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Why Do We Fight? How Do We Fight?
Douglas Macgregor, Col. U.S. Army (ret.) - The American Conservative
… What we do have is a military spending strategy that is out of whack with reality and setting us up for failure when real threats arise … Throughout the 20th century, strong majorities of Americans opposed involvement in all wars overseas … President Donald Trump must overrule his generals and abandon the financially destructive spending strategy that Congress, industry, and the Four Stars want. If the president does not act, the dismal record of post–World War II U.S. military fiascos in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with Vietnam and Korea, will persist into the future — with far more serious strategic consequences than anything seen since the first battle of Bull Run.
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The Veneer of Civilization Slipped Away
Jeffrey A. Tucker
They Shall Not Grow Old is an extremely painful film to watch. I’ve seen most of the major war films but I can’t recall one that is more powerful overall – powerful in the sense that it shakes you to your spiritual core. This film puts you right there as a middle-class Briton in the midst of the Great War, step-by-step from regular civilian to the killing fields of the Western front, from the onset of patriotism at the beginning to the shattered hopes and lives of the end … Audiences are wild for the film (99% on Rotten Tomatoes). It exudes integrity in every frame … The narrative is genius storytelling, somehow taking this ghastly, complex, ignored series of events with strange beginnings and turning it into a deeply engaging human drama …
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World War I Really Ended in Africa, Not Europe, Says Zambia Government
L. Chute - Quartz
As the world remembers the end of the First World War, Zambia is fighting to ensure that its role in the war is remembered. World leaders gathered in Paris on Nov. 11, Armistice Day, to honor the war’s fallen soldiers. Zambia, however, wants to change the narrative … A century ago, the last of Germany’s troops formally surrendered in Mbala. Lt-Col. Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck, the man known as the Lion of Africa, continued to advance in East Africa with 3,000 Germans and 11,000 Africans in his force. He was planning further raids even after Germany surrendered on Nov. 11 … Nearly two million Africans were involved in World War I, yet common historical accounts and subsequent commemorations have erased their sacrifice.
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The 1914 Christmas Truce: A Yule Break in the Killing
Binoy Kampmark - Counterpunch
… The Christmas Truce of the First World War arose out of a blood-bathed irony: the troops from both sides, Allies and German, were not meant to be slaughtering each other at that point. They should have been home to celebrate their respective victories or lick respective wounds. The diplomats and politicians could then celebrate what was meant to be a puerile skirmish waged in conditions more reminiscent of an old cavalry charge than mud-soaked death … The gestures were repeated along the Western Front in pockets of small “truces”. British, German and French soldiers, in open defiance of orders, went to No Man’s Land in a spiritual reclamation of sorts under the pretext of burying the dead. An economy of gifting came to the fore … As the war wore on in all its barbarity, such truces became infrequent.
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London Mayor Sadiq Khan has criticised John Cleese after the Fawlty Towers legend said the capital was “not really an English city any more”. The former Monty Python star tweeted: “Virtually all my friends from abroad have confirmed my observation. So there must be some truth in it …” Mr Khan responded: “These comments make John Cleese sound like he’s in character as Basil Fawlty. Londoners know that our diversity is our greatest strength.” … Cleese’s comments come eight years after the comedian made headlines for similar remarks, saying London felt like a foreign city and that English culture was disappearing.
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Only 18 Percent of Germans Feel Free to Voice Their Views in Public, New Survey Shows
Jonathan Turley
For years, we have discussed the unrelenting attacks on free speech in Europe with the expansion of hate speech laws and the general criminalization of speech … The implications of such anti-speech policies are evident in Germany where a survey, conducted by the Institut für Demoskopie Allensbach (and published in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) found that only 18 percent of Germans feel free to express their views in public … Over the course of the last 50 years, the French, English and Germans have waged an open war on free speech by criminalizing speech deemed insulting, harassing or intimidating … I fail to see how arresting a man for a Hitler ringtone is achieving a meaningful level of deterrence, even if you ignore the free speech implications.
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Son of Third Reich Foreign Minister von Ribbentrop Recalls His Father in Memoir, With Previously Unseen Photos
Daily Mail (Britain)
A memoir by Nazi Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop’s son has been released in English for the first time, and includes unseen photos of the author growing up in London before the Second World War. Rudolf von Ribbentrop went to the exclusive Westminster School while his father was Hitler’s ambassador in London from 1936 to 1938 … His son went on to fight on both the Eastern and Western fronts and won the Iron Cross – before becoming a wine merchant after the war … Inside it several images, many of which have not been seen before, show the Ribbentrop’s jovial-looking gatherings with Hitler and the whole family posing for photos … The foreign minister’s son writes plainly about the [Allied] court’s decision to sentence his father to death, but laments he never had the chance to say goodbye, and that the court was rigged.
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The Injustice of the Nuremberg Trials
Mark Weber - Video
The Nuremberg Tribunal of 1945-46 — the most spectacular judicial enterprise in history — was meant to prove that the defeated German regime had been one of unique and monstrous deceit, rapaciousness and evil. But in fact the Tribunal dispensed not justice, but injustice. The four Allied powers that organized and ran it were themselves guilty of some of the very same crimes they accused the German defendants of having committed. The Tribunal operated on the basis of “ex post facto” law created after the fact expressly for the occasion, and which the Allies applied only to the defeated. The hangings of German leaders ordered by the Tribunal were little more than murders glossed over with a veneer of makeshift, hypocritical pseudo-legality.
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Most Americans Say ‘Arabic Numerals’ Should Not be Taught in Schools, Survey Finds
The Independent (Britain)
More than half of Americans believe “Arabic numerals” – the standard symbols used across much of the world to denote numbers – should not be taught in school, according to a survey. Fifty-six per cent of people say the numerals should not be part of the curriculum for US pupils, according to research designed to explore the bias and prejudice of poll respondents. The digits 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 are referred to as Arabic numerals. The system was first developed by Indian mathematicians before spreading through the Arab world to Europe, and becoming popularised around the globe … The poll did not explain what the term “Arabic numerals” meant. Some 2,020 people answered “no”. Twenty-nine per cent of respondents said the numerals should be taught in US schools, and 15 per cent had no opinion.
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Russian Social Media Network Takes Down Page of ‘Miss Hitler’ Beauty Pageant After Israeli Complaints
The Times of Israel
A Russian social media network has taken down the event page for a “Miss Hitler” beauty pageant slated to take place later this summer after an appeal from an Israeli group, Channel 12 reported Thursday. The Miss Hitler 2019 page on the VKontakte (also known as VK) site included dozens of posts praising the Nazi leader and cause. The virtual competition has drawn contestants from Germany, Italy, Russia, and the US, according to Channel 12. This is the second year in a row that appeals from Israel have led to VK removing pages associated with the event … Last year, women sent in photographs of themselves performing Nazi salutes, at neo-Nazi rallies, or posing with Nazi memorabilia.
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United States Secretary of State and former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director, Mike Pompeo, admitted to an audience from Texas A&M University on April 15, that the agency especially trains employees to “lie, cheat and steal.” “When I was a cadet, what’s the cadet motto at West Point? You will not lie, cheat, or steal or tolerate those who do. I was the CIA director. We lied, we cheated, we stole. We had entire training courses. It reminds you of the glory of the American experiment,” Pompeo boasted as the audience laughed and celebrated the statement. It was a rather honest yet disconcerting thing to say …
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Israel Launches Massive Recruitment Drive for Social Media Warriors
Middle East Monitor
Israel has embarked on a massive recruitment drive to support the country’s online propaganda campaign one day after its companies were exposed for spreading disinformation and meddling in the elections of several African, Asian and Latin American countries. The new initiative, which would see the government funding pro-Israel groups overseas, was unveiled by Israel’s Ministry of Strategic Affairs, a government arm set up to combat the global rise of pro-Palestinian activism and Israel’s poor global image.
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Civil War Battlefields Lose Ground as Tourist Draws
The Wall Street Journal
Is Civil War tourism history? Once a tourism staple for many Southern states and a few Northern ones, destinations related to the 1860s war are drawing fewer visitors. Historians point to recent fights over Confederate monuments and a lack of interest by younger generations as some of the reasons. The National Park Service’s five major Civil War battlefield parks — Gettysburg, Antietam, Shiloh, Chickamauga/Chattanooga and Vicksburg — had a combined 3.1 million visitors in 2018, down from about 10.2 million in 1970, according to park-service data. Gettysburg, in Pennsylvania, the most famous battle site, had about 950,000 visitors last year, just 14 percent of its draw in 1970 and the lowest annual number of visitors since 1959.
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Why is the US Hell-Bent on Starting a War Against Iran?
Irfan Husain - The Asian Age (India)
… In its 239 years as an independent country, the US has seen only 17 years of peace. The rest of the time has been spent fighting major and minor wars around the world. From its string of wars against a defenceless indigenous population to heroic actions like the invasion of Panama, the US has used its overwhelming military muscle to impose its will on those too weak to defend themselves … Given all these factors, why do the Americans seem hell-bent on starting a war against Iran? Obviously, Israel, with its massive clout in Trump’s White House, has been urging the Americans, using the Iranian nuclear programme as a pretext … Despite their string of military setbacks in the recent past, why are so many Americans still so gung-ho about yet another war? What is in the American DNA that has put the country on such a violent path?
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If the U.S. Goes to War With Iran, Netanyahu Will Be the Prime Suspect
C. Shalev - Haaretz (Israel)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is the only world leader to openly express support for the escalating U.S. campaign against Iran, but his statement is an exception to the general Israeli rule. In the two weeks that have passed since the U.S. announced it was reinforcing its military presence in the Persian Gulf, official Israel has mostly taken on a vow of silence … Iran isn’t one of Trump’s real estate competitors, who, by his account, invariably surrendered to his overwhelming tactics. Self-interest and cost-effectiveness are not the only considerations for the ayatollah regime, and often not even the central factor influencing its decisions … The Iranians have ample grounds to suspect that Trump is mostly bark rather than bite: He is wary of spiking oil prices and a global economic convulsion that could mar his stellar economic achievements in the U.S.
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Brexit Is All About Making Israel Greater
Gilad Atzmon
Britain is in a state of political turmoil. The government and the main opposition party have both lost their way and, together, they have completely lost the trust of the people. In the last few weeks we have witnessed a landslide exodus from both the Tory and Labour parties … Brits feel betrayed by the political class and in truth, they have been subjected to gross and treacherous treatment by their politicians and media. Brits are not aware of the centrality of Israel and its interests that is at the core of the Brexit debate … Britain under Theresa May has been reduced into a colony of Israel’s. Brits have become increasingly aware that 80 percent of their Tory MPs are members of the Conservative Friends of Israel, which is a foreign pressure group dedicated to the interests of another state.
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A Prominent False Witness: Elie Wiesel Incites Hate Against Germans
Robert Faurisson
… Wiesel claims to be full of love for humanity. However, he does not refrain from an appeal to hatred. In his opinion: “Every Jew, somewhere in his being, should set apart a zone of hate — healthy, virile hate — for what the German personifies and for what persists in the German. To do otherwise would be a betrayal of the dead.” … Elie Wiesel passes for one of the most celebrated eyewitnesses to the alleged Holocaust. Yet in his supposedly autobiographical book Night, he makes no mention of gas chambers. He claims instead to have witnessed Jews being burned alive, a story now dismissed by all historians. Wiesel gives credence to the most absurd stories of other “eyewitnesses.” He spreads fantastic tales of 10,000 persons sent to their deaths each day in Buchenwald.
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Martin Luther King Jr 'Looked on and Laughed' While Friend Raped Woman, Newly Unearthed FBI Documents Show
Yahoo News UK
Unsealed FBI documents have claimed that civil rights activist Martin Luther King ‘looked on and laughed’ while a friend raped a woman. According to the Sunday Times the unsealed documents, unearthed by biographer David Garrow, make a number of allegations about the civil rights leader. The FBI reports reveal the extent of government surveillance on Dr King, with one incident allegedly caught on tape by a recording device hidden in a hotel room in Washington DC … According to the Sunday Times, Dr King was allegedly monitored engaging in sex acts with around 40 women, and on one occasion claim he coerced a woman into a sex act by claiming it “helps your soul” as well as suggesting he may have secretly fathered a daughter outside his marriage to wife Coretta.
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Europe at Crossroads as Far Right Makes Big Gains in Vote
Associated Press
Europeans woke Monday to a new political reality after European Parliament elections ended the domination of the EU’s main center-right and center-left parties and revealed a changed political landscape where the far-right, pro-business groups and environmentalists will be forces to be reckoned with. Turning out in numbers not seen for 20 years, voters took their concerns about immigration and security to the ballot box, making parties led by the likes of Italy’s populist Matteo Salvini and France’s far-right leader Marine Le Pen among the biggest in the 28-nation bloc’s assembly … The lion’s share of Britain’s seats went to Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party, as citizens punished the governing conservatives and opposition Labour party for their embarrassing failure to manage the divided country’s delayed departure from the EU.
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The French extreme-right anti-immigrant and euroskeptic Rassemblement National (National Rally) led by Marine Le Pen became the first party in France following Sunday EU elections. Elections for the European Parliament’s 751 seats took place in the 28 EU member states. Le Pen’s party, which beat French President Emmanuel Macron’s party, scored about 24 percent of the vote compared to 22.5 percent for Macron’s centrist-liberal party. The electoral victory will give the party more seats within the nationalist-populist group in the European Parliament which is expected to make important gains also due to electoral gains expected in Italy for Matteo Salvini’s League.
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Lies About World War II: Churchill, Hitler and David Irving
Paul Craig Roberts
… Truth is seldom welcomed. David Irving, without any doubt the best historian of the European part of World War II, learned at his great expense that challenging myths does not go unpunished. Nevertheless, Irving persevered. If you want to escape from the lies about World War II that still direct our disastrous course, you only need to study two books by David Irving … Despite many such accolades, today Irving is demonized and has to publish his own books. I will avoid the story of how this came to be, but, yes, you guessed it, it was the Zionists. You simply cannot say anything that alters their propagandistic picture of history … Hitler and Nationalist Socialist Germany (Nazi stands for National Socialist German Workers’ Party) are the most demonized entities in history. Any person who finds any good in Hitler or Germany is instantly demonized.
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Irving on Churchill: Dismantling Churchillian Mythology
Theodore J. O’Keefe - Institute for Historical Review
… Irving went on us describe several sources of secret financial support enjoyed by Churchill. In addition to money supplied by the Czech government, Churchill was financed during the “wilderness years” between 1930 and 1939 by a slush fund emanating from a secret pressure group known as the Focus … Irving then revealed further details of Churchill’s financing by the Czechs, as well as the facts of Churchill’s financial rescue by a wealthy banker of Austro-Jewish origins, Sir Henry Strakosch … Irving then gave a detailed account of the cynical maneuverings of Churchill to escalate the aerial campaign against Germany’s civilian population …
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World War II: Non-Conformist Views of the 'Good War'
Mark Weber – Podcast
In a presentation packed with startling facts and provocative observations, Weber takes aim at the conventional view of World War II as conflict between Good and Evil. He reviews and quotes from two recent revisionist books: Human Smoke, by Nicholson Baker, and Churchill, Hitler and `The Unnecessary War’, by Patrick J. Buchanan. Weber tackles a range of widely accepted myths, including the “Big Lie” that Hitler was trying to “conquer the world,” and discredits the iconic image of Winston Churchill as a great statesman. Runtime: 30 mins.
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Was the Battle of Britain Worth It?
Kevin Myers - The Catholic Herald (Britain)
Seventy-five years on from the Battle of Britain, the question remains: was Churchill right to reject peace overtures from Germany in 1940? Did the moral grounds for a continuation of the war – a just cause, a proportionate cost and a realistic likelihood of victory – exist? Was more war morally justifiable? … In 1940, Hitler had neither the means nor the intention of invading Britain … The British “Victory” of 1945 is largely mythic. The cost of not ending the war in 1940 included the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Britons, the ruination of most British cities, and a debt burden to the US that lasted three generations.
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What the Press Gets Wrong on the US-Iran relationship
Andrew Lee Butters - Columbia Journalism Review
… So if there ends up being a war with Iran, the broken US media echo-chamber will bear some of the blame, as it has before … The US has a long history — dating back to the Spanish-American war, through the Gulf of Tonkin, to Saddam’s non-existent weapons of mass destruction — of going to war over some exaggerated or fabricated menace. In this case, the threat warnings were coming from Israeli intelligence and being shopped around by the government of Benjamin Netanyahu. The US hardliners who pick them up are aiming to justify increased pressure on Iran — something that both Israel and the US have long advocated for.
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Media Setting Up Iran as New 'Threat' That Must Be Confronted
J. Jackson - FAIR
The Washington Post editorial’s headline had the US “drifting” toward war with Iran — another example, as analyst Nima Shirazi quipped, of the “world’s superpower somehow having no agency over its own imperialism.” If we can still call things “surreal,” that would describe watching corporate media do the same things they did in the run-up to the Iraq War, things they later disavowed: the credulous repetition of administration claims about the supposed threat; the reliance, for interpretation of “intelligence,” on officials with well-known records for manipulating intelligence; the stenographic reporting of ‘troubling’ actions by the enemy state, that later have to be walked back.
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Iran Says ‘Hell No!’ to Trump’s Aggression
Doug Bandow
… Trump might enjoy posturing as negotiator-in-chief, but he has made it almost impossible for the Iranian government to engage him, let alone accept his demands. In truth, the administration’s confrontational approach has been a failure for America and a disaster for the Iranian people. The president’s policy has guaranteed continued tensions. His coterie of warmongering appointees are determined for regime change. The administration’s hypocrisy is also staggering: they accuse Iran of meddling in the Mideast — while Washington invaded Iraq, attacked Libya, and sought to oust the Syrian government — and of committing human rights violations — while the U.S. allied with autocratic Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
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Washington Has Become a Warmonger’s Paradise
Paul R. Pillar - The National Interest
The current crisis atmosphere in U.S.-Iranian relations, in which the risk of open warfare appears greater than it has been in years, is solely, unequivocally due to the policies and actions of the Trump administration. To point this out does not mean that actions of the Iranian regime have not come to be part of the crisis atmosphere as well. It instead means that such an atmosphere would never have existed in the first place if the administration had not turned its obsession with Iran into the relentless campaign of stoking hostility and tension that has become one of the single most prominent threads of the administration’s foreign policy … Some of the current discourse about Iran nonetheless makes it sound not only as if there is something new and threatening but that the Iranian regime is the initiator of the threat. At least seven reasons account for this misconception.
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No War With Iran
Peter Crowley
After 40 years of mutual mistrust and failed efforts to achieve a lasting détente, regime change advocates, AIPAC and neoconservatives may finally get what they want: a U.S. war with Iran. Currently Iran is one of the most educated nations in the Middle East, where 60 percent of college students are women, of whom 68% receive science degrees (compare this with the abysmal numbers of U.S. college women in STEM fields). But Iran’s education system, infrastructure and living conditions would suffer for decades from a U.S. war. Under the Pentagon’s updated “Nitro Zeus” war plan, U.S. cyberattacks will disable power grids, Iranian cities and military facilities … A year ago, Mike Pompeo made twelve demands to Iran at the Heritage Foundation, with little effort to hide the U.S.’s penchant for world dictatorship.
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Why Not Make Parliament Into a Holocaust Memorial?
Gilad Atzmon
Britain’s prime minister and four of her predecessors, some of whom are renowned war criminals, have united in calling for a holocaust memorial to be built in proximity to parliament. “A sacred, national mission” is how Theresa May described the idea and, for once, I totally agree with this tragic, sad woman … Every political commentator in Britain knows by now that the more Jewish pressure groups terrorise Britain, its human rights campaigners, artists, writers and poets, the more Britons become aware of the crimes of Zionism, Israel and their ruthless lobby. The more British politicians join parliamentary friends of Israel clubs, the less Britons will trust their political system. The more holocaust indoctrination is shoved down our throats, the more suspicious Britons become of the manner in which history is told.
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The U.S. birthrate fell again in 2018, to 3,788,235 births — representing a two percent drop from 2017. It’s the lowest number of births in 32 years, according to a new federal report. The numbers also sank the U.S. fertility rate to a record low. Not since 1986 has the U.S. seen so few babies born … Birthrates fell for nearly all racial and age groups … The news has come as something of a surprise to demographers who say that with the U.S. economy and job market continuing a years-long growth streak, they had expected the birthrate to show signs of stabilizing, or even rising … “The birthrate is a barometer of despair,” Myers says in response to the CDC data … As for what’s behind the negative sentiment among people of childbearing age, Myers cites the current political turmoil and a gloomy outlook for America’s future.
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… But there is a different interpretation of what has happened. Rather than Iran walking into Bolton’s trap, it is Bolton who is walking into Iran’s trap. Iran is not being deterred by Bolton’s theatrics and threats of war, because Bolton is actually playing the exact role Tehran expected — and wanted — him to play. Here’s why … So Tehran’s plan appears to be to accelerate matters toward the point at which Trump will have to decide whether he is truly willing to go to war with Iran or if the strategy of “maximum pressure” will not cross that threshold … Tehran may be right, and many in Washington agree with Iran’s assessment of Trump disinterest in war. Yet, Iran’s strategy is also immensely risky: Trump is an unpredictable character and, while his political instincts lean against war, his easily manipulated impulses consistently override his instincts.
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Half of all Americans believe that the United States will go to war with Iran “within the next few years,” according to a Reuters/Ipsos public opinion poll released on Tuesday amid increased tensions between the two countries. While Americans are more concerned about Iran as a security threat to the United States now than they were last year, few would be in favor of a pre-emptive attack on the Iranian military … Nearly half – 49% – of all Americans disapprove of how Republican Trump is handling relations with Iran, the poll found, with 31% saying they strongly disapprove … Iran was characterized by 53% of adults in the United States as either a “serious” or “imminent” threat, up 6 percentage points from a similar poll from last July. In comparison, 58% of Americans characterized North Korea as a threat and 51% characterized Russia as a threat.
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A U.S. War With Iran Would Cause the World 'Enormous Pain.' Here's Why.
N. Miriello, D. Gilbert
… Across the board, experts who spoke with Vice News said that a major conflict between Washington and Tehran would bring immense pain to the region, their respective allies, and the global economy. “Any conflict with Iran could escalate quickly and in a really uncontrolled way,” said Robert Deitz, who was general counsel at the National Security Agency from 1998 to 2006 … Deitz said the best metaphor for a major escalation with Iran may be World War I: The conflict starts out localized but quickly spirals into a global affair. “It’s very dangerous to assume that a conflict anywhere in the Middle East can be kept local,” he said.
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Hundreds of regular Austrian citizens expressed to a national newspaper their views on migration, with some saying they felt like foreigners in their own country. The comments flooded in, partly in reaction to populist Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache commenting on the concept of “population replacement” and in response to an opinion article in Austria’s largest newspaper … Kronen Zeitung republished some of the “hundreds” of responses they received to the column with many readers saying they felt that mass migration had changed Austria to the point where some felt highly alienated. … “On the streets, in the public transport and the municipal buildings: We feel like foreigners in our home,” another Kronen Zeitung reader said. The Austrian newspaper’s readers are not the only ones to express feelings of alienation due to mass migration.
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African Catholic Cardinal Warns Against Mass Migration to Europe, Says the West 'Will Disappear, Invaded by Foreigners' If It Co
Daily Mail (Britain)
An African cardinal has branded mass migration a ‘new form of slavery’. Cardinal Robert Sarah, touted by many to succeed Pope Francis as the next pontiff, said in a new interview with French publication Valeurs Actuelles that the Church should oppose migration. ‘It is a false exegesis to use the Word of God to promote migration. God never wanted these rifts’ … ‘The Church can not cooperate with this new form of slavery that has become mass migration.’ Sarah, from Guinea, who serves as the head of the Vatican’s liturgy office, added that he believed ‘Islam will invade the world’ if migration is not controlled. ‘If the West continues in this fatal way, there is a great risk that, due to a lack of birth, it will disappear, invaded by foreigners, just as Rome has been invaded by barbarians,’ he added.
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According to data released by the Gesellschaft für Deutsche Sprache (Society for the German Language), the most popular boy’s name for newborn babies in Berlin is Mohammed … The name has also become very popular in Bremen, where it ranks in third place for newborn boys behind Ben and Elias. However, while Mohammed is the most popular name for children in Germany’s urban capital, it failed to make the top ten in terms of popular names across all of Germany … In France, Mohammed was revealed to be the most popular baby boy’s name in the heavily migrant-populated suburbs of Paris … In the United Kingdom the name has been the most popular in England and Wales for six straight years according to a report released in September, as well by the British government.
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Chancellor Merkel Marks German Constitution Anniversary by Celebrating Diversity
Deutsche Welle (Germany)
Angela Merkel celebrated 70 years since the signing of the German Basic Law with a speech before young immigrants taking part in an integration program. She said Germany had learned it was a country of immigration. The event was hosted by Deutschlandstiftung Integration (DSI), a foundation that in 2012 founded the Geh Deinen Weg (“Go Your Way”) program to help young and ambitious people of immigrant background find a way into the German job market. The purpose of the event was to highlight the connection between the Basic Law and the lives of those of immigrant background in Germany. Many of the dignitaries who spoke at the event quoted the Basic Law’s famous first article: “Human dignity shall be inviolable” …
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In Belarus, Protests Over Jewish-Run Business Near Stalin-Era Gravesite
C. Liphshiz – JTA
… Exacerbating the discomfort of some local Jews is how unrest over the restaurant has injected anti-Semitic rhetoric in a country where it is highly unusual. It has occurred mostly online following an article by Dennis Ivashin, a nationalist journalist, according to Samuel Barnai, an Israeli scholar … The restaurant “became the convergence point of common interests, forces and resources of large owners,” Ivashin wrote, calling it a “scheme” that results in the “destruction of sacred places and open mockery of the hundreds of thousands of victims on Belarussian land.” … Some of the anti-Semitic rhetoric plays on the common perception in Eastern Europe that Jews are responsible for communism and its crimes, like the ones committed at Kuropaty. But “most of it focuses on Jews and money and influence,” Barnai told JTA.
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Poland’s religious and political leaders should unequivocally condemn anti-semitic behavior following a number of troubling events in the country, the head of the World Jewish Congress wrote on Wednesday. Ronald S. Lauder criticized “the sight of protesters on the streets of Warsaw chanting anti-Jewish and anti-American slogans”, and the burning of an effigy of Judas in the Polish town of Pruchnik in April. “We can’t allow for the ghosts of the past to rise again and to lead to the destruction of that which our nations have built over years,” he wrote in an op-ed published in Polish daily Rzeczpospolita. Hundreds of far-right supporters marched in Warsaw on Saturday in protest against a U.S. law on the restitution of Jewish property seized during or after World War Two, an increasingly prominent issue in Polish election campaigns.
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Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), who is one of the 24 candidates vying for the 2020 Democratic nomination, is warning there will be severe consequences if the United States decides to go to war with Iran. The veteran, who served two tours in Iraq, released a new video on Thursday slamming top Trump administration officials for ratcheting up tension with the country and arguing that the “U.S. must not go to war with Iran.” … Gabbard cautioned that the consequences of such a war could include the deaths of U.S. troops, suffering for Iranians and others, a worsened refugee crisis in Europe, and risk direct conflict with Russia. She added that conflict with Russia could escalate to nuclear war.
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Pretexts for an Attack on Iran
Ray McGovern
… What is not clear, to Americans and foreigners alike, is why Trump would allow Bolton and Pompeo to use the same specious charges — terrorism and nuclear weapons — to provoke war with a country that poses just as much strategic threat to the U.S. as Iraq did — that is to say, none … The “WHY,” quite simply, is Israel. It is impossible to understand U.S. Middle East policy without realizing the overwhelming influence of Israel on it and on opinion makers … It has long been clear that Israeli leaders have powerful incentives to get Washington more deeply engaged in yet another war in the area. This Israeli priority has become crystal clear in many ways … One need hardly mention the political power of the Israel lobby and the lucrative campaign donations from the likes of Sheldon Adelson.
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Do Iranian 'Threats' Signal Organized U.S.-Israel Subterfuge?
Gareth Porter - The American Conservative
President Donald Trump’s national security team has been leaking “intelligence” about Iranian threats for a week now in an attempt to justify escalating tensions, including moving American air attack assets to the Persian Gulf … There’s also credible evidence that Israel could be playing a key role in this subterfuge. This deception has served to defend not only a U.S. military buildup in the region, but an expansion of the possible contingencies that could be used to justify military confrontation … These meetings were conducted under a still-secret U.S.-Israeli agreement on a joint plan of action against Iran … The Mossad “scenarios” apparently provided the central ideas with which to justify the Trump administration’s subsequent escalatory moves against Iran …
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The Nutcases Leading Us to War
Eric Margolis
… We now know that all the reasons cited for attacking Iraq in 2003 where false. Pure lies. War propaganda. President George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Tony Blair led us into a war by a campaign of lies that fed off one another. Media that supported the war with false news was equally guilty … Which leads us to ask the question: given all these lies, is it not time for us to begin questioning the official narrative about World War II? Trump is playing with fire by making threats against Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Libya, Cuba, North Korea and China. He appears well on the way to a major war by either plan or accident. He is provoking and trifling with two major, nuclear-armed world military powers, Russia and China.
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The Trump Administration Panicked Over Nothing
Daniel Larison - The American Conservative
The Trump administration’s overhyped claims of an increased Iranian threat went over like a lead balloon with allied officials this week: A NATO military intelligence official who was briefed on Pompeo’s claims about increased Iranian aggression in the Middle East said the substance of the intelligence that the Americans briefed was utterly unconvincing — even insulting. “Do they think that we are stupid?” asked the NATO official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity … The information Pompeo provided predictably didn’t back up the administration’s alarmist statements and provocative behavior … In short, there was no good reason for the panicked administration reaction this month, and it has shown how eager some administration officials are to seize on absolutely anything as an excuse to move towards conflict with Iran.
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Of the 44 men who have served as Presidents of the United States, at least half have displayed proficiency in speaking or writing a language other than English. Of these, only one, Martin Van Buren, learned English as his second language; his first language was Dutch. Four of the earliest Presidents were multilingual, with John Adams and Thomas Jefferson demonstrating proficiency in a number of foreign languages. James A. Garfield and Chester A. Arthur knew Ancient Greek and Latin … Both Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke French, and Woodrow Wilson and Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke German. Herbert Hoover spoke some Mandarin Chinese.
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Has the Day of the Nationalists Come?
Patrick J. Buchanan
A week from today, Europeans may be able to gauge how high the tide of populism and nationalism has risen within their countries and on their continent. For all the returns will be in from three days of elections in the 28 nations represented in the European Parliament … If one could identify a cry common to populists, it might be: “We want our country back!” … Patriotism is central to nationalist and populist movements. Globalism is alien to them. They believe in De Gaulle’s Europe of nation-states “from the Atlantic to the Urals,” not in the abstract Europe of Jean Monnet, and surely not in the Brussels bureaucracy of today.
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Hundreds of members of the U.S. Congress signed a letter to President Donald Trump on Monday arguing that the United States should remain engaged with the conflict in Syria, saying they were “deeply concerned” about extremist groups in the country. “As some of our closest allies in the region are being threatened, American leadership and support are as crucial as ever,” said the letter, signed by nearly 400 of the 535 members of the House of Representatives and Senate.
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War With Iran Would Be as Illegal as it is Idiotic
Ryan Cooper – The Week
The Trump administration is seemingly gearing up for a war on Iran … Now the Trump regime is ratcheting up tensions some more, in what is pretty clearly a ham-fisted attempt to gin up casus belli for invasion … More importantly, launching an unprovoked invasion of Iran would be illegal. Wars of aggression are categorically forbidden under the U.N. Charter, which was duly passed by the Senate and is thus constitutionally binding. There is not even any enabling legislation as there was with Iraq in 2002. America also has zero significant international support … On balance, Iran is acting with remarkable restraint given blatant U.S. provocation, backstabbing, and bullying … If the United States weren’t so powerful it would be seen for what it is — a rogue state and a threat to international peace.
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With Bolton Whispering in Trump’s Ear, War With Iran Is No Longer Unthinkable
Owen Jones - The Guardian (Britain)
… Trump’s presidential campaign nurtured the myth that he was the “dovish” candidate in contrast to “hawkish” Hillary Clinton (and this is no defence of Clinton, who once crowed that the US could “totally obliterate” Iran). Trump has dramatically increased the use of drone warfare; and he rained down missiles on Syria. He withdrew support for the successful Iranian nuclear deal in defiance of his then defence secretary and secretary of state, and has sought to throttle Iran with sanctions … A senior Senate aide tells me that the triumph of Bolton’s plans is all too conceivable: Bolton could exploit Trump’s ignorance of policy, an area in which he excels. While any war would not be popular with Trump’s base he could be convinced by Bolton that it is possible to escalate up to a point, then pull back at the brink: but by then it may be impossible to do so.
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel considers the U.S. a global adversary and believes Europe must “reposition” itself among world powers, according to an interview released Wednesday. Merkel, in an interview with the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and shared with the Guardian, grouped the U.S., Russia and China together, saying the three countries “are forcing [the European Union], time and again, to find common positions.” … Merkel nodded toward particular facets of each country, like the U.S.’s dominance of technology, Russia’s interference in foreign elections and China’s economic influence … Ahead of European Parliament elections later this month, the chancellor said: “There is no doubt that Europe needs to reposition itself in a changed world. The old certainties of the post-war order no longer apply.”
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The front lines in a bitter debate between Israel’s defenders and critics now lie in an unexpected place: state capitals across America. Palestinian rights activists calling for people to boycott, divest from and sanction Israel have racked up policy victories over the last 14 years across the globe and in the U.S., particularly on university campuses. In response, pro-Israel advocates have taken the battle to state legislatures, where their lobbyists have worked with sympathetic lawmakers to shut down an effort they say threatens the very existence of a Jewish state. A rapid succession of states — 27 in four years — have adopted measures to curb the boycott initiative known as BDS [“Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions”] … Most require tens of thousands of state contractors to pledge not to boycott Israel — or lose their government funding.
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The German parliament voted on Friday to condemn as anti-Semitic a movement that calls for economic pressure on Israel to end the occupation of Palestinian land, grant Arab citizens equal rights and recognise the right of return of Palestinian refugees. In a move welcomed by Israel, a majority of lawmakers in the Bundestag voted in favour of a motion to label the international Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement as an entity that uses anti-Semitic tactics to fulfil its political goals. “The argumentation patterns and methods used by the BDS movement are anti-Semitic,” read the motion submitted by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives, their Social Democrat coalition partners as well as the Greens and Free Democrats. Securing Israel’s survival has been a priority for Germany since the defeat of the Nazi dictatorship …
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Al Jazeera has suspended two journalists over a video they produced that denied the facts of the Holocaust. The Qatari state-funded broadcaster had published the video on its online AJ+ video service in Arabic … Al Jazeera’s video said this number had been exaggerated and “adopted by the Zionist movement”, and that Israel is the “biggest winner” from the genocide. Its narrator also asked, “why is there a focus only on them?” – referring to the Jewish victims – before claiming that the community uses “financial resources [and] media institutions” to “put a special spotlight” on Jewish suffering … Questioning the number of Jewish victims killed, suggesting that Jewish people manipulate the media, and claiming that Jewish people or the State of Israel benefit from the Holocaust have been condemned as forms of anti-Semitism.
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US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo raised the issue of Holocaust-era property restitution during his first official visit to Poland. Poland is the only country in the European Union that has not passed comprehensive national legislation to return, or provide compensation for, private property confiscated by the Nazis or nationalized by the communist regime … As part of his remarks, Pompeo called on the Polish government to resolve outstanding restitution issues. “We also appreciate the importance of resolving outstanding issues of the past, and I urge my Polish colleagues to move forward with comprehensive private property restitution legislation for those who lost property during the Holocaust era,” he said.
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Poland Will Never Pay Holocaust Property Restitution, Says Prime Minister
The Times of Israel
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has vowed that his country would never pay restitution for Jewish properties stolen during the Holocaust, saying that such a move would be a “victory for Hitler.” At a Saturday campaign rally in Lodz, Morawiecki doubled down on his insistence that his Law & Justice party “would not consent” to claims of Holocaust restitution, telling voters “We will defend Poland.” Morawiecki said paying restitution “violates international law and would also be a posthumous victory for Hitler, which is why we will never allow it.” Poland is the only country in the European Union that has not passed comprehensive national legislation to return, or provide compensation for, private property confiscated by the Nazis or nationalized by the communist regime.
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Whiteness has become “toxic” under schools Chancellor Richard Carranza’s regime, insiders charge. At least four top [New York City] Department of Education executives who have been demoted or stripped of duties under Carranza’s sweeping reorganization are poised to sue the city, claiming he has created “an environment which is hostile toward whites,” a source told The Post. The women — all white, veteran administrators — contend they were pushed aside for less qualified persons of color … “There’s a toxic whiteness concept going on.” … Under Carranza’s leadership, sources said, whites, in some cases, are being told they must give up power or lose responsibilities no matter how well they have performed.
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Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has dismissed US President Donald Trump’s “genocidal taunts,” and warned him not to threaten the country. Amid rising tensions, Mr Trump tweeted on Sunday: “If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran.” Mr Zarif said the US president should look to history. “Iranians have stood tall for millennia while aggressors all gone … Try respect – it works!” The US has deployed additional warships and planes to the Gulf in recent days … Trump “hopes to achieve what Alexander [the Great], Genghis [Khan] & other aggressors failed to do. Iranians have stood tall for millennia while aggressors all gone. #EconomicTerrorism & genocidal taunts won’t ‘end Iran’,” he added.
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Officials at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) are evaluating how to best address the growing issue of homeless people taking shelter in the air hub, the latest challenge stemming from the northern California city’s homelessness crisis … The San Francisco Bay Area has the third-largest homeless population in the nation, behind New York and Los Angeles … Over the summer, one travel expert acknowledged that San Francisco’s homelessness crisis has intensified to the point of hurting the city’s $9 billion tourism industry on a grand scale. “We are losing business,” Joe D’Alessandro, head of the San Francisco Travel Association, told Fox News in July. “We have groups who say they can’t come to San Francisco as long as the streets are like this.”
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Facebook Busts Israel-Based Campaign to Disrupt Elections
Associated Press
Facebook said Thursday it banned an Israeli company that ran an influence campaign aimed at disrupting elections in various countries, and has canceled dozens of accounts engaged in spreading disinformation. Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook’s head of cybersecurity policy, told reporters that the tech giant had purged 65 Israeli accounts, 161 pages, dozens of groups and four Instagram accounts. Many were linked to the Archimedes Group, a Tel Aviv-based political consulting and lobbying firm that boasts of its social media skills and ability to “change reality.” … Facebook discovered “coordinated inauthentic behavior,” with accounts posing as certain political candidates, smearing opponents and presenting as local news organizations peddling supposedly leaked information.
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US Mainstream Media is Contributing to Rising Risk of War With Iran
James North - Mondoweiss
The U.S. mainstream press and television networks are committing media malpractice and contributing to the rising risk of an American war with Iran. … The minimal coverage continues to leave out Israel, even though anyone who has followed the region knows that Benjamin Netanyahu has instigated the U.S. to attack Iran for the past decade … Today’s New York Times news report is a disgrace to the journalism profession. The bias shines right through in the headline: “Pentagon Builds Deterrent Force Against Possible Attack from Iran.” It would be considerably more accurate to say, “U.S. Escalates Its Already Massive Military Presence Surrounding Iran, Intending to Provoke an Iranian Attack.” … What’s more, as The Economist points out, even if the U.S. is just saber-rattling and has no plan to attack, the risk of a dangerous accident is on the rise.
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John Bolton: The Man Driving the US Towards War … Any War
Julian Borger - The Guardian (Britain)
The US is now engaged in three major confrontations around the world that have the potential to degrade into war. And in the driving seat on all three fronts is John Bolton, one of the most fervent believers in American military power ever to work in the White House. Donald Trump’s 70-year-old national security adviser has been a fixture in US foreign policy over the past four decades, and has spent that time, whether in or out of government, mostly arguing for the most hawkish position on any issue put in front of him. “He actually believes when America leads, the world is a safer and better place – not just for us but for the world,” said Mark Groombridge, who worked for Bolton for more than ten years.
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One. Iraq is 168,754 sq. miles, and Iran is 636,400 sq. miles; that is, Iran is geographically 3.77 times bigger than Iraq, almost four times as big. Two. Iraq’s population when invaded was 26 million. Iran’s population today is 81 million … Four. Since Iran is three times as populous as Iraq, by Shinseki’s correct calculation, the US would need 2.4 million troops to occupy Iran … Nine. Bush found international allies for his war on Iraq, including Britain and Spain. No one in Western Europe would join Trump in a war with Iran, making the US isolated and causing it to look like a unilateralist bully.
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Iran’s foreign minister has said he does not believe a war will break out in the region, amid concerns over rising tensions with the US. Mohammad Javad Zarif told state news agency IRNA that Tehran did not want a war, and that no country had the “idea or illusion that it can confront Iran”. The US has deployed warships and planes to the Gulf in recent days over what it has described as Iranian “threats”. But US President Donald Trump has said he wants to avoid conflict. Speaking to IRNA at the end of a visit to China on Saturday, Mr Zarif said Mr Trump “does not want war, but the people around him are pushing him towards war under the pretext of making America stronger against Iran”.
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Who Wants This War With Iran?
Patrick J. Buchanan
… What would such a war mean for the United States? It would not bring about “regime change” or bring down Iran’s government, that survived eight years of ground war with Saddam Hussein’s Iraq … Nor would Americans support such an invasion, as President Donald Trump knows from his 2016 campaign. Outside a few precincts, America has no enthusiasm for a new Mideast war, no stomach for any occupation of Iran … Who wants us to plunge back into the Middle East, to fight a new and wider war than the ones we fought already this century in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya and Yemen? Answer: Pompeo and Bolton, Bibi Netanyahu, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the Sunni kings, princes, emirs, sultans and the other assorted Jeffersonian democrats on the south shore of the Persian Gulf.
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Allies Split With US Over Iranian Threat as War Worries Mount
Associated Press
International worries that the Trump administration is sliding toward war with Iran flared into the open Tuesday amid skepticism about its claims that the Islamic Republic poses a growing threat to the US and its allies in the Persian Gulf and beyond … The general’s remarks exposed international skepticism over the American military build-up in the Middle East, a legacy of the 2003 invasion of Iraq that was predicated on false intelligence. U.S. officials have not publicly provided any evidence to back up claims of an increased Iranian threat amid other signs of allied unease. As tensions in the region started to surge, British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said his nation was worried about the risk of accidental conflict “with an escalation that is unintended really on either side.”
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Ron Paul Calls Tulsi Gabbard 'Very Best' Democratic Candidate
Washington Examiner
Ron Paul says he supports the candidacy of Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, because she is the “very best” Democrat running for president and is “good on foreign policy.” “Tulsi Gabbard by far is the very, very best,” the former Texas congressman said in an interview last week on Russian, state-controlled television network RT. “She is very liberal when it comes to economics. We probably wouldn’t agree with too much on economics.” Gabbard, a combat veteran who served overseas in Iraq and Kuwait, announced her 2020 campaign with a video that slammed “both parties who never tire of war.” Paul, who ran for president as a Libertarian candidate in 1988 and in the Republican primaries in 2008 and 2012, is known for backing noninterventionist foreign policy … “She’s the most intelligent and would be the best,” Paul added.
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Why Is the Cannes Film Festival Honoring Alain Delon
Benjamin Ivry - Forward
This year’s Cannes Film Festival, starting May 14, will honor the French film star Alain Delon with a Palme d’honneur prize for acting, a lifetime achievement award that has previously gone to such performers as Jeanne Moreau, Catherine Deneuve, and Jean-Paul Belmondo … None of his roles has surprised fans more than Delon’s long-evolving status as a supporter of France’s ultra-right wing National Front movement, associated with anti-Semitism by many experts on European politics … Others also link Delon to Brigitte Bardot, as the two most prominent French movie stars to overtly support the National Front …
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The Threat of War With Iran
Stephen Zunes - The Progressive
… The last time a Republican administration made false claims regarding threats to U.S. national security interests by a Middle Eastern state, leading Democrats like Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer, and John Kerry willingly repeated the lies and voted to authorize war. They did so despite warnings by countless Middle East specialists from the State Department, academia, and elsewhere that an invasion was illegal, unnecessary, and would be utterly disastrous … The presence of both U.S. and Iranian forces in Syria could lead to any number of scenarios of an intentional or accidental armed confrontation amid that country’s multi-sided conflict. In short, even if the Trump Administration is only bluffing and does not actually intend to launch a confrontation, a hair trigger situation now exists that could result in a major conflagration.
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Is America Ready for John Bolton’s War With Iran?
Scott Ritter - The American Conservative
… The reality is that the deployment of American military forces and the diversion of the secretary of state to Baghdad is little more than grand theater. This is being done in support of a policy dictated by Israeli intelligence and passed to Bolton during a meeting on April 16, 2019, at the White House, where, according to Bolton, they discussed “Iranian malign activity and other destabilizing actors in the Middle East and around the world.” The intelligence, derived from analysis conducted by the Mossad, consisted of “scenarios” regarding what Iran “might” be planning … That Israel is behind the scenes supplying the intelligence and motivation makes Bolton’s actions even more questionable. It shows that it is John Bolton, not Iran, who poses the greatest threat to American national security today.
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On Sunday, the National Security Council announced that the U.S. was sending a carrier strike group and a bomber task force to the Persian Gulf in response to “troubling and escalatory” warnings from Iran — an eye-popping move that raised fears of a potential military confrontation with Tehran. Justifying the move, anonymous government officials cited intelligence indicating Iran had crafted plans to use proxies to strike U.S. forces, both off the coast of Yemen and stationed in Iraq … But multiple sources close to the situation told The Daily Beast that the administration blew it out of proportion, characterizing the threat as more significant than it actually was.
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How Hitler Saved the Allies
Ron Unz
A couple of years ago I happened to be reading the World War II memoirs of Sisley Huddleston, an American journalist living in France. Although long since forgotten, Huddleston had spent decades as one of our most prominent foreign correspondents … Huddleston’s credibility seemed impeccable, which is why I was so shocked at his firsthand account of wartime Vichy [France: The Tragic Years], totally contrary to what I had absorbed from my introductory history textbooks … It appeared that most of the standard narrative dominating our history books had been constructed a generation or so later by writers living on the other side of the Atlantic ocean, whose conclusions may have been substantially influenced by the black-and-white ideological framework that had become rigidly enshrined at elite American universities.
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In the Early Days of World War II, Britain and France Planned to Bomb Russia
Michael Peck - The National Interest
… What if Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union had been allies instead of enemies? What if America, Britain, and their allies had faced a massive Red Army backed by the military prowess and technological sophistication of the Luftwaffe, Nazi panzers and U-boats? That apocalyptic vision of a new Dark Ages almost happened. In the early days of World War II, Britain and France planned to bomb Russian oil fields. The goal was to impede Hitler. The outcome would probably have helped Hitler win the war … Allied air planners were confident this would be a mighty blow. We know now that it would have been a joke … If Operation Pike had been launched prior to the surrender of France, then the British government would have faced the prospect of fighting a Nazi-Soviet alliance, with no French ally … Operation Pike might have changed the history of the world.
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Large Crowds Cheer Marshal Pétain in Paris, April 1944
Newsreel – Video
Large crowds cheer French Head of State Pétain during his visit to Paris in April 1944. Parisians cry out “Vive Pétain” and sing the national anthem, “La Marseillaise.” Pétain also attends a memorial service in the Notre Dame Cathedral for victims of Allied bombing. This visit is just a few weeks before the D-Day landing of British and American troops at Normandy. “France-Actualités” newsreel, with narration in French. Runtime: 7:28 mins. Philippe Petain, who was a revered military commander during the First World War, was named French Head of State in 1940 by overwhelming vote of the National Assembly.
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A diplomatic standoff between Poland and Israel has escalated after the Polish ambassador to Israel was assaulted and spat on in Tel Aviv on Tuesday … A 65-year-old Israeli man, Arik Lederman, has been arrested for allegedly targeting Marek Magierowski, the Polish ambassador, outside the embassy … Poland has been criticized by Jewish groups and the Israeli government after passing a controversial law in 2018 that bans blaming the Polish people for the Holocaust. Many experts see the move as a revision of history. Earlier this year, the Polish prime minister also canceled a trip to Israel after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Poland “cooperated with the Nazis.”
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Israeli spyware maker NSO Group Ltd. was in the limelight Tuesday after its software was suspected of being used in hacking the phones of human rights activists through WhatsApp. It’s not the company’s first brush with controversy. Human rights groups and researchers have raised alarms for years about NSO Group, which makes mobile device surveillance software that ostensibly helps governments combat “terror and crime.” Activists, however, say governments misuse NSO’s products to target human rights defenders, journalists and critics. The Financial Times reported that a vulnerability in the WhatsApp chat app allowed attackers to install surveillance software, developed by NSO, on iPhones and Android devices by calling specific targets through the app. One of those targeted was a U.K.-based human rights lawyer, according to the paper.
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Facebook-owned WhatsApp messenger has been weaponized to bug the phones of human rights campaigners, lawyers, and other dissidents with an Israeli spyware, sparking a backlash against the program’s manufacturer. “NSO Group sells its products to governments who are known for outrageous human rights abuses, giving them the tools to track activists and critics. The attack on Amnesty International was the final straw,” Danna Ingelton, deputy director of Amnesty Tech, said in a statement on Monday. “It’s time to stop the use of NSO Group’s tools to infiltrate, intimidate and silence civil society.”
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Israel Should Take Action Against Firm Linked to WhatsApp Breach, Says Amnesty International
Reuters
Amnesty International called on Thursday for Israel’s government to ensure that an Israeli company, whose spyware has been linked to a WhatsApp breach that may have targeted human rights groups, be held accountable for the way its software is used. Amnesty on Tuesday filed a petition in Israel seeking the revocation of NSO Group’s export licence, and told Reuters that it was up to the government to take a firmer stance against export licenses that have “resulted in human rights abuses.” Israel’s Ministry of Defence declined to comment. WhatsApp, a unit of Facebook, said on Tuesday that a security breach on its messaging app may have targeted human rights groups.
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U.S. Special Forces School Publishes New Guide On Overthrowing Foreign Governments
T. O'Connor - Newsweek
The official school of the United States’ Special Operations Command has published a new paper detailing a decades-long history of Pentagon-backed interference around the world, hoping to provide insight on how best to approach such efforts in the present and future. The 250-page study, “Support to Resistance: Strategic Purpose and Effectiveness,” was compiled by Army Special Forces veteran Will Irwin and published earlier this week by the official Joint Special Operations University, where he was a resident senior fellow … Its findings present a comprehensive look at how the U.S. has supported efforts to pressure, undermine and overthrow foreign governments. The report includes some 47 case studies spanning from 1941 to 2003, detailing a legacy of mixed results …
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Pandering to Israel Means War With Iran
Philip Giraldi
The United States is moving dangerously forward in what appears to be a deliberate attempt to provoke a war with Iran, apparently based on threat intelligence provided by Israel. The claims made by National Security Advisor John Bolton and by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that there is solid evidence of Iran’s intention to attack US forces in the Persian Gulf region is almost certainly a fabrication, possibly deliberately contrived by Bolton and company in collaboration with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu … It would be difficult to find in the history books another example of a war fought for no reason whatsoever. As ignorant as President Donald Trump and his triumvirate or psychotics Bolton, Pompeo and Elliott Abrams are, even they surely know that Iran poses no threat to the United States.
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Trump May be Underestimating Iran's Resolve in Resisting Nuclear Sanctions
A. Mitchell - NBC News
… For all his bellicosity toward Tehran … Trump has always been ambivalent about the use of force to achieve regime change. In Iran’s case, he appears to believe that crippling sanctions will eventually force its government to accept a tougher nuclear deal than the one negotiated under President Barack Obama … But the president’s hawkish circle of advisers very well may be underestimating Iran’s resolve and resilience. With the approach of the U.S. election, Tehran may decide to wait out the Trump administration … A chorus of Senate Democrats on the foreign relations and armed services committees are now warning that the president’s policy could be risking something he himself might not want: an unnecessary war.
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US Blocks Visit By Senior Palestinian Official
Associated Press
A senior Palestinian official said the United States denied her application for a visa to travel to the U.S. on Monday in what appears to be the latest sign of escalating American political pressure on Palestinians. Hanan Ashrawi, a top official in the Palestine Liberation Organization and outspoken activist for Palestinian rights, told The Associated Press that she believed she was rejected for political reasons … Educated in the U.S., Ashrawi, 72, said she has visited America many times and typically makes several visits a year. With her fluent English, she is a prominent Palestinian spokeswoman on TV and has met with top U.S. officials over the past three decades.
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Ukrainian Historian and Soviet Dissident Valentyn Moroz is Dead
International News
Ukrainian historian and Soviet dissident Valentin Moroz died in Lviv [Ukraine] at the age of 83 years, Interfax-Ukraine reports with reference to the press service of the Lviv City Council. “On April 16, the political prisoner, journalist and historian Valentin Moroz departed into eternity,” the report says. Valentin Moroz was born in 1936 in the Volyn region, graduated from the history department of Lviv State University. In 1965 he was sentenced to four years in prison “for anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda.” He served his sentence in Mordovia. In 1970 he was arrested again. Author of several works on the history of Ukraine. In particular, “Ukraine in the Twentieth Century”, “Nationalism of the Twentieth Century”, “Stalin and Collectivization.”
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Polish Patriots Protest US Pressure Over Jewish Holocaust Claims
Associated Press
Thousands of Polish nationalists marched to the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw Saturday, protesting that the U.S. is putting pressure on Poland to compensate Jews whose families lost property during the Holocaust. The protest took place amid a dramatic rise in anti-Semitic hate speech in public life in Poland, and it appeared to be one of the largest anti-Jewish street demonstrations in recent times. It also comes as far-right groups are gaining in popularity, pressuring the conservative government to move further to the right. Protesters, including far-right groups and their supporters, say the United States has no right to interfere in Polish affairs, and that the U.S. government is putting “Jewish interests” over the interests of Poland.
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FBI Shuts Down Dark Web Marketplace; Two Israelis Charged
Associated Press
A gateway to illegal marketplaces on the darknet has been shut down, the FBI announced Wednesday, and two of its alleged operators have been arrested and accused of making millions of dollars in kickbacks for their services. A grand jury in Pittsburgh returned indictments against the two Israelis on charges of money laundering conspiracy. They’re accused of receiving more than $15 million from the operation, which ran from Oct. 2013 through this week, prosecutors said. Both were arrested … DeepDotWeb provided users with access to marketplaces where vendors sold everything from illegal narcotics such as fentanyl, heroin and crystal methamphetamine; to assault rifles, malicious software, hacking tools and stolen financial information.
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Moving Closer to War With Iran
Eric Margolis
… Israel, which is eager to see the US attack Iran, has helpfully provided ‘intelligence’ allegedly showing that Iran is planning to attack certain US installations in the Mideast. Interestingly, Israel and its American supporters did the same thing in 2001 and 2003, pushing the US to attack its foe Iraq … This administration’s neocons have made it their life’s work to destroy Iran, which is considered Israel’s only serious enemy and a champion of the Palestinian cause. The Trump administration has largely fallen under the influence of Israel’s hard right in foreign and military affairs. So Bolton and Pompeo are clearly trying to engineer an incident that would spark war. Not full-scale war, but an excuse for the US and Israel to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities, key military sites and communications infrastructure as was done with Iraq.
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Are All the World’s Problems Ours?
Patrick J. Buchanan
… The countdown to a June confrontation with Iran has begun … After an exhausting two weeks, one is tempted to ask: How many quarrels, clashes and conflicts can even a superpower manage at one time? And is it not time for the United States, preoccupied with so many crises, to begin asking, “Why is this our problem?” … Iran has no nukes or ICBMs. It wants no war with us. It does not threaten us. Why is Iran then our problem to solve rather than a problem for Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States and the Sunni Arabs? Nor does Russia’s annexation of Crimea threaten us. When Ronald Reagan strolled through Red Square with Mikhail Gorbachev in 1988, all of Ukraine was ruled by Moscow.
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The Dark Side of Israeli Independence
Brett Wilkins
On May 14, 1948, Israel declared its independence. Each May 15, Palestinians solemnly commemorate Nakba Day. Nakba means catastrophe, and that’s precisely what Israel’s independence has been for the more than 700,000 Arabs and their five million refugee descendants forced from their homes and into exile, often by horrific violence, to make way for the Jewish state … Zionists and their apologist allies – some with their own competing religious agenda – have aggressively sought to erase the Nakba from memory. This is accomplished by denying Israeli crimes and by tarring critics with allegations of anti-Semitism … Enabled and emboldened, Israel now marks 70 years of statehood and over half a century of illegal occupation in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.
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Twitter Dumps Southern Poverty Law Center, Stops Making Hate Pay
Washington Examiner
Twitter has quietly dumped the Southern Poverty Law Center from its “Trust and Safety Council,” according to a recent report. After a March scandal exposed the Law Center’s leadership for apparently participating in the racist and sexist conduct it proclaims to be policing, it’s tempting to ask why Twitter didn’t loudly promote the separation … The recent scandal may have exposed the Law Center’s history of hypocrisy, but the rabid watchdog’s dishonest definition of “hate,” and arguably even more duplicitous fundraising from it, has been an obvious and ongoing scandal for years … Like Twitter, Amazon and other big companies have relied on the Law Center’s hate lists to make major business decisions. AmazonSmile, the retailer’s charity program, will not allow nonprofits listed on the Law Center’s “Hate Map” to participate.
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Facebook will still allow users to deny the Holocaust even though it removed prominent bigots and anti-Semites from its platform. The social media giant deleted the personal, professional and fan accounts of some leading extremists and conspiracy theorists, like David Duke, Louis Farrakhan and Alex Jones, on Thursday. But in a letter from April 9, Joel Kaplan, Facebook’s vice president of global public policy, said the site would still allow users to “say things on Facebook that are wrong or inaccurate, even when they are offensive” … “We take down any content that celebrates, defends, or attempts to justify the Holocaust,” Kaplan wrote. “But we do not remove lies or content that is inaccurate — whether it’s denying the Holocaust, the Armenian massacre, or the fact that the Syrian government has killed hundreds of thousands of its own people.”
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In Oregon, 'Holocaust Deniers' Attempt To Derail Genocide Education Bill
KLCC / NPR (Oregon)
There were some tense moments at an Oregon legislative hearing this week when a group of Holocaust-deniers spoke against a bill that would require genocide education in public schools. Senate Bill 664 had been moving through the legislature with any opposition. But when the House Education Committee was about to sign off on the measure, several members of the public downplayed the Holocaust or flat-out suggested it didn’t happen. That prompted the committee’s chair, Rep. Margaret Doherty, D-Tigard, to severely limit the testimony that she called “offensive.”
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Justifying My Existence
David Cole - Taki’s Magazine
… In no other field are fakes, frauds, and forgeries tolerated as they are in Holocaust history. And in no other field are the people who try to sort the fakes from the facts so ruthlessly attacked and (in many countries) imprisoned … Let’s get something straight — I am not the one “empowering” Holocaust deniers. That honor goes to the mainstream “experts” who manufacture or tolerate the fakes. Those are the folks who’ve polluted the history; I’m just trying to sort that mess out … Every fake I discovered or helped expose in the 90s was the product of people who should’ve known better: For decades, the staff of the Auschwitz State Museum misrepresented an air raid shelter as an “original state” gas chamber. I exposed that fraud in 1992 after interviewing senior curator Dr. Francizsek Piper on camera.
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Israel is 'Root Cause of World Instability,' Says Malaysia’s Premier
New Straits Times (Malaysia)
Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today once again described Israel as a terrorist nation and the root cause of instability in the world. Addressing youths at the Al Sharq Annual Conference 2019 here, the majority of whom are from Middle East countries, the 93-year old leader stressed that the time had come for the international community to stand together and end Israel’s occupation of Palestine. “Apartheid, genocide, crimes against humanity, crimes of aggression and all the evil that mankind can inflict on others can be compiled in Palestine – courtesy of the barbaric, arrogant, terrorist nation called Israel.”… His statement led to overwhelming applause from the 1,000-odd participants.
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A majority of Americans have a favorable view of the Israeli people but an unfavorable view of their government in Jerusalem, a new Pew Research Center poll released Wednesday shows. The survey also presents a huge partisan divide between Republicans and Democrats with regards to how they view the Israeli and Palestinian peoples … The poll showed that, overall, a plurality of Americans – 39 percent – had a favorable view of both the Israeli and Palestinian peoples … A large plurality — 43 percent — had an unfavorable view of both the Israeli and Palestinian governments … Combined, 51 percent of respondents had an unfavorable view of the Israeli government and 71 percent had an unfavorable view of the Palestinian government.
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New York University’s Department of Social and Cultural Analysis voted to boycott NYU’s own satellite campus in Tel Aviv. The vote by department members pledging “non- cooperation” occurred Thursday. In a statement, the department said it is boycotting the campus because of Israel’s policy of barring entry to people who support the movement to boycott Israel. The statement also said Israel frequently bars entry to people of Palestinian descent. “We pledge non-cooperation with the Tel Aviv program until (a) the Israeli state ends its restrictions on entry based on ancestry and political speech and (b) the Israeli state adopts policies granting visas for exchanges to Palestinian universities on a fully equal basis as it does to Israeli universities,” the resolution said.
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The Collapse: Is This the End of American’s Jewry’s Golden Age?
Adam Garfinkle - Tablet
How cosmically lucky the American Jewish community is, blessedly sited at the intersection point of two forms of chosenness, two forms of exceptionalism … Whatever American Jewish “golden age” there may have been is over, folks … One of those reasons is that American Jews are rapidly and irreversibly becoming politically homeless. They are losing their “natural” political hearth in the Democratic Party. Partisan political support for Israel has shifted sharply to an increasingly white-populist GOP — a party the vast majority of American Jews will never feel at home in … The State of Israel became the new god and the Holocaust the new liturgy … Jewish political clout is likely to diminish and, more importantly, become more diffuse. That will cause its net influence to decline and be so perceived.
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John Lukacs, Influential 'Maverick' Historian, Dead at 95
Associated Press
John Lukacs, the Hungarian-born historian and iconoclast who brooded over the future of Western civilization, wrote a best-selling tribute to Winston Churchill, and produced a substantial and often despairing body of writings on the politics and culture of Europe and the United States, has died … A proud and old-fashioned man with a prominent forehead, cosmopolitan accent, and erudite but personal prose style, Lukacs was a maverick among historians. In a profession where liberals were a clear majority, he was sharply critical of the left and of the cultural revolution of the 1960s. But he was also unhappy with the modern conservative movement … He considered himself a “reactionary,” a mourner for the “civilization and culture of the past 500 years, European and Western.”
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Inconvenient Facts About World War II
David Gordon
The neoconservatives are already in hot pursuit of Human Smoke [by Nicholson Baker] … Where, then, lies Baker’s offense? Rather than write a standard historical narrative, he presents on each page a separate fact, often taken from contemporary newspaper accounts. A number of these facts show Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt in less than a favorable light, and this has proved too much not only for Pryce-Jones but for John Lukacs as well … Franklin Roosevelt rivaled his British counterpart in his disregard for the rules of civilized warfare.
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British PM Theresa May Backs Building of New Holocaust Center as ‘Sacred National Mission’
The Guardian (Britain)
Theresa May has given her strong backing, as has every living former prime minister, to plans for a Holocaust education centre on a site next to the Houses of Parliament. Proposals for the memorial and museum, in Victoria Tower Gardens next to the River Thames in central London, have sparked a backlash because of the loss of green space and trees their construction would entail … “By putting our National Holocaust Memorial and Education Centre next to our parliament, we make a solemn and eternal promise that Britain will never forget what happened in the Holocaust,” she said. “Seeing this through is a sacred, national mission. In the face of despicable Holocaust denial, this memorial will stand to preserve the truth forever.”
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Leaked Draft of Trump’s Peace Plans Proposes 'New Palestine' Entity
A. Deger - Mondoweiss
A leaked document of “main points” from the Trump administration’s so-called “deal of the century” was published today by Yisrael Hayom, outlining a plan for a two-state solution that includes the creation of a demilitarized state of “New Palestine,” Israeli annexation of all settlements in the West Bank, a land deal with Egypt, and shared capitals in Jerusalem. If either Israel or the Palestinians, including Hamas and the PLO, reject the deal, the document says the U.S. will impose steep penalties … New Palestine will have a local police force who will be allowed to hold “light weapons.” The new Palestinian state will be prevented from forming a military. Israel will be responsible for security for a fee paid by the Palestinian government.
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French Jews Furious as 'Notorious Anti-Semite' Dodges Jail Time for 'Holocaust Denial'
The Allgemeiner (Brooklyn, NY)
French Jews reacted with fury on Tuesday after the Paris public prosecutor overturned a historic decision reached last month to sentence one of the country’s most notorious Holocaust deniers to a year in jail. Far-right activist Alain Soral — who has earned several previous convictions for hate speech and Holocaust denial without being incarcerated — had been sentenced to twelve months behind bars on Apr. 15, after he was found guilty of publishing an article that denied the Holocaust on his website … Many of the individuals and groups that hailed Soral’s original sentencing as a sea-change in the approach of French courts to anti-semitic agitation angrily denounced the decision to spare him from actual jail time.
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War Over Venezuela?
Ron Paul
… The president has no Constitutional authority to start a war with Venezuela or any other country that has not attacked or credibly threatened the United States without Congressional approval. It is that simple. How ironic that Pompeo and the rest of the neocons in the Trump Administration are ready to attack Venezuela to “restore their constitution” but they could not care less about our own Constitution! While Washington has been paralyzed for two years over disproven claims that the Russians meddled in our elections to elect Trump, how hypocritical that Washington does not even hesitate to endorse the actual overturning of elections overseas! Without Congressional authority, US military action of any kind against Venezuela would be an illegal and likely an impeachable offense.
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Israel Wants the Trump Administration to Attack Iran, But U.S. Mainstream Media Ignores Netanyahu’s Instigating
James North - Mondoweiss
Why is the Trump administration escalating its economic war against Iran, a dangerous policy that could eventually lead to a shooting war and trigger a world recession? Iran in 2019 is no danger to U.S. interests anywhere. Tehran is not threatening American shipping, or military bases; its allies, like Hizbollah in Lebanon, have not targeted U.S. civilians or soldiers for years. The U.S. is squeezing Iran mainly because Israel wants it to … Israel wants the Iranian government destroyed, and Netanyahu has been instigating the United States for years to attack Teheran. Now that American foreign policy is in the hands of incompetent, bellicose officials like Mike Pompeo and John Bolton, Israel senses that its hour has arrived.
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Rumors of War: Washington Is Looking for a Fight
Philip Giraldi
It is depressing to observe how the United States of America has become the evil empire. Having served in the United States Army during the Vietnam War and in the Central Intelligence Agency for the second half of the Cold War, I had an insider’s viewpoint of how an essentially pragmatic national security policy was being transformed bit by bit into a bipartisan doctrine that featured as a sine qua non global dominance for Washington … American Exceptionalism became the battle cry for an increasingly clueless federal government as well as for a media-deluded public … Never before in my lifetime has the United States been so belligerent, and that in spite of the fact that there is no single enemy or combination of enemies that actually threaten either the geographical United States or a vital interest.
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Humanity is rapidly destroying the natural world upon which our prosperity — and ultimately our survival — depends, according to a landmark UN assessment of the state of Nature released Monday. Changes wrought by decades of pillaging and poisoning forests, oceans, soil and air threaten society “at least as much as climate change,” said Robert Watson, who chaired the 132-nation meeting that validated a Summary for Policymakers forged by 450 experts. One million animal and plant species face extinction, many within decades, they reported … Drawing from 15,000 sources and an underlying 1,800-page report, the executive summary details how our growing footprint and appetites have compromised the natural renewal of resources that sustain civilisation, starting with fresh water, breathable air, and productive soil.
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On land, in the seas, in the sky, the devastating impact of humans on nature is laid bare in a compelling UN report. One million animal and plant species are now threatened with extinction. Nature everywhere is declining at a speed never previously seen, and our need for ever more food and energy are the main drivers. These trends can be halted, the study says, but it will take “transformative change” in every aspect of how humans interact with nature. From the bees that pollinate our crops, to the forests that hold back flood waters, the report reveals how humans are ravaging the very ecosystems that support their societies. Three years in the making, this global assessment of nature draws on 15,000 reference materials, and has been compiled by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).
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Five Jewish Things to Know About Joe Biden
R. Kampeas – JTA
Joe Biden, a born and raised Roman Catholic who likes to cross himself when making a point, knows what faith he would be if he were ever overcome with doubt about his own. “If I’m going to switch, I know where I’m going,” the former vice president said in 2016 at an Ohio political event when someone in the audience called him a “mensch.” Biden went on to describe the pile of yarmulkes he had accumulated from attending Jewish events. Goodness knows he’s been collecting them for a while and his Jewish ties run deep … How deep is Biden’s Jewish record? So deep that it was hard to pick just five Jewish things to know about him. Here are his greatest hits …
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The United States may review its ties with countries it deems as being anti-Israel after what a U.S. envoy said on Sunday was a shift in policy toward equating anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a March speech that anti-Zionism – opposition to Israel’s existence as a homeland for the Jewish people – was a form of anti-Semitism, or hostility toward Jews, that was on the rise worldwide and that Washington would “fight it relentlessly”. The State Department’s special envoy for monitoring and combating anti-Semitism, Elan Carr, said this U.S. position could spell reviews of ties with foreign governments or leaders.
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In Florida, Senate Passes Anti-Semitism Bill for Public Schools
Associated Press
A bill prohibiting anti-Semitism in Florida’s public schools and universities is going to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. The [state] Senate unanimously passed the bill Monday … The bill also includes an extensive definition of anti-Semitism, including speech that makes dehumanizing or stereotypical allegations about the Jewish community. The anti-Semitism definition also includes expressing hatred for Jews, calling for the killing or harming of a Jewish person, criticizing the collective power of the Jewish community, or accusing Jewish people or Israel of inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust.
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Bolton’s Vague Press Release Lays Foundation for Military Attack Against Iran
Whitney Webb - MintPress
In a late Sunday press release, National Security Advisor John Bolton announced the deployment of the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group (ABECSG) and a bomber task force to U.S. Central Command as a “clear and unmistakable message to Iran.” … Thus, an attack launched by a “proxy” of Iran on not just assets but “interests” of the U.S. in the region or “interests” of a U.S. ally in the region, would now be sufficient to trigger a U.S. attack on Iran, even if Iran itself was not directly responsible … Given the vagueness of the press release, military action may not even be necessary to trigger a response, as the press release says that “any attack on United States interests or on those of our allies will be met with unrelenting force.”
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Is Trump Being Steered Into War With Iran?
Patrick J. Buchanan
… Taken together, the Bolton- Pompeo threats add up to an ultimatum that any attack by Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, or Iran-backed militias — on Israel, Saudi Arabia, the UAE or U.S. forces in Iraq, Syria or the Gulf states — will bring a U.S. retaliatory response on Iran itself. Did President Donald Trump approve of this? For he appears to be going along … While a Gulf war with Iran might be popular at the outset, what would it do for the U.S. economy or our ability to exit the forever war of the Middle East, as Trump has pledged to do?
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The acting U.S. defense chief has vowed to hold Iran “accountable for any attack on U.S. forces or our interests,” as Washington stepped up its rhetoric and said it was deploying an aircraft carrier battle group to waters near Iran. In a post to Twitter on May 6, Patrick Shanahan, the acting secretary of defense, also accused Tehran of unspecified provocations. “We call on the Iranian regime to cease all provocation. We will hold the Iranian regime accountable for any attack on U.S. forces or our interests,” he wrote. Shanahan’s comments came a day after White House national-security adviser John Bolton said that the deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln, and accompanying ships, along with a bomber task force, was intended to send Iran “a clear and unmistakable message.”
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Another 'Jolly Little War'?: Venezuela
Eric Margolis
… The US has not waged a major successful war since World War II – unless you count invading Grenada, Panama and Haiti, or bombing the hell out of Iraq, Syria, Somalia and Libya … Now, however, the administration’s frenzied neocons want to start a war against Venezuela, a large, developed nation of 32.7 million, at the same time we are threatening war against Iran, interfering all around Africa, and confronting Russia, China and perhaps North Korea. Large parts of the Mideast and Afghanistan lie in ruins thanks to our ‘liberation’ campaigns … More aimless imperial over-reach, more lack of strategy, more enemies generated.
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Rembrandt Died 350 Years Ago. Why He Matters Today
N. Siegal - The New York Times
… Let’s take a moment to consider Rembrandt’s death because it took place 350 years ago this year, in 1669. Museums across the globe, from Amsterdam to the Arabian Gulf, are staging exhibitions to commemorate his extraordinary artistic legacy, and a life that was far from a masterpiece … How do we interpret the life and work of the Dutch Golden Age master who knew great fame but also fell out of fashion in his own lifetime, and who has been resurrected again and again by different generations of art lovers who found new meaning in his work? … Mr. Dibbits said that what he feels people will understand through all of this year’s exhibitions is that Rembrandt, throughout his life, had “a complete obsession with depicting the world around him as it is.”
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Three Teens Have Convinced Mike Gravel to Run for President
T. Stuart - Rolling Stone
A trio of teenagers from New York state have successfully drafted former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel into the 2020 primary. The anti-war octogenarian famous for helping put the Pentagon papers in the public record made his debut with a campaign video underscoring the liabilities of other Democratic candidates and highlighting Gravel’s long political career, before cutting to the ex-senator, who now walks with the assistance of a cane. “It’s time to make some waves to change,” he tells the camera. “I’m Mike Gravel, and I’m running for president.” Gravel’s candidacy is the brainchild of David Oks and Elijah Emery, both high school seniors in Dobbs Ferry, New York, and Henry Williams, now a freshman at Columbia University.
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The Pentagon’s Bottomless Money Pit
Matt Taibbi - Rolling Stone
… “What kind of an organization,” Andy asks, “doesn’t keep track of $20 billion in inventory?” Despite being the taxpayers’ greatest investment — more than $700 billion a year — the Department of Defense has remained an organizational black box throughout its history … Just a few years ago, in fact, it admitted to losing track of “478 structures,” in addition to 39 Black Hawk helicopters (whose fully loaded versions list for about $21 million a pop). That didn’t mean 478 buildings disappeared. But they did vanish from the government’s ledgers at some point … Meanwhile, the Defense Department a few years ago found about $125 billion in administrative waste … The financial reports the Pentagon submits are faked. The Defense Department, for the most part, does not know how much it spends.
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After years of pressure to crack down on hate and bigotry, Facebook has banned Louis Farrakhan, Alex Jones and other extremists, saying they violated its ban on “dangerous individuals.” The company also removed right-wing personalities Paul Nehlen, Milo Yiannopoulos, Paul Joseph Watson and Laura Loomer, along with Jones’ site, Infowars, which often posts conspiracy theories. The latest bans apply to both Facebook’s main service and to Instagram and extend to fan pages and other related accounts. Decried as censorship by several of those who got the ax, the move signals a renewed effort by the social media giant to remove people and groups promoting objectionable material such as hate, racism and anti-Semitism.
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Activists have successfully forced Mastercard to hold a vote by shareholders on a proposal which, if passed, could see the company monitoring payments to global far-right political leaders and white supremacist groups. The proposal aims to see Mastercard establish an internal “human rights committee” that would stop designated white supremacist groups and anti-Islam activists, such as Tommy Robinson, from getting access to money sent from donors using the company’s card payment services. It’s been conceived by US-based political activists SumOfUs, who want to escalate the battle against white supremacists and far-right groups from tech platforms like Facebook, Google, Twitter, Patreon, and PayPal to one of the biggest companies in world finance, in an attempt to choke off donations.
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George Washington Mural 'Traumatizes' San Fran Students; High School May Remove Art
The Washington Times
A San Francisco school district may remove an 83-year-old mural of President George Washington from, ironically, George Washington High School because it “traumatizes students and community members.” The work of artist Victor Arnautoff, a communist, may no longer be progressive enough for “Fog City.” His 13 panels for the high school, created in 1936, have been deemed problematic by the San Francisco Unified School District. Officials say some of the artist’s historical depictions are offensive to Native Americans and blacks … The group claims the mural “glorifies slavery, genocide, colonization, manifest destiny, white supremacy, oppression, etc.,” the Richmond District Blog recently reported.
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Let Venezuela Decide Its Own Destiny
Patrick J. Buchanan
… Trump is reportedly reluctant to intervene. Let us hope that his anti-interventionist impulses guide his decisions. Venezuela’s future is not ours to decide. This civil conflict is not our war. We have not been attacked. Not only is there no justification for U.S. military intervention, but also any arrival of U.S. troops on Venezuelan soil could turn into yet another 21st-century strategic debacle. There could be again Americans killing and dying in a country where no vital interest was imperiled, no matter how obnoxious the regime.
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Cartoonist Blames ‘Jewish Propaganda Machine’ for Condemnation of His Drawing
The Times of Israel
The Portuguese cartoonist behind the New York Times cartoon that depicted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a dog has rejected charges of anti-Semitism, calling critics part of the “Jewish propaganda machine.” Antonio Moreira Antunes, who draws for the Expresso newspaper published in Lisbon, told CNN Wednesday that Jews were not “above criticism.” The calls of anti-Semitism were “made through the Jewish propaganda machine, which is, anytime there’s criticism it’s because there’s someone anti-Semitic on the other side, and that’s not the case,” Antunes told CNN.
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Israeli Ambassador Calls for Criminalizing Anti-Semitism
The Jerusalem Post (Israel)
The only way to stop antisemitism is to criminalize it, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon told reporters in New York on Monday. “The time for talking and having a conversation is over,” Danon said. “What Israel and the Jewish community around the world demand is action – and now.” Danon, speaking on the sidelines of the United Nations Security Council meeting, said that those who engage in antisemitism “must be punished. Whether it is here at the UN [or by] political leaders, editors, policy pundits or college professors, it does not matter. “Antisemitism should have no place in our society,” he continued. “Until it becomes criminal, this bigotry will persist; it will fester. It is only a matter of time until it erupts again in violence and bloodshed.”
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For many white Americans without a college degree, life in America has devolved in a few short decades from one that offered ample economic opportunity into a socio- economic dead end. That’s according to new research from Princeton economists Anne Case and Nobel Prize-winner Angus Deaton, who grabbed headlines in 2015 with their finding that the death rate for middle-aged white Americans had sharply risen. The new research adds color to their earlier findings, helping to explain what’s driving mortality rates for less educated whites beyond that of blacks and their counterparts in other developed countries. The problems don’t hold true for all white Americans, since those with a college degree are enjoying lower mortality rates, they note. Yet for white adults without that piece of parchment, the world has gotten tougher.
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Trump’s Crusaders March to War
Eric Margolis
… This is the latest attempt by the United States to crush Iran’s independent-minded government and return it to American tutelage. The Trump administration has demanded that the principal importers of 1.2 billion barrels of Iranian oil halt purchases almost immediately. This imperial diktat includes China, South Korea, Turkey, India and Japan. The comprehensive embargo is very close to an all-out act of war … The oil embargo not only violates international law, it sets the US on a collision course with some of its most important allies and vassal states … Iran, a proud, ancient nation of 80 million, has become, with Turkey, the most effective opposition to America’s imperial domination of the Mideast and a key supporter of Palestinian rights and statehood. This has put Iran on a collision course with Israel and its influential American supporters …
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The Growing Obsession With Linking Iran to Terrorism
Jefferson Morley – The New Republic
… What exactly is the Iranian terrorist threat? What danger does Iranian terrorism pose to American civilians and U.S. interests? Misrepresenting the complexity of Islamic terrorism has long seemed key to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton’s mad dream of provoking another war in the Middle East … What history tells us about Iranian terrorism is this: Iranian forces and the IRGC will engage in violent attacks on American uniformed personnel when the U.S. (or Israeli) troops invade its neighbors … If Iran is not provoked by invasion of neighboring lands, the IRGC does not attack Americans. At least, that is the record of the last twenty years … The U.S. has nothing to gain by antagonizing a state that in recent history has only attacked American targets when antagonized.
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Where Trump’s and Bibi’s Interests Clash
Patrick J. Buchanan
… While a U.S. war with Iran may be what Bibi wants, it is not what America wants or needs. Consider what 20 years of U.S. wars in the Mideast have cost this country, as China has stayed out of the region and pushed its power and influence into Asia, Africa and Europe … Bottom line: Though Bibi and John Bolton may want war with Iran, U.S. national interests, based on the awful experience of two decades, and Trump’s political interests, dictate that he not start any more wars. Not a single Middle East war this century has gone as we planned or hoped.
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Jewish and pro-Israel groups have condemned The New York Times for publishing anti-Semitic cartoons in its international edition on April 25 and over the weekend. Thursday’s cartoon featured U.S. President Donald Trump wearing a yarmulke, sporting dark-tinted glasses and being led by a dog with the face of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a large blue Star of David hanging from its collar … “The anti-Semitic editorial cartoon in Thursday’s international edition of The New York Times was an outrage. Drawn with great technical skill and conceived with great ignorance, if not hate, this piece was simply a reflection of the Times’ long-standing bias against Israel. The symbolism used was vintage Nazi Germany,” said B’nai B’rith International president Charles Kaufman and CEO Daniel Mariaschin in a statement.
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Israel’s UN ambassador on Monday demanded that the New York Times hold accountable those responsible for publishing an anti-Semitic cartoon, despite an apology issued by the newspaper. The cartoon, which appeared in the international edition on Thursday, depicted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a guide dog wearing a Star of David collar and leading a blind Donald Trump — who was wearing a kippah, or a Jewish skullcap. Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon said the cartoon “could have been taken from the pages of Der Sturmer, the Nazi propaganda paper, and yet these actions have gone unpunished.” The newspaper apologized for the cartoon on Saturday, saying: “The image was offensive, and it was an error of judgment to publish it.”
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Head of Zionist ADL Calls NY Times Cartoon ‘Vile Anti-Semitic Propaganda’
The Times of Israel
Anti-Defamation League chief Jonathan Greenblatt excoriated The New York Times over the weekend for publishing a cartoon that depicted anti-Semitic tropes … The graphic, which was in Thursday’s international print edition, showed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a guide dog wearing a Star of David on his collar, leading a blind US President Donald Trump, seen wearing a skullcap and Hasidic garb. … “I wouldn’t even credit it as a cartoon,” Greenblatt said. “It was anti-Semitic propaganda of the most vile sort. Not only does it not belong in The New York Times, but it in any credible news outlet. It was unconscionable.”
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The Israeli ambassador to the United States linked The New York Times to the “Jew-hatred of growing parts of the intellectual class.” Ron Dermer was speaking Monday in the U.S. Capitol at the annual Holocaust Days of Remembrance organized by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum … “We have also seen one of the world’s most prestigious newspapers become a cesspool of hostility towards Israel that goes well beyond any legitimate criticism of a fellow, imperfect democracy,” Dermer said. “The same New York Times that a century ago mostly hid from their readers the Holocaust of the Jewish people has today made its pages a safe space for those who hate the Jewish state. Through biased coverage, slanderous columns and anti-Semitic cartoons, its editors shamefully choose week after week to cast the Jewish state as a force for evil.”
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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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People are Pooping More Than Ever on the Streets of San Francisco
Business Insider
… Between 2011 and 2018, San Francisco experienced a massive increase in reported incidents of human feces found on public streets. In 2011, just over 5,500 reports were logged by the San Francisco Department of Public Works; in 2018, the number increased to more than 28,000. The government watchdog Open the Books documented the sharp increase over time in a stunning chart … Notably, this is a chart of only documented reports — the actual amount of feces on San Francisco’s streets is likely even higher than these statistics suggest … San Francisco has struggled with a feces problem for years … The issue appears to be related to the city’s struggle to accommodate its homeless population amid skyrocketing rent prices and a decreasing supply of affordable housing.
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Israeli Rabbis at Military Prep School are Caught on Video Praising Hitler
J. Ofir – Mondoweiss
Yesterday, Israeli Channel 13 aired video recordings by rabbi educators at the state-sponsored military prep-academy Bnei David in the West Bank settlement of Eli. The rabbis hail Hitler’s Nazi racist ideology as “100% correct”, only criticizing it for not being applied to the right people … These educators send young men to the army, and have been advocating these ideas for years. They have close ties to lawmakers … Another rabbi, Giora Radler, says that the Holocaust is not what you think, it’s not about killing Jews. It is humanism and pluralism that is killing us for real … Radler: “[Hitler] is the most righteous person. Of course he is right in every word he utters. In his ideology he is right … Now, he [Hitler] is 100% correct, aside from the fact that he was on the wrong side.”
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Embracing Racism, Two Israeli Rabbis Praise Hitler, Urge Enslaving Non-Jews
The Times of Israel
Two rabbis at a pre-military religious academy in a West Bank settlement were recorded making derogatory and racist comments about Arabs, defending Adolf Hitler’s worldview, and openly promoting Jewish supremacy. In a series of undated recordings published by Channel 13 news on Monday, Rabbi Eliezer Kashtiel, the head of the Bnei David academy in Eli, can be heard calling for the enslavement of the “stupid and violent” non-Jews due to their genetic inferiority … In another clip from the Bnei David Yeshiva published by Channel 13, Rabbi Giora Redler can be heard praising Hitler’s ideology during a lesson about the Holocaust. “Let’s just start with whether Hitler was right or not,” he told students. “He was the most correct person there ever was, and was correct in every word he said … he was just on the wrong side.”
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Biden Plays the Race Card
Patrick J. Buchanan
… It does appear that issues of race, tribe and identity are becoming an obsession in our politics. This weekend, The New York Times faced charges of anti-Semitism for a cartoon of a blind Trump in a skullcap being led by a seeing-eye dog with the face of “Bibi” Netanyahu, who had a Star of David on his collar. Recoiling under fire, the Times pulled the cartoon and apologized. On Monday, Rev. Al Sharpton met with “Mayor Pete” Buttigieg. Subject of discussion: Reparations for slavery, which ended more than a century before the mayor was born. “All is race,” wrote Disraeli in his novel “Tancred.” “There is no other truth.”
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Iran’s top diplomat said Wednesday US President Donald Trump’s aim “is to bring us to our knees to talk” — but national security adviser John Bolton and key US allies in the Mideast want “regime change at the very least” and the “disintegration of Iran.” Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said he doubts Trump wants conflict because the president ran on a campaign promise “not to waste another $7 trillion in our region in order to make the situation only worse.” But Zarif said what he called “the B team” — Bolton, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed — is trying “to push Iran to take action” as a pretext for “crazy” and “adventurous” U.S. actions.
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The Invigorating Strangeness of Friedrich Nietzsche
Jonathan Rée - Prospect Magazine
… Nietzsche did all he could to prevent us from bringing his works together to form a stable theoretical edifice, and those seeking to unlock his philosophical secrets have always had to look to his life as much as his writings. It has become customary to regard him as not just an iconoclast but an auto-iconoclast: a philosophical superhero who shattered the idols of his age and destroyed himself in the process. This is the approach taken by Sue Prideaux in her handsome, well-paced and readable new biography.
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US Is 'Most Warlike Nation in History,' Says Former President Jimmy Carter
Brett Wilkins - Counterpunch
The only US president to complete his term without war, military attack or occupation has called the United States “the most warlike nation in the history of the world.” During his regular Sunday school lesson at Maranatha Baptist Church in his hometown of Plains, Georgia, Jimmy Carter revealed that he had recently spoken with President Donald Trump about China … Carter then said the US has been at peace for only 16 of its 242 years as a nation … Carter then referred to the US as “the most warlike nation in the history of the world,” a result, he said, of the US forcing other countries to “adopt our American principles.” China’s peace dividend has allowed and enhanced its economic growth, Carter said.
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America’s Will to War: The Turning Point
Ralph Raico
… Were the Founding Fathers somehow to return, they would find it impossible to recognize our political system. The major cause of this transformation has been America’s involvement in war and preparation for war over the past hundred years. War has warped our constitutional order, the course of our national development, and the very mentality of our people … The turning point was signaled by a series of military adventures: the war with Spain, the war for the conquest of the Philippines, and, finally, our entry into the First World War. Together, they represented a profound break with American traditions of government.
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Winston Churchill's Wartime Document Showing His Plans to Carve up Europe With Stalin Goes on Display
Daily Mail (Britain)
The so-called ‘naughty document’ on which Winston Churchill carved up Europe with Josef Stalin is set to go on public display for the first time. Britain’s wartime leader made the secret pact with Moscow in 1944 as the Allies closed in on victory over Nazi Germany. The sheet of paper showed the percentages of Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Romania and Yugoslavia which would be under Soviet or British control. It is going on display at London’s National Archives in an exhibition called Britain’s Cold War Revealed … The phrase ‘naughty document’ was coined by Churchill himself, who recognised that it could come over as ‘callous’. Churchill said his American allies would be ‘shocked if they saw how crudely he had put it’ … ‘It’s potentially incredibly significant – the fate of millions being decided with the stroke of a pen as a result of a casual meeting.’
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Time to Foreclose on the Churchill Cult
Paul Gottfried - The American Conservative
… As First Lord of the Admiralty [during the First World War], he imposed on Imperial Germany a starvation blockade that resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths. This blockade wasn’t lifted until several months after the hostilities had ended. In the Second World War Churchill supported the terror bombing of German cities, at a time when these population centers could no longer defend themselves and when the war was all but lost … At Yalta the prime minister worked to preserve the British Empire by shamelessly praising Stalin and the Soviet Empire … Throughout his life, he stood for the British Empire, British independence, and an “anti-socialist vision of England.” In the end, Churchill watched all three vanish.
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The Enduring, Dangerous Legacy of Winston Churchill
Mark Weber – Podcast
Winston Churchill, Britain’s premier during World War II, is honored for his stubborn “bull dog” hostility toward Hitler and Nazism, and his important role in ultimately destroying Third Reich Germany. In fact, his policies brought death and destruction on a mass scale, Soviet domination of central and eastern Europe, a shattered British empire, and Britain itself exhausted and bankrupt. The well-polished image of Churchill as a courageous and principled defender of freedom is based on a deceitful and ultimately dangerous narrative of history.
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Myths About Britain’s ‘Finest Hour’
Alexander Cockburn
There’s a myth now about the British hanging together in those dark days [of 1939-1941]. “London can take it,” Ed Murrow told America in his CBS broadcasts. Actually, morale was appalling. Most people correctly had little confidence in the competence of their government and thought Germany was going to win. In the Channel Islands, which the Nazis did take over, the people greeted them hospitably and turned in Jews with zest. The British Ministry of Information employed 10,000 people to read people’s mail surreptitiously, intercepting about 200,000 letters a week, and discovered that people were deeply pessimistic, and thought Churchill was “played out.”
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More states are ditching Christopher Columbus. Vermont and Maine are the latest to join the growing number of cities, states and municipalities that have renamed the October holiday for the people who lived in America long before the explorer arrived. The legislatures of both states passed bills last week that would change Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples’ Day. The bills are awaiting the governors’ signatures … In the past years, there has been heavy pushback on the existing holiday by activists who say honoring Columbus ignores the atrocities that he and other explorers committed upon arriving in the US.
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Yankees Dump Kate Smith’s ‘God Bless America’ Over Singer’s Racist Songs
Daily News (New York)
… For 18 years, Yankee Stadium regularly used Kate Smith’s 1939 recording of “God Bless America” in the middle of the seventh inning. But they ditched it altogether this season, replacing Smith’s rendition with different versions of the song. Why? As the Daily News learned, the Yankees were made aware of Smith’s history of potential racism. Smith was a famous singer before and during WWII who recorded the offensive jingle, “Pickaninny Heaven,” which she directed at “colored children” who should fantasize about an amazing place with “great big watermelons,” among other treats.