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"Friedrich Engels once said: "Bourgeois society stands at the crossroads, either transition to socialism or regression into barbarism." What does "regression into barbarism" mean to our lofty European civilization? Until now, we have all probably read and repeated these words thoughtlessly, without suspecting their fearsome seriousness. A look around us at this moment shows what the regression of bourgeois society into barbarism means. This world war is a regression into barbarism. The triumph of imperialism leads to the annihilation of civilization."

-- Rosa Luxemburg

News and Opinion

Imagine If Russia Or China Did The Things Israel Is Doing In Gaza

Imagine how the western political-media class would be acting if Russia or China was bombing and starving a walled-in population of two million, half of them children. Seriously, imagine it. Imagine the rage and vitriol. Imagine the nonstop media coverage.

When Russia invaded Ukraine, US media coverage of that war exceeded the media coverage of all US wars in the previous three decades. If Russia were deliberately and systematically exterminating civilians in Ukraine or anywhere else, the western media coverage of those war crimes would be many times more.

It’s almost cliché at this point to say “imagine if Russia or China did this”, but such comparisons are important for retaining a sense of perspective on just how evil the western political-media class is being about Gaza right now. We’re seeing articles come out in the mass media about starvation in Gaza which never once even mention the word “Israel”. Do you think that would be happening if this were being perpetrated by a government which defies the western empire? Of course not.

An entire Economist article on famine in Gaza doesn’t say the word “Israel” once. Not even when describing damage to farmland and water facilities or severely restricted aid deliveries.

Saying *who* is destroying the farmland and restricting aid seems like basic info to include. pic.twitter.com/Z6fBtmc0Bp

— Assal Rad (@AssalRad) March 27, 2024

Imagine how the western political-media class would be acting if Russia or China was deliberately blockading food from an imprisoned population of millions of people.

Imagine how the western political-media class would be acting if Russia or China was relentlessly raining military explosives on densely packed urban areas known to be full of children.

Imagine how the western political-media class would be acting if Russia or China was deliberately and methodically ethnically cleansing an oppressed population for entirely racist reasons.

Imagine how the western political-media class would be acting if evidence that Russia or China are committing horrific war crimes was surfacing on a daily basis.

Imagine how the western political-media class would be acting if Russia or China were getting caught in lie after lie after lie while carrying out such a mass atrocity.

Imagine how the western political-media class would be acting if Russia or China tried to present them with blatantly fabricated evidence of crimes committed by the targeted population in justification of their atrocities.

We’d be living in a different political and media landscape. If Russia or China was doing what Israel is doing, entire presidential campaigns would have been built around who would oppose it most aggressively. Every sanction and embargo in the book would have been slammed upon the perpetrating government. The western press would be falling all over themselves to expose every atrocity and every lie and blaring those expositions as feature stories on every platform for months, and showering one another with awards for doing so.

StateSpox was asked about UN Special Rapporteur @FranceskAlbs’s report on Gaza which said there’s reasonable ground that the threshold for genocide has been met.

Miller said they oppose mandate of this rapporteur, accused her of antisemitism and rejected allegations of genocide. pic.twitter.com/R7s79FjYCQ

— Assal Rad (@AssalRad) March 27, 2024

Instead we get this. Government officials babbling nonstop about Israel’s “right” to “defend itself” and how this would all be over if Hamas didn’t keep fighting, while showering Israel with weapons to help it continue its atrocities. The mass media churning out a constant deluge of passive-language “Gazans are having trouble finding food for some reason” headlines and continuous reminders that this is all happening because of October 7, while repeating Israeli atrocity propaganda like it’s gospel truth. All viable US presidential candidates vowing their unconditional support for Israel while occasionally impotently finger-wagging at this or that aspect of Israel’s atrocities to avoid looking like complete psychopaths.

That contrast between how the western political-media class is acting toward the Gaza genocide and how we all know they’d be acting if an unaligned government was doing something similar is exactly why the US-centralized empire cannot be permitted to rule our world anymore. It pretends to stand for peace, justice, freedom and democracy, but in reality it just inflicts nonstop death and suffering upon human beings around the world and covers it up with propaganda spin from its servile mainstream press. It purports to uphold the “rules-based international order”, but all that means in practice is that it upholds an international order in which the US empire makes up the rules as it goes along and changes them as it pleases.

Humanity cannot allow itself to be abused and tyrannized by this murderous, hypocritical globe-spanning power structure any longer. A better world is possible, but we’re going to have to find a way to pry the talons of these monsters off the steering wheel first.

As Gaza Faces Famine, Israel Cuts Ties with UNRWA and U.S. Halts Funding for Critical Aid Agency

The West is giving Israel weapons while discussing delivering aid to Gaza

As lawmakers across much of the West debate the extent to which Israel may be hampering the passage of life-saving aid into Gaza, the weapons exports that underpin much of Israel’s war on the besieged enclave continue to flow. Since the war began, the volume of weapons entering Israel has increased as huge volumes of ordinance are used to flatten areas of Gaza as well as kill, maim and displace its civilian population.

“On the one hand, we have this dire humanitarian need, on the other hand, we have this continual supply of weapons to the country Israel, [which is] creating that need,” Akshaya Kumar, director of crisis advocacy at Human Rights Watch (HRW), said.

When it comes to arming another country, international law has rules and conventions to control who arms whom and what the weapons are used for. Under the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide – which the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled in January may plausibly be under way in Gaza – states are legally bound to prevent genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The United States declined to sign the convention until 1988.

Under the terms of the internationally binding Arms Trade Treaty – to which the US is not a signatory – a country is prohibited from exporting weapons to any state it suspects might use them for “genocide, crimes against humanity… attacks directed against civilian objects or civilians protected as such”. ...

The enclave is teetering on the brink of humanitarian catastrophe. The European Union’s chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, told the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday that Israel is using hunger as a weapon of war and manufacturing disaster by stopping aid from entering. Israel has also shot at people gathering to get what little aid is allowed in.

While “Western states have recently been going to great lengths to have Israel recognise its role in creating the suffering we’re seeing in Gaza,” HRW’s Kumar said, “we’re not seeing any corresponding reduction in the flow of weapons from states such as the US, Germany and beyond”.

I Could Not Stay Silent: Annelle Sheline Resigns from State Dept. over U.S. Gaza Policy

State department official’s resignation highlights rifts over US Gaza policy

A human rights official has resigned from the US state department over Gaza saying the Biden administration is flouting US law by continuing to arm Israel, and is hushing up evidence that the US had seen on Israeli human rights abuses. Annelle Sheline, said she had hoped to have an influence on policy by staying at her post in the Near Eastern section of the bureau of democracy, human rights and labor, taking part in discussions, signing dissent cables and raising her concerns with her supervisor. But she had lost confidence she could do anything that would affect the flow of US arms to Israel.

“The fundamental reason was – I no longer wanted to be affiliated with this administration,” Sheline told the Guardian. “I have a young daughter. She’s not yet two, but if some day in the future, she is learning about this and knows that I was at the state department and she asked me [about it] – I want to be able to tell her that I did what I could.” ...

The 38-year-old, who studied the foreign policy of Arab governments for her doctorate, said the state department was aware of plenty of evidence that Israel was violating international law in its conduct of the Gaza war, and that the Biden administration was violating US law by continuing to supply weapons. She pointed in particular to the Leahy laws, which forbid assistance to foreign military units implicated in atrocities, and section 620 (I) of the Foreign Assistance Act, which states that no assistance should be given to any government which “prohibits or otherwise restricts, directly or indirectly, the transport or delivery of United States humanitarian assistance”.

On Monday, the state department said it had received assurances from Israel officials and “not found them to be in violation of international humanitarian law”. But Sheline said: “The law is clear here and we do have evidence. But the specifics are just not being followed.”

UN Official Claims THREATS Over Report Saying ISRAEL Is Guilty Of GENOCIDE In Gaza

Ireland backs bid to include blocking of aid in definition of genocide

Ireland is to seek to widen the definition of genocide to include blocking humanitarian aid in a landmark international court of justice (ICJ) case against Israel.

The Irish government will intervene in the case taken by South Africa and argue that restricting food and other essentials in Gaza may constitute genocidal intent, the foreign minister Micheál Martin said on Wednesday.

“We believe there is a case, given how this war has been conducted,” Martin told the Guardian. “We will be inviting the court to consider the issue of broadening how you determine whether genocide has taken place or not on the basis of an entire population being collectively punished.”

A clear pattern of behaviour had impeded humanitarian aid, resulting in widespread suffering, he said. “Half the population of Gaza is facing famine and 100% is experiencing food insecurity.” ...

Earlier on Wednesday the foreign ministry announced that Ireland will intervene in South Africa’s case against Israel under article 63 of the statue of the ICJ. The announcement underlined Dublin’s image as one of the EU’s most pro-Palestinian states.

Joe Rogan RIPS Israel 'Genocide', Candace Owens Firing

Israeli settlers call for UN agency’s closure in Jerusalem protest

Dozens of Israeli settlers and rightwing activists have protested by again blocking the entrances of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) office in Jerusalem and calling for the body’s closure.

Last week, Israel announced it would no longer approve Unrwa food convoys to the north of Gaza, where the threat of famine is highest. The decision came after the agency was accused by the government of collaborating with Hamas in Gaza, with its staff facing a systematic campaign of obstruction and harassment by the Israeli military and authorities, as revealed in internal UN documents seen by the Guardian.

Unrwa was founded in 1949 to provide healthcare, food, and education to Palestinian refugees, with 5.9 million of them relying on its services. It employs about 30,000 Palestinians, 13,000 of them – mostly teachers – in Gaza.

On Wednesday, a group of settlers, activists, and members of the rightwing extra-parliamentary political group Im Tirtzu staged a protest for the third week in a row, fixing posters to the building and demanding that the agency be abolished. “Unrwa needs to be disbanded,” said Aynat Libman, a 52-year-old Israeli settler from Efrat. “Israel doesn’t need to provide space to Unrwa in our capital. They support terror, teach children from a very young age to be terrorists, provide support to Hamas, and supply Hamas. They are terrorists.”

Israel has accused Unrwa staff members of participating in the 7 October attack and called the agency “a front for Hamas”. The UN has launched an internal and an independent investigation but has said Israel has not provided it with any evidence to support the claims against its staff.

UNSC resolution, binding or non-binding?

Poll: Majority of Americans Disapprove of Israel’s Military Actions in Gaza

A new poll from Gallup has found that the majority of Americans disapprove of Israel’s military actions in Gaza, which have killed over 32,000 Palestinians, including over 13,000 children, and has put the entire population of the Strip on the brink of famine.

Asked if they approve or disapprove of Israel’s military actions, 55% of respondents said they disapproved, while only 36% said they approved of the onslaught.

Disapproval of Israel has risen as Gallup asked the same question in a poll that was released in November 2023, which found 50% of respondents approved of Israel’s military campaign while 45% disapproved.

Prof. John J. Mearsheimer: Biden's Blank Check

Cross another one off of the White House Christmas list.

Democratic Insider Rips 'Shocking' US Claim That Israel Is Following International Law

A longtime Democratic operative and current president of the Center for American Progress issued a scathing statement Tuesday criticizing the Biden administration for accepting the Israeli government's claim that it is adhering to international law with its catastrophic military assault on the Gaza Strip.

"The State Department's shocking assertion that the Netanyahu government is complying with international law in Gaza is a gross disregard of overwhelming evidence and a dangerous precedent in the conduct of U.S. foreign policy," said Patrick Gaspard, who previously served as executive director of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and U.S. ambassador to South Africa under the Obama administration.

"The stakes here are so high that the administration must be transparent and accountable in sharing with the American people all evidence that has led to this determination and the continued sale of offensive weapons to Israel," Gaspard argued, pointing to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant's stated goal of imposing a "complete siege" on Gaza at the start of the assault, which is now in its sixth month with no end in sight.

Gaspard said that "every aspect" of Gallant's "edict" has "been on open display to the world," with famine, dehydration, and disease spreading across the enclave as Israel persists in obstructing the delivery of humanitarian aid.

The CAP president's statement came after U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters earlier this week that the Biden administration has not found Israel "to be in violation of international humanitarian law, either when it comes to the conduct of the war or when it comes to the provision of humanitarian assistance."

Miller's remarks followed a letter from Gallant assuring the Biden administration that Israel is complying with international law in its use of American weaponry—a written assurance that was required under a new White House policy.

In a press briefing on Tuesday, Miller clarified that the administration's assessment of Israel's compliance with international law is "ongoing" and has "not reached a definitive conclusion."

But Miller reiterated that "we have not reached the conclusion with respect to Israel that they have violated international humanitarian law."

Leading human rights organizations and United Nations experts have concluded that Israel is guilty of grave violations of international humanitarian law—including the crime of genocide—and called for an immediate arms embargo.

Gaspard said Tuesday that "by its own imposed standards," the U.S. "cannot heedlessly deliver offensive weapons as the Israeli government continues to bombard and starve innocents on a mass scale."

"These actions have nothing to do with self-defense; they are clearly intended as collective punishment and are resulting in the complete devastation of Palestinians as a people," Gaspard added. "There is no time to spare in pulling back from this outrageous assertion by the State Department: An Israeli incursion into Rafah promises to bring only more death and devastation to civilians—and will make the administration complicit in one of the worst tramplings of human rights in this century."

Gaspard's statement is just the latest evidence that dissent against the Biden administration's unwavering support for Israel is spreading in establishment circles. Last week, dozens of former U.S. officials signed a letter urging President Joe Biden to consider restricting military aid to Israel, citing its mass killing of Gaza civilians.

On Wednesday, a U.S. State Department official resigned in protest of Biden's Gaza policy, saying in an interview that "trying to advocate for human rights just became impossible."

The anti-war protest secured a huge primary vote. What happens next?

A key Democratic voting bloc intensely focused on Joe Biden’s support for Israel in the war on Gaza could sway the 2024 election in November – depending on what happens in the war and how Biden works to win back these voters. The anti-war vote has shown in recent weeks that it is both organized and effective at using its voice at the polls, displaying one of the most effective grassroots electoral mobilisations on the left in recent history.

The growing discontent over the war will have a seat at the Democratic national convention this summer, where more than 20 delegates from states such as Michigan, Minnesota, Hawaii and Washington will be “uncommitted”. As other states continue to vote in primaries after Biden secured the nomination, more delegates could be added. ...

Trump has largely evaded Gaza as an issue in his re-election bid, recently saying Israel must “finish the problem” and insisting the war wouldn’t have happened if he were still in charge. Organizers and voters who chose uncommitted aren’t even entertaining Trump as an option to win their votes in November – it’s clear he’s not aligned with their values. But they have also consistently pushed back on the idea that Biden losing could be their fault, saying the onus should be on the person with power to end a war – the president. They have pointed to the broad support – more than three-fourths of Democrats, and a majority of Americans in all parties – for a ceasefire.

“One of the main reasons for this intervention was because we already felt like so many people in our community were giving up on voting for Biden in November,” said Waleed Shahid, a Democratic strategist who helped come up with the uncommitted idea in Michigan. “Some of those voters can’t be persuaded any more, but a big chunk of them can – and it’s up to President Biden to earn their support.”

NBC News reported that Biden’s poll numbers in Georgia and Michigan dropping over the Gaza war had him “seething”.

“The president believes making your voice heard and participating in our democracy is fundamental to who we are as Americans,” the Biden campaign said in a statement. “He shares the goal for an end to the violence and a just, lasting peace in the Middle East. He’s working tirelessly to that end.” But the movement says the actions so far are more of a rebrand than a change of course. They want to see an immediate and permanent ceasefire, an end to military funding sent to Israel and a reinstatement of the United Nations relief agency and humanitarian aid.

Right-Wing BLAMES Baltimore Bridge Collapse On ‘DEI Mayor’; Taxpayers To Foot The Bill To Rebuild?!

Joe Lieberman, Iraq War Cheerleader and Killer of Public Option, Dead at 82

While current and former officials across the U.S. political spectrum shared praise for and fond memories of former Sen. Joe Lieberman in response to news of his death on Wednesday, critics highlighted how some of his key positions led to the deaths of many others.

Lieberman's family said the 82-year-old died at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital after a fall at his home in the Bronx. He served in the Connecticut Senate, as the state's attorney general, and in the U.S. Senate—initially as a Democrat and eventually as an Independent. He was also Democratic former Vice President Al Gore's running mate in the 2000 presidential election.

"Up until the very end, Joe Lieberman enjoyed the high-quality, government-financed healthcare that he worked diligently to deny the rest of us. That's his legacy," said Melanie D'Arrigo, executive director of the Campaign for New York Health, which advocates for universal, single-payer healthcare.

As Warren Gunnels, majority staff director for Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Chair Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), explained, "Joe Lieberman led the effort to ensure the Affordable Care Act did not include a public option or a reduction in the Medicare eligibility age to 55."

Joe Lieberman's legacy will live on as your medical debt

— The Debt Collective (@StrikeDebt) March 27, 2024

Noting that Lieberman also lied about the presence of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) in Iraq—which was used to justify the 2003 U.S. invasion—Gunnels asked, "How many people unnecessarily died as a result?"

He was far from alone in highlighting the two defining positions.

The Lever's David Sirota declared, "RIP Joe Lieberman, Iraq War cheerleader who led the fight to make sure Medicare was not extended to millions of Americans who desperately needed the kind of healthcare coverage he enjoyed in the Senate."

The Debt Collective said on social media that "Joe Lieberman killed so many people when he killed the public option. Not to mention all the people he killed by cheerleading every war and every lie that led to war. A truly horrible person with a shameful legacy."

Journalist Jon Schwarz pointed out that Lieberman continued to lie about the WMDs long after the claims were debunked.

We lost a giant today. I often disagreed with Joe Lieberman but he was always honorable in the way he called for American troops to murder people abroad so he could get his jollies. RIP. https://t.co/CvkjKljOs8

— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) March 27, 2024

SHOCKING VIDEO Of Trump's Prosecutor Being Racist & Sexist!

Hunter Biden asks Los Angeles judge to toss out $1.4m tax evasion case

Attorneys representing Hunter Biden asked a US judge in Los Angeles to dismiss the criminal case accusing him of evading $1.4m in taxes, arguing that prosecutors bowed to political pressure from Republican lawmakers investigating his father, Joe Biden. Hunter’s lawyers appeared before the US district judge Mark Scarsi in federal court in Los Angeles on Wednesday to press several legal challenges to the charges, including an argument that he was selectively targeted by prosecutors in response to Republican criticism. ...

Hunter has pleaded not guilty to failing to pay $1.4m in taxes between 2016 and 2019, while spending millions of dollars on drugs, escorts, exotic cars and other big-ticket items. His lawyer has said he paid back the money in full.

US district judge Mark Scarsi appeared to give a skeptical reception to dismissal request. At the hearing, Scarsi asked whether Hunter’s lawyers had any evidence that prosecutors had caved to pressure from Republicans, other than the fact that they filed charges after months of accusations by Republicans in Congress and Donald Trump that he had been treated leniently. “Do you have any evidence other than the timeline?” Scarsi asked Hunter’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell.

Lowell acknowledged that “it’s a timeline, but it’s a juicy timeline.”

Scarsi also voiced skepticism about Hunter’s defense team’s argument that prosecutors had been pressured by two Internal Revenue Service agents who went public last year with information about his tax returns. “How are they responsible for what’s in the indictment?” Scarsi asked.

“I can’t make the connection that that’s why that happened,” Lowell said, later adding that: “It was those two agents that started the dominoes.”

Extreme heat summit to urge leaders to act on threat from rising temperatures

Two of the world’s biggest aid agencies will host an inaugural global summit on extreme heat on Thursday as directors warn that the climate crisis is dramatically increasing the probability of a mass-fatality heat disaster.

The conference will highlight some of the pioneering work being done, from tree-planting projects to the development of reflective roof coverings that reduce indoor temperatures.

After last year’s record-shattering temperatures, when 3.8 billion people – half the world’s population – sweltered in extreme heat for at least one day, the organisers hope the event will prompt governments to prepare for a “silent killer” that rarely gets the attention it deserves when compared with hurricanes, tsunamis and earthquakes.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAid) have come together to stage this virtual conference, in which they will urge national governments, local authorities, humanitarian groups, companies, school and hospitals to develop heat action plans. ...

Jagan Chapagain, the IFRC secretary general said heat was already a major cause of suffering in many parts of the world. In the US it accounts for more deaths than all other climate impacts put together, but this often goes unreported because it is usually less sudden, less visual, than events such as hurricanes, and the scale of fatalities can take months or years to calculate.

A Kentucky mining disaster killed dozens and destroyed homes. Will a lawsuit bring change?

Chase Hays knew it was time to evacuate when he saw his neighbor’s home float through his front yard. It was just after midnight on 28 July 2022, and Lost Creek, Kentucky, was experiencing a catastrophic rainstorm. As Hays would later learn, the rains caused a silt retention pond to burst at a nearby mine, sending a torrent of rainwater and sediment down the mountain. ...

By morning, at least two of Hays’ neighbors had died and dozens of people had lost their homes. Now, Hays and more than 50 of his neighbors are suing Blackhawk Mining, and a subsidiary, Pine Branch Mining, alleging that the companies contaminated local drinking water and failed to perform necessary reclamation work on the coal mine that sits on a mountain uphill from their town. If they had properly re-vegetated the area and maintained the ponds, the suit claims, the community might have been spared. ...

In a court filing, attorneys for Blackhawk Mining and Pine Branch denied they were responsible for damages “in connection with the unforeseeable and historic rainfall event”. Blackhawk did not respond to requests for comment.

Lost Creek is only the latest Appalachian community to sue mining companies for failing to carry out the process of replanting and restoring the strip-mined landscapes they leave behind. Flood damages have been worsened, the plaintiffs say, as lax regulation of the mines collides with increasingly heavy rains. “The facts are the same in all these cases,” said Ned Pillersdorf, the attorney representing the Lost Creek residents. “Basically, you have a mining operation that has reclamation issues, and then you get a 45-minute tidal wave that does damage.”

Pillersdorf has filed more than half a dozen cases against mining companies on behalf of Kentuckians over the last 15 years. The suits have all settled or been resolved out of court. But the Lost Creek case, he said, could become the first to go before a jury as soon as July. “I file these cases for two reasons,” Pillersdorf said. “One is to help the people in front of me. The other is just to let people know how dangerous it is to live below an un-reclaimed strip mine. It’s a public safety issue.”

Also of Interest

Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.

Chris Hedges: The Crucifixion of Julian Assange

Censored: Keir Starmer’s Emails About Israeli War Crimes Case

Israeli source of “executed children” lie admits story was untrue

US State Dept’s favorite celebrity chef builds Gaza aid dock with stolen rubble

Israel Remains Intent on Genocide Despite World Court Orders

Russia says US 'boxed itself into corner' by blaming ISIS for Moscow terror attack

The Evidence on the Crocus Gang Attack in Moscow

Why China Is Wise Not To Sanction The West

How a viral $22 burrito explains inflation in the US

A Little Night Music

Taj Mahal & Ry Cooder - Hooray Hooray

Ry Cooder - Jesus On The Mainline

Ry Cooder - Maria Elena

Taj Mahal with Ry Cooder - Statesboro Blues

Ry Cooder - Get Rhythm

Ry Cooder - How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live

Santana with Ry Cooder - The Healer

Ry Cooder & David Lindley - Mercury Blues

Ry Cooder - Smack Dab In The Middle

Ry Cooder - Goin' To Brownsville