Wednesday, May 12, 2021

So many War Criminals

First up, Jimmy Dore.



Yeah, Joe's real big on what others need to do.  His corrupt ass and his corrupt son, the whole family should be in prison.  Take whatever job is offered insists the man who violated every law and guideline on the book to let his drug addict son earn millions.  


Joe Biden's full of s**t.


And he's a War Criminal.


Speaking of, Pepe Escobar (ICH) reports:


Henry Kissinger, 97, Henry the K. for those he keeps close, is either a Delphic oracle-style strategic thinker or a certified war criminal for those kept not so close.

He now seems to have been taking time off his usual Divide and Rule stock in trade – advising the combo behind POTUS, a.k.a. Crash Test Dummy – to emit some realpolitik pearls of wisdom.

At a recent forum in Arizona, referring to the festering, larger than life Sino-American clash, Henry the K. said, “It’s the biggest problem for America; it’s the biggest problem for the world. Because if we can’t solve that, then the risk is that all over the world a kind of cold war will develop between China and the United States.”

In realpolitik terms, this “kind of Cold War” is already on; across the Beltway, China is unanimously regarded as the premier U.S. national security threat.

Kissinger added U.S. policy toward China must be a mix of stressing U.S. “principles” to demand China’s respect and dialogue to find areas of cooperation: “I’m not saying that diplomacy will always lead to beneficial results…This is the complex task we have… Nobody has succeeded in doing it completely.”

Henry the K. actually must have lost the – diplomatic – plot. What Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov are now involved in, full time, is to demonstrate – mostly to the Global South – how the American-enforced “rules-based international order” has absolutely nothing to do with international law and the respect of national sovereignty.


It's a sign of how disgusting our government officials are that so many qualify as War Criminals.

Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"


Wednesday, May 12, 2021.  Iraq remains largely ignored in the US -- especially with regards to the wave of activists being assassinated, more problems with the national elections in Iraq are already emerging, and much more.


Opening with this from one of the nation's oldest political journals:


What are we still doing in Iraq?

Brett McGurk, the Biden administration’s senior Middle East policy official on the National Security Council, traveled to Baghdad last week to speak with Iraqi prime minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi about that very question — specifically, the future of U.S. troops there. The Iraqi prime minister’s office reflected on the meeting shortly thereafter, writing that the session “emphasized implementing the outcome of the strategic dialogue between Iraq and the US, especially with regard to the withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq.” A month earlier, Washington and Baghdad restarted their bilateral dialogue, a key agenda item of which is the removal of U.S. combat forces from the country pending further negotiations. While the exact time frame for a full U.S. troop withdrawal is still open to debate, the Biden administration seems to be inching in the right direction: Getting its forces out of an area where they long ago accomplished their goals.

As of today, there are roughly 2,500 U.S. troops deployed to Iraq — down from nearly 6,000 in 2016. Those forces are responsible for implementing a training-and-advising program that aims to ensure the Iraqi security forces can execute operations against the Islamic State on their own.

In reality, however, the U.S. military is spending about as much time ducking rocket fire from an alphabet soup of Shia militias. The attacks on Iraqi military bases and airports that house U.S. personnel or contractors have gotten so frequent that a week free of rocket fire is almost considered an abnormality.

According to a count by the AFP news agency, around 30 rocket, mortar, or bomb attacks on U.S.-linked facilities and coalition troop convoys have occurred since President Joe Biden’s inauguration on January 20. This includes an attack last weekend, in which a drone carrying explosives targeted the Ayn Al Asad air base in western Anbar province, which caused damage to the facility. On March 3, a barrage of about ten rockets was aimed at the same base, causing an American contractor to have a fatal heart attack. Just a week earlier, the Biden administration dropped seven GPS-guided bombs on Shia militia facilities close to the Iraqi–Syrian border in retaliation for another rocket strike in Irbil that killed one civilian contractor and wounded a U.S. service member.



Good for THE PROGRESSIVE, right?  Finally, it's getting off it's lazy ass and moving away from their 'lifestyle' pieces that they pass off as commentary on politics and issues.


Good for them.


At last they're once again contributing meaningful to the national dialogue about a serious issue.  War and occupation is back on their radar --


Oh, wait, it's not THE PROGRESSIVE.


Well, that's okay.  THE NATION has been a publication since the 1800s


Good for THE NATION.  Finally grasping that they had their highest circulation when they covered the war.  Maybe they're trying to do it to save their own asses?


I mean Katha Pollitt should have been fired long ago.  And I've done enough Zooms with groups of color recently to grasp that Katha's day of reckoning will soon be upon us.  She's a racist and she always has been.  She belittled the NAACP in the '00s when they rightly complained about represeentation on TV.  She's also the woman who belittled and attacked Alice Walker's writing.  This is a pattern with her and young African-American owmen have grown up with it and they're tired of it.


Oh, the little White girls love to buzz around Katha.  She's the Charlotee Rae on their own person FACT OF LIFE but a lot more people are outraged by her and by her racism that has been evidnet since the 1980s.  So yes, things will probably get very uncomfortable for Katha and for THE NATION as a result.


But whatever the reason, THE NATION finally stepped up on Iraq.  So good for them and --


Oh, it's not THE NATION either.

IN THESE TIMES?


No.


THE NEW REPUBLIC?


No.


It's Daniel Depetres writing for THE NATIONAL REVIEW.  That's right.


On our side, no outlet can get serious.  But we do love all those lifestyle pieces, right?  What would we be without all that garbage?


A hell of a lot more informed.  Good for THE NATIONAL REVIEW for publishing the piece.  Sad for those of us on the left that we can't point to any of our publications who will tackle the issue.


So much isn't tackled.  I'm still waiting for the big write up on  Ihab Jawad al-Wazni from a US publication.  Big media, small media, corporate media, begger media.  They won't touch it.  


Ihab Jawad al-Wazni is a major topic on Arabic social media.  He's a major topic in Iraq.  The Middle East outlets can and have reported on him.  But most Americans don't know about him because US outlets won't touch the story.


Kareem Botane, Meethak Al-Khatib and Robert Edwards (ARAB NEWS) report:


Mustafa Makki Karim, 24, fled Baghdad for the relative safety of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region last year following a spate of death threats by pro-Iran groups for his role in the protest movement that erupted against government corruption and incompetence in October 2019.

During the unrest that followed, the young activist earned the moniker “Joker” for the clown mask he wore to hide his identity as he and his “Armored Division of Tahrir” defended their camp in Baghdad’s Victory Square.

“I left my life, my family, my friends, my future for my country and for the souls of the people we lost,” Karim told Arab News from the safety of his Irbil bedsit. He took a bullet in his leg and lost sight in one eye after Iraqi troops fired birdshot into the crowd.

 Now Karim and others like him have been forced into hiding — nursing injuries he sustained in clashes with security forces and militia thugs, fearful for those who chose to remain behind.

Their fears are hardly unfounded. On May 9, Ihab Al-Wazni, a coordinator of protests in the Shiite shrine city of Karbala, was killed outside his home by men on motorbikes. A vocal opponent of corruption and Iran’s influence in Iraq, Al-Wazni was a key figure of the protest campaign.

October 2019 marked the beginning of the biggest grassroots social movement in Iraq’s modern history. Fed up with a corrupt ruling elite, seen as beholden to foreign powers, the young Iraqis who came of age following the fall of dictator Saddam Hussein marched in their hundreds of thousands in cities across the country, demanding the overthrow of the post-2003 order.

 Scenes of defiance played out in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square, with pitched battles between protesters and security forces on the adjoining bridges leading to the fortified Green Zone, where government officials and foreign diplomats watched with unease.

Around 600 people were killed as a result of their association with the protest movement — many on the streets during rallies, others targeted on their doorsteps away from the rallies.

According to Amnesty International, the global human rights monitor, hundreds of people were killed by live ammunition, military-grade teargas canisters and other weapons deemed inappropriate for civilian crowd control. Many soldiers and police officers were wounded by lumps of concrete and petrol bombs thrown by protesters.


Yet no coverage in the US.  Katha Pollitt's too busy doing those 'hard hitting' looks at the guy who wrote the biography on Phillip Roth.  (Since we're noting that man, didn't read the book, don't plan to, but I do not support the publisher pulping the book -- that's censorship.  And we can say all that in a single sentence.  Unlike Katha who takes a tiny topic and tries to expand it into a column -- she fails just like when she tries to expand her tiny mind.)


There are real issues going on in this world and THE NATION and THE PROGRESSIVE and so many others can't be bothered with it.  YES! -- isn't it CIA funded.  Oh, wait, did I speak out of turn?  Are we not supposed to note that?  Just like I've sort-of bit my tongue since 2008 about the 'slut for her country' who spread far and wide around the globe?  I know she's CIA.  A member of the House of Lords told Elaine and I long before YES! was even an idea.  She was a loud, trashy and ugly woman.  We knew her as such.  Elaine was dating the British politician.  We were in London and she squeals -- in that loud way that always gives Americans a bad name overseas -- and came . . . lumbering?  Is that what we call it?  Towards us and Elaine and I were rolling our eyes when the Member of the House of Lords let it slip that she was CIA.  She spread for God and country, apparently, throughout the world.  And any man who took that one must have been very, very hard up. 


Where are the pieces on Iraq?  Is everyone co-opted by the US government?  I don't know.  But I know YES! is nothing we will ever promote.


HRD MEMORIAL notes:

 

HRD Ihab Jawad Al-Wazni was killed on Sunday near his home in Karbala, #Iraq. He was a leading figure in protests against the government. aljazeera.com/news/2021/5/9/
In 2020 the
@HRD_Memorial
project recorded the killing of at least 8 HRDs in Iraq; 7 were targeted assassinations.


Cassidy offers this Twitter thread:

Please understand what is happening in Iraq right now. Ihab Jawad Al-Wazni, an activist who was against corrupt government, was shot outside of his home by an unknown gunman. This is not the first time it had happened, many activists since October 2019 were being targeted+


And killed. Protests are breaking out because of this and I’m fearing that the same thing that happened last year will happen again. Where many people were being killed and tear gased by the government. Please read these articles and educate yourself. I don’t know

1.


2.

This isn’t talked about that much and there is a chance that what had happened last year will happen again.


Here is an article about it


just be beware and be educated about this. I have family in Iraq and I fear that something bad will happen to them. if you have any additional info, feel free to tell me.


The protesters managed to force out a prime minister.  Now Iraq gears up for new elections and already problems are emerging.  Neil Joseph Nakkash (NEWSWEEK) notes:

Recently, Iraq's Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) canceled election participation for citizens abroad, disenfranchising nearly 1 million Iraqi citizens in advance of early parliamentary elections set for October.

In a public statement, IHEC announced that the ruling comes as a result of "several technical and financial, legal, and health obstacles" that could prevent applicants abroad from receiving their biometric voting cards by Election Day.

The commission's decision was met with mixed reactions, with many Iraqis in support. They argue that citizens in diaspora should not be making decisions for a country they do not reside in—a belief popularized since 2003 due to the corruption and failures of expatriates, who played a dominant role for Iraqis in the U.S.-led invasion and subsequent formation of the current government and constitution.


Winding down, we'll note Crescenzo Vellucci (THE DAVIS VANGUARD) reports:

Omar Ameen finally gets his day in court this Thursday in his fight to avoid being deported to Iraq, where he’ll face, according to his supporters, sure torture and death.

But Ameen already had his day in court last month, when a federal judge in Sacramento ruled he should be released from U.S. custody immediately.

Instead –  –wronged by the Trump Administration for years, according to a federal judge – the Biden Administration’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) immediately picked him up to be deported.

So, Ameen, who supporters at a Sacramento news conference pointed out Tuesday, spent his 1,000th day in custody Tuesday, away from friends and family.

But this Thursday in U.S. Immigration Court in Van Nuys, Ameen hopes to finally get his – another – day in court.

“Today marks 1,000 days of Omar’s detention. 1,000 days of fear of being returned to torture and death. 1,000 days falsely accused. 1,000 days of a nightmare, falsely accused of terrorism, falsely accused of murder, of belonging to ISIS,” said Assistant Federal Defender Rachelle Barbour

Speaking of the federal case that temporarily won Ameen the promise of freedom in April, Barbour said “we had obliterated the US. evidence. They’re case was based on false witnesses, and they counted on the court to believe them. But the judge didn’t believe them.”



The following sites updated:








Posted by at

Tuesday, May 11, 2021

Jimmy Dore, Glenn Greenwald

First up, Jimmy Dore.



The Bidens are a weird family -- to put it mildly.


Weird is also the word for Joe's Secretary of State, Antony Blinken.  Glenn Greenwald (SUBSTACK) writes:


Continuing his world tour doling out righteous lectures to the world, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday proclaimed — in a sermon you have to hear to believe — that few things are more sacred in a democracy than “independent journalism.” Speaking to Radio Free Europe, Blinken paid homage to "World Press Freedom Day”; claimed that “the United States stands strongly with independent journalism”; explained that "the foundation of any democratic system” entails "holding leaders accountable” and “informing citizens"; and warned that “countries that deny freedom of the press are countries that don't have a lot of confidence in themselves or in their systems.”

The rhetorical cherry on top of that cake came when he posed this question: "What is to be afraid of in informing the people and holding leaders accountable?” The Secretary of State then issued this vow: “Everywhere journalism and freedom of the press is challenged, we will stand with journalists and with that freedom.” 

[. . .]


That the Biden administration is such a stalwart believer in the sanctity of independent journalism and is devoted to defending it wherever it is threatened would come as a great surprise to many, many people. Among them would be Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks and the person responsible for breaking more major stories about the actions of top U.S. officials than virtually all U.S. journalists employed in the corporate press combined.

Currently, Assange is sitting in a cell in the British high-security Belmarsh prison because the Biden administration is not only trying to extradite him to stand trial on espionage charges for having published documents embarrassing to the U.S. Government and the Democratic Party but also has appealed a British judge's January ruling rejecting that extradition request. The Biden administration is doing all of this, noted The New York Times, despite the fact that “human rights and civil liberties groups had asked the [administration] to abandon the effort to prosecute Mr. Assange, arguing that the case . . . could establish a precedent posing a grave threat to press freedoms” — press freedoms, exactly the value which Blinken just righteously spent the week celebrating and vowing to uphold.


Hypocrisy?  Really should be the theme of the Biden administration.



Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"


Tuesday, May 11, 2021.  More assassinations in Iraq.


We'll open with this from IAVA:


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
May 5, 2021
CONTACT: press@iava.org

Washington, DC  — On May 5, IAVA Government Affairs Director Travis Horr, a U.S. Marine Corps Veteran, testified before the House Veterans Affairs Committee (HVAC) in support of the organization’s top legislative priority for 2021, establishing VA disability and healthcare benefits for veterans suffering from military toxic exposures like burn pits.

“The War Fighters Act is incredibly important landmark legislation which will create a presumption of service-connection for illnesses of veterans that have deployed since 1990, such as respiratory diseases or cancers,” said Horr at the hearing. “The TEAM Act will ensure that all veterans are able to access high quality VA care for any toxic related issues and the Veterans Burn Pits Exposure Recognition Act would concede exposure for all veterans that have served in areas where burn pits were used.” Horr and others called for passage of all three measures without delay. The full testimony can be found here.

At the start of the hearing, HVAC Chairman Mark Takano (D-CA) said that although the VA says that they need more research, “it is absolutely clear that we need to act now,” and he said that addressing toxic exposures is a top priority that he wants to advance this year. Takano’s position echoes that voiced the previous week by Senate Veterans Committee Chairman Jon Tester (D-MT), who said he wants to see legislation this year. The VA was pressed for action and answers by Members from both parties who appeared to have grown impatient with the agency’s refusal to take positions on toxic exposure legislation being considered at both hearings.

Just days ago, IAVA joined with House and Senate sponsors of the Presumptive Benefits for War Fighters Exposed to Burn Pits and Other Toxins (Warfighters) Act, which will establish a presumptive service connection for VA disability benefits for those who are suffering toxic exposure injuries – a top legislative priority for IAVA. The Toxic Exposures in the American Military (TEAM) Act, which provides for VA health care for those exposed, is also a priority for IAVA this year.

IAVA is the voice for the post-9/11 veteran generation. With over 400,000 veterans and allies nationwide, IAVA is the leader in non-partisan veteran advocacy and public awareness. We drive historic impacts for veterans and IAVA’s programs are second to none. Any veteran or family member in need can reach out to IAVA’s Quick Reaction Force at quickreactionforce.org or 855-91RAPID (855-917-2743) to be connected promptly with a veteran care manager who will assist. IAVA’s The Vote Hub is a free tool to register to vote and find polling information. IAVA’s membership is always growing. Join the movement at iava.org/membership.

###


Sunday in Iraq (still Saturday in the US), activist Ihab Jawad al-Wazni was assassinated in front of his home in Karbala.  

This is a major story . . . unless you're counting on the US media or the US 'spokespeople' on Twitter, etc.  The rise of ISIS was not a surprise.  We predicated it was coming.  Not because of any crystal ball but because of paying attention and understanding rebellion, resistance and revolution.  ISIS was always going to arise and, under Nouri al-Maliki, it was going to flourish.  


Yet again, the US media and the people who made a name for themselves decrying the Iraq War aren't paying attention and aren't understanding the pressure cooker atmosphere right now.


ALJAZEERA's Simona Foltyn has covered the story.

Replying to
@SimonaFoltyn
5:24 PM · May 9, 2021


Here's the video if it doesn't show in the Tweet above.



Where is CodeStink?  Where are any of the people who stole your money by claiming to care about the Iraq War. Amy Goodman's a whore and that's now well known.  She took millions from PACIFICA when they couldn't afford it.  The scheme was overseen by her friend Leslie Cagen.  But think about all the attention from the media she got pretending to care about the Iraq War -- shed' go on Charlie Rose and other programs.  Think of all the money she begged for to cotninue the coverage of Iraq.  And yet she offered nothing. ; 


Nor did her guests.  In a previous pressure cooker moment, she brought on Raad Jarrar and he didn't know what the hell he was talking about and reality immediately slapped them in their faces.  Time and again, they ignore what's going on and then rush to play catch up when the corporate media covers it.


The corporate media hasn't covered the assassination -- not THE NEW YORK TIMES, not THE WASHINGTON POST, no one.


And Ihab's death is part of a wave of assassinations taking place in Iraq.


Sara J notes:


Assassinations in #IraqAfter2003 haven’t ceased. Today, Ahmed Hassan (an Iraqi journalist) in #Diwaniya & yesterday, Barak Hassan Al-Roumi (an #IraqiActivist) in Wasit have been assassinated. Yet, #US & EU would like the jig of elections to go on!
@Geneva4Justice
@WritesRights
Image
Image
7:28 PM · May 10, 2021



WORKERS AGAINST SECTARIANISM Tweets:


The assassination of the activist Barak Hassan Al-Roumi in Wasit was-iraq.org Was
Image
7:18 AM · May 11, 2021



Again, what does it take for this wave of assassinations to get attention?

We'll note this thread from Amnesty Iraq:

 

Yet again, the
@iraqigovt
headed by PM
@MAKadhimi
fails to protect protesters and activists.To this day we are yet to see any justice for the victims and their families; perpetrators must be held accountable as the elections near. When will the bloodshed end?
5:15 AM · May 11, 2021



EhabWazni is one of tens of activists and protesters killed in cold blood in the context of the #OctoberProtests of 2019, as protesters take to the streets once again in #Karbala, #Misan, and #Diwaniyah demanding #accountability
5:14 AM · May 11, 2021


As Iraq prepares for elections, the silencing of protesters demanding #accountability continues with the killing of #EhabWazni, the attempt on journalist Ahmad Hassan’s life, and use of force against protesters. #IraqProtests #Iraq
5:13 AM


Now to deal with an issue that three e-mailed the public account (common_ills@yahoo.com) about.  Yesterday's snapshot I railed against people who just wasted your time and didn't deal with real issues.

The essence of the three e-mails: B-b-b-but you wrote about a sitcom!


"TV: Another bone headed move from AB" is written by Ava and myself.  We cover TV at THIRD.  Here I am covering Iraq every day.  There?  People are shocked right now, shocked that Bill Gates didn't give away all that money like he promised, they're shocked that is actions resulted in a tax break, they're shocked . . .


Why?


We covered that ridiculous 60 MINUTES 'report' by Charlie Rose that was blowing smoke up Bill's ass and we noted that this was nothing but a tax write off.  That was in real time.  Do you realize how long it's been since Charlie Rose's predatory behavior kicked him off television?


I can go into this at length if necessary but we've done hard hitting TV pieces.  We're planning on doing gay porn, by the way, on Sunday.  Ty, Ava and I were talking last week trying to pull together an edition and we came up with a theme and Dona said hold it so we can have it up for a full week.


There are a million things I could go on about but I'll leave it for that unless there are more e-mails.



The following sites updated:





Posted by at
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)