Dear Friend,
Rajasthan Assembly passed a resolution against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA). Rajasthan is the third state to pass a resolution against CAA. The resolution asked the Centre to repeal the CAA and withdraw the new questionnaire for preparation of the National Population Register (NPR), as the people would face inconvenience with the proposed additional information. “The CAA flouts the Constitution’s basic nature and a substantial section of population believes that the NPR and National Register of Citizens (NRC) have the same base,” it stated.
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Rajasthan Assembly passes resolution against CAA
by Countercurrents Collective
Rajasthan Assembly passed a resolution against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA). Rajasthan is the third state to pass a resolution against CAA. The resolution asked the Centre to repeal the CAA and withdraw the new questionnaire for preparation of the National Population Register (NPR), as the people would face inconvenience with the proposed additional information. “The CAA flouts the Constitution’s basic nature and a substantial section of population believes that the NPR and National Register of Citizens (NRC) have the same base,” it stated.
Split Hearings: The Assange Extradition Case Drags On
by Dr Binoy Kampmark
It is being increasingly larded with
heavy twists and turns, a form of state oppression in slow motion, but the Julian Assange extradition case now looks like it may well move into the middle of the year, dragged out, ironically enough, by the prosecution.
A Climate Time Bomb With Trump’s Name Inscribed
by Robert Hunziker
Thwaites, in West Antarctica, is the world’s most dangerous glacier. As of January 15th, scientists have labeled it: “A Climate Time Bomb.” Thwaites is rumbling apart on the underneath side where warm ocean currents circulate, which is clear evidence that global warming is really, truly hitting its stride even as America, obeying President Trump’s orders,rejected its commitment to Paris ’15, a major climate agreement of almost all the nations of the world.
Thwaites, in West Antarctica, is the world’s most dangerous glacier. As of January 15th, scientists have labeled it: “A Climate Time Bomb.”
Thwaites isc rumbling apart on the underneath side where warm ocean currents circulate, which is clear evidence that global warming is really, truly hitting its stride even as America, obeying President Trump’s orders,rejected its commitment to Paris ’15, a major climate agreement of almost all the nations of the world.
In point of fact, America is too focused on ceaseless (mindless)NYSE trading at new heights to give even a passing thought to something as remote as Thwaites Glacier crumbling apart from inside-out (9,072 miles away, forever far away in the mindset of simple-minded folks).
Still, the cold, hard facts are irrefutable, to wit: NASA’s studies, referenced as “Ice Bridge,” have revealed an enormous cavity lurking beneath the icy surface of Thwaites; it’s the size of NYC hidden within its core. Along the way, Thwaites glacier loses 35B tons of mass per year.
Beyond question, “What happens at Thwaites affects the whole ice sheet.” (Source: Adam Vaughan, Antarctica’s Doomsday Glacier is Melting. Can we Save it in Time? NewScientist, Jan. 15, 2020).
After all, Thwaites is the primary backstop for the entirety of West Antarctica,which contains enough ice to take sea level up 11-12 feet. If Thwaites collapses, it’ll trigger an impending collapse of monstrous proportions. Although, truth told, nobody knows the timing, decades or centuries before serious collapse occurs, but judging by recent behavior, Thwaites is giving off plenty of chilling tipoffs, enough to generate some cold-sobered pause and very deep thought.
Thwaites Glacier is 100 miles across and 4,000 feet deep. It’s melting a lot earlier and much, much, much faster than ever thought possible. That’s bizarre since the glacier, ever since the dawn of humanity,has been a permanent feature on West Antarctica.
Meantime, in the face of crumbling ecosystems found at the fringes of civilization, where the initial impact of global warming is felt first,the United States, under the direction of President Trump, dismantles decades of federal regulations that protect life and ecosystems. Nearly 100 federal regs designed to curb climate change, protect human health, and limit ecosystem ruination are being rolled back. It’s Trump’s infamous Great Dismantling of Federal Agencies (GDFA).
As such, crucial ecological and social welfare policies are on a fast track of obliteration, somewhat similar to the impact of human-generated global warming’s influence on ecosystems, e.g., permafrost shockingly collapses 70 years early in the high Arctic. Alert! Is global warming 70 years ahead of schedule?If so, if really true, awful climate-related upheavals will manifest very soon. (Source: Louise M. Farquharson et al, Climate Change Drives Widespread and Rapid Thermokarst Development in Very Cold Permafrost in the Canadian High Arctic, Geophysical Research Letters, June 10, 2019)
As for the status of America’s scientists, Trump is their worst nightmare come true in full living color, orange. No president throughout the history of America comes close to his purity of ignorance and utter failure to understand basic words, concepts,and rudimentary science. After all, it was his own secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, who said, “He’s a f__king moron!” (Vanity Fair, May 23, 2019)
As for Thwaites, the good news is it will take hundreds of years for the final ice of West Antarcticato melt away.However, along the way,possibly sooner rather than later, the bad news is thatit will likely wreak unimaginable havoc, meaning big time damage, by altering coastlines around the world, year-by-year, decade-by-decade, and inch-by-inch, but over time stretching to foot-by-foot. It’s an extraordinarily dangerous prognosis, filled with all kinds of challenges for the world’s coastal metropolises.
Significantly, and most importantly, the implied message within the New Scientist article is: Somebody in a position of authority in the world with powerful leadership skills (forget the U.S.) must wake up to the fact that global warming has already started taking human civilization down for the count, down to its knees… already inits earliest stages at the furthest latitudes, where it is hitting real hard, e.g., Thwaites’ internal ice collapse.
Thwaites Glacier, as big as the country of Great Britain, is but one of several examples of early stage ecosystem collapse in the world, but people don’t live where it’s happening. Who sees it other than scientists?
Alarmingly, Thwaites’ ice loss has doubled over the past two decades to 35B tonnes per year; that fact, standing alone, sends a haunting message. In time Thwaites will account for 2 feet of sea level rise. But that’s only the start of a much, much bigger dilemma as it buttresses the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.
It was only 5 years ago when scientists confidently said the Western Antarctica Ice Sheet collapse had officially started but those same researchers said: “Even though sea level rise (10-13 feet) cannot be stopped, it is still several centuries off, and potentially up to 1,000 years away.” No sweat!
Now… they are sweating.
Robert Hunziker, MA, economic history DePaul University, awarded membership in Pi Gamma Mu International Academic Honor Society in Social Sciences is a freelance writer and environmental journalist who has over 200 articles published, including several translated into foreign languages, appearing in over 50 journals, magazines, and sites worldwide. He has been interviewed on numerous FM radio programs, as well as television.
The Time for Postponing Climate Action Is Over
by David Korten
With luck and collective determination, we may have time to avoid self-extinction and even create a world of joy and meaning. But that will happen only if we prioritize healing over consuming, and cooperation over competition; embrace our individual and collective responsibilities to one another and the Earth; and remake our culture, institutions, technology, and infrastructure in recognition that we are part of a living Earth community. We have just entered humanity’s decisive decade. This is our time to step up to the challenge of our age and to create a future consistent with our reality as living beings born of and nurtured by a living Earth.
In 1962, Rachael Carson warned us, with the publication of Silent Spring, that the indiscriminate use of pesticides was disrupting critical ecosystems and causing severe damage to human health.
Her message led to a ban on the use of DDT in the United States and eventual restrictions on its use in much of the world. Her warning also helped launch the environmental movement and its call to humanity to accept responsibility for the consequences of our impact on Earth.
Ten years later, in 1972, the book The Limits to Growth, by an MIT research team led by Donella and Dennis Meadows, again focused global attention on humanity’s environmental responsibility. Presented as a report to the Club of Rome, the book used computer modeling to demonstrate that sustained economic growth on a finite planet would lead to environmental and economic collapse in the early- to mid-21st century. It sold more than 3 million copies in some 35 languages.
The book stirred significant public debate at the time and had a defining influence in shaping the lives and thinking of many members of my generation. It came under withering critique, however, from a corporate establishment that profits from growth, and from neoliberal economists who provided intellectual cover for the establishment. To the detriment of people and planet, and unlike Carson’s book, The Limits to Growth had no discernible impact on public policy.
Yet, over the next 20 years, concern for the growing human threat to Earth’s essential living systems gained in status to become the dominant scientific consensus. In 1992, the Union of Concerned Scientists issued a proclamation, “World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity,” signed by more than 1,700 scientists, including a majority of the then-living Nobel Laureates in the sciences. Its message was clear and unambiguous:
“The earth is finite…. Current economic practices which damage the environment, in both developed and underdeveloped nations, cannot be continued without the risk that vital global systems will be damaged beyond repair.”
In November 2017, exactly 55 years after Silent Spring, 45 years after the Limits to Growth, and 25 years after the “Warning to Humanity,” the Alliance of World Scientists issued a new proclamation: “World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity: A Second Notice.” This one was signed by more than 20,000 scientists in 184 countries. It concluded:
“We face deforestation, ocean acidification, diminishing fresh water supplies, the Earth’s sixth mass extinction event, exponential human population growth, overconsumption and a climate system veering outside of the conditions within which human civilization developed.”
Less than a year later, in October 2018, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued a report calling for dramatic action on climate change along with specific targets required to avoid catastrophic and irreparable consequences. The New York Times summarized the key findings and recommendations:
“To prevent 2.7 degrees [Fahrenheit] of warming, the report said, greenhouse pollution must be reduced by 45 percent from 2010 levels by 2030, and 100 percent by 2050. It also found that, by 2050, use of coal as an electricity source would have to drop from nearly 40 percent today to between 1 and 7 percent. Renewable energy such as wind and solar, which make up about 20 percent of the electricity mix today, would have to increase to as much as 67 percent.”
BBC environmental correspondent Matt McGrath pointed out last July that to achieve the UN’s initial target of a 45% cut in carbon emissions by 2030 will require decisive global action by the end of this year—2020. His point is that reaching that initial target in just 10 years will require massive changes. So, if we don’t get going immediately, we will not make it.
Humanity is reawakening to a basic truth understood by earlier humans, by many Indigenous people today, and now confirmed by the leading scientists: We are born of and members of a living Earth community.
We are now awakening to the responsibilities that come with our distinctive ability to consciously create our future. The environmental consequences of our neglect of this responsibility have been known for more than half a century, but for many people, the urgent need to act is just now sinking in.
Science is significantly advancing understanding of how this community works. We now know, for example, that Earth’s early microorganisms sequestered Earth’s excess carbons and toxins deep underground to create surface conditions that later would support more complex life forms, including humans.
In the arrogance of our quest to bend the living Earth to our will, we have organized much of our economy around extracting these carbons and toxins and releasing them back into Earth’s air, waters, and soils. This, and many other human assaults on the planet’s regenerative systems, demand immediate remedial action.
As we awaken to the consequences of our self-destructive relationship to Earth, we confront a fundamental truth of our past 5,000 years of history: The past civilizations we have celebrated as affirmations of the greatness of human accomplishment centralized power to exploit people and nature to benefit the rulers at the expense of everyone else. Each of these civilizations collapsed—and our present one is headed in that direction, too—imposing yet more suffering on massive numbers of people over the course of history.
Now, for the first time in the human experience, we are a global species with an interdependent global civilization. But the basic pattern of imperial domination continues. The dominant institutions are now corporations rather than governments and the dominant rulers are financiers and corporate CEOs rather than kings and emperors.
The basic dynamic remains much the same, however, and the consequences are playing out on an unprecedented scale, rendering ever more of Earth’s once-livable places unlivable, and driving millions of people from their homes. Current events are only a foretaste of what lies ahead if we continue to hold to our current path.
With luck and collective determination, we may have time to avoid self-extinction and even create a world of joy and meaning. But that will happen only if we prioritize healing over consuming, and cooperation over competition; embrace our individual and collective responsibilities to one another and the Earth; and remake our culture, institutions, technology, and infrastructure in recognition that we are part of a living Earth community. We have just entered humanity’s decisive decade. This is our time to step up to the challenge of our age and to create a future consistent with our reality as living beings born of and nurtured by a living Earth.
This article was written for YES! Magazine, a national, nonprofit media organization that fuses powerful ideas and practical actions. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License.
What Europe Can Do to Avoid WW III?: Say ‘No!’ Now, to Its Start
by Eric Zuesse
The U.S. Government, which had lied its way into invading and destroying
Iraq in 2003 (with a little help from UK and Europeans), wants Europeans to pitch-in for more U.S.-run invasions. Europeans find this disturbing, but not repulsive enough to say, flat-out, “No!” to it. However, only that “No!” can stop the onrush toward a massive U.S. war against both Iran and Iraq, which would spread ultimately into a global nuclear war between U.S. and Russia.
The U.S. Government, which had lied its way into invading and destroying Iraq in 2003 (with a little help from UK and Europeans), wants Europeans to pitch-in for more U.S.-run invasions. Europeans find this disturbing, but not repulsive enough to say, flat-out, “No!” to it. However, only that “No!” can stop the onrush toward a massive U.S. war against both Iran and Iraq, which would spread ultimately into a global nuclear war between U.S. and Russia.
On January 6th, Barbara Wessel, a columnist for Germany’s Deutsche Welle (DW), headlined a common European sentiment: “Trump has Europeans caught in a trap: Europe is suffering under the way Donald Trump makes political decisions on the fly. The only option left is to appeal to Iran’s interest in self-preservation”. But Iranians can’t stop the sanctions against itself, and can’t stop Trump’s other outrageous aggressions. Wessel’s false underlying assumption was that Europe must lecture Iranians. That’s like lecturing to Jews during WW II: “The only option left is to appeal to Jews’ interest in self-preservation.” Victims already do everything they can to stop their being victimized; they cannot stop the victimizer from victimizing them. They don’t cause it. Europe must, at last, say “No!” to U.S., the tyrant over the entire world — Bolivia, Venezuela, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and more. Wessel, however, understood, at least, that the dangerousness actually comes far more from the U.S., than it does from Iran. So, she recognized that her thinking on this whole matter was confused. She stated:
Any illusions about the possibility of an even partially rational cooperation on foreign policy with the government in Washington have long been shattered. Cynical remarks by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who accuses the Europeans of not giving enough support in the Middle East, underline their helplessness. … Even experienced observers of US Middle East policy have been unable to explain how this [Trump’s “bring American soldiers home”] fits in with the strike against Soleimani. … Europeans find themselves in the trap of a kind of US foreign policy that is marked by the emotional eruptions of an unpredictable president and his power-drunk neocon supporters. … Basically, their [the U.S. Government’s] only explanation for killing Soleimani is: “Because we can.” … Granted, Europe looks weak and helpless when, in joint statements, Europeans call for de-escalation after their presumed partner, the US, has just done everything it can to escalate the situation. … The new year will quickly show how strong the current tendency to suicide is among all those involved. …
The presumption on which such sentiments are based is that things must go on as before, and EU must continue to be allied with U.S., instead of with the rest of the EurAsian Continent — but this presumption (EU with U.S. instead of with all the rest of EurAsia) has been false ever since the U.S. Government went wild in its response to the mainly Saudi Arabian 9/11 assault against the U.S. and Israel cheered that event, and Iran got blamed by the U.S. government for 9/11 as being “The top state sponsor of terrorism” (which was yet another lie), and Obama perpetrated a coup replacing Ukraine’s democratically elected Government with a U.S.-imposed fascist and rabidly anti-Russian government such as Obama wanted to be next-door to Russia. He even was intending to replace Russia’s largest naval base, which is in Crimea, by yet another U.S. naval base, to be installed there. None of this is in Europe’s interest. Nor is it even discussed in Europe or in any other vassal-region of the U.S. empire. It’s censored-out there.
Germany, France, Italy, Spain and all the rest of Europe, actually belong with all the rest of the EurAsian Continent, rather than with the formerly democratic but now fascist United States across the Atlantic Ocean. A federal EurAsia, composed of free and independent states within a wider United States of EurAsia, would have 4.618 billion population, almost half of the entire world, and wealth to match that, and economic growth which far exceeds that of what will then be left of the U.S.-and-its-allied-countries: UK, Saudi Arabia, and Israel. All other nations would ally either with EurAsia or with that U.S. group — American and those three core allies (Saudi Arabia, Israel, and UK). NATO is America’s aggressive alliance, which routinely invades countries that pose no threat to either U.S. or Europe (such as Iraq). America’s plan for NATO is to expand it worldwide, so that the U.S. will automatically have European allies for invasions in places such as Latin America. NATO needs to be replaced by a united EurAsian defense force, which will be able to counterbalance, within its sphere, the world’s largest military. The U.S. has around 1,000 military bases, of which around 300 are inside U.S. Though officially the U.S. spends 37% of the global military budget, it actually spends around half of all global military expenditures, but hides around one-third of its annual military spending by listing those costs in other federal Departments, such as the U.S. Treasury Department, so as not to seem as militaristic as the U.S. Government actually is. It’s actually a global empire — the largest that the world has ever known. Europe is, and can only be, vassals in that empire. The alternative requires new thinking, and is not to spend more money on the military, but to recognize that when Russia ended the Cold War in 1991, the war secretly continued, and still does continue, on the U.S. side — and Russia and China recognize that this is America’s intention. Europe must stop the Cold War, because only Europe can do that.
Barbara Wessel’s commentary presumes, instead, that Europe’s leaders have no ability to say no to the U.S. That presumed passivity is only bad habit, inherited from a Europe which was wrecked by WW II. That’s no longer the reality today. Instead, Europe, joined with Asia, will be the global superpower that can finally end America’s endless wars —simply by not joining them. EurAsia will be the world’s dominant power, if Europeans want a future that is better than the past, instead of catastrophic. Either way, the future won’t be much like the past. Europe needs to wake up now, from its vassalage since WW II ended. Simply continuing that would produce a horrible future.
Another DW columnist on January 6th, Konstantin Eggert, headlined “Opinion: Putin’s power games may get out of hand”, and he was even more supportive of Germany’s vassalage to the U.S. regime. He presented a strong case that by murdering Soleimani, Trump had pulled the trump card in the U.S.-v.-Russia game by eliminating the key person upon whom Putin had been relying in order to transfer dominance in the Middle East away from U.S. and toward, instead, Russia. Soleimani was that key individual for Putin’s success in this. “According to sources in Moscow, Putin knew Soleimani very well: He played a key role in creating the Russian-Iranian alliance that saved Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria from what seemed in 2015 an imminent demise.” With Soleimani now gone, Eggert predicted that regardless of what Iraq’s Government might want, the U.S. would refuse to terminate its occupation of that country, and Iran would be in a much weaker position than before. He said that “Putin has every reason to wish the Iranians backed off from confrontation with the United States,” so as for Russia to avoid being drawn into World War III. “Putin’s best chance to avoid this drama is to play peacemaker — not alone but in the company of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Turkey’s Erdogan, who are rushing to meet him in the coming two days. Berlin and Ankara do not want to see the Middle East explode and will be asking Putin to use his close ties in Tehran to hatch a deal and fend off confrontation.” In this sense, the missile that hit Soleimani on January 3rd hit not only Iraq and Iran but EU and Turkey. Eggert therefore advises America’s vassals to remain America’s vassals because Russia now is trapped and Putin might not fold his hand and might not simply let Iran become ultimately swallowed-up — Merkel etc. should urge Putin to fold his hand, is the implication here. Eggert’s implication is that, in the final analysis, might makes right, and that therefore any resistance against it (for example, if Putin continues to resist) would only be harmful. Or, as he puts it: “With the Iranian regime massively undermined or destroyed, Moscow’s position in the Middle East and Vladimir Putin’s personal prestige as the world’s topmost authority on stopping ‘regime change’ and someone who never leaves allies in the lurch, will be badly hit and revealed as much weaker than it seems.” Eggert sees Trump’s assassination of Soleimani as, in effect, a master-stroke, which has severely weakened Putin. Of course, if Europe’s leaders will act this way, then Eggert’s might-makes-right view will be vindicated, by them.
Europe is the U.S. regime’s indispensable ally. If EU breaks away from U.S. and joins with the rest of the EurAsian continent instead, at least the possibility will exist for avoiding a hellish future of continued and accelerating vassalage to the U.S. regime for the entire world. Passivity and might-makes-right slants such as “Putin’s power games may get out of hand” (instead of “America’s assassination of Soleimani places entire world in danger”) are choices — not inevitable — and Europeans will ultimately be the individuals who will be making the choices here. Europeans will decide whether the U.S. is the world’s enemy; or, instead, whether Russia, China, Iran, and, really, all the rest of Asia, will be treated as if they were that (like the U.S. regime wants). Ganging-up against the victims — if that is to be the European response — would be a choice, not an inevitability (such as DW implies). It will be up to Europeans whether to order all U.S. troops to leave, and to tariff all imports from America, and to sanction and boycott U.S. brands and increasingly replace them with EurAsian ones instead. Trump can be trumped, but only Europe has the clout to do it. The future will be decided by Europeans. The voices of passivity, such as DW, are doing the bidding of Europeans’ enemy — not of the entire world’s future: a EurAsian-led world.
—————
Investigative historian Eric Zuesse is the author, most recently, of They’re Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010, and of CHRIST’S VENTRILOQUISTS: The Event that Created Christianity.
Originally posted at strategic-culture.org
Switzerland Funds Biased and Fake OPCW Chemical Weapons’ Reporting
by Peter Koenig
Why does Switzerland, neutral by her Constitution, fund, support and reward the partial and I dare say, western-biased and corrupted Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and their fake reporting – with a donation of CHF 300,000 (US$ 300,000)? – It is a shame.
Why does Switzerland, neutral by her Constitution, fund, support and reward the partial and I dare say, western-biased and corrupted Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and their fake reporting – with a donation of CHF 300,000 (US$ 300,000)? – It is a shame. It is one more of these situations when Switzerland has to show the great hegemon that they are on his side. It’s like with Swiss ‘sanctions’ on Venezuela, a country that has never done any harm to Switzerland, to the contrary. Just because the Exceptional Nation and its European poodles demand it? What does Switzerland, and I repeat – constitutionally neutral Switzerland – expect in return for such “fine gestures” of propaganda? Perhaps a blind eye for untransparent fiscal and gold transactions?
Impartiality has been eviscerated from OPCW, as much as from the International Criminal Court (ICC), also located in The Hague. Remember, this is the Court, where President Trump just recently threatened its judges with “sanctions” – could be murder, from all we know of the American way of extra-judiciary proceeding – if ever they, the judges of ICC, dare accusing and prosecuting individuals from the US and Israel for Human Rights abuses. That’s the ICC.
The OPCW is not an iota better. They issue false reports that could endanger the lives of millions of people – Syrians as it were – just to prevent the threat of OPCW staff being sanctioned. Yes, friends, that’s the world we have become. A bunch of spineless, hapless sheep.
To put it all in context, Syria was one of those countries that according to US Foreign Policy had to be “regime-changed” (Syria’s strategic location, with President Assad’s vision of “connecting five seas” [Caspian, Black, Red, Mediterranean and the Gulf] with a transport and energy corridor – and to top it all off – a socialist leaning Ba’ath Government) – which was the reason for the CIA / NATO and other European US lackeys – and the Saudis, to initiate in March 2011 the so-called Syrian “Arab Spring”, or civil war, actually a mercenary war, funded by the usual villains, the US, Saudis and other Gulf States and the European stooges.
OPCW, based in The Hague, capital of the neoliberal Netherlands, does the bidding of the west, in particular the United States. OPCW has nothing to do anymore with their original mandate of inspecting, analyzing and reporting the use of chemical weapons in countries of conflict. OPCW has become a puppet, a mere tool of the west demonizing countries that refuse bending down on their knees in front of Washington, falsely accusing these countries – lately especially Syria – of using deadly chemical weapons against her own people.
On August 21, 2013 in the early morning hours, Ghouta a large suburban area of Damascus was struck by several rockets containing the toxic and deadly chemical agent sarin. The attack may have killed more than 1,000 people. The UN already in Syria with a mission investigating several sarin gas attacks on civilian populations and medical convoys carried out in 2012 and earlier in 2013, were granted permission by the Assad Government to also look into the Ghouta attacks. The UN mission also had an OPCW delegation on board. The mission concluded that the attack on Ghouta was a chemical weapons assault, using the deadly sarin gas.
That’s where the investigation stopped and the accusations started. Without a shred of evidence, aping the pre-emptive allegations by the US,UK and France, that the attacks were carried out by President Assad’s military, OPCW also accused the Syrian Government of these heinous crimes. A ludicrous allegation, because why would Mr. Assad kill his own people? Especially, since he had then and has still today, about 80 % of popular support. And this after 9 years of foreign induced, and maintained terror against the people of Syria.
In April 2014 the northern Syrian town of Kafr Zita, also suffered a chemical attack, where about 100 people were injured and three killed. “Toxic chlorine” was the chemical agent used – the trade mark of the White Helmets, also created by the west, as the heroes defending Syria’s civil population, when in fact they are closely associated with the terror group Al-Nusra.
The false charges were so loud and repetitive and propagated by the bought western media that people throughout the western admirers of the atrocious US empire believed such nonsense. And this, despite the fact that Russia, soon after the attack, said, this was very likely a ‘false flag’, meaning carried out by western-funded terrorists mercenaries, so as to justify western military intervention. Russia is an ally of Syria, with national interests in Syria – naval and air bases – hence, a close observer of events in Syria.
Before a massive western military intervention could begin, Russia brokered a “truce” by having Syria destroy all its chemical weapons under the supervision of OPCW, Russia and the US. This was faithfully carried out – leaving Syria clean of chemical weapons. And the world knows it. OPCW knows it, as both the US and Russia witnessed the destruction.
Nevertheless, in June 2018 the OPCW noted with concern that the Syrian Arab Republic had in reality neither declared nor destroyed all of its chemical weapons and chemical weapons production facilities. This, as a justification for yet another false accusation, namely the alleged chemical attack on 7 April 2018 on Douma, about 10 km northeast of Damascus, when according to “eye witnesses” some 40 to 50 people were killed and more than 100 people injured. Again, The US, French and Brits immediately attributed the assault to the Syrian Army.
OPCW, readily on location, also concluded that the attack was carried out by President al-Assad’s troops. To make the point, a series of photos were circulated. They showed, among other ridiculously counterfeited pictures, a used yellow canister fallen from the sky and landing on a sofa in a shattered house. The Syrian Government and Russia immediately declared these pictures as fake and staged which later was proven right.
On 14 April 2018, a week after the alleged Assad regime attack on Douma, the US, Britain and France responded, launching more than 120 Tomahawk missiles against several Syrian targets, causing considerable infrastructure destruction and injuring about ten people. This was in full breach of international law, as the UN did not authorize this attack.
The OPCW mission knew, of course, immediately that the accusations were wrong, that this was a staged incident – most likely carried out by the White Helmets themselves, who later came to the rescue of the “insured people” and interviewed the “eye witnesses” – the basis for the false accusations. Hollywood later made “The White Helmets” into a documentary to re-establish the credibility of the “heroic Syrian civil defenders”. The film won the 2017 Oscar for Best Documentary. That’s how the West turns lies into truth. A Russian and Syrian Army investigation later concluded that there was no attack at all, that the chlorine was regular chlorine, not a weapon-grade chemical.
The US, French, Brits, who all have their intelligence in the region, knew, of course, that the accusations of the Douma attack and all the previous chemical attacks were lies. The Swiss knew it too, as the Swiss were member of OPCW’s Executive Council (2016-2018) and as of today maintain close relations with OPCW – like making a generous donation to this unethical organization.
OPCW has 193 member states. The organization was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2013. This puts the organization at international center stage. For those who know, they know that this prize is absolutely political and meaningless. Remember, Obama got the Nobel Peace Prize (2009) before he effectively started his presidency, sort of “in anticipation” of the “good he would do” – and then he ended up with 7 wars on his conscience (which he doesn’t have) by the time he left office.
The former Swiss prosecutor and former member of the UN Commission of Inquiry, Carla Del Ponte, shocked western governments in May 2013 by declaring that the United Nations had “strong suspicions” of Syrian rebels using sarin gas. She later was forced to retrack her statement which is suspected to be the unspoken but real reason for her resignation in 2016 from the infamous UN Commission which was set up in 2011, shortly after the beginning of the US/ CIA / NATO initiated “civil war” in Syria.
The Commission was to investigate human rights abuse in Syria. In hindsight, the Commission was created as if in anticipation of the already planned gas attacks that needed an official UN agency to justify accusing the Assad Government of poisoning its own people – and therefore, ‘regime change’ was of the order.
Several OPCW whistleblowers and leaks challenge Western government claims
Quoting from The Grayzone of 22 January 2020 – “In May 2019, an internal OPCW engineering assessment was leaked to the public. The document, authored by Ian Henderson, said the “dimensions, characteristics and appearance of the cylinders” in Douma “were inconsistent with what would have been expected in the case of either cylinder having been delivered from an aircraft,” adding that there is “a higher probability that both cylinders were manually placed at those two locations rather than being delivered from an aircraft.”
“After reviewing the leaked report, MIT professor emeritus of Science, Technology and International Security, Theodore Postol, told The Grayzone, “The evidence is overwhelming that the gas attacks were staged.” Postol also accused OPCW leadership of overseeing “compromised reporting” and ignoring scientific evidence.”
In November 2019, a second OPCW whistleblower came forward and accused the organization’s leadership of “suppressing countervailing evidence” under pressure of US Government officials.
With evidence of internal suppression growing, the OPCW’s first director-general, José Bustani, decided to speak out. “The convincing evidence of irregular behavior in the OPCW investigation of the alleged Douma chemical attack confirms doubts and suspicions I already had.” He added, “I could make no sense of what I was reading in the international press. Even official reports of investigations seemed incoherent at best. The picture is certainly clearer now, although very disturbing.”
On 20 January 2020, Ian Hendersontestified as a virtual person before the UN Security Council about the suppression of truth reporting by OPCW leadership. He spoke by pre-recorded video, since the Trump Administration refused granting him an entry visa to attend the UN Security Council Meeting. Trump is weaponizing visas against anyone who does not conform to the US narrative, no matter how deceptive it is.
Henderson said “My concern, which was shared by a number of other inspectors, relates to the subsequent management lockdown and the practices in the later analysis and compilation of a final report,”
On 22 January 2020 – OPCW declared at their headquarters in The Hague that the “Government of Switzerland will make two contributions totaling CHF 300,000 (US$ 300,000) to support a number of major projects and activities of the OPCW.”
“A contribution of CHF 200,000 will be made to the OPCW Trust Fund to support the project to upgrade the current OPCW Laboratory and Equipment Store through the construction of a new Centre for Chemistry and Technology (ChemTech Centre).”
Another contribution of approximately CHF 100,000 will support the activities of the Trust Fund for Syria Missions at the OPCW. The Trust Fund for Syria Missions supports the Organization’s missions and contingency operations related to the Syrian Arab Republic including the work of the Declaration Assessment Team, the Fact-Finding Mission, and the Investigation and Identification Team.”
These are the very teams that launched knowingly deceptive and fake reports that could have cost millions of Syrian lives, if Russian support of the Assad Government, Russian pressure on the west, and Russian overwhelming evidence of the fakeness of OPCW reporting, would not have been able to avert an all-out war of the west against Syria.
The Swiss Government is fully aware of the corrupt nature of OPCW reporting – and of the organizations caving in to US pressure, and that this situation will not change in the future, as Washington’s pressure, blackmail and threat of “sanctions” – meaning possible death by drones – will not seize. Is the US$ 300,000 donation maybe a gesture of empathy – an expression of sympathy from one spineless character to another?
Peter Koenig is an economist and geopolitical analyst. He is also a water resources and environmental specialist. He worked for over 30 years with the World Bank and the World Health Organization around the world in the fields of environment and water. He lectures at universities in the US, Europe and South America. He writes regularly for Global Research; ICH; RT; Sputnik; PressTV; The 21st Century; Greanville Post; Defend Democracy Press, TeleSUR; The Saker Blog, the New Eastern Outlook (NEO); and other internet sites. He is the author of Implosion – An Economic Thriller about War, Environmental Destruction and Corporate Greed – fiction based on facts and on 30 years of World Bank experience around the globe. He is also a co-author of The World Order and Revolution! – Essays from the Resistance.
Peter Koenig is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization.
Peter Koenig is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization.
India’s Modi: Messiah or Menace?
by Dr Arshad M Khan
Gandhi and founding prime minister Nehru’s vision of a secular India is enshrined in its constitution, which Modi and the BJP’s Hindu nationalist agenda subverts. Its Hindutva, a Nazi-like ideology holding Hinduism supreme, wants India to be an exclusively Hindu nation noting that Hindu and Muslim cultures are different, without regard to the similarities. As a video demonstrating the new ideology in practice points out, it is safer to be a cow than a Muslim in Modi’s India.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, a threat to democratic values, indigenous people and environment, not welcome by Indian People
by National Alliance of People’s Movements
We the signatories of this letter would like to state that President Bolsonaro is the guest of the Indian State and as Indian people we are opposed to his
misogynistic, homophobic and anti-people views and actions as witnessed in his term as President of Brazil. We condemn the actions of the Brazilian President and many regressive measures he has undertaken since the time he became President in January, 2019.
New Delhi, January 25 : The Brazilian President, Jai Bolsonaro is on a four day visit to the country, starting January 24th. He has been invited by the Indian government to be the chief guest at the 71st Republic Day celebrations. This is a special day that we cherish and reassert the values of freedom, equality, plurality and diversity, the values enshrined in the Indian Constitution, adopted after a long fight for Independence and firmly defended by us ever since. As we mark this day, millions across the country are on the streets protesting the divisive agenda being pushed in the name of rabid nationalism and the process of ‘othering’ being planned through new citizenship laws.
We the signatories of this letter would like to state that President Bolsonaro is the guest of the Indian State and as Indian people we are opposed to his misogynistic, homophobic and anti-people views and actions as witnessed in his term as President of Brazil. We condemn the actions of the Brazilian President and many regressive measures he has undertaken since the time he became President in January, 2019.
Mr Bolsonaro has been openly homophobic, racist, made crude jokes about rape and over the time been responsible for targeting environmental and human rights NGOs and have attacked the freedom of expression and dissent. He has denied climate change and changed the Brazilian environmental laws owing to his pro-business policies, and allowed Amazonian forest fires in June – August 2019 and only acted after huge international pressures. His actions have only contributed to already worsening climate crisis.
It also needs to be noted that Brazil’s Human Rights Advocacy Collective (CADHu) and the Dom Paulo Evaristo Arns Commission for Human Rights (Arns Commission) including six former government ministers are seeking to indict the far-right president Jair Bolsonaro at the International Criminal Court for encouraging genocide against Brazil’s indigenous people. The briefing note to the ICC notes that since taking power in January, Mr Bolsonaro has repeatedly denigrated Brazil’s indigenous people – comparing them to animals in zoos and “prehistoric men” – and overseen efforts to dismantle Funai, the already underfunded agency supposed to protect Brazil’s more than 300 tribes. As part of his Global neoliberal agenda, he has also pushed to open up indigenous reserves to mining companies. As a result the living conditions and lifestyles of the indigenous peoples are being destroyed by massive river pollution and invasion of their lands by wildcat miners, loggers and land-grabbers, noting the recent 29% increase in annual deforestation – the highest rate in a decade. Mr. Bolsonaro said after those devastating numbers emerged that Amazon fires and deforestation were cultural and would never end.
The invitation to the Brazilian President by the Government of India is outrageous too because as the President Mr Bolsonaro has dragged India to the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO’s) dispute settlement body, contending that India’s commitments to some binding rules in the WTO have been violated. If the dispute panel upholds the complaint of Brazil (and other countries which have joined subsequently), Indian sugarcane producers’ future looks bleak. Already reeling under the agrarian crisis Indian farmers are feeling indignant that by inviting Mr Bolsonaro as the chief guest, the Indian government appears to be giving a message to them that their lives and livelihoods do not matter much for the government.
It is no coincidence that current BJP led government at the centre finds common cause with the Brazilian President because on many of the issues they have similar views. The current Indian government is following similar anti-people policies, is promoting discrimination against minorities, attacking the freedom of expression and association, criminalizing dissent and weakening environmental and labour laws. Coming together of these two similar fascist and anti people leadership is determinantal to the progress of a progressive politics and democratic values which advocates building of mutual solidarity and people’s power.
We extend our solidarity to the struggling indigenous people of Amazonia, the Brazilian working people and the environmental and rights groups in Brazil who have been protesting against these policies of Mr Bolsonaro. The rise of the right wing forces in our country and in Brazil is detrimental to democratic norms and we vow to continue fighting against this and build real people to people solidarity between India and Brazil.
Issued Jointly by Organisations and Individuals below :
Organisations
- All India Kisan Sabha
- All India Union of Forest Working People
- Bargi Bandh Visthapit Evam Parbhavit Sangh
- Bharat Jan Vigyan Jatha
- Bhumi Adhikar Andolan
- Centre for Financial Accountability
- Chutka Parmanu Virodhi Sagarsh samiti
- Citizen consumer and civic Action Group (CAG), Chennai
- Coalition for Environmental Justice in India
- Dalit Adivasi Shakti Adhikar Manch
- Delhi Solidarity Group
- Environment Support Group
- Financial Accountability Network, India
- Focus on the Global South
- Fridays for Future, India
- India Climate Justice
- MAUSAM Network
- Mines, Minerals and Peoples
- National Alliance of People’s Movements
- National Domestic Workers Union
- Teachers Against Climate Crisis
- Trans Rights Collective
- Working Group on International Financial Institutions
Individual Endorsements
- Afzal Anish
- Aloka Kujur
- Altamas Ansari
- Amitava Mitra, NAPM West Bengal
- Anand Mazgaonkar, Swati Desai, Krishnakant, Parth, Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti, Gujarat
- Anant,
- Anil TV, Delhi Solidarity Group.
- Anita Kapoor, Delhi Shahri Mahila Kaamgaar Union
- Anjali Bharadwaj and Amrita Johri, Satark Nagrik Sangathan
- Arun Jena
- Aruna Rodrigues, Activist, Mhow, MP
- Aruna Roy, Shankar Singh, Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS)
- Arundhati Dhuru, NAPM India
- Arvind Murti
- Aryaman Jain
- Ashalatha, MAKAAM
- Ashish Kothari, Pune
- Ashish Ranjan, Jan Jagran Shakti Sangathan
- Ashok Verma, NAPM Jharkhand
- Aziz Minat
- Balakrishna Sand,
- Balu Gadi, Bapji Juvvala, NAPM Andhra Pradesh
- Basant Hetamsaria
- Bharat Jambucha, NAPM Gujarat
- Bhupender Singh Rawat, Jan Sangharsh Vahini
- Bilal Khan, Jameela, Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan
- Binayak Sen, Kolkata
- Chakri, Samalochana
- Chetan Salve, Narmada Bachao Andolan
- CR Neelakandan
- Dayamani Barla, Aadivasi-Moolnivasi Astivtva Raksha Samiti
- Dev Desai, Gujarat
- Divyansh Khurana
- Dr. Leo A. Singh
- Dr. Sunilam, Adv. Aradhna Bhargava, Kisan Sangharsh Samiti
- Durga Nayak
- Evita Das
- Faisal Khan, Khudai Khidmatgar,
- Gabriele Dietrich, Penn Urimay Iyakkam, Madurai
- Gautam Bandopadhyay, Nadi Ghati Morcha
- Gautam Modi, General Secretary, New Trade Union Initiative
- Geetanjali Chavan, Maharashtra
- Geetha Ramakrishnan, Unorganised Sector Workers Federation
- Gurwant Singh, NAPM Punjab
- Hannan Mollah, All India Kisan Sabha
- Harsh Mander, Rights and Peace Activist, New Delhi
- J S Walia, NAPM Haryana
- Jabar Singh, Rashtra Seva Dal
- Jagriti Rahi
- Jeevan Kumar, Hyderabad
- Jipal Murmu
- K Ramnarayan, Uttarakhand
- Kailash Meena,NAPM Rajasthan
- Kaladas Dahariya, RELAA
- Kalyan Anand
- Kamayani Swami
- Kaushika Draavid, IIT Kanpur
- Kavita Srivastava, People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL)
- Kiran Kumar Vissa & Kondal, Rythu Swarajya Vedika
- Krishna, Telangana Vidyavantula Vedika-TVV,
- Lakshimipriya Mohanty
- Lalita Sharma
- Linda Chakchuak, Journalist
- Lingaraj Pradhan
- Lingraj Azad, Samajwadi Jan Parishad & Niyamgiri Suraksha Samiti,
- M. Venkatayya, Telangana Vyavasaya Vruttidarula Union-TVVU,
- Madhuresh Kumar NAPM
- Magline, Kerala
- Mahendra Yadav, Kosi Navnirman Manch
- Maj Gen (Retd) S.G.Vombatkere, NAPM Karnataka,
- Majeendran, NAPM Kerala
- Manas Patnaik, NAPM Odisha
- Manesh Gupta
- Manorama Khatua, Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti
- Mashiuddin, NAPM, Uttar Pradesh
- Medha Patkar, Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA)
- Meera Sanghamitra, NAPM India
- Mujahid Nafees, Minority Coordination Committee
- Mukta Srivastava, Roji Roti Adhikar Abhiyan
- Nakul Singh Sawney, Chal Chitra Abhiyan
- Nanhu Prasad, National Cyclist Union
- Nidhi Jain, Concerned Indian Citizen
- Nikhil Dey, Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS)
- Nita Mahadev, Mudita Vidrohi, Lok Samiti
- P. Chennaiah, Andhra Pradesh Vyavasaya Vruthidarula Union-APVVU,
- P. Shankar, Dalit Bahujan Front
- Pasarul Alam, TASO
- Pradip Chatterjee, NFF
- Prafulla Samantara, Lok Shakti Abhiyan
- Prasad Bagwe, Mose Khore Bachao Andolan
- Prasad Chacko, Gujarat
- Priti Ranjan Dash
- Priya Pillai
- Priyanka Singh
- Prof. Kusumam Joseph, NAPM Kerala
- Radhika Menon, All India People’s Forum
- Rajeev Yadav, Rihai Manch
- Rajendra Ravi, Institute for Democracy and Sustainability
- Rajesh Serupally, NAPM Telangana
- Rajkumar Sinha, Chutka Parmaanu Virodhi Sangharsh Samiti
- Ramakrishnam Raju, United Forum for RTI and NAPM,
- Ramesh Tadvi
- Ravi Kanneganti, Rythu JAC,
- Richa Singh, Rambeti, Sangatin Kisaan Mazdoor Sangathan
- Samar Bagchi, NAPM West Bengal
- Sandeep Pandey, Socialist Party of India
- Sanjay M G, NAPM Maharashtra
- Sanjeev Kumar, Dalit Adivasi Shakti Adhikar Manch
- Satya banchor
- Shabnam Hashmi, social activist, Anhad
- Sharanya, Nayak, Farmer and activist, Koraput, Odisha
- Sharath Cheloor, Dynamic Action
- Sister Celia, Domestic Workers Union
- Sister Dorothy, Aashray Abhiyan
- Srikanta Aguan
- Suhas Kolhekar, NAPM
- Sujato Bhadro, Kolkata
- Sunita Rani, National Domestic Workers Union;
- Suniti SR, NAPM Maharashtra
- Suresh Rathaur, Mahendra, MNREGA Mazdoor Union, UP
- Sushma Biruli
- Suthanthiran, Arul Doss, NAPM Tamilnadu
- Syed Bilal, Human Rights Forum
- Tapas Das, River Protection Forum
- Tara Murali, Chennai
- Trilochan Punji
- Uma, NAPM, Uttarakhand
- Vijayan M J, General Secretary, PIPFPD
- Vijayaraghavan Cheliya, NAPM Kerala
- Vilayodi Venugopal, Activist Kerala
- Vimal Bhai,Matu Jan sangathan
- Xavier Dias, Editor, Khan Kaneej Aur ADHIKAR, (Mines minerals & RIGHTS)
- Yuvraj Gatkal, Pune
- Zainab Khatun
Patriarchy Take Heed, Even As All Of Us Together Fight Fascism In India
Co-Written by Dr. P. S. Sahni & Shobha Aggarwal
The time for patriarchy to gracefully let women be is ripe in India right now. Last few months have seen hundreds and thousands of girls and women on the streets protesting for their political rights. Even the corporate press has been forced to report – whatever is apparent to any observer on the streets – that not just hijab/burqa clad women but women from all other communities as well join in the protest.
The Muslim Women’s ‘Political Agency’ and their Resistance against the CAA-NPR-NRC
Co-Written by Badre Alam Khan & Sanjay Kumar
In what follows, we are not going to discuss the legalities and illegalities related to CAA, our focus will be confine to explore the proactive and pivotal role played by Muslim women in particular and non-Muslims in general.
A Wish to the Bhakts
by An Indian Citizen
You go ahead with your job of identifying anti-nationals, trolling them, abusing them and describing how your god is so great. And how he is about to build a great country. Keep justifying how you are supporting him build a great nation. Keep spreading hindu-muslim hate. Keep justifying each act of your god in the name of how good it is for the country. Good luck.
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