Like Maria Said Paz

Thursday, May 05, 2022

Biggest failure?

Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "21 DUMPSTER" went up tonight.

I was going to quote from Jonathan Turley's latest but he only has one for Wednesday and it's what C.I. was saying in the roundtable for HILDA'S MIX. She went a little more in detail and when she's dictating the snapshot tomorrow morning -- while we're on the treadmills -- I'll try to get her to include the more aspect. But please read Jonathan.

In the meantime, let me note this from the United Kingdom's INEWS:

Veteran broadcaster Andrew Marr has said his biggest mistake during his 21 years at the BBC was “not challenging the Iraq war enough”.

The former BBC Political Editor described Iraq as “one of the great foreign affairs catastrophes of our time” and said he deeply regrets his contemporaneous coverage of the war.

“My biggest failure at the BBC was not going hard enough on the Iraq war”, he told Matt Forde’s Political Party podcast.

If your natural response is, "Just words and words are easy," I do understand that sentiment. I also am aware that, in the US, reporter after reporter, broadcaster after broadcaster, pretends like the Iraq War never happened and that certainly they had nothing to do with it and that they owe no one an apology.'

The words of Marr don't change the death toll or bring anyone back to life but at least they show some level of awareness and its much more awareness than US journalists are capable of.

"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):

Wednesday, May 4, 2022. Governments refuse to stand up for their own citizens (while giving their all to starting wars).

Around the world people are in need. One such person is Robert Pether, a business person who is caught in nonsense between the Iraqi government and the company he works for. Lured into Iraq over a year ago, he was promptly arrested and put behind bars. Matthew Doran (Australia's ABC) reports:

Robert Pether, 46, has been locked up in a Baghdad prison since April last year, and an investigation by the United Nations raised concerns he had been "shown torture rooms, blindfolded, insulted and screamed at" while languishing behind bars.

Mr Pether, an engineer, was arrested alongside his Egyptian colleague Khalid Zaghloul while working on the development of the new $1 billion central bank of Iraq headquarters.

Mr Pether's nine-year-old daughter, Nala, took to social media early on Wednesday to call for more help from the Australian government.

"He's been imprisoned in Iraq for over a year," she said clutching a toy rabbit.

"Please, Mr Morrison, can you help him?

"I really, really miss him."

THE JOURNAL Tweets:

Robert Pether, who lived with his family in Elphin, Co Roscommon, has been held in "dismal conditions" at a prison near Baghdad due to a contract dispute between his employer and the Iraqi government.

thejournal.ie

Efforts continuing to secure release of Irish resident imprisoned in Iraq for the last year

Robert Pether’s family has said that his health is “deteriorating” in prison.

2:54 AM · Apr 27, 2022

Ireland has done more to try to free the Australian native than has his own country's government. That's only surprising if you haven't been following the persecution of Julian Assange. The founder of WIKILEAKS is also an Australian citizen. As US President Joe Biden continues to persecute Julian, the pathetic Australian government does nothing. The message is clear, if you're and Australian citizens, you are on your own in this world because your cowardly government does not want to make waves to protect you. They're too busy cowering with their tail between their legs to defend or stand up for their own citizens. Pathetic and shameful.

Julian exposed War Crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan which is why the US government has persecuted him ever since. Joe Biden continues the persecution. He wants Julian to stand trial in the US for the 'crime' of journalism. This is the same Joe Biden who sat on his fat ass in the US Senate for years after Senate investigators discovered that torture was being carried out in the gulag on Guantanamo. His oath of office as a senator actually required that he do soething but Sleepy Joe must have been taking another nap because he did nothing.

We also need to remember what was done to Chelsea Manning -- she is the one who leaked the news of War Crimes to WIKILEAKS. Many things were done to Chelsea to humiliate her and to destroy her while in US custody. I'm focusing here on one thing only.

Chelsea had not transitioned at that point in her life.

How do you antagonize and humiliate anyone -- let alone a transgendered person? You hold them in a prison where the guards see them naked all day. The lie the US government told back then 00 which we challenged at the time (shame others didn't pick up on it) was that Chelsea was a suicide threat and so she couldn't have clothes -- she might try to strangle herself. As we pointed out in real time, paper scrubs. If youre afriad someone might harm themselves in your custody, you don't strip them naked and put them on display. You utilize paper scrubs.

This is the 'caring' US government that 'respects' human rights, the government the UK is preparing to turn Julian over to.

That's Julian's wife Sella speaking on the need to stand with her husband.

The US government is really good at destroying lives in their endless wars and at ignoring the needs of the American people. It's just not good at democracy or at human rights.

In the war torn country of Iraq, destroyed by the US government and still occupied, KURDISAN 24 notes:

The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) on Monday commended “the courage of Iraqi and Kurdistan Region media workers” on World Press Freedom Day.

UNAMI also called on “authorities to ensure their protection from intimidation and threats and to fully respect the right to freedom of expression and freedom to impart information.”

In Iraq, journalist are regularly rounded up by security forces, are regularly disappeared. They risk a lot to try to cover the basic realities. In the US, most journalists settle for being whores instead and just comfort those in power with puff pieces. KURDISTAN 24 notes:

The freedom of the press in Iraq is declining, with hundreds of journalists facing "arrests, killings, and disappearance," the Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights outlined in a report released on Tuesday, World Press Freedom Day.

"The freedom of the press in Iraq is much lower than it should be in a country that raised the slogan of democracy nearly 20 years ago," the report charges, pointing out that Iraq has a constitution that guarantees "the right to express an opinion and obliges the authorities to protect it."

"Since 2003, hundreds of journalists and media professionals were killed, arrested, and even disappeared," it said. Furthermore, media headquarters have been raided in response to their coverage or editorial lines.

"From May 3, 2021, to May 2, 2022, there has been an increase in the influence of parties that have an interest in antagonizing freedom of expression and undermining the space for journalistic work in Iraq," the report noted.

Meanwhile, the political stalemate continues. Iraq held elections October 10th. All this time later, they are still unable to name a prime minister or president. And don't look for diplomatic assistance from the US. Even were that possible, the outgoing Iraq Ambassador remains hostage to Joe Biden's lame duck status. He nominated a new ambassador to Iraq back in December. The Senate held confirmation hearings already. But there's still no vote. As the political stalemate continues, Chenar Chalak (RUDAW) notes:

The Coordination Framework has requested the Kurdish political parties to come to an understanding and agree on a candidate for the presidency of Iraq, as a part of its 18-points initiative announced on Wednesday attempting to bring an end to the political deadlock that has plagued the country, a week before Muqtada al-Sadr’s political “step-back” nears its 40-day completion.

The initiative from the Iran-backed parliamentary blocs consists of nine original points, in addition to nine further points which it requests all political parties adhere to in order to end the deadlock.

Lauding the role of the President of Iraq, referring to the position as “the protector of the constitution,” the initiative stresses that the person filling the position must be characterized by efficiency and good conduct and behavior, proceeding to urge the Kurdish parties to “make efforts to reach an understanding and agree on a candidate with these qualities and within the established contexts.”

Did you realize that the Kurds were the dominant population in Iraq? Me neither. I also didn't realize that they controlled politics. It's an easy out to scapegoat the Kurdis politicians. Not accurate, not fair, but it's easy.

Let's wind down with this Tweet from Margaret Kimberley:

I pointed out that democrats could have protected abortion rights with legislation. Their pro-choice stance is a scam to keep you voting for them.
You're welcome.
#RoeVWade 
https://blackagendareport.com/democratic-party-betrayal-abortion-and-supreme-court

2:13 PM · May 3, 2022

And she pointed that out last year.

The following sites updated:

Wednesday, May 04, 2022

I have no tears for Ron Jacobs

Here for Jonathan Turley's column in USA TODAY and it is about the Supreme Court and the leaked draft opinion regarding Roe v Wade.

But I really want to note this Ron Jacobs column. Ron's interested in peace. Again? Where've you been Ron? Do you really think the Iraq War is over? You turned yellow and ran the minute Barack Obama won the 2008 election. You abandoned the Iraqi people. I don't have time for your fakery.

I don't have time for people like Ron Jacobs. He writes of how people are making fun of him and distorting him.

I don't feel sorry for you, Ron. I feel sorry for the Iraqi people you abandoned and your pretense that the US war on Iraq and its occupation of Iraq ended.

You're bothered by the empire now, are you, Ron? Now? I seem to recall Barack Obama's two terms and your articles back then blaming the Pentagon and not the person in charge.

"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):

Tuesday, May3, 2922. As Joe Biden goes nuts, WSWS plays partisan.

Kevin Reed plays the dumb ass at WSWS and the topic's an important one so noe can afford his nonsense:

Although no details about the functioning of the governance board, its purpose or duties had been published prior to Mayorkas’ testimony, the secretary told the House hearing that it would be co-chaired by Undersecretary for Policy Rob Silvers and principal deputy general counsel Jennifer Gaskill.

An indication of the reactionary nature of the DHS board was revealed in the appointment of Nina Jankowicz as executive director. According to her official bio, Jankowicz was a “disinformation fellow” at the Wilson Center—a nonpartisan foreign policy think tank named after Woodrow Wilson—and she “advised the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry” and oversaw “Russia and Belarus programs at the National Democratic Institute (NDI).”

The NDI is a well-known nongovernmental organization that engages in US imperialist and CIA-sponsored political interventions in countries, particularly in Latin America, under the banner of “human rights,” “democracy” and “entrepreneurship.” The NDI has counted among its board of directors leading figures of US militarism and war such as Henry Kissinger, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Paul Wolfowitz, Madeleine Albright and Elliott Abrams.

In a tweet on Wednesday morning, Jankowicz posted, “Cat’s out of the bag: here’s what I’ve been up to the past two months, and why I’ve been a bit quiet on here. Honored to be serving in the Biden Administration @DHSgov and helping shape our counter-disinformation efforts.” In plain language, this means that Jankowicz and the Disinformation Governance Board will be working on shutting down the flow of information that runs counter to the interests of American imperialism, both within the country and abroad, especially as it applies to the war in Ukraine.

Following the hastily prepared announcement by Mayorkas before Congress, a barrage of attacks were launched by right-wing and fascistic Republicans, claiming that the board was the Democrats’ response to the purchase of Twitter by Elon Musk and part of a plan to suppress the free speech rights of the ultra-right.

On Monday, DHS published a “Fact Sheet” about the board aimed at clarifying what it is now calling an “Internal Working Group” that will “address disinformation that threatens the security of the United States.” Among the primary targets of the DHS initiative is “disinformation spread by foreign states such as Russia, China and Iran.”

Significantly, amid all the topics listed by DHS as national security threats—including the activity of “transnational criminal organizations,” “human smugglers” and “malicious actors”—there is not one reference to elected Republican politicians or fascist groups and individuals outside the government who are actively working to disrupt the democratic process in the 2022 elections and previously attempted to overthrow the US Constitution to keep Trump in the White House.

Joe Biden's nonsense is outrageous and should outrage everyone; however, WSWS wants to try to split it into left and right. And the right is being censored and has been for some tie. If the truth is too much for WSWS then maybe they're little candy asses should shut down their propaganda mill because that's all theyve got now

They really should be ashamed of themselves. They pick a position and then tailor their coverage to fit it.

The left and the right are being censored. I don't see how it helps anyone to pretend otherwise.

THE NEW YORK POST is the country's oldest daily newspaper. It was censored in 2020 I know Kevin Reed is aware of that because his article "Twitter and Facebook censor New York Post report on Hunter Biden" and that is one of three articles WSWS ("Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Glenn Greenwald resigns from the Intercept in protest against censorship" and "US Justice Department expanding probe of taxes, business dealings of Hunter Biden").

And that is it. They are a supposedly Socialist publication and you have a sitting president's son the subject of a grand jury hearing, you have the laptop confirmed (finally) by THE WASHINGTON POST and THE NEW YORK TIMES, you have hundreds of e-mails that attest to graft and bribery -- a story of how the rich get richer by not following the rules and this supposed Socialist publication has done three stories in two years. Two of them before the election. of 2020.

Whose side are they on?

It does not appear that they are on the side of the working class when they ignore this story of how deals were made, unethical ones, to ensure that Hunter could get rich and make his family richer. it was an abuse of public trust and of public office on the part of Joe Biden.

This does not matter to Socialists?

Three storeis in two years.

The latpop is real as we all knew. And they've done nothing, they've done not one major story. They should be zoomign on the corruption. Aren't they against capitalism? I thought was part of Socialism. Here's the greed, the ill of capitalism. They're not even interested.

Reminds me of the hideous 2020 presidential campaign that they ran which was really all about electing Joe Biden.

The fake assery has go tto stop.

But, sadly, no Ministry of Information is eer going to stop it.

Equally sad, we're supposed to trust Joe Biden with what's true and what's false?

That's the man whose repeatedly claimed that he had nothing to do with Hunter's business dealings even though we know that's a lie. EVen though there is proof -- via e-mails and visitor logs -- that Joe is lying.

We're trusting him with the truth?

This is the man who told us there were WMDs in Iraq, remember?

We're trusting him to determine what the truth is?

He's a career politicians -- which is a fancy word for liar.

And we're trusting him with the truth?

He assaulted Tara Reade and he's going to get to decide what's true and what's not?

That he's put his little program under the Dept of Homeland Security is even sadder, more outrageous and more frightening.

But WSWS wants to mock what they term the "ultra right."

What do we call WSWS? The squishy left?

They can't cover Iraq.

They're on witch hunt after another.

They can't be honests because they calculate every news item based on how they fear it might help the right and that determines their coverage of t.

It's not journalism and, let this poli sci major break it to 'em, it's not even Socialism.

It's fake assery. And they ought to be ashamed of themselves.

There is good work done, still, at WSWS. sometimes the good work even comes from Kevin. But this nonsense of articles that are digs at this person or that person and don't really address the real issues? Don't claim to be a Sociaslit and keep publishing that garbage.

In Iraq, even more violence. ALJAZEERA notes:

Thousands of people have fled a northern Iraqi town amid fierce clashes between the army and a militia linked to a Kurdish separatist group, the military and local Iraqi Kurdish officials said.

At least 3,000 people left Sinjar and its surrounding areas on Monday and headed north towards the semi-autonomous Kurdish region to seek safety.

Clashes first erupted late on Sunday when the Iraqi military launched an operation to clear the area of YBS forces, a militia group with ties to the Turkish Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) and mostly comprised of members from the Yazidi religious minority.

The fighting between the Iraqi army and the YBS intensified on Monday, spreading to other areas in Sinjar district.

Abortion in the US. Is Roe v Wade about to be overturned?

Possibly.

I don't know. Nor does anyone else right now. A supposed draft is circulating. If the draft is accurate and if votes remain the same (or the alleged vote of the Court remain the same), we'll have something to discuss.

I'm not going to waste a great deal of time on this when its conjecture at this point.

If Roe v Wade does bite the dust, we can thank both parties because they both killed it. The Democrats cannot pretend that they didn't have a hand in destroying it. Not only did they vote to confirm and give easy confirmation processes to people who should not be on the bench, but they used as a poltiical football and as a get out the vote effort for years.

They should have been protecting this fundamental right of women. Instead, they were happy to let it be weakened year after year.

If Roe goes down, blame the duopoly as well as the Court.

The following sites updated:

Tuesday, May 03, 2022

Chris Hedges on a book, Ava and C.I. on homophobia in streaming

At THIRD, Dona has a book review ["Book Bargain (Dona)"] of MOTOWN founder Berry Gordy's TO BE LOVED. Be sure to check that out. Chris Hedges has a book review at SCHEERPOST and let me note rhat:

he New Age writer David Icke has been used to condemn Alice Walker, one of America’s most important and courageous authors. The organizers of the Bay Area Book Festival disinvited Walker, who won the Pulitzer prize for fiction for The Color Purple, after receiving complaints charging that Walker embraced the anti-Semitic writing of the New Age author David Icke, who she has praised for being “brave.” The festival organizers also attacked her poem “It is our (Frightful) Duty to Study the Talmud” for being anti-Semitic, blaming it on Icke’s influence. I wrote a column denouncing the smearing of Walker, her disinvitation and called for the public and presenters to boycott the festival over her blacklisting.

Icke was accused of being anti-Semitic and allegedly promoting the forged and rabidly anti-Semitic Protocols of the Elders of Zion in a December 17, 2018 article in The Tablet,which describes itself as an “online magazine of Jewish news, ideas, and culture.” The article by Yair Rosenberg was titled “The New York Times Just Published an Unqualified Recommendation for an Insanely Anti-Semitic Book.” The charges made by The Tablet appear to have been accepted uncritically by numerous critics of Walker, few of whom appear to have read Icke’s book.

I don’t allow my students at Princeton, Columbia, Rutgers, or any other college I teach at, to engage in class discussions about the assignment unless they have done the reading. They owe the author, and those who have invested time in his or her work, an informed debate. I asked the festival director if she had read the book. She conceded she had not.

I ordered and read Icke’s book And the truth shall set you free. I found most charges against him inflated, distorted, misinterpreted and, in some cases, patently false. He is careful not to be overtly anti-Semitic but he does embrace conspiracy theories that include Jewish organizations. He claims these organizations are members of the vast conspiracy apparatus waged by extraterrestrials against us. It is wrong to call him anti-Semitic, although there are numerous passages and ideas in the book that are justifiably offensive to many people, including Jews.

I don’t embrace Icke’s world view. It is full of secret cabals, telepathy, the paranormal, reincarnation, extraterrestrials and Satanic control of nearly all the religious, social and political institutions in human society. I remain rooted in the Cartesian, Niebuhrian interpretation of human reality, imparted to me by my father, a Presbyterian minister, and my professors at Harvard Divinity School. This interpretation, known as “Christian realism,” eschews stories of miracles and magic in the Bible to focus on justice, personal morality, freedom of conscience and the call to stand with the “crucified” of the earth. Although very little of what Icke writes resonates with me, Walker’s life and writing exhibit the values and ethic I seek to achieve.

His cosmology is not dissimilar to other New Age beliefs, such as Scientology, which believes that Xemu, the dictator of the “Galactic Confederacy,” brought billions of his people to earth in a spacecraft 75 million years ago. These people were massed around volcanos and killed with hydorogen bombs. The immortal spirits of these victims, known as thetans, adhere to humans, causing spiritual harm. Humans must learn to free themselves from the “encumbrances acquired in this life and in past existences” in order to access full thetan powers. :

I haven't read the book, I found Chris' comments interesting. Somewhere at THE COMMON ILLS, when this first became an issue a few years back, C.I. commented on this noting that Alice is an artist and her imagination was sparked by the book and she has no apologies to make for that. I agree.

"TV: GRACE AND FRANKIE winds down while THE OFFER never should have started" (Ava and C.I., THE THIRD ESTATE SUNDAY REVIEW):

Notice a name missing? Yep. Sam Waterston. He's been a problem from the start. Dropping back to our 2015 review:

More than anything else, the show needed a studio audience.

If it had one, Sam Waterston wouldn't be mincing.

The immediate reaction from the studio audience would have forced Waterston to reconfigure his character.

Did no one have the guts to tell the actor to stop it?

Did no one have the guts to tell him that he was portraying an offensive stereotype?

He's all popped-eyes, raised eyebrows and high pitched voice.

That's how he plays his gay character (Lily Tomlin's ex-husband).

It's insulting.

Martin Sheen, by contrast, doesn't feel he needs to reconfigure his voice or pop his eyes.

Watching Waterston mince it up, you're not only offended, you're also asking yourself, "Wait? No one knew he was gay?"

Because that is the premise, that Grace and Frankie have no idea their husbands are gay or having been having a 20 year affair.

Sol started out an insulting stereotype and that's how he concluded. Sam Waterston was one long offense, season after season. That he was gay was supposed to be a surprise that he hid. Not only are we not seeing that but we're also wondering how he was a high-powered lawyer in court with that voice?

Sol was an embarrassment to the very end. Over the years, we've learned to ignore him. And, as Waterston and Martin had their last scene together, we regretted it. The two were at a hotel, stepped into an elevator and, as they were about to kiss, the doors closed. Did they ever kiss?

That's the only reason we regretted ignoring the offensive Sol all these episodes, we don't remember them ever kissing romantically, but did they?

The show's gotten a lot of credit for its portrayals of women in thee their third act still being romantic and sexual beings. But what did they go for elderly gay men? Anything?

"What's tragic," insists Juno Temple as Bettye in THE OFFER about Janis Joplin's death, "is o.d.ing over a cancelled menage a trois with two other women."

That's what's being offered on PARAMOUNT+ -- a straight woman making homophobic comments. So, yeah, it does matter whether or not GRACE AND FRANKIE used their seven seasons to advance the portrayals of gay men.

And it does matter what is getting a green light.

THE OFFER got one and, as any reviewer can tell you, it didn't warrant one. It's referred to as unneeded, navel gazing at the making of PARAMOUNT's film THE GODFATHER.

And that is true but it's committing a bigger crime and what The Water Cooler Set ignores, we don't.

Sal Mineo.

Remember him? Two time Academy Award nominee (REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE and EXODUS). His other films include GIANT, THE OTHER WAR OF MAJOR BENSON, THE LONGEST DAY, WHO KILLED TEDDY BEAR?, CHEYENNE AUTUMN, THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD and ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET OF THE APES. Sal was Sicilian.

If there's a reason to tell the story about the making of THE GODFATHER all these years later, it's to correct the past. A two-time Academy Award nominee who happened to be Sicilian was denied a role in the film. Did people not think Sal could act?

Sal's acting was not in question. Francis Ford Coppola was prepared to cast Sal until one actor had a hissy fit. PARAMOUNT was high on James Caan and wanted him for Michael but would settle for him as Sonny. What Caan would not do was work with a bi-sexual actor. He would quit, he insisted if they cast the "f*g" in the film.

He got away with that. Sal's career, his life, might have been so much different but for Caan and for PARAMOUNT rewarding Caan's homophobia.

"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):

Monday, May 2, 20225. Dust storms again in Iraq (and in Joe Biden's mind as well) and much more.

Whores got their weekend with a DC event that should have been retired long ago. Court jester Trevor Noah made joes about8 inflat8ion and US President Joe Biden lapped it up.

Yes, they are laughing at the American people. Yes, it's disgusting.

Joe's got jokes because, well, he is a joke. How wonderful that, as American struggle to deal with the out of control inflation, that he can laugh and shuck and jive.

Joe Biden is a horrible leader. And jokes about "Cinderella's castle" don't8 improve his standing, they only make him look even more senile.

May Day fell the day after Joe Biden's buffoonery. While he was shucking and jiving, David North (WSWS) pointed out):

This year’s May Day is being held under extraordinary circumstances. The world stands on the precipice of a nuclear world war that threatens the extinction of life on this planet. The challenge of May Day 2022 is to make this celebration of the international unity of the working class the beginning of a global movement of the broad mass of the world’s population to stop the criminal and reckless escalation of the NATO-Russia war toward nuclear conflict and force its end.

The organization, development and victory of this movement requires a clear understanding of the causes of the war and the interests that it serves.

The International Committee of the Fourth International, the World Party of Socialist Revolution, unequivocally denounces US and European imperialism for instigating the conflict with Russia. This is not a war in defense of democracy in Ukraine or anywhere else in the world. It is a war whose aim is the redivision of the world, that is, a new allocation of the material resources of the globe.

Russia has become a target of US imperialism not because of the Putin regime’s autocratic character, but because, first, its defense of the interests of the Russian capitalists collide with the drive of the United States for global hegemony, which is centered on its preparations for war with China; and, second, the vast expanse of Russian territory is the source of immensely valuable and strategically critical raw materials, metals and minerals—gold, platinum, palladium, zinc, bauxite, nickel, mercury, manganese, chromium, uranium, iron ore, cobalt and iridium, to name only a few—that the United States is determined to bring under its control.

The other major imperialist powers allied with the United States are, likewise, pursuing their own reactionary economic and geostrategic interests. The conflict in Ukraine has provided German imperialism—which waged a war of extermination against the Soviet Union between 1941 and 1945—with the opportunity to undertake the most massive rearmament campaign since the collapse of the Nazi regime. As always, British imperialism is eager to participate in an American-led war, hoping that its “special relationship” with the United States will entitle it to a favorable distribution of the spoils of war. The French imperialists hope that by sanctioning, however reluctantly, the American war against Russia, the United States will not interfere with French operations in Africa. Even the lesser powers of the NATO alliance expect to be repaid for their endorsement of the US-led war. Poland, for example, has not forgotten that Lviv was once the Polish city of Lwow.

As for the United States’ invocation of the sacred right of Ukraine, as a sovereign nation, to join NATO if it so chooses, Washington does not recognize the extension of that right to any country whose national defense interests are viewed as a threat to American security. Even as the crisis unfolds in Ukraine, the United States is threatening military action to stop the Solomon Islands—6,000 miles away from the American West Coast—from entering into a defensive relationship with China.

Joe supports the Nazi government in Ukraine that he and Barack Obama installed back in 2014 as they trashed the results of the election. The government is a menace to many but Joe wants to back it because, well, he's senile.

Jason Melanovski (WSWS) reports:

As the NATO proxy war against Russia rages in eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian government is carrying out a campaign of domestic repression against alleged “collaborators” and “traitors” in order to bolster its pro-war agenda and eliminate any opposition that may favor a negotiated peace with Moscow to end the war.

Last week the Kyiv Independent reported that “a hunt for alleged collaborators is underway in recaptured parts of the country.” The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) along with the national and local police, territorial defense units and the State Emergency Service, are leading the hunt for suspects.

According to the Kyiv Independent, the SBU had already arrested 33 suspects in Kiev by April 7, and by April 15, over 300 alleged collaborators had been arrested.

It is unclear how the SBU is able to deduce exactly who collaborated with the Russian forces other than relying on the testimony of neighbors.

Such an approach leaves the door wide open for the settling of petty grievances between neighbors and the arrest and jailing—or perhaps worse—of innocent Ukrainians who are not enthusiastic supporters of a NATO-backed war that is destroying large parts of an already impoverished country.

The report comes on the heels of the revelation that Kiev was supplied with advanced face-scanning technology by the American firm Clearview AI and that such technology was already being used to identify dead Russian soldiers and scan the faces of Ukrainian citizens in order to find “traitors.”

That's the government that Joe Biden and billions of US tax dollars are supporting. It's outrageous that US tax dollars are used to prop up that oppressive regime to begin with but8 at a time when Americans are facing huge inflation, it's outrageous.

As a ma8n we did a ZOOM w8ith weeks ago pointed out, he's Diamond Joe Biden, grabbing the check to pay for dinner with his new pals while his own children are back home starving.

He's so out of touch, he doesn't even realize it.

Meanwhile, the British government is being pressured to demand the release of one of their citiens from Iraq. No, not the over 80-year-old who just died in custody and was leading the tour and no one seems to know the name of. The other one. Th eone whose family sure does get a lot of press on. Robert Pether hasn't had as much press since Iraq put him beind bars as this man has had in the last three days.

The enw move is to push him as a modern day Indiana Jone1

Problems?

Indiana wasn't British. Indiana wasn't a geologist who worked for Big Oil. Indiana had a doctorate Archaeology. The Brit was trying to leave Iraq with what he says were shards that someone gave him persmission for but which Iraq argues were historical artifacts. And anyone with a basic education, knows you dont try to leave a country with shards of anything -- especially not a country that the UK has already plundered repeatedly for decades.

Once again, dust storms throughout Iraq.

NNA reports, "Clouds of yellow dust covered most of southern Iraq, including the capital, Baghdad, and is expected to continue until Monday, according to the Meteorological Department." Australian ASSOCIATED PRESS adds, "Iraq's state news agency INA reported that five Iraqi provinces including Baghdad and Najaf were shrouded in dust storms on Sunday, causing an unspecified number of people to suffer serious breathing-related problems."

AFP is again reporting "dozens" have been hospitalized. They never learn and AFP hires journalists who lack basic counting skills. See April 9th's "AFP needs to learn to count -- over 429 is not 'dozens'." As AFP again runs with ''dozens'' despite, again, the number being much, much higher. In Najaf alone, ALSUMARIA reports 500 people were hospitalized. And the Health Department of Najaf is the source for the 500 figure. And Sal al-Din province counts 152 people hospitalized. That's just two areas and it's 652. That's not "dozens."

BOL NEWS notes, "In April, Iraq was pummelling by a succession of severe storms, which grounded flights in Baghdad, Najaf, and Irbil and hospitalized hundreds." Yes, and it's the first day of May and already hundreds have been hospitalized.

Ruth Tweets:

"In November, the World Bank said Iraq could suffer a 20% fall in water resources by 2050"

Iraq dust storm: Flights grounded in Baghdad and Najaf as skies turn orange - BBC News

bbc.com

Iraq dust storm: Flights grounded in Baghdad and Najaf as skies turn orange

A dust storm that has covered Iraq in an orange sheet is expected to continue into Monday.

12:02 AM · May 2, 2022

Marcello G Tweets:

The dust storm could be addressed by increasing vegetation and creating forests.
What are other ways that Iraq can resolve this issue and protect  their citizens? How can the U.S. help stop climate change from harming other nations?

11:26 PM · May 1, 2022

In other news, MEDYA NEWS reports:

After it’s been revealed on Wednesday that two European journalists were arrested by Iraqi troops on the 20th of April, a colleague of one of the journalists said to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) that the journalist was arrested while he was covering issues affecting the Yazidis in Iraq.

Soldiers with the Iraqi 20th Infantry Division arrested Matej Kavčič, a Slovenian freelance reporter, on the 20th of April at an army checkpoint in the city of Sinjar (Shengal), the hometown of the Yazidis.

While Kavčič identified himself as a journalist, Iraqi troops brought him to a nearby military facility, where they confiscated his phone and questioned him, according to a report by CPJ.

Marlene Förster, a German national, who was traveling with Kavčič, was also detained in the process.

Iraqi authorities allege that the pair ‘pretended to work as journalists’, and accused them of collaborating with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), designated a ‘terrorist group’ in neighbouring Turkey and in the European Union.

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