The Presence of Evil 311


I have frequently explained that when I sat in the International Court of Justice and heard Israel’s lawyers tell lie after lie to justify or excuse the Gaza genocide, I could feel I was palpably in the presence of evil.

At least in the Hague you could also feel and indeed observe that most people in the courtroom – including the majority of the judges – were repulsed by the evil.

Yesterday that same evil, and the same lies, was manifested in the US Congress by Netanyahu, to an audience which glorified, reflected and amplified that evil.

Let us not forget that the large majority of citizens of the world, including majorities in many Western countries with pro-genocide leadership classes, are indeed repulsed by and reject the genocide.

The United States has now, openly and before the entire world, endorsed its genocidal imperialist project and rejected both the very notion of international law and the institutions which a more idealistic American generation worked so hard to create – the United Nations and the International Court of Justice.

Netanyahu’s slanderous attacks on the institutions of international law were applauded to the rafters by America’s political leaders. The whole world was watching, and took note.

The Zionist project per se is evil. To steal another people’s land and subject them to long and progressive genocide is about as evil a deed as can be imagined.

There is no such thing as a moderate or progressive Zionist. Apartheid, ethnic cleansing and genocide are fundamental to the entire Zionist project.

I am hopeful that for an entire younger generation around the world, any notion that the United States are the “good guys” has now been destroyed. The reduction of international relations to USA = good guys vs Russia and China = bad guys was never true.

In Europe I am also hopeful that this will lead to a more widespread realisation that NATO is anything but a force for peace and stability, that the destruction of Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan was a series of terrible crimes, and that Ukraine/Russia is massively more complicated than the media would have you believe.

We always have hope, we always have courage, and we always have determination. The fight for truth and freedom never ends.

 

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311 thoughts on “The Presence of Evil

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  • Jack

    Just like Starmer’s partner, Kamala Harris partner – Douglas Emhoff – is jewish and an ardent zionist. And look at this:

    Harris slams ‘despicable’ protests at DC’s Union Station during Netanyahu visit
    https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/4792454-kamala-harris-slams-protests-benjamin-netanyahu-speech/

    What have the world become? She condemn her own voting base, people of grassroot – in defense for a foreign leader that is without any doubt to anyone is a warcriminal!?

    I cant take this woman, zero charisma, hysterical laughing and siding with a genocidal right-wing warcriminal.

    • Goose

      They say seeing is not always believing : nowhere does this apply more than in the US.

      I find things like the pro-Hamas graffiti on historic monuments and the burning of the US flag, odd, when Israel’s leader is the source of their anger,..really odd. It may be part of a strategy to discredit what is a growing movement?

      It wouldn’t be the first time similar strategies have been used. It’d only need a few pro-Israel infiltrators doing wild things, to discredit the pro-Palestine protests.

    • Laguerre

      “Kamala Harris says ‘I will not be silent’ on suffering in Gaza after Netanyahu talks” (Graun)
      At least she did say that. If she really did say it to his face, as she maintains, it will certainly turn the Lobby against her, and conceivably make a Trump victory more likely.

        • Laguerre

          Much the same as Starmer withdrawing British objections to the ICC issuing warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant. They’re forced into it, but it’s a good sign that it’s the way politics is going. Israel is not free to do what it wants (which is what Netanyahu believes).

    • Greg Park

      A massive effort is now underway to sell Kamala Harris as a humane woman who has somehow been opposed to the genocide.

      It is all just invention. Even by US standards there few more hardcore zionists than Kamala Harris. This is an individual who boasted to AIPAC that her first act in the US Senate was to co-sponsor a bill condemning the UN Security Council for itself condemning the expansion of settlements in the West Bank. For context, that was one of the only UNSC resolutions on Israel that the US government had ever vetoed. That is where Kamala Harris was on the scale of zionist fanaticism long before October 2023.

      Her complicity in this adminstration’s genocide is summarised here by Ali Abuminah and Nora Barrows-Freeman of Electronic Intifada.

      How Kamala Harris is complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide
      https://youtube.com/watch?v=nGhq6sxIVgw&si=d9Lrw7gZ_ryNTNVC

      • M.J.

        I believe Ilan Pappé’s recent book “Lobbying for Zionism on both sides of the Atlantic” shows how the two were confused by means of Zionist propaganda. I look forward to a cheaper paperback edition.

  • Republicofscotland

    Nato and its corporate buddies war on Russia has been devastating not just for the citizens of Europe but for the citizens of America and the UK, with many EU governments the (US) government and the (UK) government sending billions in aid which includes weapons to Ukraine, and Israel, instead of investing the monies back home in its people and infrastructure.

    No countries people gave their politicians the nod to send these vast amounts of money and aid to what are essentially vile regimes – to make matter worse the giving away of billions to these regimes came off the back of the Covid pandemic and Brexit, the latter was hugely damaging to the (UK’s) economy and now the full effects of it are in full swing.

    This had led to an extensive and prolonged cost-of-living-crisis, which was compound by the sanctions on Russia and the Tory government of the day giving the green light to energy firms to bump up their prices which resulted in the big energy firms posting bumper profits at our expense – again we didn’t give any government the nod to allow these already very profitable companies to make obscene profits that have left many in the (UK) unable to heat their homes, and in some cases folk attending foodbanks are asking for cold foods – foods that don’t need heated to eat them.

    There’s very little difference between Labour and the Tories policies. Oh, Starmer might talk a good game but that’s it: he won’t even entertain scrapping the two-child benefit cap. And in Scotland the SNP government promised to have free school meals for all children which they never implemented – the kids that don’t get the free school meals are still waiting for them.

    Is it any wonder then that there’s a rise of independent MPs as people move away from parties that promise much but deliver little. The SNP government has badly let down Scots and they paid for their poor performance at the GE, I think come the 2026 elections they’ll suffer badly again.

    Starmer like Biden, Trump and Harris supports the Zionists, their parties having received funding from pro-Israeli people and outfits.

  • DunGroanin

    “ evil, and the same lies, was manifested in the US Congress by Netanyahu, to an audience which glorified, reflected and amplified that evil.…..Western countries with pro-genocide leadership classes”
    CM

    “Vampires Ball”
    VVP

    The Collective Waste enjoying their Bread and Circus as the Empire in decline, Falls!

  • sally

    As they say: takes one to know one! This site feels palpably evil, too (that’s 6 words). I’m posting this thought after 66 previous thoughts: 666. There you go!

  • El Dee

    In this country I think most Labour voters are against the genocide. They may well be against many of the policies Labour isn’t going to cancel from the previous administration too. In this respect Starmer’s ‘Who else are you gonna vote for’ strategy has been successful. Concentrating on key seats, concentrating on key issues (ie the ones Tory voters might care about) has won a majority of seats with the minority of votes. Gaming the system to the extreme.

    But my question is, why do THEY support the genocide? I don’t think the support is natural and have assumed it has been enforced by the US in some way. I’d actually prefer to think that..

    • TStone

      In the US, you (mostly) cannot get elected to Congress without donations from AIPAC and other Jewish-American PACs. Virtually all Congressmen are dependent on this money to get elected or reelected. Many congressmen take up Israel’s offer for free trips to Israel on fact-finding missions, where they learn Israel’s point of view on matters. Biden has taken over a million in donations from AIPAC over his career. This is what makes congressmen ardent, unquestioning supporters of Israel. Note that Progressive Congressman Jamaal Bowman was recently defeated in the primary by $20 million raised by AIPAC to unseat him.

      JFK got AIPAC (American Israeli PAC) to register as the agent of a foreign government. LBJ undid that when JFK was assassinated.

      • Peter Mo

        Being pro Israel gets in the money; however, once the money is in, the way to get voted in is being pro Palestinian or pro peace. Very few politicians have cottoned onto this rationale.

      • Townsman

        You have the right idea, but it’s a bit more subtle than that.
        It’s not that they all need donations from AIPAC to get elected. It’s rather that any politician who opposes Israel’s interests will face massive donations to his/her opponent at the next election. This way, AIPAC’s limited funds can be targeted effectively.
        That’s what happened to Jamaal Bowman – he wasn’t even opposed to US support for Israel, AIPAC targeted him because he didn’t toe the Netanyahu line exactly.

  • Andrew Ingram

    Any non Zionist lawyer defending Israel ought be in the dock beside Israel as there is no way that they can believe or pretend to believe in Israel’s case. They are wilfully trying to deceive the court.
    Lawyers defend their clients from a position of “believing” their client’s assertions of innocence, impossible in the world of 24/7 live news concerning Gaza.

    • Lysias

      If only lawyers who believe in their clients’ innocence can defend them, then where will the clearly guilty get legal representation?

      • Andrew Ingram

        Old Scots law/custom gave a few folk the authority to condemn murderers to death on the spot should they witness the deed. City Provosts.

      • Andrew Ingram

        Sorry to labour the point, what I should have said is that a lawyer is forbidden from defending somebody they know is guilty. They assume their client is innocent and sets boundaries.
        Nuremburg on the other hand……..

  • Spartacas

    First politicians cynically lie in order to get elected, then they gaslight us on an industrial scale. No wonder some feel hated and threatened!

  • Stevie Boy

    Interesting to note that amongst the genocidal happy clappers was Elon Musk. Apparently, a special guest of beelzebub himself.
    That’s Elon of the overpriced, low quality, hard-to-sell golf buggies, Elon the purveyor of security products and data for the security state. He will be in familiar company in hell.

  • Jordo42

    The things you say in this article are very obvious to much the world especially the global south. However…..it’s increasingly clear that a huge contingent of Europeans are onboard with the genocide, probably due to rampant xenophobia and islamaphobia, and willing to JOIN the genocidal “reconquista” Project for the New American Century. Even as vassals.

    That is currently the biggest problem, a continent with as many quislings, as not.

    • zoot

      “it’s increasingly clear that a huge contingent of Europeans are onboard with the genocide”

      it’s clear even on sites like this. last week’s media-political chorus that Biden is a good guy, notwithstanding the genocide, was openly parroted on here without challenge. so too unabashed support for Bomber Harris. this is clearly a very acceptable genocide even to many self-styled heretics and dissidents.

    • Townsman

      a huge contingent of Europeans are onboard with the genocide

      1. They’re used to trusting their local mass media (the BBC, the Guardian, Times, Telegraph) and haven’t noticed that since about 2014 none of these actually do real journalism – they just publish government and corporate press releases, and employ drones like Andrew Marr who can be trusted to believe the official lies.
      2. There’s an element of “support the home team”, which has always existed (“My country, right or wrong”).
      3. In most of continental Europe, there is no real tradition of free speech. For example, ISPs must block access to websites like rt.com in the EU – by EU law. (Of course, rt.com’s content is slanted – but so is the BBC’s.) It’s impossible to form a balanced view if all you ever see is one side’s propaganda. EU residents can get round the block by using a VPN, but most don’t know that.

  • Harry Law

    It must be remembered that the native American Indians had Genocide committed against them over almost two centuries, followed by the indigenous peoples of Africa being shipped to all parts of the US, not just the Southern states, of course segregation was legal in the US [not abolished until as late as the 1960s. Now the US Congress is backing Genocide and Apartheid in Israel.
    Winston Churchill approved of the Pioneers takeover of the Americas arguing that this “manifest destiny” was the will of God, i.e., a superior breed taking over an inferior one, the indigenous Indian population. How many filmgoers did not cheer when the pioneers wagon trains were being attacked by the “savages” and a bugle sound was heard followed by the US cavalry [the good guys] massacring the “savages”?. Similar things happened in many Colonial situations (Algeria for instance).

    The moral of the story is, if you are a Colonist and you are stronger than the indigenous population AND the surrounding states, then you can stay; if you are not and the arc of resistance acquire the means to repel the Colonizers as the arc of resistance has, then Israel must come to terms with that opposition. Of course they will not, therefore they will be defeated.

      • will moon

        Yea it was but they didn’t kill everyone and replace them with colonists. It was a series of campaigns, over a long period of time – the goal was political control not racial extermination

        • JK redux

          Will Moon

          A nuanced reply, thank you.
          But in the end the result is the same, whole peoples and cultures subjugated.
          The slow progress of Muscovy to the E was because of limited resources, not any choice to moderate the evils of colonization.

          And of course any “republic” that attempts to leave the Russian Federation will be punished – e.g. Chechnya. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chechnya

          This all shows that the pretensions of Russia to be an anti colonial actor, particularly in Africa, are simple hypocrisy.

          • will moon

            The thing is the method of colonisation has many ramifications both for the colonised and for the colonial power.

            In the case of colonosation of the Americas, nearly all the indigenous inhabitants were slaughtered.Not the case in Czarist expansion towards the eastern coast or southern borders

            As for Chechyna, it is complicated. Putin used the war to cement his hold on power, in a manner similar to Margrat Thatcher using her adventure in the South Atlantic to cement her hold on power. Chechnya is on Russia’s borders, not so the Falkland Islands, which are many thousands of miles from Britain – geography plays a part

            I am old. When I first came to myself in Northern Britain all those years ago, I found myself living in a society that was steeped in petty and not so petty racisms. I grew up in a home environment that contained no reference to the colour of someone’s skin, in any negative way nor the culture that someone might come from. Back then there were not many like me but today things are different. I put most of those perceptions of racism down to the method of colonisation that Britain employed

            Think of colonisation as a machine. Such machines need fuel and racism is one such fuel, there are other fuels. Russian colonisation did not include genocidal racism – this is important. The recently used phrase “Bongo-Bongo Land” is a reference to this genocidal racism as employed by Belgium, Holland, Britain, America, France, Spain, Italy, Germany etc – other phrases like “civilising mission” are the same. This is baggage Russia does not have to deal with

            “ Dead president’s corpse in the driver’s car
            The engine runs on glue and tar
            Come on along, not goin’ very far
            To the East to meet the Czar ”
            Run With Me – The Doors

          • Squeeth

            @ JK redux

            I was under the impression that Chechen separatism (like so many) was fabricated by American Caesar. As for secession, quite a lot of the old USSR left in the 90s. In the US the American Bismarck, Abraham Lincoln, fought a civil war to prevent it.

          • Ewan2

            Hi Will Moon – Some trivial info: Jim Morrison’s Dad , Rear Admiral George Morrison, ” held significant commands of US naval forces during the Vietnam war.” Seems quite at odds with Jim’s persona.

          • will moon

            Ewan2

            “Grandma loved a sailor who sailed the frozen sea
            Grandpa was that whaler and he took me on his knee
            He said, “Son, I’m going crazy from livin’ on the land
            Got to find my shipmates and walk on foreign sands”
            Land Ho! – The Doors

            Yes, Jim Morrison came from “the Power Elite” as C Wright-Mills styled them. He was not alone. There were many other counter-culture figures with somewhat similar backgrounds.

            What to make of it? Well I follow Stalin’s dictum here “No man, no problem”. Morrison’s death preserves the image.but nothing more. Linda Ronstadt was a great artist, with some great songs but she lived to an old age – I last heard from her a decade ago spouting off on some right wing platform. When the “star” outlives the “moment” there will be dissonance

            “The old get old
            And the young get stronger
            May take a week
            And it may take longer
            They got the guns
            But we got the numbers
            Gonna win, yeah, we’re takin’ over
            Come on!”
            Five To One – The Doors

            Psyop or revolutionary anthem? – you decide lol

            “I am the Lizard King, I can do anything”
            Jim Morrison

      • Yuri K

        No. Everyone who accepted the rule of the Tzars got equal rights with the Russians. This wasn’t so in British, French etc colonies.

          • will moon

            Yea, here in Britain we’re all “subjects” of the Crown and we have an “unwritten” constitution

          • Yuri K

            The serfdom was abolished circa 1863, but before that it existed only in the old Russian provinces. The newly annexed lands never knew serfdom. Thus, there never was any serfdom in the whole Caucasus, including its North; in Novorossia (Crimea and Odessa, Kherson and Yekaterinoslav regions); in Siberia and the Far East etc.

  • Alyson

    Russia is not the USSR

    From Britannica:
    ‘Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), free association of sovereign states that was formed in 1991 by Russia and 11 other republics that were formerly part of the Soviet Union. The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) had its origins on December 8, 1991, when the elected leaders of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus (Belorussia) signed an agreement forming a new association to replace the crumbling Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.). The three Slavic republics were subsequently joined by the Central Asian republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, by the Transcaucasian republics of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, and by Moldova. (The remaining former Soviet republics—Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia—declined to join the new organization.) The CIS formally came into being on December 21, 1991, and began operations the following month, with the city of Minsk in Belarus designated as its administrative centre.

    Commonwealth of Independent States headquarters, Minsk, Belarus.

    Russian: Sodruzhestvo Nezavisimykh Gosudarstv
    Date: December 21, 1991 – present

    The CIS’s functions are to coordinate its members’ policies regarding their economies, foreign relations, defense, immigration policies, environmental protection, and law enforcement. Its top governmental body is a council composed of the member republics’ heads of state (i.e., presidents) and of government (prime ministers), who are assisted by committees of republic cabinet ministers in key areas such as economics and defense. The CIS’s members pledged to keep both their armed forces and the former Soviet nuclear weapons stationed on their territories under a single unified command. In practice this proved difficult, however, as did the members’ efforts to coordinate the introduction of market-type mechanisms and private ownership into their respective economies.

    In August 2008, following an escalation of hostilities between Russia and Georgia over the separatist region of South Ossetia, Georgia announced its intention to withdraw from the CIS. The withdrawal was finalized in August 2009. A similar proxy war broke out in eastern Ukraine in 2014 after Russia’s illegal annexation of the Ukrainian autonomous republic of Crimea. By 2018 at least 10,000 people had been killed in clashes between Ukrainian armed forces and Russian-backed paramilitary units in the Donets Basin. In May of that year, Ukrainian Pres. Petro Poroshenko officially withdrew Ukraine’s membership from the CIS.’

    An article in The Guardian in 2010 described the two navies in Crimea as being old Russian alongside Americanised Ukrainian uniforms and socialising in the ports. Kazakhstan had long stability under its previous leader and has managed to balance relationships with Russia and the West. This excerpt is biased of course.

  • Peter

    Novara Media reported yesterday evening that perhaps as early as today the UK government will ban the export of weapons to Israel and, despite significant pressure from America not to do so, will withdraw its objection to the ICC’s request for arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw1yemRfc_8

    Well, well, well. We shall see.

    In other major developments, equally unreported in the MSM (not that I keep an eye on them, so maybe something somewhere), fresh from astonishing the world with their mediation of a rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia, China has now brought together the Palestinian Authority, Hamas and twelve other Palestinian factions to create a unified Palestinian front to address and deal with the post-conflict situation in the Palestinian territories.

    https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/wjb_663304/wjbz_663308/activities_663312/202407/t20240723_11458788.html

    Well, well, well.

    Syriana Analysis have a full discussion here:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=543iH2Gv2LQ

    • Peter

      One down, one to go:

      “Britain drops its challenge to ICC arrest warrants for Israeli leaders”

      https://www.theguardian.com/law/article/2024/jul/26/britain-drops-challenge-icc-arrest-warrants-israeli-leaders-netanyahu-gallant

      Though it seems any ban on weapons sales to Israel will take longer and be more equivocal, pending the legal advice of the new Attorney General.

      From the above article:

      “The foreign secretary is also preparing to announce a partial ban on the sale of weapons to Israel, sources have told the Guardian.

      One source said Lammy was preparing to ban the sale of “offensive” weapons, but not “defensive” ones that could be used to defend Israel from attacks from abroad.”

      And the difference between “offensive” and “defensive” weapons is … ?

      I think most would say “nothing”.

      • Greg Park

        I suspect the legal advice for those who have facilitated the genocide looked grim for Labour, especially for Starmer and Lammy.

        • Peter

          I suspect so too.

          Not for nothing did the previous government keep their legal advice secret, which they were almost certainly contravening. I’m sure Starmer and Lammy would have recognised this too, as most of the rest of the world did, but maintained their disgraceful and disgusting 100% support for Israel regardless.

          Awaiting the legal advice of the new Attorney General may be little more than a narrative device, but the appointment of Richard Hermer, who is openly critical of Israel, in that position marks at least a change of tone from Starmer. How significant that is, if at all, remains to be seen.

      • Stevie Boy

        The UK challenge probably had no legal standing, so probably a big fat nothingburger, just PR.
        However,
        The UK government has provided special diplomatic immunity to scores of foreign officials accused of committing serious violations of international law”
        “Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz among ten Israelis granted special immunity from prosecution”
        https://www.declassifieduk.org/how-britain-shields-israel-from-war-crime-charges/
        So, bottom line is, ignore the PR, The UK will NOT prosecute or arrest any murderers classified as friends of the UK.

        • Peter

          All good point, thanks.

          However,

          “The UK government has provided special diplomatic immunity to scores of foreign officials accused of committing serious violations of international law”

          But to none who are accused of as serious a crime as genocide which the whole world has witnessed.

          “The UK will NOT prosecute or arrest any murderers classified as friends of the UK”

          Perhaps, but that’s not entirely the point, and as someone once said ‘the future is unwritten’.

          The government’s positions on both of the above issues – ICC arrest warrants and weapons sales – are almost certainly driven by legal considerations rather than moral ones, but given that they have declined to do as requested/demanded by the US; have appointed an Attorney General who is openly critical of Israel; are now adopting positions which are at odds with their previous 100% support for Israel; and that the current situation is far more serious than anything mentioned in the Declassified article; it is possible that in this situation they may – just may – adhere to the law more rigorously.

          Of course, no one will be expecting UK arrests, but the arrest warrants, if they are granted, which is no foregone conclusion, may disincline the accused to visit the UK and just by withdrawing the objection to the warrants sends out a signal.

          Just how significant all that is – or isn’t – remains to be seen.

      • Jack

        Usually an arms embargo is of coursed finished within a day if there was a genuine interest to begin with, no, this is nothing but a nasty deceitful PR attempt to garner support by the pro-palestinian voting base to claim “they are doing something”.
        Like Israel need more arms, bullets by the way… It is like putting an ice embargo on the North pole. As stupid.

        • CabbagePatch

          It’s not really about “Arms” per say.

          Planes need virtually constant maintenance and spares. Zionist State is utterly dependant on Air power, without that, or without sufficient parts to keep the planes flying, they are unable to continue.

          The ground fighting doesn’t suit them as they are conscripts with poor training who were expecting to oppress a defenceless civilian population.
          UK supplies parts for UAV which Palestine Action is disrupting. There are other parts which go into the planes, and we have reports of UKSF presence advising Zionist State Terrorist group.

      • Alyson

        Weapons are being made in the UK by Israeli owned companies. It is not clear whether they are enmeshed in our own Defence planning. Fishing boats were banned from going out to sea for 2 days while the nearest firm tested its latest weaponry. The company purchased the former MOD property freehold for £30,000 several years ago and it is to be hoped that oversight is in place.

        They prioritise making drones including the ones that took out our recent ‘Aid workers’ with precision accuracy.

        Talking of buying freehold. I keep getting adverts of Saudis and Chinese cash buyers wanting to buy our property for sale. It should not be so easy for non UK citizens to acquire property and freehold across the UK.

        The combined force of Saudi and Iran is not to be sniffed at. Saudi plays for both sides and has quite a few solid footings in the UK including majority shares in Heathrow Airport and football clubs. Russia’s commitment to defending Israel from Iran has been the basis of a lot of brinkmanship, but Iran Russia and China is a formidable foe.

        Winding down the current conflagration created by Israel with the complicity of the US and Europe needs to be a priority. It is complicated.

    • Mr Mark Cutts

      Does the Devil have a Deputy when he’s on holiday?

      These things are not the work of Evil people – these works are the work of greedy and vain money-grabbing people who are nothing like their claimed hero Jesus. They must have missed the bit about throwing the money changers out of the Temple (an attack on Usury) and the parable about fishes and loaves (sharing).

      If anyone thinks that Zionists (Christian or jewish) give a crap about Jesus or Moses or The Ten Commandments, they ought to get out more. All of the above worship Mammon and their God is not God at all – their God is money and the gaining thereof.

      From an atheist, that sounds religious, but I do recognise a material provable scientific fact that their bank accounts and incomes prove to me that although all the claims are allegedly spiritual their actions are absolutely material. Ask their bank and Fund managers.

      Kamala may only just be the Deputy standing in for the Devil but she has not been confirmed yet and the Devil’s cousin Donald has to avoid being smited before the election. I don’t know what Trump can do in office to the PTB, but something deeper than Trump being an arse is worrying them.

  • Jack

    Netanyahu egging on americans against the iranians just like he did pre-Iraq invasion and the foolish americans believe every word he say:

    Trump says US should wipe Iran ‘off the face of the earth’ if Tehran kills him
    Trump made the remarks alongside a brief video of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu bringing up alleged Iranian plots against Trump in his address to the US Congress on Wednesday.
    https://english.alarabiya.net/News/united-states/2024/07/25/trump-says-us-should-wipe-iran-off-the-face-of-the-earth-if-tehran-kills-him

    In a way Netanyahu is the typical cult leader. All the traits are there: Good orator, rhetorically skilled, deep determined voice, he know exactly what words, topics to use to get what the wants, incredibly manipulative, theatrical, narcissistic, authoriatarian, merciless etc that is why the congress stood almost 60 times up appluading him, they are brainwashed by his words.

    • Squeeth

      @ Jack, are you referring to the clown who gave a speech with a drawing called ‘Beurm’ to make his lies more believable?

  • Republicofscotland

    As the opening ceremony of the Genocide Games (Olympics) is set to kick-off later its been reported that there was an arson attack on the Parisian rail network.

    The IOC has demeaned these games by allowing the Israel’s athletes to compete in them when their government is committing genocide in Gaza. Israel was also allowed to compete in the footballing Euros and in the Eurovision Song Contest.

    Regarding the Genocide Games if athletes don’t boycott the games, by competing shoulder to shoulder with Israeli athletes they are all but endorsing what the Israeli government is doing in Gaza and the West Bank.

    Boycott the Genocide Games (Olympics).

    • Courtenay Francis Raymond Barnett

      Republic of Scotland,

      Isn’t there a stark contrast with how the IOC has treated Russian athletes and how the Israeli ones are responded to?

      • Republicofscotland

        Courtenay Francis Raymond Barnett

        Without a doubt and it reflects badly on the IOC, but its not just the IOC, the ICC issued a warrant for the arrest of Putin, but it hasn’t issued a warrant for the arrest of Netanyahu or Zelensky for war crimes.

        You had the OSCE spying for Ukraine in the Donbas, AIEA personnel leaving the compounds of the ZNPP on several occasions just before Ukrainian forces bombed Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.

        This is just a couple of the incidents that shows European bodies’ bias against Russia.

    • Goose

      Some immediately blamed Russia. And Israel claimed it must be Iran?

      In reality, it’s probably simply vandalism, or some issue that’s more parochial. How many groups have grievances over the costs of hosting the Olympics? Let’s face it, in France, the appropriate response to the question of, ‘who do you think could be responsible?’ is, ‘how long have you got?’ because it’s a long list.

      I too heard they won’t allow the Russian athletes to parade – but Israel’s are allowed to? Make sense of that?

      • Laguerre

        No, it’s not simply vandalism. It was a clearly coordinated attack at well-chosen spots on three hi-speed lines, and another attack failed on the TGV Southeast. I’m currently in one of the trains delayed; looks like 3 hours delay but I’ll get there. As you say, the list of potential culprits is lengthy, but it’s not Russia or Iran. At any rate only a symbolic political message; they didn’t dare do it in Paris because too many gendarmes, so do it outside Paris, which will cause confusion at the opening. But apart from Starmer having to take a plane, and a train full of athletes missing, the opening hasn’t really been disturbed.

      • Jack

        As I posted in the Forums earlier today, Macron claimed that Russia was about to sabotage the Olympics earlier this year and voila, there we have it.
        https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/forums/topic/ukraine-date-nov-2023/page/27/#post-99762
        False flag in the making?

        As far as Israel/Russia, yeah Russia was banned instantly but Israel is more than free to participate even though the severity of crimes commited by Israel far exceed the crimes by Russia in Ukraine both in quality and quantative measure.
        The IOC Wants the Olympics to Be Apolitical. That’s Impossible
        https://time.com/7000067/olympics-2024-paris-gaza-israel-ukraine/
        Banning certain nationalities/ethnicities is the direct opposite of what the Olympics is about. It is insane how this double standard could go on, not even the Arab League had the heart to pull out and boycott this event.

          • Laguerre

            I could imagine the Americans doing it, like Nordstream, but there’s no necessity for a high-level actor.

          • David Warriston

            The real political skill lies in alarming your citizens, not actually terrifying them. So Macron and the rest can casually spread alarm about Putin invading Europe, of Russian hackers, Muslim extremists and sabotage at the Olympics.

            But when that sabotage actually happens, as it did today, then it is noticeable how reticent the normally virulent pro-NATO western media is to cast aspersions. For that would be an acknowledgment of security failure and might elicit tangible fear, a stage beyond alarm.

            The same applies to reports of NATO HQs being obliterated by Russian bombs: such stories are effectively ignored in western media such as the claimed attack last week in which the Russian media posted a figure of around 50 casualties, mostly British. Much the same applies to the series of explosions inside various military installations inside the USA. When acknowledged they are swiftly described as ‘accidents.’

            It’s a rather Alice in Wonderland world, one where Russia, China and Iran are blamed for events they had nothing to do with but are sometimes excused for what they actually did do. The ‘Terrometer’ must be kept to a fine calibration.

      • Republicofscotland

        Goose.

        I’d imagine that France having a large community that’s opposed to the genocide in Gaza, and knowing that Israelis athletes are competing in the Paris Genocide Games (Olympics) that some sort of sabotage should be expected.

        Of course the sabotage can then be blamed on the likes of Russia, Iran, NK, China etc.

        It was reported in the news yesterday that the Israeli athletes and their entourage are receiving a high level of security at the games.

        • Goose

          RoS

          Attention tonight seems to be turning to France’s ‘Black bloc’.

          The Black bloc are a militant outfit that’s neither left or right ideologically. They’re all across Europe and they were once a regular feature in protests where the international elite were gathering. You may be old enough(?) to recall the very violent – running street battles – G8 protests in Genoa, Italy, in 2001; part of a series of worldwide anti-globalization protests. The black bloc wear all black, hence the name; they see themselves as revolutionaries who take direct action.

          • Johnny Conspiranoid

            “they see themselves as revolutionaries who take direct action.”
            Bunch of CIA-linked provocateurs more like.

          • Laguerre

            The Black bloc is largely a fictional invention of the right. Left-wing violence, of whom nobody has ever been able to identify a single actual member, just a mythical group to hate.

          • Republicofscotland

            Goose.

            A kind of dressed-in-black Gladio group who give genuine protest groups a bad name, a group that’s main goal is to turn folk against Antifa – is that about right? They might have had a good militant cause at one point, but it sounds as though they’ve been infiltrated.

            “Since the anti-World Trade Organization “Battle of Seattle” in 1999, gangs of young, masked street fighters have been highly visible international protests. These are broadly known as the Black Block, in reference to their dress code of black clothing, ski masks, scarves, sunglasses, motorcycle helmets, or other face-concealing items to conceal wearers’ identities and hinder criminal prosecution by making it difficult to distinguish between participants. Their tactics, which concentrate on the destruction of property, is a strategy of tension designed to create violence between the larger protests, the majority which don’t agree with the violent tactics, and police. Over the years, many exposures have revealed many members of the Black block as agents provocateurs”

            https://wikispooks.com/wiki/Antifa

  • AG

    On Assange: The German Foreign Office internally apparently stressed that Assange should be described not as a journalist, aware that this would weaken his position. I don´t know if we´ll hear more. It´s from the content of some FOIA-requested records which have become public via BERLINER ZEITUNG. If there is more I´ll post in the forum.

    • Jack

      Disgusting but “92000” lives are nothing according the evil people in power. Remember how they justified some 500000 iraqi children being killed due sanctions. “It was worth it” they said and they will use the same heinous words to justify the onslaught in Gaza when they are done.

      Let’s remember Madeleine Albright for who she really was
      The former US Secretary of State, who once publicly admitted that she thinks the deaths of half a million Iraqi children were ‘worth it’, was no force for ‘democracy and human rights’.

      https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2022/3/25/lets-remember-madeleine-albright-as-who-she-really-was

      That this systematic killing could go on today, in a 24/7 real time streaming network/news atmosphere…unthinkable. It proves that there are too much people in power that is psychopatically morally corrupt and too weak to protest. I remember when the brave top UN official – Craig Mukhiber stepped down early on believing it would trigger other people to do the same but nothing happend.

  • El Dee

    I’m somewhat surprised by Starmer withdrawing from the action over the ICC warrants. It makes no difference legally but the fact he even wants to be PERCEIVED as being other than genocide supporting is a shift in itself.

    A limited (very limited) ban on weapons to Israel may also be on the cards. Obviously all of this is a sop to the public but even that is a shift. Public protest can work but it must continue until real action is taken..

  • Allan Howard

    The reason hundreds of thousands (of mainly young men, both Russian and Ukrainian) are dead or maimed and millions displaced is because evil people set out to make it happen. As with the smear campaign against Jeremy Corbyn and Ken Livingstone and many other left-wingers. And all that Julian endured was on account of evil people, as with Craig of course.

    The planet is run and contolled by the most evil people on it, and it’s precisely for that reason that it is the way it is.

    As for Netanyahu, you would have thought he would mention the 40 beheaded babies if it really happened…..

    • Republicofscotland

      Allan Howard.

      It looks like there will be more deaths, some using banned weapons.

      US cluster bombs for Kiev go through Germany (RT, 26 Jul 202)

      “The US military delivers several types of cluster munitions to Germany and stores them on its territory before handing them over to Ukraine, German broadcaster NDR reported on Thursday. This means Berlin could be in violation of a UN convention banning the weapons, though it denies any knowledge of the situation, the outlet said.

      Cluster munitions are banned by more than 110 nations under the 2008 UN Convention on Cluster Munitions due to the extreme danger they pose to civilians. They scatter small bomblets that can remain unexploded after the initial blast and effectively become mines.

      The controversial ammunition is stored at a US-owned depot in the town of Miesau in western Germany, NDR said, citing a spokesman for the US Army Europe and Africa Command. The munitions are then sent on to Ukraine as part of Washington’s military aid, he said.”

          • JK redux

            J Lowrie

            I think that we all share your concerns for the welfare of Russian troops in Ukraine, potentially under attack by the Armed Forces of Ukraine using cluster munitions and other unkind weapons.

            Happily they will be in no danger from the AFU once they fvck off back to Russia.

          • pretzelattack

            @JK redux they aren’t going to fuck off back to Russia until the US and the NATO countries fuck off back to their home countries, tails between their legs like whipped dogs.

        • Laguerre

          I’m surprised to see PM isn’t up to realising Wiki is only a propaganda sheet, when it comes to politically sensitive questions.

        • Republicofscotland

          Pears Morgaine.

          I’m merely pointing out that the West isn’t the good guys that its media portrays it to be, the West has demonised Russia, China, NK, Iran etc. We’ve been told they’re the bad guys and that we the West (good guys) bring democracy and freedom wherever we go – but no mention of cluster weapons.

          • JK redux

            Republicofscotland

            Russia is an autocracy that murders internal dissidents and has launched a bloody unprovoked war against its neighbour.

            China is a one-party state controlled by an autocrat.

            The DPRK/N Korea is an autocratic totalitarian state that has reduced its people to peonage.

            Last and perhaps least the Islamic Republic of Iran is a theocracy that pretends to be a democracy but in fact is ruled by a clerical clique. It hangs dissidents and punishes women who refuse to wear the clerics’ prescribed clothing.

            No need to “demonise” the already diabolical…

          • Laguerre

            JK redux

            Iran is a limited democracy, like UK. Very similar system. Just citing evidence-free fabrications is not useful, but then a worthwhile statement was not your point.

          • Republicofscotland

            JK Redux.

            Oh right I see we are the good guys then (tongue pressed firmly into cheek), so what we done in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya to name but a few of the many “interventions” was to bring democracy and freedom to their peoples.

            And for the last century the (US) has been working hard to bring democracy and freedom to Central and South America, and here am I wrongly thinking that the (US) was only serving its own interests.

            Then there’s Africa-Europe and the (US) must also be working very hard to bring freedom and democracy there as well, as they’ve been doing so for over a century.

            Also Operation Gladio and Operation Gladio B were just friendly ops to highlight how lucky we in the West really are compared to other countries.

            We might not be as oppressed domestically as some other nations’ citizens are but boy do we make up for it abroad by oppressing other nations’ citizens.

            Oh and we support genocide in Gaza.

          • Republicofscotland

            JD Redux.

            Just a wee comment, tell me how many undemocratic regimes in West Asia is the West propping up right now?

            Regimes that would be overthrown by their own citizens if the West wasn’t aiding and abetting their oppression.

          • Frank Hovis

            JK
            “It hangs dissidents and punishes women who refuse to wear the clerics’ prescribed clothing”.

            Sound like a right bunch of perverts, those Iranian clerics, trying to make women wear their prescribed clothing. Do they make them wear false beards as well?
            I believe you are an inhabitant of a country that was, in all but name, a theocracy until very recently, namely the Irish Republic. Any thoughts about that?
            People in glass houses…………….

          • Pears Morgaine

            A bit of ‘whataboutery’ there Frank?

            I don’t recall the Garda ever being able to torture to death any woman caught not wearing a headscarf and the Republic abolished the death penalty in total in 1990, the last execution having taken place in 1954. By contrast judicial murder in Iran is on the increase.

            https://worldcoalition.org/2024/06/20/frightening-increase-of-executions-in-iran/#:~:text=By%20World%20coalition%20against%20the,increased%20from%20582%20to%20834.

          • Frank Hovis

            You’re sounding almost as desperate as you near namesake does on his show on GBeebies (a.k.a. GB News), Pears. Anway, my comment wasn’t addressed to you. I want a reply from the organ-grinder, not his monkey.

          • Frank Hovis

            And, Pears, if you want any more information on how the Irish Republic used to treat some of its young women and girls until very recently, just google “magdalen laundries” and “mother and baby homes”, then I’ll be willing to engage with you on the subject of whataboutery.

          • Frank Hovis

            Talk TV, GB News, Fox(Faux)News, William Joyce, Pravda, Volkischer Beobachter, Radio Free Europe, BBC News, what’s the difference?
            Lapsed Agnostic, Practising Pedant.

  • Republicofscotland

    They’ve been touring European nations to drum up further support – confident the name change will adhere more folk to their nefarious cause.

    The Ukrainian Neo-Nazi led regime has rebranded its Neo-Nazi Azov brigade. It is now known as the Third Assault Brigade. New name, same evil vile people and ideology.

    • Tatyana

      I am also surprised that the pro-US, pro-NATO and especially pro-Ukrainian commentators present here have not yet mourned the untimely death of Iryna Farion, who was shot in the head about a week ago.

      Does no one really want to say a few kind words about the former MP, doctor of philology, member of the far-right Ukrainian political party, university professor of political technologies, and public figure? Nobody?
      Or, is there a concern that then it would be necessary to once again expose the Nazi essence of Ukrainian regime?

      • Republicofscotland

        Yeah I read that last night wasn’t she a Svoboda party member, she had many enemies, as you say her death will be attributed to Russia, just as some of the Western media has already blamed Russia/Iran for the rail network outage in Paris.

        If Harris doesn’t become POTUS or Maduro retains his presidency it will be down to Russian/Iranian/Chinese interference.

        Don’t you know it was Russia’s fault that CrowdStrike crashed the world last week.

        “Crowdstrike was one of the main technical enablers of Russiagate, being behind the technical part of the – false – allegation that Russia hacked the DNC.”

        • Tatyana

          Oh, Crowdstrike! We’ve had a wave of memes on the crash here in Russia, the top ones belong to Petrov and Boshirov, admirers of the ancient spires of Salisbury 🙂
          Curiously, some facts were also reported. Did you know that in 2010, MacAfee antivirus had a glitch with Windows XP, which brought down half of the Western Internet? It cost the company so much that they were forced to sell themselves to Intel.
          The man who was then the technical director of MacAfee is now … the CEO of Crowdstrike and Falcon antivirus, which brought down Microsoft. The man’s name is George Kurtz.

          In any case, Russia is under sanctions, so the Microsoft update that brought down Western machines went unnoticed here, which was considered a blessing.
          BTW, because of the sanctions, monetization on YouTube is disabled here, so we watch videos without commercial ads. There’s a huge public demand for Western companies to maintain sanctions of this type against us for as long as possible 🙂

          Well, and for dessert I will leave a link here, it does not require translation. In the video, the injury of a doctor is staged, in order to take photographs illustrating the attack on a children’s hospital in Ukraine.
          You may remember such an event covered in the Western media on the eve of the NATO meeting. There were also serious showdowns in the UN, and our representative brought evidence that it was a Ukrainian missile.
          https://pikabu.ru/story/gollivud_otdyikhaet_poyavilis_kadryi_podgotovki_vracha_bolnitsyi_okhmatdet_k_premere__kak_delali_instsenirovku_dlya_zapadnyikh_zriteley_11619247

          • Pears Morgaine

            That doctor is not injured, no one’s pretending that he is, this a ‘straw man’. The blood on his clothing has come from someone else; probably a child.

          • Stevie Boy

            Some might remember that BBC (?) were involved in something similar in Libya, during that countries destruction by the west, similar happened in Syria, ie. staging of fake medical crisis.

      • AG

        Tatyana

        You know they canceled Asov´s PR tour through Western Europe due to public resistance. (yeah…! at least something. No comments by the GREENS and the SPD though.)
        Only the Baltics remain destinations, I believe.

      • Crispa

        Vyacheslav Zinchenko, the 18 year old accused of Farion’s murder, seems to be the Ukrainian counterpart of Thomas Crooks, who tried to kill Trump. Both were acting out their political phantasies. On the surface Farion and Zinchenko shared the same Nazi beliefs. The problem was Farion was a linguistic fascist to Zinchenko being a non-linguistic fascist, so he shot her for being the wrong kind of Nazi – many Azov’s evidently being Russian speakers. This is what “standing up for Ukraine” entails.

  • Kirth Gersen

    At j k redux

    Republicofscotland posted a link and excerpt:

    ‘The US military delivers several types of cluster munitions to Germany and stores them on its territory before handing them over to Ukraine, German broadcaster NDR reported on Thursday. This means Berlin could be in violation of a UN convention banning the weapons, though it denies any knowledge of the situation, the outlet said’.

    Your response, in summary, is ‘What about Russia, China, North Korea and Iran?’

    Well, what about them? None of them are allies of the UK, but the US and Germany are. And what about the principle that two wrongs don’t make a right? Just as the killing of between 40,000 and 90,000 people is not a tolerable response to the killing of between 1,250 and 1,500 – or do you not accept that either?

    • JK redux

      Kirth Green

      I was replying to the claim by Republicofscotland that Russia, China, North Korea and Iran had been “demonised”.

      In summary I was noting that the 4 states mentioned had behaved demonically/diabolically to their citizens and neighbours.

    • Tatyana

      This couple of commentors conveniently bring here the English version of Wiki. Yet, Ukrainian and Russian Wiki is in the Russian language and provides us with several links, like this one:
      https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/10/20/ukraine-widespread-use-cluster-munitions
      It’s the report by Human Rights Wartch, dated 2014, and titled “Ukraine: Widespread Use of Cluster Munitions”, describing the use of claster munitions by Kiev against Donbass.
      Inconvenient, because it makes “unprovoked Russian invasion” argument look like top-notch crap fed to you.

      • AG

        re: Human Rights Wartch and cluster munitions – the report from HRW that I Iast read 2023 had stated (but better “assumed”) it was RU cluster bombs.
        However what HRW clearly overlooked – perhaps they have corrected that by now – AFU and RU Army use the same USSR/RU made cluster munitions, not surprisingly. So the munition found in itself gives no origin and hint to who used it.

        • Tatyana

          In 2023 we have ‘invasion’, AG. Invasion that is ‘unprovoked’, ‘full-scale’, etc.
          But in 2014, while Minsk agreements were underway, and there was still hope for some diplomatic peaceful solution, while Germany and France stood as guarantors of the agreement (and haven’t yet confessed they were playing for time to make ukrainian nazis stronger and better armed) – at that time the HRW issued the report that I linked to.
          It reads quite easy in simple language:
          “(Berlin) – Ukrainian government forces used cluster munitions in populated areas in Donetsk city in early October 2014, Human Rights Watch said today. The use of cluster munitions in populated areas violates the laws of war due to the indiscriminate nature of the weapon and may amount to war crimes.
          During a week-long investigation in eastern Ukraine, Human Rights Watch documented widespread use of cluster munitions in fighting between government forces and pro-Russian rebels in more than a dozen urban and rural locations. While it was not possible to conclusively determine responsibility for many of the attacks, the evidence points to Ukrainian government forces’ responsibility for several cluster munition attacks on Donetsk. An employee of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was killed on October 2 in an attack on Donetsk that included use of cluster munition rockets.”

      • JK redux

        Tatyana

        If the Russian invasion was not “unprovoked”, why did Russia not declare war on Ukraine rather than repeatedly deny their intention to invade?

        Almost reminiscent of the Nazi force build-up before Unternehmen Barbarossa…

        “Oh no, we have no hostile plans, just force exercises.”

        Some of us were naive enough to believe the lies that Lavrov and Putin spoke in early 2022.

        (Remember the amusing cartoons of NATO troops dying of old age while waiting for the Russian invasion? Not so funny now.)

        Never again.

        • David Warriston

          Perhaps because such declarations are as unfashionable these days as declarations of marriage. Has NATO ever declared war? The USA?

          The SMO was Russia’s response to the gathering attack dogs being trained close to its borders. The idea was for Russia to bare its own teeth and remind the west that the Minsk accords were there for a reason and should be honoured. It almost worked at Istanbul in April 2022, which was around 500,000 dead bodies ago.

          When that peace deal collapsed there was no point in Russia declaring war on Ukraine since it now understood it was engaged in a military battle with NATO. This is understood by both parties and scarcely needs to be declared.

          • JK redux

            David W

            You ask has NATO ever declared war? The USA?

            Well yes. (Though as NATO is not a state it cannot declare war?)

            The US declared war on the Empire of Japan after Pearl Harbour.

            I expect that they reciprocated Nazi Germany’s declaration of war shortly afterwards?

            There were many declarations of war late in WW2 as smaller states lined up with (as they hoped) the likely victors.

            The unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 was I think the first major land war in Europe post WW2.

            And not preceded by a declaration of war.

            Even Hitler’s Germany declared war on the USSR as it invaded.

            (Whatever did Russia’s ambassador say to the Ukrainian Foreign ministry as he asked for safe passage East I wonder? “Very sorry, can you order me a taxi”?)

        • Pears Morgaine

          Possibly because it’s not a war according to the Russians, it’s a ‘special military operation’, people in Russia have faced prosecution for using the word ‘war’.

          Both sides used cluster weapons from the start of the ‘special military operation’; this is a matter or record which makes it particularly hypocritical of Kremlin propaganda outlet RT to point the finger at the US/Germany.

          https://cat-uxo.com/explosive-hazards/aircraft-bombs/rbk-500-ptab-1m-aircraft-cluster-bomb

          • Tatyana

            Possibly because it’s that you’re a propagandist, Pears Morgaine?
            Look at me, I’m a Russian. Read my lips: war, war, and war again, I say.

            There’s a law for state media to use Special Military Operation (SMO) phrase. Those who aren’t state-paid media people are free to use whatever they like.
            Only if they get state money, they’re to use SMO, by law.
            Quite natural, to me. You get paid, so you do what you’re paid to do.

          • AG

            “Only if they get state money, they’re to use SMO, by law.”
            See, that kind of info nobody gives you. Literally nobody.

            (Personally I am against censorship of any form but as German media go – state and non-state – we are lightyears away from any uncensored speech. That´s history. In certain areas – like Palestine – we never had it in the first place. Hypocrisy has become our second nature.)

      • j lowrie

        Not nearly as diabolically as their neighbours have behaved to them. Recall that the following countries have invaded Russia since 1917: Poland, Britain, Hungary, Austria, Spain, Romania, the US, Italy, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Japan, Finland. Some of them have also invaded China – Britain, for one, to force opium on China. Never was a democratic referendum held to ascertain whether the citizens of Russia and China wanted to be invaded!

  • Tom74

    But actually, like much evil, the idea that Netanyahu is the focus of evil is a lie. Most likely he is merely a puppet leader for the United States power in the Middle East, with all the talk of “antisemitism” or zionism merely a smokescreen for that. The Netanyahu – and indeed the Zelenskiy – visits to Washington are basically theatre to try to prop up the illusion of American power.

    • Rosemary MacKenzie

      Tom, Netanyahu is a psychopath. He has no regard or empathy for his own people let alone the Palestinians or anyone else. He is useful to someone and that someone is providing the funds for his murderous career. It can’t just be the US govt, the zionist faction is obviously hugely rich – I don’t know who they all are – Rothschilds is one of them. As for Zelensky, he was voted into power in Ukraine in 2019, on the platform of making peace with Russia, sorting out land reform and kicking out the IMF. Ukrainians got hugely poorer with IMF interference. Wasn’t one of the causes of the 2014 coup that Russia offered Ukraine a fourteen billion dollar loan with no strings attached in contrast to the IMFs offer with all kinds of neoliberal economic reforms. The Ukraine government of the time of course accepted the Russian offer; who wouldn’t? The Ukrainian nazis told Zelensky they would hang him from the nearest lamppost if he tried to implement his platform. Since then he has been shuffling around the world with his begging bowl in his clown outfit. The rulers, whoever they are, of Ukraine have something on him – family, money who knows. The rest of the world – those in the west with a bit of skepticism and the whole non-Western world are laughing themselves sick at the sight of American power. Behind this, is of course, a huge, huge tragedy – the Palestinian situation is appalling, Ukraine is on its knees and its young slain, Russia has lost many of its young – I don’t know how many but too many. The only upside for Russia is that sanctions have made it immeasurably stronger, and for the rest of us maybe a multipolar world is with us and the illusion of American power is just that – an illusion. I hope the illusion comes crashing down very soon to end all this suffering. I hope to live to see it!

    • Alyson

      Netanyahu is the acceptable face of Israel. Smotrich is the devil in the detail. Netanyahu followed in the footsteps of Kissinger, who negotiated with Putin to ensure the safety of Israel for as long as they never attacked Iran. Iran is a huge and peaceful, stable country, from the temperate north to the desert south. Iranian mothers weep for their sons who die fighting in Syria and Yemen, but are reminded that if they don’t fight the proxy wars, then war will come to them.

      The sabotage of the Iranian nuclear project was achieved thanks to a television show in Iran which visited the research facilities and revealed close up of screens and numbers on items. The successful achievement of infiltrating the computer systems slowed the progress considerably, but progress was eventually achieved and Iran is ready. There is a documentary about this remarkable piece of sabotage.

      The agreement between Israel, Iran and Russia was originally brokered by Kissinger and was renewed from time to time by Netanyahu with Kissinger’s say so, to allow the occupation of the Golan Heights, for example, which Russian war planes closely monitored at the time, patrolling the border as it was redefined. Iran has always been a signatory to this agreement which keeps their country safe as well as Israel. To hear Netanyahu calling for the obliteration of Iran is chilling.

      Israel allegedly has the A bomb. It is allegedly the only country to have this weapon which destroys all life while leaving buildings standing. These weapons are allegedly stored 30 miles deep underground.

      Smotrich was elected on the platform of killing every single Palestinian and he has now made it lawful in the West Bank to do so, with the backing of the IDF. There is no humanity in these genocidal killers. But Netanyahu knows the long history and the risks to the existence of Israel, and seems to think a gamble on World War Three might pay off. Saudi is the wild card. Saudi plays for both sides. Diplomacy is working very very hard to address the risks.

  • AG

    Jacobin has a short piece on how Western academia failed Gaza. Something which I have repeatedly mentioned as I find it particularly appalling. Being jacobin.com it is however about Anglo-American institutions which are much more entangled in the exploitative character of the capitalist system that feeds (on) this genocide. Which is not an excuse but a powerful explanation.

    However in continental Europe the vast majority of universities is still state-funded and they are still by no means enterprises on the level of GB and the US. Yet here protest is even less.

    University staff in Germany, France, Austria, Italy could have much more leverage on the traditional organisational level to boycott their governments´ and university heads´ complicity.

    But there isn´t anything going on. (okay I might unfairly lump together all those very different countries, especially Italy.)

    But the voluntary nature of accepting the killing is much more visible and thus shocking in Europe. They simply have no good excuse to not act. The state will always try to construct some flimsy legitimate justification because its existence is based on a deal, on moral, on trust and belief. That´s why there are revolutions.

    Corporations are different. There was never a corporation I know of that voluntarily would become a humane institution minimizing the pressure for profit and intentionally produce a deficit in order to help increase conditions for their work force. Corporations need no legitimacy once created.

    They are entirely self-serving. They exert power through capital. And that´s it. They do not need justification. In a system where corporations´ investment grant a university´s research they have much more power than a state which you could sue in court. You can´t sue GE for stop funding MIT.

    So Europeans are actually much worse if you take into consideration their potential space to act since their academic system is much less relying on fascist corporations.

    From the Jacobin piece this quotation which is about Ivy League:

    “(…)
    Take the head of my own institution. At her investiture as vice-chancellor of the University of Oxford in January 2023, Professor Irene Tracey summed up rather eloquently one of the university’s key missions:

    What is the point of a university like Oxford if we don’t have the boldness, integrity and confidence to think differently, to think deeply, to speak truth to power, and to teach our students how to recognise truths and untruths in a world of increasing complexity, short attention spans and disinformation?

    Truly uplifting words. Yet, when it came to speaking truth to power over Gaza, by calling out Israel’s atrocities and the role of Western powers — including the UK — in abetting them, the University of Oxford (like most universities) chose to stay silent. When challenged over that silence by the student protests, the management refused any dialogue and took the path of repression (just like its Ivy League counterparts in the United States).
    (…)”

    see:
    https://jacobin.com/2024/07/academia-gaza-genocide-self-censorship

  • David Mitchell

    Israel is full of Arab and Palestinian homosexuals who have the freedom to express their identity in gay pride marches in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv without being hanged or thrown off of the roof of a building.
    If you could show me some similar moral reciprocation in Gaza or Tehran, it would be easier for me to get behind your incredulity.

    • Erik

      David, we’re going one step better and eradicating all gay people from Gaza – and all the children and the women! So, all sorted by us ever so civilized Westerners. 🙂 What country should we civilise next? Saudi Arabia, the biggest sponsors of terrorism in the Middle East, perhaps? No, better leave them alone because they have oil and vast amounts of wealth.

      Go find out how Alan Turning was treated by the British government for having the audacity to be gay. It’s up to other countries to sort out their own problems just as we had to, not to occupy another people and claim that our support for gay rights gives us justification to exterminate them.

      • Ewan2

        ” Furthermore the era was still suffering [1950s] from the Victorian repression of homosexuality [ repressed, significantly, by the homosexuals themselves of that lengthy era. ”
        Eric Hebborn – Drawn to Trouble, 1991

        Hebborn was friends with Sir Anthony Blunt, a powerful homosexual, among other things. It seems that homosexuality was for certain types and not for others. Should they have indulged perhaps word got around, or perhaps temptation was deliberately put in their way, then all sorts of blackmail and skullduggery would ensue.
        The usual implication is that heterosexuals have been putting the boot into homosexuals. It might be that powerful homosexuals decided that homosexuality can come out because of the vast profits that can be made selling things such as plastic rainbow flags, plastic condoms and whatever other merchandise the marketeers can come up with.

    • Urban Fox

      Personally I think mass-murder & apartheid are rather more reprehensible, than not being too keen on buggery. My moral compass is funny like that.

      The current fashion for rainbow-mongering is just as manipulative & cynical, as the rest of NATO/Israel’s imperialist propaganda.

      Regimes on the “not naughty list” could skin gays alive and Westminster would barely pretend to give a s**t.

      So please spare us any BS about the plight of Gaza’s gays under Hamas, considering the ones who are actually there. Are currently getting blown to bits by the LGBTQ+ friendly IDF.

    • Stevie Boy

      Not everyone in the west is on board with the state sanctioned moral decline being enforced on the population, particularly children. Maybe there is a correlation between the acceptance of genocide and the degenerate behaviors elsewhere ?

  • desA

    The cult of Dispensationalism has thoroughly contaminated most mainstream Churchian groups in the UK, US and their offshoots. It preaches an end time heresy that conflates Jews with Zionists. The athiest Zionist project capitalised on the Dispensationalist heresy.

  • Jack

    Lebanon again, Israel attack and kill Hezbollah fighters > Hezbollah react > Israel whine/painting themselves as the victim.
    Over and over again, it is the same modus operandi by Israel.
    Also it is telling that when 10+ kids are killed by Hezbollah, Israel get furious and start bombing Lebanon indiscriminately, but when 15000-20000 palestinian kids are killed by Israel, palestinians are apparently not allowed to feel any anger or having the right to attack Israel. That prove how the israelis look upon themselves vs other ethnic groups. Other ethnic groups could be slaughtered daily, if someone even so pick on someone on their own race they become massmurdering psychopaths just like that.

    That the despicable west will not change their way is one thing what is worse is that the arab, muslim world still pretend it is raining and have become the enabler of not only the genocide against palestinians but the threat by Israel against the arab world at large. If they had any heart, brain they would have boycotted the olympics like african states did back in the 70s in relation to apartheid.

    Twenty-nine countries, mostly African, boycotted the Montreal Games when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) refused to ban New Zealand, after the New Zealand national rugby union team had toured South Africa earlier in 1976 in defiance of the United Nations’ calls for a sporting embargo due to their racist apartheid policies.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1976_Summer_Olympics

  • nevermind

    Very likely another Zionist false flag attack on the Druze community of the Golan heights. Young people at a football game were attacked by a missile and many died.
    The Zionist were quick to blame Hezbollah in their fake pity towards the Arab community, shame on their dirty tactics.

    • Stevie Boy

      Yes, my first thought also.
      The Israelis are desperate to expand the conflict to Lebanon and then Iran and get the west embroiled in their genocidal agenda. Plus it keeps Bibby out of prison a bit longer.

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