لن ينالوا من بندقية شعبنا ولا إسفين بينها وبين الشعب

مايو 31, 2018

صابرين دياب

ودائماً، كلّ شيء مُسخَّر لاجتثاث المقاومة المسلحة وبعديد الأساليب، بالسلاح، بالثقافة، بالسياسة، بالحرب النفسية، بالاختراق المخابراتي، بالصهاينة العرب، بالتطبيع الفلسطيني، بالأنجزة ، بالمقاومة «السلمية السلبية»، قل ما شئت، اطلب ما تشاء، وما نريده فقط هو… لا مقاومة! هذا هدف الأعداء أو إنْ شئتَ، «الثورة المضادة.»

لن نعود طويلاً ولا تفصيلاً إلى الوراء، يكفي فقط أن نعيد للذاكرة بعض المحطات من جانب العدو:

«مبادرة» بيريس عام 1976 لإقامة كيان سياسي في الضفة وغزة، وقد تمّ رفضه.

بعد خروج قيادة م.ت.ف. من لبنان 1982 باستثناء بعضها، قال «جورج شولتس»، وزير خارجية العدو الأميركي وقتذاك: حان الوقت لـ «تحسين شروط معيشة الفلسطينيين»، أيّ أنّ القضية مجرد مسألة إنسانية، وليست قضية وطنية قومية سياسية، لكن أتت لاحقاً الانتفاضة، لتنسف كلّ هذا اللغو والتشفي.

ما كتبه نائب رئيس بلدية القدس المحتلة «ميرون بنفنستي» قبل اشتعال الانتفاضة الأولى عام 1987 : «إننا في ربع الساعة الأخير من انتهاء المقاومة، وعلى إسرائيل ان تعمل على هذا الأساس تجاه الضفة وغزة»، أيّ الابتلاع، واندلعت الانتفاضة الأولى بعد أيام، إذ قلبت المعادلة تماماً، ولم تكن الانتفاضة نضالاً سلمياً على نهج الأنجزة التي تباركها وتدعمها «السلطة الفلسطينية»، لا سيما في ريف رام الله وبيت لحم، وتصنيع رموز لها، بل النضال الجماهيري الحقيقي لا الشكلاني، الذي حلّ مؤقتاً محلّ نضال النخبة المسلحة، ولعب دور رافعة للكفاح المسلح.

كانت اتفاقات أوسلو تحت تسمية سلام الشجعان! وإنما هي «سلام المستجدّين»، ولكن الشعب ابتكر أساليب كفاحية عدة، سواء العمليات الاستشهادية، أو العمليات المسلحة الفنية الفردية الموجعة، أو الإضرابات المديدة عن الطعام في باستيلات الاحتلال، وجميعها كانت روافع للكفاح المسلح، إنه جدل الموقف الجمعي الشعبي مع نضال المفارز المسلحة، كطليعة.

ثم كانت الانتفاضة الثانية، والتي كُتب الكثير من الإدانة لممارستها الكفاح المسلح! وتمّت تسمية ذلك بـ «عسكرة الانتفاضة»، بغرض تقزيم النضال المسلح من قبل مثقفي الطابور السادس، وتنفير الناس منه وتكفيرهم به، لأنّ المطلوب دوماً، الذراع التي تطلق النار!

هذا إلى أن كان الخروج النسبي الصهيوني من قطاع غزة تحت ضغط المقاومة، او إعادة الانتشار الصهيوني على حواف القطاع، الأمر الذي حوّل غزة إلى بُندُقة يصعب كسر بندقيتها.

وأما التالي، فأطروحات متضادّة… بالضرورة :

منذ اتفاقات اوسلو على الأقلّ، والتي هي بمثابة ضمّ الضفة الغربية بالتدريج، مقابل رشى مالية ريعية، لشريحة من الفلسطينيين، أيّ ريع مالي مقابل مساومات سياسية. وهذا أحد المشروعات التصفوية، ثم تبع ذلك الضخ الإيديولوجي الهائل، في مديح «السلام العادل»! ولم تتورّط في هذا، قيادة م.ت.ف. وحدها، بل الكثير من المثقفين الفلسطينيين او الطابور السادس الثقافي، من ليبراليين وما بعد حداثيين ومتغربنين ومتخارجين، ناهيك عن كثير من المثقفين العرب وكثير من الحكام طبعاً، وتواصل تسويق الفلسطيني «كمؤدّب، ناعم، حضاري إلخ…»، وجرى ضخّ أموال كثيرة في الضفة الغربية، كي تُطفئ الشحنة الوطنية في الجماهير، لدفع المجتمع نحو الشره الاستهلاكي، ولو حتى بالوقوع تحت عبء القروض وفوائدها، وخاصة قروض الرفاه والاستعراض الاستهلاكي، وعامل تقليد الفقير للغني، والعالمثالثي للغربي!

زُرعت في رحم الوطن مئات منظمات الأنجزة، وتمتعت بإمكانيات هائلة، وامتصّت العديد من اليساريين الجذريين ليصبحوا دُعاة سلام! وينضمّوا إلى شريحة تعتمد على الريع الأجنبي كتحويلات من الخارج، لتصبح شريحة العائدات غير منظورة، وجرى تسويق أطروحة الحزب الشيوعي الإسرائيلي والجبهة الديمقراطية للسلام والمساواة المنبثقة عنه، عن «السلام العادل»، وحل الدولتين، واحدة سيدة استعمارية وأخرى مسودة وتابعة، وأطروحات لآخرين مثل «دولة لكلّ مواطنيها» لصاحبها عزمي بشارة وحزبه،

ووصل الأمر إلى طرح مشروع الدولة الواحدة بين المستعمِر والمستعمَر، وهي ليست سوى دولة لكلّ مستوطنيها! وترافق مع كلّ هذا الضخ الإعلامي لصالح ما تسمّى «المقاومة السلمية».

لكن المقاومة السلمية، لها مضمونان:

الاول.. المضمون الاستسلامي، الذي يرفض ويعاقب ويقمع أية مقاومة مسلحة، والذي يمكن تلخيصه في ما كتبه د. صائب عريقات «الحياة مفاوضات»،

وردّ عليه أحد العروبيين «الحياة مقاومة»، ولا يُخفى، انّ المفاوضات لم تصل فقط إلى طريق مسدود، بل تمّ انتزاعها من أيدي الفلسطينيين لصالح الأنظمة العربية المعترفة بالكيان الصهيوني، بل بعضها متآمر على القضية. بإيجاز، وقف هذا النهج ضدّ أيّ كفاح مسلح فلسطيني في أيّ مكان كان، والتوجه حتى الآن، إلى أمم العالم للتضامن مع هذا النمط الاستسلامي من المقاومة! في محاولة للتبرّؤ، بل ونفي، الكفاح المسلح ليبدو كما لو كان إرهاباً!!

والثاني.. المضمون المقاوم، الذي يرفض المفاوضات، ويرفد الكفاح المسلح، ويضاد الأنجزة، ويتبادل الأدوار، طبقاً للتكتيك مع الكفاح المسلح، ويعتبر نفسه جزءاً من محور المقاومة، ويعمل على شق مسارات جديدة، سواء في تحشيد الشارع العربي أو التضامن الأممي، لتكريس حقيقة، أنّ التحرير هو الطريق للمقاومتين الرديفتين، الشعبية السلمية والكفاح المسلح.

يمكننا اعتبار معركة خلع البوابات الإلكترونية في القدس، التي هدفت الى أسر المسجد الأقصى، مثالاً على المقاومة الشعبية السلمية، ذات الطابع التضحوي والصدامي. وقد أخذت هذه المقاومة تجلّيها الأوضح والأوسع، في الحراك الشعبي السلمي في قطاع غزة منذ شهر ونصف الشهر، ولم تتوقف الا بتحقيق مطالبه، ولكن، بينما المقاومة الشعبية السلمية تبتكر أنماطاً جديدة لمواجهة العدو، يقوم دُعاة المقاومة السلمية السلبية، بتلغيم هذه المقاومة بشعاراتهم التصفوية مثل «السلام العادل»، و»حلّ الدولة الواحدة»، و»حلّ الدولتين» ويتظاهرون إعلامياً انتصاراً لغزة !!..

وعليه، فإنّ اللحظة الراهنة الساخنة، تشترط الوقوف في وجه تمييع المقاومة الشعبية السلمية الحقيقية والجذرية، ومحاولات امتطائها وتطويعها لصالح الاستسلام، وخاصة حيث أخذت تنجز هذه المقاومة الحقيقية تضامناً في العديد من بلدان العالم على المستوى الشعبي خاصة.

لقد أعاد حراك غزة، مسألة التحرير إلى الأجندة الكفاحية بعد أن تمّ خصي النضال الفلسطيني، في استعادة المحتلّ 1967، وتبني الاستدوال بدل التحرير، وفي تبني شعار العودة فقط تحت راية الكيان الصهيوني، وهي الخديعة التي تورط فيها الكثير منذ عام 1948.

وعود على بدء، فإن إطراء المستوى السلبي من المقاومة السلمية مقصود به، التكفير بالمنظمات المسلحة والتطاول عليها، ونفي اية إيجابية للكفاح المسلح، وإطراء المقاومة الناعمة ضد العدو، وهي جوهرياً، استجدائية إحباطية لا تخرج عن إيديولوجيا استدخال الهزيمة.

ما من شك، في أنّ ثمة شهوة وغاية للمحتلّ، بتشويه صورة الكفاح السلمي الحقيقي الذي يمقته ويبغضه هو وكثير من العرب وبعض الفلسطينيين للأسف، لأنه ظهر الكفاح المسلح القوي، ولعل ما اقترفه الاحتلال بحق سفينة الحرية امس الاول، يؤكد مدى خشيته من مسألة التضامن العالمي مع الشعب الفلسطيني، ومن ناحية أخرى، تجري محاولات لسرقة حراك غزة على أيدي الاستسلاميين والأنجزة، وتوجيه النقد للمنظمات المسلحة المقاومة، بيد أن ما حدث في اليومين الأخيرين، قد أكد أنّ الحراك السلمي في غزة وهو شعبي لا شك، في أنه رديف بل من اشتقاقات الكفاح المسلح، ولا سيما بعد رشقات الصواريخ ضد الجزء الجنوبي المحتل من فلسطين، وصولاً إلى عسقلان.

حتى كتابة هذه المقالة، راجت أخبار عن دور رسمي مصري «لإطفاء النار»! ليس هذا موضوع نقاشنا، ولكن هذا الدور، هو الشرح البليغ للحال الرسمي العربي، وهو ما يجدر أن يحفزنا لاستعادة الشارع العربي، الذي حُرم من التقاط واحتضان الانتفاضة الأولى، حيث تمّ الغدر بها قبل أن تكون بداية ربيع عربي حقيقي، فهل سينجحون في اغتيال حراك غزة؟ يجب أن تُفشِل غزة ذلك.

بقي أن نشير إلى أنّ المقاومة الشعبية السلمية الحقيقية، اللاشكلانية واللاتمييعية للنضال الوطني، هي رافد المقاومة المسلحة، وهما معاً جناحا حرب الشعب، ضمن محور المقاومة، وهكذا، لن يتمكنوا من كسر فوهة البندقية.

مناضلة وكاتبة فلسطينية في الأراضي المحتلة

الأنجزة – ngo مصدر الاشتقاق اللغوي – وهي منظمات مموَّلة من الغرب «أوروبا وأميركا»، باسم خبيث – منظمات غير حكومية – كي تخفي علاقتها بالغرب، وتدّعي التنمية كذباً وتبتلع الثوريين بالمال. وتسميتها الكاملة بالانجليزية:

non govermental organizaition

T

Presidential Decree On national objectives and strategic tasks of Russian Federation’s development in the period up to 2024

May 28, 2018

translation by Miles for the Saker Blog

P R E S I D E N T OF R U S S I A N F E D E R A T I O N

DECREE № 204

Signed 07 May 2018

On national objectives and strategic tasks of Russian Federation’s development in the period up to 2024

To facilitate breakthrough scientific, technological and socio-economic development of Russian Federation, increase of population, increase of standard of living, creation of comfortable living environment and to create conditions and opportunities for self-realization and development of talents of every person, I hereby ORDER:

1. Government of Russian Federation to ensure attainment of following national objectives of development of Russian Federation in the period up to 2024:

a) Securing sustained natural growth of population in Russian Federation;

b) increasing life expectancy to 78 years (by 2030 – to 80 years);

c) Securing sustained growth of citizen’s real income, as well as growth of pensions above the level of inflation;

d) halving the poverty rate in Russian Federation;

e) Improving living conditions of no less than 5 million families per year;

f) acceleration of technological development of Russian Federation, increasing in the number of organization implementing technological innovations to no less than 50 percent of the total number of organizations;

g) ensuring accelerated implementation of digital technologies in economy and social sphere;

h) securing the Russian federation’s place amongst the top five world economies, ensuring economic growth at a rate above world average while sustaining macroeconomic stability, which includes keeping inflation rate at a level not higher than 4 percent;

i) creation of high-productive export-oriented subsector in basic sectors of economy, first of all in manufacturing and agriculture industries. Such subsector should be manned by highly-skilled personnel and develop on the basis of modern technologies;

2. Government of the Russian Federation is to:

a) adopt by 1 of October 2018 General Directions of activities of Government of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2024, as well as Projection of socioeconomic development of Russian Federation for the same period, establishing mechanisms and resourcing for attainment of national objectives specified in paragraph 1 of this Decree;

b) develop (amend) according to national objectives specified in paragraph 1 of this Decree, in conjunction with federal and regional public authorities and present for review by Presidential Council for Strategic Development and Priority Projects by the 1 October 2018 national projects (programmes) in following areas:

Demography

Healthcare

Education

Housing and urban environment

Ecology

Safe and high-quality roads

Labor productivity and support of employment

Science

Digital economy

Culture

Small and medium-sized business and support of sole proprietorship

International cooperation and export.

3. Government of the Russian Federation while preparing national programme of demographic development must proceed from the necessity to ensure by 2024:

a) Attainment of the following objectives and benchmark figures:

Increase of healthy life expectancy to 67 years;

Increase of total fertility rate to 1,7;

Increase of percentage of citizens leading healthy lifestyle, as well as increase the percentage of citizens systematically engaged in physical fitness and sports;

b) Completion of following tasks:

Implementation of mechanism of financial support of families at the childbirth

Creation of conditions for employment of women with children, including 100 percent availability of preschool education facilities for children below age of 3 (by 2024);

Development and implementation of programme for systemic support and increase of quality of life for citizens of senior generations;

Creation of system of motivation for citizens to lead a healthy lifestyle, including healthy diet and rejection of unhealthy habits;

Creation of conditions for all groups and categories of population to engage in physical fitness activities, sports, mass sports, including increase of availability of sport infrastructure, as well as preparation of sports reserve.

4. Government of the Russian Federation while preparing national project for healthcare must proceed from the necessity to ensure by 2024:

a) Attainment of the following objectives and benchmark figures:

Lowering mortality rate amongst working-age population (to 350 cases per 100,000 population), mortality rate from circulatory system diseases (to 450 cases per 100,000 population), mortality rate from tumors, including malignant ones (to 185 cases per 100,000 population), infant mortality rate (to 4,5 cases per 1000 births);

Elimination of personnel deficit in primary medical care facilities;

Ensuring annual preventive medical examination coverage for all citizens;

Ensuring optimal availability of primary medical care facilities for population (including residents of settlements situated in remote areas);

Optimization of work of primary medical care facilities, reducing wait time for citizens in said facilities, simplifying procedures for setting up appointment with a doctor;

Increasing volume of exported medical services no less than fourfold compared to 2017 level (to 1 billion USD annually);

b) Completion of following tasks:

Completion of development of primary medical facilities’’ network with use of geospatial information system for the purposes of healthcare, given the need to build out-patient medical facilities and midwife centers in settlements with population between 100 and 2,000 as well as taking into account use of mobile medical complexes in settlements with population below 100;

5. Government of the Russian Federation while preparing national project for education must proceed from the necessity to ensure by 2024:

a) Attainment of the following objectives and benchmark figures:

Ensuring global competitiveness of Russian education, securing Russia’s place amongst top ten leading countries for quality of general education;

Raising harmoniously-developed and socially responsible individuals on the foundation of moral and spiritual values of peoples of Russia

b) Completion of following goals:

Implementation of new educational methods and technologies on all levels of basic and secondary general education, which should ensure successful development of basic skills and abilities, increase students’ motivation to learn and level of their involvement in the process of education, as well as updating the content and perfecting methods of education in “Technology” educational domain;

Creation of effective system for identifying, support and development of talents and abilities of children and youth, based on the principles of justice and universality and which objectives should be self-determination and vocational guidance of all students;

Creation of conditions for early development of children below age of three, implementation of a program for psychological, pedagogical, methodological and consultative assistance to parents, whose children receive in-family pre-school education;

Creation of modern and safe digital environment for education, which ensure high quality and accessibility of all types and levels of education;

Implementation of national system for professional growth of teaching staff, encompassing no less than 50 percent of teachers in general-education schools;

Modernization of vocational education, including by implementation of adaptive, practical-oriented and flexible educational programs;

Creation of a system for constant updating of professional knowledge by employed citizens, as well as for learning new professional skills, including obtaining expertise in the area of digital economy by all who willing;

Creation of a system of vocational contests with objectives to provide citizens with opportunities for professional and career growth;

Creation of conditions for development of mentorship, support of civil initiatives and projects, including in the area of volunteering;

Doubling the number of foreign nationals receiving education at Russian high education and science facilities, as well as implementation of set of measures to employ best of them in Russian Federation.

6. Government of the Russian Federation while preparing national project for housing and urban environment must proceed from the necessity to ensure by 2024:

a) Attainment of the following objectives and benchmark figures:

Provision of affordable housing for families with average income (including creation of an option to buy (build) housing with use of mortgage with interest rate below 8 percent;

Increase of housing construction volume to no less than 120 million square meters annually;

Radical increase of the comfort level of urban environment, increase of index for quality of urban environment for 30 percent, halving the number of cities with adverse urban environment as calculated in said index;

Creation of mechanism for direct citizen participation in creation of comfortable urban environment, increase of proportion of citizens participating in resolving the matters of urban environment to 30 percent;

Ensuring steady decrease of housing stock that is unsuitable for a living;

b) Completion of the following tasks:

Perfecting mechanisms of financing housing construction, including development of mortgage securities market and gradual shift from attracting funds into participatory construction of apartment buildings and other real estate objects to other forms of financing housing construction, which should ensure citizen rights’ protection and reduction of risks for them;

Modernization of construction industry and increase of quality of industrial construction of housing, including through imposing restrictions on use of obsolete technologies and through promotion of implementation of cutting-edge technologies in design and construction, perfecting of the mechanisms of state support for construction of standard housing;

Decrease of administrative burden on developers, perfecting legal framework and procedures of regulating housing construction activities;

Ensuring efficient use of lands for purpose of mass housing construction under conditions of preservation and development of green funds and territories that contains objects of ecological, historic and cultural, recreational, wellness or other importance;

Creation of mechanisms for development of comfortable urban environment, complex development of cities and pother settlements with taking into account index of quality of urban environment;

Creation of mechanisms of resettlement of citizens from housing that is unsuitable for a living, which should ensure observation of housing rights as stated by laws of Russian Federation;

7. Government of the Russian Federation while preparing national project for ecology must proceed from the necessity to ensure by 2024:

a) Attainment of the following objectives and benchmark figures:

Effective managements od industrial and consumer waste, including elimination of all unsanctioned dump sites within cities’ limits, identified as such by 01 January 2018;

Radical decrease of atmospheric air pollution in large industrial centers, including decrease of aggregate amount of air pollution emissions in most polluted cities by no less than 20 percent;

Increase of quality of drinking water, consumed by population, including for residents of settlements that do not have modern systems of centralized water supply;

Ecological rehabilitation of water bodies, including river Volga and preservation of unique water systems, including lakes Baikal and Teletskoe;

Preservation of biological diversity, including via creation of no less than 24 specially protected natural areas;

b) Completion of the following goals:

Creation of comprehensive system of solid household waste management, including elimination of dump sites and recultivation of lands where it was situated, creation of conditions for recycling of all industrial and consumer waste, disposal of which are prohibited;

Creation and efficient operation of a system for civil control, aimed at identification and elimination of unsanctioned dump sites throughout territories of all constituents of Russian Federation;

Creation of modern infrastructure for safe management of waste with first and second hazard classes, and elimination of most hazardous objects of accumulated environmental damage;

Implementation of comprehensive plans for lowering air pollution emissions in big industrial centers, including cities Bratsk, Krasnoyarsk, Lipetsk, Magnitogorsk, Mednogorsk, Nizhniy Tagil, Novokuznetsk, Norilsk, Omsk, Chelyabinsk, Cherepovets and Chita, with taking into account summary calculations for permissible negative environmental impact in each of those cities;

Ensuring use of a system of environmental management based off best available technologies by all object with significant negative environmental impact;

Increasing the quality of drinking water via modernization of water supply system with use of prospective technologies of water preparation, including technologies developed by military-industrial complex;

Environmental rehabilitation of water bodies, including implementation of project, aimed at three-fold decrease of proportion of contaminated wastewater, discharged into river Volga, sustainable operation of water management complex of Lower Volga and preservation of Volga-Akhtuba floodplain’s ecosystem;

Preservation of unique water bodies, including implementation of project for preservation of lake Baikal and measures for litter-cleaning coasts and coastal zones of lakes Baikal, Teletskoe, Ladoga, Onega and of rivers Volga, Don, Ob, Yenisei, Amur, Ural, Pechora;

Preservation of biological diversity, including increasing acreage of specially protected natural areas, by 5 million hectares, reintroduction of rare animal species, creation of infrastructure for environmental tourism in national parks, as well as preservation of forests, including via reforestation of all areas where forests has been cut down or otherwise destroyed;

8. Government of the Russian Federation while preparing national project for creation of safe and high-quality toads must proceed from the necessity to ensure by 2024:

a) Attainment of the following objectives and benchmark figures:

Increase of proportion of regional roads meeting statutory requirements in their total length to no less than 50 percent (compared to their length as at 31 December 2017), as well as well as adoption of said requirements by regional public authorities, which should be based on federal-level requirements for road safety;

Decrease of share of overloaded federal and regional roads by no less than 10 percent in their total length as compared to 2017;

Twofold decrease in number of accident concentration sections (accident-prone areas) of road network as compared to 2017;

Decrease of road accidents –related mortality by a factor of 3,5 as compared to 2017 – to a level not exceeding 4 deaths per 100,000 population (zero mortality by 2030);

b) Completion of the following tasks:

Increasing proportion of roads meeting statutory requirements in biggest urban agglomerations to 85 percent of their total length;

Adoption of new mechanisms of development and maintenance of road network, including use of infrastructural mortgage, life-cycle contracting and best technologies and materials;

Increasing disbursement rate to regional budgets for revenues from excise duties on fuel and lubricants to 100 percent;

Implementation of publicly accessible system for control of accumulation and spending of road funds on all levels (in 2019);

Creation of mechanisms of economic stimulation of preservation of regional and municipal roads;

Implementation of new technological requirements and standards for outfitting the roads, including standards based on digital technologies, aimed at elimination of accident concentration sections;

Implementation of technologies for automation and robotization of traffic management and traffic rules compliance oversight;

Increasing penalties for drivers who violate traffic rules, as well as increasing requirements for the level of their professional training;

9. Government of the Russian Federation while executing in tandem with regional public authorities national programme for labor productivity and support of employment must ensure by 2024:

a) Attainment of the following objectives and benchmark figures:

Increase of labor productivity on middle and big-sized enterprises of basic non-resource-based sectors of economy by no less than 5 percent annually;

Bringing into participation in aforementioned programme at least 10 regions of Russian Federation annually;

Bringing into participation in aforementioned programme at least 10,000 middle and big-sized enterprises of basic non-resource-based sectors of economy;

b) Completion of the following tasks:

Stimulating implementation of cutting-edge management, organizational and technological solutions for increase in labor productivity and equipment modernization, including via tax preferences;

Reducing statutory and administrative limitations which prevents labor productivity growth, as well as phase out of non-productive and obsolete jobs;

Creation of a system for methodological and organizational support of labor productivity growth at enterprises;

Creation of a system for personnel training aimed at teaching of foundations of labor productivity growth, including via use of digital technologies and platform solutions.

10. Government of the Russian Federation while preparing national project for science must proceed from the necessity to ensure by 2024:

a) Attainment of the following objectives and benchmark figures:

Ensuring Russia’s place amongst top five leading countries, conducting scientific research and development in areas, defined by priorities of scientific development;

Ensuring attractiveness of work in Russia for leading Russian and foreign scientists and promising young researchers;

Accelerated growth of domestic spending from all sources for scientific research and development as compared to country’s GDP growth;

b) Completion of the following tasks:

Creation of cutting-edge infrastructure for scientific research and development and innovation activities, including creation and development of network of unique research facilities of Megascience class;

Modernization of no less than 50 percent of instrument base of leading facilities conducting scientific research and development;

Creation of world-class scientific centers, including networks of international mathematics centers and centers for genomic research;

Creation of no less than 15 world-class research and education centers, based on integration of universities and research facilities and their cooperation with organizations of real economy;

Creation of comprehensive system for training and professional growth of scientific and pedagogical personnel, aimed for creation of conditions for conducting scientific research and development by young scientists, creation of research laboratories and competitive science teams;

11. Government of the Russian Federation while executing in tandem with regional public authorities national programme “Digital Economy of Russian Federation” must ensure by 2024:

a) Attainment of the following objectives and benchmark figures:

Threefold increase in domestic spending (calculated as proportion of GDP) from all sources for development of digital economy as compared to 2017;

Creation of sustainable and safe information and telecommunication infrastructure for high-speed transfer, processing and storage of big amount of data, accessible by all organizations and households;

Predominant use of domestic-made software by public and municipal authorities and organizations;

b) Completion of the following tasks:

Creation of legal framework for digital economy, based on flexible approach to each sphere, including implementation of civilian circulation in sphere of digital technologies;

Creation of global competitive infrastructure for transfer, processing and storage of data, predominantly on basis of domestic developments;

Ensuring training of high-quality personnel for digital economy;

Ensuring informational security on the basis of domestic developments which ensure protection of interests of individual, organization and state during transfer, processing and storage of data;

Creation of cross-cutting digital technologies, predominantly on the basis of domestic developments;

Implementation of digital technologies and platform solutions in areas of public administration and provision of public services, including for the benefit of population, small and medium sized businesses, including sole proprietors;

Transformation of high-priority sectors of economy and social sphere, including healthcare, education, industry, agriculture, construction, urban environment, transport and energy infrastructure, financial services through implementation of digital technologies and platform solutions;

Creation of comprehensive system for financing project for development and/or implementation of digital technologies and platform solutions, including venture financing and other development institutions;

Development and implementation of national mechanisms for coordinated digital economy development policies implementation between states – members of Eurasian Economic Union;

12. Government of the Russian Federation while preparing national programme for culture must pay special attention to necessity to:

a) Strengthening of Russian civic identity as based on spiritual, moral and cultural values of Russian peoples;

b) Creation (reconstruction of museum complexes and complexes for cultural education, including concert halls, theatrical, musical, choreographical and other creative arts schools, as well as exhibition spaces;

c) Providing children’s schools and colleges for music, artistic and choreographical schools and colleges and creative arts schools with necessary equipment and materials;

d) Supporting youth talented in music, including through creation of National Youth Symphony Orchestra;

e) Creation (reconstruction) of club-type organizations for cultural recreation in rural settlements, development of municipal libraries;

f) Creation of virtual concert hall in no less than 500 cities of Russia;

g) Creation of conditions for screening of national movies in settlements with population below 500,000;

h) Professional training for personnel in field of culture;

i) Modernization of regional and municipal youth theaters and puppet theaters through reconstruction and capital repairs;

j) Support of volunteer movements, including in the field of preservation of cultural heritage;

13. Government of the Russian Federation while executing in tandem with regional public authorities national project for development of small and medium sized businesses and support of sole proprietorship must ensure by 2024:

a) Attainment of the following benchmark figure: increase in number of employed in the area of small and medium sized business, including sole proprietors to 25 million people;

b) Completion of the following tasks:

Improvement of conditions for doing business, including simplification of tax reporting for entrepreneurs, who use cash-register equipment;

Creation of a digital platform for support of production and marketing by small and medium sized businesses, including sole proprietors;

Perfecting of the system of procurement used by biggest contractors to buy from small and medium sized businesses, including sole proprietors;

Simplifying access to concessionary financing, including annual growth in volume of soft loans provided to small and medium sized businesses, including sole proprietors;

Creation of a system for acceleration of small and medium sized businesses, including sole proprietors, which include infrastructure and support services and their accelerated development in the areas of betterment of urban environment, science and technology, social sphere and ecology;

Modernization of the support system for small and medium sized businesses, including sole proprietors, who engage in export trade, increase of proportion of such exporters in total volume of non-resource exports to no less than ten percent;

Creation of a support system for farmers and development of agricultural cooperation;

Creation of favorable conditions for self-employed citizens through creation of a new taxation scheme which should include automated transmission of sales information to tax authorities of the Russian Federation as well as unified payments on proceeds which should include social insurance contributions;

14. Government of the Russian Federation while preparing national programme for development of international cooperation and exports must proceed from the necessity to ensure by 2024:

a) Attainment of the following objectives and benchmark figures:

Creation of global competitive non-resource-based sectors in manufacturing industry, agriculture and service industry, total share of exported goods and services from which must be no less than 20 percent of country’s GDP;

Reaching volume (in monetary terms) of exported non-resource non-energy related goods and services of no less than 250 billion USD annually, including engineering goods – 50 billion USD annually, agriculture products – 45 billion USD annually, as well as exported services – 100 billion USD annually;

Creation of effective system for division of labor and production cooperation inside Eurasian Economic Union for reasons of increasing trade volume between member states of the Union by a factor of 1,5 and increase of volume of cumulative mutual investments by a factor of 1,5;

b) Completion of the following tasks:

Directing industrial, agriculture and trade policies, including mechanisms of state support, towards achievement of international competitiveness of Russian goods and services to ensure their presence on external markets;

Reducing administrative hurdles and procedures in the area of international trade, including cancellation of excessive licensing requirements for exports and in the area of foreign exchange controls, creation (by 2021) of “one stop window” system for interactions between international trade actors and supervisory authorities;

Completing creation of a set of flexible financial instruments for support of exports (by 2021), including extended pre-export, export and equity financing, leasing and long-term support measures;

Elimination of logistical limitations for exporting goods through use of railroads, motor and sea transportation, as well as construction (modernization) of State border crossing points;

Creation of unified system of institutions for export promotion, which should include modernization of Commercial Missions of Russia;

Completion of creation of common markets for goods, services, capital and labor force inside Eurasian Economic Union, including final elimination of barriers and limitations, cancellation of exceptions in economic cooperation, while simultaneously intensifying the use of mechanisms for joint projects activity.

15. Government of the Russian Federation to prepare in accordance with Strategy of spatial development of Russian Federation in collaboration with regional public authorities and by 01 October adopt a comprehensive plan of modernization and expansion of backbone infrastructure, which should ensure by 2024:

a) Development of “West-East” and “North-South” transport corridors for cargo transportation, through, among others:

Construction and modernization of Russian sections of automotive roads related to “Europe – West China” international transportation route;

Increase of capacity of Russian seaports, including ports of Far Eastern, North-Western, Volga-Caspian and Azov-Black sea basins;

Development of Northern Sea Route and increase flow of goods through it to 80 million tons;

Reduction of travel time by railroads for cargo containers, in particular, on route from Far East to western border of Russia to seven days, as well as fourfold increase in the volume of transit container cargo, transported by railroads;

Creation of nodal multimodal cargo transport and logistics centers;

Increase of carrying capacity of Baikal/Amur and Trans Siberian railways by a factor of 1,5 to 180 million tons;

Increase in carrying capacity of railway links to seaports of Azov/Black sea basin;

b) Increase of a level of economic interconnectedness throughout territory of Russian Federation via expansion and modernization of railway, air, road, sea and river infrastructure, including:

Gradual development of transport linkages between regional administrative centers and other cities driving economic growth, including elimination of infrastructural limitations on territories with economic development potential, adjacent to such transport linkages;

Reconstruction of regional airports’ infrastructure and expansion of network of inter-regional regular passenger aviation routes bypassing Moscow to 50 percent of all internal regular air routes

Creation of foundations for development of high-speed and superhigh-speed railway communications between big cities;

Increase of carrying capacity of internal waterways;

c) Guaranteed provision of affordable electricity through, among other means:

Electrification of “East-West” and “North-South” transport corridors, including Baikal/Amur and Trans Siberian railways in conjunction with development of transport infrastructure;

Development of centralized energy systems, including modernization of generating capacities of thermal, nuclear and hydroelectric power plants in accordance with the needs of socioeconomic development;

Sustainable power supply of consumers in the Russia’s regions, first of all, Republic of Crimea, Sevastopol city, Kaliningrad region, as well as regions comprising Far Eastern federal district;

Development of distributed power generation, including on the basis of renewable energy sources, particularly for remote and isolated energy districts;

Implementation of intelligent power grid management systems based on digital technologies;

16. Government of Russian Federation to:

a) Prioritize budget allocations of a federal budget for execution of national projects (programmes) mentioned in subparagraph “b” of paragraph 2 of this Decree while preparing annual draft federal budget for next financial year and planning period;

b) Ensure priority redirection of additional federal budget revenues towards execution of national projects (programmes) mentioned in subparagraph “b” of paragraph 2 of this Decree.

17. This Decree is coming into effect on the day of its official publication.

President of

Russian Federation

V. PUTIN

 

Moscow, Kremlin

07 May 2018

Iran To Bring International Lawsuit Against “ISIS Founder” America Based On Trump Statements

Source

After a US federal judge in New York ordered Iran to pay billions of dollars to the families of victims of the September 11 terror attacks earlier this month in a largely symbolic default judgement, Iran is reportedly prepping to sue Washington for terror attacks carried out against Tehran within the last year.

Iran says the US is responsible for the rise of ISIS, and is therefore indirectly to blame for twin terror attacks that rocked the Iranian parliament building and a popular religious shrine in June 2017, which left 17 civilians dead and 43 wounded, according to Iranian media figures.

“During the presidential campaign, Trump clearly spoke about the performance of his rival, Mrs. Clinton, saying that the US has created the ISIL,” Abolfazl Aboutorabi, a member of parliament’s judicial commission, announced on Tuesday in comments carried by Iranian state media. “The public prosecutor has also filed a lawsuit in this regard,” Aboutorabi added.

Iran hopes the initiative will shine an international spotlight on the Obama administration’s role in facilitating the rise of ISIS in Iraq and Syria — something President Trump repeatedly affirmed while on the campaign trail.

Trump also famously blamed then Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton for the rapid rise of ISIS, especially in relation to policies she oversaw in Libya and Syria as Obama’s Secretary of State.

Trump first told his supporters in January 2016 that “Hillary Clinton created ISIS with Obama.” And in a CBS 60 Minutes interview that aired July 17, 2016, he said again, “Hillary Clinton invented ISIS with her stupid policies.”

Trump: Obama and “crooked Hillary Clinton” are the “founder” and “co-founder” of ISIS:

–

It’s the first time in history that a candidate who would go on to become president has blamed his predecessor for founding a terrorist group.

A fairly consistent theme of Trump on the campaign trail was that Obama and Hillary’s massive covert aid program to Islamist “rebels” in places like Libya and Syria facilitated the terror group’s rapid growth. He also blamed Obama’s hasty troop pullout from Iraq.

Long before joining the Trump campaign, former Defense Intelligence Chief under Obama Michael Flynn told Al-Jazeera it was a “willful decision” to support jihadists groups in Syria that included ISIS:

 

Indeed one surprisingly frank editorial in Britain’s premier mainstream Guardian newspaper concluded the same a full year before Trump first made the statements. The Guardian article, titled Now the truth emerges: how the US fulled the rise of ISIS in Syria and Iraq went viral after it was published in June 2015, and analyzed a then newly declassified Pentagon intelligence document which had been released as part of a watchdog group’s FOIA lawsuit connected to the Benghazi diplomatic compound attack.

The Guardian summarized the Pentagon memo as follows:

A revealing light on how we got here has now been shone by a recently declassified secret US intelligence report, written in August 2012, which uncannily predicts – and effectively welcomes – the prospect of a “Salafist principality” in eastern Syria and an al-Qaida-controlled Islamic state in Syria and Iraq. In stark contrast to western claims at the time, the Defense Intelligence Agency document identifies al-Qaida in Iraq (which became Isis) and fellow Salafists as the “major forces driving the insurgency in Syria” – and states that “western countries, the Gulf states and Turkey” were supporting the opposition’s efforts to take control of eastern Syria.

Raising the “possibility of establishing a declared or undeclared Salafist principality”, the Pentagon report goes on, “this is exactly what the supporting powers to the opposition want, in order to isolate the Syrian regime, which is considered the strategic depth of the Shia expansion (Iraq and Iran)”.

It appears that Trump’s provocative charge of Obama and Clinton being the “co-founders of ISIS” — statements made a year after the Pentagon intelligence memo’s initial release — were likely the direct result of his reading the Pentagon memo and accompanying media commentary.

In June of 2016 Trump tweeted a story linking to the Pentagon memo which opened with: “Hillary Clinton received a classified intelligence report stating that the Obama administration was actively supporting Al Qaeda in Iraq, the terrorist group that became the Islamic State.” Trump said of himself concerning his accusations against Obama and Hillary made that summer: “But he’s right”.

 

At the time, multiple Iranian state media outlets also featured the Pentagon document, while also highlighting then candidate Trump’s statements blaming the Obama administration.

It is this past commentary that Iran will utilize to make its case that the US is to blame for the 2017 ISIS terror attacks inside Iran, which it plans to file with the international court, according to FARS News Agency. The 2012 Pentagon memo, which has since 2015 been available to the public, will likely play a central role in Iran’s presentation of the case.

Iran’s parliamentary judicial committee spokesman noted, “there is nothing more reliable than a claim raised by a country’s president.”

In the summer of 2017 Trump announced that he shut down the CIA’s covert program to train and arm anti-Assad militants in Syria after he reportedly saw a video of “CIA vetted rebels” beheading a child in Aleppo.

israel in panic over losing their ‘dear’ ISIS & Al-Nusra terrorists in Syria

Source

FILE PHOTO: Missile fire is seen from Damascus © Omar Sanadiki / Reuters

Striking targets in Syria and threatening to assassinate the leader on the pretext of fighting Iranian influence is a sign that Israel is in “panic” after losing its “dear” terrorist assets, President Bashar Assad told RT.

Over the last couple of months, Israel has intensified its bombing of military infrastructure in Syria, arguing that the Iranian presence in the Arab Republic jeopardizes its own national security. However, Israel’s justification for its air strikes based on alleged Iranian assets is a “lie,” Assad told RT’s Murad Gazdiev in an exclusive interview.

We don’t have Iranian troops,” Assad said. “We always said that we have Iranian officers, but they work with our army, we don’t have [Iranian] troops.”

Some Israeli politicians have threatened to “liquidate” Assad and topple his government if Iran continues to operate in Syria and transfer weapons to the Lebanese Hezbollah. The Syrian president, however, has made it clear that he is not afraid of the threat.

“The Israelis have been assassinating, killing, occupying for decades now, for around seven decades, in this region, but usually they do all this without threatening. Now, why do they threaten in this way? This is panic, this is a kind of hysterical feeling because they are losing the ‘dear ones,’ the dear ones Al-Nusra and ISIS, that’s why Israel is panicking recently, and we understand their feeling,” Assad said.

Rejecting claims that Syria’s air defenses are practically useless against Israeli jets, the 52-year-old Syrian leader said the old Soviet weapons were capable of repelling numerous IAF strikes and the US-led bombardment in April, when the US, Britain, and France fired over 100 cruise missiles at Syria.

“Our air defense is much stronger than before, thanks to the Russian support and the recent attacks by the Israelis and by the Americans and British and French proved that we are in a better situation” than at the start of the civil war seven years ago, he said.
To protect the sovereignty of Syria, Assad vowed to “improve our air defense, this is the only thing we can do, and we are doing that.”

 

Assad also said that crippling Syria’s air defenses was one of the original tactics used by the “mercenaries” at the beginning of the conflict, and that it was never designed to aid the “peaceful demonstrators,” but would certainly help in case of a foreign military intervention to depose the government.

“So, they attacked those bases, and they destroyed a big part of our air defenses,” he said, arguing that Israel continues to take advantage of that to this day. “This is the other proof that Israel was in direct link with those terrorists in Syria.”

#Tamimi Teen Slipped Into Coma Due to Israeli Prison Neglect

Tamimi Teen Slipped Into Coma Due to Israeli Prison Neglect

Tamara Nassar

Imprisoned Palestinian teenager Hassan Abdulkhaleq Mizher Tamimi was subjected to life-threatening medical neglect by Israeli authorities.

Tamimi, 18, has a serious medical condition in his liver and kidneys, which makes him unable to absorb proteins. He requires a strict vegetarian diet, medicines and periodic tests at the hospital.

Israeli authorities provided him with none of that since his arrest two months ago, and his medical condition deteriorated sharply.

As his situation worsened, Israeli authorities refused to transfer Tamimi to a hospital or provide necessary treatment, his relative Muhammad Tamimi told Wattan TV.

Tamimi vomited for four days and slipped into a coma before he was finally transferred from the Ofer prison clinic to Shaare Zedek medical center on 28 May, according to prisoners rights group Addameer.

Tamimi’s family said that the Israeli occupation authorities bore full responsibility for their son’s life.

“My son was supposed to be transferred to a hospital when he started throwing up. The cause of his coma is the fact that he was not provided with any medical service in detention,” his father told Addameer.

The family urged human rights organizations to exert pressure on Israel to treat and release the teenager.

Evading blame

Tamimi’s lawyer Ahmad Safiya visited him in the hospital on Monday.

“When I arrived at the detainee’s room, none of the medical staff were there, despite the apparent severity of his condition, he stated, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Club.

“After I called on them, the medical staff immediately placed him on respirators.”

Safiya added that despite a decision by doctors to place Tamimi in intensive care immediately, it took two more hours for the transfer to take place.

Safiya said that Israeli authorities told him they had decided to release Tamimi, having ignored numerous requests to do so earlier.

The prisoners club said occupation authorities appear to have realized the seriousness of Tamimi’s condition and were releasing him only to evade their responsibility for him.

However the prisoners club stated that military authorities held a hearing on Tamimi’s case at Ofer prison on Wednesday and had decided to postpone further consideration of it until 25 July.

Hassan Tamimi is now recovering, his relative Manal Tamimi wrote on Twitter on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, the lawyer Safiya confirmed that Tamimi was out of grave danger and was now stable, but required ongoing intensive medical care.

Tamimi, from the village of Deir Nitham in the occupied West Bank, was arrested on 7 April, approximately one month after he turned 18.

He is part of the extended Tamimi family that is the frequent target of collective punishment, imprisonment and harassment by Israeli occupation forces.

One of its most well-known members, teenager Ahed Tamimi from the village of Nabi Saleh, is currently in Israeli military custody for shoving and slapping a heavily armed occupation soldier.

Another member of the family, Asem Tamimi, was released from Israeli prison after over a year, Manal Tamimi wrote on Twitter on Sunday.

Body as a bargaining chip

Meanwhile, Israel is refusing to return the body of Palestinian prisoner Aziz Awisat, who died after being severely beaten in Israeli prison, Gilad Erdan, Israel’s hardline “public security” minister, announced.

Israeli media reported that Erdan was trying to “pressure Hamas to return the bodies of killed Israeli soldiers in Gaza” through his decision, according to Ma’an News Agency.

Israel’s internal secret police Shin Bet and the Israel Prison Service both reportedly oppose Erdan’s decision in fear of Palestinian protests, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to make the final call.

Israel bears full responsibility for the death of Aziz Awisat, Palestinian human rights and prisoner advocacy groups say.

Awisat, 53, was severely beaten by Israeli officers after allegedly pouring hot water on a guard in Beersheba prison on 2 May.

Awisat’s health deteriorated and he suffered a stroke earlier this month. He passed away in a hospital near Tel Aviv on 20 May.

“The Israel Prison Service has adopted a policy of deliberate medical neglect against prisoners and detainees,” Addameer stated.

Dozens of Palestinian detainees have died due to medical negligence since Israel began its military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1967.

israeli minister threatens to destroy Gaza “once and for all”

Israeli Minister Threatens to Destroy Gaza ‘Once and for All’

Smoke billows over Gaza City after an Israeli air strike on 29 May.

Ashraf Amra The Electronic Intifada

As Israel bombed it dozens of times in the past day, a senior Israeli minister has incited the total destruction of Gaza.

On Tuesday, Israeli army radio tweeted the comments of energy minister Yuval Steinitz, who stated, “I do not rule out the possibility of conquering Gaza and destroying it once and for all.”

As Israeli journalist Asaf Ronel pointed out, Steinitz’s words as quoted by army radio are unambiguous in their reference to Gaza itself being destroyed:

On Tuesday, Steinitz made similar statements to the publication Ynet: “We may have no choice, we will have to strike in Gaza and conquer it, and put an end once and for all to this terrorist regime.”

In that interview, Steinitz appears to be referring to Hamas and Islamic Jihad, two political and military groups that carried out rocket and mortar strikes against Israel on Tuesday after months during which not a single such projectile was fired from Gaza.

But Steinitz’s reference to Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Ynet in no way mitigates the genocidal nature of his comments on army radio, since Israel does not distinguish between civilians in Gaza and combatant members of the organizations Israel deems “terrorist.”

Indeed Israel’s justification for the mass slaughter of unarmed civilians during Gaza’s Great March of Return protests is its claim that the rallies are organized by Hamas and thus anyone, even a child, is fair game for snipers.

Israel provokes escalation as Palestinians seek calm

Three Israeli soldiers were injured by shrapnel from mortar fire from Gaza on Tuesday, one moderately.

Ynet also reported that a resident of the Israeli town of Sderot “fell down and suffered contusions while running to a shelter, as three additional civilians suffered panic attacks.”

As the BBC acknowledged – buried near the end of a report – “The upsurge in violence came after Israeli tank fire killed four militants in Gaza in two separate incidents at the start of the week.”

In one of those incidents last Sunday, Israel killed three members of Islamic Jihad, after which the group vowed it would retaliate.

The Palestinian armed response to Israel’s attacks appears to have had the intended effect: it has induced Israel to agree to return to the ceasefire understandings reached after Israel’s 2014 invasion of Gaza.

According to Haaretz, Israel agreed to a Hamas proposal for a ceasefire conveyed via Egypt.

The Israeli military acknowledged on Wednesday that Hamas was now preventing any rocket fire from Gaza, and that several missiles fired overnight had been launched by “rebellious groups.”

Similarly, Islamic Jihad affirmed that its military action was limited and designed to send a message to Israel.

“We are not interested in escalation and are not going to war, but we want to respond to Israel’s attacks,” the group said. “Israel is violating the ceasefire reached after Operation Protective Edge. There should be a Palestinian response to the Israeli escalation that will demonstrate the strength of the resistance.”

Unsurprisingly, the EU and its member governments, which have failed to condemn Israel’s use of snipers to target civilians, were quick to denounce the limited Palestinian armed response to weeks of unchecked Israeli attacks that have killed more than 100 Palestinians and injured thousands more.

The condemnations made much of reports that a mortar shell had landed in the yard of an Israeli kindergarten when no children were present, causing light damage and no injuries.

But none mentioned how shrapnel from an Israeli missile hit a school in Gaza as students were sitting for their exams.

Warm European embrace

In contrast to Steinitz, some Israeli leaders, while still making violent threats against Gaza, are cautioning against overthrowing Hamas, which despite more than a decade of tight Israeli siege continues effectively to govern the interior of the Strip.

Pragmatic reservations by ministers aside, Steinitz’s genocidal language is remarkably common in Israel. Calls for exterminating Palestinians have not disqualified Israeli leaders from the warm embrace of the European Union.

Posting a call for the murder of Palestinian mothers who give birth to “little snakes” has not put a damper on EU cooperation with justice minister Ayelet Shaked:

Education minister Naftali Bennett boasts about killing Arabs, but is still seen as a worthy partner by EU officials:

Last week, the EU criticized Israel for police brutality against Palestinian citizens of Israel, and for its decision to expel Omar Shakir, the head of Human Rights Watch’s Jerusalem office.

But the pose of defending human rights did not last.

On Wednesday, a senior EU official arrived from Brussels for meetings to strengthen ties with Gilad Erdan, the strategic affairs minister behind Shakir’s expulsion.

Erdan is also police minister and has defended the officers who broke the leg of Jafar Farah, director of the human rights group Mossawa, when they attacked a peaceful demonstration by Palestinian citizens of Israel in Haifa.

And earlier this month, the EU embassy in Tel Aviv was effusive with gratitude that Steinitz had attended their Europe Day gala on behalf of the Israeli government.

Just a few days later, Steinitz told the EU it could go to “a thousand thousand hells.”

 

The Attack on Syria by the US, UK and France Was Aggression and Contrary to International Law

The Attack on Syria by the US, UK and France Was Aggression

By David Morrison | American Herald Tribune | May 30, 2018

The prohibition on the use of force by one state against another is one of the most fundamental principles of international law. It is set out in Article 2(4) of the UN Charter, which states:

“All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state … .”

The UN Charter recognises two exceptions to this fundamental prohibition on the use of force. The first is the right of self-defence under Article 51 of the Charter in the face of an armed attack. The other exception is if the use of force has been authorised by the Security Council under Article 42 in Chapter VII of the Charter.

The use of force in any other circumstance constitutes aggression contrary to Article 2.4 of the UN Charter.

On 14 April 2018, the UK engaged in military action against Syria in alliance with the US and France. Together, they fired 105 missiles against targets in Syria. This action was not carried out in self-defence in response to Syrian aggression, nor was it authorised by the Security Council. So, it constitutes aggression against Syria contrary to Article 2.4 of the UN Charter.

Oliver Miles: Is it legal?

Lest there be any doubt about this, here’s what former UK Ambassador Oliver Miles had to say about the action shortly after it took place:

“Before launching an operation of this kind, you have to pass three tests. The first test is: is it legal? The second is: is it effective? And the third test is: what are the political consequences?

“It fails on the first test, because I don’t think it’s legal. I think that the Prime Minister and the Government, and the other Governments concerned, have failed to address [the fact] that the Charter of the United Nations is very clear that military action of this kind can only be undertaken in two circumstances, either in self-defence, which clearly this was not, or with the authority of the Security Council, which they did not have.

“The Government, and the other Governments concerned, have stressed very rightly the importance of strengthening the taboo on use of chemical weapons, but the trouble is that in pursuing that objective they’ve weakened the intermission – the ban – on aggressive war.”

President Putin was not wrong when he described the airstrikes on Syria by the US, UK and France as: “an act of aggression against a sovereign state … without a mandate from the UN Security Council and in violation of the UN Charter and norms and principles of international law”.

This aggression was supported by the EU. Since EU foreign policy decisions require unanimity amongst EU members, this means that all 28 EU states support a fundamental breach of the UN Charter by the US and two of its own members.

May justifies use of force

Prime Minister May justified this use of force on humanitarian grounds in a statement on 14 April. It was taken, she said, in response to the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian Government in Douma on 7 April 2018, which killed “up to 75” civilians. Its purpose was to “protect innocent people in Syria from the horrific deaths and casualties caused by chemical weapons” and, to that end, it consisted of “targeted strikes to degrade the Syrian Regime’s chemical weapons capability and deter their use” in future.

The Government published a paper Syria action – UK government legal position, which attempted to argue that this use of force was legal under international law. It asserted that:

“The UK is permitted under international law, on an exceptional basis, to take measures in order to alleviate overwhelming humanitarian suffering.”

Understandably, the paper made no mention whatsoever of the UN Charter, since there is no provision in the UN Charter which permits military action on humanitarian grounds without specific authorisation by the Security Council. Without that, military action against another state is aggression in breach of the UN Charter unless it is taken in self-defence.

Russia seeking to undermine “the international rules-based system”?

In recent years, the accusation that Russia is seeking to undermine “the international rules-based system” has become a mantra for the British Government and its supporters. For example, in the wake of the nerve gas attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal, Prime Minister May told the House of Commons on 26 March 2018:

“This act against our country is the latest in a pattern of increasingly aggressive Russian behaviour, attacking the international rules-based system across our continent and beyond.”

The Prime Minister didn’t make clear what she means by “the international rules-based system”, but the UN system, and the rules specified in the UN Charter, must be at the heart of it. It is ironic therefore that a few weeks later Britain should drive a cart and horses through the UN Charter by taking military action without Security Council authorisation against a sovereign state that hasn’t attacked it.

The Russian veto

The Prime Minister inferred that efforts to sanction Syria in any other way for its alleged use of chemical weapons were “repeatedly thwarted” by Russia applying, or threating to apply, its veto in the Security Council.

Like it or like it not, the “international rules-based system” involves Russia having a veto in the Security Council, along with the other four permanent members: China, France, the UK and the US (see Articles 23 and 27 of the UN Charter). Russia’s status as a veto-wielding permanent member is a reflection of its outstanding contribution to the defeat of fascism in Europe in WWII.

What is more, it is impossible to take the veto away from Russia, or any of the other permanent members – because amending the UN Charter requires the support of all five permanent members (see Article 108 of the UN Charter).

So, in practice defending the “international rules-based system” involves accepting that Russia will always have a veto on the Security Council, the body which, according to Article 24 of the UN Charter, has “primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security”.

It is not insignificant that each of the three states which took military action against Syria on 14 April have a veto in the Security Council. They are in a position to engage in aggression against other states, as and when they like, without fear of being sanctioned by the Council for doing so, since they can veto any resolution critical of them proposed in the Council.

Did a chemical weapons attack take place?

But, did a chemical weapons attack actually take place in Douma on 7 April? All the Prime Minister has to say about the alleged attack in her statement of 14 April is that “a significant body of information including intelligence indicates the Syrian Regime is responsible for this latest attack”. This “indication” of the Syrian Government’s responsibility was sufficient for the Prime Minister to authorise the use of force and to put it into effect. For reasons that can only be guessed at, the execution couldn’t be delayed to give the OPCW inspectors (who were already on the ground in Damascus) sufficient time to gather information and make a judgment about what actually happened in Douma.

Did the Syrian Government really mount such a chemical weapons attack against civilians at this time when it is coming close to defeating the armed opposition? Such an attack was absolutely certain to provoke a military response from President Trump, since an alleged attack a year ago at Khan Sheikhoun had done so.

On that occasion, President Trump authorised the firing of 59 cruise missiles at a single target, namely, the Syrian air base from which the attack was said to have been launched. Damage to Syria’s military capabilities was limited. However, another chemical weapons attack was likely to lead to a more extensive US onslaught against Syria’s military infrastructure, which might undermine the Syria Government’s ability to finally defeat the armed opposition.

Why on earth would President Assad risk that outcome by using chemical weapons against civilians in an attack of little or no military value?

Lord West has doubts

As Lord West, former First Sea Lord and Chief of Defence Intelligence, pointed out in a BBC interview on 16 April:

“President Assad is in the process of winning this civil war. And he was about to take over and occupy Douma, all that area. He’d had a long, long, hard slog, slowly capturing that whole area of the city. And then, just before he goes in and takes it all over, apparently he decides to have a chemical attack. It just doesn’t ring true.

“It seems extraordinary, because clearly he would know that there’s likely to be a response from the allies – what benefit is there for his military? Most of the rebel fighters, this disparate group of Islamists, had withdrawn; there were a few women and children left around. What benefit was there militarily in doing what he did? I find that extraordinary. Whereas we know that, in the past, some of the Islamic groups have used chemicals [see here], and of course there would be huge benefit in them labelling an attack as coming from Assad, because they would guess, quite rightly, that there’d be a response from the US, as there was last time, and possibly from the UK and France …”

Little more than a gesture

In fact, the military response from the US, UK and France turned out to be little more than a gesture. This was because the US military accepted that missile strikes against military targets that might lead to Russian casualties had to be avoided, lest the Russians respond by striking the sources of the missiles, as they had warned in advance they might do. As Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov explained afterwards, the US military was informed “where [the Russian] red lines are, including red lines on the ground, geographically” and “the results show that they did not cross these red lines”.

So, instead of striking significant military targets, three sites associated in the past with Syria’s chemical weapons capabilities were chosen – a research centre in Barzeh near Damascus and two weapons storage centres near Homs. On the face of it, this choice was appropriate given that the military action was, in the Prime Minister’s words, “to degrade the Syrian Regime’s chemical weapons capability”. But would these sites have been attacked if it was really thought that significant quantities of chemical weapons were stored there, given the risk to civilians nearby from toxic chemicals?

Syria became a party to the Chemical Weapons Convention on 14 October 2013 and, as required by the Convention formally agreed to destroy its chemical weapons stocks and production facilities. On 4 January 2016, the OPCW announced that all chemical weapons declared to it by Syria had been destroyed.

If Syria did not declare all its stocks to the OPCW (as the US and its allies claim), then it is highly unlikely that the undeclared stocks would be kept in known storage sites and be open to destruction from the air. A few months earlier, on 22 November 2017, the OPCW inspected the Barzeh site and didn’t discover any banned chemicals or “observe any activities inconsistent with obligations under the Convention”. Likely, the US and its co-aggressors didn’t expect to destroy any chemical weapons at these sites – there have been no reports that they did – but it made sense to target these sites in order to put a humanitarian face on the aggression.

Mainstream media turn a blind eye

The mainstream media in Britain have, almost without exception, accepted without question the Government’s narrative that the Syrian Government used chemical weapons against civilians in Douma on 7 April – and they have turned a blind eye to the growing body of evidence which suggests that there wasn’t a chemical weapons attack at all, which the Syrian and Russian Governments have claimed from the outset.

Remarkably few Western journalists have visited Douma to see for themselves. An exception to this was Robert Fisk, who has reported from the Middle East for over forty years (and is an Arabic speaker). Here is an extract from his account published in the Independent on 17 April of his conversation with Dr Assim Rahaibani, a senior doctor in the clinic where victims of the alleged chemical attack were brought for treatment. Dr Rahaibani told Fisk what had happened on that occasion:

“I was with my family in the basement of my home three hundred metres from here on the night but all the doctors know what happened. There was a lot of shelling [by government forces] and aircraft were always over Douma at night – but on this night, there was wind and huge dust clouds began to come into the basements and cellars where people lived. People began to arrive here suffering from hypoxia, oxygen loss. Then someone at the door, a ‘White Helmet’, shouted “Gas!”, and a panic began. People started throwing water over each other. Yes, the video was filmed here, it is genuine, but what you see are people suffering from hypoxia – not gas poisoning.”

Fisk walked freely around Douma talking to people he met but he encountered nobody who knew of a “gas” attack on 7 April. An American journalist, Pearson Sharp, from the One America News Network, had a similar experience: on 16 April he reported:

“Not one of the people that I spoke to in that neighbourhood said that they had seen anything, or heard anything, about a chemical attack on that day… they didn’t see or hear anything out of the ordinary.”

Russia Today has broadcast several interviews with paramedics from the clinic and with an 11-year old boy describing how he was roped into the making of the video by the White Helmets (see Interview with boy in Douma video raises more doubts over ‘chem attack’, 19 April). It has also broadcast the proceedings of a news conference organised at The Hague by the Russian Ambassador to the OPCW, when 17 doctors and paramedics, brought from Syria by Russia, testified to a complete absence of chemical weapons or victims at the clinic (see No attack, no victims, no chem weapons: Douma witnesses speak at OPCW briefing at The Hague, 26 April).

This evidence from Robert Fisk and Pearson Sharp, together with the witness testimony broadcast by Russia Today, is close to definitive proof that there was no chemical weapons attack in Douma on 7 April.

David Morrison is the co-author of “A Dangerous Delusion: Why the West is Wrong about Nuclear Iran” (published by Elliott & Thompson, 2013). He has written many articles on the US-led invasion of Iraq.

“Labour Friends of israel” visit the racist, apartheid state despite the recent massacres

Labour Friends of Israel slammed for visiting country after recent killings of Palestinians

RT | May 30, 2018

Labour Friends of Israel (LFI) have been heavily criticized for promoting their latest trip to Israel with a series of pictures on social media, just weeks after the ‘massacre’ of Palestinian protesters by Israeli Defense Forces.

LFI are currently in Israel to “promote bilateral ties and meet politicians”, according to Britain’s Jewish News. They’ve been marking their trip with a series of smiley photos and meetings with Israel’s Labor party, much to the dismay of many of those on Twitter who are outraged at Israeli military action against civilians.

Their first tweet said: “We’re in Israel this week for a parliamentary delegation – here’s the group in Jerusalem this morning.”

One LFI tweet pictured a meeting with Israeli Labor leader Avi Gabbay. He recently wrote to Jeremy Corbyn to notify him of his party’s severing of ties with the Labour leader in response to the “crisis” of anti-Semitism in the UK party. It would appear these LFI members are in Gabbay’s good books.

From just under 100 supporters and select officers, only 7 Labour members of LFI made the trip to Israel. They include MPs Andrew Gwynne, Labour’s National Co-ordinator, LFI chair Joan Ryan, who was the subject of an Al-Jazeera undercover investigation into links between Israeli diplomats and the LFI, as well as MPs Sharon Hodgson, Louise Ellman and Jonathan Reynolds.

The LFI came under fire for declaring that “Hamas must accept responsibility” for scores of Palestinians being killed in mid May, during demonstrations to mark 70 years since Nakba “the catastrophe”.

In a tweet that was subsequently deleted, LFI responded to the killing of more than 60, including 6 children and the injuring of some 2,500 Palestinians by stating: “Tragic events on the Gazan border; all civilian deaths are regrettable. Hamas must accept responsibility for these events. Their successful attempt to hijack peaceful protest as cover to attack Israeli border communities must be condemned by all who seek peace in the Middle East.”

The widely-condemned statement has reportedly led to a number of Labour MPs disassociating themselves from the group, including Tulip Siddiq and Catherine West, who requested being removed from LFI’s supporters list, according to media outlet, Skwawkbox.

MORE THAN 9,200 LOCALS FROM EASTERN GHOUTA JOINED SYRIAN ARMY SO FAR

South Front

30.05.2018

FILE IMAGE

More than 9,200 locals from the Eastern Ghouta region have joined the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and several pro-government armed groups since the liberation of the region on April 14, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported on May 30.

The SOHR said that most of the locals who joined the SAA are from the districts of Duma, Hammuriyah, Irbin, Jisreen, Kafr Batna, Hazzah, Misraba, Saqba and Madeira. The source added that a part of these locals are former fighters of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) who had defected from their groups during or even before the SAA military operation in the Eastern Ghouta region.

The evacuation agreement between Jaysh al-Islam and Damascus gave 18-42 y.o. men there a six-month period to reconcile and join the SAA, if they have not completed their mandatory service. However, it appears that the majority of locals had joined the SAA and pro-government forces before the end of this period.

Earlier this month, the Syrian pro-opposition news outlet Damascus Voice said that more than 4,000 locals of the Eastern Ghouta region joined the SAA. This indicates that the number of locals who opted to join the SAA doubled during the last three weeks.

This drastic increase in the number of its personnel allowed the SAA to demobilize soldiers for the first time since the beginning of the Syrian war. Around 10,000 SAA soldiers will be discharged from military services on June 1, according to Syrian pro-government sources.

Where Is MBS? Why Isn’t Saudi Arabia Quashing Rumors Of His Death Outright?

IBTimes Staff

30-05-2018 | 09:00

The all-powerful Saudi Arabian Crown Prince, Mohammad bin Salman, has been missing on the world stage for more than a month. The uncanny absence of the ultimate champion of reform in the world’s most orthodox Muslim nation has given rise to rumors of his death.

The 32-year-old prince, who shot through the ranks quickly and annihilated opposition within the royal family with breakneck speed, has been mysteriously absent on public stage after the April 21 incident in Riyadh, which had been variously interpreted as a coup attempt and the shooting down of a drone. In the aftermath of the continued absence of the flamboyant royal, rumor mills thrived. The Iranian media took the lead in circulating theories of his death.

However, even as Iran, the biggest adversary of Saudi Arabia, apparently allowed the MBS death rumors to thrive in the online space, authorities in Riyadh mysteriously chose not to rush to debunk the rumors. Was it because the claim was so outlandish and silly? Or was it because a response would be interpreted as a sign of their vulnerability? Or, worse still, was MBS injured in the alleged April 21 coup attempt?

“At least two bullets have hit bin Salman in April 21 clashes in Riyadh and it is even possible that he is dead,” wrote Iran’s Kayhan newspaper. “There is plenty of evidence to suggest that the absence of nearly 30 days of Muhammad bin Salman, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, is due to an incident which is being hidden from the public,” it claimed.

The rumor that took life in Iran then spread around the world, with fringe Russian and “Israeli” news outlets picking it up. The carefully intoned reporting of the inflammatory rumor was then taken up tabloids in the US, UK, Pakistan and elsewhere. However, MBS, who had famously claimed in an interview with CBS in March that only death can stop his reform drive, did not turn up in public all these days.

Finally, with the death and coup rumors flying thick and fast, the Saudi Arabian authorities released a couple of pictures of the Prince this week. One photo showed the prince attending a cabinet meeting in Jeddah while in another he was seen chairing a meeting of the Council for Economic and Development Affairs. However, this move gave rise to probing questions. Why wasn’t a video released? Why didn’t the prince attend any public events in the last month?

Curiously, Prince Salman was not in attendance during the high profile visit of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the end of April. MBS used to be highly active on the diplomatic circuit ever since his elevation to the position this year. His US visit in March was carefully choreographed to make him pass off as a visionary ruler from the Middle East. Yet he was completely absent during Pompeo’s important visit.

This week, reports from Saudi Arabia said a number of activists, including many women’s rights activists, were arrested. The arrests came just a few weeks before one of the biggest ‘MBS reforms’ were to materialize. Saudi Arabia is officially ending the driving ban on June 24, a key promise made by MBS. Sceptics think the arrests of the women activists may hint at something more sinister. That MBS may have been killed in a coup, or that he has been debilitated. The rumor mills, however, don’t offer any concrete evidence.

Source: International Business Times, Edited by website team

 

Palestinian Resistance Showers ’Israeli’ Settlements with Missiles in Response to Earlier Attacks

Local Editor

30-05-2018 | 09:06

In response to the Zionist forces’ targeting of Palestinian resistance sites in the Gaza Strip, as well as the “Israeli” crimes against Great March Return protesters, and maintaining a new equilibrium of horror, the Palestinian resistance factions fired several missiles on Zionist settlements surrounding Gaza, in which at least 6 Zionist soldiers were injured in the Eshkol settlement.

 

In this respect, Yedioth Ahronoth’s website reported that several missiles were hit towards the settlements based in the north of Gaza Strip, some of which landed in Ashkelon and other areas.

Meanwhile, the Zionist occupation army urged settlers based on the coastal area of Zikim’s settlement to immediately evacuate it due to the lack of safe rooms in the place, urging all settlers in the surrounding area to stay in safe places.

Relatively, the Zionist army confessed that new missiles hit the Gaza Envelope settlements claiming that some of them were intercepted.

In parallel, electricity went off in those settlements, and sirens were activated some 50 times since Tuesday morning in the Gaza Envelope.

Earlier, the Zionist military targeted dozens of bases belonging to Palestinian resistance movements inside the Gaza Strip, with the “Israeli” army spokesperson alleging that some 30 targets in Gaza have been bombed, including an “offensive tunnel” in Karm BouSalem Area.

Gaza’s Ministry of Education, meanwhile, confirmed that an official school was bombed while students were performing their high school tests.

For its part, Hamas resistance movement issued a statement stressing that the resistance’s action is a natural right to defend our people and respond to the Zionist killings and intended assassinations of resistance fighters in Rafah and north of the Gaza Strip.

Source: Al-Ahed

Related Videos

 

Related Articles

• Flotilla Carrying Wounded Set for Bid to Break ’Israeli’ Gaza Siege
• المقاومة الفلسطينية تفرض معادلة جديدة: الدمّ بالدمّ
• ‫«الضامن هو الميدان»: تهدئة شفهية في انتظار الاختبار
• ‫«الضامن هو الميدان»: تهدئة شفهية في انتظار الاختبار
• غزة تجبر تل أبيب على التهدئة
• غزة: «كباش صاروخي» لتثبيت معادلة الردع

Hassan Nasrallah: Trump, Netanyahu and Bin Salman want to liquidate the Palestinian cause

THE SAKER

Speech of Hezbollah Secretary General Sayed Hassan Nasrallah on May 14, 2018, commemorating the second anniversary of the death of Hezbollah Commander Sayed Moustafa Badreddine.

Translation : unz.com/sayedhasan

Transcript:

[…] (Finally), Palestine, (the most) important question —I will be brief because everything we said before had to do with Palestine. Tomorrow (May 15) is the 70th anniversary of the Nakba (‘catastrophe’, designating the forced exile of Palestinians in 1948), the Nakba of Palestine, or rather the Nakba of Arabs, Muslims and the (Muslim) Community, and even the Nakba of humanity. What happened 70 years ago and has continued for 70 years is a badge of shame (branded with a hot iron) in History and on the forehead of all mankind, of all States and world leaders, as well as all international organizations in the world. And it continues to this very day: what is happening today in Gaza —tens of martyrs, over a thousand injured— is a continuation of what happened 70 years ago.The Palestinians, for 70 years, did not abandon their cause. They may have differed on some choices, but none of them has accepted that the Palestinian cause is liquidated or definitively closed, regardless of the minimum (1967 borders), median (1948 borders) and maximum (historic Palestine) terms. And their struggle, their fight, their sacrifices and martyrs have continued until what happens today.

Today we are also facing a great and very dangerous challenge to the Palestinian cause, of which I will talk briefly, ie what is known as (Trump’s)  (definitively settling the Palestinian issue), and according to some information —I do not have specific insight about it, but that’s what can be read in the media—, Trump will announce in May, in the last remaining two weeks, he will officially announce this Deal. And the US project to solve the Palestinian issue is this, points 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 (which I’m going to detail).

(What is the position of Trump 🙂 “O Palestinians, O Arabs, O Muslims, if you agree (to the Deal), you’re welcome, come and sign it. If you do not agree, so long (we have nothing more to say), and we will still impose it on you.” Because I forgot something in the first part (of my speech) about the consequences (of the American withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal), it’s not only that (Trump and the United States) do not respect (the agreements nor the world) but they take (unilateral) decisions that favor their interests and just impose them (forcefully) to the world. And those who do not give in, they subject them to sanctions, even if they are their allies. They are not going to propose a settlement (of the conflict), but they will announce it (as a fait accompli). If you accept it, you’re welcome. And if you refuse it, they will wage war against you, inflict sanctions on you, impose it to you (by force). Such is the danger facing the Palestinian cause these days.It started with the recognition of Al-Quds (Jerusalem) as the capital of Israel, and now it’s done, despite the fact that Trump had promised the Arab (leaders) it would take two or three years and that there was time before its implementation. But no, they chose a modest place of Al-Quds (Jerusalem) and rushed to move their embassy (for the inauguration) today.

Well, what is this project, a clear, known project about which nothing is hidden?1 / No Quds (Jerusalem), neither East nor West (for Palestine), it will not even be a matter of discussion. And what appears of the holy places, is that neither what is on the surface, nor what is underground (will be given to the Palestinians). No Quds (Jerusalem). Al-Quds is the eternal capital of Israel.  If a Muslim wants to go to the Al-Aqsa Mosque (the third holiest site in Islam), or if a Christian wants to go to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, he has to ask Netanyahu. That’s the first point. This is definitely settled for Trump, he announced it.

2 / No return of Palestinian refugees. Nothing at all. Now they’re wondering what to do at the Sinai (Egyptian desert), whether they will take them there… Palestinian refugees will either take the nationality of the country in which they reside, or be sent to other places. But there shall be no return of refugees (in Palestine).

3 / The Palestinian State will be Gaza. That is all. The State of Historic Palestine, which is two or three times larger than Lebanon, will be limited to Gaza.

4 / As for the Palestinian presence in the West Bank, it will take some form: self-governance, regional autonomy, partly linked to the ‘State’ of Gaza… I do not have details on that.

5 / Treaties of comprehensive peace. And all Arab and Muslim countries will have to stand in rank, recognize Israel, establish relations with Israel, normalize relations with Israel, and those who do not accept will be subject to sanctions, blockade, pressures and plots ready to be implemented.

Such is the “Deal of the century”. What then is the “Deal of the century” (if not that)? That is to say, the liquidation of the Palestinian cause. This means that the Palestinian cause will end this way.

In this context, what should be our position? We must not be content to describe and analyze. Let’s be realistic. Trump is serious in this choice, and things take their natural course. What is happening, and what does it require from us? From us and others, every Muslim, every Arab, every Christian, every worthy man in this region (and in the world).

What is happening now is that there is a process to impose this outcome. The first step in this process, is the (considerable) pressure exerted on Iran. Currently the pressure on Iran is maximal. Perhaps we who are staying in Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, are not well aware of this. Today, they are exerting maximum pressure on Iran. They work on finances and on the economy (of Iran), to bring down the Iranian currency, and to undermine the economic situation inside the country, in order to create situations of popular demonstrations against the government and against the regime, and therefore lead Iran to a (completely) different location (domestically and regarding its stance on Palestine). The ultimate pressure on Iran consists in the removal of the nuclear deal, the return of US sanctions and the threat of new sanctions. It is not just the old sanctions but also new sanctions against Iran.

Is it only a nuclear issue? They know very well that there is no military nuclear (program) in Iran. The real reason was stated by Trump himself, I do not even need to make an analysis.

He mentioned:

1 / nuclear weapons, knowing that it is a false (charge);2 / ballistic missiles (owned by Iran) and the fact that Iran manufactures them;

3 / support from Iran to Hezbollah and Hamas. He said so explicitly. That is to say, to Palestine.

This means: “O Iran, my problem with you is not only the nuclear issue, ballistic missiles, their scope, their manufacture and their number. One of my main problems with you is your support for Resistance movements in the region.”  And when Trump speaks of Hamas, in truth, it is not only Hamas. It is he who says ‘Hamas’. But the Islamic Republic stands with the entire Palestinian people and all the Resistance movements in Palestine, and supports all those who believe in the choice of Resistance in Palestine. Such is the (true cause of) the pressure against Iran.

“If you want us to go back to the (nuclear) deal, if you want us to waive the sanctions, to quit putting pressure on you with the conversion rate of your currency to the dollar, if you want us to allow European companies to continue investing in Iran and trade with you (O Iran), then leave Palestine aside, detach yourself from it (and toe the line like the others).” That’s the first point.Second, the continuing pressure on Syria in order to monopolize and exhaust it. Syria is nearing victory. Soon they will resort yet again to the pretext of chemical weapons to come and threaten, intimidate and bomb, and if there were not some fears (for the USA), they would not content themselves with what they hit (the last time). The US wants to ensure that the Syrian leadership, President Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian state, the Syrian Army and the Syrian people continue to be drained in the inner battle, in order to get Syria out of this equation (Palestine).

Third, the continuing pressure on Resistance movements in the region, especially in Lebanon. They had already inflicted banking sanctions on us, and now they threaten us with new sanctions from the Congress, they threaten anyone who has links with Hezbollah, financially, etc., etc. You know the extent of this issue, we have already talked a lot about (in the past).

But what is even more dangerous, and it had been a while that there was no such thing, is that today, every day we hear threats of launching a war against Lebanon, saying that if such and such happens, they will send back Lebanon to the Stone Age, etc., this kind of intimidation. What does it mean ? This is part of this process (liquidation of the Palestinian cause), this is a way to say “Watch out you Lebanese, watch out Hezbollah, be reasonable, keep aside. Do not stand in our way by trying to help the Palestinians, give them support, backing and assistance, otherwise you’ll have all kinds of problems.” So there is also the pressure on Lebanon.And lately, the renewal of the blockade against the Palestinians in Gaza to the point of starvation. Gaza today faces a famine situation. Over time, Gaza gets closer and closer to the situation of the Yemeni people. The situation in Gaza is difficult and (even) terrible at this point. There will come a time when people will not have money to buy food. Already, people have no money to buy food. What does it mean ? “Either we bring Gaza into submission and bend its knee by famine, until they fold and sign, either we lead it to an inner explosion.” And the leaders of the Resistance in Gaza acted (very) wisely, because they turned the threats of internal explosion into an opportunity with the March of Return, which will reach its pinnacle tomorrow. But this project and vision (liquidation of the Palestinian cause) are continuing.

It’s the same with the pressure on all Palestinians, on the Palestinian Authority, the Organization for the Liberation of Palestine, inside, outside, with refugees, moral, psychological and financial pressures, blockades, etc. What they ask from the Palestinians today, and we come to the position (required), what they want from the Palestinians today, through the blockade, pressures, famine, their efforts to break them and humiliate them, all this is to obtain their signature. This signature is very expensive, it is (really) expensive.

In addition to all this, in that process, we always find more support from Arab governments and the Gulf for the US-Israeli project of “Deal of the century” . This is also part of this process. And worse, what some Gulf countries do, is two things.The first thing, which I have already referred to several years ago, is the religious and (Islamic) Law cover, that is to say the religious justification for surrendering to Israel. You see, when Anwar Sadat went to make a peace agreement (with Israel), it was (as) a political State, a secular President who was making peace with Israel. Sadat did not give any religious cover, nor did he invoke Islamic jurisprudence. He did not claim that he was following the will of God, the Prophet, and the Prophet’s companions, no. The most we could hear in the speeches of Anwar Sadat is that he tried to take advantage of a Quranic verse, reciting it in his Egyptian dialect (thus showing a lack of deference to the Quran, which should be recited in an unaltered classical Arabic), “And if they incline to peace, then incline to it [also].” (Quran, 8, 61). End of the story.

King Hussein (of Jordan), when he officially made peace with Israel at (the border post of) Wadi Araba, he did not bring with him the religious organizations claiming that it was the will of God, the Prophet, the family of the Prophet, the Companions, nor, since he is a Hashemite King (descendant of the Prophet), did he claim that it was the will of the Banu Hashim, of his ancestors and forefathers, he did not claim that they accepted this, never. It was (only) a State concluding a peace treaty.

The great misfortune, as I said a few years ago, the great calamity is when Saudi Arabia walks this path. This is the great misfortune. This is the great calamity. Because we will then see the Grand Mufti, the Committee of great scholars, great scholars, jurists, muftis, scholars of hadith, commentators of the Qur’an, as it has already begun, (we will see them justify their surrender to Israel in the name of Islam)…

What have we just seen? It’s Mohammad Bin Salman who said it, but he first spoke with the sheikhs. This is what we heard : “O brothers, O Arabs, O Muslims, you are mistaken! Palestine is for them, O people, it is the Jews who are entitled to it. They are the legitimate owners. This is the land of their fathers and ancestors. And it is God who has given it to them. And the Quran says so.”  Look how they want to lead people astray and fool them. “It is the Quran that says that.” And they cite verses from the Quran as evidence.An imbecile from the Gulf claiming to be a strategic thinker —I saw him on television—, said: “Israel was mentioned 38 times in the Quran, but the word ‘Palestine’ is not mentioned in the Quran. So who is within his rights? Palestine belongs to the Jews. You do not have a say. Enough, give back the land to its rightful owners!”

And now what do we see? Look, now that Saudi Arabia gets (openly) involved, it would be religion, the Quran, History and God’s promise that would have granted (Palestine) to the Jews. And therefore, we Muslims, before 1948, and for hundreds of years, would have usurped Palestine, deprived its rightful owners from it, so we should apologize to them and also compensate them. And Mohammad Bin Salman is ready to pay those compensations. This is what is happening.In an discussion with an important Sunni scholar, I told him: “If anyone has connections to Saudi Arabia, let him ask them ‘O my brothers, who came to Palestine and freed Al-Quds (Jerusalem), making it enter the great Islamic state? It is the second caliph Omar Ibn al-Khattab (revered by Sunnis). So be careful (with what you say). Who is it that would have ‘occupied’ Palestine (according to you), depriving (the Jews) of their rights (on this land) and would have taken away from them this so-called historic right?” But unfortunately, we have now arrived at a point where (we hear that) it would be their historical right.

I heard one of the important (scholars) in Saudi Arabia declare on TV that we must recognize that just as Mecca is a holy city for Muslims, just as Medina is a holy city and belongs to us, Al-Quds (Jerusalem), the House of Holiness, is a holy city for Jews, and so we should leave it to them, with respect, humility, generosity. This Arab ‘generosity’, which only manifests itself towards the enemy.

This first point is worse (than what was done by Egypt and Jordan).

And the second thing that is worse (than that) is that the Gulf states, led by Saudi Arabia, are leading the region against an enemy they have fashioned from scratch, and towards a war that they want to push the world to declare, namely against Iran. These governments are willing to pay the United States hundreds of billions of dollars to come and fight a war against Iran, without (any consideration) for Palestine and the Palestinian cause. This is part of the ongoing process.

(What is) the position (we must take)? To be realistic, and benefit from our experience (in Palestine) from 1948 to date, for 70 years, and from our experience in Lebanon.

O Palestinian people, O Lebanese people, O Syrian people, O peoples of the region, O Iranian people —as it is now in the heart of the challenge—, O all the peoples of the region. Pinning one’s hopes on international law, international institutions, international organizations, for any issue whatsoever, is vain, meaningless, empty talk. More than that. Pinning one’s hopes on the Arab regimes, in their great majority, for anything at all, is vain, meaningless, empty talk. I speak from our experience and from the experience of Palestinians. Where to pin our hopes, in short? On the position of our people, the position of some countries and the position of the Resistance movements. This is what brings results, and this is what changes the equation (in our favor). I do not speak to give hope. I only remind what the experiences taught us, that hope is open before us, and in very big way.

Today, a position is needed in two places.

First, with the Palestinians. Currently, it is not necessary that the Palestinian launch a war, or that they launch an armed intifada, or anything like that. This popular uprising expected from them, even if it does not materialize, only one thing is required from them, and that will be enough to dismiss the “Deal of the century”. Of course, now the Palestinians are demonstrating, and they have been demonstrating for weeks, and it destroys and annihilates (completely) the “Deal of the century”.

But there is one basic thing that will prevent the “Deal of the century” to become effective, even if the whole world is unanimous about it, even if a decision of the UN Security Council (recognizes it): that no Palestinian sign it. That neither the President of the Palestinian Authority nor the PLO Chairman, neither Fatah nor Hamas nor (Islamic) Jihad nor anyone signs it. No Palestinian who claims he is the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people must sign this agreement. If they do not sign it, this Deal will have no effect whatsoever (it will be null and void).Israel occupied Palestine, and in addition the Golan, and parts of Lebanon and the Shebaa farms so far —may God make the best out of it—, (but) the cause remained alive, Resistance movements have expanded and have become more powerful and more determined (than ever), and the awareness of the (Muslim) Community grew. As for the Arab leaders, nothing has changed, except that they took off their masks, but their essence and reality have not changed, (treachery) has been their reality for decades.

Therefore, the main position (required), from which derives the second position, is that the Palestinians do not sign. And even if a thousand Trump, a thousand Netanyahu and a thousand Mohammad Bin Salman strove to it, they could never impose on the Palestinian people the liquidation of the Palestinian cause.

And the second place is the Resistance Axis: the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Syrian Arab Republic, Lebanon (Hezbollah), Iraq, Yemen, our peoples in the region, from Bahrain to North Africa, Tunisia, Egypt, etc., etc. The Resistance Axis, with his countries, his parties (movements) and his peoples, must stand firm, enduring, not bow, not bend the knee, not give up, even if it is subjected to sanctions, blockade, even if the price of its currency is brought down, even if the war in Syria and Yemen is extended, even if (its members and supporters) are oppressed and imprisoned. It must remain firmly attached to its rights and yield nothing, and that is all that is required for us to overcome this stage (successfully). And we can overcome this stage.

In 1996, the world met in Sharm el-Sheikh, the whole world, and it was said at the time that the settlement (of the Palestinian cause) was over, that the Palestinian issue was over, and the world had made a final choice. But thanks to the battle that took place in Lebanon and Palestine, and to the endurance of Syria and Iran, (this final settlement) claimed to be “at a distance of but two bow-lengths or (even) nearer” (Qur’an 53: 9), the end of the Palestinian question in 1996, all (this) was shattered, and we are now in 2018.

The current project, as some say —these are not my words, but I borrow them— this project is based on the three vertices of a triangle: Trump, Netanyahu and Mohammad Bin Salman. In all likelihood —in order not to be categorical—, if only one of the three falls, the entire project will fall. Each of these three men, from the standpoint of political realism, (is unstable). Trump is faltering in the US because of the scandals, problems, etc., we do not know where he will lead the world and where he will lead the United States’ domestic situation. Netanyahu also because of the corruption cases which weigh (heavily) on him, and he strives to strengthen his position with political successes to save himself from all the corruption cases. As for Muhammad bin Salman, God knows what is happening in Saudi Arabia (dynastic and personal conflicts, rumors of serious injury and/or assassination attempt, etc.). Anyway, may God make the best happen. After King Salman, we’ll see what happens. None of these three is firm, solid, stable and rooted in his office.

And I add to this that all their projects in the region have fallen and failed, and they vainly wasted their resources, their allies and their instruments. And today, the Resistance Axis is stronger than ever. And after what happened in Syria several days ago, and what is happening today in Gaza, I tell you this: my brothers and sisters, do not listen to all these… Today my heart is stronger on this point. Do not listen to all the Israeli intimidation and war threats, these (claims that) they will achieve and accomplish (such and such things), strike (us) and swoop down on (us), turn our world upside down. In the vast majority, all (these rantings) are, according to me and to others —we talked about it with my brothers(-in-arms) —, I am convinced that these are empty words, vain threats. This Israel, if someone is more afraid to go to war than anyone else in this region, it is Israel. And although, as it is known, terrified people would scream louder, make threats, bomb the torso, shows muscles and insult, so that nobody approaches them, but as soon as we approach him, he flees for his life. As soon as one approaches him, he will hide in his hole.

We have very high hopes. We have very high hopes. We have (real) men in Lebanon and throughout the region, similar to the martyr Mustafa Badreddine, the (Hezbollah) martyred commander, courageous, determined and lucid. We have many men like Hajj Imad Moghnieh (Hezbollah martyred commander) among his brothers and comrades in arms. We have scholars, leaders, great (men), personalities, entire generations. And I know our new generation. Our new generation has even more enthusiasm, impulse and preparation for martyrdom. There is no loss or deficit in this regard, despite everything they do (to pervert it): social networks, games, numbness, moral corruption, drugs. Our new generation is stronger than that and stronger than previous generations. That’s why (we are not pessimistic), and we have high hopes. We just have to sustain our efforts, to stand firm and maintain this position. […]

See also Part 1 (Trump only cares about US and Israeli interests) and Part 2 (Syrian strikes in Golan frightened Israel and shattered its prestige) of this speech.

See Videos Here

 

 

Palestinian Resistance: Zionist Enemy Can No Longer Change Rules of Engagement

May 30, 2018

The Palestinian resistance factions issued on Wednesday a joint statement in which they vowed to respond to any Zionist aggression, stressing that teh Israeli enemy can no longer change the rules of engagement.

The statement added that the Palestinian resistance depends on the divine help in order to confront the Zionist attacks, noting that the factions follow a national agenda which matches the independent will of the Palestinians.

Source: Al-Manar Website

RELATED ARTICLES

• المقاومة تفرض معادلتها في غزة والهدوء الحذر يسيطر بعد التصدّي للعدوان
• Cautious Calm Prevails in Gaza
• بيان مشترك لـ”القسام” و”سرايا القدس”: لن نسمح للعدو بفرض معادلات جديدة
• المقاومة في غزة تؤكد تثبيت الهدوء وفق اتفاقية 2014 ما دام الاحتلال ملتزم…

 

SYRIAN WAR REPORT – MAY 29, 2018: FINAL WARNING TO MILITANTS IN SOUTHERN SYRIA

South Front

29.05.2018 –

The Syrian military has concentrated a notable force in the province of Daraa to be able to employ a military option should negotiations with local armed groups fail. Reinforcements from the Tiger Forces, the 4^th Armoured Division, the 5^th Armoured Division, the National Defense Forces, Liwa al-Quds and the Syrian Social Nationalist Party have recently arrived in the area.

According to local sources, the Syrian-Russian delegation has recently send militants a final warning providing them with three options:

• To surrender heavy weaponry and to withdraw to militant-held areas in the provinces of Idlib and Aleppo;
• To accept a full reconciliation agreement, to surrender weaponry and to normalize their legal status;
• To face a military operation.

At the same time, armed groups in southern Syria, including the Southern Front, Ahrar Nawa, Al-Maghawir and Ahrar al-Golan, have merged into a new militant formation entitled The Army of Salvation. Syrian experts immediately linked this development with the militants’ preparations to repel the upcoming offensive instead of reaching a peaceful solution with Damascus.

These developments come amid newly surfaced unconfirmed media reports about indirect Iranian-Israeli talks with a Jordanian mediation on the situation in southern Syria. According to these reports, Iran has agreed to stay away from the battle against militants in southern Syria while Israel has pledged not to intervene into clashes near the occupied Golan Heights and near the Syrian-Jordanian border as long as no Iranian forces are deployed there.

Reports of this possibility have immediately become wide spread and popular in the media. However, there is little new about the Iranian attitude in it because Teheran has officially announced that its forces will not participate in the aforementioned operation. As to the Israeli side, according to some experts, it’s hard to believe that Israel will stay away when Syrian government forces crush militants near the Golan Heights. However, Tel Aviv will likely limit its activity to individual strikes justified by some shells falling in the occupied area.

Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman, military intelligence chief Tamir Heiman and other Israeli officials will visit Moscow later this week for meetings with their Russian counterparts. Among other topics, the sides will probably discuss the situation in Syria, including the upcoming military operation in southern Syria.

Related Videos

Related Articles

• Gaza Strip Escalation – May 29-30, 2018 (Map, Photos, Videos)
• VIDEO: Palestine’s Hamas pounds Israeli base with mortars
• Israel Carries Out Massive Strike On Gaza, Locals Protest Against US-backed Forces In Syria
• Russian Electronic Warfare Company To Upgrade Products After Studying US Tomahawks Unexploded In Syria
• Israeli Forces Struck At least 65 Targets In Gaza. Palestinian Forces Launched At least 70 Projectiles
• Breaking: Israel deals ‘hardest blow” to Gaza in years – Netanyahu
• Israeli military carries out 25 airstrikes in Gaza (video)
• Powerful explosions heard throughout Gaza as Israeli forces unleash fresh assault
• Breaking: Israeli forces launch massive overnight attack over Gaza
• Breaking: Israeli Air Force launches big assault on Gaza
• Developing: Palestinian forces launch new wave of attacks on Israel

SYRIA RECOGNIZES INDEPENDENCE OF ABKHAZIA, SOUTH OSSETIA. GEORGIA SUSPENDS DIPLOMATIC TIES WITH SYRIA

South Front

29.05.2018

Syria has recognized independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and has announced a decision to set up Embassy-level diplomatic relations with the two self-proclaimed states.

“The Republic of South Ossetia and the Syrian Arab Republic declare mutual recognition and the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries at the level of embassies from the date this communique is published,” theSouth Ossetian Foreign Ministry commented on the issue in a statement on its website.

The statement added that both countries are seeking “to establish and develop full-scale political, economic and cultural cooperation.”

Earlier, the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia were recognized by Venezuela, Nicaragua, Nauru and Russia.

Both South Ossetia and Abkhazia are former regions of Georgia, which have separated from the country as a result of local conflicts triggered by ethnic tensions.

In reply to the Syrian move, Georgia has launched a procedure for suspending diplomatic ties with Syria, the country’s Deputy Foreign Minister David Dondua said.

“Georgia has launched the procedure to suspend diplomatic ties with Syria. I would like to note that the international community firmly supports the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia and the policy of non-recognition of the occupied territories,” Dondua said during a press briefing.

 

حكاية إيران وكوريا مع أميركا وأوروبا: الجغرافيا السياسية تغيّرت مع الحرب السورية

مايو 29, 2018

ناصر قنديل

– كشفت العنتريات الأميركية في الملف النووي لكوريا الشمالية هزال السياسة الخارجية والأمنية لإدارة الرئيس دونالد ترامب، التي تلاقى مستشار أمنها القومي جون بولتون ونائب الرئيس مايكل بنس، على تبشيرها بالخيار الليبي، واضطر رئيسها ترامب نفسه لنفي التشبيه وثم الإصرار على بقاء التفاوض رغم الإعلان الكوري عن التشكيك في جدواه. وعاد فأعلن إلغاء القمة مع الزعيم الكوري بسبب الصدّ والممانعة الكوريين، ليعود فيوسّط رئيس كوريا الجنوبية ويرسل وفداً إلى كوريا الشمالية يتبعه وصول وزير الخارجية مايك بومبيو لتقديم ضمانات رسمية طلبتها كوريا للإبقاء على القمة، ويعلن ترامب مجدداً أنه يتطلّع لعقد القمة ويعد كوريا بالمَنّ والسلوى.

– بالمقابل بدت أميركا متشدّدة ومتصلّبة وفي منحى تصعيدي تجاه الملف النووي الإيراني، وصولاً لعدم سماع أصوات الاستغاثة الأوروبية بعدم تطبيق العقوبات على شركاتها ومصارفها التي ستبقى ضمن خط التعامل التجاري مع إيران من ضمن التزام الحكومات الأوروبية بالتفاهم الموقع والمصدّق عليه من مجلس الأمن الدولي برضا وقبول واشنطن نفسها، حتى عندما بلغت الأصوات الأوروبية حدّ التحذير من أنها ستنفرد عن أميركا وتصون التفاهم لم تلقَ إصغاء واشنطن، وترافق التصعيد الأميركي مع تهديد إسرائيلي متواصل وتصعيد محسوب ومتقطع على الجبهة السورية تحت عنوان الدعوة لانسحاب إيران وحزب الله، يرافقها طلب أميركي مشابه، وظهرت إلى العلن حملة عقوبات أميركية وخليجية ذات مغزى سياسي تستهدف حزب الله، رغم عدم قيمتها العملية.

– أمران جديدان على حسابات المحلّلين والسياسيين أظهرتهما الأيام، الأول لهاث أميركي نحو القمة مع زعيم كوريا الشمالية رغم فقدان المهابة بعد كل ما تعرّضت له القمة، وتمسّك أوروبي بالتفاهم النووي مع إيران والالتزام بتخطّي عقدة العقوبات الأميركية بما يُطمئن إيران لمصالحها بعدما حسمت أنّها تلتزم بالتفاهم بقدر ما يلبّي هذه المصالح. فهل هذه بدايات لتبلور مشهد دولي جديد، وهل بدأ زمن تفكّك الغرب الذي عرفناه تقليدياً بقيادة أميركية؟ وهل تلعب الجغرافيا السياسية التي جذبت روسيا كلاعب إقليمي لعبتها الآن مع أوروبا بعدما صارت أميركا لاعباً إقليمياً في شرق آسيا بقوة الجغرافيا السياسية ومفاعيلها ذاتها؟

– الأكيد أن زلزالاً شهدته العلاقات الدولية لا زال في بداياته، والأكيد أن الأحكام المسبقة أو التقليدية لا تصلح لفهم تداعيات هذا الزلزال، والأكيد أن تيويم الاستنتاجات والخلاصات يحتاج لمرونة في التفكير وتلقي المواقف وقياسها ومحاولة فهمها. ومَن يراقب التحوّل الذي شهدته التصرفات الروسية خلال ثلاثة أعوام منذ قرار التموضع العسكري في سورية وتحمّل تبعاته كقرار استراتيجي يحمل تحدياً واضحاً وعلنياً لما كان سائداً من قواعد رسمتها أميركا على الساحة الدولية عموماً، وساحة المنطقة خصوصاً، ويراقب تدريجياً ما أصاب الاتحاد الأوروبي من ملامح تفكك بدأت طلائعها مع الانسحاب البريطاني، وما لحق الاتحاد الأوروبي من ارتباك تجاه كيفية التأقلم مع العالم الجديد الذي يبدو قيد الولادة، سواء لجهة كيفية التعامل مع الحرب في سورية وعليها، أو في التعامل مع إيران، أو في التعامل مع روسيا، وما في كل ذلك من ارتباك وتذبذب، ومقابله العلاقات الأوروبية الأميركية، وكذلك مَن يراقب الانكفاء الأميركي العملي من ملفات المنطقة رغم بقاء ملامح انتشار عسكري وسياسي، انكفاء عبر عنه الانسحاب السلبي من التفاهم النووي الإيراني دون السعي لإسقاط التفاهم ولا الذهاب لحرب يفرضها أي مؤشر لعودة إيران لتخصيب اليورانيوم، وكذلك الانسحاب الأميركي من ملف تسوية القضية الفلسطينية، والاكتفاء بإعلان القدس عاصمة لكيان الاحتلال ولو كانت النتيجة تفجير مشاريع التفاوض ونقل الشارع الفلسطيني وقواه السياسية إلى حالة مواجهة بذلت واشنطن الكثير لتفاديها.. مَن يراقب كل ذلك لا بد أن يكتشف أن قواعد السياسة الدولية تتغيّر نوعياً، وأن ما جعل روسيا تترجم عالميتها بالتحوّل لقوة إقليمية في المنطقة، هو ذاته يجعل أوروبا كذلك، ويدفع أميركا بقوة الجغرافيا إلى خارج المنطقة، ويجذبها نحو التحوّل قوة إقليمية في منطقة أخرى يمسّها كل تحوّل فيها في الأمن والاقتصاد، هي شرق آسيا وليس ما عُرف بالشرق الأوسط، الذي بيقيها على صلة به التزامها بأمن «إسرائيل» وأمن النفط باتصاله بالحكم السعودي.

– عندما تقرّر واشنطن الانسحاب من اتفاقية المناخ والتخلّي بموجب ذلك عن دورها كقوة عظمى قيادية للعالم، فهي تقرّر العودة للمنافسة التي حرمها الغرب نفسه بقيادة أميركية في مرحلة الرهان على رفع أكلاف الإنتاج من بوابة منع تدمير البيئة، وفرض بقيادة أميركية شروطاً على الصناعات تزيد كلفتها تحت شعار حماية البيئة، وتمنح الغرب وصناعاته قدرة تنافسية أعلى، لتأتي واشنطن معلنة بانسحابها أنها عاجزة عن المنافسة بهذه الشروط وأن اقتصادها لا يحتملها، والمنافس هنا هو باقي دول الغرب في أوروبا وكل من الصين واليابان وكوريا الجنوبية في الشرق. وعندما تلحق واشنطن ذلك بقرارات متتابعة برفع الرسوم الجمركية على الحديد والصلب، وصناعة السيارات، وتليها بإعلان الخروج من اتفاقية «نفتا» التي تربطها بدول أميركا الجنوبية للأسباب ذاتها، فهي تقرّر الاحتماء وراء الجدران، جدران السياسة بالانسحاب من قيادة التسويات حيث لا جدوى من الحروب ولا قدرة على خوضها، وجدران الاقتصاد، بالانسحاب من التفاهمات التي شكلت اتفاقية المناخ وتشكيل منظمة التجارة العالمية، لضمان حرية انتقال البضائع، ذروة الحركة الأميركية فيها نحو العولمة.

– سقوط العولمة هو الاستنتاج الأهم الذي يحكم العالم اليوم في ضوء الزلزال الذي مثّلته الحرب السورية، وفشل السيطرة الأميركية عليها، وتبلور معادلات دولية جديدة بضوئها، تُعيد رسم مفاهيم الأمن القومي والاقتصادي للدول الغربية بصورة لا تتيح بقاء أميركا وأوروبا في ضفة واحدة، بل ربّما تؤسس لتقارب روسي أوروبي، وتنافس ومساكنة أميركية صينية، من موقع دور وفعل الجغرافيا السياسية والاقتصادية، في زمن باتت ترسم فيه البحار مناطق الأقاليم الجديدة، وفقاً لما تميّز بكشفه الرئيس السوري بشار الأسد بنظريته عن البحار الخمسة، التي تجعل روسيا وأوروبا وما عُرفَ تقليدياً بالشرق الأوسط وإيران وتركيا والخليج ضمناً، منطقة إقليمية واحدة، فالقضيتان الجوهريتان لأمن أوروبا هما النازحون والإرهاب، ومصدرهما زعزعة الاستقرار في الشرق الأوسط التقليدي. وهي زعزعة لا تزعج أميركا، وتضاف إليهما مخاطر مواجهة مع إيران التي تملك ترسانة صاروخية تقع أوروبا في مداها، وتتحمّل أوروبا لتفادي المواجهة فاتورة الانكفاء الأميركي لإدارة ملف إيران النووي بما لا يزيد درجة الخطر بذهاب إيران للتخصيب الخطير، بينما أولويات أميركا كورية وصينية، أمنياً واقتصادياً، فواشنطن في مدى صواريخ نووية كورية جاهزة، وتحت تأثير ديون تملكها الصين، وفي مواجهة منافسة اقتصادية قوتها المحورية تمثلها الصين وبنسب أقل اليابان وكوريا الجنوبية وأوروبا.

– هذا ما يفسّر الموقف الأوروبي المخالف لواشنطن في قضية القدس، وفي الملف النووي الإيراني، وفي ملفات ستتبلور أوضح تباعاً، كالحرب السورية والحرب في اليمن، وبالتالي تغليب أوروبا للغة التسويات على العنتريات والمواجهات، عنتريات يقودها كيان الاحتلال والكيان السعودي، ككيانين هيجينين لا تقرّر السياسة فيهما لغة المصالح، واحد لكونه مصطنعاً سكانياً بقوة الاستيطان، وآخر لأنه مصطنع اقتصادياً بقوة النفط، بينما ولاعتبارات الجغرافيا السياسية نفسها بدأ التحوّل التركي، ولو سار بطيئاً، فهو لن يعود إلى الوراء.

Related Videos

Related Articles

• «واشنطن بوست»: أميركا في طريقها لتصبح من جمهوريات الموز!
• مون ينضم لقمة ترامب وكيم أون في سنغافورة في حال اتفقا على عقدها!
• الجنوب بين القرار السوري بالتحرير والتحذير الأميركي لمنعه
• بلدات في ريف دمشق تحتفي بتحريرها
• اليوم دمشق بلا إرهاب.. غداً القدس بلا صهاينة
• معركة الجنوب ونباح الكلاب .. هل كشف أول أسرار لقاء بوتين والاسد؟؟
• Daraa… for sure…Idlib and Raqqa درعا… حتماً… وإدلب والرقة
• The resistance equations, its makers, and its partners… On the Resistance and Liberation Day معادلات المقاومة وصنّاعها وشركاؤها… في العيد

The Jewish State is an embarrassment to its original humanist endeavour and to humanity in general

Jewish past versus Jewish State

 

Gilad Atzmon writes:

Zionism promised to solve the Jewish problem. It vowed to fix diaspora Jews by means of a “homecoming”, to make them loved, empathic and bond them to the soil – in essence, to make them “a people like all other people”.

The horrific scenes flooding in from Gaza recently demonstrate that Zionism has failed miserably. The Jewish State is an embarrassment to its original humanist endeavour and to humanity in general.

In just one day, at least 43 Palestinian protesters were killed and 2,200 wounded by Israeli troops at the Gaza border. Some reports suggest that half of the injuries were caused by live ammunition. This is devastating news. The criminality of Israel is institutional. This is not about one odd sniper who laughs as he shoots a young Palestinian in the knee, crippling him for life. Israel is displaying a systematic, hierarchic, murderous apparatus designed to sustain the oppression of the indigenous people of the land indefinitely.

Despite the Zionist dream, the Jewish State isn’t loved by its neighbours. It isn’t loved by the rest of the world either. In fact, Israel’s actions evoke global revulsion. Instead of solving the Jewish problem, Zionism has only relocated the problem and amplified the symptoms it vowed to eliminate.

The truth can be a disturbing notion. No matter how much you try to suppress it, the truth manages to come out. Accordingly, it is impossible to grasp the history of Jewish suffering without taking into consideration the atrocious actions of the Jewish State. As it happens, Israeli politics is driven by a complete dismissal of “the other”. The Israeli military operation in Gaza is simply a licence to murder. One would hope that a state that names itself the Jewish State would be slightly more vigilant with its excessive use of power.

By now I believe that Israel is going to be remembered as the darkest chapter in Jewish history and beyond.

US State Department Tells Syria What It Can and Can’t Do on Its Own Soil

Peter KORZUN

US State Department Tells Syria What It Can and Can’t Do on Its Own Soil

The US State Department has warned Syria against launching an offensive against terrorist positions in southern Syria. The statement claims that the American military will respond if Syrian forces launch an operation aimed at restoring the legitimate government’s control over the rebel-held areas, including the territory in southwestern Syria between Daraa and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Washington is issuing orders to a nation whose leadership never invited America in in the first place! The very idea that another country would tell the internationally recognized Syrian government that it cannot take steps to establish control over parts of its own national territory is odd and preposterous by any measure.

State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert said Washington would respond with “firm and appropriate measures.” But does the US have any legal grounds for responding with any measures at all? What is it actually doing in Syria? And wait a minute … President Trump recently solemnly promised to leave! Indeed, there is no justification for the US military presence, especially after the Islamic State ceased to be a factor influencing the events there, once that force had been reduced to insignificance. It would have been totally routed a long time ago if America had not intervened, allowing the remnants of the militant group to survive. Wasn’t it President Trump who said many times that the only justification for the US presence in Syria was the need to fight the Islamic State and nobody else? Wasn’t it he who happily declared the final victory over the terrorist group? That mission has been accomplished and yet… the US is still there, issuing warnings and instructions that others must comply with or else.

The statement calls on Moscow to use its influence with the Syrian government to prevent the liberation of the captured areas in accordance with last year’s de-escalation agreement between Russia, the US, and Jordan. Moscow has also called on Washington not to destabilize Syria with missile and air strikes and to do something about the humanitarian catastrophe in southwestern Syria, but is anyone listening? Last month, Russian President Putin said in a statement that any cooperation with the US in Syria had been suspended after the April attacks, which the Russian government viewed as an act of aggression against a sovereign state. It was not Moscow who started the whole thing, rendering all previous arrangements null and void. Assistant Secretary of State Wess Mitchell told the House Foreign Affairs Committee on April 18 that Washington was ready for an armed clash with Russia in Syria. This statement did not go unnoticed in Moscow.

Although it is a guarantor of the de-escalation zone in southwest Syria, what has the US done to prevent the rebels from attacking Syrian forces and staging all kinds of provocations?

What about the 12,000-strong Southern Front that has amassed in southern Syria preparing for an assault on Syrian forces? Is that not a violation of the agreement in regard to the de-escalation zone? They plan to capture Daraa and turn it into the capital of a would-be quasi-state supported by the US and Israel. A false-flag chemical attack cannot be ruled out. The militants have some experience staging such provocations. The logistics for this force involve crossing the Jordanian-Syrian border under the guise of providing humanitarian assistance. Has any de-escalation agreement given a green light to such activities?

The situation could have been discussed during the recent Astana meeting, but the US was conspicuously absent while encouraging military preparations in the province of Deir ez-Zor.

The US warning coincides with the news that the US is going to recognize the Golan Heights as Israeli territory. And any “foreign” presence there — such as Iranian, for instance — would be viewed as a threat to Israel’s sovereignty, and of course America would be ready to help its old friend and ally. The Heights are Syrian land. They were captured during the 1967 war and illegally annexed by Israel in 1981. That move has not been recognized internationally but the US is ready to defy the rest of the world. It’s not the first time. The embassy in Israel was moved to Jerusalem, the Iran deal was unilaterally torn up — the list of examples illustrating US scorn for international opinion can go on.

Despite its stated intentions to leave, the US warning shows that it will stay in Syria for a long time and its future plans have little to do with the Islamic State. The goal is the partition of Syria, with large swaths of its territory remaining under America’s control, including the Daraa province. The US absence at the Astana meeting confirmed its plan to stymie the ongoing Russia-led peace efforts in favor of seeing Syria divided and using other venues for peace talks in order to diminish Russia’s influence, isolate the Assad government, and squeeze Iran out. Step by step, America’s uninvited intervention in Syria is exacerbating the situation, increasing the risk of a wider conflict. If this plan to create a quasi-state in southern Syria goes through, this will be the beginning of the reshaping of the Middle East in accordance with Washington’s vision for the world at its best.

US Warns Of “Firm” Response If Syria Attacks The ISIS Terrorists

US Warns Of “Firm” Response If Syria Attacks ISIS . . . No, Really

In an apparent attempt to remove all pretense that the United States is nothing more than al-Qaeda’s Air Force in Syria, the American government is warning its Syrian counterpart that, if the SAA moves ahead with its upcoming southern offensive to remove ISIS and al-Qaeda terrorists from its southern borders, the U.S. will take “firm and appropriate measures.”

In other words, the United States is telling Syria that it had better not attack ISIS forces or else. Indeed, American “Firm and appropriate measures” seems like a very thinly veiled threat of military action particularly since the United States seems incapable of taking any “measures” that aren’t “kinetic” in nature outside of its borders.

After liberating the Yarmouk camp south of Damascus and quickly liberating a stretch of territory between Homs and Aleppo, the Syrian military is building up forces in the south of the country in a much-anticipated move to liberate Daraa and the surrounding areas bordering with Jordan and the Israeli-occupied Golan.

Of course, while no one who has been following the Syrian crisis would be surprised that the nation who funded, organized, trained, armed, and directed terrorist forces in Syria (including ISIS), would do whatever it could to protect its proxy army, it is rather surprising to see the U.S. government so openly state that ISIS terrorists are “off limits” and to do away with even the formalities of pretending that it wants to see Daesh destroyed. As al-Masdar News reports,

The US State Department issued a statement late Friday saying it was “concerned” by leaflets, which were reportedly dropped by government aircraft in the province of Daraa.

According to reports circulating among pro-opposition monitors, the leaflets called on the militants to stop fighting and reconcile with the Syrian government, otherwise, they would allegedly “gamble their lives” and head to “inevitable death.”

“We also caution the Syrian regime against any actions that risk broadening the conflict or jeopardize the ceasefire,” said spokeswoman Heather Nauert, noting that the ceasefire had been reaffirmed by Washington and Moscow last November. “As a guarantor of this de-escalation area with Russia and Jordan, the United States will take firm and appropriate measures in response to Assad regime violations,” she added.

The fact is that the United States is watching its plan to destroy the Syrian government fail before its very eyes. Now, it is moving to enact “Plan B,” aka the “federalization” of Syria into “microstates” to the benefit of Atlanticist geopolitical goals and the regional positioning of Israel. In order to do so, it is necessary to keep as many terrorist elements inside Syria as possible in order to keep the Syrian government under constant pressure and ensure the delineation of ethnic/religious boundaries. The presence of ISIS in southern Syria also gives the United States a reason to remain in Syria since it claims its presence in the country revolves around the destruction of ISIS. Of course, even that reason would not change the fact that the American presence is entirely illegal.

As the US becomes more and more desperate to overthrow Assad and/or partition the country, its military action is becoming more and more reckless and its public statements are becoming more and more open as to where its allegiances lie.

But speaking of lying … It is unfortunate that the average attention span of the average Westerner is so short. If it were longer, Americans might remember when the US government told them:

1. The US opposes all terrorism and is engaged in a war against terror.
2. The US wants stability in the Middle East.
3. Assad is a brutal dictator who kills his own people.
4. Syrians hate Assad.
5. The “rebels” were all democracy-loving peaceful protesters.
6. The “rebels” were violent only in reaction to a horrific crackdown by the Syrian military.
7. The “rebels” were democracy-loving freedom fighters. There were no terrorist elements.
8. The “rebels” were overwhelmingly democracy-loving freedom fighters with some jihadist elements who had infiltrated their ranks.
9. The “rebels” were Syrian.
10. The “rebels” were mostly jihadists but had moderate elements.
11. The “rebels” were jihadists but better than ISIS.
12. The US is not involved in Syria.
13. The US is not supporting rebels.
14. The US is in Syria to “defeat ISIS.”

Now, we have come full circle and the United States is openly threatening conflagration in support of ISIS/al-Qaeda, the very terrorist organization which was used to justify the elimination of vast amounts of civil liberties for American citizens domestically.

In 2001, Americans were told to shred their constitutional rights and accept a police state due to an alleged attack by al-Qaeda. In 2018, Americans are told to be ready to risk a third world war to protect al-Qaeda. It appears the State Department is now reading George Orwell’s works as a script writing model.

Brandon Turbeville writes for Activist Post – article archive here – He is the author of seven books, Codex Alimentarius — The End of Health Freedom, 7 Real Conspiracies, Five Sense Solutions and Dispatches From a Dissident, volume 1 and volume 2, The Road to Damascus: The Anglo-American Assault on Syria, The Difference it Makes: 36 Reasons Why Hillary Clinton Should Never Be President, and Resisting The Empire: The Plan To Destroy Syria And How The Future Of The World Depends On The Outcome. Turbeville has published over 1000 articles on a wide variety of subjects including health, economics, government corruption, and civil liberties. Brandon Turbeville’s radio show Truth on The Tracks can be found every Monday night 9 pm EST at UCYTV. His website is BrandonTurbeville.com He is available for radio and TV interviews. Please contact activistpost (at) gmail.com.

This article may be freely shared in part or in full with author attribution and source link.

Source

The United States Is a Force for Chaos Across the Planet

The United States Is a Force for Chaos Across the Planet
By Mark Karlin

The United States is “incapable of producing any results other than destruction and further fragmentation across staggeringly large parts of the planet,” argues Tom Engelhardt, author of A Nation Unmade by War. Since 1991, the US has been engaged in a misguided and destructive exercise of triumphalism. In this interview, Engelhardt discusses why the US is an empire of chaos.

Mark Karlin: How much money has gone to the US “war on terror” and what has been the impact of this expenditure?

Tom Engelhardt: The best figure I’ve seen on this comes from the Watson Institute’s Costs of War Project at Brown University, and it’s a staggering $5.6 trillion, including certain future costs to care for this country’s war vets. President Trump himself, with his usual sense of accuracy, has inflated that number even more, regularly speaking of $7 trillion being lost somewhere in our never-ending wars in the Greater Middle East. One of these days, he’s going to turn out to be right.

As for the impact of such an expenditure in the regions where these wars continue to be fought, largely nonstop, since they were launched just after September 11, 2001, it would certainly include: the spread of terror outfits across the Middle East, parts of Asia and Africa; the creation — in a region previously autocratic but relatively calm — of a striking range of failed or failing states; major cities that have been turned into absolute rubble (with no money in sight for serious reconstruction); internally displaced people and waves of refugees at levels that now match the moment after World War II, when significant parts of the planet were in ruins — and that’s just to start down a list of the true costs of our wars.

At home, in a far quieter way, the impact has been similar. Just imagine, for instance, what our American world would have been like if any significant part of the funds that went into our fruitless, still spreading, now nameless conflicts had been spent on America’s crumbling infrastructure, instead of on the rise of the national security state as the unofficial fourth branch of government. (At TomDispatch, Pentagon expert William Hartung has estimated that approximately $1 trillion annually goes into that security state and, in the age of Trump, that figure is again on the rise.)

Part of the trouble assessing the “impact” here in the US is that, in this era of public demobilization in terms of our wars, people are encouraged not to think about them at all and they’ve gotten remarkably little attention. So, sorting out exactly how they’ve come home — other than completely obvious developments like the militarization of the police, the flying of surveillance drones in our airspace, and so on — is hard. Most people, for instance, don’t grasp something I’ve long written about at TomDispatch: that Donald Trump would have been inconceivable as president without those disastrous wars, those trillions squandered on them and on the military that’s fought them, and that certainly qualifies as “impact” enough.

What makes the US pretension to empire different from previous empires?

As a start, it’s worth mentioning that Americans generally don’t even think of ourselves as an “empire.” Yes, since the Soviet Union imploded in 1991, our politicians and pundits have proudly called this country the “last” or “lone” superpower and the world’s most “exceptional” or “indispensable” nation, but an empire? No. You need to go someplace off the mainstream grid — Truthout or TomDispatch, for instance — to find anyone talking about us in those terms.

That said, I think that two things have made us different, imperially speaking. The first was that post-1991 sense of ourselves as the ultimate winner of a vast imperial contest, a kind of arms race of many that had gone on since European ships armed with cannon had first broken into the world in perhaps the 15th century and begun to conquer much of it. In that post-Soviet moment of triumphalism, of what seemed to the top dogs in Washington like the ultimate win, a forever victory, there was indeed a sense that there had never been and never would be a power like us. That inflated sense of our imperial self was what sent the geopolitical dreamers of the George W. Bush administration off to, in essence, create a Pax Americana, first in the Greater Middle East, and then perhaps the world, in a fashion never before imagined — one that, they were convinced, would put the Roman and British imperial moments to shame. And we all know, with the invasion of Iraq, just where that’s ended up.

In the years since they launched that ultimate imperial venture in a cloud of hubris, the most striking difference I can see with previous empires is that never has a great power, still in something close to its imperial prime, proven quite so incapable of applying its military and political might in a way that would successfully advance its aims. It has instead found itself overmatched by underwhelming enemy forces and incapable of producing any results other than destruction and further fragmentation across staggeringly large parts of the planet.

Finally, of course, there’s climate change — that is, for the first time in the history of empires, the very well-being of the planet itself is at stake. The game has, so to speak, changed, even if relatively few here have noticed.

Why do you refer to the US as an “empire of chaos”?

This answer follows directly from the last two. The United States is now visibly a force for chaos across significant parts of the planet. Just look, for instance, at the cities — from Marawi in the Philippines to Mosul and Ramadi in Iraq, Raqqa and Aleppo in Syria, Sirte in Libya, and so on — that have literally been — a word I want to bring into the language — rubblized, largely by American bombing (though with a helping hand recently from the bomb-makers of the Islamic State). Historically, in the imperial ages that preceded this one, such power, while regularly applied brutally and devastatingly, could also be a way of imposing a grim version of order on conquered and colonized areas. No longer, it seems. We’re now on a planet that simply doesn’t accept military-first conquest and occupation, no matter the guise under which it arrives (including the spread of “democracy”). So, beware of unleashing modern military power. It turns out to contain within it striking disintegrative forces on a planet that can ill afford such chaos.

You also refer to Washington, DC, as a “permanent war capital” with the generals in ascension under Trump. What does that represent for the war footing of the US?

Well, it’s obvious in a way. Washington is now indeed a war capital because the Bush administration launched not just a local response to a relatively small group of jihadis in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, but what its top officials called a “Global War on Terror” — creating possibly the worst acronym in history: GWOT. And then they instantly began insisting that it could be applied to at least 60 countries supposedly harboring terror groups. That was 2001 and, of course, though the name and acronym were dropped, the war they launched has never ended. In those years, the military, the country’s (count ’em) 17 major intelligence agencies, and the warrior corporations of the military-industrial complex have achieved a kind of clout never before seen in the nation’s capital. Their rise has really been a bipartisan affair in a city otherwise riven by politics as each party tries to outdo the other in promoting the financing of the national security state. At a moment when putting money into just about anything else that would provide genuine security to Americans (think health care) is always a desperate struggle, funding the Pentagon and the rest of the national security state continues to be a given. That’s what it means to be in a “permanent war capital.”

In addition, with Donald Trump, the generals of America’s losing wars have gained a kind of prominence in Washington that was unknown in a previously civilian capital. The head of the Defense Department, the White House chief of staff, and (until recently when he was succeeded by an even more militaristic civilian) the national security adviser were all generals of those wars — positions that, in the past, with rare exceptions, were considered civilian ones. In this sense, Donald Trump was less making history with the men he liked to refer to as “my generals” than channeling it.

What is the role of bombing in the US war-making machine?

It’s worth remembering, as I’ve written in the past, that from the beginning, the “war on terror” has been, above all (and despite full-scale invasions and occupations using hundreds of thousands of US ground troops), an air war. It started that way. On September 11, 2001, after all, al-Qaeda sent its air force (four hijacked passenger jets) and its precision weaponry (19 suicidal hijackers) against a set of iconic buildings in the US. Those strikes — only one of them failed when the passengers on a single jet fought back and it crashed in a field in Pennsylvania — may represent the most successful use of strategic bombing (that is, air power aimed at the civilian population of, and morale in, an enemy country) in history. At the cost of a mere $400,000 to $500,000, Osama bin Laden began an air war of provocation that has never ended.

The US has been bombing, missiling and drone-assassinating ever since. Last year, for instance, US planes dropped an estimated 20,000 bombs just on the Syrian city of Raqqa, the former “capital” of the Islamic State, leaving next to nothing standing. Since the first American planes began dropping bombs (and cluster munitions) in Afghanistan in October 2001, the US Air Force has been in the skies ceaselessly — skies, by the way, over countries and groups that lack any defenses against air attacks whatsoever. And, of course, it’s been a kind of rolling disaster of destruction that has left the equivalent of World Trade Center tower after tower of dead civilians in those lands. In other words, though no one in Washington would ever say such a thing, US air power has functionally been doing Osama bin Laden’s job for him, conducting not so much a “war on terror” as a strange kind of war for terror — one that only promotes the conditions in which it thrives best.

What role did the end of the draft play in enabling an unrestrained US empire of war?

It may have been the crucial moment in the whole process. It was, of course, the decision of then-President Richard Nixon in January 1973, in response to a country swept by a powerful antiwar movement and a military in near rebellion as the Vietnam War began to wind down. The draft was ended, the all-volunteer military begun and the American people were largely separated from the wars being fought in their name. They were, as I said above, demobilized. Though at the time, the US military high command was doubtful about the move, it proved highly successful in freeing them to fight the endless wars of the 21st century, now being referred to by some in the Pentagon (according to The Washington Post) not as “permanent wars,” or even — as Gen. David Petraeus put it — a “generational struggle,” but as “infinite war.”

I’ve lived through two periods of public war mobilization in my lifetime: the World War II era, in which I was born and in which the American people mobilized to support a global war against fascism in every way imaginable, and the Vietnam War, in which Americans (like me as a young man) mobilized against an American war. But who in those years ever imagined that Americans might fight their wars (unsuccessfully) to the end of time without most citizens paying the slightest attention? That’s why I’ve called the losing generals of our endless “war on terror” (and, in a sense, the rest of us as well) “Nixon’s children.”

Mark Karlin is the editor of BuzzFlash at Truthout. He served as editor and publisher of BuzzFlash for 10 years before joining Truthout in 2010. BuzzFlash has won four Project Censored Awards. Karlin writes a commentary five days a week for BuzzFlash, as well as articles (ranging from the failed “war on drugs” to reviews relating to political art) for Truthout. He also interviews authors and filmmakers whose works are featured in Truthout’s Progressive Picks of the Week. Before linking with Truthout, Karlin conducted interviews with cultural figures, political progressives and innovative advocates on a weekly basis for 10 years. He authored many columns about the lies propagated to launch the Iraq War.

The military might and endless wars around the globe have “a staggeringly well-funded blowback machine,” according to Tom Engelhardt. Get his new book, A Nation Unmade by War, from Truthout. Click here to receive it now.

This article was originally published by “Truthout”