COINTELPRO 2.0: Project Esther, EO 14243, and Palantir

The pattern is familiar, and the escalation is predictable. I warned about this recently, and now it’s unfolding exactly as anticipated.

From my May 22 post:

Just as I anticipated, the blame is being directed at China. Marco Rubio, currently serving in the Trump administration, has previously targeted various leftist organizations for their funding connections to Neville Roy Singham, who has been accused of having ties to the Communist Party of China. These allegations originated from front groups linked to Stratfor, often referred to as the “Shadow CIA,” as well as the State Department and U.S. Intelligence. Additionally, the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) receives backing from the Israel lobby. Recall my previous post about Project Esther, which linked antisemitism to Marxism. Expect a crackdown on leftists and other antiwar activists who are protesting the Gaza war.

On May 28, the Heritage Foundation—architect of Project Esther—officially embraced the narrative linking pro-Palestinian activism to Chinese influence.

The Heritage Foundation’s Project Esther is more than a framework—it’s a blueprint for ideological suppression masquerading as national security policy. By tying anti-Zionism to antisemitism, then layering in foreign influence accusations, the initiative sets the stage for a sweeping crackdown on dissent. Under the guise of national security, any challenge to U.S. policy—whether in opposition to the Gaza war or broader leftist movements—can be framed as a foreign threat. This justification makes mass surveillance not just palatable but necessary.

Enter Palantir—the data engine that makes ideological suppression scalable. While Heritage Foundation shapes the narrative and justification for crackdowns, Palantir provides the technical apparatus to execute them. As I warned in my earlier post, EO 14243 and Trump’s Data Consolidation: The Hidden Agenda Behind Big Tech Surveillance, Palantir is embedding digital IDs across DHS, IRS, and Social Security, consolidating surveillance under the guise of fraud prevention. These tools, once presented as safeguards against fraud, now serve a far clearer purpose: streamlining the targeting and suppression of leftist dissent. Heritage Foundation supplies the blueprint—Palantir builds the machinery.

This isn’t new. The playbook remains the same—COINTELPRO weaponized bureaucratic surveillance to neutralize Black liberation and leftist movements under the guise of national security. Now, Project Esther will leverage EO 14243’s infrastructure to fuse ideological suppression with the mechanics of automated surveillance. Just as COINTELPRO framed activists as subversives to justify government crackdowns, Project Esther weaponizes accusations of extremism and foreign influence to achieve similar ends. The targets have shifted, but the machinery of repression remains intact.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Imperialism Waging Genocidal Wars Against Humanity: ‘Israel Lobby as Puppet Master’ Theory

Editorial Comment:  I refer readers to this scholarly, in-depth article by Niloufer Bhagwat that correctly positions Zionism in the imperialist hierarchy: “Contemporary Zionism Pursues its Assigned Role as an Advanced Military and Intelligence Base of Anglo-American, European Imperialism.”

She states in the introduction:

“The real nature of Zionism and the  Zionist Israeli project, which is closely allied to and an extension of Anglo-American and European Imperialist policy and global reach and constitutes an advanced military and intelligence base in occupied Palestine, in the heart of the Middle East, aimed at controlling governments and resources of a wider region, including Iran, the Horn of Africa, East Africa, Central and South Africa, and South Asia and Eurasia… this nature has not been analyzed in depth by jurists, with a few exceptions, for several reasons.”

Zionism is not controlling America or Europe. It is a proxy force deployed by imperialist governments to serve their interests.  The Zionist lobby has undeniable and formidable power, but it exists and its influence is sustained precisely because it serves empire.  

Imperialism Waging Genocidal Wars Against Humanity: ‘Israel Lobby as Puppet Master’ Theory

[03-08-1987] Thomas Sankara: The revolution cannot triumph without the emancipation of women

The revolution cannot triumph without the emancipation of women

The specific character of women’s oppression

Woman’s fate is bound up with that of the exploited male. This is a fact. However, this solidarity, arising from the exploitation that both men and women suffer and that binds them together historically, must not cause us to lose sight of the specific reality of the woman’s situation. The conditions of her life are determined by more than economic factors, and they show that she is a victim of a specific oppression. The specific character of this oppression cannot be explained away by setting up an equal sign or by falling into easy and childish simplifications.

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From Global Anti-Imperialism to the Dandelion Fighters, China’s Solidarity with Palestine from 1950 to 2024

Frontier of global anti-imperialist struggle: China’s perceptions of the Palestinian struggle from 1955 to 1976
China is probably one of few states which flipped its diplomatic stance on the “Palestinian-Israeli conflict” in the most dramatic manner from the 1950s to 1970s. In only 20 years, the People’s Republic of China (PRC)’s official foreign policy dramatically changed from almost establishing diplomatic relations with Israel in 1950 to denying any legitimacy of the Israeli state in the 1960s to 1970s. As I aim to demonstrate in this article, the Maoist era, especially from 1955 to 1976, established the foundation of China’s diplomatic support for the Palestinian liberation movement, and this legacy is still one of the main factors guiding China’s official stance on Palestine today.

From Global Anti-Imperialism to the Dandelion Fighters, China’s Solidarity with Palestine from 1950 to 2024

Related:

THE CHINESE PEOPLE FIRMLY SUPPORT THE ARAB PEOPLE’S STRUGGLE AGAINST AGGRESSION

Trump antisemitism executive order invokes anti-KKK law and targets ‘leftist, anti-American’ universities

President Donald Trump’s executive order on antisemitism encourages the attorney general to use a federal law created to target the Klu Klux Klan, and will direct federal agencies to tell colleges and universities to “monitor” and “report activities” by foreign students, staff and faculty for activities related to terrorism, according to a draft of the order obtained by the Forward.

In addition, it says that the attorney general is “encouraged” to use the federal “conspiracy against rights” law “to combat antisemitism.” The measure was originally passed to combat KKK violence in the aftermath of the Civil War, and has since been used to prosecute civil rights violations related to elections. Trump himself was charged with violating the law in relation to his alleged attempt to subvert the results of the 2020 election.

The Anti-Defamation League has called for more aggressive action against students protesting Israel, including asking school presidents to investigate Students for Justice in Palestinechapters for providing material support to terrorist organizations. The Secure Community Network — the main organization providing security advice to synagogues and Jewish organizations in the United States — recently called for the country to “expel any non-citizen alien who supports terrorism,” including protesters.

Republicans have focused almost all of their attention on what they believe is antisemitism coming from left-wing activists and critics of Israel. The Heritage Foundation released a blueprint for the Trump administration to fight antisemitism called Project Esther that discussed how to dismantle a “Hamas Support Network” composed of progressive advocacy groups and foundations, while the author of that report said that he was not concerned with addressing the threat posed by white supremacists.

Trump antisemitism executive order invokes anti-KKK law and targets ‘leftist, anti-American’ universities

Netanyahu cries ‘anti-Semitism’ as Israeli Maccabi hooligans instigate riots in Amsterdam

As anti-Palestinian provocations by notoriously racist Israeli football hooligans triggered riots in central Amsterdam on Thursday night, Israel and the far-right government of the Netherland along with other Western leaders are rushing to portray the violence as ‘anti-Semitic pogroms’ even as the Dutch police said investigations are ongoing and refused to comment on the ethnicity of the Dutch citizens arrested overnight.

Netanyahu cries ‘anti-Semitism’ as Israeli Maccabi hooligans instigate riots in Amsterdam