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Several members of the Irish parliament speak pointedly about the West’s​​ “double standards” by imposing sanctions on Russia after invading Ukraine, but failing to do the same against Israel for its decades-long violations of basic rights and international law. As MPs note, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other prominent human rights organizations have condemned Israel as an “apartheid” state, with detailed reports on the Zionist regime’s discriminatory and oppressive policies. One lawmaker also notes: “EU members have profited well from Israeli apartheid over the years. Since 2012, EU member states have sold arms to Israel to the tune of nearly 700 million euros per year.” Runtime: 5:35 mins.

The United Nations’ ongoing Commission of Inquiry investigating rights abuses in Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip following last year’s 11-day fight between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, released its second report on Thursday, calling on the Security Council to end Israel’s “permanent occupation,” and on individual UN member states to prosecute Israeli officials. The 28-page report, which will be presented to the General Assembly on October 27, accuses Israel of violating international law by making its control over the West Bank permanent, and by annexing land claimed by the Palestinians in Jerusalem and the West Bank, and Syrian land in the Golan Heights.

The US Department of Commerce has announced plans to increase its enforcement of pre-existing anti-boycott laws, in an attempt to place pressure on the Arab League to normalise relations with Israel. The new policy, announced by the department on Thursday, would increase fines against US companies boycotting Israel, and also increase its focus on foreign subsidiaries of American companies. The policy builds on a US law passed in 1979, which states American companies and individuals will face criminal and civil penalties for participating in the Arab League’s longstanding position to boycott Israel. Matthew Axelrod, who oversees anti-boycott enforcement at the Department of Commerce, unveiled the new policy in a memo to department staff and at an event at the American Jewish Committee’s Washington office.

Her heart steeped in far-right tenets, as a young teen Giorgia Meloni embarked on an ideological quest that has propelled her – 30 years later – power to the height of government power. The September 25 election victory of Brothers of Italy, a fast-growing, nationalist party with neo-fascist roots that she helped create a decade ago, gave Meloni a springboard into the Italian premiership. By forging coalition deals with right-wing and conservative allies, she created what on Saturday will take office as Italy’s first far-right-led government since the end of World War II. Scrappy and plain-talking, Meloni, 45, stands out in the clubby world of Italian politics … characterized by decades of unkept promises. When she is sworn in on Saturday as premier before Italy’s president, Meloni will begin her tenure as the first woman to lead Italy.

… The truth is Moscow’s redline concerning Ukrainian entry into NATO was always real. Eastern Ukraine and Crimea were always predominantly Russian in language, culture, history, and political orientation … For Washington, there is a morally responsible and practical answer: Kiev should stop the bloodletting and make the best possible peace with Moscow it can. Unfortunately, for Washington this solution is unthinkable. As long as Washington delivers cash, military assistance, and equipment to Ukraine, Kiev will fight its unwinnable war, and Washington’s ruling political class will profit from the transfer of cash to the Pentagon and the U.S. Defense Industrial Base. But Washington, its NATO allies, and Ukrainians will gain nothing of strategic value, while Russia is likely to grow stronger. That is a development Washington will regret.

History records that on October 16, 1962, then-US President John F. Kennedy received information from the CIA about the deployment of Soviet missiles in Cuba. This event was the formal beginning of the Cuban Missile Crisis – the first, and for a long time, the only event in world history that brought humanity to the brink of nuclear war. Back then, cool heads – who had not yet forgotten the horrors of a real war – were able to prevent a catastrophe. Whether today’s leaders will show the same restraint is far from certain … The Ukraine and Cuban crises were both rooted at least partly in the same principle: A superpower can’t stand idly by when a geopolitical rival upsets the security balance between them. In 1962, the trigger was the secret placement of Soviet missiles in Cuba, right on America’s doorstep.

In 1995, conservatives cast off Sam Francis for being a virulent racist. Nearly 30 years later, Blake Masters has openly recommended Francis’s book, his name is cited in conservative conferences, and his thinking is hailed as a prescriptive path forward for Republicans’ post-Trump presidency … Now – nearly 30 years later – rising names in the Republican Party are trying to bring Francis back into the fold. His name comes up in speeches at conservative conferences; at the 2022 National Conservatism Conference, Hillsdale College professor and former Heritage Foundation fellow David Azerrad cited Francis when arguing that American law unfairly targets conservatives while oppressed groups get a free pass … Francis’s return is not a random occurrence, it’s part of an ongoing test of the limits.

Two of the major superstitions of our time are the notion that man is merely a blank slate whose behavior is merely the product of the social environment and its sister, that race doesn’t exist. Yet one by one, the pseudo-scientific sources of these myths are being discredited by serious scientists, and last week, one of the biggest sources of all took a nose dive. Franz Boas, often called the grandfather of modern anthropology and a pioneer pusher of the idea that race is not a very meaningful concept, merely a “social construct” not found in nature, probably ranks with Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud as one of the most influential thinkers of the modern age.

A work by Nazi painter Adolf Ziegler hangs in Munich’s Pinakothek museum, and German artist Georg Baselitz says it should be removed. Ziegler persecuted Jewish and so-called “degenerate” artists under Hitler. It’s an eye-catching work, simply because of its size: The three-part painting “Four Elements” by Adolf Ziegler depicts four naked blonde women, who are said to embody the four elements … It hangs in the newly curated permanent exhibition at the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich, one of Germany’s major art museums. Now, German artist Georg Baselitz has written a letter speaking out against hanging the painting and calling for it to be removed from public display … According to the Süddeutsche Zeitung, the triptych in the museum is identified as one of the “best-known works of National Socialist art production.”

… The longer the war continues the harder it is going to be to avoid the utter destruction of Ukraine … The only practical way to stop the actual fighting would be to agree on a ceasefire. This is difficult for the Ukrainians since they are liberating some of the occupied territories, but the reality is that if the war continues Russia is capable of damaging Ukraine more than Ukraine can damage Russia without risking a wider war. As principal arms supplier to Ukraine, the U.S. should encourage the Ukrainians to agree to a ceasefire … At present, none of the relevant parties to the conflict in Ukraine seem to be willing to stop fighting and enter into genuine negotiations to bring peace in Ukraine. Until this changes, the fighting stops, and serious negotiations get underway, the world is headed for an outcome where we all are losers.

It’s been 60 years since our last brush with nuclear suicide … The central lesson of the Cuban Missile Crisis provides our only extant guide to defusing a nuclear crisis … The missile crisis seized the world’s attention in October 1962. President John F. Kennedy announced that the United States had discovered Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba “capable of striking Washington.” He demanded that the Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev, remove them. That led to the most crucial long-distance negotiation in human history. All of Kennedy’s military advisers urged him to order massive bombing of Cuba … The carefully concealed truth did not emerge for more than a decade. Kennedy, it turns out, had made a secret deal with Khrushchev.

… Who controls Crimea and the Donbas has, in the history of U.S.-Russian relations, never been an issue to justify a war between us. America has never had a vital interest in who rules in Kyiv. Through the 19th and almost all of the 20th century, Ukraine was part of the Russian Empire or the USSR, ruled from Moscow … For us, the crucial concern in this Ukraine-Russia war is not who ends up in control of Crimea and the Donbas, but that the U.S. not be sucked into a war with Russia that could escalate into a world war and a nuclear war. That is America’s paramount interest in this crisis. Nothing in Eastern Europe would justify an all-out US war with Russia. … Recall: President John F. Kennedy sought to provide an honorable way out of the Cuban missile crisis for the Soviet dictator and nation who precipitated it.

Former US president Donald Trump railed against US Jews on Sunday, telling them to “get their act together” and accusing them of not being appreciative enough of his support for Israel, while claiming he was so popular among Israelis that he could “easily be” elected prime minister. In a statement posted to his social media platform Truth Social, Trump argued that “No President has done more for Israel,” and wondered why “our wonderful Evangelicals are far more appreciative of this than the people of the Jewish faith, especially those living in the US.” … Trump urged Jews in the US to “get their act together and appreciate what they have in Israel – Before it is too late!” He did not elaborate. Trump has frequently castigated US Jews for their perceived lack of gratitude and support and often conflated Israeli interests with those of American Jews.

American model and fashion designer Carmen Ortega Baljian spread an antisemitic conspiracy theory on her Instagram page of 2.5 million followers last week. “They own banks, they own the media, and in our politics heavy. Who’s awake yet?” she wrote. … Ortega also recently wrote on another Instagram story post: “Have short version of the Talmud just in case anyone has any more doubts. It’s time to wake up baby. What’s happening to Kanye is a direct example of everything. So when I’m always preaching stop voting pro-Israel. You are supporting the very people or the people’s people that think it’s okay to do what they are doing to him. Our government is infiltrated with the same type of evil. Be intelligent. The truth is antisemitic. Let that sink in,” she wrote.

Katie Halper recorded a segment for The Hill’s “Rising,” defending Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib from attacks over calling Israel an apartheid state. The Hill presents itself as a channel that opposes cancel culture and censorship. Halper says she was told that The Hill has a ban on opinion videos about Israel. When she pushed to have it aired as a show segment, she says she was fired. Halper came to BreakThrough to say what The Hill wouldn’t allow. Here it is uncensored.

The protests that erupted in mid-September after the death of Mahsa Amini also grew out of widespread discontent over core economic challenges for the average Iranian – cost of living, unemployment, limited opportunity, sanctions, and a weak currency … In August 2022, the price of food was up 81 percent compared to the previous year … Various polls have long reflected a deepening public frustration with the economy. Nearly two-thirds of Iranians said that domestic mismanagement and corruption had the greatest impact on the economy … The economy has long suffered from inefficient state management, nepotism and rampant corruption. U.S. sanctions, reimposed after President Donald Trump abandoned the nuclear deal in 2018, have further hampered Tehran’s economic prospects.

Three weeks after a prominent pro-Israel activist accused the University of California, Berkeley, of creating “Jew-free zones,” two trucks rolled into town to address the controversy. One of them displayed a massive picture of Adolf Hitler. “All in favor of banning Jews, raise your right hand,” read the billboard on the side of the truck. The truck had been dispatched by a political advocacy group called Accuracy in Media … The truck was part of a larger campaign to combat antisemitism on college campuses and was meant to oppose the nine Berkeley Law student groups that recently announced they had adopted a bylaw pledging to bar Zionist speakers from campus … But whatever the truck’s intended effect, its presence frightened students and drew condemnation … Some passersby threw rocks at the vehicle.

Australia on Tuesday reversed the previous government’s recognition of west Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and said the issue should be resolved as part of peace talks between Israel and Palestine. “Australia is committed to a two-state solution in which Israel and a future Palestinian state coexist, in peace and security, within internationally recognised borders,” Foreign Minister Penny Wong said during a media briefing. “We will not support an approach that undermines this prospect.” In 2018, the conservative coalition government led by Scott Morrison formally recognised west Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, reversing decades of Middle East policy.

Facing criticism for its inclusion of Polish pogroms against Jews during the Holocaust in its recent report on the damages by Germany during World War II, the chairman of the Polish committee that wrote the document has offered the following justification: The Nazis should have protected them … Included in that list are a number of villages that saw pogroms by ethnic Poles in which hundreds or even thousands of Jews were massacred. The village of Jedwabne in northeastern Poland is the best-known site of one of these pogroms, in which hundreds of Jews — possibly as many as 1,600 — were burned alive or otherwise murdered by their Polish neighbors in July 1941. Similar atrocities occurred in other villages in the area in the summer of 1941, as Germany captured the area from the Soviets, who had brutally occupied it since 1939.

… In short, our country came to be before our republic came to be, and long before what we today call “our democracy” came to be. A country is different from, and more than, the political system that it adopts. France was France all through the Bourbon dynasty, the Revolution of 1789, the creation of the First Republic, the Reign of Terror, Napoleon’s First Empire and the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy — all the way to the creation of the Fifth Republic by President Charles de Gaulle. And beneath the carapace of the USSR, the heart of Mother Russia continued to beat … The point: Neither the regime nor the political system imposed, nor some abstract idea, is the country that predates them and has first claim upon the loyalty of its sons and daughters.

Sheldon Adelson, the Republican Party’s biggest funder over the past decade, used a $20 million donation to a super PAC to pressure then-president Donald Trump to adopt the highly controversial decision to move the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. That quid-pro-quo is described in New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman’s new book, “Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America.” “Adelson’s singular focus was Israel,” wrote Haberman, effectively acknowledging that the former president’s biggest funder was most interested in promoting the interests of a foreign country … Haberman goes on to detail how Trump appointed his bankruptcy lawyer David Friedman as ambassador to Israel and worked with his son-in-law Jared Kushner to “shift the U.S. approach to the region.”

After years of progress, the median earnings gap between black and white men has returned to what it was in 1950, according to new research by economists from Duke University and the University of Chicago. The experience of African-American men is not uniform, though: The earnings gap between black men with a college education and those with less education is at an all-time high, the authors say. The research appears online this week in the National Bureau of Economic Research working paper series. The paper looks at earnings for working-age men across a span of 75 years, from 1940 to 2014. The earnings gap between black and white men narrowed during the civil rights era. Then, starting around 1970, the gap between black and white men’s wages started widening once again.

Sharon Osbourne wants her money back. The former “The Talk” co-host agreed with Kanye West about Black Lives Matter being a “scam” when TMZ asked her about the rapper’s recent antics, from his White Lives Matter shirt to his social media tirades. “Well, we gave $900,000 to [Black Lives Matter], and I’d like my money back, please,” she told a reporter. Osbourne, 69, did not specify why she wanted a refund, but she did express confusion surrounding the outrage over West’s headline-making shirt at his fashion show. “I don’t understand why white lives don’t matter. I don’t understand it. It’s not my culture,” she said. “Everybody matters, don’t they?”

Black Lives Matter Grassroots is suing an executive of Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation (GNF) for allegedly stealing $10 million in donations. In the lawsuit filed last week in Los Angeles, California, BLM Grassroots accuses Shalomyah Bowers, a leader of Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation [BLMGNF], and his Bowers Consulting Firm, of “siphoning” millions of dollars from the group into his own “personal piggy bank.” The suit also alleges that these actions triggered investigations by state and federal agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service, which they claim blazed “a path of irreparable harm to BLM in less than eighteen months.”

… George Floyd’s death triggered an outpouring of contributions to BLMGNF [Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation] and in October 2020, the organization received an infusion of $66.5 million from its fiscal sponsor — an intermediary commonly used by fledgling nonprofits to process donations … BLMGNF was awarded tax-exempt status from the IRS in December 2020, two months after the house’s purchase. The distinction meant the group would have to disclose information about donors and expenditures in an annual filing known as a 990. But BLMGNF has not submitted those forms for 2020 or 2021. It also has problems at the state level: The Washington Examiner reported in February 2022 that California’s attorney general told the group it was considered delinquent.

Ben Bernanke, who led the US central bank during the 2008 financial crisis, is one of three recipients of this year’s Nobel prize in economics. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said it was recognising the trio for research that had changed our understanding of financial crises. The work focused on the importance of avoiding runs on banks. The insights have “improved our ability to avoid both serious crises and expensive bailouts”, the academy said. Mr Bernanke’s research showed how bank runs had prolonged the Great Depression in the 1930s. He later applied some of those lessons during his time at the US Federal Reserve, which he led from 2006-2014.

Ben Bernanke … was also a professor of economics at Princeton, Stanford, NYU, and MIT, as well as an economic advisor, and served … as the Federal Reserve chairman [2006 to 2014] … Bernanke was recently interviewed … He said in passing that Hitler was the guy who got economics right in the 1930s. Here’s the transcript: … “Ironically — and please take this the right way — the person who sort of most understood fiscal policy, in some sense, was Adolf Hitler. Because the rearming of Germany in the ’30s was so big and so extensive — of course, he had other objectives in mind — but the side effect of that re-arming, together with a big highway building program, was such that Germany, which had a very deep depression, actually came out of it much quicker than other countries …”

Why was Adolph Hitler able to lift Germany out of the Great Depression, when policymakers in the US – particularly the Fed – have failed so miserably? … Hitler appointed German economist and banker, Hjalmar Schacht, as President of the Reichsbank and Minister of Economics. Schacht, in turn, launched a groundbreaking fiscal stimulus program that rebuilt the nation’s worn infrastructure and put millions of people back to work. At the same time, Schacht took steps to strengthen the currency, jettison the gold standard, and impose capital controls, all of which served to reinforce Germany’s economic independence … An ascent that depended on “an independent monetary policy of sovereign credit” rather than the issuance of loans by privately-owned banks. (Public money vs private money)

To deal with the massive unemployment and economic paralysis of the Great Depression, both the US and German governments launched innovative and ambitious programs. Although President Franklin Roosevelt’s “New Deal” measures helped only marginally, the Third Reich’s much more focused and comprehensive policies proved remarkably effective. Within three years unemployment was banished and Germany’s economy was flourishing. And while Roosevelt’s record in dealing with the Depression is pretty well known, the remarkable story of how Hitler tackled the crisis is not widely understood or appreciated.

Former White House national security adviser John Bolton insisted on Wednesday that only “regime change” in Moscow can achieve long-term US objectives in Europe. He proposed funding Russian “dissidents” who could team up with mid-level officers to overthrow President Vladimir Putin in a coup. “There is no long-term prospect for peace and security in Europe without regime change in Russia,” Bolton argued in an article titled “Putin Must Go,” which was published by the online journal 1945. Change “must involve far more than simply replacing Putin,” according to Bolton. “The whole regime must go.” … While serving as President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, Bolton championed regime-change policies for Cuba, Venezuela, and Iran …

Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii announced Tuesday that she’s leaving the Democratic Party because she said it’s “now under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness.” In a video statement posted on social media, Gabbard, 41, accused Democrats of dividing the country “by racializing every issue, stoking anti-white racism” and “actively working to undermine our God-given freedoms enshrined in our Constitution.” “The Democrats of today are hostile to people of faith and spirituality,” she continued. “They demonize the police and protect criminals at the expense of law-abiding Americans. The Democrats of today believe in open borders and weaponize the national security state to go after political opponents.”

Former Congresswoman and 2020 Presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard has announced her exit from the Democratic Party. In a video statement, she says: “I can no longer remain in today’s Democratic Party that’s under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers who are driven by cowardly wokeness, who divide us by racializing every issue and stoking anti-white racism, who actively work to undermine our God-given freedoms …, who are hostile to people of faith and spirituality, who demonize the police but protect criminals at the expense of law-abiding Americans, who believe in open borders, who weaponize the national security state to go after their political opponents, and, above all, who are dragging us ever closer to nuclear war.” Runtime: 1:18 mins.

An Irish lawmaker calls out his government’s double standards when dealing with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine vs Israel’s occupation of Palestine. “It took five days for sanctions against Putin and his thugs, but imposing sanctions for 70 years of oppression of the Palestinians would not be ‘helpful’,” says MP Richard Boyd Barrett in remarks in Ireland’s parliament in early March. Runtime: 2:03 mins.

… The atrocity was revealed in accounts by soldiers and villagers decades after the UK left. It now forms part of a file being brought to the British government seeking accountability for Palestinians subjected to alleged war crimes by UK forces. The petition, involving a 300-page dossier of evidence, asks for a formal acknowledgement and apology for abuses during the period of British rule in Palestine from 1917 until 1948, after which Britain rapidly withdrew and the State of Israel was declared. A BBC review of the historical evidence involved includes details of arbitrary killings, torture, the use of human shields and the introduction of home demolitions as collective punishment.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic revealed on Saturday that American and British leaders, including President Bill Clinton, urged Hungary to invade Serbia by land in 1999. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who told Vucic of the request, refused. In a televised address, Vucic said that the US and UK wanted Hungarian forces to push south into Serbia in order to split the Yugoslav military between the front in Kosovo and a new front with Hungary. “Clinton and the British asked [Orban] to attack Serbia from the north so that they could extend our forces from Kosovo and Metohija to Vojvodina,” he explained. Orban, who at the time was one year into his first term in office, refused, and with the help of German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, pushed back against the “pressure from the White House.”

In a Kremlin speech last week, President Vladimir Putin identified Russia’s real “enemy” in Ukraine as “the ruling circles of the so-called West” whose “hegemony has a pronounced character of totalitarianism, despotism and apartheid.” … Reading Putin’s excoriation, it is hard to recall, in four decades of Cold War, or the three decades since, a speech of such relentless vitriol and hostility toward the West … This leaves Ukraine, NATO and the U.S. with some difficult calculations and hard decisions. Are they willing to engage the Russian army in the four oblasts to drive them out, if the Russians, rather than quit these territories, use a tactical nuclear weapon to repel the attacking Ukrainians? … America should be looking to ending this war before it expands into a nuclear war, which this country has sought to avoid since the atomic age began.

On September 27, two explosions severely damaged Russia’s Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines near the Danish island of Bornholm, setting off wild speculation about possible sabotage … Unmentioned amid the incendiary speculation is the explosive condition of the Baltic seabed, which is loaded with dumped artillery shells, chemical weapons including Tabun nerve gas and mines … In short, with all of the unexploded munitions on the Baltic Sea’s floor, it’s not necessary to intentionally blow up the Nord Stream pipelines to cause them to explode.

Sharply rising cases of some sexually transmitted diseases — including a 26% rise in new syphilis infections reported last year — are prompting U.S. health officials to call for new prevention and treatment efforts. “It is imperative that we … work to rebuild, innovate, and expand (STD) prevention in the U.S.,” said Dr. Leandro Mena of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a speech Monday at a medical conference on sexually transmitted diseases. Infections rates for some STDs, including gonorrhea and syphilis, have been rising for years. Last year the rate of syphilis cases reached its highest since 1991 and the total number of cases hit its highest since 1948. HIV cases are also on the rise, up 16% last year.

The vast majority of Americans support diplomacy with Iran to constrain its nuclear program, a survey found Wednesday, amid a stalemate in negotiations to restore a 2015 deal. A wide-ranging annual survey by the Eurasia Group Foundation found that nearly 79 percent of US voters believe the United States “should continue to pursue negotiations to prevent Iran from obtaining or developing a nuclear weapon in the near future.” Former Republican president Donald Trump pulled out of the accord in 2018, calling it the “worst deal ever,” and reimposed sweeping sanctions. But the survey found that close to 72 percent of Republicans backed nuclear diplomacy with Iran.

… Every crime implies motive. The Russian government wanted – at least up to the sabotage – to sell oil and natural gas to the EU. The notion that Russian intel would destroy Gazprom pipelines is beyond ludicrous. All they had to do was to turn off the valves … The hypothesis focuses on the Polish Navy and Special Forces as the physical perpetrators (quite plausible; the report offers very good internal details), American planning and technical support (extra plausible), and aid by the Danish and Swedish militaries (inevitable, considering this was very close to their territorial waters, even if it took place in international waters) … If the hypothesis is correct, this was a glaringly anti-German operation, carrying the potential of metastasizing into an intra-NATO war.

Despite fierce backlash from black celebrities — including a walkout from Jaden Smith — Kanye “Ye” West is not apologizing for his controversial “White Lives Matter” attire during Paris fashion week in France. In fact, the 45-year-old rapper recently doubled down on his criticism of Black Lives Matter in a Tuesday Instagram story. “Everyone knows that Black Lives Matter was a scam,” he declared, seemingly referencing the group’s multiple multimillion-dollar scandals. “Now its over You’re welcome.” … Various models, including Lauryn Hill’s 23-year-old daughter Selah Marley, also hit the runway in shirts bearing the slogan, which was created by white supremacists in response to the Black Lives Matter movement. It has since been labeled a “hate slogan” by the Anti-Defamation League.

For a UK audience, the most striking moment in the new Italian PM Giorgia Meloni’s victory speech will have been that she anchored its peroration to a quote from G.K. Chesterton. ‘Chesterton wrote, more than a century ago,’ she said, ‘“Fires will be kindled to testify that two and two make four. Swords will be drawn to prove that leaves are green in summer.” That time has arrived. We are ready.’ … Chesterton spoke openly and often about the ‘Jewish problem’ – they ‘control other nations as well as their own’ – and wanted British Jews to be deported to Palestine … In short, quoting G.K. Chesterton doesn’t make you a fascist. But if you were a fascist, there’d be no reason to find it peculiar that you’d quote G.K. Chesterton.

The success of Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party in Italy’s national election last week means the country is poised to have its most right-wing government since World War II, when Italy was Hitler’s staunchest ally in Europe. The prospect has unnerved many Italian Jews, even as several of their leaders appear to be taking a wait-and-see approach to Meloni’s leadership, refraining from making public statements about the results … Meloni’s sharp rise — her party got 26% of the vote, compared to 4% four years ago — reflects the rightward shift across much of Europe as more populist, right-wing parties have gained popularity in recent years.

The US suicide rate rose in 2021, particularly among young men, according to official data out Friday — an increase that ends a two-year-decline. The number of suicides rose from around 46,000 in 2020 to 47,650 in 2021, according to preliminary figures released by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The age-adjusted suicide rate per 100,000 people grew from 13.5 in 2020 to 14 last year. The most significant increase was seen among young boys and men between the ages of 15 and 24, where the rate rose eight percent. In 2000, after a decade of decline, the United States recorded a recent low of 10 deaths by suicide per 100,000 people.

Several student groups at the University of California, Berkeley, law school have adopted a bylaw prohibiting pro-Israel speakers at events. Written by Berkeley Law Students for Justice in Palestine (LSJP), the bylaw is meant to ensure ‘the safety and welfare of Palestinian students on campus.’ It added that the organization will hold ‘Palestine 101’ training courses. At least nine groups have adopted the rule so far … Erwin Chemerinsky, the law school’s dean since 2017, identifies as Jewish and recognizes that under this new bylaw he would not be able to speak.

The United States Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights opened a formal investigation into allegations of anti-Semitic harassment and discrimination at the University of Vermont, the office said. The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and the Jewish on Campus (JOC) group filed a complaint, alleging that UVM allowed a hostile anti-Semitic environment to foster on campus. The complaint accuses the university of violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color and national origin in programs and activities that receive federal funding … According to the complaint, Jewish students have expressed fear about identifying as Jewish publicly and have considered transferring out of the school due to the anti-Semitic atmosphere.

… The Soviet scorched-earth strategy included the deportation of millions of men, women and children; the resettlement and reestablishment of thousands of factories; the withdrawal of almost the entire railway rolling stock; the annihilation of raw material depots; the removal of most of the agricultural machinery, cattle and grain stocks; the systematic destruction, burning and blowing up of the immovable infrastructure, inventories of all kinds, factory buildings, mines, residential areas, public buildings, public records, and even cultural monuments; and the intentional starvation of the civilian population which remained behind to face German occupation.

On Monday, Syria’s foreign minister addressed the UN General Assembly in New York and called on the US to end its military occupation of eastern Syria. The US currently has about 900 troops stationed in eastern Syria and backs Kurdish forces in the region. This presence allows the US to control about one-third of Syria’s territory, an area where most of the country’s oil and wheat resources are located. Officially, the US maintains that its presence in the country is about fighting ISIS, but the Syrian government rejects that notion. “Fighting terrorism does not happen through an illegitimate international coalition that violates Syria’s sovereignty and destroys towns and villages,” Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said at UN headquarters. On top of the occupation, the US also maintains crippling economic sanctions on Syria.

The People’s Republic of China called on the US government to stop the plundering of Syria’s oil resources, in a press statement on 22 September. “We call on the United States to respect Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, unilaterally lift sanctions, and end the theft of Syria’s national resources,” said China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin in a news briefing. The call made by the Asian giant comes in light of repeated news that US armed forces have transported oil out of Hasakah governorate to military bases in Iraq. The Syrian foreign ministry revealed the oil sector has incurred losses of at least $107.1 billion since the start of the US-sponsored war in 2011.

As Israel was launching a deadly assault on Gaza, killing thousands of civilians and displacing more than 100,000 people, many of America’s top TV, music and film producers were organizing to protect the apartheid state’s reputation from widespread international condemnation. Together, the Sony Archive – a cache of emails published by Wikileaks – prove that influential entertainment magnates attempted to whitewash Israeli crimes and present the situation as defending itself from an impending “genocide”, liaised with Israeli military and government officials in order to coordinate their message, attempted to cancel those who spoke out against the injustice, and put financial and social pressure on institutions who hosted artists criticizing the apartheid government’s actions.

Decades of deceitful motion pictures have done much to produce a misinformed and compliant American public. A notable example of such film deceit is “Mission to Moscow,” a major Hollywood production made with White House backing, that portrays Soviet dictator Stalin and the Soviet Russian regime as benevlolent, peace-loving and trustworthy. Another good example is the “Why We Fight” series of documentary-style films produced by the US War Department, which have been viewed by millions. Made during World War II, these seven films use staged scenes and fake quotations to present a grossly distorted view of history and the world.

With an investigation continuing into the destruction of the Nord Stream gas pipeline that provided energy supplies to Europe from Russia, there appears to be just one prime suspect, and that should surprise nobody. Following the sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines, former Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski already seemed to know the identity of the perpetrator when he tweeted out: “Thank you, USA.” … Was the United States really responsible for the destruction of Nord Stream, as Sikorski seems to believe? Well, if we were are to take bumbling Joe Biden at his word, then the answer would seem to be yes … There are other clues that point to American complicity.

Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that sanctions pressure on Moscow is not enough for Anglo-Saxons and they have moved on to sabotage. “Sanctions are not enough for Anglo-Saxons. They have turned to sabotage, it’s unbelievable, but true, having organized explosions on the international gas pipelines of the Nord Stream, which run along the bottom of the Baltic Sea, they have actually begun to destroy the pan-European energy infrastructure,” the head of state said … “The US diktat is based on brute force, on fist law.” … Putin continued that this explains the deployment and maintenance of hundreds of military bases in all corners of the world, the expansion of NATO, attempts to put together new military alliances …

Nearly 60 percent of Americans would support the United States engaging in diplomatic efforts “as soon as possible” to end the war in Ukraine, even if that means Ukraine having to make concessions to Russia, according to a new poll. The survey, conducted by Data for Progress on behalf of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, also found that a plurality (49 percent) said the Biden administration and Congress have not done enough diplomatically to help end the war (37 percent said they had) … The survey also found that 47 percent said they support the continuation of U.S. military aid to Ukraine only if Washington is involved in ongoing diplomacy to end the war, while 41 percent said they would support aid regardless of whether the United States is engaged in negotiations.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is the latest liberal leader to call for an international alliance to censor speech. Unsatisfied with the unprecedented corporate censorship of social media companies, leaders like Hillary Clinton have turned from private censorship to good old-fashioned state censorship. Speech regulation has become an article of faith on the left. Ardern used her speech this week to the United Nations General Assembly to call for censorship on a global scale. Ardern lashed out at “disinformation” and called for a global coalition to control speech.

Since 2011, Berlin police have been required to record whether a criminal suspect up to the age of 21 has a migrant background, even if he or she has a German passport. However, this important data point has been secretly abolished since Aug. 3, with this development only now coming to light … In recent years, approximately three-quarters of all suspects under the age of 21 arrested for serious crimes such as murder, manslaughter, rape, sexual assault, and assault have a migrant background … As Remix News has previously reported, foreigners account for a massively disproportionate amount of serious crimes in Germany, including murders, rapes, and assaults, as is the case elsewhere in Europe. In Berlin alone, foreigners account for nearly half of all rapes despite making up only 19 percent of the population.

The radical right’s clear victory in Italy’s election is a historic and disturbing moment in European politics. Formed 10 years ago, and with roots in a formerly fringe neo-fascist tradition, Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party will dominate the most rightwing administration to govern the country in the postwar period. The third-largest economy in the eurozone and a founding member of the European Union, Italy has now become a beacon and a model for nationalist, authoritarian forces across the continent … The bigger picture, for those committed to the internationalism and liberal democratic values forged by the EU since the second world war, is a depressing one. Among the first to congratulate Ms Meloni on her victory was Marine Le Pen, who suggested that “the whole of Europe is waking up, after Poland, Hungary, Sweden and now Italy”.

Sunday was an historic election day for Italy. A conservative alliance with a populist flair absolutely trounced the technocrats who had been running the country into the ground for the past several years … On the eve of the Italian elections, the unelected [EU executive Ursula] von der Leyen warned Italians that if they voted for the “wrong” parties they would be punished. Asked about the surge of the political opposition in Italy on the eve of the elections, she warned Italian voters, “we will see the result of the vote in Italy. If things go in a difficult direction — and I’ve spoken about Hungary and Poland — we have the tools.” In other words, her message to Italian voters was “yes you can vote, but if you vote in a way I do not approve of, you will be punished.” Italians rushed to vote in a way she did not approve of. It will be interesting to see what happens.