerning the attack on the Liberty being withheld.
Blood in the Water: How the US and Israel Conspired to Ambush the USS Liberty
Joan Mellen - Book Available from IHR
In this startling work, an eminent author presents evidence of collusion between US and Israeli intelligence in the murderous 1967 attack against the USS Liberty, a US naval surveillance vessel, and in maintaining a cover-up that has endured for more than 50 years. So intense and sustained was the attack – it lasted for nearly an hour and a half – and so specific was the aiming for the antennae and satellite dish on deck, that it was scarcely credible that Israel’s aggression was not deliberate. Based on interviews with more than 40 survivors, knowledgeable political insiders, and Soviet archives of the period, investigative writer Joan Mellen presents disturbing evidence of complicity between US and Israeli intelligence in the attack, and in maintaining the decades-old cover-up.
Lines on a 1916 Map May Not Keep Syria Together
David Millar - The Strategist
… What if any form of stable central government might emerge from this lightning fast upending of the power dynamics in Syria? …. The boundaries of Syria were set following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, along with Jordan, [Iraq], Trans-Jordan, Lebanon and the British mandate of Palestine. The lines on the map were drawn by Mark Sykes and Georges Picot in a secret agreement in 1916, known as the Picot-Sykes Agreement, in anticipation of victory over the Turkish Ottoman Empire … Like many European borders drawn before and after the First World War, lines on maps did not match the population already present … It is not the fall of Damascus that we should focus on — it is what will happen next, and what Turkiye and Israel will do with the troublesome lands between their borders.
Jimmy Carter Told Trump How to Put America First, But Will He Do it?
Medea Benjamin, Nicolas J. S. Davies
… In April 2019, Jimmy Carter told his church congregation in Georgia that President Trump had called him for advice about China. Carter said he told Trump that China was economically overtaking the United States as the world’s largest and most dynamic economy because the United States had spent decades wasting trillions of dollars to fight endless wars, while China had instead focused on economic development and lifted hundreds of millions of its people out of extreme poverty. “China has not wasted a single penny on war,” Carter said, “and that’s why they’re ahead of us, in almost every way.” … Some of Trump’s statements during the election campaign suggest that he hasn’t forgotten Carter’s advice. At the very least, he got the message that peace would be good for America, and that a lot of Americans understand that.
Brewing US Debt Ceiling Crisis …
David Stockman
The MAGA folks are going to be in for a rude awakening. That’s because Donald Trump has been taking to the public stage in recent weeks promising a new “golden age” of American prosperity upon his return to the Oval Office, but nearly the opposite is just around the corner. What’s actually coming down the pike is the UniParty’s revenge — a financial and economic shitshow that is likely to dwarf all that has gone before. There is no mystery as to why … We are referring to the utter fiscal paralysis that stems from the combination of the GOP’s addiction to tax cuts and Big Defense budgets and the Dem’s demagoguery about Social Security, Medicare and the rest of the Welfare State.
Why is Elon Musk Attacking Keir Starmer Over the Grooming Scandal?
The Guardian
Elon Musk has reignited a political row about gangs of men who groomed and raped girls in England over several decades. In the past week the tech billionaire has shared a flurry of posts on his social media platform X accusing Keir Starmer and other senior politicians of covering up the scandal … Prosecutions for grooming and sexual abuse of young girls in England began in 2010, and the number of known victims is in the thousands. The northern towns of Rochdale, Oldham and Rotherham were at the centre of the scandal. In 2014, a landmark inquiry into the abuse in Rotherham by Prof Alexis Jay came to the “conservative” estimate that 1,400 children had been exploited there between 1997 and 2013, predominantly by men of Pakistani heritage.
How Does the Government of Israel Treat Christians? Christian Leaders in the West Should Care
Video - Tucker Carlson
How does the government of Israel treat Christians? In the US, Christian leaders don’t seem interested in knowing the answer. They should be. Here’s the view of a Palestinian Christian. Tucker Carlson has come under fierce criticism for this interview with Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac, who is pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem, and the Lutheran Church in Beit Sahour, both in Israel-occupied Palestine. Isaac holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering, a master’s degree in Religion-Biblical Studies from Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, and a doctorate from the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies in England. He is the author of several books.
Jean-Marie Le Pen, French Fiery Far-Right Leader, Dies at 96
Associated Press
Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of France’s far-right National Front who was known for fiery rhetoric against immigration and multiculturalism that earned him both staunch supporters and widespread condemnation, died Tuesday. He was 96. A polarizing figure in French politics, Le Pen was convicted numerous times of antisemitism, discrimination, and inciting racial violence. Yet, despite those convictions and his eventual political estrangement, the nativist ideas that propelled his decades of popularity — encapsulated in slogans like “French People First” — remain ascendant in today’s France, across Europe and beyond.
Jimmy Carter Speaks Bluntly About Israel
MSNBC - Video
Former President Jimmy Carter speaks from his home in Plains, Georgia, about his book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. In this interview, he talks about pressure put on the American political system that results in US support of Israel. Runtime: 4:26 mins.
Biden Plans to Send $8 Billion Arms Shipment to Israel
BBC News
The US Department of State has notified Congress of a planned $8 billion arms sale to Israel, an American official has confirmed to the BBC. The weapons consignment, which needs approval from House and Senate committees, includes missiles, shells and other munitions. The move comes just over a fortnight before President Joe Biden leaves office. Washington has rejected calls to suspend military backing for Israel because of the number of civilians killed during the war in Gaza. In August, the US approved the sale of $20 billion in fighter jets and other military equipment to Israel. The latest planned shipment contains air-to-air missiles, Hellfire missiles, artillery shells and bombs, the US official said.
US Has Given Israel $22 Billion in Military Aid Since October 2023
Antiwar. com
Since October 7, 2023, the US has provided Israel with more than $22 billion in military aid, Israel Hayom reported Wednesday, citing data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). The stepped-up US military aid to Israel has supported the genocidal war in Gaza, Israel’s war in Lebanon, military operations in the occupied West Bank, and attacks on Syria, Iran, and Yemen. According to SIPRI, from 2019 to 2023, US weapons accounted for 69% of Israel’s arms imports. Since October 7, that number has risen to 78%, demonstrating Israel’s significant reliance on US military aid … An Israeli Air Force official told Haaretz that without US military aid, Israel would not be able to sustain operations in Gaza for more than a few months.
U.S. Homelessness Hits New Record in 2024
AFP
The number of people in the United States experiencing homelessness reached a new record this year, with lingering inflation and high housing prices among likely drivers, a government report said Friday. An estimated 771,480 people were homeless on a single night in January 2024, rising 18 percent from 2023, said the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in an annual assessment. This translates to about 23 in every 10,000 people in the country, home to the world’s biggest economy. The uptick came as households felt the pressure from housing costs, with the median rent for January 2024 being 20 percent higher than that in January 2021, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
Donald Trump Caught Between Elon Musk’s Wishes and American Public
Newsweek
President-elect Donald Trump finds himself at a crossroads as Elon Musk, his billionaire backer, has called to expand the H-1B visa program to address workforce shortages — conflicting with the views of a majority of Americans, which polling shows opposes such measures and favors domestic solutions to labor shortages. A Rasmussen Reports poll conducted in November found that 60 percent of Americans believed the country already had enough talented people to train and recruit for higher-skill roles, while 26 percent supported increasing the number of foreign workers for such positions … Trump has previously supported policies that limit immigration and prioritize American workers. During his first administration, he implemented measures to tighten immigration rules, including restrictions on H-1B visas.
US Culture Breeds `Laziness’ and `Mediocrity,’ Says Vivek Ramaswamy as He Backs Migrant-Hiring
The Telegraph
Americans have become mediocre and lazy from binging on culture like “Friends,” Vivek Ramaswamy said. In an appeal to hire migrant workers that sparked a furious row in Maga circles, Donald Trump’s incoming government efficiency tsar attacked American culture of “venerated mediocrity over excellence.” Mr. Ramaswamy, who is set to lead a federal cost-cutting drive alongside Elon Musk when Mr. Trump takes office, suggested on Thursday that top US tech firms preferred to hire foreigners because they had a better work ethic. He said that America “celebrates the prom queen over the math olympiad champ, or the jock over the valedictorian, will not produce the best engineers.”
The Top Five Foreign Influence Fails of 2024: Unprecedented Levels of Overt and Covert Ops That the Media Barely Noticed
Responsible Statecraft
2024 was a big year for foreign influence in the U.S., in all the worst ways. Hundreds of millions of dollars poured into the nation’s top lobbying and public relations firms from foreign powers in 2024. The final numbers aren’t in yet, but we’re already seeing 8-figure spending from America’s allies (like Japan and Australia), adversaries (like China), and whatever Turkey and Saudi Arabia are these days … Illicit foreign influence operations, however, really had a banner year (congratulations corruption, you did it!) and garnered immense media attention. There was rampant evidence of attempted foreign meddling in the 2024 elections … The Israeli government ran big, illicit foreign influence campaigns in the U.S … and nobody cared.
Theft of US Mail by Postal Service Employees on the Rise
Western Journal
The theft of mail by staff members within the United States Postal Service is an increasingly severe problem — as some employees infiltrate the agency in order to steal items. A report from the Inspector General of the U.S. Postal Service Office released in October revealed … The office has seen a rapid increase in internal mail theft closed cases in recent years. There was an increase from 1,216 closed cases in fiscal year 2020 to 1,790 closed cases in fiscal year 2023 … That small minority of employees swipes packages suspected to contain “credit cards, checks, cash, gift cards, narcotics, high value articles, and other sensitive items.” Frank Albergo, the president of the Postal Police Officers Association, said in a November interview … “As bad as you think it is, it’s much worse!”
How the Grooming Gangs Scandal Was Covered Up
The Telegraph (Britain)
The child victims of rape were denied justice and protection from the state to preserve the image of a successful multicultural society / … Anxieties over appearing racist saw safeguarding officers waving away concerns simply because the perpetrators were Asian … A total of 7,365 sexual grooming offences were recorded by forces in 2023/24, more than any other year, and up 10.1 per cent on the previous financial year … The rule of law was abandoned to sustain the myth that diversity is our strength, destroying the lives of thousands of working class white girls in the process. This scandal starts with the onset of mass migration. This appalling affair is the final nail in the coffin for liberals who cling to the argument that Britain is an integration success story. Mass migration must end immediately …
Why World War II Was Not the `Good War’
Video
Historian Mark Weber speaks with Manuel, a libertarian podcaster in Canada, about the importance of World War II in shaping our lives and our world today, and why the widely accepted view of the global conflict as the “Good War” is a dangerous myth. In this lively, wide-ranging discussion the two men present an informed, “revisionist” view of the war’s origins, the Soviet Stalin regime, Third Reich Germany, the British empire, “Holocaust remembrance” and the “lessons of the Holocaust,” and how popular attitudes about history and the world are sharply shifting. The two men conclude by discussing specific books that provide especially illuminating perspective on the Second World War. Runtime: one hour, 28 mins.