Israeli far-right think tank Kohelet is ‘shaping US policy’, experts say + coup d’état of the Straussians in Israel

While much attention has been given to Kohelet Policy Forum in Israel, experts say think tank has played major role in crafting US policy on Israel-Palestine.

Israeli far-right think tank Kohelet is ‘shaping US policy’, experts say

Related:

Kohelet Policy Forum: How a Far-Right, US-Funded Israeli Think Tank Shapes Policy & Law in US & Israel (Webinar)

The coup d’état of the Straussians in Israel

Smedley Butler on Interventionism

Excerpt from a speech delivered in 1933, by Major General Smedley Butler, USMC.

War is just a racket. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses.

Smedley Butler on Interventionism

Related:

War Is A Racket

“War Is A Racket” By Maj. Gen. Smedley D. Butler, Read By Jon Gold

Nicaragua: Reconciliation Does Not Mean Forgetting

Jill Clark-Gollub

Hybrid warfare tactics, including information warfare and the co-opting of human rights groups, make it hard to tell the good guys from the bad in the US-backed coup attempt in Nicaragua in 2018. But it is important to note the telltale signs of class oppression and terrorist tactics to understand the truth about the 222 people recently released to the US who were convicted of treason in Nicaragua for savage acts of violence against their people. They had benefited from an amnesty in 2019, but violated its terms by participating in a new coup plot in 2020 and 2021. In releasing the 222 over to the US, the Nicaraguan authorities effectively pardoned them a second time in order to bring further reconciliation to society. But for the sake of historical memory and non-repetition, it is important to remember their crimes.

Nicaragua: Reconciliation Does Not Mean Forgetting

Elections & Lithium Mining: Why is the US Suddenly Running ‘Get Out the Vote Ads’ in Nigeria?

Elections & Lithium Mining: Why is the US Suddenly Running ‘Get Out the Vote Ads’ in Nigeria?

Last year, US-based electric vehicle company Tesla put in a bid for a contract to mine some of that Lithium, but the Nigerian government denied them. Nigeria, like most African countries, has a history of foreign powers exploiting them for their national resources while offering little value to the people of Nigeria.

Video via Activist News Network

Related:

What Would It Mean for Nigeria to Elect an Igbo President?

[2015] A Day When Journalism Died

Journalist Gary Webb holding a copy of his Contra-cocaine article in the San Jose Mercury-News. Source.

Exclusive: Dec. 9 has a grim meaning for the Republic, the date in 2004 when investigative reporter Gary Webb, driven to ruin by vindictive press colleagues for reviving the Contra-cocaine scandal, took his own life, a demarcation as the U.S. press went from protecting the people to shielding the corrupt, writes Robert Parry.

A Day When Journalism Died

Related:

Tosh Plumlee, Ex-CIA Contract Pilot, Spills Beans On Murder Of DEA Agent Enrique Camarena

West tells Global South ‘you can’t be neutral’ in Ukraine war: You are either with us, or against us

The foreign ministers of the US, Germany, and Ukraine told the world at the Munich Security Conference, “Neutrality is not an option” in the West’s proxy war against Russia, implicitly criticizing the vast majority of Global South countries, which are independent.

West tells Global South ‘you can’t be neutral’ in Ukraine war: You are either with us, or against us

Did the U.S. really lift sanctions off Syria temporarily?

The “humanitarian exemptions”, on Syrian sanctions, are conditional!

The U.S. Treasury announced a decision on February 9 claiming to allow an easing of sanctions imposed on Syria for the ensuing six months until August 8, as part of “earthquake relief efforts.”
The decision allows for “third parties” to transfer aid to Syria without fear of U.S. sanctions, but should only be intended for aid to earthquake-effected areas. Nonetheless, the sanctions programs applied to Syria for many years, the most severe of which are the Caesar Act (2019) and Captagon Act (2022), provide for “humanitarian exceptions,” but are conditional on U.S. approval.

Did the U.S. really lift sanctions off Syria temporarily?

Related:

Did the U.S. lift sanctions on Syria?

So any earthquake relief effort must take place away from the Syrian state. In other words, it must contribute to undermining the sovereignty of the Syrian state, or it will not take place.

The specter of socialism haunts US Congress

*Trigger Warning*: this talks about socialism, which seems to trigger some of those who follow my blog. If you don’t like something, that I post, either scroll on by or unfollow me!

A specter is haunting Congress: the specter of socialism.

Last week, as the US Congress discussed approving billions more dollars in weapons for the war against Russia and began negotiating cuts to social programs in advance of the debt ceiling expiration, the House spent three days discussing and adopting a resolution denouncing socialism and pledging to reverse all the social gains made by the working class on a global scale in the century since the Russian Revolution of 1917.

Before the resolution was brought to a vote Thursday, the Republican-controlled House Rules Committee rejected a proposed amendment introduced by Democrats that would have clarified “that opposition to the implementation of socialist policies in the US does not include federal programs like Medicare and Social Security,” according to the Hill.

The specter of socialism haunts US Congress